52 SOUTH AMERICA— THE ANDES REGIONS. 



line, as being of the first importance for connecting in a single system the 

 innumerable railroads of North America with the few that have hitherto been con- 

 structed in the southern continent. In Congress a chart was even exhibited 

 showing tracings of the main lines which were, as if by enchantment, to bring 

 into close proximity the great cities of the New World now separated by journeys 

 of weeks or months. But since then little has been heard of these grand schemes, 

 although partial surveys have been made of some of the sections. 



According to these tracings, the first section of the southern trunk line would 

 ascend the Cauca valley to Popayan, and run thence to Quito and Cuenca, and so 

 on through the Upper Amazons valley to the Cerro de Pasco. From this point 

 the route is continued towards Cuzco, descending to Jujuy after skirting the 

 banks of Lake Titicaca and its emissary. 



There is little doubt that this part of the project will eventually be realised, 

 unless, indeed, the value of land routes as means of communication becomes 

 suddenly minimised by some perfected scheme of navigation through the aerial 

 spaces. Peru and Chili already possess some completed railways, forming impor- 

 tant links in the future longitudinal line along the Pacific seaboard. From Rio 

 de Janeiro and Buenos Ay res, also, dozens of branches are already diverging in 

 the direction of those which are one day to descend the eastern slopes of the 

 Andes towards the Atlantic. 



The Cordillera skirting the Pacific will serve to indicate the route to be fol- 

 lowed by the great inter-continental trunk line, for all the chief cities are situated 

 along its base, in its longitudinal valleys, and on its plateaux. The maritime 

 routes on the Pacific side are also disposed in the direction of the meridian along 

 the coast of South America, and parallel with the Andes. Except under the lati- 

 tudes of Panama and of Magellan Strait, the boundless waste of waters stretching 

 from the Andean region westwards to Australasia is rarely traversed by naviga- 

 tors. None of the oceanic regions within the temperate zones are more desolate. 



Social Conditiox. — Material Progress. — Prospects. 



Amongst diplomatists and politicians it was long customary to affect an air of 

 contempt or of hopelessness in speaking of the Hispano-American republics ; and 

 this attitude seemed justified by the language of those South Americans them- 

 selves whom the vicissitudes of party politics had deprived of power and sent into 

 exile. Having lost their fortunes or their prestige, they fancied that the country 

 itself was lost. Even Bolivar, who had nevertheless grasped the highest honours 

 before experiencing the ignominy of defeat, was said to be one of those who des- 

 paired of the fatherland, and reference has often been made to the words uttered 

 by him on his dying bed : "Those who serve the revolution plough the deep." 



Nevertheless, if the present material and social condition of the South Ameri- 

 can populations be compared with what it was during the last years of the colonial 

 system, it will be found that during the six or seven decades of political indepen- 

 dence great progress has been made in population, wealth, and general education. 

 The advancement in these respects has been relatively far greater than that of 



