From the towns we come naturally to the roads. Of the "philosophy of the road" in Spanish America, I have spoken elsewhere.
It will be impressed upon us in our travels in the wild regions of Spanish America that, however fruitful Nature may be here, we cannot adequately enjoy these fruits until means of transport and communication are more plentiful and easier. There are thousands of miles of territory where the sound of the locomotive has never been heard, where, indeed, neither road nor bypath exists. The difficulties of railway and highway building here are often immense. The topography of the country is against it; the geological formation, the climate offer serious obstacles. Precipitous hills and unstable ground and torrential rainfall render almost impossible in places either the construction or maintenance of any form of highway.
Yet we shall doubt if the limit of human ingenuity has been reached here, and greater inventive and mechanical genius must be brought to bear on the problem, in new types of road and railway. The engineer is somewhat apathetic in this connection, whether in America or Europe.
The people of Spanish America seem unable to do much for themselves in the building of railways. No line is ever built except by British gold and foreign engineers. They could do much more themselves, especially as regards roads.
Will air-navigation help to solve the problem of transport in South America? Perhaps, to a limited extent. Aeroplane services might be of inestimable value in rendering communication possible with the sequestered towns of the Cordillera, for example. There are vast open spaces where landing would be easy, given the overcoming of atmospheric difficulties. Some investigation is beginning. In Peru some study of the possible routes among the mountains has been made. In Chile the Andes have been crossed by an airman. Flying, although possibly its "circus" attributes are most attractive, appeals to the temperament of the Spanish American. But a Peruvian airman[43] strove to be the first to cross the Alps, and gallantly perished in the attempt. Brazil also furnished its pioneer airman.[44] Hydroplanes might be of service, as they could alight on the rivers, in crossing the Amazon forests.
A glance now at the mining industry, so largely dependent upon means of transport here.
It cannot be said that gold plays a predominant part in the mining of to-day in the Latin American countries. More important is the winning of the baser metals.
It is, in fact, somewhat remarkable that a land, fabled earlier for its plenitude of gold, should in modern times, yield so relatively small an output. The value of the whole gold production of the Latin American countries scarcely reaches the annual amount of £8,000,000, which shrinks into insignificance beside the £50,000,000 of a single group of mines in another continent, the South African Rand. Of this, Mexico produces three-quarters, leaving the vast continent of South America with the small sum, as contribution to the world's stock of the yellow metal, of some two million pounds' sterling only.
We may inquire as to the reason of this paucity, and the reply, in the first instance undoubtedly is that, although Nature has placed gold in the rocks and soils of Central and South America in almost every quarter, the metal is in a form that does not always lend itself to the winning in large bulk. The mines are rich, but often small and scattered. There have not here been discovered the enormous bodies of ore which, although of low grade, as in South Africa, by their very extent and compactness, render mining economically and physically a more profitable undertaking. Further, it may be said that, in more recent times, mining enterprise and the attention of capital needful for such has not been drawn so strongly to the possibilities of gold-mining in the Latin American countries, and, lastly, political unrest and revolution in these States has in some cases rendered it precarious.
This last condition need not be exaggerated. It may be said that the Governments of the Latin American Republics are, in the main, generous in their treatment of foreign mining enterprise in their territories, and that sporadic revolution does not necessarily seriously affect the working of the mines, though at times it may cause temporary inconvenience and possible loss. The foreign shareholders of the few considerable gold mines of South America, and even of Mexico, have in general reaped excellent returns on their investments. Conditions in Mexico, however, of late have been intolerable in some cases, with confiscation and even murder attending them.