Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-10-27

THE CHILIANS-UPf THE NOUNTAINS-NOvEL
sIGHTs-GRAND AND BEAUTIFUL SCENERY
HIGH BRIDGES OVER MOUNTAIN CHAsMs-FORTY
| TUNNELS IN FIFTY MII.ES-SNOw-CAPPED PEAKS
THE RARIFIBD ATMosPHERE-sENsE AND SEN
sIBILITY OF THE LLAMA STRANGE DISEASE.
the foiloWngextraets from letter OF young
WashingtonianIto his friends at home are of
| special interest now that the latest conquerors
OF Peru have withdrawn their presence from the
| scenes here described:
U. S. s. WACHUsETT.
CALLAO. PERU. Sept. II. 1888.
We leave for the south on Thursday,
to remain until December LIST, when we will
return: Saturday, as we expected, we went up
| the mountains and grander trip never had
At $50 a m we left the ship, ten Of u.s. we'll pro-
vided with plenty Of clothing and lunch. Ar
irving at Lima in the regular train we found the
"Favorita" awaiting US. This is a little engine
and car all built in one. and nicely fitted up. 1t
was the private car of the late Mr. Meigs, who
built the road. and it is now used entirely for
excursions. 1t will seat ten very comfortably.
During the ascent nearly every one preferred to
stand in the engine cab. or the part of the car
partitioned off for that purpose where we could
look out ahead. We started from Lima at 1:45
am. and went
FLYING UP THE VALLEY OF THE RIMAC.
For about fifteen miles above the city the val
ley is seven miles wide. with beautiful green
| fields OF corn and other grain, extending from
the little river winding down the middle out to
the base OF the abrupt and barren mountains on
each side. Even now, although the country was
devastated by war but couple of years ago
and Is yet in the possession Of the enemy, the
fields and everything look thrifty, and suggest
state OF prosperity hardly expected under the
circumstances. 1t Is almost unnecessary to say
that 1t s not due to native enterprise but to the
enterprising North Americans who have come
here and erected sugar mills. cotton mills AMI
flour mills and established all kinds of CONNER
| clal houses, besides building the railroad up
into the heart of the almost impossible noun
tains. thus opening up to the world one OF the
richest OF mining countries. Along the banks
OF the river are number Of sugar mills and
cotton mills. Here and there along the route
are
RUINS OF VILLAGES.
Some Of them were abandoned ages ago,
but most of them were destroyed during the
late war. Every station along the railroad has
garrison Of CHILEAN soldiers, and the only
houses that appear habitable are used by them.
There are many crosses or little affairs standing
alone along the road side, st some of which
saw devOut Catholics at prayers. Among
the ruins OF the villages one can always distin-
gulsh the cathedral, which is usually the largest
and. in fact. the only building OF any size or
having any pretensohs to architectural design
IN construction to be seen. Nearly all OF the
houses are built Of mud; many Of them built
during the reigns Of The Incas. The cathedrals
are usually built Of stone, and are very massive
and generally imposing in appearance. They
always have at least one bell tower with a
chime, or rather number of bells, rung by
means Of braided ropes.
zIGzAG GING UP THE MOUNTAIN.
AS we ascend the valley it.gradually narrows
until there is not foot of level land along its
banks. Then the railroad commences it's sharp
ascent, being built in cuts in the mountain
sides. The grade is Gil feet to the mile. When
going up it looks just as though we were climb
ing hill. you can see the inclination so plainly
A place called San Bartonio is where we begin
the ascent in earnest. Here we run up to the
station and onto a tufntable where we turn CON-
pletely around and rim back in the same direc-
ton. but curving around and up the mountain
side. After running this way little way we
run back again. so that after travelling three
miles we find ourselves directly above the sta
ton about 600 feet and the river as much further
below the town. From there we run up quite
distance, without any more Of these develop
ments" Gas they call'the V construction that the
road makes while running backward and for
ward.
HIGH BRIDGEs--FORTY TUNNELS IN FIFTY MILES.
A few miles farther on we come 20 the great
Aqua de Verrugas, over which there is a bridge,
one of the highest In the world. From the bed
of the river up to the track Of the road is 252
feet. 1t is not a suspension bridge either but
is built on three iron piers At each end there
ia a tunnel, SO you run out of a tunnel onto the
bridge. and then from the bridge into tunnel
again. In a distance of fifty miles there are
forty tunnels. and in places you can look up and
see two tunnels above you as you are just en-
tering one, and then you soon afterwards look
down and see those through which you have
just passed. You keep on climbing gradually
upward and upward. passing over high bridges
and running along the edges Ofclffs with the little
river winding along thousands Of feet below.
SCENES OF BEAUTY AND GRANDEUR.
In places the valley widens ont little, 80
that there may be seen at once several villages
on the river banks. and numbers of beautiful
green fields and pastures, with cattle and llamas
in them. All along the mountain sides can be
seen the trails leading into the villages on their
way over the mountains, and every now and
then horseman or a train Of llamas can be seen
slowly winding their way along the trail, look
ing like mere specks, they are so many feet be-
low or above US, or may be directly opposite.
across the valley. In places we would come out
of tunnel onto the edge ola high cliff over
looking the valley stretching out far below, and
partly shut out by clouds. like some pictured
sketch; something that person might expect to
see only on canvass; an attempted description of
which in words is a mere mockery of its gran
deur and beauty. Before leave here am go
ing to get number of views of the road, so
that you can form some idea of what it looks
like.
BEFORE THE SPANISH CONQUEST
by Pizarro. about $50 years ago, there were so
many people in the valley that they were obliged
to cultivate the mountain Sides In order to do
this they built series of terraces from the base
to the top of the mountains and grew their
corn and other crops on them. In order to get
water up to these terraces they built series of
aqueducts and carried the river water up there.
These terraces and the ruins of the aqueducts
can be seen all along the valley. By the time
that we reached the elevation of 1900 feet we
all began to feel the
EFFECTS OF THE RARE ATMOSPHERE.
Our heads all felt swelled up, especially at the
temples; our faces became flushed, and our eyes
looked as though we had bad cold in our
heads. As we continued to climb I'D it got
worse, until some of the party felt very badly
by the time we reached Chicla, the present end
of the road. at an elevation of IL go feet It
is 80 miles from Lima. and situated in the val
Icy If tho RinnAc