The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-07-11
THE WEST COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA.
A Rainless Sky and Arid Fields-Water Five
Cents a Glass.


Valparaiso Letter.
All along the coast from Guayaquil to Co.
qumbo, Chill, the Andes run almost down to
the sea, and snowy peaks stand like line of
majestic giants on dress parade The shore is
black and desolate, lined with cliffs of barren
rock or strips of desert sand. This is the rain
less region of South America on which the sky
sheds no moisture, and where only occasionally
a little stream, snOw-born in the mountains,
comes down across the desert, and leaves
green trail along its course. Wherever water
can be had for irrigation the soil produces pro-
fusely, but below Calao there is not green thing
for thousand miles. Back of the coast from
five to ten leagues, are the nitrate beds, and at
every available harbor stands a mud-built town,
connected with the mines by little narrow gauge
railways, which bring the nitrate to the ships.
All of these towns are supplied with water only
by artificial means. Sea water is the best for
reducing the nitrates, as it contains just the
proper amount of salt; but for food of men and
animals it has to be condensed and the salt eX
tracted, very expensive process. At all OF
these mining towns filtered drinking water is
sold over the bars like beer. at five cents glass,
and a bucketful for domestic purposes or for
watering animals costs seven cents Trains
loaded with tanks of water are constantly
shipped to the mines from the condenser, and at
some places pipes are laid.
There is peculiar phenomenon at Callao
which is said to exist nowhere else in the world,
and is the cause of an immense amount of pro-
1t is called the Callao painter" and is sort of
block dew, which arises from the water and
clings to the surface of everything it touches
like frost. Unlike frost, it will not melt. but
dries in the sun, and has to be scraped off with
a good deal of elbow greese and holystone.
Ship captains are naturally very much aggravat
ed to have their woodwork painted with this
nasty stuff which has repulsive smell, and for
days after leaving Callao the crew of every ship
is kept busy scraping it off.
iCo n o;,,;A N - co
and character and doctors differ, as usual.
Some say it is from solution of guano forced
UP by gases from the bottom Of the sea. Others
argue that 1t is volcanic dust, lifted from the
bottom by subterranean forces: and there are
still more who believe it to be the decayed spawn
of whales, wiped off the face of the water by
rising dew; but whatever its origin, it is some
thing nobody likes.
africa, a town about half way from Calao to
Valparaiso is famous for its tidal waves, which
usually occur once in seven years. without any
premOnltion. and sweep into destruction every
thing that comes in their way. In 1868 there
were two United States men -oT-war in the har-
Dor, the Wateree and the Fredonia, when a wave
sixty feet high came sweeping In from the
ocean and wiped the town out of existence A
loaded railway car, with the locomotive and
tender attached, We're lifted by the force of the
water it receded, and were carried bodily
upon a rocky reef half mile from the shore.
The FredOnla was dashed against the rocks and
shattered while the Wateree was carried inland
about mile and left high and dry on the sand.
Every soul On the former vessel was lost. but
about half Of the officers and crew of the latter
survived the deluge. All the other shipping in
the harbOr was destroyed.
During the recent war between Peru and
Chilli africa was the scene of a memorable hand
to-hand conflict. resulting i'll enormous loss of
life. At one end of the town is a promontory
with precipice looking sheer downward 600
feet to the sea, and sloping off at steep grade
to the plains behind Upon this point the Pc
ruvians erected battery to defend the harbor,
but the Chilians landed force of 1000 men at
small town some miles below, and marched
them overland during the night toward africa.
When morning broke the Peruvians found them
selves surprised by a charging army coming up
the slope behind them, and cutting them off
from retreat. Their guns were useless, as they
had been planted so as to only command the
harbOr. and they We're short of small arms. The
Chilians killed !, 700 of them, $50 having been
crowded over the precipice during the struggle,
their bodies being afterward found in the surf
At Antofagasta town which looks like an
Arizona mining camp without a drop offresh
water within fifty miles, the war began over the
refusal OF a CHILEAN nitrate company to pay a
duty of ten cents a hundred weight on its eX-
ports. The CHILEAN government sent man of
up to protect the company in its refusal, and
the affair ended by the annexation Of the whole
territory to Chill, and duty of 81 60 upon every
hundred weight of nitrate exported. The COM
pany thinks it jumped out of the frying pan into
the tlre.
When Coquimbo is reached we find an interna-
tional naval station, where five English men of
war are gathered preparing for the fight with
Russia The old frigate Shenandoah, of the
United States navy, lies at anchor store
ship boarding coal and food for the South Pa
cifc squadron. The English government has
purchased from Chill the famous Esmerelda,
just completed at the ship-yards on the Clyde
and said to be the finest cruiser aflOat also two
torpedo boats, and two of the fastest vessels of
the Pacific Steam Navigation Company eapa-
bic Of making sixteen knots an hour, which
are being rapidly overhauled and armed to pro-
tect the British shipping along the south Pacific
coast
Here the coast begins to shos little verdure,
and we enter the area OF good butter and fresh
milk. From New Orleans to Coquimbo, between
the Tropic of Cancer and the IrOpic of Capri
corn, ali milk is boiled as soon as it comes from
the dairy, and treated to secure it against the
weather Condensed milk, from Switzerland, is
preferable to the boiled stuff, and cream IS I'M
known The butter used in the tropics comes
from Holland, in cans, and good bread is better
without it, But at COQuimbo the dairy farms of
Chill begin, fresh milk and cream are brought
aboard in bottles and jugs and rolls of fresh
sweet butter make a hungry American think of
home.
There is system of what is called deck
trading along the coast, by which the green
grocers turn the ship into market house. All
the way from Panama to Valparaiso it is the
custom for the hucksters to come aboard at the
fertile towns with supplies or fruit and vegeta-
bles, which are spread out on the decks and sold
to the people Of the desert who board the ship to
buy. These deck traders bring their own beds
and cooking utensils and make the ship rather
disaGreeable. Sometimes you find a woman
with three or four children, half naked around
ner, peddling potatoes and watermeons, fresh
bananas, pineapples and other fruits When
they reach Valparaiso they take on a new lot of
stuff and sail back to the place they started FROM
spending the most of their lives at sea. Atever
port where the vessel stops there is "a crowd of
hotel keepers, restauraueurs, and other pushing
citizens who rush in to get the first selection Of
the garden truck aboard
Colored Poker
Philadelphia News.
Ny tale concerns the descendants of Ham