UCSB LIBRARY 
 

 
 First Manuscript edition of 75 numbered copies. 
 This copy is No. 
 
 HANDBOOK 
 
 OF 
 
 WEST COAST COUNTRIES 
 
 PANAMA AND THE CANAL, AND THE 
 
 WEST INDIES 
 
 C. GRAND PIERRE 
 
 AUTHOR OF "We MAY LEARN FROM LATIN AMERICANS," ETC, 
 
 H. H. GALLISON, PUBLISHER 
 NEW YORK 
 
 10 HANOVER SQUARE 
 
 V 
 
 Printed as manuscript, while at sea, on board the 
 Liner Santa Elisa, Grace Line. 

 
 Copyrighted 1921 
 by C. Grand Pierre and H. H. Gallison,
 
 PREIFACE: 
 
 There is no need of apoligizing for the writing and 
 publishing of this book. The interest in Latin American 
 and West Indian countries is growing, but no com- 
 prehensive, complete book of general information about 
 them has, as yet, been written in a popular way and 
 published. 
 
 This seems to justify giving to this volume a little 
 place under the sun, and space in private and public 
 libraries. 
 
 If there is need of apoligizing, it is because of this: 
 
 The manuscript has been written very hurriedly 
 during a busy trip in almost record time. It has been 
 printed under difficult conditions on board of a steam- 
 ship (the "Santa Elisa," Grace Line), while at sea. 
 
 Hence many imperfections of grammar, rhetoric, 
 typography, etc., unavoidable under the circum- 
 stances. 
 
 C. GRAND PIERRE. 
 242 W. 49th Street, New York., U.S.A.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SOUTHWARD BOUND 
 
 The first day out of New York, on our way to Val- 
 paraiso, is usually uneventful. After emerging out 
 of the Narrows between Fort Hamilton and Fort 
 Hancock we successively leave Staten Island, Coney 
 Island and Sandy Hook behind, dropping the pilot 
 near Scotland Lightship. Then, we sail with the Jersey 
 coast for a little over two hours and, well before night- 
 fall, we enter our career as deep water sailors. 
 
 The first interesting thing we meet along our course 
 is the 
 
 GULF STREAM 
 
 the most voluminous and the most rapid of all sea 
 currents. It is merely the continuation of other 
 currents and a link in a great circular movement of 
 the waters of the Atlantic. 
 
 On reaching the South American coast, the South 
 Equatorial Current coming from the coast of Africa, 
 
 7
 
 splits at Cape St. Roque (the eastern-most point of 
 the South American Continent). One branch, the 
 Brazil Current, is deflected southwards while the 
 other proceeds northwards and mixes with the North 
 Equatorial Current. The two drifts, blocked by the 
 "V"-shape of the coast, enter the Caribbean, raising 
 the surface by several feet, then flow into the Gulf of 
 Mexico through the Yucatan Chainel, the pressure 
 being relieved through the Straits of Florida. 
 
 From its exit out of the Florida Straits, the current 
 is named Gulf Stream. There, it is joined, and it soon 
 becomes undistinguishalble from a large body of water 
 coming from the Region of the Lesser Antilles fol- 
 lowing the same course. The streams run north along 
 the coast of the United States, (saparated from it by 
 a narrow strip of cold water known as the "Cold Wall") 
 to a point east of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. 
 
 Near the Grand Banks, the Labrador Current is 
 met and, under the influence of the prevailing westerly 
 winds, a drift current is set up misnamed the Gulf 
 Stream Drift. On reaching the European coast, this 
 drift splits, one branch running northwards, the other 
 southwards, forming the Canaries Current which mixes 
 with the Equatorial Current, thus completing the 
 Cycle. 
 
 In the Florida Straits, the Stream's velocity often 
 exceeds 7 knots. Along the coast, its average velocity 
 ranges between 4 and 5 knots. Its temperature ranges 
 between 75 and 82 degrees. F
 
 GULF WEED 
 
 As soon as we reach the Gulf Stream, we begin to 
 meet patches of Gulf or Sargasso Weed. It has long 
 been believed that these aglse come from the Sea of 
 Sargasso, a large expanse of the Atlantic located 
 roughly between 20 and 30 degrees N. and 45 and 65W. 
 This "sea" is in part covered with such de.ise masses 
 of veei that, legends say, that navigation there is 
 cangerous. Another legend is that the weed is the 
 faaeral wreath of the lost Atlantis, which is said to 
 have been a powerful kingdom 9000 years before 
 Solomon's time and is supposed to now lay below the 
 surface of the Sargasso Sea. It has now been deter- 
 mined that the Gulf weed originates in the Caribbean 
 and the Gulf and that currents and win is cause its 
 accumulation in the Sargasso Sea. 
 
 PYHSIGAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SEA 
 
 We left New York at what is conventionally called 
 sea level, arid most of us believe that barring waves 
 and tides our voyage will be on a plane surface. The 
 truth is that certain parts of the Gulf of Mexico are 
 often more than 20 feet above the level of the Atlantic 
 along our course, and the Caribbean slightly higher. 
 It is not a very big climb, but it is a climb nevertheless. 
 
 Were we to cross the Atlantic along what is known 
 as the southern lane, we would have to go down a rea 
 
 9
 
 hollow at least 200 feet below sea level along the North 
 American coast. 
 
 The differences of level of the Oceans are due to 
 various causes, two or more of them often concurring. 
 There is first the gravitative attraction of the lands, 
 which have an average density nearly three times 
 that of water, and exert a considerable attraction 
 upon sea water, causing what is known as the "Con- 
 tinental wave." Some measurements have indi- 
 cated depressions due to that cause in the Atlantic as 
 much as 650 feet below coast levels, but that has been 
 disputed. However, it is admitted that sea level 
 along the North American coast is 200 or more feet 
 above certain areas in the Atlantic. 
 
 Currents also cause considerable differences in the 
 level of the sea. This is especially the case in closed 
 seas as the Caribbean and the Gulf, through the Equa- 
 torial current. 
 
 Evaporation is still another factor. Actual, re- 
 peated measurements in the Mediterranean indicate 
 differences of level of 25 feet and more, apparently 
 solely due to that cause. 
 
 Barometric variations have been found to affect the 
 level of the Baltic and, presumably, have similar effect 
 on other seas. In the Baltic each milimetre drop in 
 the barometer has been found to cause a raise of 14 
 milimetres. 
 
 Winds also cause considerable differences of level, 
 especially in estuaries, such as the Rio de la Plata. 
 
 10
 
 There are also differences of level due to tidal phe- 
 nomena, which present complicated features differing 
 with localities. 
 
 Currents are due at least partly to causes simi- 
 lar to atmospheric circulation, mainly the unequal 
 heating of the sea surface by the sun as well as the 
 rotation of the earth. Tradewinds blow with great 
 regularity towards the heat equator; they are mostly 
 northeast winds in the northern, and southeast winds 
 in the southern hemisphere, because of deflection by 
 the spinning of the earth. Sea currents are deflected 
 in a similiar manner; they tend to swing towards the 
 right in the northern and toward the left in the southern 
 hemisphere, unless otherwise influenced by the con- 
 figuration of the coasts and other causes. 
 
 TIDES 
 
 The theory of tides is too complicated and too long 
 to explain to find a place in these pages. Suffice it to 
 say that tide predictions are made by reference to the 
 time of the moon's transit across the meridian, cor- 
 rected by the sun's influence and local observations. 
 
 The Establishment of the Port is the average 
 interval which elapses between high tides. The es- 
 tablishment is the hour of high water at full change. 
 Spring rise is the average height between high and 
 low water at spring tide (the average highest tide). 
 Neaps has a similar meaning as concerns low water 
 
 11
 
 CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL CHARACTER- 
 ISTICS OF THE SEA 
 
 Salinity differs much, both horizontally and ver- 
 tically. On or near the surface, these differences are 
 due mainly to varying degrees of evaporation. Vertical 
 differences are not yet satisfactorily explained. 
 
 Viscosity is naturally influenced by both salinity 
 and temperature. 
 
 Transparency differs still more with locality. In 
 waters of the Western Hemisphere the most remarkable 
 instances of extreme transparency are in the Bahamas, 
 in the Caicos and Turks Island waters, and on the 
 south coast of Jamaica, where the sunken remains of 
 the former City of Port Royal, 60 feet below the sur- 
 face, are often plainly seen. 
 
 In color, differences are also remarkable. It has 
 often been doubted that the color of the water is ac- 
 tually blue, but this has been affirmatively ascer- 
 tained by various experiments, by comparison with 
 colorless liquids. Whenever the ocean water is not blue, 
 it is due to local disturbances, reflection, or biological 
 factors. Yet, great differences in blueness are not 
 quite accounted for. For instance, along our course 
 in the Gulf and the Caribbean, the water appears at 
 times almost ridiculously blue, while elsewhere it is 
 dark grey-green. 
 
 Life conditions in the sea vary even more than 
 physical features, and, naturally, they are influenced 
 
 12
 
 by temperature and local chemical composition of the 
 water. Low salinity, for instance, especially where 
 temperature is as uniformly low as along the west 
 South American coast, result in favorable life condi- 
 tions for a great variety and quantity of micro organism. 
 
 This low salinity and temperature are favorable to 
 the absorption by the water and retention of atmos- 
 pheric gases and of those produced by the pylosiogical 
 activities of marine plants and animals. Low salinity 
 also makes possible the solution of suspension of in- 
 creased proportions of silica which, with nitrogen 
 compounds and phosphoric acids, are elements upon 
 which all sea life is primarily dependent. 
 
 The original source of all food for higher sea life is 
 the microscopic plant life which covers the upper layer 
 of the Ocean at the average rate of 12,000 per quart of 
 water. These become the food of lower animal life 
 and certain fishes which in turn are devoured by higher 
 animals and fishes. The relative scarcity of plant and 
 animal life in tropical waters, compared with waters 
 of temperate zones is due to less favorable conditions 
 of life for micro organism. 
 
 THE WINDS 
 
 Winds have not always swept the surface of the 
 Oceans; in olden times, mariners knew only oars to 
 move their ships. It was very hard work, and the 
 greatest reward which a good fairy could give to 
 
 13
 
 fishermen who had given her hospitality was to tell 
 their captain of an island where the winds were held 
 prisoners, and how to capture and use them. 
 
 The captain went, and loaded the four winds the 
 breeze, the trade winds, the gale and the tempest 
 in great big canvas bags. The crew was forbidden to 
 touch the mysterious cargo until arrived home, but 
 their curiosity was too strong. They opened the top- 
 most bag which contained the tempest, which, when 
 set loose, delivered the other winds. Ever since, we 
 have had four kinds of winds upon earth. 
 
 Winds are more or less arbitrarily classified and 
 named according to their velocity as estimated or 
 measured by an instrument called anemometre. 
 
 Breezes are classified by mariners as good, fresh and 
 stiff, the latter of maximum 40 miles velocity. 
 
 Half a Gale is equivalent or a little stronger than a 
 stiff breeze; a strong gale is akin to a storm, and be- 
 tween the two are several kinds of gales usually desig- 
 nated by the velocity of the wind. The word gale is 
 rarely used without qualification. 
 
 Storm winds on the waters of the Western Hemis- 
 phere, south of the U. S. A., are usually called hurri- 
 canes. These storms are exceedingly rare along the 
 west coast north of 40 degrees latitude south. 
 
 Many people unfamiliar with the Gulf and the Carib- 
 bean fear West Indian hurricanes, but without reason. 
 Taking the vast area of these seas into consideration, 
 West Indian hurricanes are very much less frequent 
 
 14
 
 and many times less destructive than North American 
 tornadoes. 
 
 Records of the last 155 years show that they average 
 less than one a year in the entire West Indies, and that 
 they are restricted to comparatively small areas and 
 follow a well defined path. Their approach is always 
 heralded sometimes 2 to 3 days in advance by 
 curious, sudden variations of the barometer. Fewer 
 ships re sunk because of hurricanes than other causes. 
 By far the greatest number of hurricanes happen 
 during July, August and September, and an old West 
 Indian adage says: 
 
 June, too soon; 
 
 July, stand by; 
 
 August, you must; 
 
 September, remember; 
 
 October, all over. 
 
 Very rare are the so-called northers on the western 
 Caribbean. 
 
 SEASICKNESS 
 
 Sea Sickness is often unnecessarily feared by "first 
 trippers," and by those who have been affected by it 
 during previous sea voyages. Indeed, it is now gener- 
 ally admitted that an anxious mental attitude acts 
 the opposite of a prophylactic. 
 
 The following explanation is usually given as the 
 most immediate cause of the ill feeling given that 
 name. 
 
 15
 
 The rolling and heaving of the vessel disturbs the 
 feeling of a correct relation of the body to the sur- 
 rounding objects. The sense of security decreases and 
 even ceases. The nervous system, subjected to a 
 succession of shocks fails in its function to reestablish 
 the disturbed equilibrium. The whole organism is 
 weakened and unable to offset the effects of periodical 
 displacement of the organs during movements of the 
 ship especially the stomach with the well known 
 results. 
 
 The primary causes of sea sickness are mental. 
 As a matter of fact, cases of people becoming sea sick 
 long before the vessel begins to move are not unfrequent. 
 
 No specific has been found which really prevents 
 or cures seasickness. The best anyone can do is to 
 go aboard in quite a matter of fact way, as if boarding 
 a train. It is best not to diet, but to live as nearly 
 as possible as one would on shore, and rest a little more. 
 
 SOME "SEA" TERMS 
 
 Officially, the directions on vessels of the U. S. 
 Navy are called front, rear, left, right. However, to 
 regular seafaring men even in the Navy outside of 
 official documents the old oak and hemp day's 
 terms: fore, aft, port (formerly larboard) and star- 
 board, will continue to be right. 
 
 The sides, from the bows to the stern, form the 
 body of a ship; 'tween wind-and-water is the water's 
 
 16
 
 edge; the upper outline of the sides is the sheer; waste 
 water from rain, seas shipped, etc., runs along the 
 waterways into scuppers into the sea. The white 
 painted sign on the sides, a circle, some lines and capital 
 letters is the Plimsol M>-rk, the lines and letters in- 
 dicate the depth to which the ship may be loaded in 
 winter (W.), fresh water (F. W.), etc., according to 
 Lloyd's survey. The railings forward are just rails, 
 those amidships are quarter rails, those aft are taff- 
 rails. 
 
 It is only since the advent of huge floating hotels 
 that some seafaring people have begun to use the words 
 windows and doors. Properly speaking, they are 
 hatches, ports, hatchways and port holes. Stair- 
 ways are ladders, whatever their size, but two ladders 
 running to or from the same part are companions. 
 The main companion is the "stairway" leading from 
 the dining room to the music room. In olden days, 
 the main companion was something akin to a sacred 
 spot; every man uncovered himself while using it, 
 and only the master of the vessel kept his cap on. 
 The main landing, above the main companion, is the 
 companion way; the ladder let down the sides in 
 ports is the accommodation. 
 
 There are no floors nor ceilings aboard, but decks 
 and deckheads and no partitions, but bulkheads, 
 no skylights, but deadlights. The kitchen is the 
 galley; the crew's kitchen, when separate from that for 
 passenger service, is the ship's galley; the deckhand's 
 
 17
 
 quarters are the foes' 1., the steward's quarters the 
 glory' ole. To go to bed is invariably turn in, to 
 start work is to turn to. 
 
 Whatever his age, the captain is always the only 
 old man aboard; there is o.ity one chief, the chief 
 engineer, and orly one boss, the chief steward. Bones 
 was formerly the cozy name given to the ship's surgeon, 
 but now he is more familiarly known as pills; the elec- 
 trician is sparks and the name is given to the wireless 
 operator; the chef is the doctor, the carpanter is chips; 
 the deck department's store keeper is lamps, the stew- 
 ard's Departments storekeeper just stores. Seaman 
 designates any member of the crew and the word is 
 never used in the sense of seafaring man. On the other 
 hand, sailor designates both a member of the deck 
 department and seafaring rnan at laige. 
 
 A ship sits in the water when under way, but rides 
 at anchor, if she stands the weather well, she is a good 
 sea boat, otherwise a crank, a tub, or an old wagon. 
 To get under way is to gather speed; to sail along a 
 coast is to sail with the wind; to stop is to heave to; 
 the weather side is whence the wind comes, the lee 
 side is the sheltered side. 
 
 A ship, correctly speaking, is exclusively a full 
 rigged vessel, namely, with three or more square 
 rigged masts ; a bark has fore and main masts square , 
 and mizzer. mast fore-and-aft rigged. A barken- 
 tine has the foremast fore-and-aft, the others square. 
 A brig has two square masts, a brigantine one square 
 
 18
 
 and one fore-and-aft mast. A schooner has two or 
 more masts fore-and-aft rigged, a schooner without 
 top sails is said to be baldheaded. Smaller sailers 
 are sloops and goelets. 
 
 Before the commerciaHzv.tio.a of the steamship, the 
 U. S. created still a different type of sailing vessel, the 
 clipper and among these the Baltimore clippers 
 were the most famous. Until beaten by the Lusi- 
 tania, one of these held the transatlantic record. They 
 were vessels designed for speed, along the lines of yachts, 
 with three or four square rigged masts and sometimes 
 small auxiliary fore-and-aft, either fore or aft, or both. 
 
 The division of the masts are: mast, top mast, 
 royal, top gallant, and sky scraper. Above the 
 latters, clippers had, sometimes, moon sails. 
 
 The sails are canvass, the ropes with which sails 
 are handled are halyards, the ropes at the bottom of 
 sails are sheets; the ladders leading up masts are 
 shrouds, the rungs of the shrouds are ratlines. Old 
 sailors hardly knew the word rope, but distinguished 
 hawsers and cables, according to method of manu- 
 facture. Smaller ropes are lines, heaving lines, 
 slings, etc. 
 
 The red and the green light on port and starboard, 
 respectively, are the running lights. A white light, 
 exhibited when the vessel has hove to, 15 degrees 
 above foremast light, is the anchor light ; two or 
 more lights above one another on fore mast indicate 
 that vessel is towing one or more barges. 
 
 19
 
 Navigation is the art of working out a course and 
 determining the location of a ship. It may be at- 
 tained by the study of books, even before setting foot 
 on a vessel. Seamanship is the art of managing a 
 vessel in all weathers and under all conditions. Evi- 
 dently, it can be attained only by long practice. Pilot- 
 age is the art of conducting a ship along coasts and in 
 inland waters; it requires both seamanship and know- 
 ledge of geography. 
 
 Light Houses, buoys, etc., are aids to navigation. 
 Signs and signals along shore, especially in inland 
 waters and estuaries, are known as balissage. The 
 rules of the road are the laws governing the move- 
 ments of vessels when near other vessels. The fair- 
 way is equivalent to right of way on land. 
 
 20
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE BAHAMAS 
 
 The third day out of New York, we approach the 
 Bahamas, the most extensive archipelago in the 
 Western Hemisphere. They are an 800 -miles long 
 string of 229 islands, 661 "cays" and 2,387 rocks, 
 extending from the southern coast of Florida, 25 miles 
 off shore, to near the coast of the Dominican Republic. 
 
 For the last half a century, the southern group of 
 the Bahamas, known as the Turks and Caicos Islands 
 have been politically separated from the Bahamas, 
 and they now depend from Jamaica, while the other 
 islands are administered from Nassau the famous 
 winter resort on the island of New Providence. 
 The Bahamas are divided into administrative groups, 
 with a local administrator representing the Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The total area of the Bahamas is 5,540 square miles 
 and the total population is 60,000. In general, the 
 Bahama Islands are long and narrow, and present a 
 flat appearance. Many of them rise barely above 
 water and are hardly more than sand banks or rocky 
 
 21
 
 islets. Only one of them, New Providence, is really 
 very fertile. 
 
 Their main exports are sisal, sponges (mainly handled 
 through the Sponge Exchange in Nassau), salt, turtle 
 shells, and small quantities of pineapples, and log 
 and fustic wood. 
 
 Some years ago, the Bahamas pineapples were famous 
 and higher prices were obtained for them than even 
 for Porto Rico fruit. However, the American customs 
 tariff, preferential duties in favor of Hawaii, and lack 
 of cold storage facilities destroyed the industry. An 
 American company operates a pineapple canning plant 
 near Nassau, but its products are exported to the 
 British Isles. 
 
 The only one of the Bahamas which is well timbered 
 is Abaco, where an American Company exploits large 
 pine forests and have established a modern plant and 
 founded a town called Wilson City. About 80,000 
 feet of pine board are sawed daily. The company 
 operates a 15-miles long railway, the only one in the 
 Bahamas, and employs some 500 people. 
 
 From two-thirds to three-fourths of the trade of 
 the Bahamas is with the United States and United 
 States currency circulating as well as English coin and 
 notes and Canadian five-dollar bills. 
 
 Watling's. Unless delayed by weather or other 
 causes, we pass Watling's Island during the latter part 
 of the afternoon of the third day out of New York. 
 
 22
 
 PERHAPS NOT COLUMBUS' LANDFALL 
 
 Mariners' charts and most maps call it "San Salvador 
 or Watling's Island," and indicate it as the first land- 
 fall of Columbus, Oct. 12, 1492, during his first voyage. 
 Much printer's ink has hsen employed in endeavors to 
 prove or disprove this supposition. Many writers are of 
 the opinion that one of the Caicos and Turk's Islands, 
 north of Santo Domingo was the spot, while another 
 current of opinion is in favor of Columbus Point, at 
 the southeast end of what the charts call Cat Island. 
 
 The administration of the Bahamas seems to have 
 sided with the latter opinion, as all official documents 
 of the Colony call San Salvador Island what the charts 
 and the maps call Cat Island. 
 
 Watling's Island is about 12 miles long and from 
 5 to 7 miles wide, with slightly indented shores. Its 
 interior is largely cut up with salt water lagoons, separ- 
 ated by low hills. Its area is 60 square miles and its 
 population (1911 census) 617. The main industry of 
 the island is cattle and sheep raising, including breed- 
 ing stock famous in the Bahamas. 
 
 Watling's Light erected on the highest point, 
 Dixon Hill, towards the northeast, is visible 19 miles, 
 showing two short flashes, followed by eclipse, every 
 30 seconds. It is exhibited from a stone tower 165 feet 
 above the water. 
 
 Immediately north of Watling are Green Cay and 
 White Cay, recognized by their appearance. South 
 
 23
 
 of Watling's are the Hinchbroke Rocks, near which 
 is the wreck of a sailing vessel. Another wreck is 
 visible near the light house. 
 
 San Salvador Island, or Cat Island, just named, is 
 left out of sight to the west. It is somewhat in the 
 shape of a 42-miles long leg with 15-miles long foot 
 and 3 miles average width, an area of 160 square miles 
 and a population of 5,072. It is the loftiest of the 
 Bahamas, with a maximum elevation of nearly 400 
 feet. There is no sponge fishing in these waters, but, 
 as a whole, this island is the most fertile of the Bahamas, 
 except New Providence. 
 
 A few miles west of the latter, lies the islet of Little 
 San Salvador. 
 
 We also leave out of sight, west of us, the islet of 
 Conception, on which Columbus is supposed to have 
 remained several days to pray. A liltle to the south is 
 /?um Cay, with an area of 29 square miles and a popu- 
 lation of 430, and Long Island (not to be confounded 
 with Long Cay), 57 miles long, 3 miles at its widest 
 an area of 130 square miles, and 4,160 inhabitants. 
 
 From 6 to 7 hours after passing Watling's light, we 
 should come to the height of Bird Rock, a rocky islet, 
 little more than one square mile in area, located about 
 one mile north of Crooked Island, but when approached 
 from the north, appearing as if part of the latter. Its 
 light, exhibited from a conical stone tower faced with 
 blue brick, easily visible from the ship when passed 
 
 24
 
 by daylight, shows, 120 feet above water, for 15 seconds 
 every 90 seconds. 
 
 ENTERING THE GULF OF MEXICO 
 
 We have now entered the Crooked Island Passage, 
 one of the six channels available to large vessels pass- 
 ing from the open Atlantic into the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 Immediately south of Bird Rock, we have Crooked 
 Island, which is not nearly as crooked as Acklin, its 
 neighbor. It is irregular in shape, about 10 miles long 
 and 6 miles at its widest, with an area of 76 square 
 miles and a population of 1,441. It is generally low 
 and wooded, with a range of hills, pretentiously called 
 the Blue Mountains, gradually rising towards its cen- 
 ter, reaching a maximum altitude of 200 feet, and an 
 isolated elevation of about the same height towards the 
 south end, called Mount Pisgah. By clear weather, 
 and with a good glass, we may distinguish some of 
 the houses of the chief town, Portland Harbor, near 
 the northern end of the island. 
 
 OF PIRATICAL FAME 
 
 After crossing an expanse of open sea some 12 miles 
 wide, we see parts of the. west shore of Long Cay 
 (not to be confounded with Long Island), better known 
 as Fortune Island. It is about 10 miles long, vary- 
 
 25
 
 ing in width from 1-4 miles to nearly three miles. It is 
 nearly level, raising gradually to 110 feet altitude, at 
 Fortune Hill, near the south end. Its only settlement, 
 Albert, is the seat of the administration of the Crooked 
 Island group of islands and the principal shipping 
 point for a number of islands around. Before the 
 War, passenger liners of the Atlas line, called there 
 fortnightly, and during the building of the canal, 
 many hundreds of laborers were shipped from there. 
 Albert is a neat little town, with two or three buildings 
 which may be called comparatively pretentious. 
 
 From the southern end of Fortune Island, the "bank" 
 curves southeastward, and then in a straight, southerly 
 direction, forming an 11 -miles long string of islets, 
 the Fish Cays, some of which are visible from the deck. 
 
 Our next landmark is Salina Point, the eastern 
 end of the southern part of Acklin Island. Acklin is 
 48 miles long and 7 miles at its widest, but for most of 
 its length it is only from one to three miles wide. Its 
 area is only 120 square miles and its population 173 2. 
 From its shape, it would well deserve the name Crooked 
 Island given to one of its neighbors. Wells, its chief 
 town, trades mainly with Albert. 
 
 We leave to our west the Mira POT Vos, a cluster of 
 islets, some of which are visible from the ship with a 
 good glass. 
 
 Soon after Salina Point, we pass Castle Island, a 
 mere rocky islet. From a conical tower with three 
 
 26
 
 bands of red brick is exhibited, 114 feet above water 
 the only fixed light of the three first orders in the 
 Bahamas. It is visible 17 miles. 
 
 East of our course, we leave, some 25 miles away, 
 Great Inagua, the third largest of the Bahamas, 
 with an area of 560 square miles and a population of 
 only 1,343. 
 
 27
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 CUBA 
 
 Cape May si, which we usually reach during the 
 forenoon of the fourth day out of New York, is the 
 eastermost end of Cuba. When seen from the north, 
 the range of hills south of the Cape appear as if rising 
 in series of steps; a little further south, we may observe 
 curious folds in the formation of the mountain sides 
 In the distance, we see the Cobre (copper) mountains, 
 so named because of their appearance at certain times 
 of the year. Among them is a remarkable land- 
 mark, the flat topped Yunque (anvil) of Baracoa. 
 
 The coast about the cape is fringed with a white 
 sandy beach, behind which is a belt of scrubby wood. 
 The hillsides are rocky and barren, but the land on the 
 plateau above is among the most fertile of Cuba. The 
 region is not only agriculturally rich, but, during the 
 war, was a great producer of manganese ore. 
 
 The nearest port on the north coast is Baracoa, 
 a sugar and banana port. The city was founded by 
 Diego Columbus in 1514. 
 
 On the south coast, we may distinguish three dis- 
 
 28
 
 tinct ranges of hills. Behind the second is Guanta- 
 namo, the U. S. Naval Base, and behind the third 
 lies Santiago. 
 
 Cape Maysi Light is exhibited from a white cir- 
 cular tower, located on Point Hombra, 21-2 miles 
 from the extremity of the Cape; it shows three short 
 flashes, followed by a longer eclipse, within 20 seconds. 
 Not far from the light house, we may observe the hull 
 of a tanker aground, appearing more as if riding at 
 anchor near the beach. 
 
 45 miles east of Cape Maysi is Mole St. Nicholas, 
 Haiti, which people of that country like to call the Gib- 
 raltar of the West Indies. There are no fortifications 
 there, nor need of any, but the writer has been told 
 very seriously by educated Haitians, that if Haiti 
 had the money, it would beat the record in erecting 
 there fortifications which would much surpass the 
 "Rock." 
 
 As a matter of fact, the title "Gibraltar of the West 
 Indies" was given a century ago to Brimstone Hill, 
 on the island of St. Kitts, one of the Lesser Antilles, 
 where one of the struggles took place which gave 
 Great Britain the naval supremacy it has enjoyed 
 since. But, while the strategic possibilities of Mole 
 St. Nicholas were sorely neglected, there are, not many 
 miles away, along the north coast of Haiti, the ruins of 
 La Ferriere, probably, with the exception of the ruins 
 of Inca fortresses in Peru, the remains of the most 
 gigantic fortress on earth. La Ferriere was built by 
 
 29
 
 "Emperor" Christopher of Haiti, a native and runaway 
 slave from the island of St. Christopher, who, ap- 
 parently, aimed to imitate and surpass what his former 
 English masters had done on Brimstone Hill, on his 
 native island. Below La Ferriere are the ruins of what 
 must have been wonderful palaces and gardens of 
 "King" Milot, another of the many short lived rulers of 
 the Black Country. 
 
 Between Cape Maysi and Mole St. Nicholas, the 
 straits are called and form the Windward Passage, 
 one of the four channels available to large vessels pass- 
 ing from the Gulf of Mexico into the Caribbean Sea. 
 The other passages are: The Yucatan Passage (be- 
 tween Mexico and Cuba), The Mona Passage (between 
 the island of San Domingo and Cuba), and the Virgin 
 Passage (between Porto Rico and St. Thomas). 
 
 Our next landfall will be Navassa, which we usually 
 pass about 9 hours after Cape Maysi. 
 
 THE PEARL OF THE ANTILLES 
 
 Cuba was discovered by Columbus on his first voyage, 
 on October 28, 1492. He landed in the vicinity of the 
 place where the town of Nuevitas now stands and took 
 possession of the country in the name of Spain. From 
 that time until the peace of Paris was concluded in 
 December, 1898, the progress of the country was rela- 
 tively slow and by no means commensurate with its 
 natural richness and susceptibility of development. 
 
 30
 
 Cuba extends in a direction from northwest to south- 
 east its northwestern extremity being Cape San An- 
 tonio, in west longitude 84 55', and its southeastern 
 extremity Cape Maisi, in longitude 74 12'. There is 
 a distance of 740 statute miles between these capes, and 
 Maisi is 250 miles farther south than San Antonio. 
 The island is only 120 miles wide at its broadest part, 
 and it averages from 60 to 100 miles. Its total area 
 is 44,164 square miles, or 114,385 square kilometers, 
 being thus a trifle smaller than the State of Pennsyl- 
 vania. Of this area only 15 per cent is in cultivation. 
 
 The census of 1913-14 gives the total population of 
 Cuba as 2,465,428. The average yearly increase in 
 the population is 70,000, the excess of births over 
 deaths being 40,000 and the average yearly immigra- 
 tion about 30,000. Many of the immigrants are a 
 good type of hard-working folk from Spain, who, avail- 
 ing themselves of the opportunities that the country 
 affords, soon acquire land or work in the cities as ar- 
 tisans, small storekeepers, and in other commercial 
 lines. Of late there has been considerable immigra- 
 tion from the neighboring islands of Haiti, Jamaica, 
 Barbados, and others, owing to the necessity for farm 
 labor. These newcomers are nearly all negroes. 
 
 In the last century especially its growth was retarded 
 by revolts against the constituted authorities. There 
 w^re uprisings by the Cubans in 1823, 1826> 1828, 1830, 
 1848, 1850, 1851, and 1855. These were followed by 
 the "Ten Years' War," which continued (mainly in 
 
 31
 
 guerrilla fashion) from 1868 to 1878. Another insur- 
 rection was started in 1881. The cost of suppressing 
 these attempts at revolution had been assessed by Spain 
 against the colony, and the total was $295,707,264, or 
 more than $185 per capita. The cost in blood and de- 
 struction of property was incalculable. Then came 
 the final revolt of 1895, the declaration of war by the 
 United States, April 19, 1898, and the subsequent terms 
 of peace by which Cuba was given freedom December 
 10, 1898. The United States administered affairs in 
 Cuba for a time, carried out an effective sanitary pro- 
 gram in Habana, and inaugurated public works and 
 similar improvements. Finally, on May 20, 1902, an 
 election having been held under the provisional gov- 
 ernment, the island was turned over to a president and 
 congress of its own people. Cuba had at last become a 
 nation in its own right and the struggle of more than 
 80 years was over. 
 
 The lessons of sanitation taught by the Americans 
 were well learned. The principles were put in force 
 throughout the island, and with yellow fever absolutely 
 eradicated the progress of Cuba since 1902 has been 
 rapid and in many respects remarkable. 
 
 HAITI AND SAN DOMINGO 
 
 The island which we pass at starboard the fourth day 
 out of New York, variously called Haiti and San 
 Domingo, is the second in size of the Antilles, its area 
 being two thirds that of Cuba. It is one of the first 
 
 32
 
 discoveries of Columbus and was called by him 
 Hispanola. 
 
 The mainland of the island contains about 31,000 
 square miles, and of this area the eastern two-thirds is 
 occupied by the Dominican Republic. The remainder, 
 or 10,204 square miles, comprises the Republic of Haiti. 
 In addition there is the island of Gonaives, 38 miles 
 long and 5 or 6 miles wide in places; the Isle de Tortue 
 on the north, which is 22 miles long and from one-half 
 to 4 and 5 miles wide; Vaches Island on the south, 
 Grand Caimite, and lesser islets, which, altogether, add 
 several hundred square miles to the Haitian territory 
 
 The population of the Republic Haiti is estimated 
 at two million. 
 
 Port au Prince, the capital, situated on the south- 
 west side of the Republic, and surrounded by a sort 
 of horseshoe of mountains, is recognized as one of the 
 hottest ports in the West Indies. It gets none of the 
 trades, and until the sun goes down it receives the 
 ardent rays. There is little air movement, and in 
 general, the humidity is high. During the rainy 
 season that is, from the middle of April to the mid- 
 dle of October the heat averages from 94 to 96 
 every day; and during the "dry" season from October 
 to April, the temperature ranges from 84 to 86. If 
 the dry land breeze blows, the thermometer goes up 
 to 90 or perhaps a few degrees higher. The nights, 
 however, are at times from 10 to 15 degrees cooler than 
 the days. 
 
 33
 
 The people of Haiti are almost entirely pure-blooded 
 negroes, the mulattoes, who form about 10 per cent 
 of the population, beirg, it is believed, a diminishing 
 class. However, the persons with an admixture of 
 white blood, by reason of their better education and 
 opportunities, constitute the more progressive element 
 and furnish many of the leaders of the people. The 
 Haitian are generally of an amiable disposition, polite 
 and courteous to a degree, considerate of others, and 
 possessed of good manners; this is especially true of 
 those who have had the advantage of instruction. 
 
 The main exports of Haiti are coffee, fustic and log 
 wood, guaiac, castor oil and hides and skins. 
 
 With the expection of one or two large agricultural 
 concerns in hands of foreign capitalists, agriculture 
 in Haiti is in a very promitive stage. 
 
 The country is a protectorate of the United States, 
 supposedly self-governing, but U. S. Navy officers are 
 in charge of the activities of most departments of the 
 Government. 
 
 THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 
 
 The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two- 
 thirds of the island of Haiti and has an area estimated 
 at from 18,000 to 19,325 square miles. 
 
 The population of the Republic is estimated at 
 800,000. Unlike Haitians, they are very largely mulat- 
 toes with a considerable admixture of Carib Indian 
 blood. The language of the people is Spanish. 
 
 34
 
 Since 1898, the U. S. has been by treaty in charge 
 of the Finances of the Republic, but in 1919, by order 
 of the Wilson administration, American army officers 
 took entire and absolute charge of the government of 
 the Republic. However, in 1921 a considerable amount 
 of municipal autonomy was restored to Dominicans. 
 
 The agriculture of the country is on a higher level 
 of development than that of Haiti. Sugar, cotton and 
 cocoa being the principal exports. 
 
 PORTO RICO 
 
 Porto Rico is about 450 miles slightly southeast of 
 Cape Maisi, the eastern point of Cuba; it is 77 miles 
 east of Haiti, and 40 miles west of the island of St. 
 Thomas in the Virgin group. San Juan is 1,407 miles 
 from New York, 1,255 miles from Norfolk, 1,539 miles 
 from New Orleans, and 959 miles from Colon. Ha- 
 bana, Cuba, is 1,045 miles from the Porto Rican 
 capital. 
 
 It is the easternmost island of the group called the 
 Greater Antilles, which is composed of Cuba, Jamaica, 
 Haiti, and Porto Rico. Its geographical position is be- 
 tween 17 54' and 18 30' north latitude and 
 65 35' and 67 15' west longitude. Its conformation 
 is that of an irregular parallelogram, the length east 
 and west being somewhat less than 100 miles and the 
 average width north and south about 35 miles. 
 
 Porto Rico is one of the summits of the great range 
 35
 
 of submerged mountains that rise from immense depths 
 in the ocean and form the Greater Antilles as well as 
 the group of islands faither to the east. The vast pro- 
 portions of this mountain chain may be judged from 
 adjacent deep-sea soundings. The "Brownson Deep," 
 one of the most profound chasms on the globe, is a little 
 less than 100 miles off the northcoast of the island. 
 From here this stupendous range rises from a depth of 
 27,000 feet to the mountain summits above sea level. 
 One writer upon Porto Rico has made the graphic 
 statement that the West Indian Islands are only the 
 protruding tips of the mightiest and most precipitous 
 mountain range in the world, and that if it could be 
 pushed up above the surface of the water it would reach 
 heavenward to a greater height than that of Mount 
 Everest in the Himalayas. The ocean depths near the 
 archipelago are the greatest known in the Atlantic. 
 
 The total area of 3,606 square miles includes Mona 
 Island, in the Mona passage; the island of Caja de 
 Muertos, southeast of Ponce on the south coast; 
 Viequez, or Crab Island, off the center of the east 
 coast; Culebra Island, about 18 miles east of Cape 
 San Juan; and some smaller islands near the northeast 
 corner. 
 
 Under the former regime there were only two classes 
 of people in the island the rich and the poor. Under 
 the American regime there is gradually growing up a 
 middle class, neither rich nor poor; but the number of 
 poor people in need of help and guidance is very large. 
 
 36
 
 The average Porto Rican is a mixture of races. In 
 the early part of the sixteenth century a large mmber of 
 African slaves were introduced, and this strain has since 
 received impetus, especially along the coasts, where 
 there has been immigration of negroes from the thickly 
 populated British islands. Some of the people show 
 evidences of Indian blood, while the Carib type is some- 
 times apparent. 
 
 The planters, merchants, professional men, and large 
 landowners were usually of pure European stock, and 
 they have taken great pride in keeping that stock pure. 
 There are a great many persons of pureEuropean descent 
 on the island, but the average "jibaros," or country- 
 men, and "peones," or laborers, are usually of indeter- 
 minate origin, showing traces of Indian, Negro, and 
 Spaniard. 
 
 The census of 1910 gave the population of Porto 
 Rico as 1,118,012. At the estimated rate of increase, 
 the total population at the beginning of 1916 must there- 
 fore have been approximately 1,200,000. The census 
 figures of 1910 gave the island a population of a frac- 
 tion over 310 to the square mile. It is the most densely 
 populated area under the dominion of the United States, 
 except the States of Rhode Island and New Jersey, 
 and it is one of the most thickly populated countries in 
 the world. The annual increase represented by the 
 excess of births over deaths amounts to 2 per cent, of 
 the whole population, and the problem of overpopula- 
 tion is already an acute one. Gov. Yager, in an ad- 
 
 37
 
 dress at the Lake Mohonk Conference in 1915 esti- 
 mated the population in that year at 350 per square mile, 
 and he stated this to be a greater de isity than that of 
 China or India and about equal to that of Japan. 
 The distribution is general, and tie center of popula- 
 tion is only 5 miles from the geographic center of the 
 island. Only 10 per cent, of the people live in cities. 
 Only about 1 per cent, are of foreign birth, and there is 
 practically no immigration except from the United 
 States. 
 
 JAMAICA 
 
 After passing Cape Maisi, we leave another of the 
 Great Antilles, Jamaica, 000 miles west of our course. 
 It is the third largest of the four islands included in 
 the "Greater Antilles," and it lies in the Caribbean Sea 
 between 17 43' and 18 32' north latitude, and between 
 76 11' and 78 20' 50" west longitude. It is 90miles 
 from the southern end of Cuba, 100 miles from Haiti, 
 and 540 miles from the Colon entrance to the Panama 
 Canal. It has a length of 144 miles, its greatest width 
 is 49 miles, and its total area is 4,193 square miles, or 
 2,683,520 acres. Of this amount only 646 square 
 miles, or 413,440 acres, are flat land, the rest being hills 
 and mountains, in large part uncultivable. 
 
 While the population of Jamaica was given as 
 831,383 by the census of 1911, it was estimated in 1916 
 at 897,196 and in 1917 at 895,692, the slight loss being 
 
 38
 
 accounted for by the excess of emigration of laborers 
 to Cuba and the Canal Zone and by military depart- 
 ures. The nonarrival of East Indians during 1917 was 
 also a factor in the loss. 
 
 The principal resources of Jamaica are agricultural, 
 although there is much forest wealth and a number of 
 deposits of minerals. Small streams, only a few of 
 which are navigable even for rowboats, abound, and, 
 with the ample rainfall, are of great importance to the 
 farms and estates. 
 
 AN ISLAND WITH A PAST 
 
 Navassa, the island with a past is only about two 
 miles long and one mile wide. It is rather level, rising 
 abruptly from its shores in cliffs from 20 to 60 feet high 
 to a plateau rolling gently to a maximum elevation of 
 250 feet. Its approaches are forbidding and landing 
 is impracticable except on one spot, on the northwest 
 shore, and where landing platforms have been erected. 
 
 There is no water on Navassa and it is covered with 
 scrubby vegetation. Until construction of the light- 
 house was begun, there were no inhabitants and the 
 only near -domesticated beings living there were wild 
 dogs, cats and goats, the progeny of animals left there 
 by former guano workers. 
 
 In spite of its smallness and its barrenness, Navassa 
 is unusually interesting. 
 
 39
 
 (1) It lies almost directly in the true course of 
 vessels plying between the United States, Cape Maysi 
 and Colon. 
 
 (2) The United States has provided there a remark- 
 able aid to navigation, a light visible 27 miles, exhibited 
 395 feet above water, from a cylindrical tower. It 
 shows two short flashes, with a 6 second eclipse be- 
 tween, and a 23 second eclipse following, the whole 
 within 30 seconds. 
 
 (3) Navassa was the object of diplomatic conversa- 
 tions with an unusual ending which, perhaps, was 
 inspired, at least in part, by Esopus' fable of the 
 Oyster and the Pleaders. Haiti, claimed Navassa 
 by right of its geographical position. Spain appears 
 to have had some claims on it, which Cuba thought 
 she possessed as the successor of Spain. Both Govern- 
 ments appealed to Uncle Sam and asked him to decide 
 against the other. Uncle Sam could have done what 
 the judge in the fable did, but, wise as ever, he told 
 both parties that a light on the island would enable 
 passengers on steamers which may pass the island on 
 a moonless night to have at least some kind of a view 
 of the landscape, and that, incidentally, mariners 
 coming that way would be much helped thereby. He 
 added something to the effect that he would feel very 
 much inclined to adjudge the island to the one of the 
 pleaders who first would adequately illuminate the 
 landscape. Exit of the pleaders. . . . 
 
 40
 
 (4) Then, Navassa has a dark past. In the early 
 eighties, some Guano was obtained there by an Ameri- 
 can concern. After the guano had been all removed, 
 some phosphate rock was discovered. A com- 
 pany was formed in the United States to exploit what 
 were claimed to be inexhaustible deposits of the pre- 
 cious mineral. It is said that promoters obtained 
 something like sixteen million dollars upon these 
 prospects. As a matter of fact, there were some phos- 
 phates on Navassa. The phosphorus of some of the 
 guano had leaked into fissures and combined with the 
 calcium of the lime stone. According to newspapers 
 of that time, lack of production was explained by pro- 
 moters first by "revolution" of the natives, then by 
 seismic disturbances which destroyed the property. 
 
 If we pass Navassa early enough in the afternoon, 
 we may see, before sundown the mountains of Haiti, 
 beyond Cape Dame Marie. 
 
 We are now crossing the Caribbean and our next 
 land fall will be Manzanillo Point, on the coast of 
 Panama. 
 
 41
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 PANAMA 
 
 After crossing the Caribbean, we are due to reach 
 the coast of Panama at Manzanillo Point, on Isla 
 Grande, in the early part of the afternoon of the sixth 
 day of our voyage. The Canal Administration 
 maintains a light there, from which alternating a 
 white light visible 18 miles, and a red light, visible 5 
 miles, are flashed every five seconds. 
 
 From Manzanillo Point, it is a little less than two 
 hours to the entrance of Colon Harbor. 
 
 Already an hour or two before passing abeam of 
 Manzanillo light, the Panama coast may be seen ia 
 the distance. Manzanillo may be located well in ad- 
 vance, by observing where the land takes a sharp turn, 
 "coming" nearer to us. Near there, one may dis- 
 tinguish two round islets, on the higher of which, 
 nearer shore, a white spot may be seen the light house. 
 
 HISTORY, TOPOGRAPHY, CLIMATE 
 
 "Isthmus of Panama" is a comparatively modern 
 name. The Spaniards called Isthmus of the Darien 
 the entire territory which forms the connecting link 
 
 42
 
 between South and Central America, even after the 
 main line of transcontinental travel had shifted from 
 the Darien Region to the route Paaama-Nornbre de 
 Dios. 
 
 Panama was a State of the Republic of New Granada 
 from the time of the independence of that country 
 from Spain, and it became a province of the Republic 
 of Colombia at its reorganization until its secession, 
 November 3rd., 1904. Panamanians claim that they 
 joined the New Granada Confederacy as an inde- 
 pendent nation and not as a province, and that the 
 Republic of Colombia having broken the original 
 covenant, they were justified in "resuming" their full 
 independence. 
 
 The Territory of the Republic of Panama, including 
 the Canal Zone has an area of 32,380 square miles, and 
 a population claimed to be half a million, but is prob- 
 ably considerably less. In its makeup, the population 
 shows strange contrasts. It includes, on the one hand, 
 what ethnologists consider the most thoroughbred 
 human race (the San Bias and other Indians, of which 
 more later) and, on the other hand, the most non- 
 descript mixture imaginable (various strains of Euro- 
 peans, several Indian breeds, considerable negro ad- 
 mixture, and decided traces of Chinese and Jap blood). 
 
 Two mountain chains traverse the territory of the 
 Republic, narrowing to a single range of hills in the 
 region of the Canal. Several of the rivers of the 
 country would be more useful arteries of commuru- 
 
 43
 
 cations were it not that for much of the year tropical 
 rains increase their volume greatly, endangering and 
 at times preventing navigation. Barring floods, the 
 Tuya is navigable for small vessels for about 100 
 miles. The Bayamo, the Code, the Calebebora, the 
 Tarire and the Los Indios rivers are navigable from 20 
 to 60 miles. 
 
 It appears strange that there should be a considerable 
 difference of climate and especially of rainfall between 
 the Pacific and the Atlantic side of the territory of 
 Panama, even at points as near one another as Colon 
 and Panama. The rainfall along the Caribbean coast 
 reaches 150 inches annually, while that on the Pacific 
 side rarely exceeds 65 inches annually. The former 
 has no dry season whatever, the latter sees no rain 
 during the first four months of the year. 
 
 CANAL ZONE 
 
 The United States has acquired for 999 years ab- 
 solute jurisdiction over 5 miles of territory on each side 
 of the Canal, but the area of the cities of Panama and 
 Colon were excluded. The United States has the right 
 to govern and administer the Canal Zone as if it were its 
 own, but, technically, this strip of land remains an 
 integral part of the territory of the Republic of Pana- 
 ma and is not a U. S. possession. This treaty ar- 
 rangement manifests itself in various ways. For in- 
 stance, inhabitants of the Canal Zone pay custom du- 
 
 44
 
 ties to Panama for everything they import personally. 
 Also, a sojourn of five years in the Canal Zone is not 
 residence in the United States in the sense of naturali- 
 zation laws. Moreover, Panama has retained the 
 post office privilege in the Canal Zone and has merely 
 let the privilege to the U. S. P. O. in the Canal Zone. 
 The latter uses Panama Stamps with surcharge, which 
 it purchases at 40 cents on the dollar from the Republic 
 of Panama. 
 
 Parts of the lands of the Canal Zone are very fer- 
 tile and a great many of the Americans whose jobs have 
 ended with the opening of the Canal would have liked 
 to homestead there. But, Col. Goethals was in favor of 
 making a wilderness of the Zone for military reasons and 
 he succeeded in making a congressional commission 
 and congress sees his way. Nevertheless, since the de- 
 parture of Goethals, the zone has not been allowed en- 
 tirely to revert to the bush, but, little by little, it is 
 becoming an immense cattle range. Indeed, the Zone 
 has already produced enough beef to permit exportation 
 to some of the U. S. military and naval establishments 
 in the Caribbean. 
 
 CENTERS OF POPULATION 
 
 The City of Panama was at first located six miles 
 east of its present site, and interesting ruins of the 
 old City, Panama Viejo, are still to be seen. The pres- 
 ent city has about 65,000 inhabitants, about 12,000 
 of whom are whites, including many Americans. An- 
 
 45
 
 con, a suburb of Panama City, and Balboa, the port 
 of Panama, are within the Canal Zone. 
 
 Panama is the oldest city of European origin in 
 the Americas and, in many ways, it has retained the 
 character of an old Spanish City. A great deal re- 
 mains of the city walls erected in 1673, when the city 
 was moved to its present location. Among the ruins 
 of Spanish times is an architectural curiosity, the Flat 
 Arch, which is very nearly flat. 
 
 Colon, some years ago, might have been called a 
 typical Central American town with West Indian 
 fringes. Since the great fire, in 1915, which destroyed 
 most of it, it may be said to be in a class by itself. 
 Covered side walks, with posts just strong enough to 
 support the story above, have replaced the arcades with 
 the wide moorish archways which obscured the stores 
 within. The architecture of the new buildings com- 
 bine a sober mixture of the Italian taste for line design 
 and Spanish color, and the result is a new city, con- 
 structed along practical and sanitary lines, with just 
 enough adornment to render it attractive. 
 
 Colon has about 30,000 inhabitants, two-thirds of 
 which are West Indian negroes. 
 
 On the other side of First Street begins Cristobal, 
 Canal Zone, which is, in part, a residential city for Ca- 
 nal employees and the seat of offices of the Canal 
 Administration and steamship agencies. 
 
 Little by little, the residences of Cristobal are giv- 
 ing way to office buildings and a new Zone residential 
 
 46
 
 city is being gradually created at New Cristobal, to- 
 wards Mount Hope. 
 
 David, the third city of Panama, and its port, Pedre- 
 gal, are the outlet for the Province of Chiriqui, near the 
 Costarican border. The province is a vast cattle 
 country and coffee and cocoa of excellent quality are 
 produced in appreciable quantities in the high lands, 
 especially around Boquete. 
 
 Between Chiriqui and the Canal are the provinces 
 of Los Santos, Cocle, and Veraguas. The latter was 
 named in honor of Columbus, who was made Duke of 
 Veraguas. 
 
 It may be remembered that one of the direct de- 
 scendent of the discoverer of the New World, a Duke de 
 Veraguas de la Cerda, visited the Chicago exposition 
 in 1893. 
 
 Veraguas province has another historical remini- 
 scence, namely, Montijo, a district named from the old 
 Spanish family of which Eugenie, Empress of the 
 French, was a daughter. 
 
 On the Atlantic side, west of Colon, is Chiriqui 
 Lagoon, with Almirante Bay, which are occasionally 
 used as field for manoeuvres by U. S. naval units sta- 
 tioned in Canal waters. In that region, around 
 Bocas del Toro, and also the newer town of Almi- 
 rante, a little further north are very extensive banana 
 plantations of the United Fruit Company, which are 
 served by over 300 miles of railways. 
 
 47
 
 THE ATLANTIC SIDE 
 
 Southeast of the City of Colon, the province of the 
 same name extends for 200 miles towards the Colom- 
 bian border. The dividing line between Colon Pro- 
 vince and that of Panama is a mountain range called 
 the Serrana del Darien. In this region, between the 
 upper reaches of the Bayamo and the Chucunique 
 Rivers live several Indian tribes who still maintain a 
 large measure of isolation. Even the President of 
 Panama has been refused permission to visit these 
 territories. 
 
 Among these Indians are the San Bias, whose terri- 
 tory begins a few miles east of Manzanillo Point, 
 the part of the coast of Panama which we passed about 
 two hours before arriving in Colon. The territory 
 claimed by the San Bias comprises a coastal strip of 
 about 120 miles, together with some 360 islands and 
 islets. 
 
 THE PUREST HUMAN RACE 
 
 Ethnologists say that the San Bias Indians are 
 probably the purest race of humans. They are pre 
 sumed to have inbred without a trace of foreign blood 
 for some 1,500 years; they have never been subdued, 
 either by the Spaniards or the Colombians, After it 
 became independent, Panama planned to force them 
 into submission, but gave up the project of a military 
 expedition largely upon the representation of scientists. 
 
 48
 
 Instead of force, the Government of Panama is endeav- 
 oring a policy of infiltration, however, with little suc- 
 cess. 
 
 The San Bias are practically independent and they 
 govern themselves by a form of patriarchal adminis- 
 tration. Unlike other Indians, the San Bias do not 
 live in huts, but in large sheds which sometimes house 
 a dozen or more families. One of their laws is that no 
 stranger is allowed to spend the night in their terri- 
 tory, but, some years ago, an exception was made in 
 favor of a crippled, old, shipwrecked negro sailor. A 
 year later, a San Bias girl gave birth to a colored child. 
 The council of the nation decided that she, the father 
 and their child should be put to death forthwith. 
 More recently, another exception was made in favor 
 of an English and an American lady, the latter, Mrs. 
 Potts, who were allowed to remain and conduct a 
 mission school. After mature deliberation, the council 
 decided that they both were past the danger age. 
 
 In spite of inbreeding and voluntary isolation, 
 the San Bias Indians show no sign of degeneracy. On 
 the very contrary, they are a virile, intelligent race and, 
 although very conservative in their opinions, they are 
 far from "narrow." Many of their young men work 
 as sailors on American or British sailing vessels, trad- 
 ing between the Caribbean and the North Atlantic 
 coast. After from 5 to 7 years "at sea," they return 
 to their beloved coast, never to leave it except for 
 trading trips or occasional visits to Colon or Panama. 
 
 49
 
 At all times, visiting San Bias are shown the utmost 
 benevolent courtesy. The President of Panama once 
 remarked, "after all, they are the only true Panama- 
 nians and the legitimate owners, though not the pos- 
 sessors, of the best part of the territory of the Re- 
 public." 
 
 The San Bias are not only sailors, but they are good 
 traders. They bring to Colon ivory nuts, coconuts, 
 balata, turtle shells, a few sponges and some gold. 
 As a matter of fact, they contribute to the international 
 trade of Panama in a very much larger proportion 
 than any other factions of the people. It is claimed 
 that their coconuts are the best in the world; they shell 
 unusually well, are of fair size and of fine flavor and 
 contain a larger proportion of "meat" and oil than 
 most varieties. 
 
 HISTORICAL SPOTS 
 
 Some 10 miles west of Manzanillo Point, our first 
 landmark along the Panama Coast, lies Porto Bello, 
 which is said to have been named by Columbus him- 
 self. While he never had set foot on the American 
 continent, it is said that this beautiful little harbor is 
 the nearest he had come to Continental shores. There 
 are interesting ruins from Spanish and Morgan times 
 in Porto Bello. 
 
 In the same region is Nombre de Dios, in a district 
 which is called Tierra Firma (main land). Accord- 
 
 50
 
 ing to chronicles, the conquistador Juan de Solis was, 
 in the year 1500, sailing the Caribbean in search of a 
 mainland, the Spaniards, thus far, having discovered 
 only islands. A sailor on the lookout having discovered 
 a high hill, exclaimed "En Nombre de Dios sea, que 
 veo tierra firma" (be it in the name of God that I see 
 the mainland). The city founded there by Solis was 
 then named Nombre de Dios. 
 
 A short distance inland from Nombre de Dios are 
 quarries which supplied most of the enormous quanti- 
 ties of sand and gravel used in concrete-making during 
 the building period of the Canal. 
 
 In the region are important manganese deposits 
 worked by an American Company. In the hinter- 
 land, a Panama Company composed mainly of Ameri- 
 cans, residents of the Isthmus, has a concession for 
 the exploitation of "tagua" (ivory nuts) which is said 
 to be abundant. 
 
 MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 
 
 The railway mileage of Panama, including the Zone, 
 is somewhat over 500 miles, considerably over half of 
 which are "banana roads" of the United Fruit Com- 
 pany. 
 
 The Panama Railroad was built and opened by 
 an American company in 1855, to which the Govern- 
 ment of Colombia gave an absolute monopoly of trans- 
 portation across the Isthmus. At one time the Com- 
 
 51
 
 pany even interpreted its concession in a way that 
 prevented people from crossing the isthmus on foot 
 with any kind of bundle. The seven millions worth 
 of stock of the Company are now absolutely owned 
 by the U. S. 
 
 The only other common carrier railroad is that of 
 Chiriqui, a 3-foot gauge line from Pedregal and David 
 to Boquete, with a spur to Buga. 
 
 Two great railroad projects have been discussed 
 for a number of years, namely, one from the Chagres 
 River to Almirante, and a line from Panama City along 
 the Pacific coast to David, with junction of the present 
 Chiriqui Railroad with both the United Fruit system 
 in the region cf Almirante, and the Costa Rican system. 
 There has also been a project of settlement of the very 
 fertile upper Chagres region and the construction of a 
 railroad with terminal at Gatun. 
 
 These projects have faced from the start the open 
 opposition and even the absolute veto of the Canal Ad- 
 ministration and the U. S. War Department. The 
 settlement of the upper Chagres is not desired because 
 it may possibly endanger the water supply of the Canal 
 and. For military reasons, the crossing of the Canal 
 Zone by either reads or railroads is not likely to be 
 permitted, however much the Republic of Panama 
 may be benefitted by them. 
 
 Outside of the few miles constructed by the Canal 
 Administration in the Zone, there are no roads worthy 
 of that name in the Republic. Because of the heavy 
 
 52
 
 downpours during the 8 months of the wet season, or- 
 dinary roads are frequently washed out, and the con- 
 struction of weather proof roads would demand ex- 
 penditure hardly in proportion to their need. 
 
 Nevertheless, the Government of Panama has now 
 sufficient money availble for the construction of 300 
 miles of new roads. 
 
 AGRICULTURE 
 
 The average soil of Panama is remarkably fertile 
 and climatic conditions are very favorable to agricul- 
 tural production, but in spite of efforts and encourage- 
 ments given by the Panama Government, only a very 
 small portion of the territory is under cultivation. 
 
 Bananas are the most important crop. The value 
 of the holdings of the United Fruit Co. in the districts 
 of Almirante and Bocas del Toro is estimated at con- 
 siderably over $10,000,000. Coconuts are the sec- 
 ond largest crop and, in spite of present low prices, 
 Sugar is promising. 
 
 Panama abounds in cane lands producing from 50 
 to 70 tons of cane to the acre. Coffee and cocoa of 
 quality equal to the Costa Rican product are produced 
 in increased quantities, and the cattle industry has at- 
 tained considerable proportions. Some of the land 
 and climatic conditions in the province of Veraguas 
 are said to resemble the best tobacco lands of the 
 Vuelt' Abajo, Cuba, and tobacco of good quality is 
 
 53
 
 produced there without the special care which that 
 crop requires. Citrus fruit does exceedingly well, 
 both on the Atlantic and the Pacific sides, and oppor- 
 tunities await California or Florida experts. 
 
 The inportance of the forests of Panama has often 
 been exaggerated, but, even if discounted, it is consider- 
 able. The largest and best timber tracks are on the 
 Pacific side and exploitation is difficult because of in- 
 accessibility and expense of transportation. 
 
 Gold and manganese in small quantities are the only 
 two minerals mined in Panama. 
 
 A FEW CANAL FACTS 
 
 From Christobal to Balboa, the Canal runs in an 
 easterly and NOT westerly direction, and the Pacific 
 entrance is east of the Atlantic. 
 
 As the crow flies, the Pacific entrance is 22 miles from 
 the Atlantic entrance, but the Canal is 45 miles long. 
 
 There is practically no difference of level between 
 the Atlantic and the Pacific at the Canal entrances. 
 
 We cross the old French Canal soon after entering 
 the Canal at Cristobal. 
 
 The minimum elevation of Gatun Lake is 84 feet. 
 
 When sailing Gatun Lake, the Channel runs almost 
 directly over the now submerged towns of Gorgona 
 and Matachin (the latter one of tbe French head- 
 quarters). Gorgona was for several years the head- 
 
 54
 
 quarters of the mechanical division of the American 
 Canal, employing 2,000 men. 
 
 There is no such thing as the "marriage of the 
 Oceans." Traces of salt water enter Miraflores Lake; 
 they are not sufficient to give the water a briny taste, 
 but quite enough to make the water "hard" and 
 unfit for domestic purposes. On the other hand, no 
 sea water can ever reach above the third flights of locks. 
 
 The first flight of three locks, coming from the At- 
 lantic, is at Gatun. The innocent looking long mound 
 covered with green lawn is the famous Gatun Dam, 
 THE real engineering feature of the Canal. The upper 
 edge of Gatun spillway is at a minimum of 84 feet 
 above the old bed of the Chagres River below. The 
 surplus water of Gatun Lake if any is used as water 
 power, to supplement the main powerhouse of the Canal, 
 located at Miraflores. 
 
 The one flight lock at the exit of the "cut" is Pedro 
 Miguel, which is pronounced in American "Peter 
 Magill." At the exit of that lock we enter Miraflores 
 lake and then the two-flight Miraflores locks. 
 
 At Miraflores are located the water works for the 
 Pacific side of the Zone and the City of Panama. The 
 water is taken from Gatun Lake and pumped to a reser- 
 voir visible from the locks. It is then filtered and 
 aerated, the jets of the aeration works being visible 
 from the ship. The waterworks for the Atlantic side 
 of the Zone and the City of Colon are located at Mount 
 Hope, two miles from Colon. 
 
 55
 
 The town at the end of Gatun Lake, coming from 
 Cristobal, is Gamboa, where, in August, 1913, the big 
 dyke was blown up. The Chagres flows there into Ga- 
 tun Lake, usually an innocently looking stream, but 
 at times an impetuous torrent. 
 
 The locks are 1,100 feet long and 110 feet wide. 
 
 The first suction dredge used by Americans was a 
 left over from French times. Three French tugs, two 
 ladder dredges and quite a number of locomotives 
 as well as other material dating from French times 
 are still in use. 
 
 The huge steel structures at the entrance of each 
 lock are emergency dams. Heavy chains raise auto- 
 matically when gates are closed, to prevent damage 
 to gates, should a ship get beyond control. The opera- 
 tion of the Canal depends upon a sufficient level of 
 Gatun Lake and many devices were worked out to 
 prevent the possibility of waste of water. The banks 
 of Gatun Lake are patroled daily to make sure that no 
 damage to the bank has occurred which could en- 
 danger the level of the lake. 
 
 The following table show* distances from New York, 
 in miles: 
 
 Via 
 
 Magellan Via Distance 
 
 Straits Canal Saved 
 
 To Guayaquil 10,215 2,310 7,405 
 
 To Callao 9,613 3,363 6,250 
 
 To Valparaiso 8,380 4,623 3,757 
 
 56
 
 The sanitation of the Isthmus, without which the 
 Canal could not have been built, is the work of Col., 
 later General Gorgas. Credit for Gatun Spillway is 
 due to General Siebert. The plans for the conquest 
 of Cucuracha, Gold, and Contractor's Hills, were 
 made by Gaillard (hence the official name for Culebra 
 Cut is Gaillard Cut). The mechanical devices of the 
 locks were designed mainly by Schiklhauer. Some of 
 the features of the port terminals are the work of 
 Naval Constructor, known as "admiral" Rousseau. 
 The balissage and aids to navigation were planned by 
 Captain, now Vice-Admiral Rodman. Goethals was 
 not essentially a great engineer, but he was a great 
 organizer, administrator and diplomat. 
 
 Next to these men, credit for the building of the 
 Canal should be given to plain, ordinary American 
 workmen, called on the Isthmus "rough-necks," and 
 to the "high-brows" which constituted the office force. 
 
 These, at the beginning of the building period, faced 
 the unknown, imperfect sanitation, malaria, lack of 
 comfort and even hardships. They had to contend 
 with even worse, nostralgia, loneliness away from home. 
 
 Credit must also be given to an intelligent adminis- 
 tration which recognized from the start one of the mis- 
 takes made by the French. All the pasttimes provided 
 for the French employes were cheap cabarets, houses of 
 prostitution, gambling and drinking all demoraliz- 
 ing influences. 
 
 In contrast with that, the American administration, 
 
 57
 
 from the very start, encouraged home life on the Isth- 
 mus in every possible way, and provided wholesome 
 entertainment for the employes in the Club Houses, 
 under Y. M. C. A. management. 
 
 Credit is also due to the many wives, daughters, 
 sisters and other near-relatives who left comfortable 
 homes and went to the Isthmus to stand by their men. 
 Although they did not handle tools, nor bossed gangs 
 of laborers, they have also helped build the Canal. 
 
 But 40,000 black and colored West Indian laborers 
 must not be forgotten. With all their faults, they 
 have, as a whole, been faithful helpers, and they were 
 one of the essential instruments of Canal Construction. 
 
 LEAVING PANAMA 
 
 Immediately after leaving Balboa, we pass the islets 
 of Nao, Perico and Flamenco, and, a fraction of a 
 mile further, the rock of San Jose, with ruins of Span- 
 ish times. These islets are now U. S. reservation and 
 form part of the Canal Defenses. The breakwater 
 connecting these islands with the mainland was con- 
 structed with stone carried all the way from the At- 
 lantic side, no rock of sufficient durability having been 
 found on this side of the Cordillera. 
 
 On the west side, we may see a group of houses along 
 the shore the Palo Seco leper Asylum, with over a 
 hundred unfortunate inmates. 
 
 58
 
 The mountainous island now before us is Taboga, 
 an island paradise, where one could just "live." It 
 has an incomparable climate, free from mosquitoes 
 and lovely scenery waterfalls, and even small lakes 
 and picturesque walks, as if made to order by a genius 
 of an artist to adorn miniature valleys and mountains. 
 
 Taboga has been for generations the favorite "sum- 
 mer resort" of Panamanians and the Canal Adminis- 
 tration maintains there a hotel and a home for con- 
 valescents. It is a great pity that those in charge of 
 devising means of defence of the Canal have found it 
 necessary to invade Taboga for the prosaic purpose of 
 making parts of it a fortress. The military authori- 
 ties have promised to the Government of Panama 
 that the charms of the island will not be disturbed, 
 and that it will continue to be a health resort for 
 civilians; nevertheless, judging from previous exper- 
 iences with "military necessity," they, with some just- 
 ice fear that it will not be long until all Taboga will 
 be declared military reservation. 
 
 Three small islets are appended to Taboga. 
 
 Viewed from the north, before we pass it, the island 
 of Taboguilla appears as if laying south of Taboga, 
 while it is almost due east of it. Immediately south of 
 Taboguilla is the islet of Urava. Both islands are 
 occasionally made the headquarters of grouper, saw 
 fish fishing and inagua hunting expeditions by Canal 
 employes. Next to Tarpon fishing below Gatun Spill- 
 way and crocodile hunting in the Bayano (chepo) 
 
 59
 
 River, these are the most exciting sports on the Isth- 
 mus. 
 
 A little further along our course, we pass the island 
 of Chame, which is very fertile, and the Valladolid 
 Rocks. On the west shore of Chame is a village 
 named La Goleta. 
 
 Some 20 miles south of Balboa, we pass the islands 
 of Otoque and Bona. On the latter, the Canal Ad- 
 ministration maintains a light, exhibited 700 feet 
 above water from a white skeleton tower which we 
 may distinguish on the top of the hill. It is visible 
 15 miles and shows a 3 -second flash followed by a 10 
 seconds eclipse. 
 
 After passing Bona, we lose sight of land until we 
 pass Cape Mala, some 7 hours after leaving Balboa. 
 Cape Mala light, shows for five seconds every 20 sec- 
 onds and is visible 18 miles. 
 
 After passing Cape Mala, we again lose sight of land 
 until we come near Cape Pasado, on the Ecuadorean 
 coast. 
 
 ANCIENT CANAL PROJECTS 
 
 After leaving Balboa, we cross the Bay of Panama 
 lengthwise. To our east, slightly too far to be seen 
 from the ship, are the Pearl Islands, well deserving 
 of that name, and, beyond them, the Darien, and we 
 almost regret to be unable to sail nearer that historic- 
 ally interesting region. 
 
 60
 
 Modern man is so full of the thoughts of his own 
 great achievements that he is inclined to forget that 
 there is really nothing new under the Sun. When 
 early New World navigators realized that the stretch 
 of land which now forms the Republic of Panama 
 was a barrier to the sea route to the Indies and China 
 they were seeking, they quite naturally sought means 
 of overcoming it. 
 
 Already in the 16th century, engineers made com- 
 prehensive plans for a sea level canal across the Is- 
 thmus of the Darien. By using the San Miguel River, 
 it would have been only 25 miles long, 16 of which a 
 tunnel under the Cordillera. At that time, Spain 
 was by far the most wealthy and the most powerful 
 country on earth, and Indian labor was available by 
 the millions at the cost of their feed. No doubt at 
 least an attempt to realize the project would have been 
 made had not the Archbishop of Madrid advised King 
 Phillip II, that "what God hath joined together, let 
 no man tear asunder." 
 
 During the centuries which followed, the possibility 
 of diggirg and borirg a Darien Canal was often dis- 
 cussed and the impractibility of the idea has probably 
 retarded by many years the actual attempt to make a 
 trans-isthmian canal. 
 
 Americans interested in the Panama Railroad ap- 
 pear to have been the first to have seriously con- 
 sidered a canal between Panama and Aspinwall (as 
 Colon was then named), but de Lesseps was the 
 
 61
 
 first to make actual efforts to put the idea into 
 realization. 
 
 A GIGANTIC SCHEME 
 
 The Darien is historically interesting also because of 
 another gigantic scheme, in its financial scope even sur- 
 passing the financing of the Canal. It is one of the 
 most stupendous undertakings ever devised and prob- 
 ably the most rapid and dismal great failure ever ex- 
 perienced by man. 
 
 In May, 1695, the freebooter James Chiesley ap- 
 proached William Patterson, the founder of the Bank 
 of England, and proposed to him to make the Darien 
 a great international free port, the commercial center 
 of the world, and the key to world trade. A few years 
 later, upon a favorable report from another adventurer, 
 Lionel Wafer, Patterson founded a great commercial 
 company to which the Scotch Parliament gave a mo- 
 nopoly of foreign trade. Plans for large cities were 
 made; enormous warehouses were to be built and every 
 one who invested in the undertaking was to become 
 wealthy and a citizen of the world. 
 
 The scheme seemed so feasible that money almost 
 flew into the offices of the Company. Bankers of the 
 City of London subscribed among themselves 900,000 
 pounds, and other subscriptions amounted to many 
 millions. In due time, many ships sailed for the 
 promised land loaded with emigrants, mostly Scotch, 
 
 62
 
 but the Indians killed many on arrival, diseases deci- 
 mated their ranks further, and the Spaniards drove 
 away the rest. Subsequent expeditions were not any 
 more fortunate and all that is left of the great "Darien 
 Scheme" are a few family and geographical names in 
 the region. 
 
 The Darien is also historically interesting for legends 
 of inexhaustible gold deposits. Many gold seekers 
 made vain attempts to locate them, but nothing un- 
 usually interesting has ever been discovered. Only a 
 small French company and a few individual gold dig- 
 gers operate in the Darien at present. 
 
 63
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY CLIMATE 
 
 The Republic of Colombia (under Spanish rule the 
 Vice-Regal province of New Grenada), after its eman- 
 cipation the Republic of New Grenada and later the 
 United States of Colombia, until the present central 
 form of government was adopted, has an area of 1,235,- 
 214 square kilometres, or 476,916 square miles. In 
 population, it ranks third among South American 
 countries with 5,472,804 inhabitants, or 11.47 to the 
 square mile. By far the majority are "mestizos," of 
 white and indian mixed. Along the coasts there are 
 many blacks and mulattos. 
 
 The topography of the country is very irregular. 
 At what is known as the Knot of Pasco, near the Ecua- 
 dorean border, the mountains branch off into three 
 main ranges, which form the northern extremity of 
 the South American Andes and encloses a vast terri- 
 tory of very diversified aspect. The western range 
 borders the Pacific Ocean; the Central Range separates 
 the Cauca from the Magdalena River basins, while 
 
 64
 
 the Eastern Range extends into Venezuela, forming 
 the mountain backbone of that country. 
 
 The most important and best known river of Colom- 
 bia is the Magdalena, which is navigable for about 
 1,300 kilometres (over 800 miles) and forms the prin- 
 cipal artery of commerce of the country and especially 
 the main highway to Bogota and Medellin. The Cauca, 
 a tributary of the Magdalena, is 830 miles long, but 
 navigable only for 325 miles. The Atrato, 350 miles 
 long, but navigable for less than two-thirds of its 
 length, empties near the Panama border, but its source 
 is less than a hundred miles from one of the sources 
 of the Orinoco, which flows into the Atlantic. 
 
 The artist, the lover of majestic mountain ranges, 
 of awe-inspiring volcanoes, of appalling gorges and 
 vertigineous precipices, of roaring torrents and pic- 
 turesque scenery, of primeval forest contrasting with 
 the colorful, luxuriant herbaceous growth, flowering 
 vines and delicate orchids, as well as the admirer of 
 idyllic pastoral nature and prosaic farming, will hardly 
 find a country equalling Colombia. 
 
 One of the striking features of the climate of Colom- 
 bia is that, although located entirely within the tropi- 
 cal zone, it is even more varied than that of the United 
 States. There are entire Alpine regions, not merely 
 isolated peaks, and between these and the coast lands 
 almost every variety of climate imaginable is to be 
 found. The record of equanimity of temperature is 
 probably held by Popayan, in the Upper Cauca, where 
 
 65
 
 the annual maxima vary only between 72 and 75 de- 
 grees, and the annual minima between 65 and 68 de- 
 grees. 
 
 The principal cities, with their populations, are: 
 Bogota, 140,000 inhabitants; Medellin, 71,004; Baran- 
 quilla, 48,907; Cartagena, 36,632; Manizales, 34,720: 
 Pasto, 27,760; Cali, 27,747; Cucuta, 20,364; Bucara- 
 manga, 19,735; and Popayan, 18,720. 
 
 AGRICUTURE AND INDUSTRIES 
 
 The main industry of Colombia is agriculture. In 
 spite of its mountainous character, probably as much 
 as one-third of the area of the country is capable of 
 development along agricultural lines. 
 
 The most important agricultural industry is cattle. 
 In the department of Bolivar, there are over a million 
 and a half head of cattle, and in the entire country 
 probably considerably over five millions. The Govern- 
 ment makes every effort to develop the industry. 
 The largest cattle land concession is that of an American 
 company, with headquarters at Mompos, on the Mag 
 dalena River. It controls about one million hectares 
 (2,500,000 acres), between that river and the Cauca 
 River. 
 
 Coffee is the second leading product of Colombia, 
 the total exports reaching over 20 million dollars an- 
 
 66
 
 nually, about two-fifths of which so-called "Bogota," 
 produced in the Department of Condinamarca. 
 
 Bananas are also one of the major crops, an average 
 of 6 million bunches being exported annually from Santa 
 Marta alone. 
 
 Sugar and Cotton are normally well paying crops 
 and their culture by modern methods would seem to 
 offer many opportunities. 
 
 The forest resources of Colombia are enormous, 
 but the best timber tracks are located too far from 
 adequate means of transportation to be immediately 
 available. Thus far, only mahogany and Spanish 
 Cedar are exported in large quantities. 
 
 The only manufacturing industry of Colombia, 
 which has attained some degree of intensive develop- 
 ment, is the textile, in which some 4 million dollars 
 are invested, mostly local capital, in 21 establishments. 
 Their entire production is consumed by the domestic 
 market. 
 
 MINERAL WEALTH 
 
 Almost every known variety of commercially im- 
 portant mineral is found in Colombia, and great fu- 
 ture is promised to the mining industry, when once 
 better means of communication will have been estab- 
 lished. 
 
 For some years, both American and British interests 
 have had men scouring the country for oil prospecrs, 
 
 67
 
 and they also have had political agents in Bogota and 
 in departmental capitals, in an endeavor to obtain 
 monopolies, and, in default, concessions. 
 
 Oil interests have so overbidden one another, and 
 spent so much money uselessly, that many private 
 owners of oil lands have gained an exaggerated value 
 of their holdings and thus actually retarded develop- 
 ment. Moreover, development has also been retarded 
 by the fact that some of the best oil fields are located 
 in almost impenetrable sections of the country, to 
 which oil drilling machinery and supplies can be carried 
 only with great difficulties. 
 
 Since Russian production ceased, Colombia has be- 
 come the most important source of platinum, in the 
 World. 
 
 The history of mining of that metal has quite a 
 romantic side. It was discovered in the district of 
 Choco by a French expedition, which reported its 
 resistibility to acids as a curiosity. The metal was 
 considered valueless because of the difficulty in work- 
 ing it. It is only in the 19th century that laboratory 
 demands, and especially the requirements of the elec- 
 trical industry caused platinum to take rank among 
 the precious metals. 
 
 Previously, in the placer mining of Colombia, plati- 
 num was thrown away with the waste, but when its 
 price rose, dumps were reworked and even the streets 
 of Quibdo were torn up and washed for particles of 
 the metal. Platinum mining in Colombia is controlled
 
 by an American and an English syndicate, who are 
 said to have made a pooling agreement. 
 
 Very nearly all the emeralds mined in the world 
 come from Colombia. It is little known that, in spite 
 of the popular idea that diamonds are the most precious 
 of stones, carat for carat, emeralds of adequate purity 
 attain much higher prices than diamonds. 
 
 Emerald mining in Colombia much antedates the 
 time of the Conquistadores, and it is only a century 
 after the conquest of Colombia that the Spaniard 
 discovered the source of the stones which the natives 
 wore as ornaments. The exploitation of emerald mines 
 is a Government monopoly, subleased to British and 
 American mining companies. Owing to the inacces- 
 sibility of the deposits, mining operations are of the 
 most primitive nature. 
 
 Coal, ranging from lignite to bituminous, is found 
 in various parts of Colombia, and developments would 
 have permitted the country to become self sufficient, 
 were there better means of communication between 
 one section and another. Although yet practically 
 in its infancy, those who have coal interests in Colom- 
 bia claim that ere many years pass the country will 
 become an important coal producer, supplying not 
 only all its needs, but also those of a large part of 
 other countries of the Americas and of the West 
 Indies. 
 
 There are quite a number of gold mining enter- 
 prises in Colombia and the gold mining possibilities 
 
 69
 
 of that country are probably unsurpassed in the 
 Western Hemisphere. 
 
 In Spanish times, Colombia produced much copper, 
 but its production has practically ceased. 
 
 Fine hematite iron ore has been located not far 
 from Bogota, but absence of an iron industry leaves 
 these deposits, as yet, useless. 
 
 MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 
 
 Unfortunately, navigation on the Magdalena River, 
 the principal artery of traffic of Colombia, is much 
 hampered by shifting sands along its course, and es- 
 pecially at its mouth, preventing ocean vessels from 
 reaching Baranquilla. Various projects for break- 
 waters, which would cause the river to scour and main- 
 tain its own channel, have been under consideration 
 for years. None was executed because of the uncer- 
 tainty that the expenditure of several millions would 
 achieve the desired end. 
 
 There are some 1,000 miles of railroads in Colombia, 
 most of which are isolated lines, without connections 
 with one another, mountain ranges preventing their 
 junction. However, a comprehensive railroad pro- 
 gram is progressing normally and it will not be many 
 years until one may be able to ride from the Venezuelan 
 border to Buenaventura on the Pacific, and from 
 Baranquilla to Bogota and into the far interior. 
 
 70
 
 THE WONDERFUL CAUCA 
 
 Probably the most interesting part of Colombia, is 
 that which we are leaving east of our course, namely 
 the Cauca. Its port is Buenaventura, which, at 
 one time, had as bad a reputation as Guayaquil, and 
 still has that of being the place where it rains more 
 heavily and more often than anywhere in the world, 
 though the record is probably due to the Island of 
 Dominica, one of the Lesser Antilles. 
 
 The agricultural possibilities of the Cauca are great, 
 there are there yet, many thousand acres of practically 
 level and unusually fertile land awaiting rational 
 cultivation. Sugar and cotton especially are very 
 promising crops. Moreover, the Cauca is probably 
 the largest as yet, practically undeveloped placer gold 
 field in the World. Many men of many nationalities 
 wash gold there in a small way, but no large dredging 
 enterprises have yet been found practicable or success- 
 ful. 
 
 The people of El Valle, as the Cauca is called, are 
 averse to Iarg5 foreign capitalistic enterprises which 
 would disturb their quiet, comfortable way of living, 
 and would make many of their men the near-slaves of 
 capitalists and many of their daughters their servants. 
 To the stranger, who wonders at their lack of progress- 
 ive aggressiveness, they reply, "the gold will not get 
 bad, by remaining a few years longer in the sand." 
 They say: "we do not wish mining booms such as you 
 
 71
 
 have had in the United States, with their disastrous 
 moral consequences." Indeed, while permits to wash 
 gold by primitive methods are easily obtainable, li- 
 censes for the importation of large mining machinery 
 demands the undergoing of much red tape and delays 
 and it has more than once happened that when a stran- 
 ger finally succeeded in overcoming all difficulties, 
 and was about to set up his machinery, either himself 
 or the latter disappeared in the river through unforseen 
 accidents. 
 
 A RAILROAD AND A CURSE 
 
 The Cauca Railway (Pacific Railway Co.) has an 
 interesting, one might almost say, dramatic history. 
 In the 60 's, a French company obtained a concession 
 for a railroad to Cali and actually began construction 
 work, which was interrupted by the Franco-Prussian 
 War. 
 
 When building operations were resumed, legend has 
 it that a little priest cursed the undertaking, and pre- 
 dicted that no trains would run during the generation. 
 Since then, Colombian, American, British and French 
 companies have successively resumed and abandoned 
 construction work for one reason or another, always 
 something "happening" to prevent the completion of 
 the line. 
 
 It is only in 1919 that the line was opened first to 
 Cali (108 miles); later to Popayan (21 miles), from which 
 
 72
 
 it will ultimately be extended to Pasto and the Ecua- 
 dorean border and finally join the Ecuador railways. 
 From Cali, a spur has been completed to Palmira 
 (16 miles), and it is being continued towards Ruga, 
 Tuluma and Cartago. 
 
 From there, the line will be carried through the 
 Quindio valley and across the Central Cordillera to 
 Ibague, the capital of the Department of Tolima, where 
 connection will be made with the Tolima Railway. 
 When this line will be completed, probably in 1923, 
 a through railroad route will be opened from Buena- 
 ventura and Bogota and indeed, the Colombian capital 
 will at times, be reached more quickly via that route 
 than via Baranquilla and the Magdalena River. 
 
 73
 
 A LITTLE PARADISE 
 
 Popayan, one of the present terminals of the Cauca 
 Railway, is wonderfully located. The region was de- 
 scribed by both von Humboldt and by Boussingault, 
 as the Paradise of America. Hardly anywhere in the 
 world are to be found within a small area as great a 
 variety of scenery, sub-tropical vegetation, fertile 
 plain, mountain forests and rocky bluffs, the whole 
 surrounded by a crown of snow capped peaks, one of 
 them, the Purace volcano, in almost constant eruption. 
 
 The climate of Popayan has already been described 
 as even surpassing that of Mexico City. 
 
 A DIFFERENT MENTALITY 
 
 If the people of the Cauca are conservative and de- 
 cidedly averse to intensive development, as understood 
 in the United States, there are both economic and his- 
 torical reasons for it. 
 
 A man, prominent in the affairs of that part of Co- 
 lombia, who had traveled much, told me quite frankly: 
 "Yes, it is wonderful what Americans have done with 
 the Island of Porto Rico; however, the "peons" are not 
 working less under "Yanqui" masters than they are 
 under previous land owners. On the contrary, they 
 enjoyed more freedom under the former system. As 
 concerns the whites, there were hundreds of families 
 in Porto Rico living from a few acres in sugar or coffee, 
 which they called "estate," and able to indulge in the 
 
 74
 
 practice of art and literature, or the study of sciences, 
 but now have to drudge for a living." 
 
 This may not be exactly correct. At any rate, it tells 
 only one side of the story of improvements in Porto Ri- 
 co. Nevertheless, it seems to be the view which the peo- 
 ple of the Cauca take of possible American "invasion." 
 
 The historical reason for their conservatism is that 
 their ancestors, in the 18th century, left the turmoil of 
 the coast, 70 families strong, and went to live in the 
 wonderful Cauca Valley in order to escape the con- 
 tinuous warfare of so-called civilization along the 
 coast. They desired to be left alone and this desire, 
 this tendency has remained among their descendants. 
 
 Yet the people of the Cauca are far from being ig- 
 norant and narrow in their views. Popayan boasts of 
 the second oldest higher institution of learning in the 
 New World, and one finds in the Cauca, probably, 
 a larger proportion of really interesting and cultured 
 people than almost anywhere in a community of that 
 siz; in the Western Hemisphere. 
 
 An expert in Cauca matters, always glad to give in- 
 formation on its resources and opportunities, is Mr. 
 Emile Bizot, a resident of Cali, the principal city of the 
 Cauca. 
 
 The Cauca has given to Colombia many of its great 
 men. Popayan was the native place of the author of 
 "Maria," which, Spanish-Americans claim, is one of 
 the two or three greatest pieces of literature the Ameri- 
 cas have produced. 
 
 75
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE SWITZERLAND OF AMERICA 
 
 Ecuador has been called the Switzerland of South 
 America, because of the picturesquensss and grandeur 
 of its scenery. It occupies a nearly three-cornered ter- 
 ritory from the Pacific Ocean to the Upper Valleys 
 of the Amazon, with Colombia in the north and Peru 
 in the South. The boundaries being in dispute with 
 its three neighbors, no two authorities agree as to the 
 exact extent of its territory and its population. They 
 are usually given at about 120,000 square miles and 
 a million and a half inhabitants. 
 
 The climate of Ecuador naturally varies according 
 to altitude. At Guayaquil the average annual tem- 
 perature is 76 degrees and the rainfall 91 inches, mainly 
 during the months of January and February. 
 
 At Quito, the average temperature is 55 with a 
 maximum of 69 and a minimum average of 46. The 
 average rainfall at Quito is 49 inches. 
 
 Leaving out of consideration the few foreigners en- 
 gaged in business, the people of Ecuador consist of 
 three classes Indians, halfbreeds, and whites. The 
 
 76
 
 Indians constitute the overwhelming majority of the 
 people and are the agricultural and unskilled laborers of 
 the country. The half-breeds are the mechanics, serv- 
 ants, and small traders. Farm wages range from 5 to 
 15 cents a day, and Government wages, paid to those 
 working on the Government railroad are from 30 to 
 40 cents a day. There are possibly 80,000 people in 
 Quito, 80,000 in Guayaquil, 30,000 in Cuenca, 14,000 
 in Riobamba, 12,000 in Latacunga, 10,000 in Loja, and 
 from 6,000 to 9,000 each in Ambato, Esmeraldas, 
 Guaranda, and Ibarra. Few of the cities and towns 
 have assumed important as yet. 
 
 MINERAL RESOURCES 
 
 The mineral resources of Ecuador are probably 
 quite as great as those of Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and 
 Chile, but no systematic survey has ever been at- 
 tempted. However, considerable prospecting has been 
 done both by individuals and by geologists paid by 
 the Government, but ac':ual development has remained 
 very far behind that of other west coast countries. 
 
 Until the war-time and the post-war search for new 
 sources of supply of fuel oil, no one thought that Ecua- 
 dor might become one of the great petroleum pro* 
 ducing countries. As a matter of fact, the first oil 
 company of Ecuador, the Ancon Oil Company, founded 
 by Ecuadoreans, with British and French capital and 
 
 77
 
 technical management, and also the Ecuador Drilling 
 Company, whose capital was subscribed by the share- 
 holders of the former, suspended operations in 1913, 
 because it did not pay, and because additional capital 
 to continue development work was unobtainable. A 
 curious fact is that the refining plant of these companies 
 continued operation for a time mainly for the pro- 
 duction of asphalt. 
 
 The coast we are passing now, and especially the 
 region of Esmeraldas, r^lh of it, are rich in oil, but the 
 best known deposits are in the region of St. Elena, 
 near Santa Elena Point, which we pass some eight 
 hours after Cape Pasado. This region is roughly 90 
 miles from Guayaquil, and 750 miles from Panama. 
 The geological strata and conditions are said to be 
 similar to the Peruvian fields. Indications of oil have 
 also been found in the southernmost province of Ecuador, 
 that of Loja. 
 
 Ecuador possesses important coal measures, but 
 only small quantities of lignite are mined at Biblian, 
 near Cuenca, southwest of Guayaquil, across the Cor- 
 dillera. These coal fields will soon be reached by a 
 branch railroad and presumably, normal exploitation 
 will then begin. Technical difficulties have thus far 
 prevented the exploitation of highly inclined coal beds 
 along the Guayaquil -Quito R.R. and other coal strata 
 which present more favorable conditions for working 
 are too far from existing means of communications to 
 be interesting. 
 
 78
 
 Both hematite and magnetic iron ore of remarkable 
 purity have been located in the provinces of Chim- 
 borazo, Loja and Pichincha, but are not worked. 
 Gold, silver, manganese and platinum are mined 
 in small quantities, while deposits of mercury, zinc, 
 lead, mica and sulphur have been determined but 
 are not worked. 
 
 AGRICULTURE 
 
 With the exception of the region around Quito, 
 Agriculture in yet in a very primitive stage, and until 
 recently progress has been extremely slow. Thus far, 
 few settlers from Europe have come to that country, 
 but with the present efforts of the authorities, and the 
 co-operation of British, French, Italian and even 
 Chinese capital and initiative which began to interests 
 itself in Ecuador's possibilities, greater progress is 
 expected. 
 
 Formerly, the world was largely dependent upon 
 Ecuador for its requirements in cocoa, but very large 
 increase in acreage of West Africa, Venezuela and the 
 West Indies, has become a hard competition. The 
 cocao industry employs directly or indirectly a rela- 
 tively large proportion of the population, and a number 
 of joint-stock companies have from time to time been 
 formed to carry on the raising of the product on an 
 extensive scale. Two of the largest companies are 
 German, working the Seminario, Puga, and Clementina 
 
 79
 
 Estates. Some of the plantations are under British 
 control, and the remainder are, for the most part, 
 locally owned. 
 
 The "Asociacion de Agriculutores" has for several 
 years absolutely controlled prices. 
 
 Tagua (Ivory-nuts) has been for years of very great 
 economic importance to Ecuador. The tagua shipped 
 from Esmeraldas has the reputation of being the best 
 in the world. 
 
 The cadi is the tagua or ivory-nut tree, often referred 
 to by English-speaking people as vegetable ivory, and 
 by Latin Americans as coroza nuts. This forest product 
 has proved to be an excellent raw material for making 
 buttons, novelties, chessmen, and other articles that 
 previously were manufactured from bone, ivory, and 
 similar hard substances. It grows wild in the forests, 
 and the cost of production involves only the work of 
 gathering and transportation. Of the world's total 
 output Ecuador's contribution is estimated to reach 
 nearly four -fifths. There are unmeasured forest areas 
 where the tagua has never been gathered. In the 
 Province of Manabi, it is said, 60 per cent of Ecuador's 
 ivory-nut exports originate. Other Provinces in which 
 tagua is gathered, in the order of their importance, 
 are Esmeraldas, and Guayas. Up to this time no in- 
 dustries for manufacturing articles from tagua have 
 been started in Ecuador. It has been rumored, how- 
 ever, that a license has been granted for establishing a 
 modern button factory in Manabi. 
 
 80
 
 TAGUA AND CHINESE HONESTY 
 
 Some 90 miles north of Cape Pasado, lies the little 
 port of Esmeraldas, from which most of the Ecuado- 
 rean tagua (ivory nut?.) is exported. Tagua is the 
 seed of a palm, growing scattered in the valleys of the 
 interior. It is collected by Indians and brought to 
 the coast in part on men's backs or in canoes and 
 balsas. 
 
 These balsas are made in some regions of reed, or 
 palm leaves solidly interwoven so as to make the 
 craft watertight, but more often of balsa wood, which 
 is the lightest wood in the world. When one has seen 
 these balsas, one can understand how the Pacific islands 
 were populated and grasp the possibility of migrations 
 from the American Continent to Asia, if not vice versa. 
 
 But, to come back to Tagua, the article was, for 
 some years, so much in demand that European, Ameri- 
 can, and even Japanese manufacturers had their resi- 
 dent buyers in Esmeraldas and other Ecuadorean ports. 
 These often paid for the coming crop months ahead 
 and at times as much as nearly one year in advance. 
 At the beginning, many nationalities were engaged in 
 the trade of bringirg tagua to the coast, but, finally, 
 only the Chinese were found honest enough to be 
 trusted with huge sums of money. 
 
 A few miles north of Cape Pasado, lies the town of 
 Monte Crist i, where the finest and most durable 
 so-called panania hats are made from the leaves of 
 
 81
 
 the Toquilla plant, locally better known as Jipi-Japa 
 fiber. 
 
 Rice, cotton and sugar cane could as successfully 
 be grown in Ecuador as in her southern neighbor, Peru, 
 but thus far production has rcrcsried small. 
 
 Although there are considerable areas that might 
 be used for pastoral purposes, the development in 
 this field has been comparatively slow. A small number 
 of horses and mules are exported, as well as some hides. 
 Practically all of the wool clip and meat supply are 
 consumed in the country. 
 
 The forest resources of the Amazon region of 
 Ecuador are as great as that of her neighbors, but as 
 yet practically unexploitable because of total lack of 
 means of communications. 
 
 Ecuador is the home of the cinchona tree and of 
 numberless medicinal plants; when attention is pro- 
 perly directed to this source of national wealth, a 
 large number of these plants will be placed under 
 cultivation, with benefit to the grower as well as to the 
 world in general. 
 
 Many curious and valuable Ecuadorian vegetables 
 and fruits at present unknown to the American table 
 are being investigated by the United States Depart- 
 ment of Agriculture. 
 
 It is curious to note that much of the fruit consumed 
 in Lima and other Peruvian cities is imported from 
 Ecuador. 
 
 One of the most notable plants of Ecuador is the 
 82
 
 toquilla, which resembles a palm, but belongs to an 
 entirely different family, the Cyclantaceae. It furnishes 
 the straw for Panama hats, the most valued manu- 
 facturing industry of the Republic, the exports of 
 which amount annually to over $1,000,000. It is 
 claimed that Ecuador originated this form of hat, and 
 although similar manufacture is carried on extensively 
 in near-by districts of Peru, in western Colombia and 
 several other South American countries, Ecuador furn- 
 ishes nearly all the toquilla straw and Ecuadorians have 
 been called on as instructors. Native weavers in 
 Ecuador refer to the toquilla straw as cuencas. 
 
 The weavers do their work by hand in the early 
 morning because the greater atmospheric humidity at 
 that time makes the straw more pliable and readily 
 manipulated. Weaving under water, which, outside 
 of Ecuador, seems to be generally considered essential 
 in making Panama hats, is not generally practised in 
 the Republic. 
 
 Another straw commonly used by hat weavers is 
 called gualaginzas, brownish in color, secured in greatest 
 amounts from forests east of the Andes. This class 
 of hats, although darker, is in demand by the natives 
 owing to the greater resistance of the fiber. The 
 Province of Azuay is the center of the hat industry. 
 
 MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 
 
 Ecuador's only important railway, that which con- 
 nects Guayaquil with Quito was built by Archer Har- 
 
 83
 
 mon, an American. The construction was begun in 
 1897 and the line finally opened to traffic in June, 1908. 
 The road measures 462.2 kilometres (287.5 miles) from 
 the starting point. Duran opposite Guayaquil, to the 
 Quito terminus. The gauge is J feet 6 inches, and the 
 highest point is Urbina, with an elevation of 11,841 feet 
 above the sea. Beyond Huigra is the most steep section 
 of the line, with curves of 29 degrees and gradients 
 of 4 per cent. This railroad is one of the most in- 
 teresting in the world. 
 
 The other railways of Ecuador, of a total milage of 
 less than 300 miles, are unimportant, and even if all 
 serious railroad projects were realized, the railroads of 
 the country would not exceed 600 miles. 
 
 The most important recent railroad and develop- 
 ment project, is that of an Italian Commission, of some 
 twenty experts, which spent several months in Ecuador 
 during 1920 and 1921. 
 
 The projected line would start at Puerto Bolivar, 
 the port for Machala south of Guayaquil, and the first 
 section run to Meso. from there, one trunk line would 
 go north to Cuenca and then join the Rio Pastaza, an 
 affluent of the Maranon. The southern trunk line 
 would serve Loja and have its terminal at Borja. An 
 Ecuadorean syndicate is working in co-operation with 
 the Italians, and, it is interesting to note that a syndicate 
 of Chilean capitalists has also interested itself in the 
 undertaking. They intend beginning operations at 
 once. 
 
 84
 
 The gold standard unit in Ecuador is the "sucre," 
 legally fixed at $.487 U. S. cy., or 2 shillings, ten sucres 
 being equal to 1 st. Coins in use: Gold piece of 10 
 sucres called 'Condor' and silver pieces of 1-2, 1-5, 1-10 
 and 1-20 of sucre. No paper currency. 
 
 A CITY WHICH IS DIFFERENT 
 
 A tropical city of South America which is different 
 from any other is Quito, the capital of Ecuador. 
 Located 9343 feet above sea level on a plateau 114 
 miles from the Pacific Ocean, this sleepy old city is of 
 little commerical importance, but is interesting from 
 the historical standpoint and as an example of medieval 
 life surviving at the present day. It has about 60,000 
 people who live in houses betraying more definite marks 
 of Spanish and Moorish influence than any other city 
 in the Americas, and is cooler than many places a 
 thousand miles farther north or south. 
 
 Quito is one of the oldest cities in the world. It was 
 a city of temples and palaces and contained vast 
 treasures which were buried by the Indians at the time 
 of the Spanish conquest in order that they might not 
 fall into the hands of the Spaniards. But notwith- 
 standing the many changes, the town itself has pre- 
 served its own landmarks and customs, on account of 
 the large population of Indians. 
 
 85
 
 So much does a traveler hear to the detriment of 
 Guayaquil before arriving that it is not unnatural for 
 him to enter the Republic for the first time with a 
 decided prejudice. But in development, cleanly ap- 
 pearance, and other respects the city now compares 
 most favorably with cities of other west-coast South 
 American countries, while conditions of living and 
 facilities for transacting business are far better than 
 reports would lead one to anticipate. 
 
 Guayaquil was to the Western Hemisphere what 
 Port Said was to the Mediterranean, namely, so to say, 
 a personified pest hole, but, now it may be considered 
 for all times free from epidemics of the many tropical 
 diseases which gave it such ill fame. 
 
 This has been accomplished by the Rockefeller 
 Foundation, in co-operation and with the help of the 
 authorities, in the face of great difficulties, among which 
 was the indifference and even the antagonism of a 
 portion of the Indian and half-breed population. 
 
 The "marina" or quay wall has been constructed 
 along the shore of the river for a considerable distance 
 Extending backward is a broad area along which a 
 large maritime traffic is received and dispatched. The 
 port proper is about 3 miles long and from a half to a 
 mile broad, with a depth of from 12 to 40 feet. 
 
 The city, of course, has its modern side, as fine mod- 
 ern buildings, carriages, electricity, telephones and 
 
 86
 
 good hotels. It has splendid churches, a cathedral, an 
 opera house and a park-promenade. But the modern 
 side of the city is not half so interesting as the old 
 architecture and the picturesque natives. The various 
 Indian tribes, the small houses with their Old World 
 little balconies, the narrow city streets, offer the traveler 
 quite an attractive sight. 
 
 Quito is the seat of the Government, the Episcopal 
 Palace and the National University. 
 
 GUAYAQUIL IS THE METROPOLIS 
 OF ECUADOR 
 
 Guayaquil is located 70 miles up the Gulf of Guayas 
 and the estuary of the Guayas River. The five hour 
 sail from the open ocean, if the vessel has proceeded 
 from the rainless coast of Chile and Peru, offers de- 
 lightful contrasts in beautiful tropical foliage and pic- 
 turesque surroundings. 
 
 Guayaquil is the metropolis of Ecuador. So largely 
 does the commercial, and political life center there 
 that travelers often say "Guayaquil is Ecuador." Over 
 the docks of this city more than 85 per cent of the 
 Republic's imports are entered and distributed inland, 
 while of the country's total exports 90 per cent, mostly 
 carried out from the interior, are credited as cleared 
 from this port. 
 
 The harbor of Guayaquil delights the average traveler 
 with its number of small sailing vessels, many of which 
 
 87
 
 have the appearance of oriental form and life and which 
 transport to Guayaquil a vast quantity of natural 
 products gathered by natives in tropical forests along 
 the streams mentioned. 
 
 SMALLER PORTS 
 
 The more northern ports of Ecuador are Manta, 
 Bahia, and Esmeraldas. From each of these ports 
 considerable quantities of raw products are shipped 
 annually, but as yet it is necessary to load cargo by 
 the old method of the small boat and lighter. 
 
 At each of these ports, short railways make at least 
 a start toward the interior. The plans are to continue 
 them toward Quito and eventually to carry them 
 across the mountains into the Amazon region. 
 
 Except Quayaquil and Quito, there are few places 
 of importance in the Republic. 
 
 We are due at Cape San Lorenzo, some three hours 
 after passing Cape Pasado. Some five hours later, we 
 should pass Santa Elena Point, mentioned above, 
 where we begin to cross the Bay of Guayas 
 
 A SHORTLIVED NEW STATE 
 
 We leave some 500 miles to the west the famous 
 Galapagos (turtle) islands, which were often mentioned 
 
 88
 
 in the press as possible German, British, Japanese and 
 American naval bases. The fact is that no Govern- 
 ment of Ecuador would survive one hour the news that 
 their alienation to a foreign power is as much as con- 
 templated. Hence, the stories may just as well have 
 a rest. 
 
 On the other hand, it is well to remind the reader 
 that, a few years ago, there were press stories of a 
 "revolution" of the Galapagos and the formation of 
 an independent Government which placed itself under 
 the protectorate of the United States. There was some 
 foundation to the story. An American seafaring man 
 had settled on the Galapagos, acquired a small fleet 
 of sailing vessels and gradually worked up a monopoly 
 of trade in turtle and turtle shells. He worked so 
 systematically that the interesting animals were 
 threatened with complete destruction. 
 
 The Ecuadorean Government issued rules for their 
 protection which practically put an end to the business 
 of our friend. Ke did not like it, nor did the short- 
 sighted natives working with him, and he did not have 
 much difficulty in persuading them to become free 
 citizens under the egide of Uncle Sam, who would 
 protect them without bothering them. 
 
 A gunboat arrived three days later from Guayaquil 
 and the would-be new free and independent state was 
 obliterated a few minutes after her arrival. Her com- 
 mander was considerate enough to refrain from depriv- 
 ing the freedom loving American from his beloved 
 
 89
 
 liberty, but he advised him very strongly to favorably 
 consider a change of air. After due consideration, 
 our friend "Captain" * * * decided that the climate 
 of Panama would be very suitable and as it happened 
 to be also the nearest on the map, he went and settled 
 there and for several years operated a small fleet of 
 coastwise vessels from Panama City. 
 
 90
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY 
 
 The 680 square miles of territory possessed by Peru 
 are divided by the Andes Mountains into three distinct 
 zones, each of them almost a world by itself. They are 
 the Coast Belt, the "Sierra," which includes the high 
 Andes and the plateaux and valleys between them, 
 and the "Montana," or that large territory on the other 
 side of the Andes. 
 
 The first of these zones, running along the coast 
 line for a width of from 20 to 80 miles, is arid and is said 
 to have been rainless for 6,000 years or more. 
 
 The second zone, the Sierra, is formed by the two 
 main chains of the Cordillera, the Western and the 
 Eastern Andes, from 90 to 120 miles distant from one 
 another and in part cut up by the Central Andes. 
 Between these is the Altiplano, the high plateau of 
 Peru and Bolivia, at altitudes of from 9,000 to 13,500 
 ftet. 
 
 Geologists estimate that the Andes and the high 
 Andean plateaux were formerly several thousand 
 feet lower than at present. Remains of mastodons, 
 
 91
 
 ant eaters and other animals are found at elevations 
 at which they could not have lived. 
 
 RIVERS 
 
 There are three main watersheds in Peru. Some 46 
 rivers, which all have their source in the Western Cor- 
 dillera flow toward the Pacific, but most of them are 
 dry before they reach the Pacific during the summer 
 season and some of them even during the entire year, 
 their waters being taken for irrigation, or lost through 
 seepage or evaporation. The second watershed is 
 that of the Amazon. The third includes all the water 
 originating south of the "Knot of Vilcanota," South of 
 Cuzco, which empty into Lake Titicaca. From there a 
 remarkable navigable channel, partly natural, partly 
 made by man, brings these waters to 'Lake Poopo, 
 whence they flow into affluents of the Rio de la Plata. 
 
 CLIMATE 
 
 Geographically, Peru is entirely within the tropical 
 zone, namely, between 3 and 19 degrees south, but the 
 peculiar configuration of the country causes a great 
 variety of climates. 
 
 The coastal belt is naturally the warmest, but, there, 
 the temperature is maintained comparatively low be- 
 cause of proximity to the' high Andes and the Hum- 
 boldt Current (see page 96). The summer temperature 
 fluctuates between 75 and 82 degrees, rarely reaching 
 
 92
 
 88. During the so-called winter months, the average 
 temperature is 55 with a minimum of 55. 
 
 Climatic conditions in the high plateau and the 
 Amazon region vary greatly. It is hot in some of the 
 enclosed valleys, temperate or cold on the high plateau 
 and, naturally, glacial in high regions. Winter is the 
 season of heavier rains, from November to May. 
 
 During the fourth night out of Balboa, we cross the 
 Gulf of.Guayas, the sea outlet of the Guayas river, the 
 most important water course on the Pacific coast of 
 South America. 70 miles up the estuary is the City 
 of Guayaquil, and in the Gulf the Island of Puna, 
 where Pizzaro fitted his first expedition against the 
 Incas. 
 
 On the southern slope of the Gulf lies the little 
 port of Puerto Pizzaro, where Pizzaro first landed on 
 what is now Peruvian soil, and the town of Tutnbez, 
 the northern most city of Peru. It was founded in 
 1530. 
 
 The Tumbez river is the legal boundary between 
 Peru and Ecuador, but it has several times changed 
 its course during the last century. 
 
 Cape Blanco is our first landmark. About 7 miles 
 from it are the Organ Hills, the western side of which 
 is said to resemble the pipes of an organ. 
 
 93
 
 IMMENSE OIL FIELDS 
 
 10 miles south of Cape Blanco, we pass the oil port 
 of Lobitos, which has unusually good oil shipping 
 facilities. An 8-inch pipe line extend along a 3500 feet 
 pier to an artificial island, where tankers take their 
 cargoes and where 10,000 metric tons of oil may be 
 loaded in 24 hours. 
 
 If we reach Talara 8 miles south of Lobitos before 
 day break, we will see Talara lights, one red and one 
 white, visible 8 and 16 miles respectively. They are 
 exhibited 175 and 200 feet above water, from a wooden 
 structure on the north slope of the hill on the west 
 shore of Talara Bay. 
 
 Talara is the leading oil port of Peru and, in point of 
 tonnage, its second port. 
 
 It is hardly realized that Peru has become the second 
 oil producing of Latin American countries, coming 
 immediately after Mexico. The Peruvian oil fields 
 are mainly exploited by the London and Peru Oil 
 Syndicate and the International Petroleum Co., of 
 Canada a Standard Oil Subsidiary. The latter was 
 recently reorganized and it has absorbed the Tropical 
 Oil Co., which also had holdings in Peru. 
 
 AN UNJUST ATTITUDE 
 
 In 1919, these two companies exported practically 
 all their oil without consideration of the needs of the 
 country. The Peruvian Navy had to go abroad to 
 
 94
 
 purchase its fuel oil. The Government brought the 
 oil companies to bay by simply refusing to clear ships 
 from the oil ports, thus practically shutting down the 
 business of the oil companies temporarily. 
 
 It is said that it is mainty the attitude of these two 
 companies which has actuated the Bolivian Govern- 
 ment in decreeing all oil drilling a national monopoly. 
 
 ENTERING A NEW WORLD 
 
 Point Parinas, in Lat. 4.45 S. and long. 81.20 W., 
 some 4 miles south of Tarare, is much more than a mere 
 landmark. It is the westernmost point of the South 
 American continent as well as the point of division 
 between two climatic zones. From there, a line may 
 be drawn much less imaginary than the equator or the 
 tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Theoretically, the 
 tropical zone lies between these two lines, the tropic 
 of Capricorn being just north of Antofagasta, but in 
 fact, tropical temperature ceases, along our course, at 
 about the height of Point Parinas. Were we to sail 
 nearer the coast than we do, the change would be still 
 more apparent, especially as concerns vegetation. Bird 
 and animal life change. We will have no more flying 
 fish and gamboling porpoises, but we shall soon see 
 playful sea lions (lobos) and myriads of Guano birds. 
 
 Parinas Light is fixed, visible 16 miles, exhibited 
 116 feet above water from the western side of the 
 Point. 
 
 95
 
 South of the Gulf of Guayas, as far south as Coquimbo, 
 with a few isolated exceptions, it never, never rains. 
 Scientists say that this region has been rainless for the 
 last five or six thousand years. The explanation for 
 the aridness of this region is that the moisture of the 
 northeast trade, which blow from March to September, 
 is condensed while passing over the Andes, while the 
 moisture of the Southwest trades, which blow during 
 the rest of the year is condensed while passing over the 
 cold Humboldt Current. 
 
 Hence, these coast lands, varying in width from 20 
 to 80 miles, are absolutely barren and do not produce 
 a blade of grass without irrigation. Indeed, for many 
 years all coast towns obtained their potable water by 
 distilling sea water. Now, most of them have pipe 
 lines running way into the mountains. It is interesting 
 to remark that the very fact of the aridness of the 
 region has permitted the accumulation of guano and 
 nitrates, so that these barren lands may help fertilizing 
 and producing better crops in seemingly better favored 
 lands. 
 
 A REMARKABLE SEA CURRENT 
 
 The Humboldt Current is the name given to the 
 northern branch of the Great Antarctic Drift, which 
 divides itself on the coast of Chile, at about 40 south. 
 It runs almost parallel, and mostly within a few miles 
 
 96
 
 of the coast as far north as Cape Blanco, where it 
 turns west, dividing itself among the Galapagos, and 
 losing itself in the Pacific. 
 
 It is the most remarkable of all currents and to the 
 layman it would seem strange that its low temperature, 
 and that of the air about it, remains constant for a 
 course of some 1500 miles with a temperature much 
 below that of waters around it. It is this current, 
 which keeps the temperature along our course much be- 
 low tropical averages. Several concurring reasons are 
 given as the cause of this constant low temperature, 
 the essential of which is the continual upwelling of 
 deep waters by the current. 
 
 A peculiarity of the Humboldt Current is that, in 
 spots, it appears to run in the opposite of its regular 
 northerly direction. This southward flow, While the 
 normal course of the current is northward, cannot be 
 explained either by seasons, age of the moon, or any 
 other causes known by science. 
 
 The tides along this coast rarely exceed 6 feet in 
 spring tide. Heavy storms are exceedingly rare. 
 
 THE SOUTHERN SKY 
 
 As we near the equator from the north, the first 
 thing unusual to us we observe is that the moon, 
 during the first quarter, becomes more and more 
 horizontal, until, under the line, its two ends are on 
 the level. In the Southern Hemisphere, these ends 
 
 97
 
 are turned towards the left and not toward the right 
 as we are accustomed to seeing. At full moon, we 
 will miss the familiar jovial face of Luna and instead 
 behold an indefinite figure which at times has a slight 
 resemblance to a mule head, at others a rabbit. 
 
 The southern sky lacks bright and conspicuous figures 
 such as our Big Dipper, Casopeia and others, and 
 the beautiful constellations of Sagitarius and Scorpio 
 are not as often seen in the southern as in the northern 
 Hemisphere. 
 
 As a compensation, 'the southern sky claims the most 
 beautiful and brightest of all fixed stars, Sirius, also 
 known as the Dog Star, which the ancient called Alpha 
 in Canis Major. It is a little more than eight light- 
 years away from our earth, and usually shines like a 
 sparkling diamond. 
 
 The southern sky also claims Canopus, which is as 
 bright as Antares in Scorpio. Then, there is Alpha 
 Centauri, the fixed star nearest to the earth, which 
 is only four light-years away, while the nearest star 
 in the northern Hemisphere, Polaris (the north Star) 
 is seven light-years distant. 
 
 Moreover, nowhere in the sky are there three stars 
 of first magnitude so close to one another, namely 
 Alpha and Beta Centauri, and Alpha in Cruz (the 
 Southern Cross). 
 
 The Southern Cross is at first sight disappointing. 
 It is brighter than the Little Dipper, but not nearly 
 as conspicuous as the Big Dipper. 
 
 98
 
 The Southern Cross is some 25 degrees from the true 
 South. Four of the stars of Carina form a more per- 
 fect cross than the Southern Cross and are often mis- 
 taken for it. 
 
 The Milky Way appears at times in the Southern 
 Hemisphere even more beautiful than in the Northern, 
 and makes it deserve even more the apellation River 
 of Light, or River of the Sparkling Dust. It reminds 
 one strongly that Milton calls it "The Way to God's 
 Eternal Home," and that Longfellow makes Hokomi 
 teach Haiwatha: 
 
 The Broad white Road in Heayien 
 
 Pathway of the Ghosts, the Shadows 
 
 Running straight across Heaven 
 
 Probably the most interesting objects of the Southern 
 Sky are the Greater Cloud and the Lesser Cloud, two 
 luminous groups which would form an almost perfect 
 equilateral triangle with the South Polar Star, where 
 there such a star. Early navigators, who noticed them 
 first around the Cape of Good Hope, called them the 
 Cape Clouds, but they were later named the Magellanic 
 Clouds in honor of the famous Portuguese navigator 
 Magellan. 
 
 The sky space about these "clouds" is surprisingly 
 void of bright stars as if the cosmical material in that 
 part of the heavens had been swept together and 
 gathered into these two groups. 
 
 The origin and composition of the Magellantic clouds 
 and their relation to the stellar universe is an interesting 
 
 99
 
 enygma. Spectroscopic measurements made at the 
 Lick Observatory in Santiago, Chile, indicate that they 
 belong to the 30,000 light-year group, which means 
 that it takes 30,000 years for their light to come to 
 us and that we see than now where and as they were 
 300 centuries ago. It is further estimated that they 
 move away from us at a speed of 1 70 miles per second 
 and where are they now? Another interesting feature 
 is that these "clouds" include 2000 or more stars whose 
 light varies, and even entirely disappear periodically. 
 
 Are they universes by themselves, and are we viewing 
 stellar groups similar to our solar system, only infinitely 
 bigger and more numerous? 
 
 GUANO BIRDS 
 
 There is, as far as known, no area of equal extent 
 in the world with as large a seabird population as the 
 stretch of coast between about Point Parinas and 
 Arica. Throughout its entire length, almost always 
 large groups of birds are to be seen. However it is 
 mainly around the Chinchas (see page 115) and the 
 Guanapes (see page 110) that they are most numerous, 
 Sometimes, they may be seen sitting in the water 
 peacefully, innocently, at others marching in long 
 irregular columns, apparently following a leader as if 
 on a military drill. 
 
 An interesting series of articles by Robert Cushman 
 Murphy on the bird life of the South American west 
 
 100
 
 coast has appeared in 1920 in the Brooklyn Museum 
 Quarterly, from which the following information was 
 extracted. 
 
 Among the various kinds of birds which go to make- 
 up the fauna of the sea surface along the coast, the 
 Guanay is the most important. Guany (Guano Bird) , 
 is the name which the Quechua Indian gave these birds 
 from time immemorial. It has been said to be the 
 most valuabl e bird in the world and it has indeed been 
 called the "Billon Dollar Bird." The Guanay is a 
 Shag, or Cormorant, belonging to the white breasted 
 branch of the family and it is probably the most gregari- 
 ous of all birds. It breeds upon the Islands and the 
 coast in densely concentrated colonies which an English 
 explorer, Coker, has, by careful measurements, esti- 
 mated to be often much over one million strong within 
 the limits of one single homogenous colony. Another 
 explorer Forbes says that they at times "congregate 
 to the number of ten millions." 
 
 The second most important bird of the region is 
 probably the Alcatraz, one of the largest pelicans, 
 exceeding in size even the large California member of 
 the family reaching an average weight of 15 pounds. 
 As a guano producer, it has ranked close second to the 
 Guanay, but it appears to have ceded rank to the 
 following: 
 
 Piquero, in Spanish, means "lancer." It is the 
 name given to one of the gannets. It is a familiar 
 sight along the whole length of the Humboldt current 
 
 101
 
 for its spectacular plunges into the sea from great 
 heights. The piquero may be recognized by its white 
 body with variagated brown wings and back with 
 bluish bill and feet. 
 
 In the Lesser Antilles z?.nd along the coast of Venezuela 
 bird egg gathering is carried on systematically and is 
 a profitable business. In Peru, the collecting and selling 
 of any kind of wild bird eggs is very strictly forbidden. 
 
 Contrary to what is generally supposed, guano forma- 
 tion is continuous along the Peruvian coast. The 
 largest of the deposits accumulated during many 
 generations of birds are exhausted, but as long as bird 
 life continues to be abundant in these regions, guano 
 will continue to be deposited in many places in com- 
 mercially interesting quantities. 
 
 The fourth day out of Panama, during the early 
 part of the morning, we should cross the small bay of 
 Paita with port of that name. 
 
 Paita, in Lat. 5.7 S. 479 miles north of Callao is 
 the port for Piura, a city of some 25,000 inhabitants, 
 97 miles inland by standard guage RR. From Piura, 
 a narrow guage road runs to Catacoes, the center of 
 a "panama" hat industry which rivals with that of 
 Monte Cristi, Ecuador. 
 
 Paita has no water supply, and water is brought 
 from the interior in tanks or distilled from sea water. 
 It rains in Paita every eight years once. 
 
 Paita is one of the major ports of Peru and one of 
 the three (besides Mollendo and Callao) having bonded 
 
 102
 
 warehouses. In normal times, it ranks third among 
 Peruvian ports in point of value of foreign trade. The 
 harbor is somewhat better protected naturally than 
 the average west coast port. 
 
 A RAILROAD DREAM COMING TRUE 
 
 If a dream should come true and it may really be- 
 come true Paita may become one of the if not 
 THE most important port of the South American 
 West Coast. A native of that little town is the originator 
 of the idea of having fast trains run direct from London 
 to Dakar (via Channel tunnel, when built,) the western- 
 most port of Africa. The trains would cross the Straits 
 of Gibraltar on ferries. 
 
 From Dakar, 25 knots steamers would cross to 
 Recife (Pernambuco) on the narrowest part of the 
 Atlantic in two days and in a few hours reach Belem 
 (Para) and from there sail up the Amazon as far as 
 Manaos. From Manaos, equally fast but shallow 
 boats would run to a point above Iquitos where the 
 Maranhon river ceases to be navigable. This would 
 be the eastern terminal of a third transandean railway 
 with Pacific terminal at Paita. 
 
 Peruvians claim, with some justice, to have absorbed 
 more of French culture than other Spanish American 
 nations, and the avowed purpose of the dreamer of 
 Paita was to bringing his country some two or three 
 
 103
 
 weeks nearer Paris and, in point of time, nearly as 
 near as New York. Incidentally, he thought, this 
 would offset the influence the U. S. A. was bound to 
 gain along the West Coast after the opening of the 
 Panama Canal. 
 
 The idea of a third transandean railroad, with 
 terminal at Paita has been since taken up by less 
 prejudiced and more serious minded men. The Peru- 
 vian Government is less interested in direct com- 
 munications with Paris than in bringing its immensely 
 rich Amazon territories nearer the coast. Peruvain 
 engineers have, before the War, surveyed a 450 miles 
 long RR line from Paita to Calentura a point on the 
 Maranon River, where it becomes navigable. The line 
 would cross the Andes at 7000 feet altitude in a 7 
 kilometres long tunnel. The Peruvian Congress has 
 passed a law granting a subsidy of $30,000,000 to a 
 company which would construct and operate the line, 
 but the project has remained in abeyance largely be- 
 cause of war and post-war conditions. 
 
 As concerns the rest of the line, surveys made by 
 the French Government show that a railroad line from 
 Tanger to Dakar, using the existing trunk lines pres- 
 ents neither engineering nor financial difficulties. Hence 
 it may not be long until Recife (Pernambuco) may be 
 reached from London in five days instead of the present 
 time requirments of two weeks or more. 
 
 After crossing Paita Bay, we again sail with the land 
 for some three hours, and then cross the 45 miles wide 
 
 104
 
 Sechura Bay to Aguja Point, where the coast takes 
 a sudden turn to the southeast. 
 
 Thirty miles further, we pass Lobos de Tierra 
 island, where, 323 feet above water, the most power- 
 ful light along the coast is exhibited. It is visible 26 
 miles and shows a group of two short flashes, followed 
 by an eclipse, the whole within 10 seconds. 
 
 Thirty miles further, we pass Lobos de Afuera, 
 another island whose light is exhibited 237 feet above 
 water, showing one flash every ten seconds, visible 
 23 miles. 
 
 Lobos, in Spanish, means seal, and, as their name 
 indicates, these two islands are the playgrounds for 
 multitudes of sea lions. 
 
 At about the height of Lobos de Afuera lies the port 
 of Eten, 161 miles south of Paita and 313 miles north 
 of Callao. It ranks first in shipment of rice among 
 Peruvian ports and it is only second to Salaverry as re- 
 gards sugar. A 36 kilometres long railroad line of three 
 feet guage, opened to traffic as early as 1874, runs to 
 Chiclayo, a city of considerable importance. It is 
 operated by the Peruvian Corporation. Another 
 line goes to Cayalti, Lambayeque and further inland. 
 The region is nearly as famous as that of Paita for its 
 "panama" hats. The main town of Etan is two miles 
 from the port, behind a promontory 640 feet high. 
 
 Pimentel, 8 miles north of Eten, serves practically 
 the same district. It was at one time one of the im- 
 portant ports of northern Peru, but, owing to a series 
 
 105
 
 of concurring circumstances, its trade has much de- 
 clined. However, several large sugar estates in the 
 district are being developed and they will, no doubt, 
 give some new trade to Pimentel. 
 
 Pacasmayo, 35 miles south of Eten, 290 miles north 
 of Callao serves an interesting rice and sugar district. 
 A 104 miles long railroad of standard guage runs to 
 Calasnique and Chilete. The line touches Cajamarca, 
 the ancient northern capital of the Incas. The ruins 
 of the Great Palace of Atahualpa are in a fair state 
 of preservation. 
 
 Near Chilete are situated the most important lead 
 mines of Peru. 
 
 Pacasmayo is the only Pacific port through which 
 Brazilian products are shipped. Both passenger and 
 freight traffic going by mules from the Hullaga River 
 to the Port. 
 
 The town of Pacasmayo, located at the mouth of 
 the Jequetepec River, is one of the neatest of northern 
 Peru. Near-by are the Inca ruins of Pacatnam and 
 also the Yonan recks covered with hieroglyphic 
 inscriptions presumably much antedating the Inca 
 period. 
 
 Malabrigo, 20 miles south of Pacasmayo, as its 
 name indicates, is not well sheltered. However, port 
 facilities were recently terminated and a new railroad 
 line will considerably shorten the distance between 
 sugar estates and Malabrigo compared with via Trujillo 
 Salaverry, so that port will soon gain in importance. 
 
 106
 
 It is yet the principal shipping point for large sugar 
 estates, among which that of Casa Grande, which 
 is reported to be the largest in the world. The in- 
 habitants of estate are said to number 14,000. The 
 region of Casa Grande was a desert until some one 
 discovered an old Inca or pre-Inca irrigation canal 
 which was repaired at little cost and permitted the 
 transformation of this arid region into one of the most 
 productive of Peru, and capable of producing as much 
 sugar as the entire island of Porto Rico. 
 
 Huanchaco, formerly important, lost much through 
 the opening of the Trujillo-Salaverry railroad and 
 Tnijillo was made the center of a small system of 
 railways. 
 
 Just back of Huanchaco is Mount Campana, 3500 
 feet high. 
 
 Salaverry, 66 miles south of Pacasmayo, is hardly 
 more than an open Roadstead, with little protection 
 against the heavy swells prevalent along the coast. 
 Nevertheless, largely thanks to sugar and the intensive 
 agricultural production of the Chicama and Santa 
 Catalina Valleys, it has taken second rank among 
 Peruvian ports in point of value. 
 
 Salaverry is also the shipping point for the Monte - 
 bello gold mine, in the province of Pataz. It is owned 
 by an Argentine Syndicate. 
 
 Salaverry is also the port for Trujillo, 12 kilometres 
 away by rail, a short distance from the sea shore a 
 sandy beach. Trujillo was founded by Pizarro, and 
 
 107
 
 named from his native town in Spain. It is the third 
 City of the Republic and the most important place 
 of northern Peru. Its people are said to be among 
 the most aristocratic in their feelings and manners of 
 Peruvian communities and it is proud to be the first 
 Peruvian city to declare its independence from Spain. 
 The province was named La Liberdad by Bolivar 
 himsel f . 
 
 VERY EXTENSIVE RUINS 
 
 Along the Salaverry-Trujillo railway are very in- 
 teresting pre-Inca ruins visible from the train. They 
 include what is believed to have been a temple to the 
 sun, a pyramid very unlike Mexican edifices of that 
 kind, but, in structural method although constructed 
 with huge adobe blocks and not of stone rather re- 
 sembling similar Egyptian monuments. 
 
 This Pyramid is 800 by 470 feet at the base and 
 200 feet high. Similarly to the Egyptian pyramids, 
 it was formerly coated with stucco of bright colors. 
 It is quite possible that it has interesting secret in- 
 terior chambers. 
 
 Only three miles from Trujillo, also near the coast, 
 begin the ruins of the famous Gran Chan Chan. 
 They are, with what is left of the great ruins around 
 Cuzco, the most curious and the most extensive re- 
 mains of a race of which little or nothing is known. 
 
 108
 
 These ruins are unique, not merely because of their 
 enormous extent 6 by 12 miles but by the fact that 
 all buildings were constructed almost exclusively of 
 adobe, without stone masonry, and with very little 
 wood. The sole exception to adobe construction is the 
 great reservoir, of a capacity of one billion 800 million 
 gallons, which is of perfect concrete. Water was 
 obtained many miles inland and carried in an aqueduct 
 across the valley on an embankment 60 feet high. 
 There were also secret underground channels so as to 
 insure water supply in times of war. 
 
 AN ANCIENT POTENTATE 
 
 The population of the Gran Chan Chan, which was 
 ruled by the Gran Chimu, is estimated to have been 
 considerably over half a million. Some estimates go 
 as high as a million and a half. The Gran Chimu ruled 
 over all of Peru, as far south as Callao and Lima. 
 The kingdom was conquered, but not plundered, by 
 the Incas about four generations before the coming of 
 the Spaniards, and the work of destruction of this 
 civilization is by the hand of the white man. The 
 civilization of the subjects of the Chimu was very 
 different from that of the Incas and their predecessors 
 and, from what may be judged from the ruins, they 
 must have attained a high degree of culture. 
 
 Not a vestige of tradition has come down to us. 
 We know the title given to their rulers The Grand 
 
 109
 
 Chimu -but we even ignore how they called them- 
 selves. 
 
 All designs and ornaments in the ruins of the Gran 
 Chan Chan are original and nothing has been 
 found that would point to foreign influences, except, 
 possibly, the structure of the Pyramid. 
 
 Their civilization seems to have developed spontan- 
 eously, without or only with little outside contact in 
 the course of many centuries. 
 
 THE REMAINDER OF A MIGHTY RACE 
 
 Between Salaverry and Trujillo is a little Indian 
 village called Moche whose people differ from other 
 Peruvian Indians. They do not mix with the Quechuans 
 and they retain old traditions and are proud of their 
 ancient lineage. Presumably, they are the only pure 
 remains of the formerly great Chimu nation. 
 
 At about 8.30 latitude S., we pass the Guanapes, a 
 group of islets which are the play grounds for thou- 
 sands of sea lions. On the highest, near the south end 
 of the group, a light visible 23 miles, showing three 
 short flashes followed by a longer eclipse every 10 
 seconds, is exhibited from a tower 454 feet above water. 
 
 TWO WONDERFUL BAYS 
 
 Some 35 miles south of these islets, 210 miles north 
 of Callao, lies the port of Chimbote, which has been 
 called the port of the future. At present, it is merely 
 
 110
 
 the main outlet for the Santa River Valley, but it has 
 an agriculturally and minerally very rich hinter-land 
 It is the shipping point for the estates of the Peruvian 
 Sugar Co. and of Tambo Real. 
 
 Chimb ote has the advantage of a landlocked bay, 
 well protected by Blanco Island and by the Ferrol 
 islets. Its area is 36 square miles without a single 
 submerged rock that could render navigation dan- 
 gerous. A railroad runs from Chimbote up the pic- 
 turesque Huailas valley, to near the foot of the Huas- 
 caran, 21,822 feet high. This was first ascended by 
 Miss Annie Peck, of New York. 
 
 A few miles north of Chimbote is a small settlement 
 on Santa Bay, near the outlet of Santa River, the 
 only inter- Andes stream flowing into the Pacific. It 
 would be in part navigable and the largest river on 
 the west coast of South America, were not its waters 
 all taken up by irrigation long before they could reach 
 the coast. 
 
 RUMORS OF AMERICAN NAVAL BASE 
 
 Samanco, 10 miles south of Chimbote, shares with 
 the latter the advantage of being on one of the best 
 natural harbors on the west coast. It is so deep that 
 vessels may anchor to within a few yards from shore 
 and its waters always so placid that they have been 
 likened to those of a lake. According to newspaper 
 reports, a few years ago, the U. S. Government had
 
 offered to buy the bay for a U. S. Naval Base. Samanco 
 is merely the shipping point for sugar and cotton es- 
 tates, small quantities of silver are also shipped. 
 
 In about 10.30 lat. S. we may see near shore the 
 Pisco de Pativilca, in English Mt. Darwin, a cone 
 5880 feet high. A little to the south and more inland, 
 another distinctive landmark, Mt. Osborne is 8060 
 feet high. 
 
 Huarmey, the shipping point for the Anglo-French 
 Tica Pampa silver mines, served by a short narrow 
 guage railroad. Some salpeter is also shipped from 
 Huarmey. 
 
 The town, two miles from the port, is in an oasis 
 surrounded by a sandy desert. 
 
 Supe, a minor port at the mouth of the Rio Pativilca, 
 is 90 miles north of Callao, on a snug little bay which 
 cannot well accommodate large vessels. Two narrow 
 guage railroads connect sugar and cotton estates with 
 the port. 
 
 Huacho, 70 miles north of Callao, and connected 
 with Lima by rail, was formerly a rather important 
 guano port, but now serves mainly as outlet for sugar 
 and cotton estates. Some of the longest staple cotton 
 is produced in the region. The town of Huacho has 
 some 15,000 inhabitants. Important deposits of coal 
 and other minerals have been proved in the district 
 and interesting developments are hoped for. 
 
 Some 50 miles north of Callao, we pass the Haura 
 Islands a 14 miles long string of islets located west of 
 
 112
 
 Point Salinas. On one of them, Mazorca, a light 
 visible 25 miles, flashing once every 5 seconds, is ex- 
 hibited 300 feet above water. 
 
 Chancay, 40 m. N. of Callao, connected by rail 
 with Lima, and with Palpa, Huacho and Huara in the 
 interior, is a sugar and cotton port. 
 
 PERUVIAN COAST SOUTH OF CALLAO 
 
 Only few landmarks along that coast are worth 
 mentioning. Everywhere, we see the same barren ess. 
 Houses may be seen on some isolated spots, but they 
 are abandoned shacks of former guano workers. 
 
 About 30 miles south of Callao, lies the small port 
 of Chilca, frequented only by coastwise sailing vessels. 
 However, the district has been found sufficiently im- 
 portant to construct a railroad to that port which 
 will be terminated in 1921. 
 
 Cerro Azul, 72 miles south of Callao, serves the 
 fertile valley of the Canete, beginning five miles from 
 the port, which produces long staple cotton and sugar, 
 as well as rum and by-products. 
 
 Tambo de Mora, 25 miles south of Cerro Azul, 
 15 miles north of Pisco, at the mouth of the Chincha 
 River, serves the Chincha valley which is said to be 
 one of the most fertile of Peru, producing long staple 
 cotton, sugar and wine grapes. It is claimed that this 
 region is the nearest to the equator where wine of 
 really good quality is produced in large quantities. 
 
 113
 
 Pisco, the principal port between Callao and Mol- 
 lendo, on Pisco Bay, formed by the Paracas Peninsula 
 in the south and protected by the Chincha islands in 
 the west, is 111 miles south of Callao. It serves a 
 fertile hinterland which is also minerally rich and it 
 is the only port of Peru besides Callao from which 
 appreciable quantities of gold are exported. The de- 
 velopment of the interior has been somewhat retarded 
 by the fact that, in spite of the formation of the bay, 
 Pisco is not at all times a good harbor. The "paracas" 
 winds blowing from the direction of the peninsula of 
 that name come in sudden gusts and for a good many 
 days in the year, the working of cargo in the afternoon 
 is difficult and at times impossible. 
 
 The railroad from Pisco serves the three depart- 
 ments of lea, Ayacucho and Huancavelica. 
 
 lea, 74 kilometres inland is a city of 12,000 inhabi- 
 tants. It is a rather important center of viticulture 
 and where the white rum, known as "pisco" all over 
 Peru and also in Bolivia, is made. In the district are 
 mineral waters of proven curative value. 
 
 Pisco is also the port for Huancavelica and Ayacucho 
 both some 200 miles inland. The latter is renowned 
 for fine filigree work made there, nearly as much as 
 for the peace signed there with Spain, confirming the 
 independence of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Chile. 
 
 114
 
 FAMOUS GUANO ISLANDS 
 
 West, slightly to the north of Pisco are the Chincha 
 Islands, a cluster of peculiarly shaped islets which, 
 some years ago, were great producers of guano. A 
 little over an hour later, we pass St. Gallan Island, 
 which appears as if it were part of the mainland. An 
 hour and a half afterwards, we may distinguish the 
 shape of Mt. Wilson, rising almost abruptly from the 
 sea, and a short way further, Mt. Caretas, 1400 feet 
 high appears, forming the northern protection for In- 
 dependence Bay, partly closed in the south by Vieja 
 Island, (elevation 200 feet) followed immediately by 
 Santa Rosas islets. A few miles north of Mount Caretas. 
 we may notice the flat topped Mt. Zarate. The only 
 settlement in Independence Bay is the small fishing 
 village of Tungo. Immediately south of Independence 
 Bay, the form of Mt. Quemado (2070 feet) appears. 
 
 The next landmark, less than two hours later, is 
 Dona Maria Point and, immediately west of it, are 
 Los Infernillos (the little hell), a cluster of rocky islets. 
 A few miles south, we have, at 2160 feet altitude, a 
 curiously flat topped elevation called the Table of 
 Dona Maria. 
 
 The next important port is Mollendo, but north 
 of it are the little ports of Lomas and Chala. The 
 latter is the nearest port to Cuzco by the land route, 
 and in spite of the railroad with terminal in Mollendo, 
 this route is still used by Indians. 
 
 115
 
 Islay, 5 miles north of Mollendo, was the principal 
 port of the province, until the railroad to Arequipa 
 and hence to the Altiplano, was opened. It has since 
 been deserted and all its inhabitants moved to Mol- 
 lendo. Islay would make a much better port than 
 Mollendo, and if the railroad was extended that far, 
 trade would quickly revive. 
 
 POSSIBLE ABANDONMENT OF MOLLENDO 
 
 Mollendo serves as port for Arequipa, the second 
 city of Peru, and for the vast, but not very fertile 
 Peruvian Altiplano. It is also the port for the nearby 
 Tambo Valley, which is one of the richest in Peru and 
 the first to produce sugar on a large scale. The rail- 
 road line to Arequipa, and hence to Juliaca, with 
 branch to Puno, connecting with steamers on Lake 
 Titicaca for the Bolivian side of the lake and La Paz, 
 and another branch to Cuzco, is operated by the 
 Southern Railways of Peru, a subsidiary of the Peru- 
 vian Corporation. Its general Manager is L. A. Blais- 
 dell, an American. From Cuzco, the old Inca Capital, 
 the line is being extended toward Santa Ana, on the 
 Amazon side of the Andes. Between Cuzco and Puno, 
 at Vilcanota are the source of two rivers, within one 
 mile of one another. One of them, the Vilcanota be- 
 comes a tributary of the Amazon, while the Tambo 
 River would empty in the Pacific, were not its waters 
 all taken up for irrigation. The President of the 
 
 116
 
 National University at Cuzco, is an American, Dr. 
 A. Giesecke. He has been twice Mayor of the City of 
 Cuzco. 
 
 Mollendo is one of the worse ports on the west 
 coast, and it has been a question more than once to 
 move its trade back to Islay, or, two miles nearer, to 
 Matarani Cove, where there is deep water very near 
 the land and a port could be made at small cost. 
 
 Mollendo obtains its water supply from Tingo, near 
 Arequipa. 
 
 Ho is the most southerly port of Peru, 75 miles 
 southeast of Mollendo. A 100 kilometres long railroad 
 line runs to Moquega. It traverses a district which 
 produces grapes and olive oil, The Government has 
 fostered the wine industry by importing cuttings of 
 suitable varieties from France and employing French 
 instructors. 
 
 The Moquega railroad was built with the idea of ex- 
 tending it to Lake Titicaca and to make Ho a port 
 for Bolivia. Ho is famous in Peru for its white candy 
 called "dulce de leche" (sweets of milk). 
 
 Some 70 miles southeast of Ho, we will leave the 
 Peruvian coast and then sail with the coast of Chile. 
 
 117
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE CITY OF KINGS 
 
 Lima, the capital and largest city of Peru, was 
 founded by Pizarro and called by him "Ciudad de los 
 Reyes" (the City of Kings). Later, Colonial Vice-roys 
 gave her the name of "Tres Veces Coronada Ciudad 
 de los Vireyes" (three times crowned city of the vice- 
 roys). Lima presumably a corruption of Rimac 
 was first a surname, and subsequently the name given 
 to the City by the Republic. 
 
 Lima is located 7 miles from Callao, at 500 feet alti- 
 tude, in a fertile plain formed by the lower valley of 
 the Rimac at the westernmort spur of the Andes. 
 It is surrounded by mountains of a moderate height, 
 the most conspicuous and nearest of which is the Cerro 
 de San Cristobal. 
 
 Callao is connected with Lima by both trolley (every 
 10 minutes) and train (every 30 minutes), and is the 
 terminal of the Central Railway system. 
 
 The center of Lima, the Plaza Mayor, on which the 
 Cathedral and the Presidential offices front, is one of 
 the beautiful squares of South America. The Cathedral 
 
 118
 
 is said to be the most beautiful church edifice in Latin- 
 American countries. The corner stone was laid by 
 Pizarro, who also founded San Marcos University, the 
 oldest institution of higher learning in the Americas. 
 
 HISTORICAL RESIDENCE 
 
 Next to the Cathedral, the oldest existing building 
 in Lima, and probably in the Western Hemisphere, is 
 the former residence of the family Torre Tagle, on 
 Calle San Pedro, which has been purchased from the 
 family Torre Tagle to be preserved as a national 
 monument and is temporarily used by the Foreign 
 Office. The Church of San Francisco, two blocks 
 from the Desemparados railway station, is also a 
 beautiful edifice dating from Spanish times, and the 
 visitor who will take the trouble to take a stroll 
 through old Lima's streets outside of the path beaten 
 by tourists and sight-seeing automobiles, will be amply 
 rewarded by many interesting architectural finds. 
 
 STYLES OF ARCHITECTURE 
 
 The prevailing style of architecture in churches and 
 the older public and private buildings is Spanish re- 
 naissance (locally called Colonial Style) modified by 
 the requirements of climate. But among Lima's older 
 streets, and even on the Plaza Mayor, are found ar- 
 cades, with closed galleries above, and overhanging 
 
 119
 
 balconies which, though different in many ways, re- 
 mind one of Tunis and Cairo, and even of Rangoon 
 and Calcutta. 
 
 The architecture of modern monumental buildings 
 and private residences has been decidedly influenced 
 by the Italian love of intricacy of lines and has been 
 characterized by most writers as Greco-Roman. New 
 residences in the suburbs present an even greater va- 
 riety of design than similar suburbs in the United 
 States. 
 
 One of the characteristics of old Spanish construction 
 were elaborate woodcarvings of doors, ceilings and bal- 
 conies, several examples of the latter being seen on 
 Lima's streets. There are also several notable examples 
 of beautiful stone carvings on church facades. 
 
 INTERESTING RUINS 
 
 There are a number of Inca and pre-Inca ruins in 
 the immediate vicinity of Lima, practically all of them 
 of huge adobe block construction. Some of them are 
 easily accessible. The nearest are in the vicinity of La 
 Legua (the trolley station midway between Callao 
 and Lima). Beyond two artificial hills towards the 
 south are the largest ruins near Lima. They may be 
 reached in less than half an hour walk and the commis- 
 sary of police of La Legua usually allows a soldier to 
 act as guide to strangers. 
 
 The most important ruins near Lima are those of 
 
 120
 
 Pachacamac, on the right bank of the river Lurin, 
 19 miles south of Lima. There, Pachautec, the 10th 
 Inca built one of the richest palaces of his empire. 
 These ruins are smaller in extent, but are said by some 
 visitors to be more interesting than those of the Gran 
 Chan Chan. 
 
 A PLEA FOR FAIRNESS 
 
 The casual visitor to Lima, who, of course, barely 
 sees the surface of things, is very likely to form a wrong 
 judgment of Lima, and the Limenians. He may see 
 there merely a materially enlarged, but intellectually 
 empoverished capital city of the American southwest, 
 dethroned from her regal supremacy, having lost her 
 colonial stamp, disfigured rather than embellished, by 
 modern outlandish edifices, and marred by many 
 seeming instances of decay and neglect. 
 
 However, were the stranger to see more deeply; 
 were he able to live for a time true Limenian life, 
 which, in many ways, has remained more "colonial" 
 than mere appearances disclose, he would form a dif- 
 ferent opinion of Lima. 
 
 All that the stranger sees of Limenian life is bullfights, 
 horse races, sports and occasionally an opera poster, 
 as well as some poor imitation of what is called Parisian 
 gay life. The stranger does not see, and does not know, 
 that probably nowhere in the Western Hemisphere, 
 oie finds, especially in the family circle, greater in- 
 
 121
 
 terest in philosophy, in sciences, in literature and in 
 arts. Lima certainly equals Bogota and Popayan, 
 and probably surpasses Caracas in intellectual life. 
 
 Lima cannot become a modern city in the sense of 
 Buenos Ay res, Montevideo or Santiago without giving 
 up what is dearest to her sons. It wants to remain 
 the "City of Kings" as far as compatible with the 
 needs of its modern inhabitants. 
 
 This should be remembered by tourists before ex- 
 pressing a judgment upon Lima. 
 
 JUST A PORT TOWN 
 
 Callao was formerly called down town Lima, but 
 its stores have been replaced by commonplace ship- 
 ping offices and the first impression the stranger ob- 
 tains from the city is not very favorable. Being merely 
 a port town, whose inhabitants are nearly all port 
 workers, clerks or officials and without any wealthy 
 class, one should not expect Callao to be beautiful. 
 
 Nevertheless, Callao has two really good public 
 squares, one right in the midst of port warehouses, the 
 other in the center of shipping offices. It also has a 
 beautiful avenue of stately old trees which would be 
 the pride of any city, even in countries blessed by 
 rains. 
 
 20 minutes by trolley from Callao is the watering 
 place of La Punta, on a small peninsula facing the 
 Island of San Lorenzo. 
 
 12 2
 
 During the early Spanish times, Callao was often 
 subjected to attacks of Pirates. In 1746, an earth- 
 quake destroyed the town and practically all its in- 
 habitants perished. Similarly to Port Royal, Jamaica, 
 the former town is now submerged. The present 
 city lies to the north of the old one. The last earth- 
 quake happened in 1876. 
 
 AN OLD SPANISH CITY 
 
 Arequipa 110 miles from the port of Mollendo by 
 rail, on the floor of a fertile valley 7500 feet above 
 sea level, has nearly, 100,000 inhabitants and is the 
 second city of Peru. It has retained even more of 
 old Spanish characteristics than Lima, though in a 
 less pretentious way. It is renowned for its pleasant 
 living conditions, its equable climate, and the agree- 
 able commerce, the courtesy and the hospitality of 
 its people. 
 
 One of the most beautiful sights in South America 
 is the Gran Misti of Arequipa, an active volcano, 
 almost a perfect, perpetually snowcapped cone whose 
 awful grandeur reminds one of Fujijama. It is 20,320 
 feet high. Its last eruption was in 1839. 
 
 The wonderfully clear atmosphere of Arequipa and 
 large number of clear days and nights has lead to 
 its selection by Harvard University as the site of its 
 astronomical observatory for the mapping of the sky 
 of the Southern Hemisphere. 
 
 123
 
 THE INCA CAPITAL 
 
 Cuzco is intensely interesting for what it was 
 rather than for what it is. Modern Cuzco is quaint, 
 curious, original, but its ancient glory has gone infin- 
 itely more thoroughly than that of Lima. However, 
 no region in the Western Hemisphere includes rem- 
 nants of ancient civilization of such an extent or of 
 greater interest. 
 
 Near Cuzco are the ruins of the fortress of Sacsa- 
 huaman, constructed of huge stone blocks, brought 
 from mountains across a deep valley, some of which 
 measure as much as 36 feet on each side. There are 
 the remarkable ruins of Ollantaytambo and Machu 
 Picu which may be reached in 3 to 5 days on horse 
 back, and in many places in that region one may gaze 
 with amazement upon agriculture and irrigation car- 
 ried almost to mountain summits. Even when one 
 has been overawed by the Great Pyramids, the Sphinx 
 ar.d the ruins of Memphis and of Thebes, these works 
 appear small when compared with what ancient Peru- 
 vians have achieved. 
 
 A WORLD BY ITSELF 
 
 One cannot speak of Iquitos merely as of an inland 
 city, as of Arequipa or Cuzco; it is much more than 
 than other places the heart, one might almost say the 
 concentrated essence of the Loreto Province of which 
 
 124
 
 it is the center. It is 2,500 miles up the Amazon. 
 Like Manaos, some 1500 miles downstream, it is a city 
 well started and never finished. It began to grow 
 nobly and luxuriously, when the bottom dropped off 
 the prices of "Para" rubber and its dream of becoming 
 a gem of modern civilization in the midst of the jungle 
 was stopped short. 
 
 Now, Iquitos appears to be sleeping and indifferent 
 to its fate. Some of its main streets are allowed to 
 grow sufficient grass to render their use as pasture 
 possible, but Iquitos does hope. It realizes that it 
 is the hub of a region enormously rich which in the 
 not distant future will be developed with the aid of 
 foreign capital and technical knowledge. 
 
 At one time Iquitos had 40,000 inhabitants, but 
 now it has less than half that number. It has practi- 
 cally no economic relations with the rest of Peru and 
 the only means of communication with other parts of 
 the country is wireless telegraphy which sometimes 
 fails. It would be another country were it not for 
 officials sent from Lima and deputies and senators 
 sent to Lima for the sessions of the National Congress. 
 
 125
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 AGRICULTURE 
 
 Humboldt spoke of Peru as a beggar sitting on a 
 gold hill. This is decidedly unfair to modern Peru- 
 vains who have developed a considerable proportion 
 the wealth of the country. But it characterizes the 
 enormous richness of their land and the hugeness of 
 its natural resources compared with the small propor- 
 tion thus far developed. 
 
 Comparatively little is known of the agriculture of 
 Peru in the United States. The "man on the street" 
 barely knows that some sugar and some cotton are 
 exported from the land of the Incas in addition to 
 some beans which are supposed to come from Lima 
 but don't. 
 
 The fact is that Peruvians have domesticated and 
 rendered useful to man a greater number of varieties 
 of plants than any other people in America. 
 
 Moreover, nowhere in the known world has agricul- 
 tural practice been carried in as intensified a manner 
 as in the Altiplano which, at the time of the Incas and 
 
 126
 
 probably also before, was the most populated part of 
 the Western Hemisphere. There, terrasing and irri- 
 gation were practiced to as near the summits of the 
 mountains as temperature permitted, and irrigation 
 methods were such that modern technicians fail to see 
 how they could be improved. Plant adaptation was 
 brought about in a manner unexcelled elsewhere. 
 
 To this day, corn in Peru is grown at sea level and 
 as high up as the banks of Lake Titicaca, at 13,000 
 and even higher altitudes. The Cuzco corn, grown in 
 a similar altitude, but a different region, is famous for 
 the size of its grains, equalling the famous Brazilian 
 "rosa. Potatoes are native of the high Andes valleys, 
 but they are grown near the sea shore as well as in 
 the Aroya region, between 13 and 15,000 feet altitude. 
 In no other country are wine grapes successfully 
 grown commercially on as large a scale as near the 
 equator as in some of the valleys south of Lima. 
 
 Cotton, one of the three greatest staples of the 
 United States broke all records in Peru. In the Canete 
 valley, south of Lima, accurate weighings have shown 
 an average production of 533 pounds per acre, some 
 fields ranging as high as 968 pounds per acre. Near 
 Lambayeque, in the north of Peru, one district has 
 reached the very high maximum average of 1,384 
 pounds per acre, compared with a high average in our 
 southern States of 300 pounds per acre. 
 
 Cotton is a plant native of Peru and Pizzaro found 
 cotton fabrics in tombs which much antedate those of 
 
 127
 
 the Incas. The best grades are grown in the region of 
 Piura and shipped from Paita, the length of the fiber 
 coming near that of the longest Egyptian cotton. The 
 high quality of the Piura cotton is attributed to pecu- 
 liarities of soil and climatic conditions. 
 
 If we take into consideration the comparative new- 
 ness of the industry, Peru is one of the leading cane 
 sugar producing countries. The region of which 
 Trujillo is the center, produces nearly as much sugar 
 as the entire island of Porto Rico. 
 
 Rice has also received considerable attention, es- 
 pecially in the northern part of the country and a large 
 proportion of domestic requirements are produced 
 there. The varieties planted are Carolina and Jamaica. 
 
 An attempt is being made by a company of Lima 
 business men to grow tea and spices on an estate near 
 Tumbez. 
 
 The sheep industry of the highlands of Peru is im- 
 portant, and there are in various parts of the country 
 great opportunities for meat production. 
 
 IMMIGRATION 
 
 What Peru lacks is immigrants. It is one of the 
 two or three South American countries where the tide 
 of European immigration has not yet set strongly. 
 Unlike other South American countries, which look to 
 Southern Europe for immigrants, and to a smaller 
 extent to Germany, Peru has, in 1920, endeavored to 
 
 128
 
 bring about a large British immigration. Free passage 
 and unusual inducements were offered to suitable per- 
 sons, both agriculturists and artisans. Unfortunately, 
 without explanation, the British government requested 
 Peru to discontinue propaganda work in Great Britain. 
 
 The immigration problem in Peru presents unusual 
 difficulties. The agricultural laborer type of immigrant 
 which goes to River Plate countries seems unsuited 
 here. The Germans are not wanted in Peru in large 
 number. Moreover, they come to Peru as traders, 
 not as workers, and developers. 
 
 The only considerable immigration expected at pres- 
 ent is Japanese. A Tokio company has acquired 
 740,000 acres of jungle land along the right bank of the 
 Huallaga River. The avowed purpose of the purchase 
 is the exploitation of the tract of land and of the region 
 as concerns medicinal and other plants, but it is known 
 that a huge colonization scheme is contemplated. 
 
 A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW 
 
 It is well to state here, to show the great difference 
 between the North and the South American point of 
 view concerning development of a country, that con- 
 siderable immigration in Peru is opposed by many 
 influential men. They realize that a large white im- 
 migration would improve the land wonderfully and 
 make Peru the richest country on earth. On the other 
 
 129
 
 hand, they inquire, would it make its inhabitants more 
 happy? 
 
 The Indian who now does pretty well what he pleases 
 and has few needs would finally be forced to work regu- 
 larly for the white man. He would develop new needs 
 at the expense of his present happy indifference. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL PROBLEMS 
 
 The most productive part of Peru are oasis-like 
 valleys formed at intervals in the desert wastes be- 
 tween the Western Cordillera and the sea, and irrigated 
 by rivers and mountain streams. The soil in these val- 
 leys was formed of alluvion washed down the moun- 
 tain sides at the time when it still rained in the zone. 
 Naturally, depth and character of the soil and fertility 
 depend very much, according to distance of the moun- 
 tains from the valleys, steepness of the land and 
 whether or not the mountainside was wooded. 
 
 As a rule, these alluvian depcrits are richer in nitro- 
 gen than in potassium, and in phosphorus. This stimu- 
 lates herbaceous growth, but not blooming and fruit- 
 ing, and in spite of the comparative richness of the 
 soil, mineral fertilizers have frequently to be employed 
 to induce quicker maturity of the crops. 
 
 The area of land which could become productive 
 by irrigation and fcr which water is available has been 
 ccmputed at upward of 50 million acres. Large pro- 
 jects are pending, only one of which is actually being 
 
 130
 
 executed, namely that of the Imperial Valley. Another 
 project, for which Martinelli Bros, of Lima have a con- 
 cession, is the irrigation of 20,000 acres of virgin lands 
 in the Arequipa district. The Peruvian Corporation 
 has also various irrigation concessions mainly in the 
 northern provinces. 
 
 MINING 
 
 If there is a lesson to be learned from the history 
 of mining in Peru, it is of the instability of this world's 
 riches. For the sake of gold, great civilizations were 
 destroyed, and a vast and densely populated territory 
 almost bared of its inhabitants, and now the country 
 which in gold richness probably equals Judea in the time 
 of Solomon has sunk to almost insignificance as a pro- 
 ducer and possessor of gold. 
 
 The mineral wealth of Peru is proverbial and it has 
 often been documented by experts. Among them, 
 Raimondi, who probably made the most complete sur- 
 vey of the mineral resources of the Republic, says: 
 "Peru is without doubt one of the richest mineral 
 countries and the variety and abundance of the miner- 
 als found in its territory are indeed amazing." 
 
 Bolivia and also Colombia, it is true, claim still 
 greater mineral wealth, but even if these claims were 
 true, Peru possesses advantages and possibilities of 
 development which do not appear to be present in 
 the same measure in these countries. 
 
 131
 
 STRANGE REVERSAL OF CONDITIONS 
 
 Before and during the early days of the Spanish 
 Conquest, the mining of precious metals was carried 
 on in an extensive scale and the accumulated reserves 
 must have been immense. The quantities of gold and 
 silver shipped from Peru to Spain have probably never 
 been exceeded by any country. 
 
 Then follows a long period of stagnation, during 
 which practically no mining of gold and silver took 
 place, until, in 1903, mining operations for various 
 minerals began almost simultaneously in various 
 parts of the country. Since then, progressive develop- 
 ment has been rapid, but while in the early days gold 
 and silver were, in addition to some copper, the only 
 metals mined for, little of these are mined now and 
 what is produced is mostly as the by-product of copper 
 smelting. 
 
 There is something strange in the almost complete 
 disappearance of direct gold mining in Peru. Some of 
 the old Spanish mines may have become exhausted, 
 but from what is known of the geology of gold, what has 
 been dug out of the ground must be only a very small 
 fraction of what remains. Hence the almost com- 
 plete cessation of gold mining is to say the least 
 unexplainable. 
 
 Peru ranks only 16th among gold dredging countries 
 and about 70% of the gold mined as such comes from 
 the department of Puno, near Lake Titicaca, at over 
 
 132
 
 12,000 feet altitude. The Santo Domingo mine, lo- 
 cated there, has produced several million dollars in 
 gold. It is owned and operated by an Argentine syndi- 
 cate, which also controls the Montebello Mine in the 
 Department La Liberdad, near Trujillo, northern 
 Peru. 
 
 Native gold is produced only on the Amazon side of 
 the Andes and shipped via Iquitos. In 1920, large 
 finds were made in the bed of the Napo River and they 
 are said to be investigated by the Gold Consolidated, 
 Ltd., which is probably the largest gold mining concern 
 in the world. 
 
 Gold mining is taxed 10 Peruvian pounds (nominally 
 $50) per kilo in dust,or bar, and 2 pounds per kilo when 
 obtained as a by-product. 
 
 PERU, SECOND OIL EXPORTING COUNTRY 
 
 Petroleum is fast becoming to the modern con- 
 querors of Peru British and American capitalists 
 what gold was to the Spanish Conquistador es. In- 
 deed, as concerns exports of crude oil and some pe- 
 troleum products, Peru has already surpassed the 
 United States and has taken second rank imme- 
 diately after Mexico as an exporter. 
 
 Petroleum has been known to exist in Peru for 200 
 years, and already in prehistoric times the "brea'' 
 (pitch) found at places where seepages occurred and 
 
 133
 
 the lighter products had evaporated, was used by 
 ancient Peruvians and is still used by natives to line 
 earthen vessels used to contain liquids. 
 
 However, it is only during the last fifteen years that 
 development on a large scale has begun. Exploitation 
 was not as easy as in other oil regions. The oil is found 
 mainly in the arid north and the complete absence of 
 potable water and the unproductivity of the country 
 around has added much to the expense. Moreover, 
 there has, from the beginning, prevailed in Peru 
 rightly or wrongly a sentiment rather hostile towards 
 large foreign oil interests which has not contributed 
 to greater development. 
 
 The petroleum possibilities of Peru have been 
 grouped into two general regions, namely, the North 
 Pacific coast, which is subdivided into the Zorritos, 
 Lobitos and the Negritos fields. The second region is 
 the Andean, with proven fields near Puno, not far 
 from Lake Titicaca, at 1,250 feet altitude, with va- 
 rious as yet indefinite possibilities at various altitudes 
 between that region and the first. 
 
 The Andean fields are not worked. 
 
 The oil of the northern fields is from teritiary for- 
 mation, of a mixed asphaltic and parafin base, of good 
 quality, though not equal to Pennsylvania oil. 
 
 Peruvian law provides two classes of oil concessions, 
 one for the exploration of unproven areas, the other 
 for the exploitation of proven ones. Concessions are 
 examined and granted with a view to actual operations 
 
 134
 
 and propositions of persons of speculative tendencies 
 are not encouraged. 
 
 A sliding tax is imposed upon oil, and its producers 
 at all times have protested it as too heavy, but it has 
 been maintained. 
 
 Copper although the quantity produced is much 
 less than that of Chile is by far the most important 
 mineral mined in Peru at present, and, during the last 
 few years until 1920, the exports have continually been 
 on the increase. 
 
 The most important copper mining concern of the 
 country is the famous Cerro de Pasco Mining Com- 
 pany, an American corporation, whose property and 
 smelter are located about 130 miles from Lima, on the 
 Lima and Oroya railroad, at the junction of the west 
 and east cordilleras. The visible ore reserves of this 
 property is said to exceed 3 million tons which figure 
 may be exceeded following further development work. 
 The property includes coal mines, the product of which, 
 however, is of inferior quality and has to be treated 
 before its availability as fuel. The Company is capital- 
 ized at $10,000,000. 
 
 The second important copper mining concern is con- 
 troled by the British Banking House of Backus & 
 Johnston, with mines at Casapalca, the third, under 
 Cerro de pasco control, and 100 miles from the former, 
 is the Morococha mine. There are several less im- 
 portant copper plants in other parts of the country. 
 
 135
 
 Peru possesses more visible Vanadium Ore, than 
 the rest of the world combined, and the Peruvian pro- 
 duction of that metal covers over two-thirds of the 
 world consumption. 
 
 For several years after its discovery, vanadium was 
 considered as mere laboratory curiosity. Later it was 
 used in the dyeing of certain weaves, in the decorating 
 of chinaware and in the manufacture of certain kinds 
 of glass to which it gives a crystal appearance, and 
 greater elasticity. 
 
 It is also used in the preparation of the zinc plates 
 now used in lithography in place of stones, but its 
 principal use is as a ferrous alloy. Even when added 
 in very small quantities (as little as four pounds to the 
 ton) vanadium gives to steel greater strength and 
 ductibility as well as an increased power to resist 
 shocks and the effect of vibration and friction, hence 
 the extensive use of vanadium steel in the manufacture 
 of tools. 
 
 The main Peruvian Vanadium deposits are located in 
 the Junin department at Mina Ragra, at 16,500 feet 
 altitude or some three miles up to the sky. They were 
 known by the owner of mining claims, a native Peru- 
 vian, but brought to light in the outside world through 
 James J. Flannery, of Pittsburgh. 
 
 136
 
 Mr. Flannery took a trip to Peru for the purpose of 
 acquiring the Vanadium property. All the capital he 
 could gather together was $20,000. That wasn't 
 much, and that was only a fraction of what was asked 
 for the mine. But Mr. Flannery knew the value of the 
 sight of a heap of gold, compared with sheets of paper 
 with promises to pay later. He secured glittering gold 
 pieces for the full amount of the investment he was 
 able to make, and, at the psychological moment, while 
 negociating with the owner, flung the gold upon the 
 table. 
 
 The story goes that the scheme worked, and that the 
 owner promised to sell for the pile of gold before him. 
 While the papers were drafted, a cable came from an 
 English syndicate offering $200,000, but the Peruvian, 
 Mr. Fernandani, kept his word. He was later rewarded 
 by Flannery with a substantial block of stock, now 
 worth a big fortune, in the company he organized. 
 
 The mines are controlled by the Vanadium Corpora- 
 tion of America, in New York. 
 
 OTHER INTERESTING MINERALS 
 
 Peru furnishes 80% of the total world production 
 of molybdenum, one of the rarer minerals. It is 
 found in small deposits in various parts of the Sierra, 
 but the deposits of Ricran, in the Jauja district, de- 
 partment of Junin are considered of the greater im- 
 portance. ^ 
 
 137
 
 For a number of years the use of molybdenum was 
 confined to laboratory practice, as ammonium molyb- 
 date, in phosphorus analyses. Now, its compounds 
 are used as dyeing agents for ceramics and silks, in the 
 manufacture of gun powder, and as a steel alloy which 
 it hardens without impairing its malleability. Hence 
 its use for tool and wire steel. 
 
 The superior quality of the tungsten ores of Peru 
 has often been commented upon, yet, as a producer, 
 Peru never has exceeded the third rank among South 
 American countries. Two of the deposits are claimed 
 to be the largest in the world, namely that of Cuzco 
 and that on both sides of the river Pelagatos separating 
 the Provinces of Chuco and Pallasca. Curiously, the 
 third important Peruvian deposits, those of the Cerro 
 Julcani were worked for many years until 1916, however 
 not for the sake of tungsten, but for the gold that the 
 ores contain. 
 
 Peruvian tungsten, as a rule, occurs in the form of 
 concentrates whose yield varies from 50 to 70%. 
 
 Silver is found in many sections of the Peruvian 
 Andes, both alone and associated with other metals, 
 especially with copper and lead. "Cascajo" is a silver- 
 bearing ore, mined on a large scale in the Cerro de 
 Pasco district, which is peculiar to Peru. 
 
 Probably the most important silver mine of the 
 country is the Anglo-French Ticapampa Silver Com- 
 pany, near the small port of Huarmay, between Sa- 
 manco and Supe. The Caylloma silver mines in the 
 
 138
 
 Department of the Arequipa, were very famous at one 
 time. They were worked under the Incas for several 
 generations, but it is only in 1630 that the Spaniards 
 discovered their location. Judging from old Tax 
 books still preserved, the annual production must have 
 exceeded one million ounces as much as the total 
 production of the country at present. 
 
 Mercury, as cinabar, is found near Huancavelica, 
 also near Chonta, Dos de Mayo and Puno. 
 
 The production of Peru in lead and zinc has, thus 
 far, been negligible, but vast deposits of these are 
 known to exist near Chilete, Yauli, Huarochiri, Pallasca 
 and Huari. 
 
 Nickel and Cobalt have been proven, (but they are 
 not mined) in the provinces of Lamar and Conception. 
 
 Antimony is found in Yauli and Huancavelica and 
 this metal has been mined on a small scale during the 
 war, but the deposits are not worked at present. 
 
 Owing to the dry atmosphere and absence of rain on 
 the Peruvian coast, various kinds of mineral salts have 
 accumulated there in considerable quantities. Among 
 these are nitrates, ma&nesia, alumogen, sodium 
 sulphite, etc. Sodium chloride (common salt) is 
 found in deposits not only near the coast but as far 
 inland and at as high altitudes as that of Cuzco. 
 
 Sulphur exists in great abundance in proximity of 
 several volcanoes, but the Department of Piura is the 
 only important producer at present. A plant of 150 
 tons daily capacity is in partial operation there. 
 
 139
 
 Borax deposits are known to exist in Arequipa, 
 Moquega, Tacna and Camana, but the only deposits 
 exploited at present are those of Salinas, between 
 Arequipa and Moquega. They are controlled by 
 Borax Consolidated, Ltd., which has practically a 
 monopoly of world Borax production and sale. 
 
 Beds of Graphite exist and at one time were ex- 
 ploited on a small scale in the Department of La 
 Liberdad, 
 
 Large deposits of Potassium Carbonate were re- 
 cently discovered in the Jauja Valley. 
 
 Thus far, little has been heard of the Iron Ore de- 
 posits of Peru, but outcroppings of both magnetic and 
 hematite ore are met with in many parts of the country. 
 The best known deposits are located in the Depart- 
 ments of Piura, Calca and Larez, where magnetic ore 1 
 is claimed to have analyzed as much as 80% metallic 
 iron. 
 
 Marbles, gypsum, kaolin, ochres and some of the 
 rare earths have been located but have not yet been 
 made the object of any industry. 
 
 Mica deposits are worked in Ouanacharca, province 
 of Camana, where both geological and industrial con- 
 ditions are favorable for their exploitation. The whole 
 output of the mine is shipped to the United States. 
 
 Guano, once the most important item of export in 
 Peru, is not any longer a source of considerable re- 
 venue to its Government. The deposits are far from 
 exhausted, but a series of concurring factors has les- 
 
 140
 
 sened the importance of the industry of guano gather- 
 ing and shipping. 
 
 For a time, the Peruvian Corporation was the only 
 important guano concessionaire and it has shipped 
 two-thirds of its original contract giving it three mil- 
 lion tons. A new agreement has been entered into 
 between the Peruvian Corporation and the Peruvian 
 Government in 1921. 
 
 The second important guano concern was German, 
 but it is not operating its concession at present. 
 
 The domestic requirements in guano supplied by the 
 Compania Administradora, a government institution, 
 which controls all deposits south of Callao and north 
 of the Chincha islands. 
 
 Guano is analyzed before shipment and sold upon a 
 base price according to its value as a fertilizer. 
 
 PERUVIAN COAL PROSPECTS 
 
 Although vast deposits of coal are known to extend 
 along the crest of the Western Cordillera, spreading from 
 the south towards the extreme north of the country, 
 branching out in the region of Huancavelica both 
 towards the coast and towards the interior, Peru is 
 still a large importer of coal, mainly from Chile and 
 from the United States. 
 
 Some of the largest known Peruvian deposits are 
 easily workable, but production has been thus far 
 
 141
 
 limited to exploitation on a comparatively small scale 
 by copper mining interests. 
 
 Industrial exploitation has remained impracticable 
 largely because of lack of transportation facilities and 
 of capital. 
 
 Peruvian coal is in the main of the Cretaceous age, 
 and primarily lignite and sub-bituminous. However, 
 high grade bituminous and anthracite coal fields have 
 been located. 
 
 The coal measures are of variable size and so dis- 
 tributed that practically every department is known to 
 possess interesting reserves. Two Government Com- 
 missions are now looking into possibilities of develop- 
 ment. One is studying the soft coals of the Oyon region 
 the other the anthracite fields of the Santa Valley. 
 
 In 1919, a syndicate of Lima capitalists was formed 
 which intends to work the Hunaiday fields in La 
 Liberdad province. With Government aid, a 70 km. 
 long road is being made in such a way that it will later 
 serve as road bed for a railway. This line will ulti- 
 mately be connected by rail either with Malabrigo or 
 with a new port to be made for Ascope. The total cost 
 of the project, including that of facilities to mine 500 
 tons daily, are estimated at less than half a million 
 dollars. 
 
 A bill recently passed by the Peruvian Congress al- 
 lows the Government to contract with the Banco Ital- 
 iano of Lima for a loan of three million soles (11/2 m il- 
 lion dollars) for the construction of a railroad connect - 
 
 142
 
 ing the Jahunhuasi coal fields with some stations of 
 the Peruvian Central Railways. 
 
 A system of aerial cable transportation to these 
 fields is also projected. 
 
 THE LAWS ARE LIBERAL 
 
 The Mining Laws of Peru are most liberal and in- 
 tended to facilitate development. They make no dis- 
 tinction of nationality and foreigners have the same 
 rights as Peruvians. Equality is carried so far that 
 in the local councils of mining districts miners elect 
 their own representatives, foreigners being both elec- 
 tors and eligible. 
 
 The usual dimensions of mining claims, or "Perte- 
 nancias" is 100 by 200 metres, a maximum of 70 
 Pertenancias, or less, constituting a grant or conces- 
 sion. 
 
 However, the acquisition of several grants in close 
 proximity to one another is permitted under certain 
 conditions. 
 
 The only title necessary to obtain and retain Govern- 
 ment mining property is a tax of 15 soles (about 7 l /2 
 dollars) every six months on each pertenancia. Gold 
 and silver are the only two metals on which an export 
 tax is levied, and the only restrictions to mining are 
 as concerns guano, borax, and similar salts which are 
 subject to special laws. 
 
 143
 
 RAILROADS 
 
 The topography of Peru is such that the creation of a 
 railroad system radiating toward an important center 
 presents greater difficulties than in other countries 
 also cut up by mountains, such as Colombia and 
 Venezuela. The impenetrability of the Andes ex- 
 cept at prohibitive expense is directly responsible 
 for the seeming backwardness of Peru as concerns 
 railroads. 
 
 Indirectly, development has also been retarded by 
 the fact that by far the majority of the people of the 
 country are Indians who produce practically nothing 
 beyond their wants. 
 
 The railroads of Peru all start from the sea, slowly 
 pushing their way across the coastal belt, extensions 
 being built as conditions require and at the same time 
 permit. Only two of the Peruvian railroads cross 
 the mountain barriers. The Central, from Lima to 
 Aroya and Cerro de Pasco, with other branches to 
 Huancayo and to Morococha, reaches an altitude of 
 15,665 feet at the tunnel of Galera, on the main line 
 and 15,865 feet on one point of the Morococha Branch. 
 It is by far the highest railroad in the world, exceeding 
 by nearly 3,000 feet the highest Swiss mountain rail- 
 road. Including the Ancon-Lima Branch, the system 
 is 384 miles long. 
 
 The Southern railways run from Mollendo to Juliaca, 
 via Arequipa. The branch completed to Cuzco is 
 
 144
 
 being extended toward Santa Ana on the Amazon 
 side of the Andes. A short branch runs from Juliaca 
 to Puno, connecting with lines of steamers operated 
 by the same company on Lake Titicaca. The length 
 of the system is 864 miles, standard gauge. 
 
 Both of these systems, as well as a number of trans- 
 versal lines, are Government owned, but operated by 
 the Peruvian corporation. 
 
 In a general way, the railroads of Peru run west to 
 east and practically all railroad projects follow the 
 same direction. Longitudinal railroads are not likely 
 to pay any better in Peru than anywhere else on the 
 South American continent and the idea of building 
 lines which would become parts of the North American 
 idea of a Pan-American railroad is not any more 
 seriously considered in Peru. 
 
 Each valleys, in seeking an exit to the sea, has 
 chosen the most likely route and the cheapest means 
 of reaching it without thought of a national railroad 
 system. This explains the variety of gauges and of 
 methods of construction and operation, each line being 
 purely regional. Cooperation and connection with 
 other lines inland was an afterthought and is still a 
 secondary consideration. 
 
 Certain taxes and revenues are set aside by law for 
 subsidizing railroad construction and the government 
 policy has at all times been very liberal with a view of 
 encouraging building by private corporations. How- 
 ever, little has been done in recent years. 
 
 145
 
 PERUVIAN CORPORATION 
 
 It is not possible to discuss economic conditions in 
 Peru without knowing at least something about the 
 Peruvian Corporation. 
 
 In 1890, Peru was in financial difficulties, which were 
 settled by the organization of the London Corporation 
 of the Foreign Bondholders of Peru, who took over the 
 entire foreign indebtedness of the Republic in exchange 
 for certain concessions, including the control of the 
 State Railroads for a period of 66 years. 
 
 The Peruvian Corporation was subsequently or- 
 ganized to administer these concessions. 
 
 Besides the railroads, the most important concession 
 given to the Peruvian Corporation was that of exploit- 
 ing three million tons of guano in certain definite re- 
 gions. The Corporation has later gone into various 
 lines of business, including cotton growing and sugar 
 manufacturing and incidentally even in commercial 
 enterprises. 
 
 INCAS AND PRE-INCAS 
 
 No country of the Western Hemisphere has as tragic 
 a history as Peru, and what is known of pre-historic 
 times appears even more dramatic. 
 
 The story of the aborigenes of North America is 
 interesting mainly from an ethnic point of view. The 
 study of old Mexican civilization is very captivating; 
 Peruvian pre-history arouses equal interest, but, in 
 
 146
 
 addition, it has much that borders on the mysterious 
 and even the mystic. 
 
 The high Peruvian plateau, which was the principal 
 seat of ancient Peruvian civilization, would seem to be 
 particularly unfit to be the seat of a great civilization. 
 Yet, civilization has not attained such heights anywhere 
 else in the Western Hemisphere and the genius of the 
 two or more races of humans who have succeeded 
 themselves there, has brought about results, the re- 
 mains of which arouse the admiration of men of today. 
 
 It is not merely in a material way that the races 
 which inhabited the Peruvian highlands were great. 
 They have left no traces of their writings, but various 
 phases of their civilization indicate that their intelli- 
 gence must have been keen and their understanding 
 of what is now characterized as the "occult" and their 
 mental powers must have been great. 
 
 Popularly speaking, the entire period of the history 
 of Peru which precedes Spanish Invasion, is called 
 Inca. However, the civilization of which we find so 
 many and so interesting remains antedates the Incas 
 who began to rule in 1250 by many centuries. 
 
 The Incas are not a race of people, but a dynasty 
 founded by Manco-Capac and queen Mamma-Ocello. 
 They were believed to be children of the sun and to have 
 come from heaven by way of an island in Lake Ti- 
 ticaca. 
 
 They and their successors manifested a remarkable 
 talent of organization and they governed the empire 
 
 147
 
 they gradually formed (which included most of what 
 is now Ecuador, all of Peru and Bolivia, and parts of 
 Chile), as an absolute, despotic theocratic, monarchy, 
 combined with an intelligent benevolent paternalism, 
 which seemed at times cruel, but which was free from 
 the orgies of human sacrifices which were so frequent 
 in Mexico. 
 
 ETHNIC 
 
 Also from an ethnic point of view, Peru is very in- 
 teresting, even to the casual observer. Its people 
 vary so widely in racial origin and in characteristics, 
 that one can speak of a typical Peruvian even less than 
 of a typical North American. 
 
 A Peruvian may be a pure-blooded Indian; he may 
 be a blue-blooded Spaniard, or the son of a recent 
 immigrant, or a mixture of these. 
 
 As concerns social status, a Peruvian may be an 
 untamed Indian of the Amazon, or a subdued aborigine 
 compelled to work for a near-slave driver in the vast 
 forests of the "Montana." He may be a mediaeval 
 man, keeping a few sheep and growing a patch of broad 
 beans, living as his ancestors did a thousand years ago, 
 or he may be a civilized Indian often equivalent to 
 a degenerate Indian in which case he will be either 
 a laborer with quite modern bolshevik tendencies, or 
 a servant or worker for a white or a near-white master, 
 serving him with doglike faith. Or, if he is a man of 
 
 148
 
 education, he may belong to any of the shades of social 
 standing known in Peru and elsewhere. 
 
 MANY ORIENTAL TRAITS 
 
 Peruvian civilization is, in the. main, Spanish, but 
 many of its phases may be traced to Oriental origins: 
 Patriarchal customs, sense of the unity of the family, 
 veneration of the "pater familias," and reverence of 
 ancestry is almost Chinese. There is an appreciable 
 difference between Peruvian aesthetics and that of 
 European Latins: they love the colorful as much as 
 the Spaniards and the Portuguese, but even more 
 gorgeously so; they are partial to intricacy of line de- 
 sign as much as Italians, but in a more sober way. 
 The draping of the "manta" of the Peruvian women 
 (the chumu of the Arab women), resembles closely, 
 in its tasteful arrangement, the wearing of the shawl 
 by the Hindu wench. The patio is Mauresque, not 
 Spanish, and the seclusion of the home and the delicate 
 privacy afforded to womanhood is decidedly near- 
 Orient. 
 
 Quite as much as other Latin-Americans, Peruvians 
 are theoretical rather than practical; they have a pen- 
 chant for the amenities of life rather than for the com- 
 mercial and industrial; they are indirect in their ap- 
 proach of a subject nearly as much as Semites and they 
 are Orientals also in their tendency to say the pleasant 
 thing rather than the truth. They will go the nicer 
 
 149
 
 route rather than the shortest and, in many ways, the 
 practical is likely to give way to the beautiful. 
 
 The North American, with his directness and absence 
 of show of feelings, is apt to belittle the polite manners 
 of the French, the Latin-American and the Japanese, 
 and he often criticizes them as insincere. However, 
 unless hardened to northern ways, one finds, after 
 living for a while in Lima, Latin-American amiability 
 contagious, and the sweet amenities of life's relation- 
 ship become agreeable and even indispensable. 
 
 Some one said that the North American is guided 
 by a sense of the practical and the Latin-American by 
 feelings and emotions. Perhaps, both exaggerate and 
 have too little of what the others have in excess, and 
 both would do better with a little of the surplus qualities 
 of the other. And, indeed, has there not been a 
 change, during the last few years, both north and south 
 of the Rio Grande? Unquestionably, Latin -Americans 
 are adopting many of the practical methods of the "yan- 
 qui." 
 
 Moreover, happily, Yankee bruskness is more and 
 more becoming a thing of the past and saying the 
 pleasant thing sometimes irrespective of the exact 
 truth and the "voice with a smile" begin to win, also, 
 in the land of the practical man. 
 
 A TOTALLY DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW 
 
 On the other hand, the average North American 
 misjudges the Latin- American for another difference 
 
 150
 
 of temperament. Because every man in the United 
 States is a business man or a worker, we are too much 
 inclined to believe that others should, as we do, work 
 perpetually. We characterize it as sinful idleness, 
 when we hear that many people in Peru and elsewhere 
 have little thought of creating something much less 
 of making mere money and spend all or most of their 
 time just living indulging in literature, sciences and 
 arts, without a thought about producing anything 
 that has -money value. 
 
 It should be remembered that Peruvians are not 
 primarily business people. Peru at least as concerns 
 its educated class is unique among Latin-American 
 countries in proudly holding to the old lines of noble 
 Spanish ancestry, which many families including 
 some having absorbed appreciable quantities of Indian 
 blood trace directly to early Conquistadores. To 
 these Peruvians, with few exceptions, pride of cast 
 and duty to their social class is more vital than creative 
 work or their own and the community's material de- 
 velopment. 
 
 There has been, during the last ten years or so, a 
 great gradual change towards the North American point 
 of view of development, but there are still many Peru- 
 vians of keen intellect and high culture who consider 
 modern material development as merely a form of 
 barbarism, which can bring no lasting happiness to 
 the people of their country. 
 
 The number of young Peruvians who go to the States 
 151
 
 for their education is yearly increasing, but they are 
 almost exclusively commercial and technical students 
 and members of the new, growing middle class. Among 
 cultured people of Peru and other countries, the ten- 
 dency remains to look to Europe for inspiration and 
 higher knowledge. 
 
 To Peruvians, Paris is almost as much the "Ville 
 Lumiere" as to the French. 
 
 In spite of a decided desire to absorb from American 
 ways what suits them and what they need most, 
 Europe will continue to mean more to them than the 
 United States, not because we have less to offer them, 
 but because the intellectual life of the North appears 
 to Latins as dry, heartless and material, and because 
 it fails to feed their hearts and to sustain their emo- 
 tions. 
 
 Someone said somewhere: "The Tropics are for 
 dreaming, and other places for work." This largely 
 explains if not excuses much of what has been criti- 
 cized in Latin American indolence, and many Ameri- 
 cans who have lived in Peru understand. In spite 
 of all that a man from the north feels inclined to criti- 
 cize, they find Peruvians, as a whole, intensely affec- 
 tionate, with a keen love of home life. They are a 
 very likable people who do not mind going out of their 
 way to do a favor even for a stranger. They make 
 good and pleasant friends, and while their ideals are 
 not practical and at times appear incoherent, they are 
 as high as ours. 
 
 152
 
 INDIANS 
 
 The ethic problem of Peru and of Bolivia is the 
 Indian. In Peru, it is that of the Quechua, a tame, 
 docile, people crushed by centuries of brutalization. 
 In Bolivia, in addition to the Quechua, there is the 
 Aymara, whom oppression has made rebellious in- 
 stead of tame. 
 
 If considered in his personal qualities, the Quechuan 
 is the most wonderful Indian on earth. He is good 
 natured, humble and always ready to help. He is 
 adaptable and able to do, in his own way, almost any- 
 thing that can reasonably be asked of him. He is 
 faithful to his "padron" even to the death. 
 
 Much has been said about the treatment to which 
 the Indians have been subjected by the Spaniards, 
 which is at least in part the cause of their present tem- 
 perament. No one approves the cruelties of the past. 
 However, one should in all justice state that the cruel 
 manners which are justly disapproved were not pecul- 
 iarly Spanish, but were the ways of the times. More- 
 over, the Spanish kings did not have only Spanish 
 Governors. One of these rulers, Charles V, who was 
 also Emperor of Germany, sent many of his German 
 countrymen to his Spanish possessions. Among these 
 were three of the most cruel men who ever lived on 
 American soil. 
 
 Illtreated the Indian is to this day. However, op- 
 pression has been so ingrained into his soul that he 
 
 153
 
 cannot understand life otherwise. If he were free to 
 give up working for his "padron," he would drift from 
 forced industry to voluntary idleness. Kind masters 
 have often been rewarded by their Indians drifting into 
 outcasts even more degenerate than they were as 
 semi-slaves. 
 
 A DIFFICULT PROBLEM 
 
 The fact is that the Indian will not work regularly 
 for the white man unless forced to do so either by 
 circumstances or compulsion. The white man wants 
 to make money with the natural resources of South 
 America and gives to his activities the name "develop- 
 ment." Immigration does not supply labor to West 
 Coast countries as it does to the United States, hence 
 development is not possible without Indian labor, and 
 as the Indian does not work without some sort of com- 
 pulsion, laws are enacted to put him and keep him in 
 a state of semi-slavery. 
 
 The writer has witnessed "recruiting" agents of a 
 large mining company invading a village of the "alti- 
 plano," making every able bodied man drunk with 
 free rum, then loaning the best men a small coin to 
 buy more booze with, which indebted them to their 
 employer and legally compelled them to work for him 
 for as long as the debt was not paid. 
 
 That day, some 30 men were torn from their families 
 and shipped like cattle, they did not know where. 
 
 154
 
 Arrived at the mining camp, the men are forced to 
 buy on credit from the commissary of the company, 
 shoes, hats, and many things they do not need, and 
 they ar e kept in debt for as long as their work is needed. 
 
 It may be said that the minerals mined by labor 
 procured in that manner were needed to win the War. 
 However, even if this end justified the means, the white 
 man's methods which in part prevail to this day are 
 not conducive to raising the moral and intellectual 
 level of the Indian. 
 
 It has taken hundreds of years of oppression to 
 bring the Quechuas to their present condition of sub- 
 jection; it will take generations to bring them, as a 
 race, to the white man's ideal standard of morals, and 
 a continuation of oppresive methods is not leading to 
 that end. 
 
 Freedom, betterment of economic condition, parallel 
 with education seem the only remedies. That the 
 Indian is amenable to the highest intellectual level 
 is indicated by the fact that his race has given to Peru 
 and Bolivia several Presidents and a number of their 
 most prominent men. 
 
 The Aymaraes of parts of Peru and Bolivia are a race 
 very different from the Quechuas. They were con- 
 querred in a military way after centuries of struggle 
 first by the Quechua under the Incas and then by the 
 Spaniards; they were subdued, but never subjugated. 
 They are a mountainous folk not inclined to civiliza- 
 tion; they lack inclination and ability to work. 
 
 15.5
 
 TRAINING VS. EDUCATION 
 
 At the beginning of this century, the Government 
 of Bolivia, realizing that the Aymaraes are not amen- 
 able to the white man's education resolved to give 
 them training, instead of schooling. Compulsory 
 military service was enforced also as the Aymaraes 
 were concerned, and the Germans being considered 
 the most successful drill masters a hundred or so com- 
 missioned and non-commissioned officers of the Kaiser's 
 army were engaged. The results have been quite re- 
 markable. 
 
 While we may feel inclined to consider our educa- 
 tional methods a universal panacea for all kinds of 
 racial and social ills, experience has shown in both 
 Peru and Bolivia that the race problems of these coun- 
 tries needs more than aggressive methods for its solu- 
 tion. It needs above all, time and then a good deal 
 of human love, forbearance and intelligent considera- 
 tion. 
 
 EDUCATION 
 
 English and American writers, who have discussed 
 education in Peru, have often built their conclusions 
 upon estimates or statistics of illiteracy and otherwise 
 looked at bare facts rather than at conditions. Their 
 conclusions were necessarily faulty. 
 
 It is easy to argue onesidedly upon concrete facts, 
 to theorize on the backwardness of education and the 
 
 156
 
 low intellectual level of the people of some Latin 
 American countries and then perorize upon their need 
 of Anglo-Saxon help. 
 
 When discussing the intellectual level of the people 
 of Peru, one must above all remember that Peruvians 
 do not enjoy the ease and the cheapness of travel with 
 which Americans and Europeans are blessed. All but 
 few Peruvians are compelled by circumstances to spend 
 their entire lives within a small area, thus missing 
 opportunities to gain new points of comparsion, and 
 to broaden their vision. 
 
 Then, critics should also remember that the educa- 
 tion of the people of a country is something more than 
 the building of school houses and the providing of 
 teachers. The educational problem of Peru is that as 
 much as two-thirds of its population understand only 
 Indian dialects and languages. The Peruvian Indian 
 is intelligent and he has a keen mentality, but even 
 the one who understands Spanish is not easily amenable 
 to the white man's kind of education. Indeed as the 
 experience in Bolivia has shown the Quechua and 
 the Aymara Indians are easily drilled, trained, but 
 taught by the white man's method only with consider- 
 able difficulty. 
 
 When one, moreover, realizes that there are ap- 
 preciable proportion of Indian blood and hence also 
 of mentality in all but somewhat less than 10% of the 
 population of Peru, one will grasp the difficulties with 
 which Peruvian educators have to contend with and 
 
 157
 
 one will find in Peru much more to be praised than 
 to be criticized. 
 
 In spite of difficulties, compulsory school attendance 
 is not badly enforced. There is a school in every 
 Peruvian hamlet. Besides, there are in the country 
 27 colleges, one private University that of San Marcos, 
 in Lima and three National Universities in Arequi- 
 pa, Cuzco and Trujillo beside various professional 
 and technical schools. 
 
 The salvation the progress and development of 
 Peru and other Latin American countries is not to be 
 expected merely by providing more and better educa- 
 tional facilities, nor by more aggressive methods. 
 What Peru needs, above all, is time. The Anglo-Saxon 
 strives to realize all his ideals within the short span of a 
 human life, forgetting that the World and the nations 
 of the earth are not as short-lived as he is. ^Peruvians 
 refuse to be driven at the pace set by Americans; they 
 take their time even in their efforts to bring about 
 progress; they know that their country will survive 
 this and many other generations and by going more 
 slowly, they will probably avoid many of the mistakes 
 which we of the North are often making. 
 
 158
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY 
 
 The eel-shape of Chile is quite as remarkable as 
 Italy's boot, and indeed, it presents to the beholder of 
 a map, a territory of the most extraordinary configura- 
 tion. It is 2,628 miles long, less than 200 miles at its 
 widest and a strip of land of the same length would 
 reach from Key West to the North of Labrador. It 
 has an area of 757,366 square kilometres, which is 
 equivalent to 292,419 square miles, and a population 
 of 4,038,050 (in 1919). 
 
 The territory of Chile may more or less arbitrarily 
 be divided into four zones: 
 
 1. The arid zone between the Peruvian border and 
 Coquimbo, where it practically never rains. Even 
 with the aid of considerable irrigation, the agriculture 
 of this territory is, as a whole, much less important 
 than that of similar regions of Peru. On the other 
 hand, this is the nitrates country, which helps pro- 
 ducing larger crops in parts of the world where rain is 
 abundant. The Chilean Andes, in that region, form 
 
 159
 
 the western border of the high table land of Bolivia 
 and include many peaks rising toward the sky between 
 19,000 and 22,000 feet. 
 
 But this zone is not entirely arid. It includes the 
 Pampa de Tamarugal, also called the Longitudinal 
 Valley, at from 3,000 to 4,500 feet altitude and vary- 
 ing in width from 20 to 30 miles. Towards its southern 
 end, the valleys and ravines, bordered by high peaks, 
 are claimed by Chileans to be superior in natural 
 beauty to the best Switzerland offers to tourists. 
 
 2. The second, or central zone, begins at Coquimbo 
 and ends at Conception. Above all, it is a very rich 
 mineral country, and it includes the Central Valley, 
 watered by many streams and rivulets, which is one of 
 the most fertile region of Chile. 
 
 3. The third zone, is the South Central region, 
 which includes the district of the lakes, and to which 
 the island of Chiloe may be added. It is the country 
 of diversified farming, but it includes a very important 
 wheat belt. It possesses a great future agriculturally. 
 
 4. The fourth zone is that of the Patagonian Islands 
 and channels, which, in contrast with the rest of the 
 coast, abound in countless islands, bays and channels, 
 and form the most ragged shores shown on the map of 
 the earth. It would seem that there the southern 
 end of the Andean range had dropped down several 
 thousand feet, with only some high plateau and peaks 
 above water, submerging the valleys and lower lands 
 which now forms straits and bays. 
 
 160
 
 Vast sections of this zone are very fertile, and even 
 in the Magellanic region, there is already a very large 
 and yet still growing cattle and sheep industry. 
 
 Both the third and fourth zones have enormous 
 forest resources, which include soft wood similar to 
 North American pine and spruce, as well as large tracts 
 of timberlands very suitable for the making of wood 
 pulp. Indeed, the forests of Southern Chile have been 
 called a duplication of those of Sweden and Norway 
 
 CLIMATE 
 
 From the variety of its topography from the heart 
 of the Tropics to the border of Antarctic regions ; from 
 sea level to the highest peaks of the Western Hemis- 
 phere it would seem that Chile should possess a great 
 variety of climates, and indeed it does. There are vast 
 differences between the tropical sun of the northern 
 provinces and the bleak cold of near Antarctic Tierra 
 del Fuego; from the moist heat of northern posts to 
 the dry cold of Alpine altitudes, from the perpetual 
 spring of the Central Valley to the invigorating breezes 
 of the islands. 
 
 Nevertheless, these differences of climate are not as 
 great as the erratic one might almost say vagaric 
 configuration of the country would lead us to expect. 
 
 The most important factor in Chilean climatic con- 
 ditions is the cold Humboldt Current (see above, page 
 96), which maintains all the year round along the coast 
 
 161
 
 fringe from Arica to Talcahuano, a comparatively low, 
 constant tenperature. But the coast region escapes 
 brusk changes of temperature for another reason. 
 The high Andes are so near the coast that the variable 
 east winds on their course eastward drop to sea level 
 at a considerable distance from the coast. Indeed, 
 given similar altitudes, that coast has probably the 
 most constant temperature in the world and weather 
 conditions during certain periods of the year are so 
 well known as to be depended upon almost to a day. 
 
 A remarkable characteristic of the climate of Chile 
 is the uniformity of temperature in almost all its parts. 
 Nowhere are extremes of heat or cold to be found. 
 For instance, the minimum and maximum tempera- 
 tures in both Arica in the far north, and Ancud in the 
 south, differ only by 5 or 6 degrees centigrade. Even 
 in the extreme south, the mean maxima and minima 
 differ only by 9 degrees. 
 
 The highest temperature observed in Arica is 94 F., 
 at Valparaiso 87, at Punta Arenas 74. The minimum 
 temperature observed in Arica is 49, Valparaiso 38 
 and Punta Arenas 18. 
 
 On the other hand, the rainfall of Chile is very un- 
 even. In the north zone, the scant atmospheric 
 humidity is barely sufficient to condense in the form 
 
 162
 
 of occasional fogs and heavy dews, called locally ca- 
 manchacas. In the coast belt of the Central Zone, 
 rains are more frequent and more copious than in the 
 Central Valley at the same latitude. For instance, 
 mean precipitation in Valparaiso is 23 and in 
 Santiago only 14. In many parts of the south, 
 .the rainfall exceeds 100 inches, the maximum ob- 
 served being at Cape Raper, at 27 latitude, 236 
 inches annually. 
 
 Snow never falls in the northern and central zones, 
 except in the high mountains, but south of the 47th 
 degree, snows are frequent and in Punta Arenas snow 
 covers the ground for weeks at a time during the 
 winter months. 
 
 No part of Chile is subject to destructive hail storms, 
 such as are frequent on the Argentine plains. 
 
 RAILROADS 
 
 Chile is the first Latin American country placed on 
 the railroad map. In 1849, William Wheelright, an 
 American, the founder of the Pacific Steam Navigation 
 Company, completed the construction of a line from 
 La Caldera to Copiapo. 
 
 The following year, Wheelright, associated with 
 Allen Campbell, surveyed the line between Valparaiso 
 and Santiago. This line was built, later, first by 
 S. W. Greene, of Rhode Island, and completed in 1893 
 by the famous Henry Meiggs, the builder of the Cen- 
 
 163
 
 tral Railways of Per u. The total cost of the Valparaiso- 
 Santiago railroad exceeded 12 million dollars. 
 
 During the decades which followed, Chile has de- 
 veloped a large mileage of railroads, which is exceeded 
 in South America only by Brazil and Argentina. 
 Three of the Chilean railroads include the Pacific ter- 
 minals of International lines, namely the Arica-LaPaz, 
 the Antofagasta-La Paz, and the Transandean Rail- 
 road, from Valparaiso and Santiago to Buenos Ayres. 
 
 The Antofagasta - La Paz Railroad also connects 
 at Uyuni with the new La Paz-Buenos Aires Rail- 
 road. 
 
 Among the small privately- owned railways of Chile 
 is a small line from Punta Arenas to the Loreta coal 
 mines, of 2 feet 6 gauge, the southernmost railroad in 
 the world. 
 
 At the end of 1918 the State Railways operated 
 4,567 kilometres and private companies 3,945 kilo- 
 metres of lines. At the end of 1919, the railroads of 
 Chile employed 36,000 people, 27,000 of whom were 
 on the payroll of Government owned and operated 
 lines. 
 
 The gauges of the Chilean railroads vary from 2 
 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 6 inches; the latter on the State 
 lines. 
 
 As in other countries, there was a period in the rail- 
 road history of Chile, when the problem under dis- 
 cussion was whether or not to adopt a policy of railroad 
 building. In all or most other countries, the differences 
 
 164
 
 of opinions were whether railroads or highways would 
 be the most useful, but in Chile opinions differed as to 
 whether money should be expended for port works 
 or for railroad lines. Those in favor of port works 
 argued with some justice that with a coast line such 
 as that of Chile, the railway haul would necessarily 
 remain a limited factor, and, indeed, even now, it 
 exceeds 75 miles in only a few instances from any port, 
 and water transportation will presumably always re- 
 main the cheaper mode of communication. 
 
 The decision was cast in favor of railroads, but 
 mainly for strategic reasons. Most of the transversal 
 lines pay moderately well, while the already built 
 sections of the Longitudinal Railway have proven a 
 costly and unproductive undertaking, both as concerns 
 construction and operation. 
 
 All of the administrations which have succeeded 
 themselves have been committed to the completion 
 of the Longitudinal from Arica to Puerto Montt, but 
 in spite of projects on paper, construction work done 
 in late years, was almost exclusively on transversal 
 lines. 
 
 RAILROAD PROJECTS 
 
 The principal railroad project whose execution has 
 been decided upon is a direct line from Valparaiso to 
 Santiago, via Casa Blanca, which would be only slightly 
 more than half the length of the present line. 
 
 165
 
 The cost of this line is estimated at 12 million 
 dollars. As it will open a thus far neglected fertile 
 region, it is expected that it will pay well. 
 
 The second most important project is the electrifi- 
 cation of the present Valparaiso-Santiago line and of 
 the State railways, at a total cost estimated at 32 mil- 
 lion dollars. 
 
 There have been put forward, in recent years, not 
 less than a dozen distinct transandean railroad pro- 
 jects, all but two south of the present line. One of 
 these would be an extension of the Chilean East- 
 Central Railways, with present terminal at the port 
 of Lubu. Conception and Talcahunao, further north, 
 would be made the terminal of the new system, which 
 would run southeastward, and use the State Line from 
 LosSauces to Curacautin for 110 kilometres. An exten- 
 tion would be built at a cost of some 15 million dol- 
 lars through the Longuimay pass to join the Neuquen 
 extension of the Buenos Ayres and Great Southern 
 Railways. 
 
 Another line, much further south, which seems to be 
 favored in Argentina would be a line from Huidiff, in 
 the Valdivia Puerto Montt railroad. From there, the 
 the San Martin Railway operates a road transporta- 
 tion service to Rinahue, on Lake Rinahue (7 miles). 
 From there a steamer runs to Chosuenco (20 miles), 
 where rail traffic again begins to Lake Lacar (Argen- 
 tina) and steamer is again taken for San Martin (50 
 miles). 
 
 166
 
 The company originally intended and still hopes 
 to build a through line from Ocean to Ocean. 
 
 Another project which has been much discussed is 
 the continuation of the Caldera-Copiapo line across the 
 Andes to Tinogasta, Argentina. This line had already 
 been projected by Wm. Wheelright 70 years ago but 
 the idea found little echo on the Argentine side of the 
 Cordillera. 
 
 Numerous local lines are projected and some of them 
 are actually being constructed, but none is of general 
 interest. 
 
 THE TRANSANDEAN RAILWAY 
 
 The "transandino" is and for several years will re- 
 main the only railroad crossing the Andes. 
 
 The Transandean Railway is not one, but a combina- 
 tion of several lines running direct trains from Val- 
 paraiso and Santiago on the one end, to Buenos Ayres 
 on the other. 
 
 The following Railroad Companies form part of the 
 Transandean: The Chilean Government Railroads, as 
 far as Los Andes; The Chilean Transandean Railway, 
 from Los Andes to the Argentine border; the Argentine 
 Transandean Railway, from the Chilean-Argentine 
 border to Mendoza; the Argentine Great Western 
 Railway, from Mendoza to Mercedes; and the Buenos 
 Ayres and Pacific Railway, from Mercedes to Buenos 
 Ayres. 
 
 167
 
 All these Companies, except the Chilean State Rail- 
 ways, are British, domiciliated in London. The 
 . General Manager of the system has been for several 
 years and is Mr. J. H. Hale White, in Santiago. 
 
 The total length of the system is 1443 kilometres, 
 a thousand miles. 
 
 The "Transandino" follows the old "Transandean 
 route," which was the main highway between Chile 
 and Argentina already in the days of the Incas. Later, 
 it became the principal artery of traffic between the 
 Spanish Settlements on the Rio de la Plata and Peru. 
 When the Spaniards began to bring negroes to Peru, 
 it became the "slave route" and thousands of blacks 
 have made the journey on foot over the Argentine 
 pampas and over the "Cumbre" of the pass. 
 
 After Argentina and Chile became independent from 
 Spanish rule, both countries constructed highways., as 
 far as feasible, along the route, and until the opening 
 of the railroad, the journey was made fairly comfortably 
 partly in stage coaches, partly on mule back. The 
 journey from Mendoza to Los Andes consumed four 
 days. 
 
 The scenery in the Straits of Magellan is more than 
 interesting it is awe-inspiring. But the tourist will 
 not lose in anyway by taking the Transandean Route. 
 
 The panorama, from one end to the other of the 
 line between Mendcza and Los Andes is unique in the 
 world for the variety and the grandeur of the scenery. 
 
 Leaving behind exquisite pastoral scenes, the train 
 168
 
 climbs up mountain sides, along rocky gorges, at times 
 above vertiginous precipices, past an ever changing 
 scenery audacious rocks, snowcapped peaks (among 
 them the Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the 
 Western Hemisphere) turbulent torrents, mighty cata- 
 racts and lovely waterfalls, peaceful lakes high up in 
 the region of the Condor, near the line of eternal snow. 
 
 Only those who have made the journey can appre- 
 ciate the magnitude of the undertaking of building the 
 Transandean Railway. The towering Andes, even the 
 altitude of the Cumbre (the high pass) for years ap- 
 peared as an insuperable barrier destined to separate 
 for ever the countries of the Pacific and of the Atlantic 
 coast. But two bold and clever men, Juan and Mateo 
 Clark, both born in the Argentine of English stock, 
 not merely conceived, but set themselves about to 
 execute the audacious project of uniting the two Oceans 
 by rail. 
 
 The engineering and financial difficulties which had 
 to be overcome were such as to cause both railroad men 
 and capitalists to declare the project irrealisable. How- 
 ever, as usual, courage and perseverance, coupled with 
 clear vision and good judgment, won in the end. 
 
 The combined length of the Chilean and Argentine 
 Transandine lines (from Los Andes to Mendoza) is 
 250 kilometres. The altitude of the main tunnel at 
 the frontier is 3205 metres. The tunnel is 3167 metres 
 long, 1360 metres of which on Chilean territory. 
 
 On the summit of the pass (the Cumbre), 785 metres 
 169
 
 above the level of the tunnel, at the international 
 border, there is a monument dedicated to "Christ the 
 Redeemer," which is of much greater than religious and 
 local significance. 
 
 Less than a generation ago, after a long war between 
 Chile and Argentina, and the signing of a peace treaty 
 which did not settle things right, both countries were 
 preparing for another war. Then arose just a woman, 
 a mother, who formed a committee of Argentine women 
 who went to visit a small group of women in Chile. 
 They decided that even if men craved for the glory 
 of battle, the women of both countries should not give 
 any more their fathers, sons, husbands, brothers to the 
 Moloch of War. The movement spread fast. The 
 difficulties between the two countries were overcome, 
 and peace in fact instead of a mere peace in name 
 was commemorated by the "Christ the Redeemer" 
 monument. 
 
 This 'Christ of the Andes" has been placed there not 
 only in a spirit of gratitude, but as a memento. Its 
 true meaning is "Thou shalt not pass," for any but 
 peaceful purposes. 
 
 The Transandean sections of the "Transandino" are 
 of meter guage, while both the Chilean State and 
 the Argentine connecting lines are of the wide 5" 6" 
 guage. This necessitates change of cars in Los Andes 
 and Mendoza. As, in every probability, a direct rail- 
 road line will ere long be constructed between Val- 
 paraiso and Santiago, via Casa Blanca, the present line 
 
 170
 
 will be released to local traffic, for which a wide guage 
 is unsuitable. If a proposal of Mr. White is accepted, 
 the guage of the present Valparaiso-Santiago line will 
 be reduced to one meter, which will permit the running 
 of through trains, without change, from the Pacific to 
 the Atlantic. 
 
 MERCHANT MARINE 
 
 Chile has always had an ambitious merchant marine 
 program. In 1918, there were 130 steamers registered 
 in Chile with a total tonnage of 69,968. 
 
 During the last two years, the Compania Sud-Ameri- 
 cana de Vapores, the most important Chilean Company, 
 has acquired several vessels, and established direct ser- 
 vices both to New York and Europe. Several coastwise 
 shipping concerns have also increased their fleet so 
 that the tonnage of Chile has probably been nearly 
 doubled. 
 
 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 
 
 Of the West Coast countries Chile is no doubt, the 
 first in industrial and commercial deveolpment, if 
 not in natural resources. In the intensity of its 
 economic life it certainly equals, while in the total 
 of its developed wealth it is, among Latin American 
 countries, second only to the much larger Brazil and 
 Argentina. 
 
 171
 
 With the exception of leather and textiles, the manu- 
 facturing extablishments of Chile are all small and 
 even very small, and, owing to labor and other condi- 
 tions, the opening of large factories is not to be ex- 
 pected. 
 
 The mining industry will be discussed in another 
 chapter. 
 
 Agriculturally, Chile is not as important as Argen- 
 tina, Brazil, Peru and even Uruguay. The agricul- 
 tural industry which is likely to gain most in import- 
 ance is cattle. Agricultural exports, at present include 
 packing house by-products, wool, beans, peas, lentils, 
 bee products, chinchilla and other skins, medicinal 
 plants and tanning agents. 
 
 The money of Chile is based on the gold peso 
 weighing 0.5991 gram, of 0.91633 fineness, which is the 
 equivalent of 18 pence sterling gold, or to $0.365 U. S. 
 gold. This gold peso is the unit for exchange and all 
 financial transactions. There are 5, 10 and 20 peso 
 gold coins, but they are practically never seen in cir- 
 culation. 
 
 Legal tender is paper currency whose value fluctu- 
 ates much in spite of endeavors of the government to 
 stabilize it as close as possible to the value of 10 pence. 
 The law provides that the Government should set 
 aside yearly a certain sum to increase the fund for the 
 redemption of paper currency, but war and post-war 
 conditions have prevented an appreciable increase of 
 that fund. 
 
 172
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 CHARACTER TRAITS 
 
 The present population of Chile is conservatively 
 estimated at four millions, a very much larger pro- 
 portion of which than on other West Coast Countries 
 is of pure European stock mainly Spanish. 
 
 On landing in Valparaiso, the stranger coming from 
 the North at once notices an alertness of manners and 
 of gait alien to Peru. It is not quite the hustle of 
 Chicago, but if Buenos Ayres is likened to the Windy 
 City for the phenomenal growth of its Meat Industry, 
 Valparaiso may with some justice be called the Chicago 
 of South America for its hustle, and greater apparent 
 activity than other Latin American cities. 
 
 It has been said that the Peruvian is inclined to 
 mannerism and that the Chilean is more direct at first 
 approach, and indeed, many Chileans are at time 
 found rather abrupt. The fact is that they appre- 
 ciate genuine good breeding quite as much as other 
 people, but, on the other hand, more than otherLatins 
 they dislike, and even resent, the parvenu airs of 
 
 173
 
 many of the newly rich of Argentina and the air of 
 superiority of the would-be rich North American. 
 
 CAUSES OF CHARACTER DIFFERENCES 
 
 The causes of the principal peculiarities of character 
 of the Chileans are geographical, racial, historical and 
 economic. 
 
 On the one side, the Chileans have one of the highest 
 mountain ranges and on the other the largest Ocean. 
 In the North there is an almost impassable desert, 
 and in the south the Antarctic wastes. No people of 
 any nation is as completely hemmed in by natural 
 barriers, and no wonder they have gradually developed 
 self-reliance and a tendency to be always on the alert, 
 on the defensive, and always ready to take the offensive 
 should the occasion require it. 
 
 Another geographical factor is that a larger propor- 
 tion of the Chileans live within sight of the sea, and 
 have seen the sea, with its wide horizon, and have 
 gained thereby a bigger, broader mental vision of the 
 world than the people of some other countries. 
 
 In what is now Peru, the Spaniards found a docile 
 industrious race, which they conquered almost without 
 a fight and enslaved with little difficulties. But, further 
 south, they met warlike Indians, and they had to 
 conquer with the sword almost every foot of the ground 
 they occupied. 
 
 174
 
 Moreover, the Araucanian was a clever hunter and 
 fisher, but not a worker. He was untrained, unac- 
 customed and incapable of any kind of intensive, 
 regular work. This forced the early settlers of Chile 
 to do much hard work themselves, just as the settlers 
 of North America. 
 
 An important factor in the racial make-up, and 
 hence in the character of the Chilean, is a considerable 
 colonial European immigration other than Spanish. 
 Two or three centuries ago, many English, Irish and 
 Germans settled in Chile. Their blood is now fully 
 amalgamated in the "melting pot" with effects similar 
 to the United States. 
 
 Spanish names of unquestionable English etimology 
 are rather common, Among the governing classes are 
 found many such names as O'Higgins, Cochrane, Mc- 
 Kenna, Edwards, Pratt. They are descendants of 
 Colonial immigrants and as little British as our Rocse- 
 velts are Dutch and our Bonapartes are French. 
 
 Chile has never had more than a fraction of the 
 large immigration which has populated other South 
 American countries of the temperate zone (Southern 
 Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina). On the 
 other hand, what Chile has lost in quantity, it has 
 gained in quality. Those who came were not at- 
 tracted by the prospect of easily made fortunes, nor 
 frightened by the thought of hard work. Taken as a 
 whole, they were of a better type than the immigration 
 en masse which went elsewhere and they have con- 
 
 175
 
 tributed to the giving a different, stronger stamp to 
 the Chilean character. 
 
 Not having had a large immigration from among the 
 lowest races of Southern Europe and practically no 
 Jewish immigrants from Poland and Russia, the "melt- 
 ing pot" has functioned more thoroughly than else- 
 where. The people of Chile forms a homogenous, 
 united nation and they have been free of the many 
 conflicts of race, religion and language with which the 
 United States was confronted. 
 
 It is well to add that a Chilean writer, Nicolas 
 Palacios, bases his claim of the superiority of the 
 Chilean stock upon the preeminence of Northern 
 Spanish blood among the early colonists. 
 
 Among the economic factors which have influenced 
 the formation of Chilean character traits may be men- 
 tioned that Chile does not possess unlimited fertile 
 agricultural lands like other countries. Therefore, 
 agricultural development was undertaken from the 
 start in an intensive, rather than in an extensive 
 manner. 
 
 Then, Chile possesses as much natural wealth as 
 her neighbors, but it is so distributed and so located 
 that it requires more efforts, and there are greater 
 difficulties to overcome to render that wealth available, 
 than for instance in Peru and Bolivia. This has 
 naturally had some influence in the formation of 
 Chilean character traits. 
 
 176
 
 SE CONNAITRE, C'EST S'AIMER 
 
 Many U. S. Americans who go to Chile after having 
 spent some time in Peru or in other Latin American 
 countries, construe the greater reserve, and the lack 
 of expression of personal feelings toward them, as 
 antagonism. 
 
 It is the writers opinion that no Latin people more 
 sincerely desire cordial relations with the people of the 
 United States. The Brazilian is proud to compare his 
 country, the Colossus of the South, with the Colossus 
 of the North. In a similar mental attitude, the Chilean 
 likes to be called the Yankee of the South. 
 
 It is regretable that the Chileans see, rightly or 
 wrongly, so many obstacles to the realization of their 
 sympathetic desire toward us. 
 
 First there is the Monroe Doctrine. 
 
 They recognize the necessity of American unity for 
 mutual protection, but they resent the claim of the 
 United States to be their unsolicited protector. 
 
 Above all, they resent the ever changing meaning 
 and the application of that Doctrine according to the 
 ideas of the administrations succeeding themselves in 
 Washington. 
 
 They know well and are willing to admit the defects 
 of their political system, but from what they know of 
 ours, they conclude that we are not much better off 
 than they are and that we are rather poorly fitted to 
 become political reformers. 
 
 177
 
 They hear on the one hand the solemn declaration 
 of American statesmen that we do not want to interfere 
 in the affairs of Latin American countries. They com- 
 pare these words with the scandalous graft exposes 
 of the American administration in San Domingo, and 
 the tragedies of Haiti. They see these very same states- 
 men taking away every vestige of automony, even the 
 municipal administration, in San Domingo and in 
 Haiti. They know that Panama, Nicaragua and Cuba 
 are far from being absolutely free countries. 
 
 They do not realize the good intentions, if not the 
 good purpose of these American interventions. All 
 they see, is American direct and indirect meddling, 
 in spite of the often given word that the U. S. does 
 not want to interfere in Latin American internal affairs, 
 and they distrust us. 
 
 Other causes of prejudice against North Americans 
 are economic. 
 
 Quite wrongly, Latin Americans have blamed us and 
 our supposed thirst for dollars as responsible for ex- 
 change conditions unfavorable to them. 
 
 Then, they remember that European exporters 
 before the war, gave their importers long term credits 
 while the American exporter usually wants cash and 
 even money in advance. 
 
 Moreover American export manufacturers have often 
 been negligent or shown a deplorable ignorance of the 
 needs of South Americans. Then, the American ex- 
 port business has grown faster than men could be 
 
 178
 
 trained to rightly handle it. Also, it has largely been 
 taken up by a foreign born element whose business 
 ethics are not of the highest. The result has been 
 criticism of American ignorance, lax business methods 
 and doubt in American honesty. 
 
 The Chileans may be all wrong but that's not the 
 point. The purpose of the above is not to criticize or to 
 judge, but to state reasons for misunderstandings, so 
 they may be overcome. 
 
 Then, there is our claim to be the only "Americans." 
 Other Latin American people have forgiven us stealing 
 what is also their thunder. They have passed lightly 
 over this little bit of grabbing something immaterial 
 with a slight, impatient movement of the shoulders 
 signifying "Well, these Yankees are not well balanced 
 anyway." 
 
 On the other hand, the Chileans are not quite as 
 satisfied. At a recent semi-official meeting of soire 
 high government officials, prominent business men and 
 newspaper representatives, the question was discussed 
 whether or not to invite the other nations and the 
 colonies of the Western Hemisphere to a Congress of 
 a certain industry. 
 
 A North American, who was present, made the 
 motion that the proposed gathering should be called 
 
 "Pan American Congress of " At once, a storm 
 
 of opposition arose. After a very brief discussion during 
 which it was frankly stated that the name America was 
 given to South and not to North America, that people 
 
 179
 
 were known as Americans in South America several 
 generations before there were colonists in the Northern 
 Continent, and that all nations of the Western Hemi- 
 sphere were Americans, the motion was turned down 
 by acclamation and the name "American Congress " 
 was retained. 
 
 The number of North Americans who go to Chile, 
 and of Chileans who visit the United States is con- 
 tinually increasing, but neither side learns as much 
 about the good side of the other as they might, and too 
 many are still ignorant of what the other really is. 
 
 Americans who have never left the United States 
 are yet, in spite of all that has been written on South 
 American countries, inclined to think of the countries 
 south of us as the lands of a burning tropical sun, of 
 pestiferous jungle and unsanitary cities, and of lazy, 
 ignorant, blood thirsty people. 
 
 Latin Americans pay us back by thinking of the 
 United States as of the land of things ridiculously 
 big an enormous country, huge cities, great catas- 
 trophes, prodigious fortunes and the barbaric splendor 
 of a people which has no other ideals than dollars. 
 
 How untrue, and how unjust ! on both sides. 
 
 One of the truest sayings is "se connaitre, c'est 
 s'aimer" (to know one another is to love one another), 
 and indeed, with the still prevailing mutual ignorance, 
 a better All American feeling can hardly be expected. 
 
 How can we overcome the present misunderstand- 
 ings? 
 
 180
 
 The difficulty is that, just because of the opinion 
 the Chileans have formed of North Americans, they 
 continue to look toward Europe much more than up 
 to us for enlightenment and inspiration. 
 
 The number of Chileans who speak three or four 
 languages is considerable. They therefore familiarize 
 themselves quite easily with European art, sciences, 
 industries and the ways of the people. Their vision 
 and their understanding of other nations is therefore, 
 usually greater and broader than that of the North 
 American of the same class. This, obviously, puts the 
 American who goes to Chile at a disadvantage which 
 is not always fully compensated by his greater ability, 
 knowledge and experience in technical matters. 
 
 The Chilean pride is thereby aroused and he is not 
 likely to appreciate at their just value the qualities 
 of the "yanqui." 
 
 Just because of the prevailing misunderstandings, the 
 U. S. American, until he proves himself different, is 
 placed on the same social level as the Jew and the 
 German. His qualities are admired; his superiority 
 in some ways is recognized, but he is not prima facie 
 considered socially quite good enough to associate 
 with in the intimate family circle. 
 
 Hence, the North American has too little oppor- 
 tunities to observe real Chilean life, and he quite 
 wrongly often judges Chile as tourists seeing only the 
 so-called Gay Life of Paris (which is supported almost 
 exclusively by strangers), and concludes that France 
 
 181
 
 is morally rotten, not knowing that the French are 
 great lovers of family life. 
 
 The "Yankee" sees the superficial, the outside and 
 compares it with what he knows of good and beautiful 
 in his country and then forms an unfavorable opinion 
 of Chile and the Chileans. 
 
 Of course, this mutual prejudice is, speaking frankly 
 stupid and unworthy of the people of two great nations. 
 
 We seem to move within a vicious circle which will 
 need time to wear out. 
 
 182
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 CHILE'S COAST AND PORTS 
 
 Owing to its long coast line and the narrowness of 
 its territory, water transportation will presumably be 
 always the cheapest means of communication in the 
 greatest part of Chile. Hence, the transportation 
 problem, unlike that of other countries, is not so much 
 the building of highways and of railroads, but of 
 adequate facilities. 
 
 The greatest traffic problem in Chile is that most of 
 its important ports are not more than open roadsteads. 
 There are along the coast several interesting bays and 
 undeveloped natural harbors, some of them deep and 
 almost land locked, but they are where ports are not 
 needed. 
 
 The Ocean, a few miles from the coast, along the 
 usual course of vessels plying between the Canal and 
 Valparaiso is always so pacific, so reliable and the 
 voyage so near useful landmarks, that many navi- 
 gators prefer this run to any other. 
 
 On the other hand, the Ocean, nearer the coast, is 
 183
 
 almost constantly in fury, rendering landing and the 
 working of cargo in many ports difficult and at times 
 impossible. It seems as if the Ocean surface, bent on 
 continuing its movement eastward, was furious at the 
 obstacle offered by the coast, and endeavored to sur- 
 mount it by battering it heavily almost unceasingly, 
 and with a force gathered all the way from Australia. 
 
 The general aspect of the Chilean coast north of 
 Valparaiso is not very different from that of Peru. It 
 is the same barren, melancholic stretch of rock and 
 sand, alternating with huge mountain masses bathing 
 their very feet into the sea. It means at first, an in- 
 teresting study of a great variety of shades of brown, 
 which, however, soon becomes monotonous. And it is 
 only the realization of the great economic importance 
 of the region which retains the attention. 
 
 From Talara to Arica, the coast runs in a general 
 southerly direction, but at Arica, the coast takes a 
 sudden turn and begins to run almost due south, 
 almost as far as the entrance to the Straits of Magellan. 
 
 Arica is 881 miles north of Valparaiso, and 35 miles 
 southeast of the present boundary between Peru and 
 Chile. Its roadstead is fairly well protected by the 
 MOTTO de Aiica (Arica Head), of tragic history, and 
 by AlacTan Island where, until a few years ago, in- 
 teresting Spanish ruins were to be seen, which since 
 have been razed because of modern 'military necessity'. 
 Arica's light is exhibited from Alacran, from a skeleton 
 tower with green coupulo. It shows a short flash every 
 
 184
 
 3 seconds visible 14 miles. Off the coast, toward the 
 north, the hull of a wrecked Chilean cruiser is visible. 
 
 Arica Bay is the only point of the long stretch of 
 coast we have followed thus far which might almost be 
 called picturesque. At any rate, we again see some 
 green above the roofs of the town, and there is the 
 beginning of the fertile Valley of Tacna, raising gradual- 
 ly from the sea. to our left. 
 
 Moreover, on a clear day, we may enjoy the unusual 
 and incomparable view of the summit of three snow- 
 capped mighty volcanoes, namely the Gran Misti of 
 Arequipa 18,500 feet high; the Urbinas 17,600 feet high 
 and the Tucupaca, 17,300 feet high. 
 
 All but the summit of these peaks is hidden be- 
 hind the costal range of mountains bordering the 
 high plateau land, which, from our point of vantage, 
 usually appears like a huge cloud bank. 
 
 Toward the northeast, beginning a short distance 
 from the shore, we may notice a considerable expanse 
 of green, which is the lower end of the Tacna Valley; 
 38 miles inland is the town of Tacna, at 1840 feet 
 altitude at the junction of two other valleys that of 
 Azapa, and that of Chacayuta. 
 
 Tacna has 28,000 inhabitants and it is the chief town 
 of the province of the same name, which is held by 
 Chile, but claimed by Peru. The entire population of 
 the province is only 45,000, and it does not produce 
 
 185
 
 sufficient food for the maintenance of its scant popula- 
 tion and of the military garrison. 
 
 However, the province is minerally rich and desposits 
 of a variety of valuable minerals has been determined. 
 Nevertheless, Tacna seems to be claimed by Peru on 
 sentimental rather than economic grounds. While its 
 retention by Chile is explained as a military necessity. 
 An almost impassable 100 miles long desert separates 
 the present territory of Peru from the Province of 
 Tacna and Chileans claim that they need Tacna to 
 protect themselves against possible attacks from the 
 side of Peru. 
 
 Nevertheless, the writer has heard Chilean high 
 Government officials express the wish that some 
 arrangement be arrived at to bring about a better 
 feeling between the two countries. Chileans state that 
 the idea of returning Tacna to Peru cannot even be 
 discussed. On the other hand they say that if Peru 
 would consent to it, Chile might grant the province 
 to Bolivia for a consideration. 
 
 The essential condition for such an arrangement 
 would be that both Peru and Bolivia be perfectly 
 satisfied with it. But for as long as the present 
 animosity of these countries toward Chile remains, it 
 is positively stated that Chile will maintain the statu 
 quo. 
 
 When rumors of the possibility of such an arrange- 
 ment reached Mollendo, Peru, as well as Antofagasta, 
 
 186
 
 Chile, both ports, fearing loss of the transit trade to 
 Bolivia, opposed the idea vigorously. 
 
 As a matter of fact, Arica is not merely the sea out- 
 let for the province of Tacna, but one of the three sea 
 ports for Bolivia. It is the Pacific terminal of the 
 shortest of the three railroads connecting La Paz with 
 the sea, but the least used. It has frequently been 
 characterized as one of the two worse railroads of the 
 Western Hemisphere, the other being in Haiti. 
 
 The railroad was built by Chile, in conformity with 
 the treaty of Ancon, at the termination of the war 
 between Peru and Bolivia on the one side and Chile 
 on the other, in 1879. It is 248 miles long, 129 miles 
 of which on Chilean territory. The highest elevation 
 is at an altitude of 4257 metres or 13,936 feet. It 
 has cost $15,000 to build. The line is operated by a 
 British Company. 
 
 It is only a short night's run from Arica to Iquique, 
 and between these two important ports are three small 
 and yet interesting ports. 
 
 Pisagua is the northernmost nitrate port, it is located 
 67 miles south of Arica and 40 miles north of Iquique 
 by sea and 114 miles by rail, at the foot of lofty hills. 
 The port claims to be second only to Iquique in the 
 shipment of nitrates, but the town is much less im- 
 portant, with only 8000 inhabitants. The railroad 
 climbs up the hill sides in several zig zags, and when on 
 the high plateau the rich lands of Tarapaca, forms a 
 
 187
 
 part of the Longitudinal railroad with spurs running 
 down to the coast to Caleta Buena and Iquique. . 
 
 Caleta Junin is the port for Junin Alto, (a small 
 town on the top of the cliffs, an inclined cable railway 
 maintaining communications,) and also for the nitrates 
 from La Pampa Oficina. 
 
 Caleta Buena, 20 miles north of Iquique, has re- 
 placed Mejillones del Norte as a nitrate port. There 
 are two towns, each of about 1500 inhabitants, one 
 near the coast, the other, visible from the sea, on the 
 bluff above. A 21 miles long railway runs to Agua 
 Santa Oficina. 
 
 A NEAT LITTLE CITY 
 
 Iquique 784 miles north of Valparaiso ranks fourth 
 among Chilean ports and fifth in population among 
 Chilean cities. It is the first nitrate port of the country. 
 Besides nitrates, considerable quantities of silver are 
 shipped from the famous Huantajays mines, only ten 
 miles away, which have been operated 350 years and 
 have produced above half a billion worth of the precious 
 metal, more than the famous silver mountain of Potosi, 
 in Bolivia. Hay is also shipped from the Pampa de 
 Tamarugal, in the season. 
 
 Iquique road is unprotected in the north and only 
 imperfectly protected in the southwest by Iquique 
 
 189
 
 island and Morro Point. Extensive port works were 
 surveyed before the War, but, except for desultory 
 activities, they have remained in abeyance. Iquique 
 light at the entrance of the harbor is exhibited 96 feet 
 above water from an iron structure. It shows a flash 
 every 12 seconds and it is visible 14 miles. 
 
 From Iquique, a standard guage railroad, 244 miles 
 long runs to Lagunas, passing through some of the 
 most important nitrate fields, another line, mentioned 
 above, runs to Pisagua, 114 miles. 
 
 The city of Iquique has a little larger population than 
 Antofagasta, though, commercially, the latter has be- 
 come more important. It vies with the latter in an effort 
 to become beautiful in spite of arid climate, dust and 
 other adverse circumstances. It appears to have been 
 more successful than Antofagasta in creating boulevards 
 and public gardens and it has the advantage over the lat- 
 ter of picturesque small beaches and rocks at the end of 
 the Cavancha prominade and gardens, the earth for 
 which had to be brough down from the Pampa at great 
 expense. 
 
 The water supply of Iquique comes from the Pica 
 springs 75 miles in the mountains, In addition, two 
 distillation plants are kept in working order so as to 
 be able to use sea water in case of emergency. 
 
 The region around Iquique differs from the rest of the 
 coast in that, during the last century, it has oc- 
 casionally been visited by storms. Peculiar in that 
 
 190
 
 they are usually followed by copious rain. Within a 
 few days afterwards, the otherwise barren hills become 
 covered with luxuriant vegetation, which, however, is 
 only short-lived. 
 
 Strangers should see the Cavancha Promenade at 
 the southern end of the horse car line. The Chalet 
 Suisse, with bath houses, near the beach, is probably 
 the best place in Iquique for refreshments and for 
 luncheon. 
 
 Tocopilla, 117 miles south of Iquique is a port of 
 the Chile Copper Co. and otherwise unimportant. Ore 
 is shipped from three points on Tocopilla road, namely 
 Tocopilla, Bella Vista, and Duendes, each about \]/2 
 miles from one another. 
 
 Cobija, also known as Puerto La Mar, 37 miles 
 south of Tocopilla, is a port for a mining region which 
 produces copper, tin and silver. A 35 mile long rail- 
 road line runs up to Toco, a town of some 5000 popula- 
 tion. 
 
 Mejillones (also known as Mej ill ones del Sur in 
 contradistinction with Caleta Buena which is also called 
 Mejillones, but del norte) is 31 miles south of Cobija, 
 43 miles north of Antofagasta by rail, and 61 miles 
 from the latter by sea. It serves practically the same 
 
 191
 
 district as Antofagasta, but shippers seem to prefer 
 the latter. A branch of the Bolivian Railways runs 
 from Mejillones joining the line from Antofagasta 28 
 miles inland. Before the War, port works were sur- 
 veyed. 
 
 Leading Bluff, marks the westernmost point of the 
 southshore of Mejillones Bay. It is a remarkable head- 
 land, about 1000 feet high, facing north, covered with 
 guano and having the appearance of a chalky cliff. 
 Leading Bluff light is exhibited 335 feet above water, 
 flashes every 3 seconds, and is visible 18 miles. 
 
 A few miles to the south, we see the Morro Mejil- 
 lones, 2476 feet high, standing conspicuously above 
 the surrounding heights, having the appearance of a 
 trunkated cone. 
 
 From Leading Bluff, we sail with the land for about 
 30 miles to Tetas Point, the southwestern extremity 
 of the Moreno Peninsula, from which a light is ex- 
 hibited 155 feet above water, showing 2 flashes every 
 6 seconds, visible 18 miles. From the point and ad- 
 jacent waters, Mount Moreno rises almost abruptly 
 from the sea to an altitude of 4161 feet. 
 
 From Tetas point, the coast takes a sharp turn east- 
 ward, forming a well protected bay in the deep of which 
 is the village and little port of Chimba which, as 
 Mejillones, has endeavored to compete with Antofa- 
 gasta and lost. Its cove is well protected by the islet 
 of Guaman and it would make a commodious, very 
 good port. Concessions for port works were recently 
 
 192
 
 granted to a nitrate company and a railway will be 
 built connecting Chimba with the Bolivian Railways, 
 but the concession was granted under the express con- 
 dition that only nitrates will be shipped from Chimba. 
 In the region between Chimba and Tetas point 
 evidence of the existence of prehistoric people have 
 been found, who must have lived there before the arid 
 period begun. 
 
 A BUSY PLACE 
 
 Antofagasta disputes Iquique's claim to be the 
 third port of Chile. According to the last census, it 
 has only 65,000 inhabitants to Iquique's 70,000, but 
 patriotic citizens of Antofagasta claim that conditions 
 have been reversed. No statistics are available to 
 show conclusively which of the two cities is ahead of 
 the other. 
 
 Antofagasta seems to be more important commercial- 
 ly. It has larger business houses, more, larger and 
 better stores and there is more hustling on its main 
 streets than in Iquique, and an air of prosperity pre- 
 vails at every turn. On the other hand, Antofagasta 
 has not yet succeeded in adorning itself as well as the 
 sister city and. from a scenic point of view, it has 
 little to show. 
 
 The town is built on gradually and very regularly 
 rising ground toward the foot of the surrounding moun- 
 tains. It seems to take a sudden turn upward at the 
 
 193
 
 edge of the town. There is practically not a single 
 level spot in the whole area two blocks above the port, 
 and yet not a depression in the ground anywhere. 
 Hence no city on the entire coast can be seen as well 
 from the sea and offers as beautiful a spectacle at night. 
 
 No city in the world obtains its water supply as far 
 and under as great difficulties as Antofagasta. Water 
 is carried in pipes from the Rio Loa, near the Bolivian 
 border 173 miles away. The city now boasts of a 
 thousand miles of water pipes. 
 
 An interesting ride is to the new Boulevard and 
 Praya Blanca, where there are facilities for sea bathing. 
 A very good automobile road has been made to Caleta 
 Celosa. Strangers are welcome at the automobile club, 
 an oasis of green in an ocean of brown, midway between 
 Antofagasta and Caleta. 
 
 The principal Hotel in Antofagasta is the Grand, on 
 the main public square, on which the Post Office and 
 the Telegraph are also located. 
 
 TERMINAL OF BOLIVIAN RAILWAYS 
 
 The Bolivian Railways, of 2 feet 6 guage, have their 
 terminal in Antofagasta are the most popular route 
 to La Paz. The line reaches its highest elevation near 
 Ollague, at 3960 metres, or 12,989 feet. 
 
 Antofagasta roadstead is one of the poorest anchor- 
 ages of the West Coast. It is nearly as bad as those 
 of Mollendo and Salaverry, and, before port works to 
 
 194
 
 cost some 30,000,000 pesos were projected and surveyed 
 it has been a question to move the port to Chimba, just 
 mentioned. The projected port works, as many others, 
 were kept in obeyance, but since the Armistice sec- 
 tional bids have been let for part of the work, which 
 is progressing slowly. 
 
 Much nitrate is shipped from Antofagasta, mainly 
 from the region around Calama. It is also the main 
 shipping point for the Chuquicamata copper mines, 
 on the mountain sides beyond Calama. These mines 
 are the largest copper mines in the world as concerns 
 the quantity of ore treated and the number of men 
 employed. The ore is very poor containing only 
 2-3% copper but self leaching so that metallic copper 
 can be produced there cheaper than elsewhere. Dur- 
 ing the war, some 20,000 people were employed there, 
 including some 800 Americans. 
 
 Until the end of the three cornered war between 
 Chile, Peru and Bolivia, 1878-79, Antofagasta was part 
 of Bolivia. That country still claims it, but not as 
 strongly as Peru claims Tacna. As a matter of fact 
 there are only very few Bolivians in Antofagasta, and, 
 even if held at the date originally fixed, there is no 
 doubt that a plebiscite would have been in favor of 
 Chile. 
 
 Antofagasta is flanked by two landmarks of very 
 similar shapes, Mt. Moreno, 4161 feet high, mentioned 
 on previous pages, and Cerro Grande (Mount Jaron) 
 
 195
 
 3800 feet high, both huge cones, rising almost abruptly 
 from the sea. 
 
 At the foot, north of Mount Jaron lies the little port 
 of Caleta Celosa, only five miles from Antofagasta, 
 and while passing we can easily distinguish the sheds 
 of the Aguas Blancas railway which runs to nitrate 
 properties in the interior. 
 
 Taltal, the next interesting port, is 110 miles south 
 of Antofagasta, and 445 miles north of Valparaiso. It 
 is the terminal of a British owned system of railroads 
 totaling 184 miles running first to Cachinal, then to the 
 famous El Guanaco gold district. In the region are 
 said to be considerable areas of undeveloped nitrate 
 lands, as well as copper, gold, silver and other ores. 
 
 Taltal is the southernmost of the nitrate ports. The 
 town has some 20,000 inhabitants, is well laid out, but 
 appears more dusty than other Chilean coast towns of 
 the arid region. 
 
 Charanal, 46 miles north of Caldera, on the border 
 of the desert of Atacama is the shipping point for three 
 copper smelters. The Andes Mining Co., (American) 
 contemplates considerable harbor works and with the 
 development of cobalt, gold, silver and borax deposits 
 in the interior, the port will gain in importance. The 
 railroad line runs from Charanal to Hundide and joins 
 the Copiapo -Caldera section of the Longitudinal 
 Railways. 
 
 196
 
 OLDEST L.-A. RAILROAD 
 
 Caldera, 337 miles north of Valparaiso, on Ingles bay, 
 one of the best sheltered ports of northern Chile, is the 
 port for Copiapo and it exports gold, silver, manganese 
 and copper. The copper mines in the interior are now 
 worked at a depth of 3500 feet, and it is said to be the 
 deepest mining in the Americas. Copiapo, 50 miles 
 away is a curious mixture of the old, one might almost 
 say the antique and the new. On one end old buildings 
 from Spanish times, old conservative customs, and on 
 the other the hustle and bustle incidental to reirirg 
 booms and even a modern school of mines. 
 
 Copiapo is the center, and Caldera the sea terminal 
 of an important system of railways. It is interesting 
 to note that the railroad from Caldera to Copiapo is 
 the oldest of all Latin American countries. The oldest 
 line in South America was opened a year earlier, in 
 1848, in Demerara, British Guiana. 
 
 The Caldera-Copiapo line was built with Chilean 
 Capital by an American, William Wright, who later, 
 associated with Allan Campbell another American 
 surveyed the Valparaiso-Santiago Railroad which, 
 later again, was built by two other Americans, first 
 S. W. Greene of Rhode Island, and completed by the 
 famous Henry Meiggs, 
 
 An extension of the Caldera-Copiapo Railroad across 
 the Andes to Tinogasta, Argentina, has been projected 
 from the start, and discussed for many years. 
 
 197
 
 Caldera is the winter station for the Chilean Navy 
 Caldera light, one flash every 20 seconds, is visible 
 14 miles. 
 
 Carizal Bajo, 73 miles south of Caldera, 92 miles 
 north of Huasco, is the outlet for three smelting plants, 
 serving in part the same region in the interior as that 
 served by Huasco. A 23 miles long railroad line runs 
 to Carizal Atlo, with a 63 miles branch to the Cerro 
 Blanco copper mines, a 53 miles branch to Jarillas 
 copper deposits, now exhausted, and another to the 
 Yerba Buana manganese works. 
 
 Huasco, about 60 miles south of Caldera and 40 
 miles north of Coquimbo, is on a well protected small 
 bay. The scenery about the town and the poot 
 has a picturesque, green appearance to which one is 
 not accustomed when sailing along this coast. Minerals, 
 live stock, grapes and raisins, as well as hay, are the 
 principal articles of export. Huasco is the port for 
 Vallenar, the capital of the province and the region 
 is the northern limit of successful agriculture without 
 irrigation. Huasco grapes and raisins are claimed to 
 be the sweetest in the world. The railway runs north 
 to Vallenar, where it joins the Longitudinal System cf 
 Chile. A 9 miles long branch runs to Freirina, where 
 gold, copper and manganese are mined in a small way. 
 A 7 miles long branch runs from Vallenar to Agua 
 Amarga silver mine, and another to the Santa Rosa 
 copper mines. 
 
 198
 
 A few miles south of Kusaco, we pass Chanaral 
 Island light (not to be confounded with Chanaral 
 port), one flash every 6 seconds, visible 14 miles. 
 
 Cruz Grande, 130 miles north of Valparaiso, is the 
 most important new port development on the west 
 coast. The Bethlehem Steel Company purchased the 
 Tofo iron mines from a French Company. They con- 
 sist in the main in a mountain of hematite iron ore, 
 only 15 kilometres from the sea shore. The company 
 has spent considerable money in improvements, but 
 at present no ore is shipped. 
 
 About 25 miles north of Coquimbo, some 12 miles 
 off shore, we pass the Pajaros Islets 100 and 150 feet 
 high respectively. On one of them, in Lat. 29.34, is 
 a light exhibited 148 feet above water, flashing 2 
 seconds every 20 seconds, visible 14 miles. 
 
 THE END OF THE ARID ZONE 
 
 Coquimbo, 200 miles north of Valparaiso, is a port 
 and town of considerable importance, serving as gate- 
 way for La Serena, just "next door" to it, also on the 
 sea shore, but on a sandy beach unsuitable for shipping. 
 Both towns together have a population of nearly 
 50,000. In contrast with other Chilean ports and 
 towns we have passed thus far, Coquimbo-La Serena 
 are very hilly and located at the foot and up cliffs. 
 
 Gold, silver, cobalt, copper, manganese and some 
 iron are shipped from Coquimbo. The famous placer 
 
 199
 
 mines of Andacallo are located some 28 miles away 
 and in the district are also the famous shrines of the 
 same name, visited annually at the feast of the Rosary, 
 by thousands of pilgrims, even from Argentina and 
 Bolivia. 
 
 Ovalle, a city of 17,000 inhabitants, in the Limari 
 valley, the capital of the Department of the same 
 name, is connected with Coquimbo by a 70 miles long 
 railroad. 
 
 When coming from the north, the region of Coquimbo 
 is the first where it rains regularly. During the winter 
 months, several heavy showers take place. While, 
 during the summer, the country appears as arid as 
 that we have just passed, a few days after the first 
 rain everything becomes green almost suddenly. The 
 precipitation often reaches 12 inches and even more 
 in two days. 
 
 Coquimbo light, one flash every 2 seconds, is visible 
 10 miles. 
 
 La Serena is one of the oldest towns in Chile, having 
 been founded in 1544. It has retained the character 
 of an old Spanish town, with quaint old buildings and 
 a stately cathedral. It is favored with a fresh water 
 supply from the Itaca River. A pretty trip by rail 
 is up the Elqui Valley, picturesque by comparison, 
 and the center of a great wine industry. Only two 
 miles from La Serena are the Brillador Copper mines, 
 and 80 miles further the Panulcillo copper mines. 
 
 200
 
 Guayaquan is from a custom point of view, but 
 not geographically, a port different from Coquimbo. 
 It serves a copper smelter and the first sulphuric acid 
 plant established in Chile. 
 
 Tongoi a few miles south of Coquimbo, is the 
 shipping point for a smelter and copper mines in the 
 interior. 
 
 Lengua de Vaca Point Light, near Tongoi Bay, 41 
 miles south of Coquimbo, 2 flashes every 30 seconds, 
 visible 16 miles. 
 
 Penitente Rock Light, 2 flashes every 6 seconds, 
 visible 12 miles, located in Lat. 31.52. 
 
 Huevos Island Light, 64 miles north of Valparaiso, 
 shows one flash every 2 seconds. Although a light 
 of the 6th order, it is visible 10 miles. 
 
 Valparaiso approaches may easily be recognized. 
 When about two hours out, we pass low brown cliffs, 
 followed by a white beach, with more low brown cliffs 
 following. Later we have again a sandy beach and 
 a small bay and then reddish cliffs which are 5 miles 
 from Valparaiso. 
 
 Valparaiso Light, a group of three short flashes, 
 showing every 30 seconds, is visible 15 miles. 
 
 201
 
 "EL PUERTO" 
 
 Valparaiso, the principal port and second city of 
 Chile is located at about the same latitude as Santiago, 
 Buenos Ayres and Montevideo, on the beautiful semi- 
 circular bay of Almendral. It is well sheltered except 
 towards the north but, during the winter months, when 
 the trades blow from the northeast, ships riding in the 
 harbor are often exposed to a heavy rolling sea. Port 
 works to cost many millions were begun before the 
 war. The difficulty in making Valparaiso a better 
 port is the great depth of the water to within a few 
 yards of the shore. 
 
 The population of Valparaiso, given at 280,000 is 
 more cosmopolitan than that of other cities of the West 
 Coast and it differs much also in characteristics from 
 other Latin American cities. Many writers say that 
 the "manana" rule prevails here as well as elsewhere 
 and joke more or less funnily about the difference of 
 "ora inglesa" and "ora Chilena" when making ap- 
 pointments. Nevertheless, the stranger landing here 
 cannot fail to notice a hustle and bustle unknown else- 
 where in Latin American countries. 
 
 The only first class hotel in Valparaiso is the Royal, 
 Calle Esmeraldas, under the same management as the 
 Savoy and the Grand in Santiago. 
 
 Much of Valparaiso was destroyed by an earth- 
 quake on August 15, 1906. 
 
 "Down Town" Valparaiso has been partly built on 
 202
 
 fills, whereby the level of Almendral Beach has been 
 raised from 12 to 20 feet. Above the lower town, rises 
 the upper city amphitheater-like, the ground cut up by 
 deep gullies leaving numerous hills and hummocks 
 between them. 
 
 Communications between the various parts of the 
 upper town are difficult, but much has been done to 
 overcome the difficulties caused by local topography. 
 Several cable railways connect the lower with the 
 upper city. Circular roads have been built connecting 
 several hills with one another and much masonry work 
 has been done to prevent slides and erosion. 
 
 A BEAUTIFUL CITY 
 
 Santiago, the capital and largest city, lies in the 
 Valley of the Mapocho, at 555 metres (1821 feet) 
 altitude, 188 kilometres (117 miles) from Valparaiso 
 by rail. Its area, bordered on the one side by the coast 
 range and on the other by the majestic Andes, snow 
 caped for the greater part of the year, can boast of 
 a very agreeable, equable climate, without extremes of 
 heat and cold and with comparatively few rainy or 
 cloudy days. 
 
 The area of the city is about 16 square miles, and in 
 laying it out the block gridiron method, modified by 
 local requirements, has been adhered to. 
 
 Santiago is third in size among Latin American 
 cities, with 600,000 inhabitants. It may also justly 
 
 203
 
 be claimed to be one of the three cleanest and most 
 beautiful large cities of the New World and of the 
 World, remarkable improvements having been accom- 
 plished during the last few years both as concerns 
 adornments and elimination of ugly spots. Moreover, 
 no city in the World has, proportionally as great an 
 area of beautiful public parks. 
 
 The three principal hotels rank in the order named: 
 The Savoy, new, is one of the very best hotels in South 
 America, European plan only. The Grand Hotel has 
 American plan only, while the Odo, the oldest of the 
 three has European Plan only. The best restaurants 
 are the Santiago in Calle Huerfanos and the Savoy, 
 Calle Agustinas. 
 
 NOT ROBINSON'S ISLAND 
 
 Chile possesses far from its shores a number of islands 
 two of which are of unusual interest. 
 
 Juan Fernandez, 370 miles west of Valparaiso is 
 the island where, two centuries ago, the mutined sailor 
 Selkirk was cast away. 
 
 Daniel Defoe took his lonely life for the theme of his 
 Robinson Crusoe, but it has now been well established 
 that the scene of the famous novel was laid on Tobago, 
 an island north of Trinidad, British W. I., which Defoe 
 knew well, and not on Juan Fernandez. 
 
 Juan Fernandez is 13 miles long and 4 miles at its 
 widest. Some of its valleys are very fertile, but the 
 
 204
 
 only important agricultural indusry is cattle and pig 
 raising. 
 
 The Chilean Government maintains a light house and 
 a wireless station on the island; a small steamer plies 
 monthly around the island and maintains means of 
 communications with Valparaiso. 
 
 A tablet at the Government House, commemorates 
 Juan Fernandez first Colonist the sailor Selkirk. 
 
 Easter Island lies north and west of Juan Fernandez, 
 It is interesting especially because of the carved statues, 
 many of them of large size, found scattered all over the 
 island. They are, in character, unlike any other monu- 
 ments found anywhere in the world and they apparently 
 were left there by an unknown race for unknown 
 reasons. 
 
 Chile possesses several other islands in the Pacific. 
 None of them of importance, either economically or 
 from a strategic point of view. Nevertheless, Chile 
 is very jealous of their possession and she never fails 
 to assert her authority over them, whenever there is 
 a tendency to dispute it. 
 
 205
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 MINERAL RESOURCES AND MINING 
 
 The prosperity of Chile is today and for many 
 years will continue to be largely dependent upon 
 the development of its mineral wealth, of which an 
 American geologist, Wm. G. H. Wilson, recently said: 
 "I do not think I am mistaken when I say that Chile 
 is the richest country in the world, in a mineral sense. 
 Chileans do not know what they possess." Indeed, 
 what has been said of Colombia applies also to Chile, 
 namely, that almost every known variety of mineral 
 is found in the territory of the Republic, while two 
 of them, nitrates and copper, are mined on a larger scale 
 than anywhere else in the world. 
 
 Mining in Chile dates back to the time, and even be- 
 fore the time, when the aborigenes paid their tribute 
 to the Peruvian Incas in gold, which was then, probab- 
 ly, the only mineral mined. During the period of 
 Spanish rule, it is probable that only gold, silver and 
 mercury were mined and it remained for Chileans, with 
 the aid of foreign capital and foreign engineering ex- 
 
 206
 
 perience, to create mining industry in the aggregate 
 larger than that of any other country of the same size. 
 
 INDUCEMENTS TO CAPITAL 
 
 Unlike other Latin-American countries, Chile has 
 refrained from placing a direct tax on the mining of 
 metals as it does upon the exports of nitrates. 
 
 The idea was that nitrates are without competition 
 while that a tax upon the production of various metals 
 concerning which other countries compete with Chile, 
 would repel instead of attracting foreign capital and 
 enterprise. 
 
 The quantity and the value of the mineral production 
 of Chile, in 1918, is indicated in the following table. 
 Values indicated are in pesos gold, of a value of about 
 35c American. 
 
 Quantities Value 
 
 Nitrates 2,859,303 tons $500,378,025 
 
 Copper 106,813 132,765,586 
 
 Coal 1,516,524 106,156,680 
 
 lodin 1,078,760 kilos 17,864,266 
 
 Silver 47,231 3,752,883 
 
 Gold 1,938 2,178,764 
 
 Sulphur 19,557 tons 3,129,120 
 
 Borax 6,603 1,320,600 
 
 Lime 105,743 1,586,145 
 
 Salt 54,536 1,908,760 
 
 Guano 15,000 600,000 
 
 207
 
 Nitrates form the principal source of Chile's natural 
 wealth and produce the largest part of the revenue of 
 its Government. 
 
 The nitrate zone embraces an area of some 450 miles 
 from one end to the other, at distances from the sea 
 varying from 15 to 93 miles and at an elevation of from 
 3,000 to 10,000 feet above sea level. The deposits 
 are always in rainless, arid plains where although 
 nitrates are an essential element of plant food vege- 
 tation is absent. The nitrate belt varies in width from 
 11-2 mile, in the province of Tarapaca to, in places, 
 as much as 30 miles in the region of Taltal, the richest 
 grounds found thus far being on a low slope rising from 
 the Pampa de Tamarugal towards the west. 
 
 There has been much speculation, in scientific circles, 
 how such important deposits of nitrates could have 
 accumulated within such a small area. The prevailing 
 explanation is that, before rains ceased to fall in the 
 region, peculiar climatic conditions must have pre- 
 vailed there. Unusually frequent and powerful flashes 
 of lightning caused the nitrogen and the oxygen of the 
 air to combine, forming nitric acid. This found sodium 
 sulphate, which was and is still abundant in the 
 region. Because of the greater affinity of nitrogen for 
 sodium then for sulphur, the latter was freed, and 
 liberated in a gaseous compound, leaving the solid 
 sodium nitrate. 
 
 All of the nitrates of Chile are exported, and it is 
 said that the visible deposits are large enough to fully 
 
 208
 
 supply the demand of the world for many decades to 
 come. 
 
 It is only recently that Americans began to interest 
 themselves in the development of nitrate properties. 
 The largest American activities being thus far the 
 Dupont Powder Company, which has acquired several 
 deposits and is beginning to develop them systematic- 
 ally. 
 
 THE NITRATE TRUST 
 
 Since the re-entry early in 1921 of the German pro- 
 ducers into the Nitrate Producers Association, this 
 organization has been much strengthened and it now 
 controls 98% of the national output. 
 
 The nationality of operating companies and the per- 
 centages of production alloted each by the Association 
 of Nitrate Producers is indicated in the following table: 
 
 Nationality Production in tons % 
 
 Chilean 60 1,435,607 50,21% 
 
 British 43 1,028,238 35,96 
 
 Spanish 3 51,681 
 
 German 2 17,940 
 
 Peruvian 7 77,291 
 
 North American 2 78,876 
 
 Jugo-Slav 7 168,204 
 
 Japanese 1 1,466 
 
 Totals 125 2,859,203 100,00%
 
 Up to the end of 1918, the nitrate industry employed 
 56,981 persons. The coal consumed amounted to 
 319,613 tons, the fuel oil 445,890 tons. 
 
 The nitrate bearing material lies close to the surface 
 of the ground, being merely covered with a foot or so 
 of debris. There are three classes of material bear- 
 ing the nitrate of soda. The first and most important 
 of these is the "caliche" which formerly was the only 
 one exploited. The second, called "costra" is a layer 
 of conglomerate covering the caliche. Mixed up with 
 and between the layers of costra snd caliche are pockets 
 and veins of earth which also contain varying propor- 
 tions of nitrates. The layers of caliche are very ir- 
 regular. 
 
 The process of separating the nitrate from waste 
 materials is quite simple. It consists in the main in 
 boiling the material with steam and crystalizing at 
 differentiated temperatures and degrees of concen- 
 tration of the brine, whereby the different minerals in 
 solution in the brine are separated. 
 
 On the first discovery of the value of Chile nitrates 
 as a fertilizer, the crude material, as mined in Chile, 
 was spread over the ground, but it was soon found more 
 profitable to export a purer mineral. 
 
 During and since the War, nitrate interests were 
 alarmed at the prospect of a destructive competition 
 by nitrates obtained from the air in Norway, Switzer- 
 land and elsewhere. This has led to more economical 
 methods of both mining and refining, in which the 
 
 210
 
 Government of Chile h&s taken an active interest. 
 As a matter of fact, the Government has taken effec- 
 tive measures to prevent irrational exploitation. 
 
 Potassium nitrate and iodine are obtained in con- 
 siderable quantities as a by-product of the sodium 
 nitrate industry. 
 
 The nitrate producers of Chile are organized in an 
 association with headquarters in Valparaiso, for the 
 purpose of regualting the industry, of devising better 
 methods of production, of opening new markets and 
 systematizing propaganda abroad. 
 
 Copper leads among the metals mined in Chile, 
 and indeed, the two largest copper plants in the world 
 as concerns the quantity of ore treated, are located 
 in that country. The four largest copper concerns in 
 Chile are American. 
 
 COPPER MINING MAINLY AMERICAN 
 
 The Chile Exploration Company, operates a very 
 large plant at Chuquicamata near Calama, on a branch 
 of the Antofagasta-Bolivia Railway. It is 70 miles 
 from the Bolivian border, at an elevation of nearly 
 10,000 feet. The mining is in the open, power shovels, 
 both steam and electric, loading cars let down by 
 gravity to the plant below. The ore, containing only 
 from 2 to 3% metallic copper, is the lowest grade 
 profitably exploited anywhere in the world.However, it 
 is self-leaching, no sulphuric acid being needed in the 
 
 211
 
 process of precipitating the metal. It is interesting 
 to note that the electric power plant of the Company 
 is located in Tocopilla, on the coast, the current being 
 carried across country at 110,000 volts. 
 
 The Braden Copper Company, operates a group of 
 mines near Sewell, not far from Rancagua, south of 
 Santiago. 
 
 A third American copper concern is the Andes 
 Copper Mining Company interested especially in de- 
 posits east of Chanaral, in the province of Atacama, 
 and a fourth, the Santiago Mining Company, capital- 
 ized at 10 million dollars, operates deposits located only 
 10 miles from Santiago. These four and other smaller 
 American concerns are all said to be affiliated with the 
 Guggenheim interests, which are said to control over 
 two thirds of the Copper production in Chile. 
 
 STEEL INDUSTRY FAILED 
 
 Chile is rich in iron deposit. In 1910, the Govern- 
 ment gave a concession to a French Company which 
 established a smelter at Corral, near Valdivia and for 
 a time it was hoped that Chile would become one of the 
 great steel manufacturing countries of the World. 
 Two blast furnaces were constructed at a cost of $3,- 
 000,000, and a railway was built to the forests donated 
 by the government as a source of fuel supply. The wood 
 was feed into the furnaces at the plant by what is 
 known as the Prudhomme process. This method works 
 
 212
 
 the deposits, which looked very promising on the sur- 
 face, proved to be only of low depth and they soon gave 
 out entirely. Nevertheless, before operations ceased, 
 two years later, sufficient ore was obtained to pay back 
 a large part of the original investment. 
 
 Silver mining is not carried on a large scale. Most 
 of the silver produced is a by-product of copper 
 smelting. 
 
 The sulphur mir.irg industry of Chile dates back 
 to the early days of nitrate workings, to the forties of 
 the last century and for many years all the sulphur re- 
 quired in the manufacture of blasting powder needed 
 to break up the nitrate ground was supplied by native 
 deposits. 
 
 Most of the sulphur of Chile is found east of the 
 nitrate belt, but usually at much higher altitudes, 
 often 16 to 17,000 feet. The principal mine is the 
 Buenaventura, near Ollague, on the Antofagasta and 
 Bolivia Railway line, at an altitude of 12,000 feet. 
 Second in importance is that of Tacora, near the Arica- 
 Lapaz Railroad, at 13,500 feet altitude. The total 
 total annual production is less than 15,000 tons. Dis- 
 tance of many deposits from means of communications 
 prevents their successful exploitation. 
 
 The largest borax deposits in the world are the 
 famous borax lake of Ascotan, on the Antofagasta and 
 
 215
 
 ever, the domestic production does not nearly cover 
 the demand. Cheap coal imports into Chile are facili- 
 tated by the fact that vessels coming to the north 
 coast to get nitrate usually take on the outward voyage 
 a cargo of coal as ballast. Chilean coal mining in- 
 terests have often urged the imposition of a heavy duty 
 upon imported coal. 
 
 The coal fields of Chile are mainly located in the 
 south central and southern sections of the country. 
 The largest and these under the most intensive ex- 
 ploitation are in the vicinity of Conception. Other 
 deposits are found in the island of Chiloe and as far 
 south as Punta Arenas. A feature of Chile's known 
 coal deposits is that they are all near the coast and of 
 available means of communication. 
 
 The majority of the coal companies are concerns 
 financed entirely locally. 
 
 Gold has been mined in Chile since prehistoric 
 times, and there are now over 3000 registered gold 
 mining claims located from the northernmost prov- 
 ince to as far south as the Tierra del Fuego. However, 
 the total quantity mined is comparatively small. 
 
 In 1911 what was believed to be a great find was 
 opened at Paru, near Constitution, south of Santiago. 
 A company obtained the concession of that mine and 
 the prospects were so good that a wild rush took place 
 for the purchase of its stock. Some shares are said to 
 have changed hands with a 220% advance. However, 
 
 214
 
 well with wood containing less than 25% moisture 
 while newly cut wood of the region was found to con- 
 tain over 50% moisture. Months of drying proved in- 
 sufficient to reduce that percentage sufficiently low. 
 Moreover, the wood was found too low in caloric power. 
 Operation having proved unrenumerative, the plant 
 was closed in 1911. 
 
 Another large iron concession, also organized by the 
 French, the Societe des Hauts Fournaux, Forges et 
 Acieries du Chile, at Tofo. near the port of Cruz Grande, 
 30 miles north of Coquimbo, also proved a failure. 
 The deposits consist of two peaks about 3000 feet high, 
 called Cerro Norte and Cerro Sur, located only 8 kilo- 
 metres inland, which have been found to consist al- 
 most entirely of ore containing 68 to 70% metallic 
 iron, with only Yi% phosphorus. 
 
 During the war the Bethlehem Steel Co. obtained 
 a 90 years lease on the property, and it has since spent 
 large sums in making the mine ready for operation 
 and in creating a commodious port with modern load- 
 ing facilities at Cruz Grande. However, thus far, 
 operation has been only on a very small scale. 
 
 There are many other known iron deposits, mainly 
 in the northern desert but none is as important nor as 
 accessible as the two just mentioned. 
 
 COAL MINING PROMISING 
 
 Chile is the only SouthAmerican country where coal 
 is mined commercially in appreciable quantities. How- 
 
 213
 
 Bolivia Railways Line, at 12,200 feet altitude. The 
 lake is 24 miles long, of varying width and covered 
 with a crust of borax of an average of 8 feet thickness, 
 the deposits are controlled by the Borax Consolidated, 
 Ltd. of London. 
 
 Salt deposits abound in Chile, but of 400 mining 
 claims only a dozen or so are worked sufficiently to 
 cover the domestic demand. 
 
 Petroleum has been located in various sections of 
 Chile but only in a very few cases has theexploitability 
 of the fields been demonstrated. The most promising 
 areas are those near Punta Arenas and on the island of 
 Chiloe. Characteristic of the oil situation in Chile is 
 that, during the last few years, the number of regist- 
 ered claims has decreased by almost a thousand. 
 
 216
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY 
 
 Although having no frontage on the Pacific, Bolivia 
 is counted as one to the Western Countries. More- 
 over, a considerable proportion of the passenger and 
 freight traffic along the West Coast is to and from 
 Bolivia. Hence a monography of that country has 
 been included in this volume. 
 
 Bolivia is the third largest South American country, 
 ranking after Brazil and Argentina. Its area is 1,834, 
 225 square kilometres (708,195 sq. m,). In area it is 
 ten times larger than the State of Illinois, but in popula- 
 tion it is less than Chicago, namely 2,505,536 (Cen- 
 sus 1914). It is the most sparsely settled South 
 American country with 3.2 inhabitants to the square 
 mile, compared with 23.2 in the United States. 
 
 The most notable topographical feature of Bolivia 
 is the Altiplano, the great Central Plateau of 40,000 
 sq. m. area, which extends for 500 miles at an average 
 altitude of 12,000 feet between the two main Andean 
 chains which traverse the country north and south. 
 
 217
 
 which put an end to the hostilities between the fol- 
 lowers of Pizzaro and those of Almagro. Later, it was 
 given its present full name, La Paz de Ayacucho, in 
 commemoration of the great battle of Ayacucho during 
 the Wars against Spain, which sealed the independence 
 cf West Coast Countries. 
 
 The situation of La Paz is peculiar deep in a sud- 
 den, curious depression of the tableland above, on 
 both sides of the river Chuquiapu. The narrow, quaint 
 streets, thronged with Indian men and women dressed 
 in variagated colors, either bending under heavy loads 
 or leading flocks of black, white or reddish colored 
 llamas. Cholo women, with their white hats looking 
 like glazed Panamas, and their immaculately white, 
 heavily starched garb, with a sprinkling of nuns and 
 monks, of modern men in silk hat and of smart soldiers 
 wearing German-cut uniforms the whole dotted with 
 numerous beautiful public squares and gardens, is a 
 sight which, in its variety, can hardly be surpassed 
 in the world. 
 
 The neighborhood of La Paz presents quite as great 
 a variety of view. The awe inspiring Illimani, 21,000 
 feet high, is near. A thousand feet below, but only 
 four miles away are the gorges of Obraje which in the 
 curious shape of the rocks and in colorfulness rival 
 Yosemite Valley. Near La Paz are, almost side by 
 side, airidity and barrenness, and intense agriculture. 
 Near lake Titicaca the famous ruins of Tiahuanaco. 
 
 La Paz has a population of 86,743. It is the most 
 220
 
 65 at its widest covering an area of 5187 miles at an 
 altitude of 12,545 feet, about equally divided between 
 Peruvian and Bolivian Territory. The Southern Rail- 
 ways of Peru, a Peruvian Corporation subsidiary .main- 
 tain a steamer service, a 1100 ton vessel, the Inca, 
 serves as connecting link between the Peruvian and 
 Bolivian Railways, smaller steamers providing service 
 around the Lake. 
 
 Besides Bolivia, only Paraguay, among the coun- 
 tries of the Western Hemisphere has no Ocean front. 
 Antofagasta, and the adjacent coast having been ceded 
 to Chile after the war of 1878. Three Pacific outlets 
 are available to Bolivia, namely at Mollendo, Arica 
 and Antofagasta. There are two main outlets via the 
 Amazon, namely the Beni and the Mamore River, 
 an American built railroad connecting the Mamore 
 River with Porto Velho, Brazil, where the Madera 
 River becomes navigable. The southeastern terri- 
 tories find their outlet via Argentina, in part by an 
 as yet incomplete railroad line from Uyuni, Bolivia, 
 to Salta, Argentina. 
 
 BOLIVIAN CITIES 
 
 La Paz is considered the Capital of Bolivia, the 
 President and the Government being established there. 
 However, the constitutional Capital is at Sucre. 
 
 La Paz was founded in Conquistadores times and 
 called thus (The Peace) in honor of an agreement 
 
 219
 
 Three of the highest peaks of the Western Hemi- 
 sphere, the Volcanoes Illimani, Illampu and Sajama 
 are on Bolivian territory. 
 
 Bolivia may be divided into three distinct zones. 
 The Altiplano just named, with the Cordillera framing 
 it, is the smaller of these three zones, but that most 
 highly developed, most thickly populated and that 
 where all important cities are located. 
 
 The second zone, that of the Amazon, is the largest 
 and probably better known and a little more de- 
 veloped that the similar zone of Peru. The third 
 zone, the southeast territories of Santa Cruz, Chu- 
 quisaca and Tarija, ending in a triangle which borders 
 Brazil, Paraguay and Argentine is probably the most 
 fertile. In recent years, it is the only part of Bolivia 
 which has received an appreciable foreign immigration, 
 mostly Italians coming via Argentina. 
 
 Bolivia has a large net of navigable rivers, the 
 principal of which are the Itenes, the Beni, and the 
 Mamore. All Bolivian Rivers flow into the Amazon 
 region, except one, the Desaguadero. It is a very 
 remarkable natural canal, improved by both ancient 
 Inca and modern man, connecting Lake Titicaca with 
 Lake Aullaga, also called Lake Poopo, which subse- 
 quently empties into the Pilcomayo and finally into 
 the Rio de la Plata. A line of small steamers provides 
 regular services on the Desaguadero. 
 
 Lake Titicaca, the largest, highest and most in- 
 teresting lake in South America is 120 miles long and
 
 important commercial center of Bolivia and especially 
 the distributing point for a vast surrounding territory. 
 
 Cochabamba the second city of the Republic in 
 population, is believed by many to have the greatest 
 future and indeed, in spite of adverse economic con- 
 ditions, it has begun to grow appreciably since the 
 opening of the Railroad from Oruro. It is located in 
 a fine, fertile valley, the center of a very rich country, 
 drawing its trade both from the altiplano and the 
 Amazon region. It is the most Old Spanish of all 
 Bolivian cities and its 30,000 inhabitants include a 
 number of old patrician families very proud of their 
 ancestry. 
 
 Potosi is one of the highest cities in the World, its 
 altitude being 4,466 metres (13,661 feet). 
 
 It is famous for the richness of its silver mines, having 
 during Spanish Dominion, produced silver to the 
 amount of more than three thousand six hundred 
 million dollars. The city was founded in 1545 and, 
 fifty years later, the population reached 160,000 in- 
 habitants. There are still in use some of the big dams 
 and aqueducts which the Spaniards constructed to 
 supply the city with water. Among the most interest- 
 ing buildings is the mint, constructed in 1773 at a 
 cost of $1,100,000. 
 
 Potosi is on a branch Railroad of the Bolivian Rail- 
 ways. 
 
 221
 
 Sucre, a city of nearly 30,000 inhabitants, is the 
 nominal Capital of Bolivia, but the only important 
 Federal institution established there is the Supreme 
 Court. It is an old fashioned town, mixed with modern 
 mining and manufacturing in a small way. A railroad 
 is being built from Potosi which will not only increase 
 the importance of Sucre, but help the development of 
 thedepartment of Chuquisaca, and also of the south- 
 east provinces. 
 
 Oruro is, next to La Paz, the most important rail- 
 road center of Bolivia. It is, moreover, the trading 
 center for the largest tin mines of the country and the 
 home town of the wealthiest Bolivian, who, however, 
 resides in Paris. 
 
 Trinidad, at the head of navigation of the Mamore 
 River, is the capital of the Beni and the center of an 
 empire in being and in miniature. There, in the midst 
 of almost wilderness, three weeks from anywhere is 
 lost an appreciable white population some old Spanish 
 descent, and some new immigration in the midst of 
 a purely Indian population and an almost virgin 
 country. 
 
 Santa Cruz, in the southeast, is bscoming an 
 important oil town. Tupiza has gained much since 
 the partial opening of the Buenos Ayres La Pas Rail- 
 road. 
 
 222
 
 THE PEOPLE 
 
 Of the population of 2,550,538 estimated by the 
 1914 census, two-thirds are given as Indians, half a 
 million as Cholos or of mixed blood, and about 
 quarter of a million as whites, among them some 7000 
 foreigners. 
 
 However, in Bolivia, as in several other Latin 
 American countries, "white" indicates a class distinc- 
 tion rather than one of race. Except in the Amazon 
 region and to a lesser extent in the southeastern ter- 
 ritories, the Indians are mostly engaged in agricultural 
 pursuits or working the mines, while the Cholos are 
 artisans and small shopkeepers. 
 
 The whites, the Cholos and the Indians have no 
 social relations with one another and the two main 
 races of Indians, the Quetchuas and the Aymaraes are 
 rarely on speaking terms. 
 
 Spanish is the official language of the country and 
 that of the educated portion of the people, but both 
 the Indians and the Cholos prefer their own languages 
 and many do not understand anything else. The 
 Spaniards had no difficulties in conquering the Indians 
 and to force them to work, and even to accept the forms 
 of the catholic religion, but four centuries have not 
 sufficed to force the Indian to accept the Spanish 
 speech. Even the Indians who have attended school 
 forget the Spanish they have learned a year or two 
 afterwards. 
 
 223
 
 The Bolivian Indian, as a whole, has little or no 
 political pDwer and does not care for any. For as long 
 as the Government leaves him alone and does not 
 burden him with taxation, he does not care who's who 
 in the Government Palaces. As a matter of fact, the 
 Quechua Indian rarely refers to himself as a Bolivian 
 he is above all a Quechua, while the Aymara never 
 admits being Bolivian. 
 
 The environments naturally have deeply influenced 
 the racial characteristics of the Bolivian Indian. The 
 effect of the gloomy aspect of the altiplano and of the 
 mountains; without aesthetic surroundings, living in 
 dry air surcharged with electricity; the rare oxygen, 
 the burning noon sun and the very cold nights all 
 have contributed in making for vigor and hardiness 
 and lead to stability of thought process, manifested in 
 the highest type of intellect, when it has an opportunity 
 to develop itself. 
 
 AGRICULTURE 
 
 Bolivia does not export any of the cultivated products 
 of the soil. Its high plateau produces barely enough 
 to support the few wants of its population, and the 
 Eastern territories and provinces are, as yet, not de- 
 veloped agriculturally. 
 
 The only agricultural exports are confined to some 
 of the products of the vast forests of the Amazon 
 
 224
 
 region mainly rubber and medicinal plants with 
 some wool, hides and skins from the Altiplano. 
 
 Rubber is next to tin the most important item of 
 Bolivia's foreign trade. Its production, in recent years 
 having far exceeded $6,000,000 annually. It is the 
 chief product of the department of Colonias in the 
 extreme north and of that of Beni. Bolivian rubber 
 is said to be the highest grade obtained in South 
 America, but as it is exported almost exclusively via 
 the Amazon, it is generaly known as Para rubber. 
 The principal rubber shipping point is Riberalta, from 
 which it is a three to five weeks trip to Para, with 
 various transbording of the rubber. The exploitation 
 of rubber lands is regulated by law, the bleeding being 
 restricted to two and six bleedings, respectively, ac- 
 cording to variety, to be followed by similar periods 
 of rest. 
 
 The Bolivian rubber laws are said to be better en- 
 forced than those of neighboring States. 
 
 The Departments of Cochabamba, and Chuquisaca 
 are the chief agricultural sections of Bolivia, and their 
 soil is very fertile and the climate favorable to the 
 production of grain and vegetables. In Cochabamba, 
 coffee and cocoa are produced besides cereals, in Chu- 
 quisaca considerable quantities of rice. Several de- 
 partments produce potatoes which are dried and called 
 "chuno" and are used as a substitute for wheat 
 flour. 
 
 225
 
 The Eastern Provinces are susceptible of producing 
 all or most tropical crops, but are awaiting immigration 
 and better means of transportation. 
 
 On the shores of Lake Titicaca and in the near-by 
 valleys are located some of the finest grazing lands of 
 South America. Where cattle raising has been tried, 
 it has proven successful, while this part of Bolivia is 
 better adapted for sheep raising than Australia. Land 
 values are very low and labor is cheap and plentiful. 
 The quality of sheep raised there is low and agri- 
 cultural methods are those of a thousand years ago, 
 but modern methods adapted to local conditions would 
 produce big returns. 
 
 The immigration laws of Bolivia are very liberal and 
 designed to attract both the individual immigrant and 
 the capitalist desirous of exploiting the agricultural 
 possibilities of the land on a larger scale. Each im- 
 migrant can obtain 50 hectars (120 acres) from the 
 Government at 10 centavos gold (not quite 4 cents 
 American) per hectare. Not more than three such 
 lots being allowed to each immigrant. The only other 
 requirement is that the lands be surveyed at the 
 expense of the immigrant and that the land be actually 
 occupied by the immigrant or his agent. Any one not 
 an immigrant may acquire as many as 20,000 hectares 
 of Government land at the same price, provided at 
 least one family be settled on each 1000 hectare, who 
 actually cultivate parts of the land.
 
 MINERAL WEALTH 
 
 "Bolivia is a table of silver, supported by columns of 
 gold," said an explorer, Raimondi. Not only is Bolivia 
 one of the richest countries, but more than any other 
 nation in the world, its economic life is based upon 
 the development of its mineral resources. During the 
 last few years minerals formed from 82 to 88% of its 
 total exports. 
 
 After the independence of Bolivia had been achieved 
 the mining industry fell into a state of decay, from 
 which it did not fully emerge until a few years ago. 
 The land was strewn with thousands of abandoned 
 mines and workings, and such development as was 
 carried on was handled in a haphazard way. The 
 construction of railways into the Republic and the 
 endeavors of a thoroughly enlightened Government 
 gradually put the industry on a firm foundation, and 
 there is every prospect of continued progress. 
 
 But though Bolivia is immensely rich. Develop- 
 ment has been very seriously handicapped by various 
 circumstances, and there has been little mining done 
 systematically until about ten years ago. 
 
 The principal of these handicaps is the character of 
 the country. Many of the richest deposits are located 
 three miles and even more towards the sky, far away 
 from means of communications and habitations. This 
 not only increase considerably the cost of opening a 
 mine, but as well of shipping the mined product. Then 
 
 227
 
 there is lack of water and of fuel and in many places 
 of labor, especially of native mechanics. 
 
 Yet, in spite of these difficulties, Bolivia has during 
 the war, taken second rank (coming after the Malay 
 States) among producers of tin. The tin zone in 
 Bolivia is divided into four districts La Paz in the 
 north, Oruro in the center, Chorolque in the south, 
 and Potosi in the east. The city of Oruro is the tin 
 metropolis and commerical center of the industry The 
 mining country is much in the Cordillera Real Range, 
 and the lodes are found at altitudes of from 11,000 to 
 16,000 feet, the height of one in the Monte Blanco 
 mining section, where the offices of the company are, 
 being 14,500 feet above the level of the sea. 
 
 For a time, Bolivia stood third among silver pro- 
 ducing countries of the World, and the metal is found 
 in almost every part of the Republic. The silver hills 
 of Potosi and Oruro furnished much of the wealth 
 which the Spanish galleons took across the seas, and 
 fabulous tales have been told of the amounts of the 
 precious metal obtained from the famous Cerro Rico 
 of Potosi, which is said to have reached two billion 
 dollars worth of silver. 
 
 Already before the War, the tungsten deposits of 
 Bolivia had attracted considerable attention. This 
 ore is found in widely scattered areas, but most of the 
 development has taken place in the Santa Cruz dis- 
 trict and to a lesser extent in the neighborhood of 
 Uyuni. The tungsten mining industry of Bolivia has 
 
 228
 
 suffered more than any other from the effects of post- 
 war conditions. 
 
 The Republic occupies a prominent place among the 
 very few bismuth producing countries, said to be 
 three in all. The world mining of this metal is in the 
 hands of a monopoly. 
 
 It is said that the Bolivian copper mines produce 
 a higher quality of ore than any other South American 
 country. The ore of the Corbcoco mines are said to 
 resemble greatly those of north Michgan, at Calumet, 
 Hecla and Copper Range. Unlike in Chile, copper 
 mining in Bolivia is mainly in the hands of the British 
 United Copper, Ltd. 
 
 Antimony was extensively mined during the War, 
 but high freights have caused production to cease. 
 Zinc is produced on a small scale. Lead is present 
 in considerable proportion, but too far from means of 
 transportation to be interesting. Vast Molybdenum 
 deposits are known to exist but not where they can be 
 profitably exploited. 
 
 From 1540 to 1750, a period of 210 years, the gold 
 mines of Bolivia produced $2,100,000,000. From 1750 
 to the beginning of the nineteenth century the mines 
 and placers situated in the Provinces of Larecaja and 
 Caupolican produced $14,000,000 gold, and from 1818 
 
 229
 
 to 1868 the output was valued at about $3,000,000. 
 The product of the other mines and placers of the 
 nation, from the middle of the eighteenth to the latter 
 part of the nineteenth century, is estimated at $125,- 
 000,000. but at present the annual production of 
 Bolivia is considerably less than half a million dollars 
 worth. 
 
 A number of Bolivian Rivers carry gold, and it is 
 not an uncommon sight to see natives, after the high 
 waters of certain seasons have subsided, scratching in 
 stream beds for specks of gold, which they frequently 
 find. 
 
 Deposits in which gold exists are found in three dif- 
 ferent regions of the country, all of which are vast in 
 extent. One of these belts begins in the Province of 
 Munecas and extends eastward toward the Paraguay; 
 another belt lies in the southwest of Tupiza region; 
 while a third gold area is known as the Acre section, in 
 northern Bolivia. 
 
 In many cases the virgin country, often without 
 roads or even a good trail, prevents the introduction 
 of modern machinery, without which in this age few 
 mining enterprises are profitable. 
 
 Coal is found in fair quantities near Carabuco, the 
 strata covering the hills over an area of more than 4 
 miles. Some years ago an American company secured 
 a concession to work these mines and invested con-
 
 siderable capital in the enterprise. Several hundred 
 tons were mined, and the coal was experimented with 
 by the Peruvian Corporation in its steamers with 
 disastrous results, however, it being found that the 
 coal was intermixed with large quantities of sulphur 
 and other impurities. 
 
 At one time, considerable impetus also was given 
 to the development of large deposits in the Copocabana 
 Peninsula, on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca, and 
 also to the exploitation of two veins near Cochabamba, 
 but the total production of the country is negligible. 
 
 VAST OIL DEPOSITS 
 
 During the last two years, vast petroleum fields have 
 been determined in Southern Bolivia, and they promise 
 to be very interesting. 
 
 The Bolivian fields appear to be a continuation of 
 those of northern Argentina or, as locally spoken of, 
 the "sistema de Salta," and the deposits follow the 
 eastern Andean foothills for many miles, possibly 
 as far north as the city of Santa Cruz. Bolivian 
 and other engineers and geologists within the last few 
 years have made a deep study of the petroleum out- 
 croppings, not ^nly in eastern Bolivia but also in the 
 Lake Titicaca region. 
 
 At one time, newspapers reported that a French 
 Syndicate had been formed for the exploitation of the 
 Bolivian fields. Later, it was claimed that they were 
 
 231
 
 controlled by a Chilean Syndicate. However, in 1920, 
 the Bolivian Government decreed a petroleum mono- 
 poly. 
 
 In the province of Santa Cruz, the oil yield is said 
 to be of a quality far superior to that found in any other 
 region; owing to some peculiar geological formation, 
 the oil reaches the earth's surface so clarified that with 
 very primitive refining process it is used by the natives 
 for illuminating purposes, and there are instances where 
 it was burned just as taken from the filtration, without 
 being in the slightest degree refined. This petroleum, 
 burned in a lamp without a chimney in the open air, 
 was quite devoid of odor. 
 
 SOME STRANGE FUELS 
 
 Owing to the high price of coal, the principal fuel 
 used on the railroads and in the mining industry of the 
 Altiplano is "yareta," a plant, or lichen of the genus 
 Azorella. It grows on the rocky slopes of the moun- 
 tains up to 16,000 feet above sea level. In general 
 shape it suggests heads of coral growing upon and con- 
 forming to the configuration of the rocks. Some of 
 the masses are as much as 4 feet in diameter and 1^ 
 feet thick. After being detached from the rocks it is 
 piled up to dry for a short time before being used. 
 On account of a large amount of resinous material it 
 burns readily. 
 
 Another fuel, used not only by the Indians, but also 
 232
 
 in towns for cooking, and even in the La Paz brewery 
 is Takia, or dried llama dung. Still another fuel 
 is a shrub called tola, which grows about a metre high 
 and covers the plains in many points. 
 
 MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 
 
 Although Bolivia has no coast line, its interior may be 
 nearly as easily reached by rail than similarly located 
 parts of Peru. Rail connection exists with three Pacific 
 ports, Mollendo, Arica and Antofagasta. A Railroad 
 outlet to Argentina and Buenos Ayres is nearly com- 
 pleted, while the Atlantic Ocean may be reached via 
 the Mamore-Porto Velho Railway and the Amazon. 
 
 The Arica-La Paz Railroad is the shortest route 
 from the Pacific to La Paz, but, for various reasons, it 
 has had to contend with many difficulties. Its equip- 
 ment is far from adequate and congestion has been 
 chronic almost from the moment of its opening. < 
 
 The line is 281 miles long, 28 miles of which with 
 center rack of the Abt system, slightly over half of 
 the line being on Bolivian territory. 
 
 The up trains require 22 hours to La Paz, the down 
 trains 18 hours to Arica. The single first-class fare 
 is about $15 American gold. 
 
 The second important railroad gate of Bolivia is 
 from Mollendo, via Arequipa, Pune, Lake Titicaca, 
 and Guaqui to La Paz. This line is 534 miles long, 
 
 233
 
 and is entirely controlled by the Southern Railways 
 f Peru, a subsidiary of the Peruvian Corporation. 
 
 The journey includes a sail across the Lake Titicaca 
 This lake is situated at an altitude of 3,931 metres 
 (12,500 feet) and an area of 4000 square miles, or 
 larger than all the lakes of Switzerland put together. 
 In many places the depth of the water is more than 
 1,000 feet. Across this vast extent of water, passengers 
 and freight are carried from Puno to Guaqui on the 
 Bolivian side, a distance of 110 miles, by powerful 
 steamers of 1,000 tons register, equipped with every 
 provision for accommodation and comfort. 
 
 A daylight trip across the lake, the highest navigable 
 body of water in the world, is one which should be 
 made, if possible for the traveler will carry away with 
 him an impression never to be forgotten. 
 
 A regular line of steamers is maintained from Puno, 
 Peru, to Guaqui, Bolivia, 160 miles on the other side 
 of the Lake. From Guaqui a 60 miles long line, 6 of 
 which from Alto de LaPaz to La Paz, 1000 feet below, 
 is electric. 
 
 This line was owned by the Government, but was 
 sold to the Peruvian Corporation in 1910 to provide 
 funds for the building of the Potosi-Sucre line. 
 
 THE BOLIVIAN RAILWAYS 
 
 The Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway begins at 
 Antofagasta, Chile, and runs to Ollague on the frontier, 
 
 234
 
 and thence to Oruro, where connection is made with 
 the Bolivian Railway, which continues on to Viacha, 
 the junction point with the Guaqui 85 La Paz Railway 
 thus forming a through route from the Pacific to the 
 Bolivian capital a total distance of 1,157 kilometres 
 (719 miles). A change is required to be made on the 
 heights above La Paz, the last few miles of the line 
 being operated by electric in place of steam power. 
 This whole system is known as the Antofagasta & 
 Bolivia Railway, and it runs through some of the finest 
 Andean scenery in South America. The main line is 
 carried to a height of 13,000 feet (about 4,000 metres) 
 above sea level, and one if its branch lines, the Uyuni 
 Huanchaca Railway, reaches the altitude of 4819 
 metres or 15,809 feet, or only a few feet less than the 
 highest Peruvian Railroad. 
 
 The Antofagasta & Bolivia Railway was built origi- 
 nally to provide an outlet for the nitrate properties of 
 the Compania Salitres de Antofagasta. No outlet 
 existing for the mineral products of the Huanchaca 
 Mine, located at Huanchaca, near Uyuni, Bolivia, the 
 owners of the mine purchased the railway. This was 
 in 1884. The line was completed as far as Uyuni in the 
 year 1888. In 1889 the property was disposed of to 
 the present company for approximately $10,000,000. 
 The road was continued to Oruro in 1892, and from that 
 time began an expansion of earnings and profits. To- 
 day the railway is one of the best managed and most 
 profitable in South America. It has taken over, under 
 
 235
 
 lease, the Bolivia Railway, and now presents a through 
 route between La Paz, Potosi, Oruro, and other im- 
 portant Bolivian cities and the Pacific ports of Antofa- 
 gasta and Mejillones. 
 
 One of the newer Railroads of Bolivia is the Oruro- 
 Cochabamba line, which opens a very fertile and 
 minerally rich country. It is expected that the Potosi- 
 Sucre line will be completed in 1921 and the La Paz 
 Yungas line in 1922 or the following year. 
 
 A TRANSANDEAN LINE 
 
 A most important railroad line, also nearing com- 
 pletion is the La Quiaca-Tupiza Railway, funds for 
 which were largely raised by means of a loan obtained 
 in France in 1913, and for which contract was let to 
 the Vesin Syndicate, in Paris. The line, 200 kilometres, 
 or 124 miles long will connect the Bolivian with the 
 Argentine Railways and the ride from La Paz to Buenos 
 Ayres will consume only four days. 
 
 THE ONLY LARGE SOUTH AMERICAN CANALS 
 
 The Desaguadero, between Lake Titicaca and Lake 
 Poopo is a wonderful canal, mostly natural, which 
 needed little work to render it navigable. 
 
 Another Canal is projected by an organization of 
 Italian, Belgian, and Argentinian capital has been 
 formed in Nazareno, Bolivia, situated on the slope of 
 
 236
 
 the Tupiza valley, 60 kilometres from La Quiaca, the 
 object of which is the construction of a navigable 
 irrigating canal connecting Nazareno and Salta, Argen- 
 tina. The canal will follow the Pilcomayo and Bermeja 
 rivers and will cost several millions of dollars owing to 
 the sinuous route it must traverse. Nazareno is located 
 in one of the wealthiest agricultural and mining sections 
 of Bolivia with three large companies, exploiting the 
 lead mines of the vicinity. 
 
 Most of the Bolivian towns are off the railroad. 
 There are diligence lines connecting the larger towns 
 with the railroads, but most of these are in operation 
 for only eight or nine months of the year, and are 
 mainly for passengers only. 
 
 The transfer of freight throughout the interior of 
 Bolivia is by means of donkeys, llamas, mules, and 
 on the back of Indians. 
 
 THE CAMEL OF THE ANDES 
 
 The llamas the camels of the High Andes are 
 about 4 feet 6 inches high, carry about 100 pounds, 
 and travel at a slow pace, rarely making over 10 
 miles a day. The Indians never ride them, in fact the 
 animal is too weak to carry a man. Though so weak 
 and so slow in their movements they are valuable 
 beasts of burden, as they are not affected by the highest 
 altitudes and require no attention, feeding on the short 
 
 237
 
 tufts and brushwood to be found on the hillsides. The 
 Indian himself can carry heavy loads. He always 
 carries everything on his back, never on his head or in 
 his hands. It is curious to see him loading. He kneels 
 with his back to the bale throws around it two or three 
 coils of a rope which he knots across his chest, and then, 
 bending over on his face, he staggers to his feet and 
 moves off with a load that two men can hardly lift 
 from the ground with their hands. 
 
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 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY 
 
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