Peru — Its Resources and Development 



321 



fifties. Many expeditions have since 

 that time been organized under govern- 

 ment auspices, many of them failing 

 because of the immense obstacles in the 

 way — dangerous trails, wrecks in the 

 unknown rivers, inclemencies of the 

 weather, etc. — but many of them have 

 produced excellent results. 



Little by little the rubber trade has 

 developed. Steam navigation by large 

 liners has been established up the Ama- 

 zon as far as Peru, and with minor craft 

 through its many tributaries ; the town 

 of Iquitos has come into existence with 

 its ten thousand inhabitants, and its 

 future, as well as that of the whole re- 

 gion, is assured. 



The imperfect results of former ex- 

 peditions and the necessity of conduct- 

 ing them under a thoroughly scientific 

 basis resulted in the organization of a 

 ' ' Board of River Navigation ' ' in April, 

 1 90 1. This board, while residing at 

 the capital, has under its charge the 

 organization of expeditions to our ori- 

 ental region, and since it was founded 

 three very successful expeditions have 

 been carried out — one to the River 

 Tambopata, a tributary of the Madre 

 de Dios ; another to the Inambery, also 

 a tributary of the Madre de Dios, and 

 a third expedition to confirm the famous 

 discoveries of the isthmuses that sepa- 

 rate -the basins of the Yucayali with 

 those of the Madre de Dios, Purus, and 

 Yurua. 



Each one of the expeditions was in 

 charge of a military officer. The staff 

 included a naval officer, who had charge 

 of the study of the navigation of each 

 river and had to report as to soundings, 

 velocity of the streams, rise of waters 

 during the rainy seasons, determina- 

 tion of geographic coordinates, etc. ; 

 a civil engineer, who was to study the 

 work of improving navigation, the 

 roads, bridges, etc. ; a physician, who 

 had as his duty to report on the biol- 

 ogy of the regions traversed, clima- 

 tology, diseases among the Indian dwell- 



ers, etc. ; a naturalist, who was to make 

 a collection and study of the zoology, 

 mineralogy, and botany of the rivers 

 explored ; and, finally, a photographer, 

 who was to take all the pictures and 

 snapshots of interest that would serve 

 to illustrate the reports of the expedi- 

 tions. A map of each river, of each 

 road, and plans of projected improve- 

 ments were to be made. The reports 

 of these three expeditions are most 

 flattering as to results and have encour- 

 aged the Board of Navigation in the 

 organization of others that will soon 

 start on their way. 



By far the most interesting one of 

 the three expeditions is that to the isth- 

 muses that separate the basins of the 

 Ucayali, Madre de Dios Purus, and 

 Yurua. The Madre de Dios is a tribu- 

 tary of the Madeira, and the other two 

 of the Amazon directly. A glance at 

 the map will show that the headwaters 

 of these three rivers are within Peru- 

 vian territory, but until a few years 

 ago they could only be reached through 

 Brazil. A rubber hunter by the name 

 of Fitz-Gerald, trying to avoid the long 

 and tedious navigation down the Madre 

 de Dios and then through the Madeira 

 until the Amazon was reached, and de- 

 siring to transport his rubber via the 

 Ucayali River, discovered an isthmus 

 of about six miles that separated both 

 basins. The report of this discovery, 

 as well as that of other isthmuses sep- 

 arating the rivers Purus and Yurua 

 from the Ucayali, and which made it 

 possible for the Peruvian government 

 to reach these rivers without having to 

 cross Brazilian territory, caused the 

 sending of the expedition mentioned, 

 which has in every way confirmed the 

 importance of the discovery. 



Prominent among the products of 

 this immensely rich region stands the 

 rubber tree, of which there are many 

 varieties. Coffee is also produced in 

 considerable quantity and suffers noth- 

 ing in comparison with the coffee of 



