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 withdrawn, and it was a financially weakened opposition that faced the rebel leaders when they finally sailecdl down to take Valparaiso. A landing was made, whole companies of the government troops went over to the rebel camp, and after several days fighting the lines were closely drawn about the city and it fell. Parallels to the experiences of the earlier war were both numerous and close. Today the conditions are some- what changed, for although the sea is still a main highway of commerce and war, the great longitudinal railway line now completed to Pisagua offers an alternative route.

It will always be true, however, that concentrated naval strength can offset the effect of land operations throughout the coastal belt of Atacama. There is no permanent military value in the possession of interior points alone. Only through the free use of the coastal outlets can the nitrate business be sus- tained. The control of the sea continues to be the prime con- sideration in the military geography of the desert coast.