720 



PERU. 



PHOTOGRAPHY. 



and Martini-Henry rifles ; 3 regiments of cavalry, 

 numbering 80 officers and 800 men ; and 1 regi- 

 ment of field artillery, numbering 83 officers and 

 360 men, consisting of 4 batteries of 8 pieces 

 each, mostly Krupp guns of the model of 1880. 

 The naval force consists of the cruiser " Lima," 

 of 1,790 tons, and 2 steam transports. 



Commerce and Production. The agricult- 

 ural products of Peru are sugar, cotton, coffee, 

 cacao, rice, and tobacco. The coast region, in 

 which the main part of the cultivated land is 

 situated, could be made more productive by 

 irrigation, and in the mountains the area of cul- 

 tivation could be greatly extended. Sugar is 

 the most important crop. The yield was formerly 

 100,000 tons a year, and it is now about 70,000 

 tons of sugar, of which 50,000 tons, valued at 

 $4,000,000, are exported. Rum is manufactured 

 also in large quantities. In the northern prov- 

 inces the cane is planted once in six or seven 

 years. Cotton also is grown in the north without 

 replanting, being gathered from a tall shrub which 

 bears for several years. The fiber is coarse, 

 and is used chiefly for mixed woolen textures. 

 The annual value of the crop is about $3,000,000. 

 Rice, though less certain, yields abundantly on 

 the low plains in the north, when the season is 

 favorable. Coffee is raised of good quality, but 

 not in excess of the domestic demand. The 

 grapes of the southern coast provinces are cele- 

 brated, and the annual product of wine is valued 

 at $4,000,000. The Irish potato grows luxu- 

 riantly, both in the mountains and in the low- 

 lands, and corn, which in some places yields 2 

 crops a year, constitutes the staple food of a 

 large part of the population and supplies the 

 national beverage, the stimulant called chicha. 

 The cacao of Cuzco and the protected valleys of 

 the Sierra is of superior quality. Coca flourishes 

 in the hot valleys on the eastern slope of the 

 Andes, and is cultivated to some extent, as well 

 as gathered in its wild state. The wanton de- 

 struction of cinchona trees in accessible localities 

 has given the planters of the British and Dutch 

 East Indies the advantage in supplying what 

 was once a great staple of Peru. Alfalfa is 

 raised' extensively for fodder. Wool is grown 

 on a large scale in the mountains, and exported 

 to the amount of $4,000,000 a year. The exports 

 of the valuable wool of the alpaca and the vicuna 

 are considerable. Of the forest products the 

 most important is India-rubber. Sarsaparilla 

 and other medicinal plants, vegetable ivory, 

 balsams, and dyes are also exported. The de- 

 posits of guano and of cubic niter have for the 

 most part been ceded to Chili, and the guano 

 rocks remaining in the possession of Peru have 

 been nearly exhausted. The mineral products 

 of the country are many and varied. The prin- 

 cipal silver mines are Cerro de Pasco, Castro- 

 vicina, and Recuay. The silver produced in 

 Peru and that contained in the 12,500 tons of 

 ore exported in 1888 was 120,000 kilogrammes. 

 Great quantities of lead are also extracted. 

 Gold is found in all the departments excepting 

 three. Most of the fields have been abandoned 

 by foreign miners. Rich washings in the 

 streams flowing into the Amazon and promising 

 ledges in the eastern Cordillera are not worked 

 on account of their remoteness from the coast and 

 the difficulties of transport. Sulphur, gypsum, 



asphalt, and petroleum are found in extensive 

 deposits, though these resources are not yet 

 utilized. Vast beds of coal, both bituminous and 

 anthracite, have been discovered in the northern 

 mountains in localities not yet provided with 

 railroads. The great deposit of salt near Huacho, 

 on the coast, is constantly renewed by the per- 

 colation of sea water through the porous rock. 



The foreign commerce is chiefly carried on with 

 Great Britain, with France, of late years with Ger- 

 many also, and to a not inconsiderable extent 

 with the United States. The total reported value 

 of the imports in 1887 from Great Britain was 

 $3,489,869, consisting mainly of cotton manufact- 

 ures (constituting two fifths of the total), and of 

 iron and steel goods, wool manufactures, linen, 

 and coal. The imports from France were $1,055,- 

 625, the chief items being leather, woolens, ap- 

 parel, and fancy articles. The imports from the 

 United States, $717,968 in value, were more 

 varied in character than those from any other 

 country, the largest items being cotton" goods, 

 manufactures of iron and steel, provisions, and 

 furniture. The imports from Germany were 

 valued at $330,334, more than half of this sum 

 representing manufactures of flax. The exports 

 to the United Kingdom in 1887 amounted to 

 $7,981,916 : to France, $4,794,107 : to Germany, 

 $1.656,718; to the United States, $309,040. Tfie 

 cubic niter, except the small proportion taken 

 by the United States, goes in nearly equal 

 amounts to France and England, raw sugar and 

 cotton to England, and hides and skins to 

 France and the United States, while Germany re- 

 ceived nearly the whole of the silver ore and 

 very little else. The exports to Great Britain in 

 1888 amounted to $9,541,080. and in 1889 to 

 $6,297,139, while the imports from Great Britain 

 were $5,589,715 in the former and $4.663,562 in 

 the latter year. The exports to France were 

 valued at $8,030,249 in 1888, and at $8.670.831 in 

 1889, four fifths consisting of nitrates, while the 

 imports from France in those years were $1.071,- 

 949 and $1,332,090, respectively. The exports to 

 the United States were $309.040 and $314.332, 

 and the imports from the United States $865,- 

 160 and $773,244 in the respective years. 



Railroads and Telegraphs. The Peruvian 

 railroads have a total length of 1,625 miles, 

 built at a cost of over $150,000,000. The State 

 telegraph lines in 1889 had a length of 1,564 

 miles. The American cable on the west coast 

 gives communication with all the world. 



PHOTOGRAPHY, RECENT PROGRESS 

 IN. The advances of photography within the 

 past few years, while not realizing certain ex- 

 travagant predictions prompted by the early suc- 

 cesses of the dry plate, have been in many respects 

 extraordinary. This activity has been due largely 

 to the increasing popularity of the camera among 

 amateurs, and largely also to the increasing use- 

 fulness of photography in various sciences and 

 in the reproductive processes. The populariza- 

 tion of the camera has not always fostered a rec- 

 ognition of the essentially scientific basis of photo- 

 graphy and the artistic phases of the product have 

 sometimes tended to obscure the mechanical and 

 chemical requirements. Now that much of the 

 novelty of "instantaneous" picture-making has 

 worn off, the first principles of the science are 

 receiving more general attention. 



