SOUTH AMERICA.

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 6599, 14 May 1925, Page 2

SOUTH AMERICA.

ATTRACTIONS OF THE NEW ELDORADO

INTO “THE VALE OF PARADISE”

The magic which drew the Spaniards and the Portuguese across the North Atlantic centuries ago is once more exerting its sway, the tourist, the prospector, the manufacturer, the merchant, and the fortune-seeker, belonging to none of these categories (writes “P.V.M.” in the London Daily Express) finding a new lodestone in South America. Its 12,000 miles of coast are marked by hundreds of stately cities, beautiful bays and harbours, and the estuaries of mighty rivers. The greatest of all, the Amazon, is navigable by ocean steamers for a distance of nearly24oo miles from the sea. From north to south runs the great volcanic backbone of the country, the Cordillera of the Andes, an unbroken chain of .4500 miles from Venezuela to Tierra del Fuego. Inland the country offers every imaginable delight to the traveller—prehistoric cities crumbling into tragic yet noble decay, relics of civilisations which have had their eras of greatness not less mangificent than that under the Pharaohs, and of mighty monarchs of whom the ruthless hand of time has effaced all but the faintest traces.

An ideal tour, occupying from three to six months, according to the extent to which excursions may be made inland, would be via Panama, for a glimpse of that marvellous monument of engineering skill, the Panama canal.

• From Panama City, capital of the Republic of Panama, the sea route lies along the Columbia coast to Guayaquil for Equador and its capital city, Quito. The next halt is Callao, the port of Lima, the stately capital of Peru, which lies on the River Rimac, about 20 minutes’ journey from the harbour. Lima, the Paris of the South American Continent, is a city of sunshine and palaces, beautiful women, spacious hotels, restaurants and theatres. It was founded by Pizarro in 1535, after his conquest of the Incas, and it was here, seven years later, that he mas slain by the followers of the Incan Emperor, whom he had put to death. His remains are still to be seen in the cathedral.

The traveller should stay in this region long enough to see the wonderful country of the Incas, and the ruins of Chan Chan, once the seat of government of another ancient civilisation. Arequipa, under the shadow of Misti, 19,200 ft high, should not be missed, or La Paz, in Bolivia, after which the traveller reaches the northern end of the long strip of Chile, with its famous ports of Antofagasta, Coquimbo and Valpariso, the “Vale of Paradise.”

From Valparaiso, with its broad boulevards and green avenues, it is a journey of about four hours to Santiago, the capital, a city set in the valley of the Mapocho, amid green hills, palms, and orange trees, and flanked by the great Cordillera and the coast range. At this point the traveller may take the steamer down the Pacific coast, round the Horn, and up to the Atlantic coast to Buenos Ayres, or he may prefer the shorter, but incomparably grander, route across the Andes into Argentine. Buenos Ayres is perhaps the moat wonderful city in all South America. It is nearly 400 years old, and has been the scene of many battles. It lies in the estuary of La Plata River —the “Silver River”—which is at this point 28 miles wide, and it contains a population closely approximating two millions.

It is a city of many heauties; of stately buildings, like its Capitol, modelled on that of Washington; of luxurious parks and palm-fringed avenues, of palaces, clubs, and comfortable hotels. It is & city where sport of eyery kind is held in high esteem, and it has its. Henley, its Hurlingham and its racecourse.

A voyage, up the. Rio de la Plata may be ; extended tp Paraguay and the Iguassa Falls, which put Niagara in the shade. Monte Video, in Uruguay, will be taken on the return journey, and thence the route is along the coast of j. Brazil to Santos, the port for Sao Paulo, famous for its great coffee plantations, and less so for its recent revolution.