Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1908-03-26
WITH THE GREAT
AMERICAN FLEET


IN the world.
We rounded Cape Froward, in the
Straits of Magellan, the southernmost
point on the main land Of South Am
erica. about four O'Clock on the morn
ing of February 7th.
First let me say that at this time OF
the year in this country the daylight
begins about three o'clock in the MORN
ing and ends about nine O'Clock at
night, so that we. had nearly eighteen
hours of daylight.
After rounding Cape Froward, we
stood off to the northwest, entering the
most dangerous part of the Straits.
The ships were in column, tour hun
dred yards apart, the same formation
used in going into harbor. and the
passage through was made without
mishap. 1 came on watch at eight
O'Clock that morning, and for four
hours and a half looked at the most
magnificent and impressive scenery In
the world. On either side of the chan
mel. which is not more than a mile
wide, rose high mountains, green with
vegetation at the bottom, and covered
with great snow piles at the top.
Mountains from three hundred to
thousand feet high; freaks in all sorts
of grotesque farmation; here and there
high rocks rising out OF the water
hundreds of feet into the air, absolute
Iy barren of any life; here one rock
with a foundation like hugh steps,
there a line of peaks resembling dom
KEYS head and ears; off to the south
ward peaks going up and up until lost
in the clouds-peaks not yet explored
by man. Huge glaciers run down to
the waters edge-solid masses to
green ice sparkling in the sun. The
glaciers looked as if the waves Of the
sea had been frozen. 1t was most
beautiful to see.
We would be steaming along appar-
emily toward solid crock, when sud
denly we would swing around through
narrow, tortuous channels, and then
apparently for other rocks. AT cape
Crosstide, the Atlantic and Pacific
come together, and here are the most
dangerous currents OF all.
First the sun would shine, then the
wind would blow, icy from the glaoi-
ers, snow would begin to fall, and we
would have what is known as a "wil-
liwaw."
At the western end of the Straits
stand two solid masses of granite hun
dreds of feet in the air; Cape Pillar
and Westminster Rocks. Cape Pillar
is light about 800 feet in the air.
We passed out into the Pacific Ocean
about eight clock that night and laid
our course for Valparaiso.
At the western end of the Straits il
is always stormy and rough. We ran
before the wind for about two days
and then it fell calm. Imagine body
of water as smooth as a piece OF glass.
Such was the Pacific for days at q
time. but though there is no ripple in
the surface there is long swell that
causes the ship to roll a good deal
For miles and miles in the Pacific we
passed over places where the bottom
has never been found. The water does
no. seem to be as blue here as in the
Atlantic, but it is much smoother.
The Chacabuco accompanied us from
Punta Arenas and on Wednesday she
ran ahead of us to make arrangements
for the review of the feet by the Presi
dent of Chile.
On Friday the fourteenth we made
preparations and about two o clock we
ran into the harbur of Valparaiso. All
the town seemed to be out to see us,
for the hills and shore were black with
people. We fred a national salute as
we entered the harbor and stood along
to pass in review before the President.
AS each ship passed the naval honors
were rendered and we continued OH
our way out to sea.
| Seen from the harbor in passing,
Valparaiso seems to be city built on
hills. The country around is very
mountainous. From the harbor we
could see a mountain so miles inland
which was "a, 600 feet high. Signs of
the recent earthquake at Valparaiso
could be seen in the new ground on
the hills. We were given great re-
ception with whistles and guns as we
passed through the harbor- The Chill
leans wished us to stop, but Valparai-
so was not on the list Of ports to be
visited.
We continued on our way to. Callao
and after an uneventful passage, ar
rived here about Ga. m. on February
goth.
Not much of the city can be seen
from the harbor for it is low, lying at
the foot of the mountains. Back of the
city the Andes Mountains rise in three
tiers. The harbor of Callao is thought
to be over volcano. The latter has a
peculiar reddish tinge and a peculiar
odor and taste. Callao has a popula-
tion of about 35, 600 and is the seaport
of Lima. Lima is the capitol of Peru,
a city of about $50, 900 inhabitants and