of efficient national
squadrons--a feat which was simple enough in the case of a nation of
born sailors as are the Chilians.

[Illustration: BERNARDO O'HIGGINS.

The first President of the Republic of Chile.

_A. Rischgitz._]

From that day onwards the Chilian navy maintained its status, and
continues to rank as one of the most efficient in the world. This was
proved shortly after its reorganization in the war which broke out in
1879 between the Chilians and the allied Peruvians and Bolivians.
Hostilities were brought about by the vexed question of the ownership of
the valuable nitrate provinces. These, Chile claimed, constituted the
northernmost of her territory, to which Peru retorted that they formed
the southernmost portion of her land.

The naval engagements which ensued demonstrated to the utmost the high
spirit of the Chilian sailor and the efficiency of the school in which
he had been trained. The action in which the two small Chilian vessels,
the _Esmeralda_ and the _Covadonga_, fought so heroically against the
Peruvian ironclads, _Huascar_ and _Independencia_, was, of course, the
most famous of the war, and the memory of this is jealously guarded by
the Chilian navy of to-day. No question of victory on the part of Chile
was ever involved in this particular action, since the miniature guns of
the small Chilian vessels could, under no circumstances, take effect on
the Peruvians, giants by comparison. It was merely a sublime
demonstration of the extent to which Chilian resistance could be
carried. Thus the _Esmeralda_, refusing to surrender to the very last,
went down after a prolonged and desperate engagement with her colours
flying; while the tiny _Covadonga_, having lured one of her opponents
into shallow water, and thus caused the _Independencia_ to run aground,
blazed away her final volleys of small shot, and retired with all the
honours of war.

Inspired by examples such as these, the Chilian navy maintained its
traditions to the full, and although the Peruvian sailors fought
gallantly enough, they could make no headway against their opponents. On
shore the fortune of war was similar, and the highly disciplined Chilian
army, advancing to the north, occupied Antofagasta, Cobija, and
Tocopilla. But the tide of battle was not arrested at this point. It
flowed to the north again, and the deserts in that neighbourhood
witnessed a number of engagements, in all of which the Peruvians and
Bolivians were wo