Crossing the Cordilleras.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 138, 7 December 1907, Page 14

Crossing the Cordilleras.

(For the Post.) By S. Buchanan. As our I ram from Buenos Aires to | Valparaiso' left at 7 a.m., we made an early start from the Phoenix Hotel, ourselves and luggage filling two tiny I victorias ; and it was fortunate thai ire did so, for tho babel and confusion at the Retiro were overwhelming, while the porter whom wo had brought from the'- 1 hotel on purpose to help us was too >stupid to be of any use. After travelling in many countries, I find it much, tho easiest and quickest; way to do everything one's self and not trust to the native population. When once the luggage was fixed up, however, wo had no more trouble, as, through the kindness of an invaluable friend, we had a four-berth compartment reserved for us. Although there was an outside glazed corridor, our quarters were far more roomy than in an English train, owing to the very broad gauge of the Ferro Carril Pacificq. The seats made up into berths much wider than those of an ordinary steamer, and altogether We thought we should be very comfortable as far as Mendoza, where we were to change into the tiny Transandino train. ; One thing, strange to British eyes, was the fact that there are no .smoking car- i riages. Men were fres to indulge themselves iv this particular wherever they pleased ; oven in the conTdor or restaurant car, where, as is common in many South American hotels and restaurants, all round may bfe seen men lighting the eternal cigarillo in every interval between courses. Another difference was the diust-Kcreen of the very finest wire gauze over every window, but even this did not altogether keep out the red-brown 'clouds of choking sand. Fortunately for tts, there had been heavy rains over a groat part of the line the previous day, but even with that it was very disagreeable. Every ono wore linen or tussore dustcloaks, and most women had their heads tied up in motor-veils. It seemed a choice of being smothered ivitli dust or hcafc. The inhabitants profess to find this journey tedious, and do most of their travelling at night, ns it is, of course, much cooler then, but to me, fresh to the country,' it was' unendingly interesting, — fortunately so, as, having a reserved compartment, we saw nothing of our fellow travellers, except when going into the corridor for our meals, and even then they Geemed a less striking assembly than, owing 1o tho great mixture of nationalities, tho Argentinos xiMizdly are. On starting from the station, we at first passed closely-packed houses j then carao tho more scattered Italian quarter, each white square- "casa" with its little patch of melons or maize, and a pergola of vivid green vines casting a delightful, &hade on the parched red earth ; then the lovely Palermo Park, where all the fashion and beauty of the town (and neither is to be surpassed anywhere), display themselves between 6 and 7 in the coolness of the evening, driving in their wonderfully-hoised carriages up and down the long avenue of stately palms, which was the last glimpse we caught of gay, beautiful, Buenos Aires, which had eiido.ired itself to us in spite of tho ■■ perpetual thunderstorms, which uro indeed terrifying. Then, until 4.30 a.m. the next morning, ■when we got to Mendoza, wo rushed league after league tluough vide, open, bare country, on the flattest, straight* way railway track iv the world. There wore few thingd to diveisify the vast expanse of "camp," not a tree, not » ri\er, until, late in the afternoon, we passed at Cinco Rios a few watercourses, dry at this reason, and lloru r mimosa-like scrub wreathed with a lovely ,'fea.lhery clcmatu,s iv the "old man's beard" stage, growing on sandhills s>urrouading a small lake. Here and ibero were droves of cattle and hor.ses, many of tho old Criolle breed, knotted and streaked with wliito and every s>h.ndo of brown like the "rings- traked, .spotted, and speckled" holds of Jacob. Sometimes ;i tall North-American or Canadian windmill, surrounded by a. (o\v weeping willows, showed whcio a "puestcro" lived, regulating tho water supply, so that tho I'bcbulas," v. heio every nighfc and morning the cattle, hon-cs, jud theep come to quern-h their thirst v should* iwvet be futrnd saijity...

Then wide 1 tracts of emerald-green j maize, or alfalfa, .with its lilac blossoms, ! almost hidden by hoveVing clouds of yel- | low and white butterflies, broke tho monotone of yellowish brown. j When columns of white smoke rose in the still air, -one knew that thousands, nay millions, of the dreaded locusts had, on their southward inarch in the "hopping" stage, from their breeding place in the Okaco, fallen into the pits digged for them, and were being destroyed by i bundles, of burning straw. All these things., however, were rarely to be seen, and. usually the "camp" stretched unbroken to the horizon, giving one a> sense of illimitable space — infinity. 1 pur train being a through-express to Meudpza, there wore not many stops. Diego do Alvear, Villa Mercedes, San Luis, and finally, jNlendoza, in the dawn of ,the next morning. Once we gradually ( came to, ' a standstill without the 'tiniest station in sight, and wero at a loss lt to imagine why, until we happened to glapcc dowm at the permanent way, wher^e we saw the ground was a moving ana "$ of grey and yellow striped baby locusts. The wheels refused to "bite" until^sand was thrown on the rails, when we wght on as before. Owing to Iho width of the berths, we slept' very soundly in spite of the constantf,,ruiiible and thud of the wheels, but, 'oh ! the discomfort of waking to iin,d one's srlf covered with a thick layer of dust, which seemed to have sifted in at every crack of the carriage. There were' very scanty means of cleansing one's self, too, and, in the grey morning light, we both looked more than a .little dejected and unwashed, the only comfort beiilg that every one else looked, and no doubt "felt, as bad. We tried to get coffee and rolls, but in vain, as the corridor had been dropped at Villa Mercedes the previous evening, and even our most carefully prepared Spanish sen r tences wero of no avail, so there was nothing to be done but" wait in" patience until after the change of railways. On looking out jtii the> carriage window one saw that the. whole character of the landscape had changed. In the distance, steep rocky mountains loomed into tho sky, while near at hand were acres and acres of flowering vines, trimmed closely in 'the utilitarian French way. Tho sale for ttip rough red Mendoza wine is so great that the present area is quite unequal to tho demands made upon it, and everywhere the vineyards are extending into the country in an ever increasing radius from 1 the town. Mendoza itself is a large city, but rather dullj all the buildings we saw from the train being "adobe," tho gardens, also, being surrounded by walls of the same material, so high that only tho green tops of such .trees as walnuts wero visible. We had brought only such luggage as could easily be 'carried, and it was fortunate that we bad done so,' as there seemed to be no porters in the fairsized station, and the agent* of the Villalonga Express Company, who takes charge of aIJ luggage through from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso, had to transfer ifc all himself, with much gesticulation and excited talk. The usual baggage of travelling Argentinos and Chilenos seems to consist of enormous ironbound chests, and cardboard bandboxes, with. their best hats— nothing in between, r Here w.e left the luxurious F.C.P. and took possession of the tmy carriages of the short Ferro "Carril .Transandino. Only about seven people were crossing the Cordilleras, so wo had plenty of room, a great consideration when on a long i journey. ( 1 /There wasi no ( 'delay in getting us 'p'S, ' as we wore already an hour late, and at last we were' able to get our miich-needed early breakfast, enormous thick cups of boiling-hot coffee, and delicious rolls and butter. I have never in all my life seen cotfee so black as that winch South _ Americans, ' especially Argentinos, drink after every meal, and never with milk except at breakfast. On the right, tho Cordilleras rose straight into the sky, precipitous and bare, sheer masses of rock,- on the left, shingly uplands with sparse vegetation, pampas grass, cacti and prickly mimosas — every thing with a thorn or spine. But beyond "words was the freshness of the air, pure and invigorating after the sultry and exhausting atmosphere of the Argentine. Gradually wo seemed to be piercing into the t very heart of the mountains, always following the course of the turbid- liio crossing and re-cross-ing. The day was beautifully clear, and in the rarefied air the mountains, sharply outlined against the almost too blue sky, seemed walls of rock. It was almost terrifying ; they seemed near enough to touch, as if they wero closing in on us gradually, and we should bo crushed with no hope of escape. In our guide-book the traveller was advised to "occasionally cast his eyu out of_ the carriage window to see the majestic condor in his native fastnesses," but although I cast mine frequently, I did not get a glimpse of him ; indeed there was no trace of any animal or bird life. The colouring is wonderful, red mountains of porphyry, blue mountains and yellow mountains. When wo were near Las Cucvas we lost tho Mendoza and followed a, river of brilliant crimson, tjie Rio Colorado. Tho steep sides of the railway were covered with / a deep purple vetch and enormous cushions of a yellow llowor, species to mo unknown. Tho engine stopped. several times seemingly to get its breath, so that we wero able to pick some specimens. Stations, there were none, for there are no inhabitants, but at regular intervals are huts for tho railway employees, each called "Kilometre ". These said railway men do not bear the best of characters, for tho Cordilleras are, ;is it were, neutral territory -between Chile and Argentina, whither resort criminals from both sides, who are anxious, for, the time being, not to court public attention, and are frequently employed as surfacemen. ' At Pucnte del Inca thero was quite a station to serve the neighbouring hotel, where many ppople go in the summer to mako use of the excellent sulphur springs. It. was, however, deserted when we passed, as every one had left owing to an alarm of brigands reported to have 'come from the Chilian side. Several people got out to see the curious natural "bridge with quantities of stalactites hanging from it, and I was so engaged in taking a photograph, tljat I did not notice that every ono had rejoined the train until I heard immense vociferations from the guaicl, and realised that I was keeping the whole train waiting, but soon found that running was impossible at Hut altitude, for my heart beat so chokingly that I hud to stop. Beyond this momentary feeling, and a sensation as of something bound tightly round my temples, I felt no inconvenience from the rarity of Iho air,* bul, on crossing tho actual summit my companion suffered slightly from "la pouma," or mountain-sickness. It is from this hotel that most people start when attempting an ascent of Aconcagua. Soon after leaving Iho station wo saw this beautiful mountain, 23,393 feet high, glistening in the sun, framed between two lower ranges. Wo wore surprised to spo so little snow, and came to the conclusion that the various mountains were too strep for it to lio in drifts large enough to be appreciable. At the eleven o'clock "almuerzo," wo woro very pleased to find tho potatoes as hard as si ones, owing to the low tpinpernlvu> of boiling v,,"(t<?r at that i beipht.

Up and up we went, the engine groaning and panting until, at last, two hours late, we reached Las Cievas, a small collection of huts on a stony table-land, which was then *the terminus of tho railway, al 10,338 feel. Here, in about two minutes, we were snatched out of tho train and hustled into light-covered coaches, each holding four inside and two on the box, and drawn by four horses. Some luggage wen li in larger wagons, and the rest on nimble-footed pack-mules, which clambered straight up the mountain-side like cats, choosing their own track. Words cannot picture the glorious and ' solemn panorama which spread itself out as we slowly climbed up to the Cumb re. The majesty of, these ; mountains is unspeakable, though they are all so close that one cannot realise their wonderful height. Far down, thousands of feet below, meandered the Rio Colorado, looking like a crimson thread in its stony bed. Not a vestige of green was to be seen, nothing but detritus and solid rocks. We shared a coach with two men, a Spaniard who spoke a little English, and a Bolivian, ex-Minister to Madrid, who spoke French. ,Tho latter, 7' think, was a little disappointed that wo did not suffer severely from "la pouma," it being the correct thing to do so. He recommended us to wrap up our heads, thrust smelling salts almost into our faces, and altogether was most kind. In an hour we reached the top, where there is an immense statue of our ! Lord, put thero by Chile and Argentina lo mark tho boundary, and also in. memory of the treaty, ratified between them in the end of last century. Tho Cumbre is like a knife-edge, and we descended immediately. Then began the most terrifying experience of my life. I siriserely hope that I shall nover be more frightened. The road zigzagged in the most acute angles clown an absolute precipice, the horses galloped the whole way, going roiuid every corner literally on one wheel, the driver always thinking this a fitting timo to turn to the man on the box-seafc' beside him,- with a pleasant remark. At each of the said corI ncrs, all the protection was a tiny parapet about two feet high, loosely biulL of round stones which a finger- touch would have sent over. I sat with my eyes tight shut, wotting not of scenery, fully convinced our end was approaching, and could hardly believe m^ senses whou we -pulled up at the Custom House at. Juncal, having descended 4000 odd feet in three-quarters of an hour. I fervent-, ly hops thafc if ever I cross the Andes again, before the tunnel is through, we shall not be trying to make up time. Our trunks were put through without being opened, and while the less fortunate ones wero having a moie rigorous examination, we had time to fed, from various differences that we observed, thafc~ we had practically crossed a continent, and were in .Chile. For one thing the typo of countenance was more saturnine and villainous ; for another, the ponchos were striped and checked with brilliant, colours, and, in particular, tho saddlery differed. The many-shaped quaint horn and leather stirrups of the other side were replaced by sabot-shaped ones, sometimes leather, but more often of beautifully-carved limewood, which go from father to son. All rode on leather saddles, high-peaked back and front, cinched on, in the same place as an English saddle,' instead of the manylayered "recado" — girthed much further back. While in the train beyond Juncal and Los Andes, the scenery was still 'beautiful, though not so grand ; cacti of all sorts abounded, and there were many strange wild-flowers, yellow scented violets, an '• enormous scarlet daisy, and what resembled a delicate pink oleander, but only, a foot high, also' wild asparagus, of which South America is the home, as 6? the tomato and potato. We stayed a night afc Los Andes with friends, but most of our fellow travellers made tha, connection, there with the Chilian State railways, with ten miiiutes to spare, and, on arriving at Valparaiso three hours later, were the' first party to make the through journey in forty hours, which is what tho various companies wish to accomplish. At present there is no hotel fit to stay # in at Los Andes, but w6 were shown a splendid ono building, to be run by the railway company, which ought to make Los Andes a rival to Valpai-aiso in the summer, with the people of Santiago ; tho air is delicious, and the inhabitants enjoy a glorious panorama of the Andes, which are hidden from Valparaiso by foothills. The short journey from Los Andes to Vina del Mai-, the residential suburb of Valparaiso, through the Aconcagua .Valley, is charmingly pretty, and the couni try very fertiie and fresh looking ,* hub as we neared' Valparaiso, tho signs of tho recent earthquake became frequent — great cracks in all- the station buildings, adobo .walls in ruins, and in many instances the houses also. The country evidently has great possibilities, and if the Chilenos woro not one of the laziest and least reliable nations of the civilisedworld, their country would depend for its prosperity as much on its agriculture as on the nitrate-mines ; the little huts in which tho peasants usually live — adobe, without a chimney or window, or, ns is often seen, 4 mere stacks of branches and sacks (the colonial kerosene-tin we were spared), are sufficient, evidence of their laziness and general habit of "maiiana." We had been told that, two women, travelling alone, would find many difficulties in making this long journey, bub we found none, though, perhaps, that was owing to the fact that we had very pood friends hoth in Argentina and Chile ; but I think no one strong need hc-sitato to go, and it is certainly worth doing. Luggage is the only difficulty, ; but if it is given entirely into the care ! of the Villalonga Express Company, all trouble is saved. Of course the trip was not inexpensive, and a slight knowledge of Spanish is absolutely necessary. The return journey can be made through the Straits of Magellan, by the P.S.N. Company, whose steamers call at various interesting ports both on the wesfc and east coasts of South America.