BOLIVIA. 



89 



Finance. The financial condition of Bolivia 

 is, as usual, most deplorable, deficits covered 

 by loans being of invariable occurrence each 

 successive year. In the budget for the fiscal 

 year 1880-'81, the revenue and expenditures 

 were estimated at $3,465,790 and $4,799,225 

 respectively, with a consequent deficit of $1,- 

 333,435. President Campero, in his message 

 to Congress in 1883, spoke of the revenue and 

 expenditures as having amounted, for the fiscal 

 year then closed, to $2,527,515 and $3,300,- 

 528 respectively ; adding that, to provide for 

 the resulting deficit of$773,013, "a loan would 

 have to be negotiated." The Congress of 1884 

 authorized the Executive to raise a loan of 

 $2,000,000. Toward the end of the year, the 

 10 per cent, export duty on silver was reduced 

 to 6 per cent. A number of new and very 

 rich silver-mines were discovered during the 

 year. Among recent discoveries at the Lepiez 

 mines, the extraordinary yield of 5,000 ounces 

 to the Spanish ton of ore gave rise to the sup- 

 position that the famous " Silver Table " of tra- 

 dition had been reached. 



The national debt of Bolivia, concerning 

 which no returns have for many years issued 

 from official quarters, is set down in British 

 financial publications at $30,000,000, including 

 a home debt of $21,500,000 and a 6 per cent, 

 loan of the nominal capital of 1,700,000 ($8,- 

 500,000), negotiated in London in 1872, and 

 issued at the price of 68. 



Commerce. The exports and imports are com- 

 monly computed at the respective average 

 values of $6,000,000 and $9,000,000. Official 

 returns there are none. But Bolivia carries 

 on a large trade, unburdened by taxes, through 

 Argentine territory ; and Argentine statistics 

 show the Bolivian transit trade for the year 

 1882 to have amounted as follows: Inward, 

 $12,383,585 ; outward, $1,802,180. It is prob- 

 able that the figures first above given may with 

 tolerable accuracy be referred to the traffic 

 through the former Peruvian port of Arica. 

 About two thirds of the exports consist of sil- 

 ver, the remainder comprising Peruvian bark, 

 India-rubber, coca, coffee, with bismuth, cop- 

 per, tin, and other ores, and cubic niter. The 

 imports are mainly manufactured goods from 

 Europe. The direct trade with the Argen- 

 tine Republic in 1882 was as follows: Imports, 

 $318,605; exports, $128,688. The follow- 

 ing table exhibits the value of the imports 

 of British products and of the Bolivian ex- 

 ports to Great Britain during the period 

 1878-'82 : 



shipments of that commodity, for the first four 

 months of 1884, to 289,978 cwts. The quan- 

 tity of niter from the Aguas Blancas works 

 was, in 1879, 299,891 cwts.; in 1880, 438,538 

 cwts. ; in 1881, 334,500 cwts. ; in 1882, 369,- 

 851 cwts. ; in 1883, 384,604 cwts. Business 

 between Tacna and Arica and Bolivia was 

 reviving noticeably toward the end of the 

 year. 



After achieving considerable success in cof- 

 fee-growing, the Bolivians are now devoting 

 serious attention to the culture of the cincho- 

 na-tree. Until a comparatively recent date, 

 persons engaged in the collection of Peruvian 

 bark did so by wholesale felling of those valu- 

 able trees; but now the destroyers have be- 

 come cultivators. The early results of this 

 new industry were most satisfactory, and in 

 consequence the number of new plantations is 

 multiplying rapidly. Here follows a state- 

 ment of the number of trees in the most im- 

 portant cinchona districts, according to recent 

 official returns submitted to the Ministry of 

 Finance : 



Number 

 DISTRICTS. of trees. 



Yungas 200,000 



Songo 70,000 



Mapiri 8,500,000 



Guanay 



From Antofagasta were exported in April 

 48,590 cwts. of cubic niter, bringing the total 



Number 

 DISTRICTS. of trees. 



Camata 30,000 



Caupolican 10,000 



Total.... 3,842,000 



If to these figures be added those of the 

 Challana plantations, the total may be set down 

 at 4,000,000 trees, not including the millions of 

 plants contained in nurseries of still more re- 

 cent establishment. Calculating the average 

 yield of bark per tree at from six to eight 

 pounds, the net profit on each would vary from 

 one dollar to two dollars. And four million 

 trees, ranging at present from five to ten years 

 of age, and at the average value of five dollars 

 each, represent a capital of $20,000,000, which 

 ten or fifteen years hence, when the trees will 

 be in full yield, will be increased to $80,000,- 

 000. Again, contrary to the general belief that 

 the cinchona plantations of India and Austra- 

 lia would bring about a depreciation of the 

 market value of quinine, the latter has trebled 

 and even quadrupled within the past forty years. 

 The price per 100 pounds in 1841 was but thir- 

 ty dollars, and in 1884 it had reached $120. 

 As a proof of the superiority of the Bolivian 

 bark, reference is made, in the report above 

 mentioned, to the following table of compara- 

 tive analyses by Delondre and Pelletier : 



Yield per 1,000 of 

 sulphate of quinine. 



Bolivian bark, from 30 to 32 



Curled Calisaya bark, from 15 to 20 



Carabaya (thick bark), from 15 to 20 



Cuzco (red) 12 



Huanuco (Peruvian, without outer bark) 4 



Ecuadorian (red), from 2^ to 25 



Ecuadorian (pink), from 15 to 18 



Bogota Calisaya 30 



Pitayo cinchona, from Popayan, from 20 to 25 



The East Indian and Australian barks are 

 represented as inferior in quality to those of 

 Ecuador. According to Dr. Francisco Salmon's 

 analysis, the Challana bark, the best from the 



