. Europe and other continents . Since the divide betweenthe Atlantic and Pacific drainage forms the eastern boun-dary line of Chile, the country is very narrow in an eastand west direction. It is also very mountainous (). Much of the coast line is regular like that of therest of South America; how is it with the southern portion ? The climate varies more than that of any other SouthAmerican country. The northern part is within thetorrid zone, while the southern end reaches far into thebleak south temperate zone (Fig. 108) ; and on the moun-tain slopes there is every climate from frigid1
. Europe and other continents . Since the divide betweenthe Atlantic and Pacific drainage forms the eastern boun-dary line of Chile, the country is very narrow in an eastand west direction. It is also very mountainous (). Much of the coast line is regular like that of therest of South America; how is it with the southern portion ? The climate varies more than that of any other SouthAmerican country. The northern part is within thetorrid zone, while the southern end reaches far into thebleak south temperate zone (Fig. 108) ; and on the moun-tain slopes there is every climate from frigid1 to torrid. 1 The name Chile is derived from an Indian word signifying snow. CHILE 143 Moreover, northern Chile is arid and in places an absolutedesert; but central and southern Chile reach into therainy belt of prevailing westerlies (Fig. 29). The mostfully settled and best developed section lies in the middlepart between the hot, arid north and the bleak, rainy portion of the coast is bathed by a cold current from. Fig. mountains of Chile. the south, which cools the atmosphere of Chile as theLabrador current chills that of New England (Fig. 38).Mineral Wealth. — There is much mineral wealth, in-cluding lead, silver, coal, and copper. The latter is of suchimportance that Chile, like the United States, is one of thegreat copper-producing countries of the world. There arealso beds of nitrate of soda which were captured during thewar of 1879-80, and at present yield the government anannual income of fully 810,000,000. Nitrate is the princi-pal export. The nitrate beds occur in the midst of the desert of Atacama,in which rain almost never falls. The substance occurs in lay-ers a few inches to one or two feet thick, over an area thirty 144 SOUTH AMERICA or forty miles in breadth. In color it varies, being white,yellow, blue, brown, etc., according to the impurities being dug out, the pure nitrate is dissolved and sepa-rated from the imp
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