A Woman's Journey Round The World, From Vienna To Brazil, Chili, Tahiti, China, Hindostan, Persia, And Asia Minor By Ida Pfeiffer
- Page 142 of 708 - First - Home
I Was Not A Little Astonished On Hearing That, In This Country,
Where There Is Yet No Post, Or, Indeed, Any Regular Means Of
Conveyance From One Place To Another, That A Railroad Was About
Being Constructed From Here To Santiago.
The work has been
undertaken by an English company, and the necessary measurements
already begun.
As the localities are very mountainous, the railroad
will have to make considerable windings, in order to profit by the
level tracts, and this will occasion an enormous outlay, quite out
of proportion to the present state of trade or the amount of
passenger traffic. At present, there are not more than two or three
vehicles a day from one place to the other, and if by chance ten or
fifteen passengers come from Santiago to Valparaiso, the thing is
talked of over the whole town. This has given rise to the belief
that the construction of a railroad has merely been seized on as an
excuse, in order to enable those concerned to search about the
country undisturbed for gold and silver.
Persons discovering mines are highly favoured, and have full right
of property to their discovery, being obliged merely to notify the
same to the government. This licence is pushed to such an extent,
that if, for instance, a person can advance any plausible grounds
for asserting that he has found a mine in a particular spot, such as
under a church or house, etc., he is at liberty to have either
pulled down, provided he is rich enough to pay for the damage done.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 142 of 708
Words from 37893 to 38155
of 187810
