134 



CHILI. 



of these amounts Great Britain took three 

 fourths and nine tenths respectively. The 

 copper products shipped to Great Britain dur- 

 ing 1878-1882 were as follow : 



The exportation of borate of lime has been 

 steadily on the increase, 4,311,895 kilogrammes 

 having been shipped to Great Britain in 1882, 

 against 679,920 in 1875, and 273,410 in 1874. 

 But, next to copper, the commodities most ex- 

 tensively exported to Great Britain are wheat 

 and wheat -flour ($4,560,400 in 1882), sugar 

 ($663,915), and wool ($306,010). In the sin- 

 gle month of May, 1884, there were shipped to 

 the country last named 29,592,841 kilogrammes 

 of wheat from Talcaguana, and 381,800 kilo- 

 grammes from Penco. Chili, while an importer 

 of coal, mainly from Great Britain, exports 

 native coal in considerable quantities. The 

 following table exhibits the relative importance 

 of these two branches of her commerce for the 

 decade 1873-1882 : 



YEARS. 



Coal exported. Coal impoi ted. 



Chief among the British products imported 

 by Chili are cotton fabrics (of the value of 

 $6,091,040 in 1882), woolen fabrics ($1,490,- 

 840), and iron wrought and unwrought ($1,- 

 517,615). Of the total value of the imports 

 into Chili in 1882, Great Britain furnished 75-- 

 20 per cent.; Germany, 16-32; France, 5'08; 

 the United States, 2'96 ; Belgium, 0~41 ; and 

 Italy, 0-02. The last two, however, do not 

 here figure in their proper rank, since much 

 of their merchandise finds its way to Chili 

 through Great Britain, France, and Germany. 

 The increased importation of British cotton 

 fabrics, of late years, is accounted for by the 

 fact that extensive requisitions thereof were 

 made for the army. 



In 1882 locomotives and railway material 

 generally were imported of the total value of 

 $932,802 (against $511,879 in 1881), of which 

 sum Great Britain furnished $834,422, the 

 United States $71,678, and France and Ger- 

 many the remainder. In machinery, for the 

 most part from England, there was an increase 



* 94-78 per cent, from Great Britain. 



of 23-18 per cent, in 1882. Five sixths of the 

 lumber was from the United States, and the 

 remainder from Great Britain. Chili is said to 

 import more nails and spikes from the United 

 States than any other country in the world; 

 the imports thereof in 1883 were 3,781,120 

 pounds, valued at $124,119. The imports from 

 France are more particularly articles of luxury, 

 these having been of the total value of $1,997,- 

 481 in 1882, against $1,363,914 in the year im- 

 mediately previous. 



Determined efforts are being made to render 

 general the use of nitrate, and encourge its sub- 

 stitution for other fertilizers. The Nitrate 

 Owners' Committee of Tarapaca, desiring to 

 promote such a demand as shall bring about an 

 increase of the present low rates, resolved to 

 offer a prize of $5,000 for the best essay on 

 the application of that article in agriculture. 

 The essay was to be the property of the com- 

 mittee, who were to have it translated into all 

 the modern languages, and circulated univer- 

 sally. Five hundred tons of nitrate were sub- 

 scribed by the manufacturers for shipment to 

 Europe and the United States, and for use by 

 the Agricultural Society employed at the ex- 

 pense of the committee to make experiments. 

 The expenses incurred were to be defrayed out 

 of a fund already provided for that purpose ; 

 and the committee had been authorized to 

 carry out the measures referred to, and pro- 

 long the shut-down of the works until 1885, 

 or, if necessary, until 1886. 



Mines. The principal source of Chili's wealth 

 has long been her mines. The number and 

 yield of these in 1880 were as follows: 



19 gold-mines, producing 1,146 tons of ore. 



130 silver-mines, producing 1,116 tons of ore and 7 tons of 



606 copper-mines, producing 20,281 tons of ore and 2,651 

 tons of metal. 

 21 coal-mines, producing 22,959 tons of coal. 



Port Movements. The shipping at the various 

 ports of the republic in 1882 was as follows: 



FOREIGN. 

 ENTERED : 



Sailing-vessels, 960, with an aggregate of 623,414 tons. 



Steamers, 522, with an aggregate of 744,435 tons. 



CLEARED : 



Sailing-vessels, 805, with an aggregate of 514,721 tons. 



Steamers, 623, with an aggregate of 906.307 tons. 



Totals 2,910 vessels, aggregating 2,788,877 tons. 



COASTING. 



ENTERED : 



Sailing-vessels, 2.277, aggregating 859.893 tons. 



Steamers, 4,473, aggregating 4,389,088 tons. 

 CLEARED : 



Sailing-vessels, 2,372, aggregating 888,881 tons. 



Steamers, 4,341, aggregating 4,151,852 tons. 



Totals 13,668 vessels, aggregating 10,289,214 tons. 



Railways. Chili, which was among the first 

 South American countries to introduce rail- 

 ways, had, in 1883, lines representing a total 

 length of 1,377 miles, of which 593 belonged 

 to the Government. That these lines are profit- 

 able there can be no doubt, judging by the fol- 

 lowing statistics from official sources : The 

 traffic receipts of the Coquimbo Railway for 



