624 



PERU. 



since the Keuter privileges cannot certainly be 

 maintained in their entirety, and if they are annulled, 

 either partially or wholly, it is probable that a com- 

 promise will be effected between the baron and the 

 Kussian company. Considerable uneasiness at the 

 same time is felt by Persia at the facilities which 

 such a railway would afford for the military occupa- 

 tion of Tabreez by Kussia, in the event of war between 

 the two countries ; but this question is, in my opin- 

 ion, hardly worth considering, since the northern 

 Persian capital has always been and still is com- 

 pletely at the mercy of the Eussian forces cantoned 

 on the frontier, within a week's march of the city, 

 and the danger therefore of such an occupation is not 

 in any essential degree augmented by the railway. 

 Of far more importance is the eventual destination 

 of this line, which, it is understood, is to be pro- 

 tracted through Koordistan toward Bagdad, so as to 

 give access to a part of the Turkish Empire where 

 the Porte is, in a political point of view, especially 

 vulnerable, but which has been hitherto supposed 

 by its remote position to be secured from attack 

 from the northward. 



The most important negotiations, however, on 

 which Kussia is now engaged with Persia, refer, no 

 doubt, to the Toorkomans. General Lomakin, the 

 new Governor of the trans-Caspian military dis- 

 trict, is making strenuous efforts to withdraw the 

 Yprmuts and Goklans from their Persian allegiance, 

 with a view, no doubt, to employ them as auxiliaries 

 against the recalcitrant Tekkehs, and Persia is thus 

 subjected to the danger of not only losing her sub- 

 jects, but of seeing her Asterabad frontier com- 

 pletely exposed. As the Toorkoman campaign, how- 

 ever, proceeds, and Persian interests become more 

 and more involved in the contest of Kussia with the 

 nomades, it is not at all improbable that important 

 territorial adjustments may take place on this fron- 

 tier. The advance of Kussia, indeed, along the Cas- 

 pian, has been so steady and persistent, and the 

 possession of Asterabad is so manifestly necessary 

 to the further extension of her power to the east- 

 ward, that I can hardly doubt but that in the course 

 of a few years, unless we interfere actively to prevent 

 it,^ the territory at the southeast corner of the Caspian 

 will have become, either by conquest, or cession, or 

 exchange, the property of the Kussian crown. 



PERU (REPtJBLicA DEL PERfj), an indepen- 

 dent state of South America, extending from 

 latitude 3 20' to 22 -20' north, and from lon- 

 gitude 67 to 81 26' west, and bounded north 

 by Ecuador, from which it is separated mainly 

 hy the Upper Amazon, there commonly called 

 the Marafion ; east hy Brazil and Bolivia, the 

 dividing lines with which are respectively the 

 Javary, from its confluence with the Amazon, 

 the tenth parallel, the Purtis to the twelfth par- 

 allel, and thence a line bisecting Lake Titicaca 

 and joining the western Cordillera of the An- 

 des, which completes the houndary southward; 

 south by Bolivia, from which it is separated 

 by the Rio Loa ; and west by the Pacific. The 

 boundary with Brazil is now generally regard- 

 ed as marked by the Javary; but the jurisdic- 

 tion of the Peruvian colonial Government ex- 

 tended eastward to the banks of the Teffe. 



The area of the republic may be roundly 

 computed at 500,000 square miles. 



The territorial division comprises seventeen 

 departments (subdivided into provinces, and 

 these in turn into districts), and two littoral 

 provinces ; which, with their estimated popu- 

 lation and their capitals, were officially stated 

 in 1873 as follows : 



Another official document, published in 1871, 

 gave the population at 3,199,000;* but the 

 most carefully prepared statistical works rep- 

 resent it as not exceeding 2,500,000, made up 

 approximately as follows : Indians, 57 per cent. ; 

 hybrids (cholos, zamhos, etc.), 23 per cent. ; 

 whites born in the republic, 12 per cent. ; ne- 

 groes, 3 per cent. ; Chinese, If per cent. ; and 

 other foreigners, 2 per cent. 



The capital is Lima, with a population of 

 some 125,000. 



The President of Peru is Seflor Don M. 

 Pardo, elected August 2, 1872; and the first 

 Vice-President, Setter Don M. Costas. 



The cabinet is composed of the following 

 ministers: Interior, Sefior Don A. Garcia y 

 Garcia ; Foreign Affairs, Sefior Don A. V. de 

 la Torre; Justice, Sefior Don M. Odriozola; 

 Finance, Sefior Don Z. Z. Elguera; and War, 

 General L. Freyre, who is also President of 

 the Council. 



The Archbishop of Lima is P. Orueta y 

 Castrillon; President of the Supreme Court, 

 M. Vidaurre ; Postmaster-General, Z. Davila 

 Condemarin ; Inspector-General of the Army 

 and Navy, General P. Silva ; Commandant- 

 General of the Navy, Post-Captain D. de la 

 Haza. 



The army, in 1875, was composed of three 

 regiments of horse, 1,200 men ; eight battalions 

 of foot, 5,600 ; two brigades of artillery, 1,000 ; 

 and 5,400 gendarmes: total, 13,200 men. 



In the summer of last year the navy com- 

 prised six iron-clads, with an aggregate arma- 

 ment of 38 guns; and six other steamers, 

 mounting an aggregate armament of 56 guns : 

 total armament, 94 guns. 



The public revenue is for the most part de- 

 rived from the sale of guano and nitrate of 

 soda, and, though in a comparatively limited 

 proportion, from the custom-house and mis- 

 cellaneous receipts, such as licenses, there be- 

 ing no direct taxation in Peru. 



In regard to the finances of the republic, no 

 official returns having been made for several 

 years, it may simply be observed that the reve- 

 nue, in 1873, was reported at $23,499,653 ; and 

 * See ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA for 1S73~ 



