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The National Geographic Magazine 



surely attract to her shores. She needs 

 to build railroads, to open new fields, 

 to develop them, and make them suit- 

 able for the new-comers. 



These considerations decided public 

 opinion and its representation in Con- 

 gress to pass the recent railroad law. 



By this law the executive is author- 

 ized to apply $500,000 this year, $750,- 

 000 next year, and $1,000,000 the year 

 after next, and so on, as an encourage- 

 ment fund for railroad building, to be 

 spent either in the form of a subsidy 

 per mile built or as guaranty of a cer- 

 tain percentage, not to exceed 6 per 

 cent on investments. The roads whose 

 construction is contemplated by the law 

 are, first, one that, starting from a point 

 between Cerro de Pasco and Oroya, 

 shall reach another on the Ucayali 

 River, which is navigable at all times 

 of the year; second, one that, starting 

 from Oroya, shall connect with the 

 towns of Jauja and Huancayo, and, 

 third, one that, starting from Sicuani, 

 shall reach the historic and picturesque 

 city of Cuzco. These sections of road 

 are within the projected route of the 

 Pan-American Railroad. 



Besides this already considerable in- 

 ducement, the following facilities are 

 provided for by the law : Perpetual 

 ownership of the lines ; 25 years of 

 exclusive privilege — privilege that ex- 

 cludes the possibility of any other com- 

 peting line being constructed; free entry 

 to all materials ; land grants and fur- 

 ther facilities. 



Communication between the Orient 

 of Peru, "the land of the future," and 

 the coast was so difficult that it was not 

 uncommon for persons wishing to go 

 from L/ima to Iquitos to travel via New 

 York, Para, and up the Amazon. It 

 was in order to avoid this roundabout 

 journey that the government has spent 

 over one million dollars in opening the 

 so-called Via Central, which, starting- 

 at the terminal of the Oroya Railroad, 

 reaches by land the navigable waters 



of the Pichis, then down the rivers 

 until Iquitos is reached in twenty days. 



The desire of the government to 

 shorten distances between the Orient 

 and the coast so that the products of 

 the forest region can be exported via 

 the Pacific, a shorter route than that 

 of the Amazon, and finally the wish 

 that the national defense be made effi- 

 cient, have decided it to complete these 

 railroads as soon as possible and at any 

 cost. 



The ideal of a through route by rail 

 from New York to Buenos Aires is 

 not an impossibility, so far as Peru is 

 concerned. The tendency of railroad 

 construction in my country is to com- 

 plete a central road that shall connect 

 Oroya and Cuzco, and extend from the 

 latter point through Sicuani, utilizing 

 the existing road to Puno, and from 

 Puno to the Bolivian frontier. Bolivia 

 has constructed a small road that is 

 within the projected Pan-American 

 route, while on the other side Argen- 

 tina is today reaching with her rails 

 the Bolivian frontier. So the day is 

 not far distant when Lima wil commu- 

 nicate by rail with Buenos Aires. 



The Amazon is formed by the con- 

 fluence within Peruvian territory of the 

 Ucayali and Maranon Rivers, and fol- 

 lows from its formation an easterly 

 course with a slight northerly inclina- 

 tion. It receives numerous affluents 

 both from its northerly and southerly 

 banks, among which the following are 

 worth mentioning : From the south the 

 rivers Yavari, Yurua, Purus, Madeira, 

 etc.; from the north the Napo, Putu- 

 mayo, Yapura, Rio Negro, etc. 



The greater part of these rivers were 

 explored by rubber hunters in the early 

 part of the last century, and the inter- 

 esting and exciting reports of their ad- 

 ventures, the beauty of the scenery, 

 their encounters with uncivilized tribes, 

 together with the richness of their river 

 banks, attracted the attention of the 

 government at Lima as early as the 



