Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-11-01

tifully cared for, the windows polished every
DAY and every inch OF veranda and uncsrpeted
| moor scrubbed white as snow. Meanwhile the
| carpets have faded and moths have riddled the
| crimson hangings and Father Time has been
| whitening the hair OF the ancient servitor. but
mas been unable to abate his devotion by one
| lot or little.
| HENRY MEIGGs.
Nights in this deserted casa, with the watch
| ful lunatic rowing about and the roar OF the
restless ocean sounding in ones ears, are rather
gruesome Ghosts of abortive schemes and
| dead ambitions seem proving around the
PREMISES lurking in the empty rooms and
hiding behind the moth-eaten hangings. On
| tine parlor walls are pictures of the Meiggs
oEothsrs, once the railroad kings of Peru, both
now dead OF Henry Meiggs. the older and
| more famous brother. everybody has heard.
Tor Bret Harte has written about him. Mark
| Twain has used him Tor text. and for wears he
| was part or The history of this country. Less
| IMAM thirty years ago he was partner of Rail
ston. the California banker, and close friend
| OF senator Sharon. Flood. Mackey, OBrien
| anu the rest Of the golden princes whose
honors dated from the days of 40 Under
some stress OF temptation he committed
| rorgerles IN San Francisco, and when the
| crime was discovered, one dav. he calmly
| rowed out into the bay, climbed upon the deck
| OF schooner, purchased her and sailed away
| IN search OF pastures new. He came to Peru.
bringing with him much of his wealth and all
| dlthcuites under which this country was
| struggling and overcame them. He sent back
| money to California to reimburse with good in
| terest those who had suffered by his forgeries;
| put ne never returned himself and finally died
| here, one of the richest and most influential
| men on the western coast.
| TEACHING TO BUILD RAILROADS.
| Says recent writer on this subject: Little
more than a quarter of q century ago IN I'M
known man, fugitive from Justice arrived at
| the port of Callao and appeared among the
Spanlards, much as Nance Capac. at once the
| Adam and the Christ of the Incas appeared to
| the indians 1000 years before. AS the mystic
| rlous Capac taught those early people a knowl-
| edge of tho agricultural and mechanical arts
| this unknown man taught their successors to
| build railroads and today he stands as their ideal
| OF 1ankee enterprise and engineering genius.
| he plunged the government OF Peru into
a debt that will never be paid, but
laid the foundation for q system of internal de-
| Velopment that will one day bring wealth to
| the great republic. From Ecuador to Pata-
| gonna, through Peru, Bolivia and Chill, Meiggs
enterprises extend; and the result is a series of
railroads at right angles with the coast, con-
| meeting tho interior Of the country with the
sea ports and giving to the mines in tho noun
| talns, the nitrate bed, estates and sugar haci-
| endas easy outlets to the ocean. Nearly every
| port on :he western side of the continent has
| Its little railway, from twenty to twenty-five
| miles long. Some of them reach into the heart
of tho Andes. and all are arteries of commerce,
| making profitable possessions that would other
| wise be worthless"
| FROM MoLLENDo TO VALPARAISO
the coast for more than 1000 miles is a piano.
rama Of desolation, a succession of bleak and
barren cliffs, unrelieved by a patch of green.
| ON one hand the mighty Pacific sweeps its
| great sweIls almost around the world. as regu-
| lar and constant as the throbbing of the human
| pulse, while the other risal ha
| trable Andes, in a wall whose average height is
| l0,OOO feet, some of the snow-topped peaks
| towering $4,000 feet above the sea. Between
| the ocean and the mountains is a strip of drift
| ing sand, varying IN width from twenty TO fifty
| miles, which no river irrIgates and where rain
| never falls. All the water used by the people
| Is taken from the ocean. that for mechanical
purposes being used in its natural state, to the
| great detriment of the machinery, and tina. for
| food being condensed into steam and thus
| purged of its salt There is not a well nor
| spring IN all that distance and drinking water
| Is an article OF merchandise, like milk or meat
| costing consumers about seven cents per
| gallon.
| NoRTHwARD FROM MoLLENDo,
away up to Plsco, one is constantly within sight
OF the coast, and sometimes hugging it closely.
The country still preserves its desert aspect,
with the single interruption of small but pro-
| ductlve valley called Canete. while the
| mountains of the western cordllera fill the
eastern horizon, and occasionally the snowy
| speaks OF the great central chain are visible
AT Pisco stream of; the same name comes
! rushing down to the sea through valley liter
| ally purple with grapes. OF this valley lie the
| high and rocky islands of Chincha, famous for
their guano deposits, which, for many years.
were a source OF great wealth to Peru.
| DEsoLATE COUNTRY.
! Beyond Pisco the bare and silent heights
again trend down to the ocean-heights that
can hardly be called mountains as they are
only the broken ridges of lofty desert pla-
| teau, undermined by the sea and corroded by
| ceaseless winds. One or two small rivers sue
| coed in piercing this elevated desert, but their
| beds are mere canons, with no land on either
side and no intervals of soil fit for cultivation
| The few towns and villages stand back at the
| foot OF the cordiIleras. from sixty to one hun
| dred miles inland, where streams, fed by the
Andean SHOWS, emerge from the mountains in
perennial volume, to be speedily drunk up by
| the thirsty sands.
1t should be understood that while the prin-
! cipal chain of South American mountains. ex-
| tending from Patagonia to Panama, forming
| the backbone of the hemisphere connecting
| with the Sierra Madres of Mexico and farther
| north the Rockies, is named the Andes; the
cordilleras are the lateral and lower chains
that generally run parallel to the great range
| The word sierra. IN Spanish sgnifying saw
teeth" Is used to designate the spurs or lrrecu-
| lar lines of mountains that stretch from the
Andes proper to the cordilleras or that push
out from the latter into the fat parama or
desert
FIRST IMPRESSION
| A celebrated professor, who madc this same
| journey years ago, relates his first impression
of these Andean heights as follows: "We
look with unspeakable interest toward the
great mountain pillows before US, each sue
ceeding bilow higher and more mysterious;
and wonder what marvels of rocks and streams,
| what remains of ancient human greatness,
| they conceal, and what Will be our own sensa-
| tons when, after days of travel and toll and
| nights of cold and exposure we shall be swal-
| lowed up i'll their unknown recesses. In one
who had written and read much of Peru. and
of its wise and powerful Inca rulers and with
| whom journey TO the centers of ancient
| civilization had been the dream OF a lifetime.
this standing at the portal of the Promised
| Land and this realization of wish which be-
| fore had scarcely dared do more than to as
| sumo the outlines Of hope inspires solemn
feelings of awe and responsibility rather than
! those Of eagerness and romance"
| FANNIE B. WARD.
A Boys Essay on Girls.