BOLIVIA. 



91 





The Bolivian Minister at Washington is Don 

 Casimiro Corral. The Bolivian Consul- Gen- 

 eral at New York is Don Melchor Abarrio ; the 

 Consul at New Orleans, Sefior J. P. Macheca ; 

 at San Francisco, Sefior F. Herrera. The 

 American Minister Eesident and Consul-Gen- 

 eral at Sucre is the Hon. W. D. Bloxhara, and 

 the Consul at La Paz, S. Alexander. 



Army. The strength of the Bolivian army, 

 including 1,021 officers of all ranks, is 3,021. 



Finances* The national indebtedness amounts 

 to $10,000,000. The income of the nation in 

 1884 was $2,344,796; in 1885, $2,990,139; in- 

 crease in a single year, $645,343. There was 

 established in 1886, at La Paz, a bank on 

 shares, with a cash capital of $500,000, called 

 the Banco Potosino. 



Railroads. A railroad is projected to connect 

 the Argentine frontier, near the town of Qui- 

 aca, with the Bolivian city of Potosi. It will 

 run along the right bank of Parana river to 

 the port of Barranquera. Chili is also actively 

 pushing work on the railroad that extends 

 from Antofagasta into the interior. It had 

 reached, in 1886, beyond Calama as far as 

 Anil, and was rapidly approaching La Porufia, 

 opposite Santa Barbara. Trains were arriving 

 within two miles of the river Loa, where an 

 iron and a wooden bridge were to be built. 



Telegraphs. There were in operation in 1886 

 the following stations connecting with the Ar- 

 gentine system : Cotagaita, Huambaca, Potosi, 

 Sucre or Chuquisaca, La Paz, and Tupiza. 

 Communication with La Paz may also be had 

 via Mollendo'. The total length of lines was 

 about 400 miles. 



A Landlocked Republic. The result of the war 

 on the Pacific deprived Bolivia of coast and 

 seaports, and likewise of the great wealth of 

 nitrate and guano in the districts of Cobija and 

 Tarapaca. The exact course of a portion of 

 her southern limit, separating Bolivia from the 

 Argentine Republic, has been for some time 

 undetermined ; hence the main outlets for Bo- 

 livian trade are through Chilian, Peruvian, and 

 Argentine territory. The most accessible port 

 of the former is Arica, which involves a tedi- 

 ous land-transit of 240 miles from La Paz to 

 Taciia, which is in railroad connection with 

 Arica, a distance of forty miles. The traffic 

 over this route, however, has of late years be- 

 come reduced to the transportation of a portion 

 of the mining products from the department 

 of Oruro, and to the mule-post from La Paz to 

 Taona, regularly performed in five days, while 

 the great bulk of trade from the La Paz dis- 

 trict is by steamer across Lake Titicaca and 

 Peru, and ma the Puno-Arequipa Railroad to 

 Mollendo. The third and longer route is south- 

 westerly through the Argentine Republic to 

 Buenos Ayres, and, in pursuance of a treaty 

 whereby Bolivia reduces the import duty 50 

 per cent, on goods coming from the Atlantic 

 against the Argentine Republic, granting gra- 

 tuitous right of egress through her territory, 

 the larger part of the productions of the de- 



partments of Potosi, Chuquisaca, and Tarija, 

 consisting almost entirely of minerals and met- 

 als, is drained through the Argentine Republic 

 in preference to Chili. This shifting of trade 

 from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and the con- 

 sequent decrease of business on the former 

 coast, promoted, in a large measure, by polit- 

 ical spite, has been felt so keenly that a new 

 impetus is imparted to the project of putting 

 La Paz in railroad connection with the coast, 

 the line running through Oruro to Tacna, 

 thereby recovering and controlling the entire 

 trade from the Pacific side. 



Cinchona - Bark. The most important pur- 

 suit in the tropical or lowland districts, which 

 has developed into a permanent industry, is the 

 cutting and exportation of cinchona-bark, the 

 richest in quinine. But the most accessible 

 trees having become exhausted, the bark is no 

 longer derived from the forests, and the busi- 

 ness has become a systematic, scientific culti- 

 vation. The credit of bringing this nursery 

 culture to a high degree of perfection is largely 

 due to Otto Richter, who, besides being other- 

 wise largely interested in Bolivia, is the lead- 

 ing bark-merchant, his four haciendas or qui- 

 nales in the Mapiri district, having grown al- 

 ready more than two million trees. The bark 

 business, however, has been very much de- 

 pressed of late years, on account of the exceed- 

 ingly low price to which quinine has fallen. 



Coca. Hardly of less importance are the 

 coca-plantations from the leaves of which plants 

 the mysterious cocaine is extracted. The great 

 progress made in modern medicine in the use 

 of this drug, not only in various medicinal 

 forms, but also as an anaesthetic, has created a 

 large demand for coca-leaves. The plant only 

 flourishes in moist climates, and is seldom 

 found in the deep valleys of the Andes. It is 

 cultivated in rows like Indian corn, and after 

 two years' growth the bush attains its full 

 height of from five to six feet, bearing green 

 leaves about two inches long, with white blos- 

 soms and red berries. The leaves are gathered 

 several times a year, and dried in the sun with 

 great care before being packed for exportation, 

 the bushes produce for many years, when final- 

 ly the planting of a fresh crop becomes neces- 

 sary to preserve the good quality of the leaf. 

 Besides its local use by the Indians, who mas- 

 ticate it with or without slacked lime, a tea is 

 made from the plant, and the miners also chew 

 the leaf constantly for itg soothing effect. These 

 sources of home consumption in themselves 

 sustain many large plantation enterprises. 



Silver. The development of Bolivia's miner- 

 al resources is the most important of her^Ha- 

 tional industries ; for included in her prodigious 

 mineral wealth (which numerous documents in 

 European libraries prove to have influenced the 

 political and monetary history not only of 

 Spain, but of the entire commercial world), 

 there are many gold, silver, copper, and tin 

 ores, whose extraordinary richness gives a 

 large profit in spite of the excessive freight 



