TEADE AND INDUSTEIES OF PERU. 347 



Being of quite recent origin, the petroleum industry has not yet acquired any 

 great development, despite the extensive reservoirs discovered south of Tumbez, 

 and in the neighbouring districts of Payta and Sechura. Nevertheless, mineral 

 oil is already employed by the local railways and steamers, as well as in many sugar 

 refineries. In 1885 the total yield was estimated at 21,000 tons, not more than 

 two per cent, of that of the United States, whose reservoirs are less copious than 

 those of Peru. To encourage the industry, an Act of Congress, passed in 1890, 

 exempts from any fiscal charges the output for twenty-five years. It is hoped 

 that this new source of wealth may replace the exhausted guano-beds and the 

 borax and nitre regions wrested by Chili from Peru by right of conquest. 



Trade and Industries. 



The manufacturing industries possess no importance, being mainly confined 

 to the coarse woollen fabrics and earthenware prepared by the Quichuas of 

 the plateaux for local consumption, and to the hats, filigree and other fancy 

 articles manufactured by the artisans of Moyobamba and a few coast towns. 

 Modern industry is represented only by a cotton-mill and various little factories, 

 centred chiefly at Bellavista, near Callao. Hence machinery and wares of all 

 kinds have to be imported from Europe and the United States in exchange for 

 silver ores, sugar, wool, nitre and other local produce. In this foreign trade 

 Great Britain holds the first place, followed by France, Germany, the United 

 States and Chili in the order named. The imports and exports average, 

 collectively, about £3,200,000, of which £2,200,000 fall to the share of England. 



Till recently Peru possessed an insignificant mercantile navy of somewhat less 

 than 12,000 tons burden ; but foreigners having obtained the right to naturalise 

 their vessels, this little fleet was suddenly enlarged to a considerable extent. But 

 the deep-sea navigation remains in the hands of foreigners ; more than half of 

 the ships engaged in the ocean carrying trade fly the British flag. Chili owning 

 the larger part of the rest, which is divided between Germany and Prance. 

 More than half of the traffic is concentrated in the roadstead of Callao. 



Communications. 



Peru already possesses numi rous sections of a railway system, which jointly 

 far exceed in length the carriage-roads of the country. Not only Lima, but most 

 of the larger inland towns on the Pacific slope, are connected by rail with their 

 seaports. Even the arduous attempt to surmount the barrier of the Western 

 Cordillera was made, at a time when the profits of the guano trade rendered the 

 expense a question of minor importance. Over £20,000,000 were employed in 

 this undertaking, an enormous sum for a population of 3,000,000, scattered over a 

 vast area. 



The original plan was to push forward the northern, central and southern 

 trans-Andean lines ; the first running from Pacasmayo through Cajamarca to the 



