The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1891-05-16
IN QUEEREsT IQUIQUE.
THE SCENE OF A SAVAGE AND
BLOODY BATTLE.
Pon Points from the Most Interesting
Region OF Chile-.sNitrate Kings"
and tho Boundless Source
OF Their Wealth.

u
"a seaport second only to Valparaiso
In population and commercial import
ance, In wide contrast to the burned
and battered ruin the rebels made Of
1t on their recent raid. says Fannie b.
Ward In the Philadelphia Record. As
most OF my readers are aware, it has
long been the great shipping point Of
nitrate OF Soda vast business, prac-
tically controlled by English capital;
and therefore in the eyes of English
men Iquique Is OF moro consequence
than all the rest OF Chile put together.
In the battle here between the gov
eminent troops and the rebels on the
10Th and goth ult. every building in the
six principal squares was completely
destroyed. The insurgents seized the
custom house. pillaged private resi-
dences, and finally set fire to the bust
ness quarter and reduced it to ashes.
The terrified women and children. who
were hidden in the inner rooms of their
houses to escape bombs and flying bull
cts, had the walls burned or pulled
down over their heads during the sack
ing process and in this way several
hundred defenseless creatures persisted
like rats in hole.
Low-class Chileans are proverbially
cruel and the soldiers, having once
had taste of blood are worse than so
many savages. This was many times
proved in the war with Peru. After
one or two disastrous battles the Peru
vians, knowing what to expect If they
fell into the hands Of the merciless en-
envy, when defeat was certain, leaped
into the sea or killed themselves with
their own bayonets.
The term "cut-throat" applies we'll
to the Chilean soldier, for every one
of them carries a short, curved knife
--sharpened on the inner side OF the
curve-that just fits a human neck,
and is terribly expert in its use. Not
long ago we were entertained in the
house of a wealthy citizen of Santiago,
when he showed me with great pride
and satisfaction glass case containing
upward OF 200 gold and silver medals,
such as these Southern governments
delight to bestow upon their soldiers
for distinguished bravery, and related
how they were all torn from the breasts
of dead or wounded officers on the
battle-felds OF Peru.
For moro than q year past the
nitrate people have been doing little
profitable business, principally on
account OF the government troubles
and consequent strikes among the la
borers, and also because the English
market Is overstocked with the COM
modify and therefore its price is cor
respondingly low. From this nitrate
industry alone the Chilean government
has been collecting revenue of about
$50. 100000 per annum in export
duties. Some eight months ago, when
workmen were striking all over the
country, on account Of hard times,
occasioned by the persistent refusal OF
congress to pass the appropriation
bills. these Iquiqui laborers made a
great deal OF trouble.
The workmen had been receiving
from 81 10 $40 q day in Chilean paper
currency (worth about one-third the
amount in United States or English
gold), and when exchange dropped
lower and lower they demanded to be
paid in silver instead of in paper. rs
formerly, which would in reality,
about double their wages. This the
nitrate companies refused to do. be-
cause they were making no money
themselves, and the established rate
of payment was exceptionally good
for Chile. Then the laborcrs struck
en- masse, and threatened to burn down
the works and warehouses unless their
demands were acceded to. The man
ayers importuned the president to send
troops TO their assistance. But the
government was so distracted with its
own troubles and the revolts that were
springing up all over the country that
aid was not dispatched TO Iquiqui in
time to do much good. The conse-
quence was that several of the largest
nitrate companies were compelled to
suspend work entirely, to their own
ruin and the suffering OF hundreds OF
poor families and the loss to Chile's
treasury at critical time when she
can i'll afford it.
Perhaps the greatest natural curios-
ity on the Southern Continent is this
inexhaustiblc deposit of nitrate of soda.
Beds Of it arc strewn along the west
ern coast for five hundred miles; and
throughout all that distance the
physical aspect of tho country is the
everywhere an arid range of
hills from four to six thousand feet
high. rising abruptly out of the
Pacific, backed by desert pampa
(plain) from fifty TO one hundred miles
wide, which gradually ascends to the
foot of the snowy Cordillera. No
where else in the world except in this
particular pampa are nitrates found in
quantities worth mentioning.
A few years ago water sold on the
Atacama desert for $50 the arroba, or
about $3.50 per gallon, and drink for
mule cost Is English shillings.
Finally. at place in the desert called
Carmen Alto, sun condenser with
so, 600 square feet OF glass was en-
ployed to distill fresh water from TINT
OF the sea. This was afterward
wrecked by whirlwind, but smaller
apparatus on the same principle is now
being worked at Sierra Gordo. and