Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-06-02

at about 9 o'clock the same evening.
The captain of our boat was kind
enough to take us out of our regular
course into Admiralty sound. where we
had a beautiful view of Mt. Sarmiento,
enc of the highest mountain peaks.
Many of the tourists on this cruise,
who have seen practically all of the
grand scenery of the world, stated that
the scenery in the Magellan straits Is
absolutely unsurpassed.
"The greatest novelty in food we
ever experienced was the sea SPIDER
which is found in the Magellan straits
at Punta Arenas. They are a species
of lobster, and those we had weighed
about three pounds. They have a
roundish body. with four legs on each
side. They are more meaty and of bet
ter favor than the lobster. Some day
these will be brought to the American
market canned, and will be a delicacy
on our bills of fare.
Bahia is one of the oldest cities of
Brazil, and third in size, and was the
ancient capital. 1t was founded about
the year 1900. 1t is built on plains of
val lllS dllIluucSs anu bACIS 10 uPpCI
and a lover town. The upper town is
reached ny electric elevators made by
the Otis Elevator company. We arriv-
ed in this town on Sunday morning and
spent the day in the city. Most of our
time was occupied in riding on street
cars, as there were no carriages or
automobiles to be had in the town. The
first car. ride we took out through the
residence portion of the city, dis
lance of perhaps a mile and a half.
Every three or four blocks the conduc-
tor would collect 100 reis for each per
son (about 31s cents of our money!.
Returning from the end of the line,
paid Mr.. Conductor 1900 refs for my
party of three, which was equivalent
to Is cents per persona pretty high
street car fare for a distance of about !
a mile. We also visited the public |
market, and there we found the filthiest |
conditions that we have ever seen any |
where. We supposed we had seen filthy |
places in Tangiers, Algiers and Pales- |
tine, but there was nothing that would |
compare with the market place of |
Bahia and the poorer residence dis
tricts of the city.
Para is a city Of about 200 900, sit |
uated on the Tocantin river, the main |
tributary of the Amazon. This is one
of the greatest rubber markets IN the |
world, and at the time we were there,
there was over ten million dollars of
rubber stored there in warehouses,
with the view of cornering the market.
We learned that a syndicate backed by
the government was attempting to cor
ner the rubber market, the same as was
done about a year ago at Santos In
coffee.
I'VE crossed the continent from
Buenos Aires to Valparaiso The rail-
road for ITS miles west of Buenos
Aires is an air line over the fat coun-
try. The distance is $50 miles from
Buenos Aires to Mendoza, the foot of
the Andes mountains, and no prettier
farming country can be found any
where in the world. That entire strip
Of country is practically as level as q
billiard table. and / did not suppose
here were as many cattle in the world
as We saw on our first days trip. The
railroad is a very good one and is own
I'd and controlled by English capital.
The road across the mountains from
Mendoza to Santiago is a narrow gauge
-oad of the cog type. This road pierces
he mountain at an altitude OF 10,250
'eet above sea and the descent from
he tunnel through the mountain to
Santiago is q very steep grade
MY family and enjoyed every min
lite of this cruise, and Will take pleas
ire in recommending II To any OF my
riends who are in search OF rest and
leslth."