| Show IN NORTHERN CHILI The Present Feeling Among Resident Foreigners HOW THE TROOPS ARE RAISED The Present State of tIle Berolutlon Volunteers Volun-teers in Chains Some of tlio Most Interesting Sections VALPARAISO Chili March 19 1891 Special correspondence of THE HERALD In these days of war it is not an easy matter mat-ter to get into this misnamed Vale of Paradise from either direction by land or BOO not only on account of the blockade in the bay and tho infrequency and irregularity irregular-ity of railway trains but because of tho uncertainty un-certainty of coming events and the direful certainty that revolters are everywhere liable at any moment to perpetrate unheard of atrocities under the guise of revolution Should one come by sea just now ho would not be permitted to land and tho only way to got here from tho direction of Santiago IB by rail or in the saddle from the north and oast Have you over reflected how much of everyday comfort and safety is due to the enforcement of established laws requires Borne great upheaval like this in Chili to remind one of his obligations to Rood government gov-ernment as health is best appreciated during dur-ing an illness The foreigner in Chili who VALUES LIFE AND LIBEIITX will do well to entertain no opinions concerning con-cerning the questions at issue or to keep them religiously to himself Bitter feelings run high and these volcanic people are by nature given to excesses Tne landlord Whose guest you are or the untidy man who pretends to set your room in order thero are no chambermaids in South America is as likely to resent your rash expressions with a dagger in your heart or a razoredged curvo at your throat as the soldier is with his bayonet Everywhere in SpanishAmer ica your personal property is much safer from thieves than in most parts of the United Statesbuthuman life is rated very cheaply and taken on slight provocation Regarding the unhappy situation in Valparaiso Val-paraiso I have gleaned the following facts from resident foreigners Nobody can yet clearly foretell the result of tho revolution except in tho destruction of the credit and prosperity of the proud little country that j has so long stood at the head of SOUTH AMERICAN REPUBLICS As to the details of the causeless conflict the present sceno of action being several hundred miles to the northward the newspapers news-papers suppressed and all cable and telegraph tele-graph communication cut offtho citizens of Valparaiso are not so well posted as people peo-ple in Europe or the United States You can readily imagine what consternation consterna-tion prevailed that bright afternoon in January Jan-uary when the rebellious Chilian fleet with decks cleared for action came sailing into the port after thesaagre azul blue blood of tho country supported by Congress and the navy had gone into revolution against the government Many fled from thecity fearing bombardment and the landing of insurgents in-surgents which would mean another general gen-eral massacre greater than that whichre cently took place at Iquiqui but the few Americans resident hero remained to a man and I may also add to a woman feeling that the arm of the home government is long and powerful and bound to be respected Valparaiso is so situated ALONG A ARBOW STRIP OF COAST backed by steep hills as to bs exposed to bombardment in every part and being almost al-most entirely a wopden city with extremely narrow and crooked streets it would burn like tinder But instead plucking the plum of complete com-plete victory as the rebels might easily have done that day they simply pillaged the government store ships issued a bombastic proclamation and man ured the fleet around tho bay with flying colors and a brave show of what they might do if so disposed It is asserted however that the forbearance of the rebellious navy was not duo to any consideration for Valparaiso and the people thereof but to the army officers who had pledged themselves to join the uprising up-rising and pocketed the cash therefor failed to rise when it came to the scratch During the few days immediately following follow-ing this bootless demonstration Balmaceda armed the forts that command the entrance to this most important of Chilian harbors end REORGAXIZED HIS ARMT The regular army numbered only about five thousand before these troubles began but it has since been augmented to more than twentyfive thousand Tho government now offers its soldiers 30 bounty and regular regu-lar pay of SiO per month extraordinary wages in Chili so that the old saw is being reversed and the plow shares figuratively beaten into swords A great many of the new troops are conscripted It is related that a recruiting officer recently sent fifty men to headquarters chained together like wild beasts accompanied by the characteristic character-istic message I herewith send you fifty volunteers Please return me the chains January 17th a shell was fired into the Callo Blanco killing six men and wounding c score Then Admiral Morett declared a blockade in Valparaiso bay but at the expiration ex-piration of the usual fortyeight hours notice no-tice tho valiant squadron was no where to bo seen they having folded their tents or rather their sailsliko the Arabs and EILEXTLT STOLEN AWAY DETlYEEX TWO HATS In pursuit of mischief elsewhere Tho northern north-ern blockade deprives the government of its customary 4000000 per monthin nitrato export duties and thero has never been a time when tho revenue was more needed than at the present All manner of rumors some do doubt greatly exaggerated afloat hereabouts concerning the recent battles bat-tles at Iquiqui Antofogasta and other places In northern Chili but owing to the cutting of the wires and the suppression of the newspapers little reliable information can be gained Thero have been several minor engagements in this neighborhood chiefly on the bay and for several weeks past in lieu of the usual theatres fiestas and horse races the populace has been entertained by grand military funerals and impressive guard mounts President Balmaceda has proved himself to be by Jtio means tho weak and vacillating creature that bis early course toward Congress Con-gress led somn people to suspect and there is now no doubt that ho will HOLD PAST TO HIS 3OIST so long as a cent remains in tho public treasury or can be raised by levying on the private means of lot ricos Ho is certainly very liberal with the contents of the cashbox cash-box though they are dwindling lower and lower Naturally frequent reports are afloat to the effect that he is about to abdicate abdi-cate or has been assassinated but neither Is likely to occur Ho has hardly shown his head outside the Moneda or treasury building build-ing a portion of which serves for the executive exec-utive residence since tho dawning of these days of danger appearing tI find life safer if not more agreeable under shelter just now with an armed guard every doorway and anglo of the wall It is certain that the wealth and aristocracy aristoc-racy of the country aro almost universally against the president as well as many of the lower class But whatever his faults and shortcomings all concede that he is a wonderful won-derful organizer and that he still retains the best of the situation The situation is briefly this Tho rebellious navy at the north has MURDERED THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE destroyed millions of dollars worth of property prop-erty and crippled the revenues of the country coun-try to an appalling extent but have really accomplished little to their own advantage Balmaceda retains the army and the treasury treas-ury and the capital is comparatively safe But the country is in a most deplorable condition con-dition Crops cannot bo harvested for lack of laborers and business of every kind is completely paralyzed Exchange has been as low as 1G > pence tart today is at tho ruinous rate of IS I pence On a letter of credit which calls for American gold or its equivalent one may now receive hero three times its face value in Chilian currency But that circumstance In the travelers favor is offset by tho absurdly ab-surdly steep war prices that prevail Fancy paying from S7 to 10 per diem for scanty food and indifferent lodging in one of these decidedly unpalatial hotels The Hotel Colon is the best in Valnaraisoas good perhaps as a fourthrate house in New York but the char cs are tremendous It is kept by AX AGED HEBREW XAJIED KERBERNHARDT an uncle so he tells me of tho illustrious actress Madame Sarah who dropped the Ker from her cognomen when she went on the stage in defiance of the wishes of her family Tho Chilian elections have been set for the last Sunday in this monthchurch gO ing in the morning politics in the afternoon and maybe murdering and rioting by moon light Congress has been called for April 20th instead of on May 1st as the constitution constitu-tion expressly provides That venerated document the constitution does not receive much attention in these unsettled days but frequent edicts and proclamations begin with the significant words Tho exigencies of the occasion demand etc As we shall not revisit northern Chili I may as well tell you something about the country we passed through between Tacaa and Valparaiso Tho first port south of Arica and the principal one in the famous Taragaca province is Pisagua Its bay is the largest on tho northern coast and in times of peaco DOZENS OF SHIPS may always be seen at anchor on it awaiting await-ing freightbutuowtho blockade has driven them all away During the war oevween Peru and Chili tho town was entirely destroyed de-stroyed and has since been rebuilt rather more modern style Its wooden houses arc perched upon a range of hills so steep that one wonders what hinders them from slid ine off into tho sea The most conspicuous object in the place is a big marble monument monu-ment upon a conical hillock in the central plaza erected in memory of tho soldiers of both sides who fell in the PeruChili conflict con-flict PisaRua has about 3500 inhabitants and two daily papers are published one of them a social journal There are also two free schools and a seminarya public library containing more than a thousand volumes a club a benevolent association a hospital and one of the finest mercantile plazas in all Chili A railway connects the town with Iquiqul and the interior But the great drawback is lack of fresh water none being found anywhere in the neighborhood MUCH OF TUB SUlPLT is brought in boats from Arica sixtyfive miles away and stored a public reservoir and there is also a machine in operation for condensing water the product of which sells for threefourths of a centavo per gallon gal-lon and is considered much better than that from Arica Before its recent destruction by the rebels reb-els Iquiqui had tho most foreign aspect of any or Chilis coast cities having broad macadamized streets wide sidewalks and shop signs in English more numerous than those in Spanish Though grotesque architecturally archi-tecturally with huts of mud and bamboo sandwiched between more substantial houses it was well lighted by gas and exceptionally ex-ceptionally clean Besides the preponderating preponder-ating English element there were more French and German residents than Chilians to the manor born Having been several times destroyed in the past by earthquakes and conflagrations it had been almost entirely en-tirely rebuilt of pino wood and plates of galvanized gal-vanized iron and had the general look of San Francisco California in T1IH EARLY DATS OF THE GOLD FEVER Thero was a fine now custom house all of stone several churches schools and colleges col-leges theatres banks club houses hospital hospi-tal cas works extensive mills machinery for making thread condensing sea water amalgamating metals etcall of which together with most of the private residences were reduced to ashes the other day by this causeless revolution A few weeks ago tho population of Iquiqui was something over twelve thousandand out of that number 5000 were killed in the recent battles This port which is 606 miles north of Valparaiso was known in the earliest years of the conquest con-quest and as far back as 1350 was celebrated for its adjacent silver mines In the summer i sum-mer of IiI the great engineer Mr Francis Frazier came here and made the waters of II the Rio Pisagua available for the use of the people This laudable enterprise first brought into notice the valuable guano deposits de-posits on the nearby Isle de Iquiqui which in those days was USED ONLY BT TIlE INDIANS who transferred a little of t fertilizer on the backs of llamas to their ranches in the mountains Sailing due south from Iquiqul somo two hundred miles and having crossed the Tropic of Capricorn one comes to Antofo gasta the capital and principal port of the rich department of the same name Its architecture ar-chitecture is also grotesque and its streets irregular but its green gardens and flowery plaza present a beautiful contrast to the arid hills that environ them The town has a population of not quite five thousand yet the value of property in it including the nitrate ni-trate works is estimated at 3000000 There is an immense nitrate factory some extensive copper and smelting worksthree hotels two newspapers free schools private pri-vate seminaries night schools for artisans philharmonic society town band etc The freight commonly taken on at this port is a quantity of silver in large bars A railway runs to Caracoles the celebrated mining district Then there is Cobija the little sea port that FORMERLY BELONGED TO CHILI now dead beyond hope of resurrection Cal era is another oceanside hamlet and from it a railroad runs inland about fifty miles to Copiapo This railway interesting interest-ing from being the oldestiu South America yet it dates back only fortyone years Co piapo is the capital of the department of Atacana and has 12000 people It was once one of tho wealthiest cities in Chili and has many elegant casas and magnificent public edifices In the days of the Incas this valley val-ley was called Copayapu and about the year 14JO the Inca Yupauaqui caused a road to bo built through it running from the interior in-terior beyond the mountains to tho sea In Iboo Don de Alrnargro tarried here awhile and five years later all the neighboring tribes were subdued by the conqueror Pedro Pe-dro de Valdivia The Spaniards dubbed it El Valid de Possessian and afterwards it was known as the Valley of Turquoises on account of some bluegreen pebbles that were found in the neighborhood Coquimbo comes next with the first bit of green coast we have seen since leaving Guayaquil thousands of miles to the northward north-ward and in a few hours more we reach Valparaiso FANIC B WARD |
