COLOMBIA. 



139 



result, and hence another source of land-slides. 

 The natural wash of the sides by the heavy 

 rains is another cause of deposit. Worse than 

 all this is the fact that, up to the present time, 

 the mountain on the left side of the cut is found 

 to be moving bodily toward the axis of the 

 canal, at an annual rate of from twelve to 

 eighteen inches, owing to the cutting away of 

 its lower support." 



The Government has resolved to build a 

 large lighthouse at Colon for its own account, 

 instead of granting a concession to private 

 parties. At a distance of 430 metres from the 

 Cape of Puerto Belillo, a second lighthouse was 

 lighted in Sabanilla harbor, Aug. 1, 1887. 



The sum of $200,000 has been voted toward 

 building a breakwater at Carthagena. 



Post-Office. The British postal money-order 

 system has been extended to the Isthmus. 



Railroads. The Government toward the 

 close of 1886 granted a concession to Don 

 Juan Gaulmin to build the following railroads : 

 the Cauca line, the Antioquia line, and the one 

 from Bogota to the Magdalena river, ma 

 Tunja, Socorro and Bucaramanga. Much 

 headway was made in 1887 toward complet- 

 ing the line of railway from Bolivar to Puerto 

 Belillo, as well as toward finishing the wharf 

 at the latter place. Capitalists of Bogota have 

 conceived the project of building a railway to 

 Chapinero, afterward to be extended to Zipa- 

 quira. Perhaps no other enterprise on the 

 Isthmus has been a g liner to such an extent 

 from M. de Lesseps's scheme of connecting the 

 two oceans as the Panama Railroad. M. 

 Lucien N. B. Wyse, in his late book entitled 

 "Le Canal de Panama" (1886), says: "The 

 railroad before the commencement of work on 

 the interoceanic canal annually transported 

 27,000 passengers and 270,000 tons of mer- 

 chandise sufficiently valuable to pay the exor- 

 bitant rates charged by the management. To- 

 day, double the amount of freight is carried, 

 including excavation materials, and the number 

 of passengers transported exceeds 550,000, 94 

 per cent, of whom are workers on the canal." 

 The road is 47 miles long, two miles longer 

 than the proposed route of the canal, and the 

 fare from Colon to Panama was until recently 

 $25 in gold, which means $35 in Colombian 

 currency. It has been reduced, however, to 

 $4.80 gold, or $ti.90 Colombian currency. 



In January the exclusive privilege of provid- 

 ing the city of Carthagena with tramways was 

 granted to the American engineer, Mr. J. E. 

 Davies, for thirty years. Besides a track in 

 the streets there will be branches to the 

 Cabrero, the Isla de Manga, the Pi6 de la Popa, 

 and the Turbaco district, four leagues. 



Steamer Lines. The Legislature of Colombia 

 passed a bill in 1886 authorizing the Govern- 

 ment to subsidize to the extent of $2,000 an- 

 nually any ocean steamship line that will 

 undertake to touch regularly every two months 

 at Santa Marta and Riohacha. The Govern- 

 ment was empowered in January, 1887, to 



renew its contract with the Pacific Steam 

 Navigation Company, ou condition of a lower- 

 ing of freight rates on Colombian products, 

 and also on merchandise that may be shipped 

 from Panama, Buenaventura, and Tumaco. 

 Authority was also given to advance $8,000 to 

 any company establishing steam navigation 

 between Buenaventura and the San Juan river. 

 On September 5 there arrived at Panama from 

 Antwerp the steamer "Costa Rica" of the 

 Marques de Campo's new Spanish Central 

 American line of steamships, and on Septem- 

 ber 11 the "Nicaragua," belonging to the same 

 line, both with cargo via the Straits of Magel- 

 lan, each of a capacity of 4,000 tons and 2,000 

 horse-power, the trip via Buenos Ayres and 

 Puerto Coronel having been made by both in 

 53 days. 



Telegraphs. In July the new telegraph be- 

 tween Mompos and Magangue went into op- 

 eration, as did also the branch line between 

 Carmen de Santander and La Gloria, putting 

 Carthagena and Barranquilla in connection 

 with Bogota, Medellin, Tunja, Popayan,>Pan- 

 ama, and, through the cables from the Isth- 

 mus, with all parts of the world in which cables 

 or land-lines exist. 



The Colombian Government granted in July, 

 to the Central and South American Telegraph 

 Company, authority to establish and operate a 

 telegraph line across the Isthmus of Panama, 

 and to extend its cables from Colon along the 

 Atlantic coast of South America. Concession 

 has been granted to connect by cable Colon 

 and Carthagena. 



Don Rufino Guzman was granted a conces- 

 sion in April, 1887, to build a telegraph be- 

 tween Bogota and Honda, with stations at 

 Facatativa, Agualarga, Villeta, and Guaduas. 



Electric Light. The Government, toward the 

 close of 1886, granted a concession to Gen. 

 Ramon Santo Domingo Vila for lighting by 

 electricity the districts and cities of Panama 

 and Colon, in such localities as the Govern- 

 ment and private citizens may desire. 



The exclusive privilege for twenty years was 

 granted to Don Emilio Viollet to manufact- 

 ure, use, and sell an apparatus of his invention 

 throughout Colombia for "aerial cable trans- 

 portation." 



Water-works. The laying of pipes at Bogotd 

 for the city water-works proceeded actively 

 under a contract with Sefior Jimenez during 

 the summer. At the same time a company 

 was formed at Panama for supplying that city 

 with water-works, the company paying the 

 Government $60,000 for the privilege, which 

 is to last forty years, when the Government 

 will become owner of the works. The work 

 is to be finished in two years from the summer 

 of 1887, the Government to cede the company 

 for fifteen years the subvention it receives from 

 the Panama Railroad in aid of the undertaking, 

 which sums the company agrees to reimburse 

 the Government for thirty years from date. 

 United States Consul Vifquain reports to the 



