Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-04-26

cline, and the calles (streets) are laid out in
regular squares. As the population in
creased, the rocky hills had to be made
available, and now the town, which runs
along shore some three or four miles, ex-
tends back a. considerable distance. More
correctly speaking, it extends skyward, one
mans house being built above another's,
reached by long stairways, winding roads
and lifts" propelled by steam, similar to
those in use at Niagara.
Like Some Spots In Pittsbure.
Making neighborly calls on foot in this
portion OF the city Is too hard work TO be-
come very popular, while coming down
again is positively dangerous when the walks
happen to be slippery after o rain. Thus
one mans vegetable garden may seem to
hang suspended directly over another mans
roof; and the latter, by reaching out of his
upper windows, might almost help himself
to the formers beets and cabbages.
A friend of mine, who has house oppo-
site the, Hotel Colon, set close up to the
steep, rocky escarpment. relates an amusing
story of how he heard terrible commotion
one night in the rear of his bedroom, and
having searched in vain for the cause
thereof, remained sleepless till daylight,
wondering whether it were a visitation OF
ghosts or burglars. Morning revealed a
strange but ludicrous sight A horse,
which had been seen the day before grazing
peacefully upon the lawn above, had some
how slipped off in the darkness and stuck
fast in the narrow space between the cliff
and the back wall of my friends house on
the terrace next below, where his fruitless
struggles had nearly demolished the clap
boards. By dint of lowered ropes, the
luckless animal was at length rescued, very
little the worse for his adventure.
Vehicles for Up-Hin Travel
There are two kinds OF public hacks for
hire in Valparaiso, and one chooses between
them according to his destination. If bis
excursion is confined to the lower town, he
takes an ordinary carriage with two horses
attached; but ii the hills are to be assembled,
he must pay nearly double the price for a
heavier built vehicle to which three horses
are harnessed abreast-the law forbidding
any others to go up The haphazard paths
that were originally laid out by the goats
that fed upon the mountain sides, meander
about in the most confusing manner, but
are now abandoned except by pedestrians,
for all wheels 60 by the splendid new road,
winding about the bills, which has lately
been completed distance Of about nine
miles.
Viewed from the bay, especially Of an
evening, Valparaiso presents fine appear
snce, with long lines of lights, one above
another, making it look, as Mr.. Curtiss
says, like "a city turned up on end" EIec-
trio lights placed upon the crests of the
cliffs throw their rays and intensified shad-
ows upon the streets and terraces and gar
dens below, with the effect of moonlight.
But by ''the garish light of day" the rows
OF houses and huts, of irregular shapes and
elevations, clinging to the precipices like so
many birds-nests look as if one stiff breeze
would blow them off into the bay.
Finest Port of the Continent.
Mr.. Vincent likens Valparaiso to vast
amphitheater. regarding the ridge of the
hills as aisles. and is reminded of Hong
kong by its sloping position, and of Quebec
by its spurs which terminate in bluffs at the
waters edge. At any rate. despite its nat
ural disadvantages Chilean enterprise, as
sisted by English, French and German cap
ital, have made here q splendid city-the
finest port in South America, in fact the
only one on the Southern continents which
can show all modern improvements. 1t re-
sembles rity of France or Germany, or
even of the United States, more nearly than
it does any other in this country. But our
NoEthern Republic has no city with only
Vslparaiso's population G25,000) which
contains SO many fine shops and such dis
play Of costly and luxurious articles. The
foreign element is large and wealthy, the
natives proud and prosperous, and, like the
nearby capital, the places famous for the
extravagance of its citizens. Many of the
private residences are palaces in their pro-
portions and adornments, and millionaires
are as common here as ten-thousand-dollar
people at home.
The principal commercial street. called the
Gale Victoria, stretches around the entire
harbor and presents some splendid archi-
lecture, there having, been considerable
rivalry in the matter Of elaborately carved
facades and other adornments
Electric lights are used in the leading
hotels and shops. the streets have Belgian
pavements, and the sidewalks are smoothly
tagged, though some of them are so narrow
that pedestrians must hug the wall when
street car passes. There are splendid
churches; parks and plazas, filled with trees
and flowers, in the midst of which fountains
are set, and beautiful statuary in bronze and
marble-most OF the latter, regret to add,
having been stolen from Peru during the re-
cent war. There is magnificent thester;
clubs as fine as the average in New York or
London; picture galleries, public libraries
and reading rooms-in short, ell the ad-
Jun cts of modern civilization.
A Statue to an Irishman.
Spanish-Amerieans seem to have a pas
sio n for erecting monuments to dead heroes,
AM d among several in Valparaiso is one re-
cen tly set up on the site OF the old custom
h ouse, to the memory of Mr.. Arthur Pratt,
t.. L.