Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-10-31


In these days Of progress all things are
changed Now one may come at ease from
either direction In parlor car to the base of
the Andes. and even some distance up their
Gdes aud change cars for the Atlantic or
Psclte by a trip In the saddle of from three to
sx days duration. according to ones power of
endurance and the state of the weather. On
the Argentine side the distance between Mem
dozA aad Buenos Ayres Is about the same as be-
tween New York and ST. Louis II takes a little
less than four DAYS to traverse il by rail and.
being IN a familiar Pullman one might easily
imagine ones self in the United States were il
not Tor gilmpses Of long-legged ostriches scud-
aing across the plains. droves of wild horses
and strange villages en- route. The railway il
q government affair, completed twelve years
ago, and was christened by q grand celebra-
ton IN which Chile participated. The Chilean
government line ID being gradually extended to
meet IL aad by ana by, # revolutions permit,
the two roads viii meet somewhere in the
heart OF the Andes and furnish an uninter-
rupted passage straigh. across the continent
from ocean to ocean
ALrSE THRoCGH TIE UsPALLArA PASS
IL has been proposed to run a line through
the Cspallata pass between Santa Rosa and
Mendoza, a concession has been granted with
this end in view, surveys have been made and
work actually begun. The estimated cost is
SlO.OeO.OOO. and when completed the road will
BRING Buenos Ayres within twenty-nine hours
o. valparaiso. The engineering work, though
very great, will not DO nearly difficult as that
upon either the Croya or Areguipa-Puna road
OF reru- Tor the highest point of this will be
Only 10. 56S feet above sea level crossing the
summit Of the CordIllerras through tunnel
about two miles long The deepest incline will
be S,S per cent, and the minimum curve will
nave = tadlus OF $50 feet By this route the
total distance between VALPARAISO and Buet,os
Ayres Is reduced to $40 miles and a teIeyrap oh
me already connects the two cities IL is an
IRON pole line, In connection with forty miles Of
cable aid under the perpetual SHOWS of the
Andes and which lnsCres Communication he
tween Buenos Ayrss and London via Galveston
In httle more than an hour. Perhaps Won no
ticed, and wondered az il. that most of die lats
Chilean warinews came from Baenos Ayres via
Galveston
Though these grim and terrible Aude. are
more than half the tine totally iinpss,abls 10
ordinary mortals. the native couriers cros.
mem on snow shoes every month in the wear
Desides the heaviest winter clothing, they wear
trousers y. goat or vicCaa skin, the hair side
turned inward. and each takes along a brace of
dogs, as slseping partners. TO keep himself
from freezing on cold nights The dogs are
also provided with a Kind of snow shoes to gre
vent them from sinking ont Of sight in the
drifts. and they help TO drag burdens, as well
- TO relieve the loneliness Of solitary heights
where no living thing exists except the great
Aniean condor Those ugly birds seem to
know the mos. dangerous places and hover
about the precipices IL expecting to feast
on some unIucky animal or his master who
may go tumbiing over tho cliffs During the
terrible wind storms OF June, July and August
Il 10 no: uncommon for mules and their bur-
ders. and sometimes for men and horses, to be
swept from the narrow trails into fathoniless
chasms. ard hardly has the carcass time to
strike bottom before its bones are picked clean
b. those huge birds of prey or carried limb
By limb 10 their nu2gry broods In distan;
syrics-
pERrLs or THE coURfrRa
Thsss are ''sckacks." or mud kuts. whore the