Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1892 — CHILI AND CHILIANS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CHILI AND CHILIANS.

FACTS ABOUT A BUMPTIOUS LITTLE REPUBLIC. A Remarkable Country and a Strange People—The Longest Strip of Territory •n the Globe—Peeullarities of the Inhabitants—Cllma'e anil Topography. Yankees of South America. In more ways than one Chili is a curious country. Its extent, to our way of thinking, is enormous, having a superficial area of 203,000 square miles, being, therefore, somewhat greater than Texas. It is of a shape so unique that there is nothing else like it on the globe. Imagine a strip of eoast beginning at Alaska and extending through British America, Washington, Oregon, ■California, Mexico, and the Central American •tates to the Isthmus of Darien, and you

have a near approach to the shape of Chili. The extent of this remarkable country is nearly 3,000 milest from north to south, and to travel from one end of It to the other it is necessary to make a Journey as long as from the north point of Hudson's Bay to the southern boundary of Mexico, a journey nearly as long as that from New York to San Francisco. But the width is by no means proportionate to this vast length. Though so long Chili is rarely more than 100 miles »ide, a mere strip between the Andes and the coast, and so narrow as to give rise to the facetious saying that the people of Chili hang to the Andes by their

finger and toe nails to keep from falling Into the sea.

Bavb in One district, and that is of no great extent, all Chili is cut up by mountain ranges. It is not too much to say that a journey through Chili is up one mountain and down another, from the torrid region of the tropics to the frozen ■one of Cape Horn. Extending from near the equator to the antarctic circle, It has every variety of 1 climate. In the north, the desert districts, rainless from one year’s end to the other, present a •andy plain, incapable of supporting life; further south, to the center of the country, there are wooded heights and a temperate climate; still further there is the Wet zone, with its almost impenetrable

forests, giant mountains and iron-bound coast. Chili is a Sahara in the north, * California in the center, and a Norway in the south. All districts are, however, In one respect alike; they are all mountainous. The Chilians are, comparatively ■peaking, well advanced in civilization —-that is, compared with the other South American States. They are so far ahead of their Spanish-American brethren that they have not infrequently been denominated the English, and even the Yankees, of South America. According to the last census, the population of Chili was nearly 3,000,000; and a busy people they are, at least in the towns, and do a thriving business with the rest of the world, for to the numerous ports there came in 1888 9,880 vessels, with a tonnage of 8,730,329, nearly one-half of which was owned by Chill, and displayed

the native Am, most of the remaining imßAlfl being British. In the same year **!«• ° f the imports was $60,000,- *•». of toe exports so tost Chili has a fair balance of trade in **■**«»' A* In other South American eonniKtea, however, the great bulk of *jf*y**f» Great Britain. Of the •My*,j” * s ® ,o |2 to

| United States, a fact which explains the I anxiety of the present administration to ■ secure reciprocity with a- country .which j buys so much and has so much to sell, j Notwithstanding the character of the I country, which tries the skill of the railj road engineer at every step, Chili has a ] large number of railroads, and though most are of no great length, the aggregate is 1,748 miles. Owing to the expense of their construction, over onehalf the roads are owned by the state, 748 miles being under state control, having cost the government over $48,000,000. In spite of this enormous expense, the government railroads are doing well; in 1887 their receipts wero $0,349,321; their expenses, $4,197(42.30. Chili has also 10,640 miles of telegraph lines, nearly 314 of which belong to the government, and over these 1,500,000 messages are dispatched every year, so that, even judged by our rules of measurement, the Chilian people are not so far behind as their isolated geographical position might lead us to suppose. The rainless deserts of the north, the mountains of the center, the forests and j rocks of the south, compose most of the I territory of Chili, and even in that quar- ; ter where the climate is favorable to j agriculture, large districts are given up to grazing, and a still larger part cannot be cultivated because of the steepness

of the hills. The fertility of the small remainder may therefore be judged of fr. m the fact that every year, in spite of the most primitive means of cultivation and the habitual and persistent laziness of the rural population, Chili raises about 21.000,000 bushels of wheat und produces over 24,000,000 gallons of wine. Quite as productive are her mines of silver, of gold, of copper, and her nitrate and guano deposits. In 1888 the exports of nitre aggregated $33,090,000, of copper $15,000,000, of silver $7,000,000, of guano $1,500,000, while, besides other products, 10,000,000 tons of coal were mined and taken to market.

The Chilian gold mines, while numerous, are not very prolituble, a fact which may be explained by the primitive methods employed. After the ore has been taken out it is placed in a hollow previously made in u large stone. A round bowlder having been selected, is artificially bored, sticks are wedged in the hole at an angle to each other, so as to form a kind of clamp; through these a pole is passed, and two Chilians, astride the opposite ends, see-saw up and down, thus rocking the bowlder and crushing the ore. From so rude a process any product would seem remarkable, and the fact that the Chilian mines pay at all with such plans of work is suflicient testimony to their richness. Similarly ineffective . are the means employed in agriculture. The plowman scratches the earth two or three inches deep with a plow so rude in construction that it might have been the first ever made; the hoes resemble our mattocks; the spades are simply broadened shafts pointed with iron; the oxen are harnessed by their horns, instead of with yokes, to vehicles so exceedingly primitive that their like is unknown elsewhere. The harness of the horses is of rope or rawhide, and household appliances are such as might be expeeted among savages instead of among the natives of the first country in South America. But the Chilians themselves are either Indians or of mingled Indian and Spanish blood, and while in a certain way and to a certain extent they

are industrious, they lack the energy and enterprise essential to the highest degree of success. So far as situation is c ncerned, Chili is more fortunate than most other South American states, in that its position exempted it from the misfortunes of the early Spanish rule. During the Spanish occupation no gold mines were known, and Chili did not present a field for brilliant adventure, and although the Spanish knights made an occasional raid into the south, Chill, more than a colony, was an exercise ground for the Spanish troops against the Indians. The few settlements made in Chili were rather neglected than encouraged, and consequently the population were left to the slower but surer means of acquiring wealth than by the gold mines of Peru. Their development was not so rapid, but far more substantial. The result Is

seen in several large and well-built cities, In numerous villages, and in the immense trade which has grown up between Chili and Europe. Santiago, the capital of Chill, is one of the most beautiful cities In the world. Situated In a valley on both aides of a , small stream, and In sight erf toe Ando*. only a few miles distant, it is well laid out and provided with all mod-

era conveniences. The streets are paved, lighted by gas and watered by perpetually flowing streams from the mountains. At an altitude exceeding 1,800 feet above the sea it Is high enough for its population of 200,000 to be healthy, and so they ought to be, but unfortu-

nately pulmonary diseases, perhaps on account of the humidity of the climate, are fearfully common in Chili, and a large percentage of the deaths is due to consumption and kindred ailments. Santiago has many magnificent buildings, which are neatly grouped around the Plaza, where stands the Grand Cathedral, of enormous extent and superb front. Almost opposite is the Opera House, believed to be the finest in the Americas, eith r North or South, and close around stand many noble buildings, both public and private. In the Mint are the public offices and the President’s official dwelling, and within easy reach are the halls of Congress, offices of the various departments and buildings for the city government. In the center of the city rises the lofty hill of Santa Lucia, which, well fortified, forms the chief protection of the city. Santiago is connected by railroad with Valparaiso, and more than one railroad line has been planned to strike boldly to the west, traverse one or another of ten known passes discovered in the Andes, and connect Chili with the Atlantic coast.

As Santiago is the largest city, so Valparaiso is the chief seaport, not of Chili alone, but of all the South Pacific. It is a city of 140,000 population, and more cosmopolitan than Santiago, for at least one-fourth of its people are foreigners. Situated on a magnificent bay, defended by fifteen forts which together mount over 200 guns, it does so large a business with so many different nations that a stranger from any quarter of the world, coming to Valparaiso, will find himself at home among his countrymen. It, too, has all the appointments of a modern city, including electric lights, granite paving and street cars. The culture and refinement of Chili are largely confined to these two cities. The country villages are, to the careless observer, very much alike, each consisting of a lino of one-story houses covered with tile or thatch and light in construction. One-story houses are, however, in Chili the rule, for this part of the Pacific coast is more frequently visited by earthquakes than any other quarter of the globe. It is rare for a week to pass without an earthquake, and as many a? twenty have been noted in a single day.

However accustomed the Chilian is to these tremors of the earth, they never lose their terrors. Day and night in Chili, whatever the weather, the inside doors opening into the courtyard are always open; every house has its haven of refuge in a large : open space between the buildings which inclose it, and to this courtyard, on the slightest symptom of danger, overy inhabitant runs.

Tho condition of most of the population of Chili is far from fortunate. The greater part of the land is owned by largo holders, who livo in Santiago or Valparaiso, and there spend the money received from their farms, which are managed by overseers. The mass of the people may be divided into tenant farmers and laborers, the former having small holdings, for which they render personal service in payment, while the latter, as a rule, have no home, and travel from place to place in search of work. But they do not wander on foot, for in Chili everybody rides. The poorest farmer has his horse, and the traditional beggar on horseback would be no novelty in Chili, for more than one traveler has noted the curious spectacle of being pursued by two or three mounted beggars, who were earnest in their supplications for charity, “for the love of God. ” In Chili, however, nobody starves, no matter how poor. Nature is too bountiful and the people are too hospitable. In this highly favored country hospitality is the most sacred of virtues. In traveling to and fro no inns are .to be found; the traveler on reaching a village or country town presents himself at the house of the Governor, or, if the latter be absent, at the best house in the village, walks in, as a matter of course, and equally of course is at once made welcotne; wine is set before him, ami while dinner is prepared he is questioned as to the news.

Among the better classes in city and country, after rising and imbibing the morning’s coffee, men and women separate, the latter to go to mass, the former to their clubs or business, and meet again at breakfast, which begins at noon and lasts from one to three hours. In the afternoon, rest, the inevitable siesta or drive, passes away the time; in the evening the opera, social visiting and dancing bring the gentlemen and ladies together again, until past midnight. Chilian women, however, are not intellectual. While very pretty, their beauty being of the dark Spanish type, their talk does not ri6e above the commonplace. Until recently they were kept in as close retirement as their sisters of Spain, and only lately, when with foreigners came in foreigh customs, were they allowed any considerable degree of freedom. Fifteen years ago’ such a thing as young girls appearing on the street was out of the question; now two or three girls may escort each other, though even at present the. older Chilians look on this with some degree of reprobation. But there are better days ahead; women, both young and old, are now employed in the telegraph offices, in the stores as clerks, and for a novelty, as conductors on the street cars. To the foreigner it is a strange sight to see young women on the rear platform of the street car, taking fares and attending to the multifarious duties of a conductor, but the women do It well, and any rudeness to them is at once resented by the more gallant of their passengers. ,

The lower classes of the population are almost entirely Indian, or the immediate descendants of Indians, having all the traits which characterize the aborigines of America. A copper skin, small, bright eyes, high cheek bones, and, aboye all, a reckless disregard of life, a hatred of work and a love of strong drink, are their most marked peculiarities. Not a few of them are deseendants of the most remarkable rsce

ever mu on th« face of the Western Continent.

THE “INCAS BRIDGE,” A NATURAL FORMATION.

A RAILROAD BRIDGE BETWEEN VALPARAISO AND SANTIAGO.

INLAND TRANSPORTATION IN CHILL.

A FAVORITE METHOD OF CRUSHING ORE.

A PLOWMAN AND HIS TEAM.

NAVIGATING THE CHILIAN WATERS.