Up the Amazon and Madeira rivers, through Bolivia and Peru

by Edward D. Mathews

In deciding upon the route, the first consideration will be whether the traveller wishes to reach the Pacific or Atlantic Oceans. Should he desire to avoid either the land transit over the Panamá railway, or the bad weather so prevalent in the Straits of Magellan, his course will be directed to the Atlantic. As I have before stated, the best route to this ocean is down the Madeira and Amazon Rivers, but if our traveller has arrived in Bolivia by ascending those rivers, he will be anxious to see new worlds, and will steer his course either for the Paraguay or the Vermejo.

Should the former river be chosen, the traveller must, from Sucre, make his way to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, from which town there is a track running through the villages of the Cordillera to Curumbá, a Brazilian town on the western bank of the Paraguay. From this place there are occasional steamers trading up and down the river, by which Asuncion can be reached, and from thence to Buenos Ayres there is a regular service. This route involves a land journey of about 850 miles, being about 300 from Sucre to Santa Cruz and 550 from thence to Curumbá. A straight line from Sucre to Curumbá would be under 500 miles, but there is no known road running direct between the two places; and in 1875 a Bolivian Commission, sent for the purpose of opening up a track, returned without success, having been unable to attempt to cross the lagoons and swamps of Izozo. The road viâ Santa Cruz is a well-known one, and in fairly dry weather presents no obstacles that a good mule cannot overcome, the principal difficulties being those presented by a journey through sparsely inhabited districts almost entirely destitute of resources for a traveller, who must therefore depend upon his own animals and what he can carry with him in provisions, bedding, and other requisites. Arrived at Curumbá the rest of the journey to Buenos Ayres would probably be a very pleasant one, navigating down the magnificent river known above Corrientes as the Paraguay and below as the Paraná and Rio de la Plata.

If the Vermejo route be attempted, a land journey of about 400 miles to Oran, viâ Potosí, Cinti, and Tarija, must be undertaken, and from Oran, I have been informed, canoes can be obtained for Corrientes, a distance by river of about 900 miles. The land journey is a rough one, as it passes over a very mountainous country, but probably a traveller would find more resources en route than by the Santa Cruz and Curumbá line. Both Cinti and Tarija are places of considerable trade, and the former is specially noted for its wines and spirits, which find their way, not only all over Bolivia, but into the neighbouring republics of Peru and Chili. The Cinti wines are very excellent in character, and compare very favourably with ordinary wines of Portugal or Spain, whilst the “aguadiente de ubas,” or “strong waters of the grape,” of Cinti is far preferable to the greater part of such spirits as gin or common whiskey and brandy, and is quite equal to the best white rum of the West Indies or the best “Pisco” of Peru. In Sucre and Cochabamba this spirit is called “cingani,” and costs ten reales, or 4s. 2d. per bottle, whilst the Cinti wine of fairly good quality costs half that price for the same quantity.

There is a route to the port of Cobija, the only Bolivian seaport on the Pacific coast, but the entire journey from Porco to Cobija, being through a perfectly deserted country of most mountainous and barren character, should not be undertaken unless the traveller has special reasons for visiting the desert of Atacama with its silver mines and “salitreros,” or nitrate deposits.

The department of Atacama has been a constant cause of envy to Chilian adventurers, and consequently, for many years past, frequent disputes as to the boundary line have occurred; but these have now been settled for a time by the treaty made in 1874, to which I have already referred, and by which the astute Chilian minister Don Carlos Walker y Martinez succeeded in transferring about sixty miles of coast-line from Bolivia to Chili. This was a most serious loss to Bolivia, already almost land-locked, but doubtless the Chilians will not be content until they have gained all the Pacific seaboard available, and have united their territory to that of Peru at the river Loa, thus entirely isolating Bolivia from free communication with the Pacific. The unfortunate internal dissensions of the Bolivians assist the Chilians greatly in their efforts to absorb the whole of this rich mineral district of Atacama, but as the Chilians are a far more enterprising people than the Bolivians, one can scarcely regret that such a rich territory should become the property of a people capable of developing its resources. For information upon this part of Bolivia an inquirer should procure a work entitled “Ten Years in South America,” written by Benjamin S. Dingman, an American engineer, and published by Messrs. Trübner and Co. The following remarks on the desert of Atacama are therein found, and as I had no opportunity of visiting the district I may perhaps be excused for making the following quotation, as being the best testimony available to me of the richness of this part of Bolivia. The volume devoted to Bolivia opens with an account of “the Caracoles silver mines which were discovered in 1870 in the desert of Atacama, by Don José Diaz Gana, whose innumerable explorations have been the means of opening an extensive horizon to the capital and industry of Bolivia and Chili. It appears that Diaz Gana, not being satisfied with the result of his explorations on the borders of the desert, sent a part of his company to the interior to explore some mountains where he had reason to believe some rich veins of ore would be found. His envoys, Saavedra, Mendez, Porras, and Reyes, arrived at the table-land which serves as the base of those beautiful grey mountains. Reyes, climbing up the easy slope, picked up loose pieces of silver where now are the Merceditas and Deseada mines, and continued picking them up in different directions, not knowing their value, but thinking possibly they might be of service. Later on he joined his companions, who had also found loose pieces of ore, and had made marks in the lead with their knives. Two of them immediately started to the coast to inform their patron. They had been to Diaz Gana what Sancho Mundo was to Columbus. The discovery was made, and that dry and solitary desert a short time after was the centre of an active population. Diaz Gana baptized that emporium of riches ‘Caracoles,’ for the fossils characterizing the lias were abundant, and as a matter-of-fact man he fixed upon this notable geological formation to give a name to his discovery. The young Chilian Francisco Bascunan Alvarez is another of those untiring explorers who have helped to convert the desert into a field of industry and labour. After long and laborious explorations in Copiapo, Bolivia, and Catamarca in 1857, he returned to the desert in 1870 and discovered in Caracoles the group called Isla on account of its topographical position. The mines are from 10,000 to 15,000 feet above the level of the sea, and among the richest may be noted the Deseada, Merceditas, Flor del Desierto, Esperanza, San José and Esmeralda. Then there are the Federico Errasurig, Sud America, Salvadora, and a host of others, some of great promise, others worth little or nothing. The experiments made by men of science resulted in the encouragement of all kinds of enterprises, and Caracoles soon became an immense field of speculators disposing of large capitals. The merchants of Chili, both native and foreign, were the founders of these companies, the stock of which was sold at fabulous premiums. In Caracoles fortunes were made in a day, and not insignificant ones either, but of millions. But in this, as well as in other pursuits of life, all cannot have the same luck, and thousands went there only to bury their fortunes and their bones also in their vain search for the hidden treasures.”

After the celebration of the treaty whereby the boundary line between Bolivia and Chili was fixed at the 24th parallel of latitude, the government of the latter republic lost little time in commencing to utilize the treasures of the desert which would probably remain undeveloped as long as they were in Bolivian hands. A commission of exploration was sent under the auspices of the government, and the results obtained are given to the world in a pamphlet whose objects are therein thus set forth: “The Chilian government, desirous of rendering aid to private enterprise, has sent thither two commissioners, one for the purpose of discovering the natural sources of wealth existing in this desert and now hidden from view, and the other to study the means of affording ready access for those who may be engaged in the work of bringing its produce within reach of the markets of the world.” The pamphlet is entitled “Nitrate and Guano Deposits in the desert of Atacama; an account of the measures taken by the government of Chili to facilitate the development thereof,” and was published by the Chilian Consulate in London.

With these few remarks upon the routes from Bolivia to the ocean, I will take up the description of the road viâ Potosí and Oruro to Tacna and Arica. In preparing for this journey a traveller should engage a servant who knows the road well; and there are plenty of handy fellows always on the look out for such service. I was to be accompanied to England by the son of an old English resident in Bolivia, a young lad who was being sent to England to complete his education, so that we required two servant boys, as we had, what with baggage and saddle mules, too many animals for one boy to look after properly. My companion’s father sent with us as his son’s factotum, a very handy Argentine gaucho who was most useful on the road, as he thoroughly understood the management of the mules and their pack apparatus, which, if not kept in good order, is sure to give the travellers endless trouble. I selected one “Juan de la Cruz Peña,” a man from the province of Valle Grande, who had made the journey several times, and turned out a very fair servant, although he was not nearly so handy with the animals as the Argentine “Marco.” A fair sum to pay one of these men for the journey from Sucre to Tacna is forty-five pesos, about £7, and he will want his food, or a payment of two reales (9d.) per day in lieu thereof. A mule must be provided for him, and he will generally find his own saddle, bridle, and sleeping-blankets.

Occasionally arrieros, who are going down to Tacna with minerals from Potosí or Oruro, and returning to Sucre with European goods, will undertake the carriage of a traveller’s baggage on some of their spare animals; but it is scarcely safe to trust any of these gentry, as they are quite likely to leave your baggage anywhere on the road wherever their animals may break down; and as they always require pay before they start, it is not a very safe proceeding to trust one’s belongings to them.

“The Posta” is an institution that I have only met with in Bolivia, and if it were properly worked, it would be a great assistance to travellers in a country where there are scarcely any roads; but the government in this, as in every other branch of the public service, seems to look only to the one end of making as much as possible out of it. As soon as a revolution is over, the ministers who have installed themselves in Government House, call for tenders for farming the “postas” between the principal towns of the republic. The successful contractor having paid to the government the purchase price of the contract, is supposed to supply a sufficient number of mules for the post-houses on the route he has contracted for. These postas are generally about four to six leagues apart, and a few Indian huts are found in their neighbourhood. The contractor sells to these Indians the right of carrying the travellers and their baggage; and screws as much as he can out of them for the transfer of the monopoly of the work between each station. The tolls are fixed by the government, and the corregidor of any town will furnish the traveller with a “guia,” or list of the postas and the tolls to be paid per mile between each of them. The rates vary slightly, according to the situation of the posta, but are generally from two to two and a half reales per mule per league, which would be about 3d. to 3½d. per mile; and this price includes the services of an Indian in charge of the animals. Of course, the Indians, who have to pay heavily for the privilege of working the posta, provide wretched animals, whilst the government contractor, who rarely, if ever, visits the route, but lives either at La Paz or Sucre, never troubles himself as to whether the post-houses are kept in good condition, and supplied with sufficient and proper animals.

Between Potosí and Oruro there are very fair post-houses, in which, in times of peace, baggage mules can be depended upon from post to post; and if one can be sure that everything connected with the posta is in good working order, and that there is no probability of a revolution coming on, this becomes a very good plan of getting over the road quickly and economically; but you must take your own saddle animal, for it is simply impossible to ride the rough posta mules.