The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1922-07-06
-SS9{sSSaAS8s8G55SSz}s--
View OF Santiago, Chile.

View OF So
prepared by the National Geographic
Society. Washington, d. Co
Chile, whose diplomats are in con-
ference in Washington with those or
Peru i'm an effort To solve the Tacna-
africa problem. might be called 'the
South American California" II is
long and narrow, and its region of
greatest development and population
Is a great, rich valley with low noun
tains separating ii from the coast, and
with a steep, snow-capped range tow
ering above it to the east.
Chile is the longest and narrOwest
Of all the countries of the world. 1t
stretches 300 miles, from Cape Horn
to the deserts of Tarapaca and Tacna,
within the tropics. Its width is rare
" more than 125 miles from the ocean
to the Andean crest. If we We're TO
place IL upon Il similar stretch Of coast
I'm North America, ii would cover Low
er California, California, Oregon,
Washington, and British Columbia to
Illt OF. IllldS hlSlllNN vi [AitlShts
Chile is divided into three sections
by the natural features of the Pacific
slOpe of the Andes. The northern is
that of the semi-arid and desert re-
gion, which reaches from Peru south
ward to Valparaiso 1t is an utter deS-
ert in the north and becomes less in
hospitable toward the south. 1t is
traversed from the Andes to the coast
by short. deep valleys, separated by
high spurs of the mountains and COM
municatiOn from north to south has
always been exceedingly difficult. New
ertheless, the Chilean engineers found
a route by which to extend the state
railway which links Puerto MOntt, in
n latitude comparable to that of New
York, with PisagIa in the territories
conquered from Peru, which has lat
itude comparable to that of Mexico
City.
Heart Of the Country.
The central section of Chile extends
through nine degrees of latitude for a
distance of about GOO miles from Val.
paraiso to the island of Chloe, south
of Puerto Montt. This is the heart
of Chile, the only portion of the coun'
try which can support sufficient pop
ulatiOn to constitute nation. The
area is not large, about 100000 square
miles, and much of it is occupied by
mountain ranges Of great height and
ruggedness.
But between the Andes and the coast
range there extends in this section 8
valley similar to that of California
which is the seat of the Chilean peO
pie. Many rivers rising in the Andes
descend to it and meander more OF
less directly westward through the
coast range of the Pacific; but the in
tervening divides are nowhere of suci
altitude as to interrupt the cOntinuit!
of the great valley that extends from
north to south. Santiago is situated
at its northern end, and flOurishinl
cities are located at each favorable
point on the railway that connects the
capital with Puerto Montt.
= The climate as We go from north Il
tn becomes ever more humid, and
pass from the irrigated lands about
DSantiago to the dense forest swamps
OF the southern portion of the district
While much of the land has beer
cleared or is In the process of clearing
I'm q state which reminds one of oul
own Pacific coast 30 years ago, othel
areas remain impenetrable forests
still unexplored after nearly 400 year,
of occupation Of the country.
The third section of Chile, extendin,
southwark from Puerto Montt through
"A degrees of latitude to Cape Horn
Is like our southern Alaskan coast,
stretch Of islands and peninsulas broli
en- by intricate channels and profounC
fiords that penetrate far into the land
Tumultuous rivers descend from tn,
Andes and debOuch into the fiOrds il
swampy deltas which are covered witt
dense forests.
The large island Of Chloe. which
was conquered by Valdivia before TIT
middle of the Sixteenth century, i.
well populated and occupies position
with reference to the more frequentet
northern coast similar to that which
Vancouver island holds to San Fran
cisco. Farther south the population
becomes very scanty, glaciers de
scend from the Andean heights, and
the savage but majestic scenery OF
Smythe channel and the Straits OF
Magellan suggests that of the INLAND