some once a month. The obvious result of this is that the later history of the country makes confused and rather weary reading. One dictator followed another after the collapse of Bolivar’s ambitious dream of establishing a Central South American dictatorship for himself, with the heads of all the other communities subject to his authority. Some of these men, to their credit be it recorded, tried to assume the mantle of the wise ruler, but others were bloodthirsty tyrants. Few of them stand out in bold relief like Francia in Paraguay or Bolivar in New Granada. One of the most celebrated of the bunch was Melgarejo, who in the sixties of the last century abandoned all pretence of governing by any sanction except that of brute force and terror. Although the lives of Bolivians were very insecure, for none of them ever knew when they would be charged with conspiracy against the State and sent to execution, Melgarejo’s regime was not one of undiluted evil. The best points in his rule were exemplified in the application of funds for public purposes, and before his overthrow in 1871 silver production had enormously increased, foreign capital had flowed freely into the country, and the Mollendo Railroad, extending to the head of Lake Titicaca, had been opened.
The war with Chili, in which she joined forces with Peru, ended disastrously for Bolivia, for it entailed the loss of her nitrate territory, and cut her off entirely from the Pacific Ocean.
It is in the retrieving of that highway to the sea that her prosperity in the future lies.
The highlands of Bolivia have been compared with Thibet, the roof of the world, but whilst the Asian tableland consists merely of mountain pastures, that of South America supports towns and populous cities, and affords food for numerous herds of cattle, llamas, vicunas, and sheep, and is covered with harvests of cereals. The mineral wealth of Bolivia lies principally in the western districts, which are consequently the most populous and settled, containing the chief centres of trade at La Paz, Cochabamba, Sucre, Potosi, and Oruro. The eastern provinces of Beni and Santa Cruz cannot as yet point to more than their possibilities, which are vividly suggested in the description of a traveller from the United States, who declared that “the few scattered inhabitants gaze upon a wealth sufficient to pay the national debts of the world.”
The population of the country is something just under three millions. The trade is principally in the hands of Germany and England, but the former country is making far greater headway in the Bolivian markets than are our own merchants and manufacturers. The reason doubtless is that Germany and also France in a lesser degree are taking the trouble to find out what the foreign public really requires.
CHAPTER XIV
“The Land of Nitrates”
VALPARAISO is the principal seaport of the most remarkably shaped country in the world. A narrow strip of land, lying between the Andes and the Pacific, having a length of two thousand eight hundred miles, and a width varying from forty to one hundred and sixty miles, it has not inaptly been compared to a serpent couched on the south-western verge of the continent. When you have voyaged down the coast from Panama, and have experienced the changes from the tropical verdure of the Ecuadorian coast to the arid monotony of the Peruvian seaboard and the dusty, dry melancholy of such Chilian seaports as Iquique, Antofagasta, Tattal, and Coquimbo, the soft grey atmosphere of Valparaiso comes as a welcome relief. One might almost imagine that an English climate had found its way down south, as well as English trade, manners, and customs. Valparaiso—the “Vale of Paradise”—hardly justifies its presumptuous title, for although trees and verdure are plentiful enough, the bay cannot for a moment be compared for beauty with the magnificence of Rio de Janeiro on the other side of the continent. The impressions received are entirely different from any others to be obtained in other parts of South America.
The languorousness of equatorial regions is left behind, and on every hand a virile activity is apparent. This note of virility, which is quite unusual in Latin-American communities, at first excites surprise, and many theories have been advanced to account for the phenomenon. If climate and environment have a great influence on the moulding of racial character, it is not unnatural to suppose that the exceptional characteristics of Chili have had their due effect upon the inhabitants. The Chilians have been called the “English of South America,” and it has been put forward that they derive their origin from the natives of Northern Spain, whereas other South American States were colonised by adventurers from the southern part of the Peninsula. But the precise localities from which the early conquistadors came are lost in the mists of antiquity, and it is therefore much safer to attribute the extraordinary energy and enterprise of the Chilian to his environment, to the harsh experiences he has undergone, and to the strain of Araucanian blood which runs through the whole people. The Spanish colonists from Peru who effected the conquest of the country, had a much tougher proposition to deal with than their compatriots in other parts of the continent, for the natives they found in possession of the soil were not the usual docile type of Indian, but a race of hardy fighters, who were prepared to contest the advance of the invader to the last ditch, as it were. The Araucanian Indians were the most valorous of all the South American aborigines, and it cannot be said with truth that they were ever entirely subjugated, a portion of independent territory being granted them, on honourable terms, after a long struggle. Intermarriage with the Araucanians undoubtedly did much to stiffen the Spanish fibre, and many of the best families in the country to-day are proud to claim descent from this dominant and manly race.
A CHILIAN FARMER.