MATERIAL CONDITION OF BOLIVIA. 391 



opened tracks in all directions, enabling them in their daily rounds to visit every 

 plant, usually about 150, comprised in their beat. According to Guillaume, this 

 industry began on the banks of the Madre de Dios in 1883, and spread rapidly 

 throughout the whole region. In 1890 about 3,000 persons found employment in 

 this district preparing or forwarding the rubber. The variety cultivated in 

 Bolivia is the siphonia, a member of the euphorbia famil}^, of which there are three 

 distinct species. 



Mining — Trade. 



The mining industry, which had languished for many years after the War 

 of Independence, has again become very active. Yet the auriferous deposits, 

 though by no means rare, have caused many disappointments. The sands of the 

 Maipiri, the Tipuari and some other torrents in the Yungas region are, however, 

 now carefully washed. But as in the flourishing days of Potosi, silver is still 

 the most abundant metal, the ores of most of the Bolivian mines being extremely 

 rich. Those of Huanchaca, which of late years have become the most important 

 in the world, contain seven-thousandths of silver ; but in the Oruro mines lodes 

 are frequently met with as much as one-tenth of pure metal. Elsewhere the 

 proportion rises to 50 and even 75 per cent. 



Nearly all the foreign exports, which formerly included wool and bark, now 

 consist of silver, copper and other metals. Europe, Chili and the United States 

 take the ores in exchange for manufactured goods, while Argentina supplies 

 pack-animals and oxen in return. The greater part of the foreign trade is carried 

 on with Great Britain. In 1890 the collective exchanges were valued at 

 £3,000,000, and in 1889 silver was exported to the value of £1,340,000. 



Communications. 



But in Bolivia the development of the mineral and other industries is entirely 

 a question of communications. Even the Huanchaca mines would have failed 

 to acquire their present importance, but for the completion of the railway con- 

 necting them with the Chilian port of Antofagasta. Thanks to this line, 574 

 miles long, as far as its present inland terminus at Oruro, Bolivia now possesses 

 the chief trunk line, with which all the projected branches may easil}^ be con- 

 nected. From the elevation of over 13,000 feet, which has already been reached, 

 nothing remains except to descend eastwards in the direction of Sucre, La Paz, 

 Cochabamba, Santa Cruz de la Sierra and the plains. On the plateaux them- 

 selves, the track will be laid nearly at a dead level along the shores of Titicaca, 

 in connection with the steamers now plying on the lake. Between the opposite 

 ports of Puno or Puerto Perez and Chililaya the distance is about 114 miles. At 

 Chililaya begins a carriage road, running south-eastwards in the direction of La 

 Paz, and now regularly served by diligences. 



Progress has also been made in the direction of Argentina. Here the lines 



