Climate
Bolivia, still within the tropics, has the same variety of climate as the countries previously described, the difference in altitude causing the variation. The portion of the table-land where the altitude is 12,000 to 13,000 feet, called the puna by the natives, has two seasons which resemble autumn and winter, the summer is so short and cool. The summer, the season of snows, is from October or November to May; the winter usually has slight precipitation. Little will grow here except potatoes, barley, and quinua. The higher land up to the snow line, perhaps 17,000 feet, called the puna brava, is still colder, supporting grass only, where herders alone are found with native flocks and rare mining settlements. Higher still is eternal snow with almost Arctic temperature, -20° I found it at night on a glacier on Mt. Sorata. A professor once told me that at 16,000 feet he was unable to keep warm at night however much clothing and blankets he used, but the Indians, moderately clad and with bare feet, endure the cold with apparent indifference.
The valleys as high as 12,000 feet, as in the case of La Paz, are comparatively comfortable, being shielded from the bleak winds of the plateau. From 9500 feet to 11,000 the climate is sufficiently temperate for the raising of vegetables and cereals. In what is called the Valley Zone, 5,000 to 9,000 feet, there is slight variation throughout the year, perpetual summer and subtropical vegetation. Below are the yungas, deep valleys with semitropical climate, and further the tropical lowlands. Except for the last section the country as a whole may be called healthful, diseases arising from bad habits, poverty, ignorance, and unsanitary conditions, rather than as a necessary result of the climate. In the lowlands, however, tropical fevers and malaria are likely to exist, while many persons are more or less affected by soroche on ascending to the plateau from the sea. In La Paz the weather in winter is cool, with a temperature occasionally below freezing and ranging from 40° to 50° in the house. Snow though not uncommon soon vanishes in the sun, and flowers like geraniums blossom all the year in the open. In summer, with much more precipitation, it usually rains in the valley, with snow often on the puna and always on the mountains above.
CHAPTER XXV
BOLIVIA: CAPITAL, DEPARTMENTS, CHIEF CITIES
The Capital
La Paz, the de facto capital, population 107,000, is by far the largest and most important city commercially. It is the highest capital and large city in the world, also one of the most picturesque, both on account of its location at the bottom of a cañon, 1000 feet deep, and of its street scenes with the strangely garbed Indians and cholos, and the droves of llamas. The city has better sanitary arrangements than Quito, the narrow streets are remarkably clean, but some conveniences are lacking. There are electric lights and cars, but a meagre water supply, and too few opportunities for a bath. Good hotels are needed, the new “Paris” and some older houses being wholly inadequate for present necessities. The business of the city is largely in the hands of foreigners, i.e., the best shops, and some of the banks and importing houses. La Paz is the chief centre of trade of the country, the Custom House here transacting by far the most business, but supplemented by several others at the east and south.
Departments
La Paz is the most northern Department of the plateau region, the third largest, the first in population and importance. It has Colonias north, El Beni and Cochabamba east, Oruro south, and Chile and Peru west. La Paz has an extremely varied landscape with a range in altitude from 640 to 21,750 feet at the top of Mt. Sorata, though some Bolivians give the altitude of this mountain as 24,000 feet. Besides the Cordillera Real the Department includes Lake Titicaca, or as much of it as does not belong to Peru. The lake is remarkable as being the highest in the world on which steamers regularly ply, 12,500 feet is an accepted figure; 12,545 is also given. The lake has an area of 3200 square miles; it is about 120 miles long, 34-44 wide, and 330 feet deep, in places nearly 1000. Other figures are 145 miles long and 69 broad, average depth 492 feet; temperature of water 48°; annual rainfall about 78 inches. Besides the bleak table-land west of the Cordillera Real, the Department comprises many beautiful valleys east of the mountains. It contains, with the capital La Paz, several important though not large cities: Corocoro, a famed copper centre; Sorata, north, a delightful spot, at an altitude of 8000 feet, a centre for the rubber industry and for mining; Achacachi, a big Indian town near the Lake; Copacabana, a very sacred religious shrine, also on the Lake; Coroicas, east in the Yungas Valley. Actual or potential wealth of almost every kind may be found here: large flocks of llamas, alpacas, and some vicuñas; sheep and goats, herds of cattle and horses; vegetable products, coca, cotton, coffee, cereals, etc.; great riches in minerals, gold, silver, tin, copper, rock crystal, berenguela, a fine native marble, all these in fine quality and immense quantity. The wonderfully grand and varied scenery of this Department can be duplicated or rivalled in few quarters of the globe.
Oruro, directly south of La Paz, between Potosí and Chile, is the smallest of the Departments, entirely on the plateau, thus having a much smaller range of altitude and of climate. Its wealth is in minerals, especially silver and tin, though gold, bismuth, borax, and sulphur are found. Alpaca, chinchilla, and wool are other products.
The capital, Oruro, 127 miles south of La Paz, while for years the terminus of the railway from Antofagasta, became an important commercial and industrial centre; in addition it is one of the busiest mining districts. Half of the mining men are foreigners; a large proportion of the ordinary population is Indian. There is also agreeable society, with people quite up to date in Paris fashions. The only other city in the Department is Challapata.
Cochabamba, south of El Beni, east of La Paz and west of Santa Cruz, is sometimes called the granary of the Republic. It is a particularly delightful region, half temperate and half semitropical, with altitude ranging from 973 to 16,777 feet. It possesses immense plains with innumerable herds of cattle, magnificent fertile valleys, rich forests, and minerals.
Cochabamba, the capital, is the city next in size to La Paz, 276 miles distant; with an altitude of 8387 feet it enjoys a delightful climate, an average temperature of 66°, and abundant rain. It has a good club, an American Institute (a school for boys), and the least illiteracy. The recent arrival of the railroad insures its rapid growth.
Potosí is another plateau Department, both east and south of Oruro, bordering also on Chuquisaca and Tarija, and with Argentina south and Chile west. It has for the most part a rather cold, disagreeable climate, the altitude ranging from above 20,000 to a little over 6000 feet.
The name Potosí, for centuries famous as almost a synonym for silver, belongs also to the capital city, at a height of 13,388 feet. In 1650, when New York was a small village, it had 160,000 inhabitants. The city has an excellent mint, built in 1562, also a superb old cathedral, a good library, and a museum. Above the town 32 artificial lakes were constructed of which 22 are still good. The temperature varies from 9° to 59°; it is said that they have the four seasons in one day. Even here potatoes, barley, and beans will grow, but living is very dear. The town has foundries, engineering shops, and 28 smelters. The Department still contains enormous quantities of silver and tin in almost every variety of combination, and more towns that are rich mining centres than any other Department except La Paz. Uyuni is a town of 6000 inhabitants, Colquechaca has a population of 8000 miners; Tupiza, soon to be reached by the railway, is a pretty city in a pleasant valley, 66 miles from the Argentine border.
Chuquisaca, east of Potosí and south of Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, is much warmer, the altitude ranging from 255 to 13,450 feet. Here also are mines of the usual varieties and petroleum too, tropical fruits and vegetables of course, and plains with vast herds and flocks.
Sucre, the legal capital of the Republic, altitude 9328 feet, is situated on an arm of the Pilcomayo River. Social distinctions are here more marked, and there is an exclusive circle agreeable to those of the right type. Sucre, Cochabamba, and La Paz are called the most cultured cities. More than 300 miles from La Paz in a straight line and, as it is on the east side of the Cordillera, much farther on horseback, which until lately was the only way to journey thither, except for some miles of staging, Sucre is now more accessible, as will be indicated later.
Tarija, south of Chuquisaca and southwest of Potosí, is with Potosí the most southern of the Departments, now smaller than formerly, since the Gran Chaco has been made a separate Territory. Like Chuquisaca it is on the east side of the Cordillera, the greatest altitude being 12,874 feet. The climate obviously varies from temperate on the west to hot in the lowlands, the productions varying similarly. There are possibilities for all varieties of grain and fruit, as well as for stock raising; the western part lies in the silver region, having gold and copper as well.
The capital, Tarija, 80 miles east of Tupiza, is 250 miles from Sucre and 600 by rail from La Paz, but a few days must still be spent in stage or on horseback. Prospects for speedy rail connection are good when rapid development will follow.
Santa Cruz, north of Chuquisaca and east of Cochabamba is the largest Department of all, and the richest in wild animals and vegetation. This Department, altitude 377-9754 feet, does not reach the great mountains, but far to the east it has a little range of its own, the highest summits of which are just below 4000 feet. Here are forests and prairies, cattle, tropical fruit and vegetables; cotton grows profusely, rice, manioc, coffee, copal, rubber, what you will. Here too is petroleum, iron, quicksilver. The white population is said to be of purer Spanish blood than in most of the Departments, comparatively unmixed; but as the climate is hot the people are naturally indolent.
The capital, Santa Cruz, altitude 1400 feet, 550 miles from La Paz by way of Cochabamba, and 330 from Sucre, was founded, only think! in 1545. It is on two of the main routes running from Bolivia to Argentina and Paraguay. With a population of 20,000, it is quite a city, having a variety of local industries, and being on a favored route for the export of rubber, sugar, and coffee to Europe; but the enormous cost and difficulty of transportation retards its progress. Three hundred and ninety miles east near the Paraguay River is Puerto Suarez, two hours or 11 miles by cart road from Corumbá, Brazil, to which point steamers come from Buenos Aires. A railway too practically reaches Corumbá from São Paulo.
El Beni, the last of the Departments, occupies the northeast portion of Bolivia, being divided from La Paz by the Beni River. With an area of 100,000 square miles the variation in altitude is slight, 465-2800 feet; hence everywhere a hot climate. It has hardly 40,000 inhabitants, mostly Indians. Nearly all the whites are engaged in the rubber industry, though stock raising and agriculture are slightly practised in the higher sections.
The capital, Trinidad, 400 miles from La Paz, with a population of 5000, is the least important of the various Department capitals, though containing many stores and trading concerns for the sale of imported products. Some smaller places are of greater commercial consequence and better known, on account of their location.
Colonias. Of the Territories of Bolivia Colonias of the Northwest is west of El Beni, and north of La Paz. Since the settlement of the boundary dispute between Peru and Bolivia, the area of the territory is given as 81,600 miles. It is similar in character to El Beni, a great wilderness, full of water courses and forests, a land of wonderful vegetation; population 40,000, besides 15,000-20,000 wild Indians, not to mention animals, mostly wild, gorgeous birds, snakes and insects. The swamp fevers, it is said, may be avoided by healthy persons who use proper precautions and live on the highlands where forest clearings permit the free course of the wind. Rain falls from December to May, but May, June, and July are agreeable, with night temperatures 60°-70°. In the warmest months the range is 76°-90° in the hottest part of the day. In September cool south winds bring sudden changes often producing colds.
The capital, Riberalta, 920 miles from La Paz, at the confluence of the Madre de Dios and the Beni, stands on a high bank 65 feet above the water, which the main street faces, an unusually desirable location. Its population, perhaps 4000, is increasing rapidly with the number of trading houses and rubber exporters who own small steamers for river traffic.
Villa Bella, 125 miles below Riberalta, at the junction of the Beni and Mamoré, is on comparatively high land, facing the Brazilian town, Villa Murtinho on the other side of the Mamoré. On account of the favorable location for export, rubber and timber property in the vicinity is especially valuable. The climate is better than in many other sections of the tropical lowlands.
El Oriente. This Territory, uncertain as to area and boundary, is lowland southeast of Santa Cruz, extending to the Paraguay River, north of the region claimed by Paraguay.
The capital, Puerto Suarez, is a small place on a bayou of the Paraguay River facing Corumbá.
Gran Chaco. South of Santa Cruz and southeast of Tarija, of which it was formerly a part, is the Territory of Gran Chaco, where the boundary with Paraguay is still undetermined. Fifty-seven thousand square miles is given as the area. Here are low lying plains, some covered with water in the rainy season (December to March), one or two feet deep; also open forests with palms, willows, cedar, carobs, and quebracho; and hilly sections occupied by wild Indians.
Yacuiba, formerly the capital, which is now transferred north to Villa Montes, is a town 200 miles southeast of Tarija, and still the most important place in the territory. In addition to forest riches, are those of the plains, now harboring wild cattle, and undoubtedly suitable for stock raising.
CHAPTER XXVI
BOLIVIA: PORTS AND TRANSPORTATION
La Paz. Bolivia unhappily has no seaport, but lake and river ports are better than none; of these she has several. Nevertheless La Paz is the chief port of entry with the principal Custom House, the terminus of the three railways leading from the Pacific.
Railways
Route from Mollendo. In 1903 not a single railway reached La Paz, but not long after, the road, which then left one on the great plateau, arrived at the edge of the alto, whence by electric power the cars are brought down the steep walls of the cañon to the picturesque city. This route is the conclusion of the road from Mollendo, by all means the most desirable for the traveler coming from the north. The inconvenience suffered by many persons going from the coast directly to the high table-land, and the real danger to those with weak hearts, may be lessened or entirely obviated by pausing two or three days in the pleasant city of Arequipa. Even the compulsory stay of a single night may render the journey to Puno innocuous to the person in good condition. Having crossed the divide, altitude 14,688 feet, one arrives at nightfall at Puno, on the shore of Lake Titicaca, altitude 12,500 feet. The boat is there taken for the night journey of 130 miles to Guaqui, the Bolivian port at the south end of the lake, a 14 hour sail which no one should miss; for in the morning an inspiring vision may be had, hardly equalled on the globe, of the magnificent Cordillera Real, a hundred mile stretch of rugged snowclad peaks from Illampu to Illimani with Huaina Potosí halfway. A splendid view of Illampu is had on the left, during the three hours’ ride, 56 miles, over the almost desert plateau, and after passing its edge a matchless view of the cañon, the city, 1000 feet below, and Illimani towering far above.
Arica-La Paz Railway. The second route is from the port of Arica, formerly in Peru, but now in the possession of Chile, which country in accordance with the peace terms with Bolivia of 1883 constructed the Arica-La Paz Railway as far as the frontier, the most difficult portion, while Bolivia laid the rails for 145 miles within her own boundaries. A branch 5 miles long leads to the important mining town of Corocoro. This is by far the shortest route from the coast, only 281 miles, but as we have seen, this is a disadvantage to travelers rather than a benefit; nor is there a gain in time to one coming from the north, as the steamer arrives at Arica, a day later than at Mollendo. As one may come up from Mollendo, including the night at Arequipa, in 48 hours, one thus arrives in La Paz a few hours before one who travels in 22 hours from Arica. The journey from Mollendo is 534 miles. For the more rapid climb from Arica there are 28 miles of rack railway with a maximum grade of six per cent. The equipment of the road has been inadequate for the business, but more has been ordered; larger port works at Arica are needed and expected. The highest point on the railway is 13,986 feet near the Bolivian boundary, nearly 700 feet lower than on the road from Mollendo; but being reached in less than half as many hours, and also at night when the effect of the altitude is always greater, even the most robust are likely to suffer from a headache if not worse, as is the case with persons coming up from Antofagasta. Going down by either route there is usually no trouble, except for those who have been a long time at the higher altitude.
Bolivia-Antofagasta Railway. The journey to La Paz from Antofagasta, on the Chilian coast 400 miles below Arica, occupies two days for the 718 miles. This, the earliest of Bolivian railways, with Oruro for years as the terminus, in 1911 was continued to La Paz, i.e., to Viacha (15 miles from La Paz), where it meets the road from Guaqui, the two forming a long link in the Pan American chain. The later road now has its own line into the city. At Uyuni, where there is a Custom House and a change of cars, the road turns off towards Chile. From Ollague on the Chilian border, a 58-mile branch runs to the Collahuasi copper mines, among the richest in the world. A Bolivian extension is now being made along the plateau to connect with the Argentine road from La Quiaca to Buenos Aires. Already Atocha has been reached; 60 miles remain to Tupiza, and 66 more to La Quiaca, the terminus of the Argentine railway to the border. An automobile service is operated in the dry or winter season from Atocha to La Quiaca, making the journey in eight hours. The rest of the year one goes on muleback. Thus by the weekly train from La Quiaca to Buenos Aires in 48 hours, the entire journey, 2000 miles, may be made from La Paz much more quickly than by way of Chile, in case one does not wish to go there. This route also serves when the Trans-Andine is blocked by the winter snow.
Other Argentine connections are planned. A branch railway is to be built from La Quiaca or possibly from Orán to Tarija, about 82 miles; meanwhile it is expected to construct an automobile road for the service. A railway extension from the Argentine boundary farther east, hoped for in the near future, is from Embarcación to Yacuiba, thence to Santa Cruz, thus opening the cattle region of the Chaco, of Chuquisaca, and Santa Cruz for the export of cattle through Buenos Aires.
Several Branches. Farther north important branches to the interior are already in operation. The first, opened in 1912, was from the station, Rio Mulato, 130 miles south of Oruro, to far famed Potosí. This section, 108 miles long, climbs to a height of 15,814 feet, the second highest altitude reached by rail, following the Morococha branch of the Central Peruvian. The cost was over $8,000,000, the maximum grade three per cent. The trip occupies eight hours; there is weekly service. The Oruro-Cochabamba Line was completed in 1917; its length 132 miles, its cost above $10,000,000. It crosses the Cordillera at about 14,000 feet. This road is equally important, opening up a fine agricultural and well populated district. Its fine scenic attractions should allure the tourist. Food is very expensive on the plateau, but with improved access to the warmer sections, lower prices and greater variety of fruits and vegetables may be expected above.
A branch on the plateau long in operation is a 24 mile line from Uyuni to the Huanchaca silver mines, the road owned by the Mining Company. Another branch is now under construction from Machacamarca to Uncia, 57 miles, built by Simon Patiño, the wealthy owner of extremely rich tin mines at Uncia. Thirty-eight miles are in operation.
New Lines. Under construction are two very important lines: one the Potosí-Sucre Railway, 105 miles, with 40 in operation; the other, the La Paz-Yungas Line of very difficult construction, passing over the mountain range near La Paz at an altitude of 15,338 feet and going down into the deep valley. One hundred and thirty-seven miles have been surveyed. The passage has been accomplished, the road opened to Unduavi, 16 miles, from which point it will be continued down the valley to Coroico, later to Rurenabaque, and some time to Puerto Brais on the Beni, the latter port being open to navigation all the year. Already a delightful road for tourist travel and useful for bringing fruit, vegetables, and other products to the La Paz market, has been constructed. With the completion of the road to Puerto Brais, a more speedy route for travel and freight to Europe will be attained. On account of the scarcity and high cost of coal this road is operated by electricity, for which the great fall of small streams gives ample power. On account of transportation difficulties and increased cost the completion of the Potosí-Sucre Railway has been delayed, but when this is realized the road will probably be continued northeast to Santa Cruz. From this city a road to Puerto Suarez on the Paraguay, now talked of, will come later. Bolivia has about 1400 miles of railway in service. A road to Santa Cruz from Cochabamba instead of Sucre is advocated by many.
Other Forms of Transportation
Roads. Automobile roads are planned and being constructed to fill as far as possible present requirements, but in the rainy months, December to May, traffic is generally suspended. From Cochabamba to Sucre there is motor service for freight and passenger traffic, a more direct route than that from Potosí for persons in La Paz. From Potosí to Sucre a motor bus makes the journey in 12 hours. Another motor car road soon to be available is from Riberalta to Villa Church (65 miles), opposite Guajará-Mirím in Brazil, the terminus of the Madeira-Mamoré Railway. From Cochabamba autos run to Totora, also from La Paz to Achacachi, and over a spur of Illampu down to Sorata.
Aside from railways land transportation is chiefly confined to burros, mules, and llamas; in some places there are mule wagons or ox-carts, mules generally carrying the traveler. The cart roads, constructed and maintained by the Government or the Municipality, are mostly very poor; yet such as they are they extend 2000 miles. They are often if not usually impassable in the wet season. Llamas are more extensively employed than in any other country. In the plateau region with their 100 pound burden they wander leisurely along, cropping the coarse grass, tended by their Indian owners or drivers, who are in no more of a hurry than they. Along difficult mountain slopes are paths constructed by the Indians, skirting precipices and climbing steep inclines, where llamas, mules, and burros bear loads of minerals, coca, coffee, or other products or imports, from one section to another. About 5000 mules and burros pass over the La Paz-Yungas road daily. Except in the dry season, May to October, travel either by mule or by stage may anywhere be difficult or impossible on account of rivers becoming impassable by reason of freshets or roads because of mud. The importance of proper packing according to directions of goods which may be shipped to the interior, or indeed to any destination, cannot be overestimated.
Lake Transport. Aside from the railways transportation in Bolivia cannot be called excellent either on land or water, though there is fair steamboat service on Lake Titicaca. This with Lake Aullagas (Poopo) and the Desaguadero River are the only waterways of the table-land where navigation exists. On the larger lake the Railway Company has steamers of 1500 tons or less, five in all, connecting with the trains, and some touching at small ports on the islands and around the Lake. Other boats are used, among them Indian balsas, built entirely of reeds, sails and all. In the use of these the Indians are very expert. The Desaguadero River is navigable to Lake Poopo for steamers of 500 tons. Poopo is navigable for boats of shallow draft.
River Transport. Of great and increasing importance are the rivers of the eastern slope, both those of the Amazon Basin, and to a less degree those of the Paraguay, which river for some distance is practically the eastern boundary of Bolivia. Its chief tributaries are the Pilcomayo and the Bermejo. Bolivian statistics give the total length of all their navigable rivers as nearly 12,000 miles, but these figures include sections not conceded as within the boundaries of the Republic as well as rivers on the boundary. Half of the distance mentioned, 6000 miles, is said to be navigable by steamers of 4-6 feet draft.
In the Amazon Basin steamboat navigation is possible on the Acre from the Upper Purús, the Abuna, Orton, Madre de Dios, Beni, Madidi, Mamoré, Itenez or Guaporé Rivers, with some of their tributaries. Of the above, the Beni and the Mamoré are the most important. On the latter, regular steam service has recently been inaugurated from Cuatro Ojos in Santa Cruz to Guajará-Mirím (a distance of nearly 1000 miles), the terminus of the Madeira-Mamoré Railway. From the Department Cochabamba, boats descend on the rivers Chaparé, Chimoré, and Iabaro to the Mamoré. The Guaporé, though easily navigable for 1000 miles, flowing through an uninhabited region, is little used.
Although most of the streams are more or less obstructed by rapids, rocks, and masses of tree trunks, which last might easily be cleared away, they are nevertheless useful for navigation. In spite of difficulties and dangers much transport with canoes and rafts is effected by the Indians, who are expert boatmen. On the Beni, rafts are used from Puerto Pando 155 miles to Rurenabaque; from there steamboats serve 573 miles to Riberalta; the Esperanza Rapids below the town making their further passage impracticable. Hence the journey to Villa Bella opposite Villa Murtinho on the Madeira-Mamoré Railway or to Villa Church, higher up, opposite Guajará-Mirím must be made by land; therefore the motor road is being constructed.
In high water the Madre de Dios is navigable by steamers far up its tributaries, at other times by callapos which consist of two or three balsas fastened side by side. The balsa here is a small raft made of several logs. It is usually 22 to 26 feet long, 5-6 wide, carries 750 pounds, and is managed by three boatmen. A callapo or monteria may carry 3400 pounds with a crew of from 3 to 15 highly skilful men. They make 9 or 10 miles daily, navigating 10-12 hours. With the return of normal conditions the development of this region will be hastened, and greater benefits will be realized from the opening of the Madeira-Mamoré Railway which occurred in 1912.
CHAPTER XXVII
BOLIVIA: RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES
Mining
The mining industry, at present the most important in Bolivia, is likely to continue the leader for an indefinite period, although with easy communication and large population in the lower districts it may ultimately have a rival in forestal and agricultural products, or in cattle, certain to be at least a very valuable adjunct. The mineral riches of Bolivia may equal if they do not surpass those of Peru, though except for silver and tin they are probably less known. They include almost every variety of the precious metals, with others not so classed. To mention a few of these, there are gold, silver, tin, copper, bismuth, lead, antimony, tungsten, platinum, zinc, petroleum, with fine marbles, alabaster, malachite, opals, emeralds, jasper, borax, salt, etc. There are thousands of known lodes, but comparatively few are worked. The statement of the scientist, Raimondi, that the plateau of Bolivia is a table of silver supported on columns of gold is declared by Walle to be no exaggeration. A few of the mining belts where some work has been carried on will be mentioned.
Gold. At the present time little is done in the way of gold mining, tin and copper being more fashionable. Another reason for inactivity in this line is that the Bolivians possess the majority of the more favorably situated holdings, which they refuse to part with except at prohibitive prices or possibly at all, hoping some day themselves to be able to operate them. It is true that in the early colonial days enormous quantities of gold and silver both were produced and exported, although obtained by crude mining methods. It is thought that with modern machinery excellent if not better results may yet be obtained. In the 210 years previous to 1750 more than 12 billion dollars worth of gold was produced in the country. There has been a falling off since then, but one family in the last century obtained over $3,000,000 from their property. Between 1868 and 1900 over $120,000,000 is believed to have been produced. In many sections gold is known to exist in abundance and with further exploration it will doubtless be discovered in others. It is found in alluvial deposits, also in veins or lodes of quartz, from which the deposits are the washings. Veins of antimony which are common in Bolivia contain gold in chemical or mechanical mixture.
There are three regions where gold is found, all of considerable extent: the first and best known crosses the provinces of the Department of La Paz, chiefly on the east slopes of the Cordillera Real, continues through that of Cochabamba and runs out in Santa Cruz towards the Rio Paraguay. In La Paz are the well known deposits of the Tipuani River, of Chuquiaguillo, and many others. The second region begins in the southwest corner of the country, and passing south of Tupiza turns north through Potosí towards Santa Cruz. The third is in the northwest part of the Republic, joining the similar section in Peru. Although said to be the richest of all, it is practically unexploited and unexplored.
While the opinion is held that the lack of means of communication is all that prevents a large production of gold in Bolivia, I believe that to Americans this is a smaller drawback than the distance of the whole country from the United States; this objection will have less weight in the future. Certainly the hardships of those regions and the difficulty in reaching many of them is slight indeed in comparison with the trials experienced by early Alaskan miners. The Tipuani, for instance, is within a day’s horseback ride from the pretty town of Sorata, population 8000. Chuquiaguillo, now owned by an American company, is within easy walking distance of La Paz. Others are more remote, most of them on the eastern slope of the Cordillera Real, to be reached over passes of 15,000 feet or more, yet within a few days’ ride of civilization. The single region of the Tipuani is 120 miles long.
Besides the opportunities for placer mining there are strata formed of sand, clay, and stones, from 50 to 330 feet deep. Sometimes in these there are veins with gold in thin flakes 98 per cent pure. Some workings are open, others in shafts and galleries like an ordinary mine. However, difficulty is experienced in taking machinery over the poor trails, and also in obtaining labor. In May, 1904, a nugget was found at Chuquiaguillo containing 47 ounces of pure gold, nearly $1000 worth. One hundred miners are employed here at 50 cents to $1.50 a day. In the Province of Velasco, Department of Santa Cruz, is a region considered by Walle more accessible than others, to which one would come from the Atlantic to Corumbá on the Paraguay River or perhaps by rail from São Paulo, and enter Bolivia across the plains. It is thought that Bolivia may become one of the leading gold producers of the world.
Silver. The silver mines are better known and are now worked on a larger scale than the gold, although 10,000 lodes are practically abandoned or operated slightly. The suspension was not because of a scarcity of silver but for lack of capital, means of transport, and suitable machinery; also its lower price. A few of the largest mines have continued to be regularly worked. With the recently higher price of silver, greater activity has prevailed than a few years earlier. The richest of the ores contain from 10 to 50 per cent of silver and even 80; more has from 1 to 10 per cent.
The Department of Potosí is world renowned for its silver. In the first 40 years of colonial production more than $70,000,000 was taken from the Cerro Potosí, a sugar loaf 16,000 feet above the sea, in which 5000 mines have been opened. Up to the present time a billion dollars, one writer says four billion, have been realized from the silver of Bolivia. In neighboring Provinces of the same Department, Potosí, are many other mines, most of which now produce tin as well. The ores of Potosí which originally contained 60 per cent or more of silver are now poorer with more iron pyrites. The present queen of South American silver mines, the Huanchaca-Pulacayo, east of Uyuni, consists of a dozen groups over 8500 acres, a bed of fabulous richness. In the 28 years before 1901 it produced 4250 tons of silver. The majority of the stock is held in France. Some years ago the Pulacayo mines were flooded with hot water, but they have now been drained and are again operated. On the property is a town of 10,000 people, hundreds of whom are employed in the works, including women who first try out the ore. In 1918 $2,622,000 worth of silver was produced.
Oruro is next to Potosí in production of silver, and in tin it stands first. The richest silver ores, as at Huanchaca, are so exported, the poorer are treated on the spot. Other rich mines are well known.
Tin mining is a more recent industry, dating from 1895. Already it has become the leading export of the country, which now provides more than one-third of the world’s supply. It was well known to the Spanish colonists as much of it was mingled with the silver, but they rejected it as rubbish, using it to fill in depressions. Large profits have been recovered from these fillings and from the dumps. While tin is produced in many other parts of the world, the Bolivian lodes are of unusual extent and richness. Their production is now exceeded only by that of the Straits Settlements. Since the development of the tin plate industry and its use in other ways the demand for tin and the price have enormously increased; from $350 a ton in 1898 to $900 before the war. In 1912 tin was produced, barilla, 60 per cent pure, 37,700 tons, worth $18,000,000; in 1918 the value of tin exported was $45,364,000.
All along the eastern part of the plateau from Lake Titicaca to the southern boundary, tin is found in thick unbroken lodes. The three principal districts are La Paz, Oruro, Potosí. In La Paz the best known mines are on the slopes of the splendid mountain, Huaina Potosí in the Cordillera Real, though many other mines are worked. Those in the Department of Oruro are more important, producing one-third of the output. The lodes vary in thickness from a few inches to 10, 15, or 20 feet. Rich pockets are found 30-60 feet in diameter, and veins with stannic oxide fragments, running from 50 to 100 per cent. Cassiterite, tin stone, or tin with stannic oxide, is frequent with 55-60 per cent tin; this is sent to Europe as extracted. The percentage of tin in a lode is very variable, often 6-8 per cent, sometimes 15. Veins of tin on the Cerro Potosí penetrate the hill parallel to veins of silver; some are united; in others tin, silver, and copper alternate or are in union. The tin is generally in the upper part nearer the surface. Sulphides are found at Oruro, but oxides are more frequent. All are at an altitude of about 10,000-17,000 feet. The large Socavón Company employs 1000 hands, has a concentrating plant, and puts out six tons of silver and 250 tons of tin yearly. Many other mines export barilla, some of it with 70 per cent of tin. A Bolivian, Simon J. Patiño, from being an ordinary laborer has risen to be the Tin King, both banker and mine owner, working his mines by modern methods and electric machinery. His mines at Uncia are among the richest in the world, producing about 30 per cent of the Bolivian total. The Llallagua mines, the richest of all, have still greater production.
On Huaina Potosí are placers containing with tin, gold in flakes, bismuth, and oxide of iron; more in other locations. The Company owning the Chlorolque Mountain and other properties, with tin as the principal product, mines also silver, bismuth, copper, and wolfram; it paid a 30 per cent dividend in 1917. Capital only is needed to exploit on a much larger scale these rich and available deposits. Three hundred to four hundred dollars a ton hardly paid the cost of production, but with prices three times as much it is a highly profitable business. The Guggenheims have recently purchased three tin mines located at Caracoles on the Quimsa Cruz Range, south of Illimani, to which they have built an automobile road 150 miles from Eucalyptus, a station on the main line between La Paz and Oruro. The mines are at an altitude of 16,000 to 18,000 feet, the quarters at 15,000 to 16,000. The tin runs to 10-15 per cent. It is thought that the property will rival the Uncia. The International Mining Company has a tin property in the Yungas Province 52 miles from La Paz at a height of 8000 feet, a rather more comfortable altitude.
Copper. Of late the copper deposits in Peru and Chile have received more attention than those of Bolivia, but this country also has extensive formations from Lipez at the south where white copper is found, along the East Cordillera, past Potosí and Oruro to Corocoro in the West, ending in the Nudo of Apolobamba. Veins occur in all the buttresses of the Andes.
Copper is found chiefly in its native state, the deposits of Corocoro being especially famous. The copper here occurs in powder, plates, or nodules, in beds of reddish sandstone. One veta, or mineralized bed, is 1000 yards deep, extending several miles; another, a branch formation above this surrounds it on the southwest and east, occupying a great part of the Desaguadero Valley. Both formations are arseniates. One branch 2000 yards thick extends 6 miles; in another direction a branch runs 35 miles from Corocoro to Chacarilla, then branching south and east. Copper generally occurs in small irregular grains with from 70 to 92 per cent copper. The native copper, the great wealth of the mines, here ranges from microscopic grains to plates and arborescent forms called charquis. At La Charcarilla large plates are found 3¹⁄₂ inches thick. Ores with 15-20 per cent copper are usually neglected. As there are no good kilns, barilla is exported 80 per cent pure, a quintal, 220 pounds, costing $3-4 for production. Except from Corocoro the present output is insignificant. For a time these mines were abandoned owing to the low price of copper and the difficulty of transport. It was formerly necessary to send the barilla by carts, mules, or llamas to the port of Arica, or else to the Desaguadero River, to be carried in boats to Lake Titicaca and Puno, thence by rail to Mollendo. With the great increase in the price of copper and the opening of the Arica-La Paz Railway with a 5 mile branch to Corocoro, these difficulties were removed and active work progressed with a broad field for enlargement. Copper formation here is said to resemble greatly those in Northern Michigan, such as the Copper Range, and the Calumet and Hecla. In 1917 over 82,000,000 pounds were exported, worth above $4,000,000.
Lead is found in the region of La Quiaca and some is exported by way of Argentina. Galena, an ore of lead and silver, is widespread.
Bismuth. Of less used minerals bismuth may be mentioned, in the production of which Bolivia leads the world and controls the supply. At present, chiefly used as a drug on account of its high price, it might be more largely employed in alloys. Bismuth ore, as carbonates, oxides, and arsenical sulphates, is so abundant in many parts of Bolivia that if bismuth sold at 20 cents a pound a fair profit would be realized. With the price for years $3500 a ton, it would seem a profitable business to engage in. Over one million pounds were exported in 1918 worth one and a half million dollars.
Antimony also is found in large quantities. Nearly 18,000 tons were exported in 1916, worth approximately $5,000,000, but with high prices and abnormal demand due to the war. Less than one per cent of the quantity was exported in 1912. The ores are rich, often running 70 per cent pure metal.
Zinc in the form of sulphides or blends is abundant, largely in connection with silver. Such ores are sent to Europe, there to be separated, the scarcity and almost prohibitive price of coal rendering such a course desirable for various products, to avoid the excessive cost of smelting; at the same time the high cost of transportation limits the export.
Wolfram, an iron-manganese tungstate, is found near veins of tin and much is exported, the production being especially in the Santa Cruz district, at the northeast of Cochabamba. Some lodes contain no less than 50 per cent of tungstic acid, the ores concentrated for export running higher. About 7¹⁄₂ million pounds were exported in 1918 valued at nearly $3,708,000.
Coal. The lack of good coal is the chief fault in nature’s economy in Bolivia. Its usual cost in La Paz is $40-$50 a ton, at times $75. It is therefore used as little as possible, although some is imported. While Bolivia has been said to possess no coal at all, a lignite of fair quality has been discovered in the peninsula of Copacabana, Lake Titicaca, some of which has been used by the Guaqui-La Paz Railway to develop electric power; but not in serious fashion, experimental merely. Other seams are found near the Ayoapó station, which a company has been organized to exploit. Good samples have come from Tacora on the Arica Railway near the frontier, the coal said to be equal to that of Coronel in Chile, the seams rich and thick. If so their exploitation will immensely advance the industries of the country. Good coal is reported across the mountains from Sorata and lignite is found near Cochabamba.
On account of the enormous cost of coal, various substitutes are in use. On the plateau there is practically no wood. For heating, foreigners generally employ oil stoves, the natives nothing at all, though the mercury may range from 40° to 50° in the house on a winter’s day. In La Paz for cooking purposes a substance called taquia is employed. It looks like pecan nuts, but is the dung of llamas, which is collected by Indians on the plateau or elsewhere. It sells generally at about $4 a ton, but has lately risen to $7. It is the principal fuel used at the mines of Corocoro. In some places as at Potosí, yareta is used, a vegetable or shrub which grows in a dense mass to a height of several feet with a greater diameter. The green mass has a woody fibre, is highly resinous, and burns like peat, giving a good amount of heat. It grows at altitudes between 13,000 and 16,000 feet. Another woody shrub, a species of broom called tola, is used, with another, quenua, which like charcoal gives much heat with little ash. Extensive peat beds exist near La Paz, estimated to yield 30,000,000 tons of briquettes with a fuel value about half that of coal. The discovery and wide exploitation of coal and petroleum would be an immense boon both to industry and to the householders.
Petroleum is now believed to exist in large quantities, sufficient to solve the fuel problem. The best known fields are in the southeast where seepages occur and a belt is indicated extending northwest and southeast 150 miles from the Argentine border. Concessions covering millions of acres have been granted to American companies. The zone traverses the Provinces of Santa Cruz, Chuquisaca, and Tarija. Geological investigations indicate that a petroleum belt or basin exists along the foothills of the east side of the East Cordillera. There are indications in the Beni district a considerable distance north of La Paz, and beyond the Madidi in Colonias. A probable thickness of over-lying strata in southeast Bolivia is 160-660 feet. If so development costs will be diminished. The great difficulty is the inaccessibility of the locations. On this account few wells have yet been sunk. To pipe the oil up to the plateau would be an expensive, some say an impracticable, proposition. At present approached only by cart roads or caminos, the fields will be rendered more accessible by the railways planned from Puerto Suarez or Pacheco and from Argentina to Santa Cruz. The oils vary in quality, some having an asphalt base with 4 per cent of gasoline, up to .81 specific gravity with 40 per cent of gasoline. The heavier is in the lower sands. Along the eastern base of the Andes the petroleum is of high grade. Samples of oil from Espejos Spring, 12 leagues from Santa Cruz, indicate the quality expected north to the Madre de Dios. This has 78 per cent kerosene, 17 lubricating oil, and 4 per cent coke. From indications it is believed that gushers would come by boring to proper depth. It is said that deposits of good quality are indicated at Calacoto on the Arica Railway, a continuation of the Titicaca fields of Peru. These are obviously much more accessible but less assured.
Mining properties of various kinds may be acquired and worked to good advantage, some with a moderate outlay of capital; with larger returns, naturally, from greater expenditure for the best equipment and more extensive properties. There is work for centuries.
Industries
Other than mining industries are slightly developed, being local in character for lack of proper transportation. There is therefore opportunity for their introduction, the needs meanwhile being supplied by importation.
Weaving. The weaving industry is one for which the natives are peculiarly adapted; the Indians and the mestizos now produce with crude equipment goods of excellent quality for strength and often for color. In certain Provinces good strong cotton cloth is made which, used for sheeting, clothing, etc., lasts indefinitely. The natives make also heavy woolen stuff from llama wool, and fine soft material from vicuña, alpaca, and silk. But not half enough is woven to supply the demand, so that much coarse cotton cloth and a woolen called bayeta are imported for the use of the Indians, as well as fine goods for the white population. The llamas, estimated as numbering 500,000, are worth from $4 to $10 each; the alpacas, about half as many, are valued at $50-75 each. There are also 500,000 goats.
Rugs and skins are exported in small quantities, the animals from which these are taken growing rarer and liable to become extinct. Rugs of vicuña skin have at least doubled in price since 1906 (their export is forbidden), as is the case also with the chinchilla. Of the latter there are two varieties, the blue and the white. They are hunted by the Indians as are also the vicuñas. The former are now crossed with the viscacha, a rodent resembling a hare, the resulting animal being capable of domestication. Though the skins are inferior to genuine chinchilla they serve the purpose.
It would be a most valuable enterprise if the vicuña could be domesticated. At present the animals are wild like the guanaco, but the breeding of herds ought to be possible if the greatest care were exercised. The vicuña wool is probably the finest existing, and if the animals could be saved from destruction and their numbers increased, a highly profitable business would result. These animals, like the guanacos, wander in small groups in remote places at high altitudes, 14,000 to 16,000 feet, often difficult of access among the mountains. These with the llamas and alpacas are ruminants, the two latter domesticated and living in large herds.
The alpaca wool is much superior to that of the llama and better than that of the sheep; if the animals were rationally bred on a large scale the business should be extremely profitable. The animal has shorter legs than the llama which it resembles; it is never used as a burden bearer. The alpaca flourishes on the Titicaca Plateau and in higher, cold and solitary mountain sections, among seed bearing grasses where snow falls instead of rain. It requires better forage than the llama. Pure water is an absolute essential. Their long fleece, sheared once in two years, is always in great demand; a fleece weighs 10-15 pounds. The alpacas, numbering probably 200,000, are tended by Indians whose patient endurance qualify them in a measure, but who need instruction to supervise them with more intelligent care. There are vast lands suitable for their breeding and culture, and regions where sheep, donkeys, goats, and cattle may be raised. None of these industries is practised except in a small way, though land, suitable fodder, and climate are all of the best.
Stock raising is carried on to a limited extent only, though conditions for raising horned cattle are said to be ideal on the llanos of the southeast, where vast natural prairies alternate with forests, and many wild cattle exist. The large possibilities of this region will undoubtedly be utilized before many years. Difficulty in reaching markets is the great present drawback, but Argentine capitalists have looked over the eastern lowlands and may find early means for their exploitation. On the higher lands also are sections where the business may be carried on to advantage. As at present only ordinary stock is raised with no care in breeding, merely to supply local needs for meat, there is need of imported cattle and better methods, as is the case with sheep. Figures given for cattle are 800,000 head, of sheep 1¹⁄₂ million. Many more of the latter should be raised in some sections of the plateau region. Mutton is more of a staple food, largely used, dried and salted, by the Indians. Thus prepared it is called chalona; dried-beef is called charque. The cultivation of Siberian grasses on the plateau is suggested. Few hogs are raised, although many districts are well adapted to them.
Agriculture
In agriculture Bolivia has enormous possibilities, but at present small production. About 5,000,000 acres are under cultivation. With the varying altitude and climate the vegetable products are similar to those of the preceding countries, many of these spontaneous, a few cultivated. The latter are almost solely for internal consumption. On the plateau grow barley, quinua, and potatoes, the last, when frozen called chuño, are the basis of the Indians’ diet; barley is much used for fodder; quinua, a very nutritious millet, easy to cultivate and hardy, in the form of meal among the plateau Indians takes the place of wheat and corn, which do not grow at this altitude. In the valleys below there is plenty of corn, from which is made the Indians’ favorite drink, chicha, though they will readily drink plain alcohol of poor quality when they can get it. Wheat and rice are raised in eastern Cochabamba, admirable coffee in the yungas, cacao, and coca; none in sufficient quantity to supply the home market except coca. Some coffee is exported but more is imported from Brazil and Peru. All needful supplies could be provided in one or another part of the country if population and means of transport existed.
Other Products. Cacao is less cultivated than coffee, though raised in two departments. Trees are growing untended in the Rio Madidi and Madre de Dios sections. Sugar cane is cultivated in Santa Cruz and elsewhere, but most of it is used for making aguardiente, and molasses or other syrup. More than 200,000 gallons of alcohol come annually from Santa Cruz. Rice also is grown in this Department giving two harvests a year. It might be cultivated in other sections. Tobacco of excellent quality thrives in many places, but not enough is raised for home consumption. Viticulture is slightly practised with primitive methods. Fruits of many varieties as in Peru are raised, including especially fine oranges. Various vegetables are grown but in these lines the development is slight and poor.
Coca alone is exported among agricultural products, chiefly to Chile and Argentina. Cultivated also in Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, the chief centre is in the yungas of La Paz. The leaf is richer in alkaloid than the Peruvian, as I myself noted, but as yet it has not been so much exported to Europe on account of its higher price. The plantations are in terraces on the mountain slopes between 5000 and 7000 feet altitude. In the yungas the bushes are usually three or four feet high, but may grow to seven or eight. A small crop may be gathered 18 months after planting, but only in four or five years are they in full leaf. Three times a year the leaves are gathered, and with good care the plantations will last half a century. The leaves are picked by hand, dried, and stored in a dry place, later packed in bales and pressed. Properly used the chewing of coca in the highlands may be a blessing. Carried to the excess usual among the Indians it is a curse, as it is where here used in drinks sold at the soda counter, creating a habit as vicious as that of alcohol or opium. For the cultivation of cotton on the lowlands there is much suitable soil and climate.
Forestry
Of forestal products Bolivia contains all those found in the other sections of the Amazon basin, varieties of timber, medicinal plants, etc.; but none at present is of commercial value for export except quinine, manufactured from cinchona bark, and rubber.
Rubber. The rubber industry of Bolivia is second to that of minerals. In amount of this export the country is believed to be second in South America to Brazil, though little has been touched of the vast territory capable of its production. Sir Martin Conway estimated the rubber trees of the Beni district as 50,000,000. There are four zones of rubber producing country, one in the extreme north near the Acre Territory of Brazil, with outlet from the port and custom house of Cobija; second, the greater part of Colonias exporting through the national custom house of Villa Bella, by Villa Rica at the confluence of the Abuna and the Madeira, or by lesser ports; third, the Department of La Paz, the rubber going out by Lake Titicaca and Mollendo; fourth, Beni, Santa Cruz, and Cochabamba, the rubber from the north going out by Guajará Merím or Villa Bella, that farther south by Puerto Suarez on the Paraguay or by Yacuiba, and from the west by Oruro and Antofagasta. The rubber of the region is chiefly that called fine Pará, most of it exported through that port and being of the best quality. The latex of the hevea is the source; sernamby is second quality made of the residue of the finer quality mixed with bark. The caucho from the castilloa elastica is little exploited on account of few laborers and expensive transport. With the opening of the Madeira-Mamoré Railway in 1912 better facilities were secured, this railway having been built a distance of 207 miles along the Brazilian shore to avoid the bad rapids on the two rivers. The flooding of the market with Malay and Ceylon rubber seriously affected Bolivian production and export, but these have recently increased. With the forming of plantations in this section, a work which an American company has undertaken, the rubber should be better able to compete with that of Ceylon, as its superior quality is known. The fact that the Bolivian export tax is lower than that of Brazil gives the former an advantage.
In the Department of Cochabamba are great quantities of maniçoba trees producing rubber known as ceará, of good quality but not the best. It might be cultivated in hilly regions and on banks of streams of the Yungas and other valleys in the Department of La Paz. The lot of the seringueiros, the rubber workers, is bad; it may and must be bettered if the industry is to continue. The establishing of plantations will be a great improvement, but some amenities of life might be made available even in the ordinary forest.
Investments
From the description of Bolivia, it is apparent that mining presents the most attractive field for the large capitalist. Mining experts with less money may be tempted to investigate gold prospects or to search for rich veins of other metals, later organizing companies for their development or selling at a handsome profit their acquired claims, as some persons have done hitherto. However sales are not always easily made. Petroleum is numbered among the mining possibilities, although the most favorably located fields may be preempted already, chiefly by American Companies, the Braden and the Richmond Levering, in spite of the difficulties of access and development. The petroleum procured would find its market in Bolivia and in the neighboring countries of the East and West Coasts where it is greatly needed. The oil with a paraffin base is of high grade running to 45.8 Baumé.
Stock raising of various kinds would be profitable in certain localities, and some forms of agriculture and small industries. Railway construction, the development of electric power, the installation of sanitary and other public works will afford many openings for engineers.
CHAPTER XXVIII
CHILE: AREA, HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, POPULATION, ETC.
The country of Chile, the seventh in size of the South American Republics, is frequently ranked with the two largest, Brazil and Argentina, owing to the enterprise of its inhabitants: a natural result of their location in the temperate zone, from 17° 57′ to 55° 59′ South Latitude; increased perhaps by their long struggle with the Araucanian Indians.
Area, Population, Boundary
Area. Chile, with an extent of 290,000 square miles, is ribbon like in shape, having a length of nearly 2700 miles, a trifle more than Argentina; in a direct line 2140 miles, with a width of 70-248, miles averaging about 85.
Population. The country with approximately 4,000,000 inhabitants is fifth in this respect.
Boundary. The boundary of Chile is simple. At the north is Peru, on the east are Bolivia and Argentina, at the south and west the Pacific Ocean.
History
The bold Spanish invaders of Peru might reasonably have been contented for a time with the conquest of that vast territory. But Diego de Almagro, incited by the grant of 200 leagues south of those bestowed upon Pizarro, and enticed by the tales of a region richer still in gold and silver, set forth to gain possession of the allotted lands, not long after the founding of Lima in 1535. Over the great Bolivian Plateau and a high mountain pass into Chile, Almagro marched with his followers, only to return disappointed after enduring untold hardships and suffering.
A few years later a second expedition was undertaken by Pedro de Valdivia, this one along the shore. From Arica proceeding by sea, having landed at the mouth of the Rio Maipo, in February, 1541, Valdivia founded the city of Santiago. Still unsatisfied he continued south, in spite of much opposition, making settlements at Concepción, Imperial, Villa Rica, and Valdivia; but in 1553 he was himself slain by the warlike Araucanians, who long disputed with the invaders the occupation of their country. For 250 years the contest continued intermittently, with some diminution and amalgamation of the Indians, till the Chilians rose against Spain, when a more friendly feeling was established.
The Chilians, who convoked a national congress in 1810, regard this event as the inauguration of their independence; though not until 1818 was it secured with the aid of San Martín and his army from Argentina. Chile subsequently experienced many internal difficulties, but after 1861 the Government became more liberal, and since that period, except for the revolution against Balmaceda in 1890, the country has been free from serious internal strife.
Government
The government is that of a centralized republic with the usual three branches. The President, elected for a term of five years and not eligible at once for a second term, appoints the Intendentes and Gobernadores who respectively administer the 23 Provinces, and their subdivisions, the 82 Departments. There is one Territory, Magallanes, which includes the southern mainland and the coastal islands. The police force is national in organization. In the Provinces no legislative bodies exist save municipal councils with certain local duties. The franchise is so restricted (the voters must have property and be able to read and write) that as 25 per cent of the population is illiterate and most of the laboring class landless, the Government is said to be practically in the hands of a few leading families. Senators, 37 in number, must have an income of $2000 and Deputies, 118, one of $500. The President must not leave the country while in office.
Chile has 23 Provinces, all but five of which border on the Pacific, and one Territory. Beginning at the north the names of the Provinces follow with their approximate areas and population, and with the names and population of their capitals:
| Provinces | Area, in square miles | Population | Capitals | Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tacna | 9,000 | 40,000 | Tacna | 8,000 |
| Tarapacá | 17,000 | 134,000 | Iquique | 45,000 |
| Antofagasta | 46,500 | 220,000 | Antofagasta | 66,000 |
| Atacama | 31,000 | 67,000 | Copiapó | 13,000 |
| Coquimbo | 14,000 | 191,000 | La Serena | 16,000 |
| Aconcagua | 5,400 | 140,000 | San Felipe | 12,000 |
| Valparaiso | 1,775 | 347,000 | Valparaiso | 212,000 |
| Santiago | 5,900 | 627,000 | Santiago | 450,000 |
| O’Higgins | 2,168 | 125,000 | Rancagua | 13,000 |
| Colchagua | 3,900 | 163,000 | San Fernando | 10,000 |
| Curicó | 3,045 | 115,000 | Curicó | 23,000 |
| Talca | 3,900 | 135,000 | Talca | 42,000 |
| Maule | 2,800 | 125,000 | Cauquenes | 12,000 |
| Linares | 4,000 | 120,000 | Linares | 3,000 |
| Nuble | 3,500 | 199,000 | Chillán | 40,000 |
| Concepción | 3,300 | 271,000 | Concepción | 72,700 |
| Arauco | 2,200 | 74,000 | Arauco | 3,500 |
| Bio-Bio | 5,400 | 106,000 | Los Angeles | 14,000 |
| Malleco | 3,300 | 136,000 | Angol | 10,000 |
| Cautín | 6,400 | 175,000 | Temuco | 31,000 |
| Valdivia | 9,000 | 187,000 | Valdivia | 26,000 |
| Llanquihue | 35,000 | 150,000 | Puerto Montt | 8,000 |
| Chiloé | 7,000 | 100,000 | Ancud | 4,000 |
| Territory | ||||
| Magallanes | 65,000 | 32,000 | Punta Arenas | 20,000 |
Population
The population of Chile is little if any below 4,000,000, which gives it an average of 12 or more to the square mile, the highest rate of all the North and West Coast countries. There is considerable variation in the different Provinces, but less than in the other Republics, if the Territory is omitted. The most thickly inhabited region is from Valparaiso south to Valdivia; the Province of Santiago having the largest population and that of Valparaiso the densest. As to the character of the population it is estimated that 40 per cent are of white extraction, with at least 50-60 per cent mestizos; probably 50,000 Indians, including possibly 5000 in the far south, uncivilized and dying out. The educated class as in other countries forms a small minority of the inhabitants, but in recent years greater attention has been paid to the diffusion of knowledge among the common people.
Education
The middle and upper classes pay much attention to education. In Santiago there are two universities, the larger the University of Chile, open also to women, and the Catholic University, each with various departments; a National Institute or high school, a School of Mines, a Normal School, a School of Arts and Trades. In La Serena and Copiapó at the north are other Mining Schools, and in cities at the south Schools of Agriculture; also Normal Schools. An Industrial College is to be opened in Valparaiso. All towns have elementary schools; in all State schools including universities education is free, and in primary grades from 1921 compulsory. There are various private schools, in Santiago a large and excellent one for boys (managed for years by American Methodists), where the sons of many prominent families have been educated, as in La Paz, Bolivia.
Press, Religion, etc.
Press. The Press is free, influential, and of high character, the Mercurio of Valparaiso and Santiago having a world wide reputation, and ranking with the best of any country. There are about 700 newspapers and journals.
Religion. The Roman Catholic religion is recognized as that of the State, but freedom is permitted to others. The women generally are very devout, though as in the other countries the men of the governing classes are inclined to agnosticism.
Telegraph. Chile possesses 30,000 miles of telegraph lines and 46,000 of telephone. There are 32 wireless stations at intervals from Arica down to Punta Arenas, with one on Juan Fernandez Island.
Money. A gold peso (there are no such coins) may be regarded as worth 36 cents, but the paper money which is in general use fluctuates in value, a peso varying from 14 to 25 cents, usually 18-22. There are silver coins of 10, 20, 40 centavos, and copper of smaller value.
The Metric System of weights and measures is obligatory, all others being excluded by law.
CHAPTER XXIX
CHILE: PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
The country of Chile has an extraordinary shape, very long and narrow. Unlike the other Republics of the West Coast, Chile has no trans-Andine region, as the watershed of the Andes constitutes the eastern boundary line. Thus confined between the sea and the mountain tops, while the coast line of the country is nearly 2700 miles, as far as from Labrador to Guiana, the width is scanty, mostly varying from 100 to 225 miles, though at one point in the south the western boundary of Argentina is but 26 miles from the Pacific Ocean.
Although so narrow for most of the distance, Chile has three sections longitudinally: a very narrow coastal strip, a plateau, or a central valley, and the mountain region. Its remarkable length from 18° S. Lat., several degrees in the torrid zone, to 56°, well towards the Antarctic Circle, gives it a wide range in climate arising from the latitude, as well as the variation from the altitude which it shares with the countries previously mentioned. From north to south also, the Republic has three zones: the hot arid land at the north, 18°-32°, followed by the temperate agricultural section in the centre to 42°, and the cool, rainy, forested lands at the south; sometimes four sections are spoken of, in which case the first is regarded as two, dividing at 27° into the nitrate section north and a mineral, south. Of these two the former has a plateau section between the Andes and the sea, the latter some transverse ridges. The country has 25 per cent in woods and forests, 7¹⁄₂ per cent in pastures, 5 irrigable land and 12¹⁄₂ per cent arable.
As already noted, the Pacific Coast south of Ecuador is a practically rainless desert for a distance of 1600 miles along the shore of Peru and Chile, about as far as Coquimbo. Here begins the agricultural centre of Chile, including the rich longitudinal valley (with soil 330 feet deep), in which the capital, Santiago, is situated; the valley extends from the Aconcagua River to the Gulf of Ancud, 620 miles. Many populous towns and ports are in this section, among them Valparaiso. The forest country farther south is but sparsely settled.
Mountains. The Cordillera of the Andes, which extends throughout the entire length of the country, and is continued at the north by the Cordillera of Peru, is recognized from its geological formation as belonging to a recent epoch. It contains many volcanoes, mostly extinct or inactive except in the south. Aconcagua, of volcanic origin, the highest peak of the Andes and of all America so far as is yet known, is a little north of the centre. Its summit is just over the border in Argentina, as the watershed forming the boundary here runs west of the line of greatest altitude. The height of Aconcagua is variously stated, but 22,817 feet has perhaps the best authority. Other lofty peaks are near, Mercedario and Tupungato, each over 22,000 feet. There are 24 passes across the range at a height of 10,000 feet more or less. Farther south the mountains diminish rapidly in height with few summits above 10,000 feet. The range ends in Tierra del Fuego with Mt. Sarmiento, 7000 feet.
A cordillera of the coast, geologically older, is much lower, disappearing altogether at the north. In general quite steep towards the sea, it slopes gradually towards the central valley or plateau. This range continues at the south in islands, which in great numbers fringe the coast. Here the shore is much indented with straits and bays, resembling the fjords of Norway. Nearly all of the narrowing point of the continent, the entire Strait of Magellan, and most of Tierra del Fuego belong to Chile.
Rivers
The rivers of the country are numerous except in the north, where but two reach the ocean. Farther south to 35° they are torrential in character, but important both for irrigation and as a potential source of hydro-electric power; their descent from so great a height indicating large future possibilities. Beyond 35° a number of streams are navigable for some distance for boats of light draught, 500 miles in all, the Bio-Bio for 100 miles, the Maule for 75. South of these rivers are many picturesque and important lakes close to the Cordillera where they serve as great reservoirs for the excessive precipitation of rain and snow on the west side of the mountains. The largest are Lakes Rauco and Llanquihue, with estimated areas respectively of 200 and 250 square miles. Lake Todos los Santos, 40 square miles, described as of marvelous beauty, is northeast of Puerto Montt among the Andean foothills, at a height of 500 feet.
The seaboard at the north, with few indentations, has in consequence poor harbors, where landing in small boats may occasionally be dangerous or impossible. In the far south are sheltered harbors, but few cities requiring them.