350 SOUTH AMERICA -THE ANDES REGIONS. 



at present from £40 to £80 per ton, according to the season and the nature and 

 bulk of the wares. A first section in construction of the Oroya line is intended to 

 run through Tarma and down the Rio Perene valley to the Ucayali, and thence 

 over a lateral pass to the Unini basin. A second, starting from Ayacucho, is 

 projected to descend northwards by the Rio Mantaro valley to the Apurimac- 

 Tambo confluence. 



Lastly, a continuation of the branch now advancing from Lake Titicaca 

 towards Cuzco is planned to turn the rapids of the Urubaraba, and thus reach 

 Tonquini at the entrance of the defile where the headwaters escape to the plains. 

 These various riverine ports, standing at a mean altitude of not more than 1,000 

 feet above the Atlantic, from which they are distant 3,300 miles, would offer 

 more advantages than Callao for forwarding the produce of the Sierra. An 

 English company has already undertaken to complete the whole system, the first 

 sections of which were constructed with the badly administered resources of the 

 nation. 



The telegraph lines are in a much more forward state, and already extend to 

 the remotest provinces of the republic. The ofiicials sent to administer this 

 department in the distant Amazonian regions find it more convenient and far less 

 expensive to proceed to their posts not directly across the Cordilleras, but by the 

 sea route from Callao to Panama, then across the Isthmus to the Caribbean Sea, 

 and so on by large steamers to Para, and thence by smaller boats up the Amazons 

 to Loreto. 



But the number of telegraph despatches, as well as of letters forwarded 

 through the post, continues to be insignificant, owing to the backward state of 

 education. Although public instruction is "free and obligatory," the great 

 majority of the pure and mixed population has no knowledge of letters. In 1890 

 not more than one-fortieth of the inhabitants were attending the primary schools, 

 though secondary establishments, both public and private, are numerous. Peru 

 possesses as many as three " Universities," those of Linni, Cuzco and Arequipa. 



IX. 



Administration. 



As in Ecuador and Colombia, the Government shows centralising tendencies. 

 The electorates of the different territorial divisions have but little influence, while 

 the ruling body seated at Lima, regarding itself as the heir of the Spanish viceroys, 

 takes advantage of the natural docility of the Quichuas to act independently of 

 the popular will. Even the various revolutions were caused, not by the sufl'erings 

 of the people, but mainly by military aspirants to office and provincial rivalries. 

 Hence the constitution has frequently been suspended in the interest of absolute 

 dictators. 



The suffrage, nominally universal, is de facto extremely limited, the whole of 



