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. This latter country gained, moreover, the right of dominion over the neighbouring provinces of Tacna and Arica for ten years, after which period the inhabitants of these two provinces were to decide by vote whether they should remain Chilian subjects or become Peruvians. This portion of the treaty has formed the basis of a series of disputes between Chile and Peru, but the provinces in question have continued Chilian. In 1891 the internal peace of Chile was shattered for a while, since in that year occurred the only civil war in the modern history of the Republic. The struggle succeeded an era of some political confusion, and Balmaceda, who was President of the Republic at the time, went the length of proclaiming himself Dictator, a step which his opponents--and, indeed, the nation in general--refused to sanction. Balmaceda's party, however, was powerful, and the war which succeeded was hotly contested. After various fluctuations, Balmaceda's followers met with defeat, and the President, yielding to the inevitable, blew out his brains. Following this last period of unrest, which the Chilians rightly maintain was both fleeting and exceptional, we come upon the quite modern history of the Republic, which shows that the Chilians, although admirably equipped for war, are now as anxious as any other country for peace and progress. This they have proved on more than one occasion, notably when the question of frontier delimitations brought about a dispute with Argentina, a dispute which both nations consented to refer to arbitration, and, an award having been given, both nations maintained it with equal loyalty. CHAPTER XXVII THE REPUBLICS OF THE RIVER PLATE