314 POLITICAL HISTORY OF PERU. 
ruinous voyages were made from ignorance of the wants of the 
people, and their means of payment. 
For the last ten years the trade has been better understood. The 
demand and the means of payment have been more accurately ascer- 
tained, and a healthy and increasing commerce has been carried on, 
as far as the state of the country and the fluctuations, which are 
inseparable from a distant traffic, would permit. The commerce of 
Peru will not bear a comparison with that of Chili, and while the 
former has been diminishing, the latter has been rapidly increasing. 
A portion of the supplies which were formerly sent to Peru direct, 
are now obtained in Chili, and sent to their destination in coasting 
vessels. This change has been brought about by the unwise policy 
pursued by the various Peruvian rulers, in imposing heavy transit 
duties. It is also to be attributed to the advantageous situation of 
Valparaiso, w T here purchasers are always to be found for articles for 
the leeward coast. There is little doubt in the minds of those who 
are most competent to judge, that Valparaiso must become the prin- 
cipal mart of foreign commerce on the west coast of America. 
The foreign trade of Peru is principally carried on by the English, 
Americans, and French. Of late years, a good many German and 
Spanish vessels have been sent thither, and occasionally some of the 
Mediterranean flags are seen on the coast. 
The annual imports into Peru are combined so much with those of 
Chili, that it was deemed proper to include them under the one head; 
those of Peru amount to about two-fifths of the whole. Of these 
imports, part go to Guayaquil, and the Intermedios, or South Peru 
and Bolivia, take about one million from Chili and Lima. The 
returns made from Peru are as follows : 
In dollars and bullion, .... 84,500,000 
Bark, hides, wool, cotton, &c., . . . 500,000 
$5,000,000 
It will be perceived, that both in Peru and Chili, the imports and 
exports are nearly the same in amount ; and the question naturally 
arises, whence the profits on the trade? It is readily answered that, 
as has been already said, large quantities of goods are annually sold 
in Chili and Peru for Central America, the proceeds of which are 
shipped thence direct to Europe and the United States, and do not 
appear in the above note of exports. 
