Omaha daily bee., 1898-08-28

Chill begins in a desert and continues in
it for more than thousand miles. Later
on it bursts out into green valley be-
tween high mountains and ends in the
grassy islands Of the southernmost part Of
the hemisphere 1t Is nowhere over 200
miles wide, and in some places it is not
more than fifty, but 1t is so long that If it
were laid upon the face of the United
States, beginning at New York, it would
! make wide track across 1t to far beyond
Salt Lake, and If it could be stretched from
south to north with TERRA del Fuego at the
lowermost edge Of Florida, it's upper prov
inces would be found in Hudson bay almost
even with the top of Labrador. Chilli is
$500 miles long. 1t embraces all of the
land between the tops of the Andes and
the Pacific ocean south of the River Sama,
which divides it from Peru, and it has, in
addition, most of the islands about the
Straits of Magellan. The question as to
just where the boundary of Chill and the
, Argentine Republic lies is one of dispute
between the two countries, and one which
promises to bring about war sooner or
later. Just now the relations Of the Chill
ians and the Argentines are strained al
most to breaking, and no one knows how
soon war may result. OF this, however,
will write in the future
Winter In Chill.
! A land of this kind must be one OF many
climates 1t is now winter on this side Of
the equator, but I found it quite warm in
the north. Here at Valparaiso one needs
an overcoat when the sun is not shining
and at the Straits of Magellan / am told
that the ground is now covered with snow
and that night begins at o'clock in the
afternoon. During my travels in western
Peru and Bolivia weeks passed without a
drop of rain. 1t never rains in northern
Chilli, and everything in the cities l there
visited was as dry as Sahara. The great
question in most of the towns along the
coast is where to get water to drink. At
Mollen1o, Peru, a little above the Chilan
border the water supply comes from the
Andes, near Arequipa, through an iron pipe
more than 100 miles long. At Iquique water
! is piped more than eighty miles, and Anto-
fagasta gets its drinking water away up in
the Andes $50 miles back from the coast
This Antofagasta aqueduct is l believe, the
longest in the world. In coming from
Bolivia down to the sea I visited the great
reservoir within a stones throw of a dead
volcano, down the sides of which this noun
tain water flows, and rode on the cars for
almost day over a thirsty desert along the
line of the aqueduct. At other ports
found them selling water. This is the
/ case in many of the nitrate settlements
| The steam from the engines Of the nitrate
! factories is condensed and there are engines
used solely for making drinkable water
! from that of the sea. AS you sail from this
desert region south you now and then pass
valleys in which little river from the
| Andes makes everything green. but 1t is not
until you reach Valparaiso that the rainfall
| is heavy enough to cover the whole country
with verdure Further south OF here the
| rains steadily increase until at distance
OF 300 or 400 miles you come into terri
tory where the people facetiously say that
! II rains thirteen months every year. At
| Port Montt, in south Chill, the rainfall is
| 1lS inches every twelve months, and here
! it is only fifteen. In this part OF the coun-
| try and in the northern part OF the central
valley the climate is much like that OF
| southern California, The skies are bright
for at least eight monthes and during the
remainder OF the year there are only occa-
sional showers. This region has in fact, an
almost perfect climate, and this is so In all
| OF the provinces OF north and central
| Chill.
The Riches of chill.
The long sausage which comprises the land
of Chill is full OF excellent meat. There are
| few countries OF it's area which have such
wonderful natural resources. 1 have