COLOMBIA. 



155 



ufacture, at the Pradera Iron-Works, of the 

 first rails produced in the republic. 



Mines. In a resume of the yield of the gold- 

 mines of the world for the year 1882, Colom- 

 bia occupied the fourth place in order of Ameri- 

 can countries, as follows : United States, $32,- 

 400,000 ; British colonies, $3,000,000 ; Brazil, 

 $850,000 ; Colombia, $800,000. The yield of 

 her silver-mines in the same year was $200,- 

 000. The famous emerald-mines of Muzo and 

 Cozency were leased by the government of the 

 State of Boyaca to Seflor Lorenzo Merino at 

 an annual rental of $25,000, the lessee agree- 

 ing to make two yearly payments in advance. 

 An emerald of the gross weight of one pound 

 was extracted from the Muzo mines in 1884. 



Port Movements. There were entered at the 

 various ports of the republic in the year 1882- 

 '83 : Steamers, 588, aggregating 668,713 tons ; 

 sailing-vessels, 923, with an aggregate of 40,462 

 tons. 



The movement at the port of Cartagena in 

 1883 aggregated 19,600 tons. 



The Magdalena river, flowing into the At- 

 lantic at the port of Sabanilla, and receiving, 

 besides the waters of the Cauca and Sogamo- 

 so, those of numerous minor streams, is the 

 great commercial artery of the republic, and 

 may be said to command the trade of eight of 

 the nine States of the Colombian Union. The 

 carrying - trade of the lower Magdalena was 

 carried on, in 1884, by thirteen steamers. Sev- 

 eral of its smaller tributaries, not suitable for 

 steamers, are navigated by other craft, doing a 

 fair carrying-trade. Navigation on the Cauca 

 is attracting attention, and a new interest will 

 be thrown over the valley of that river by the 

 colonization scheme projected by the canal 

 company under the auspices of the brother- 

 in-law of M. de Lesseps. 



Railways. The following lines were opened 

 to traffic or in course of construction in 1884: 



Telegraphy. On March 1, 1884, the telegraph 

 lines throughout the republic were of the total 

 length of 2,400 miles. The cost of the depart- 

 ment for the year 1383 was $133,696, and the 

 yield but $63,407, leaving a deficit of $70,209. 

 The number of telegrams for 1882-'83 was 

 288,876, and the length of lines 2,357 miles. 



Post-Office. The number of letters transmit- 

 ted through the post-office in 1882-'83 was 

 560,000. The cost of the department in 1884 



* To avoid the rapids at that point of Magdalena river. 



was $149,981, and the yield, $111,698 ; defi- 

 cit, $938,283. 



Panama Canal. The following statements con- 

 cerning the financial situation of the company 

 and the progress of the work are extracted 

 from the annual report of Ferdinand dc Les- 

 seps and the council of administration upon 

 the Panama Canal, delivered July 24, 1884 : 



FINANCES. Franc*. 



All expenditures for work proper upon the canal 

 to June 30, 18S3 108,418,097 



Machinery and real estate, the purchase of 68,534 

 shares of the Panama Railway, and incidental 

 expenses 120,291,223 



Total ($45,741,555) 228,709^25 



Deducting from this unpaid debts and redis- 

 counts, etc 17,679,548 



Total net expenses to June 30, 



1883 ($42,205,955) 211,029,771 



As, against this outlay, there is the product of 

 250,000 shares at 5 per cent., issued in Septem- 

 ber, 1882, and other incomes, amounting to.. .. 416,655,760 

 Deducting the expenditures 211,029,777 



Amount disposable on June 30, 



1883 ($41,125,126)205,725,982 



This last sum can be subdivided into assets on 



shares, not called 147,500,000 



Capital in treasury 58,125,982 



Total as above. 



Since then, in the midst of trying financial 

 times, there has been issued with complete 

 success 600,000 bonds of 500 francs each, at 

 3 per cent., payable in installments, of which 

 the last two mature in August and October of 

 this year. Of the 300,000,000 francs last au- 

 thorized, there is a reserve in bonds of $129,- 

 000,000 francs. 



PANAMA RAILWAY. The Panama Railway 

 has been pi\t in thorough repair, new depots 

 and shops built, and rolling-stock added. In- 

 stead of eight trains daily, as in 1882, twenty - 

 ty-two trains now pass over the line. The 

 dividend on the stock, which was 12 per cent, 

 in 1882, was 15 per cent, in 1883, and will 

 probably reach 16 to 17 per cent, in 1884. The 

 company own 68,534 shares out of the total of 

 70,000 shares. 



SANITARY CONDITION OF LABORERS. No 

 pains have been spared in caring for the 

 health of the workmen, and the organization 

 of the medical service has been made thorough 

 and complete. During 1883-'84 the cost per 

 patient has been 5'72 francs per day at Pana- 

 ma, and 7'52 at Aspinwall. With from 7,000 to 

 10,000 men at work, the mortality rate was 

 about 3 per 1,000 to September, 1883 ; with 

 from 11,000 to 16,000, it was about 5-50 per 

 1,000 to April, 1884; and with from 18,000 to 

 19,000 men employed during the last two 

 months, it was about 3 per 1,000. 



PROGRESS OF THE WORKS. The programme 

 of operations fixed, adopted by M. Dingier, and 

 approved by the consulting committee of en- 

 gineers, was as follows : 



1. Construction of the canal with a normal 

 depth of nine metres (29'52 feet) below thj 

 mean sea-level. 



