The Republican journal., 1903-10-29
of Paradise
CITY SET ON EDGE. SOMETHING
ABOUT SOUTH AMERICAS FINEST
SEAPORT.

ABOUT SOUTH AMERICAS FINEST
SEAPORT.
special Correspondence of The Journal.l
VALPARAISO, CHILL, September Is,
1908. Why those imaginative Spaniards
ot the early time should have dubbed
his spot 'Vale of Paradise" nobody
wing nowadays can understand, for
tbere is no vale anywhere in the vicini-
~ and no indication of a paradise.
certainly it is the last place on the face
5f the earth where one would think of
btating great city. Ancient Rome,
+sry tell us, was built upon seven hills;
sut Valparaiso straggles up score OF
tbp,p for the simple reason that there
not room enough on the narrow strip
A. sand between the rugged heights and
..t sea. The horseShoe-curved coast,
IS widest part, admits of eight or
,th streets, but they extend only
5rt distance; in another and longer
-4la there is space for but two streets
-.t4een the cliffs and the rolling surf.
1t greater part of the city, however,
.. lpies a slightly sloping incline, and
r.- ,alles (streets) are laid out in regu-
r squares. AS the population in
.ased, the rocky hills had to be made
4vG.able, and now the town, which
a., along shore some three or four
miles, extends back a considerable dis
ti.ca. More correctly speaking, it ex-
+-uls skyWard, one mans house being
a. above another's, reached by long
=. q gays, winding roads, and lifts
r.uelled by steam, similar to those in
.,r ut Niagara.
Making neighborly calls on foot in
... portion of the city is too hard work
q .ecome very popular, while coming
Down again is positively dangerous
.,n the walks happen to be slippery
.-.gr rain. Thus one mans vegetable
GARDEN seems to hang suspended direct
g uver another mans roof; and the
s--er, by reaching out of his upper
.rdows, may almost help himself to
-.- tormer's carrots and cabbages.
ta acquaintance of mine, who has a
...se opposite the Hotel Colon, set
dose mp to the steep, rocky escarpment,
..tps an amusing story of how he
..s.J a terrible commotiOn one night
-t rear of his bedroom, and having
,-a. ed in vain for the cause thereof,
.auned sleepless till daylight, wonder
FL. ~ hether it were visitation OF
.--., or burglars. Morning revealed
,,.nge but ludicrous sight. A horse,
g a Lad been seen the day before
..-ug peacefully upon the lawn above,
,unehow slipped off in the darkness
s tnck fast in the narrow space be-
....r The cliff and the back wall of my
-....'s house on the terrace next be-
a shere his fruitless struggles had
.. demolished the clapboards. By
lowered ropes the luckless ami
FIJI. rs at length rescued, very little
lI,e for his adventure.
r4 are two kinds of public hacks
s.. in Valparaiso, and one chooses
-,.. ru them according to his destina-
'. If his excursion is confined to
tter town, he takes an ordinary
... .t-e with two horses attached; but
nils are to be ascended, he must
. rlv double the price for heavier
1-hicle, to which three horses are
led abreast-the law forbidding
lhers to 60 up. sThe hap-hazard
hat were originally laid out by
ats that fed upon the mountain
> neander about in the most con-
,.-..- manner, but are now abandoned
-s..f- hv pedestrians, for all wheels 60
splendid new road, winding about
=. nils, which has lately been COM
-eu, distance of nine miles.
we'd from the bay, especially OF an
-aug. Valparaiso presents fine ap-
.v.mce with long lines of lights, one
.o}e another, making it look like a
i.y ,urned up on end. Electric lights
gagrd upon the crests of the cliff throw
ilrlr rays and intensified shadows upon
- streets and terraces and gardens
eoH. with the effect of moonlight.
Bl, by "the garish light of day the
AS of houses and huts, of irregular
ap=s and elevations, clinging to the
!-ipices like so many birds nests,
pk AS if one stiff breeze would blow
l-m off in the bay.
I',r ate lamented author and traveller,
". Vincent, likens Valparaiso to a
ast dmphitheatre, regarding the ridges
u the hills as aisles, and is reminded
Hong Kong by its sloping position,
and of Quebec by its spurs which ter
innate in bluffs at the waters edge. At
uy rate, despite its natural disadvan-
ages Chilian enterprise, assisted by
English, French and German capital,
aye made here splendid city-the
1 MeSt port in South America; in fact
.'e only one on the Southern continent
. Which can show all modern improve
, -tnts 1t resembles a city of France
Germany, or even of the United
''ates more nearly than it does any