File:Chile and her people of to-day - an account of the customs, characteristics, amusements, history and advancement of the Chileans, and the development and resources of their country (1912) (14577726347).jpg

Identifier: chileherpeopleo00wint (find matches)
Title: Chile and her people of to-day : an account of the customs, characteristics, amusements, history and advancement of the Chileans, and the development and resources of their country
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Winter, Nevin O. (Nevin Otto), 1869-1936
Subjects: National characteristics, Chilean
Publisher: Boston : L. C. Oage
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
h is only twenty-two miles distant. A halfcentury ago this port had a commerce of con-siderable value and was even then exportingfood products, although its population did notmuch exceed a couple of thousand. There are innumerable islands, which lieclose to the mainland, from Puerto Montt tothe Fuegian Archipelago. The largest of theseis Chiloe, which is a hundred miles long byfrom thirty to fifty miles in width. It is gen-erally considered to be one of the sloppiestislands in the world, for that was the reputa-tion the naturalist Darwin gave it, and hisopinion has been corroborated many times. Itslength runs parallel to the mainland, fromwhich it is separated by a quite broad bay.The shores are generally wild and rather inhos-pitable. If one lands any place, exceptingwhere a settler is located, the dense growthwill be found almost impenetrable, with allbranches dripping with moisture, and only anoccasional sunbeam being able to push its waythrough the openings in the evergreen shrub-
Text Appearing After Image:
The Granary of the Republic 109 bery. Moss-covered bogs abound in which onemay sink to the waist in the mire. On thismoist land everything grows with wonderfulrapidity that does not require a great amountof sunshine. Moss, yards in length, and ofgreat delicacy and beauty, hangs from thebranches, while ferns and polypodia scrambleup the trunks. Beautifully scalloped lichens,in brown and gold and lavender, decorate thefallen trees wherever they can take hold, andfungi covers the larger trees. Tough-fibredclimbers of great length also decorate the trees.They are oftentimes employed to tie up thefences instead of nails, and are also used inweaving some of the beautiful baskets madeby the natives. Brooms made of it are like-wise exported. This dense growth aboundseverywhere, with the exception of barren pam-pas which sometimes stretch for a quarter ofa mile or so. Cattle will sometimes wanderinto these thick meshes, and no one but an In-dian accustomed to the tangle can penetratewith anyth

Note About Images