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Desert Trails of Atacama

net charges, the Peruvian army was completely routed, and the first line of defense was abandoned. The second line of de- fense was carried two days later, January 15; and after stub- born fighting Lima itself was occupied on the 16th. The president and many of the Peruvian officers fled to the high mountain valleys. Here also fled remnants of the Peruvian army that kept up a guerrilla warfare against isolated Chilean detachments until finally Chile was obliged to send small ex- peditions into the interior. Bolivia could do little in support of her ally. Some supplies were shipped overland from Buenos Aires to La Paz and Lake Titicaca for the defense of Arequipa, but this town also fell into the hands of the Chileans and fur- nished a base from which to overrun the country and suppress the last scattered activities of the bands of guerrillas.

The Chilean Revolution

It is interesting to know that in the Chilean revolution of 1891 the general principle of control of the sea was illustrated again as neatly as in the war with Peru twelve years before. Almost without warning, the rebel fleet sailed away from the harbor of Valparaiso and in a few days dropped anchor in the nitrate ports, which they seized without any real resistance. There they enjoyed a measure of security which seems almost ridiculous until one understands the physical geography of the region. A campaign by land was out of the question, even had President Balmaceda enjoyed the support of his people. There were no railways; the villages along the line of march were small, wretched things which can give but little assistance to a passing caravan to say nothing of a hungry army. The one route possible was the sea route, and there were no transports, even had a part of the fleet remained loyal.

Secure in their desert ports, the rebel leaders collected ex- port taxes on nitrate and with the proceeds bought supplies of war—modern guns, ammunition, clothing, and the like—and recruited the army until it was ten thousand strong. The government was crippled to just the degree that the rebels had profited. ‘The funds that formerly were relied on were suddenly