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 worsted and forced to continue their retreat. The
important town of Arica was captured on June 7 after a peculiarly
sanguinary engagement. Port Pisco was the next to fall, and now Lima
itself, the capital of Peru, was threatened. So resolute was the Chilian
advance that no efforts of the defenders could succeed in preserving the
city, and on January 7, 1881, Lima fell into the hands of the Chilians.
After this the war was continued in a desultory and discouraged fashion
by the allies until at the end of 1883 peace was signed, and, as has
been explained in a previous chapter, Bolivia lost her coast-line, while
the Chilians took over the definite ownership of the provinces of
Antofagasta and Tarapaca.
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