BOLIVIA. 



67 



by the Peruvian and Bolivian Indians: over 

 $60,000,000 change hands annually in the 

 traffic in the republic. 



The following table shows the extent of 

 the commerce with Great Britain from 1866 

 to 1870, inclusive : 



According to the budget of 1867, the last 

 which has been published, the receipts amount- 

 ed to 4,529,345 pesos, and the expenditure to 

 $5,957,275, which constitutes a deficit of 

 1,427,930 pesos. The revenue is chiefly de- 

 rived from customs duties, mines, and other 

 state property, and a land-tax levied upon the 

 Indian population, and forming almost one- 

 half of the total receipts. 



The republic receives annually from Peru 

 506,250 pesos as compensation for duties col- 

 lected on goods landed at the Peruvian port 

 of Arica in transitu for Bolivia. The receipts 

 at the custom-house of Cobija, the only port 

 of importance in Bolivia, were 135,382 pesos 

 in 1867. 



Bolivia has a larger population than Chili 

 or the Argentine Eepublic, whose stocks stand 

 at 95 to 100 in the money market; and while 

 the debt of Peru is (according to the Money 

 Market Review, July 6, 1872) 15*. 9d. per head 

 of population, that of Bolivia is only Is. Id. 

 In short, though Bolivia is one of the largest 

 of the South American republics, her debt is 

 the smallest, being only about $10,000,000 in 

 1872. In 1862 it was merely nominal. In 

 1872 a new loan was negotiated in England of 

 1,700,000, at 68 per cent., payable in 25 years, 

 at par. This loan is guaranteed by the gen- 

 eral revenues of the republic, and by a first 

 charge on the entire customs dues collected 

 on imports into Bolivia through the Amazon 

 Eiver. The Government engaged to make ar- 

 rangements for the receipt and remittance of 

 the customs dues, to the satisfaction of the 

 bond-holders; and, as a further security, the 

 National Bolivian Navigation Company and 

 Madeira & Mamore Eailway Company have 

 entered into deeds hypothecating their net 

 profits. It is to be borne in mind, however, 

 that if Bolivia's national debt is small in com- 

 parison to that of the sister republics, her 

 commerce and industry are likewise at a low 

 ebb, as compared with those of the other South 

 American countries, and, in the way of devel- 

 oping her material resources, little has as yet 

 been done that sbould require the investment 

 of large sums. But a happier era has at last 

 been inaugurated : Bolivia has awakened from 

 the lethargy which so long paralyzed the best 

 energies of the nation; and the first impulse 

 toward the moral and material progress of the 

 country has been given. The late President 



Morales, in his message to the representatives 

 of the Constitutional Assembly of 1872, gave a 

 flattering account of the improved state of the 

 country in general, and in the departments 

 of the Government since the fall of the Mel- 

 garejo administration. 



A highway, preparatory to the full naviga- 

 tion of Lake Titicaca, was determined upon. 

 The construction of a railway from La Paz to 

 the frontiers had been resolved upon, and the 

 works were to commence without delay ; and 

 another railway, from Mejillones to Caracoles, 

 at the expense of the state, was contracted 

 for, and to be finished in three years. A tele- 

 graph-line between the two last-named places, 

 and an iron mole capable of admitting along- 

 side it a steamer of 4,000 tons, were to be fin- 

 ished in a like period of time. A Lima house 

 had undertaken to build a railway from Ta- 

 rapac& to Oruro ; American enterprise had 

 penetrated into the republic, and the navigation 

 of the Bolivian branches of the Amazon was 

 regarded as an accomplished fact, the rapids of 

 the Madeira being avoided by a railway; the 

 whole of this great undertaking was due to 

 the energetic efforts of Colonel Church. A 

 steamer, the Explorador, was already plying 

 on the river, and would, it was expected, soon 

 be followed by others. A road from Apolo to 

 Madidi was to be made, from which, among 

 other benefits, would be derived that accruing 

 from the relation the road would bear to the 

 navigation in the north of the republic, the 

 subjection and civilization of the many savage 

 tribes in the forests, and the opening up to 

 commerce the varied natural products of that 

 region. Two new territorial districts, those 

 of the Mamore and the Chaco were created, 

 and in process of organization, and will one 

 day form two departments. The town of Caiza 

 is to be the capital of the Gran Chaco district. 

 In March a geographical commission was ap- 

 pointed to investigate the documents relating 

 to the limits with Brazil, Paraguay, and the 

 Argentine Republic. A branch of the Cobija 

 National Bank was established in La Paz. 



General Quintin Quevedo was proposed by 

 one party as candidate for the presidency of 

 the republic. 



As it was certain that Cobija would fall into 

 decay when the railway was opened at Mejil- 

 lones, it was decided to give sites for building 

 in the latter port to people from Cobija 

 who chose to move thither, poor families be- 

 ing assisted with money. Railways were hi 

 contemplation to place La Paz and Cochabam- 

 ba in communication with the nearest tribu- 

 taries of the Amazon. Laborers were flocking 

 to Caracoles, and all finding employment ; the 

 town by the middle of the year consisted al- 

 ready of twenty-four blocks of 300 feet, be- 

 sides a number of different kinds of lodgings ; 

 water was plentiful. All the examinations at 

 the Caracoles silver-mines continued favorable. 



Assassinations were of daily occurrence at 

 Antofogasta, but the Bolivian authorities in- 



