BOLIVIA. 



69 



Ayres, whither he had gone in furtherance of 

 the project for a railway from a port of Para- 

 guay river via Oruro to the heart of Bolivia. 



The Huanchaca Company of Bolivia acquired, 

 in the spring, 1887, the Antofagasta railroad, 

 paying the Nitrate Company $3.000,000 for it. 

 This railroad from Antofagasta into the in- 

 terior was completed during the summer as 

 far as El Anil, while work was pushed as tar 

 as the Poruila mountains near Santa Barbara. 



The La Paz city authorities granted a con- 

 cession to introduce a system of tramways. 



Public Works. The Committee on Roads and 

 Telegraphs in the Department of La Paz was 

 actively at work in the spring of 18S7 to push 

 to completion the Obrajes and Vizcachain 

 bridges and the wagon-road from La Paz to 

 Oruro, ready as far as Licasica. 



New Route. In May, 1886, the President is- 

 sued a decree for the opening of a new route 

 intended to give Bolivia an outlet toward the 

 Atlantic down the Paraguay and La Plata 

 rivers, so that when completed the time sepa- 

 rating Sucre and Santa Cruz in the center of 

 Bolivia from Buenos Ayres shall be reduced 

 to a fortnight. The new route, beginning at 

 Bahia Negra, traverses the northern Chaco of 

 Bolivia to a place called Carumby, where it 

 forks, and one of its branches penetrates to 

 Santa Cruz and Port Higuerones in the De- 

 partment of Beni, while the other puts in com- 

 munication Sucre with Potosi, Huanchaca, 

 Tarija, and Cochabamba. From Sucre to Co- 

 bija and Antofagasta the distance is 655 miles, 

 and from Sucre to Puerto Pacheco, on the 

 western bank of Paraguay river, the distance 

 is 580 miles. The Atlantic route will be pref- 

 erable to the Pacific, as the former does away 

 with the long circuit via the Straits of Magel- 

 lan or around Cape Horn, and besides, the 

 Chaco route is destined to link the tributaries 

 of the Amazon to the Rio de la Plata. 



Telegraphs. In November, 1886, it was re- 

 solved to lay a telegraph line between Huan- 

 .chaca and Ascotan, ultimately to be extended 

 to Calama and Antofagasta. Simultaneously 

 telegraphic communication was opened be- 

 tween Camargo and Potosi. In September, 

 1887, communication was opened between Bo- 

 livia and Chili by means of the Huanchaca 

 Company's line. Telephonic communication 

 was opened at La Paz in May, 1887. 



Agriculture. Bolivia produces all the fruits 

 and vegetables of Europe, while the sugar-cane 

 flourishes on the banks of Paraguay river, and 

 cotton in the Department of Santa Cruz. The 

 coffee from Yungas in the Department of La 

 Paz is celebrated for its flavor. Both tobacco 

 and cocoa are raised. The export of coca- 

 leaves is likely to fall off somewhat, since a 

 beginning has been made with shipping crude 

 cocaine instead to consuming countries. Hand- 

 some im*en coca-leaves were becoming scarce 

 in Europe in consequence. In the Department 

 of Beni, where grazing is also successfully car- 

 ried on and cattle-farming is extensive, the 



gathering and preparing of India-rubber has 

 become an important pursuit, no fewer than 

 eighteen establishments being devoted to it. 

 The traveler, Edward R. Heath, who visited 

 that region in 1881, and explored the Beni 

 river to its junction with the Mamore\ reports 

 that India-rubber trees abound on the banks 

 of Beni river from the Madidi to the Madeira, 

 there being from 500 to 1.000 trees to the 

 square league, and at some points as many as 

 3,000. At some points toward the south the 

 depth of forests containing rubber-trees is from 

 one to three leagues from the river-banks in- 

 land. In the summer of 1887 an immense 

 number of rubber-trees was reported to have 

 been discovered beyond the Carabaya valley. 



Cinchona-Bark. Since 1876 quinquina plan- 

 tations or " quinales " have steadily gained in 

 extent in the eastern regions of the Andes, 

 spreading over half a dozen districts Yungas, 

 Songo, Mapiri, Guanay, Camata, and Caupo- 

 lican there being, hy latest accounts, 3,842,- 

 000 trees yielding bark in those districts, 3,- 

 000,000 of which are in the Mapiri district 

 alone. Adding thereto the new plantations at 

 Challana, the total in bearing may be set down 

 at 4,000,000. Most of the trees are from five 

 to ten years old, and represent in the aggregate 

 an estimated value of $20,000,000. Europe and 

 America are. however, receiving large amounts 

 of quinine bark from Ceylon, Java, Jamaica, 

 Venezuela, Mexico, and Western Africa, and 

 the value in the world's markets has heen 

 drooping of late, as shown by the import into 

 England during the first seven months of 1887, 

 which was 94,743 cwt., worth 455,951, against 

 87,043 of the value of 505,430 during the cor- 

 responding period of 1886, and 69,673 cwt, 

 representing a value of 491,428, in 1885. 



Precious Metals. Bolivia holds the third rank 

 among the silver-producing countries of the 

 world, and its production is believed to be sus- 

 ceptible of a notable increase, so soon as rail- 

 roads facilitate and cheapen the transportation 

 of machinery and material. But in spitb of 

 obstacles in the way of transportation, the 

 mining industry has made steady headway in 

 Bolivia. Even while the war on the Pacific 

 lasted $20,000,000 was invested in new mining 

 enterprises, and all this money was raised in 

 the country. 



During the summer of 1887 two Americans, 

 James Lynch and John Araya, discovered rich 

 gold placer-mines on the banks of Cielo Agtiirm 

 river, in the Songo district. At the depth of 

 a yard and a half the auriferous sand yields 

 2 g 35 grains per 12 quintals of sand. Machinery, 

 etc., was to be conveyed thither to undertake 

 gold-washing on a large scale. 



Nitrate. Extensive deposits of nitrate of soda 

 were discovered in the spring of 1887 at Zapa, 

 hy an Italian, who forthwith went to Europe 

 for the formation of a company. 



Indian Troubles. There have been repeated 

 risings of Indians in several localities, at Izozo, 

 San Lorenzo del Secure, and on the banks of 



