his port and shipped to the outside world. Of course all
clothing, building material and machinery must be brought in for there
are no factories in Punta Arenas.

Santiago, the capital of Chile, is located in a valley that has been
called the "Garden of South America." This valley is seven hundred miles
long, fifty or sixty miles wide and hundreds of feet above sea level. On
the east are the snow-capped Andes and on the west the coast ranges. On
the mountain slopes on either side are the great herds of cattle and
sheep and lower down the rich fields of alfalfa and grain, fruit and
flowers.

Strange to say the farming is nearly all done with oxen. I counted six
yoke of oxen in a ten-acre field. Women as well as men work in the
fields. The fences are made of stone but in many parts of the valley you
never see a stone in the field. If they have any modern farm machinery I
did not see it. All the fields are irrigated, as it seldom rains in this
valley in the summer time.

Most of the best land is owned by wealthy men who live in the city.
Those who do the work are mostly Indians or half breeds, and they have
but few of the comforts of life. Many of the farms are great tracts and
there is a store where the worker can purchase what he needs but the
prices are high and he is kept in debt. A country can never really
prosper where the tillers of the soil are ignorant and have no say in
the affairs of the government.

It is in this valley where most of the Chileans live. While in other
parts of the country there are but two people to the square mile, here
in this valley there are seventeen to the square mile. Here are most of
the schools and colleges, cities, railways and manufacturing plants.
When about sixty per cent of the people are illiterate and this class is
almost entirely the laboring class it does not look as if conditions
would be changed very soon.

I saw more drinking in Chile than in any other South American country. A
portion of the city of Valparaiso seems to be given over almost entirely
to the liquor dealers and the people who throng that district are
hard-looking folks. The fag ends of civilization seem to have gathered
here. This is the only city in South America where I was accosted by
both men and women and they almost try to hold one up in the streets in
broad daylight.

Nearly all the Chilean women dress in black. A black shawl is worn and
you would think they are all dressed in mourning, but they a