BOLIVIA. 



BORNEO. 



97 



quisaca and Santa Cruz. The settlements of 

 agriculturists in the Chaco will be greatly bene- 

 fited by this, as it will have a tendency to at- 

 tract immigration toward this region, one of 

 the most fertile of South America. In the 

 Bolivian mining regions new wagon-roads have 

 also been authorized by Congr 



Hertrie Light. Xot only is La Paz to be trav- 

 ersed by tramway-lines, but the electric light 

 has been universally introduced. 



Exploring Expedition. In January Baron de 

 la Riviere arrived at Chililaya, Bolivia, after 

 having passed nearly a year on the Tipuani 

 river, an affluent of the Mapiri. He had been 

 on a gold-hunting expedition among the dis- 

 tricts which gave the ancient Peruvians all 

 their gold. The baron speaks highly of the 

 abundance of gold, but declares the climate to 

 be of the worst description, and the region to 

 be infested with vermin and deadly animals. 

 He started into the forests with over two hun- 

 dred men. Of this number only a very few 

 have returned with him. The others suc- 

 cumbed to fevers, snake bites, and like evils. 



(iuchona-bark. The shipments abroad of Bo- 

 livian cinchona-bark have been steadily on the 

 increase in 1888, not only cultivated but wild 

 grown, thus more than compensating for the 

 falling off from the island of Ceylon, which 

 latter exported from October 1 to September 

 20, 11.632, 251 pounds, as compared with 13,- 

 921,109 in 1886-'S7, and 15,226,152 in 1885- 

 '86. The cultivated Bolivian bark has, in 1888, 

 been exported not only in flat pieces, but also 

 in the shape of tubes, and is still highly es- 

 teemed on account of its large quinine con- 

 tents. Meanwhile, Peruvian cinchona plant- 

 ers assert that, at ruling prices abroad, their 

 industry has ceased to be profitable ; but, as 

 stated, this does not deter them from export- 

 ing more than ever. A recent report by a 

 gentleman named Van Lon, who resides in 

 Batavia. indicates that there is likely to be a 

 further heavy increase in the production of 

 Java, not only on account of the enlarged 

 acreage of trees that has been planted, but be- 

 cause it is found that the new growth is capa- 

 ble of prdncing bark that will yield 18 per 

 cent, of alkaloid. It is stated that there are 

 12.000 acres under cultivation in Java, which, 

 at 800 trees per acre, would give about 10,- 

 000,000 trees, which, at li pound a tree (the 

 Indian average), would yield 15,000,000 pounds, 

 spread over six years. While the supply from 

 Bolivia and Java thus promises to be abundant 

 enough, the Government of India has pub- 

 lished for the information of the public, 

 through the Bulletin of the Royal Gardens, 

 Kew. some particulars of the new process of 

 extracting quinine from the cinchona-bark by 

 means of oil. By the aid of this process, per- 

 fected lately by Mr. Gamme, it is found pos- 

 sible to utilize the calisaya or yellow bark va- 

 riety, and to extract from it the whole of its 

 quinine in a form indistinguishable chemically 

 or physically from the best brands of Euro- 

 VOL. xxvni. 7 A 



pean manufacture, and this so cheaply that not 

 merely in times like the present of depressed 

 markets, but at all periods, it will not co.-t the 

 Government more than twenty-five rupees per 

 pound. Should all the expectations which 

 this important discovery has awakened be 

 realized, it is believed that it will lead to the 

 substitution of Indian-manufactured quinine 

 for the febrifuge in the hospitals and dispensa- 

 ries of India, and, as a necessary consequence, 

 to the substitution of yellow bark for red bark 

 in the Sikkim plantations. 



Indian Troubles. In May another rising of 

 Indians occurred in the province of Sicasica, 

 some eight thousand of them being in arms, and 

 threatening to massacre all the whites. They 

 were commanded by a chief of the name of 

 Villca ; but the cavalry garrisoned at Ayoayo 

 was hurried on to suppress the revolt, which 

 was quelled and the ringleaders imprisoned. 



River Navigation. The Bolivian Government 

 has granted to Mr. John L. Thorndike the ex- 

 clusive privilege for ten years of steam naviga- 

 tion between the Desaguadero river and Lake 

 Poopo, all material which he will require for 

 his enterprise to be admitted duty free. Since 

 the Peruvian Government has seized the rail- 

 roads of the Mollendo-Arequipa-Puno lines of 

 Peru their administration has become so bad 

 that Bolivian merchants who had been avail- 

 ing themselves of these lines in connection 

 with Lake Titicaca for the transportation of 

 their goods, have been compelled to return to 

 the Arica-Tacna outlet, and this in spite of the 

 fact that from Tacna the goods have to be for- 

 warded on mules' backs, and that at Arica the 

 goods have to pay storage and harbor expenses, 

 which are not charged at Mollendo. While 

 this is the case, the Bolivian Government has 

 ordered the organization of custom-houses at 

 the Mollendo Agency, at Puerto Perez or La 

 Paz and the remaining ports of Lake Titicaca, 

 in conformity with an understanding arrived 

 at with Peru, and in conformity with the law 

 of July 16. 1885, regulating the general cus- 

 toms' service. 



Bolivia at the Barcelona Exhibition. The Huan- 

 chaca Mining Company has made a magnifi- 

 cent display of its rich copper ores and blende, 

 and the Bolivian firm of Artola Brothers, of 

 Bolivian embroideries, textile fabrics, seeds, 

 feathers, skins, chocolate, and small figures of 

 whites and Indians dressed in the costumes of 

 the country, together with a thousand curiosi- 

 ties, all together giving a high idea of Bolivia's 

 resources and its manual and artistic skill 

 highly creditable to the South American in- 

 land republic. 



BORNEO, the largest of the Malaysian isl- 

 ands, having a length of 850 miles and a 

 breadth of 600 miles. Its area is about 270,- 

 000 square miles. The Dutch claim suzerain 

 rights over the greater part of the island, com- 

 prising the entire region south of the native 

 state of Sarawak, which has long been admin- 

 istered by Englishmen, and the territory be- 



