REPORT TO THE DIRECTORS
or THE
MADEIRA AND MAMGRÉ RAILWAY
COMPANY, LIMITED,
BY
EDWARD D. MATHEWS,
Resident Engineer,
UPON HIS RETUEN FEOM
BRAZIL AND BOLIVIA
IN
1875.
LONDON:
WATERLOW & SONS, PRINTERS, GREAT WINCHESTER STREET.
REPORT TO THE DIRECTORS
OP THE
MADEIRA AND MAMORÉ RAILWAY
COMPANY, LIMITED,
BY
EDWARD D. MATHEWS,
Reaident Engineer,
TJl'OK HIS RETUEN FROM
BRAZIL AJSTD BOLIVIA
IN
1875.
LONDON ;
WATBRLOW & SONS, PRINTERS, GREAT "WINCHESTER STREET.
187S.
TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE MADEIRA
AND MAMORÉ RAILWAY COMPANY^ LIMITED.
Gentlemen,—You chairman has done me the honour of suggesting
that I should present you a report upon the various matters that have
come under my notice since I left the head-quarters of the railway at
San Antonio, in April of last year, and I therefore beg to offer the
following remarks
Introduction.
Upon the management of the Public Works Company of their
contract I have already fully reported, and doubtless the board is in
possession of my ideas upon the subject. In December of 1873 I
found it necessary to request the Brazilian authorities to place an
embargo upon the plant, tools, and other materials that had been
placed at San Antonio by the Public Works Companjq as the agents
of that Company seemed desirous of taking away the articles that
would be saleable in Par à. This embargo was granted me, and
nothing was removed.
The engineers sent by Messrs. Dorsey and Caldwell arrived at
San Antonio in January, and at once commenced their survey, being
successful in finding a very fair line for the first section from San
Antonio to Macacos. Their survey and profile for this section
would, with some slight modifications, have been accepted by me on
behalf of the Company. Thus the allegation made by the Public
Works Company that this portion of the line could not be made for
less than £20,0G0 more than their contract price is disproved.
Finding that Messrs. Dorsey and Caldwelhs engineers were not
prepared to carry on their surveying operations over the wh<?^lo
4
length of the line, I decided that it would not be my duty to hand
over to them the material and plant ; but a correct inventory thereof
was drawn up and agreed to by Mr, Steele, the contractor's chief
agent, and myself. A copy of this inventory is extant in this office.
The advices that I received from London in the early part of 1874
led me to believe that the steps taken by the Bolivian Commissioners
in London would lead to a long delay in the prosecution of the works,
and I therefore decided to make a journey up the rapids and into
Bolivia in order to obtain, by personal inspection, a knowledge of the
ground over which the railway had to pass, and of the country it was
to be built for.
I arranged to leave Señor Ignacio Arauz in charge as agent of all
the Company's property, and left him a proper power of attorney and
full instructions as to his duties. From the letters that have been
received from him in this office during my absence, it is clear that he
has faithfully kept the trust reposed in him by me.
On the 24th of April I left San Antonio and commenced the
passage of the rapids, and thus having brought my report to this
point, it will be well to make a sub-division of the subject matter of
the remainder. This I will do as folloAvs —
1st. The right bank of the river, and the passage of the rapids.
2nd. The river from Guajarà Merim to Exaltación.
3rd. Exaltación to Trinidad.
4th. Trinidad to Coni.
5th. Bolivia. Coni to Cochabamba, Cochabamba to Sucre.
6th. Sucre.
7th. Sucre to London.
8th. Besults to be expected from the enterprise.
I.--THE PvIGHT BANK OF THE BIYEB AND THE
PASSAGE OF THE EAPIDS.
Organisation of the Expedition to Bolivia.
A party of Bolivian merchants had organised their return to
Bolivia in the early part of 1874 ; having arranged to commence the
ascent of the rapids in the month of April, I requested permission to
accompany them, it being unwise to attempt the passage of the rapids
with single canoes, for one crew is not able to pull the canoe through
some of the stronger currents, or drag it over the dry land portages of
Theotonio, Girao, or Biberao,
5
Cargoes taken up to Bolivia,
The expedition consisted of seven large embarcations called "gariteas/'
two small canoes or "montarlas," and probably about 100 persons, in¬
cluding Bolivian Indians and wdiites. The merchants were taking
to Bolivia general stores of merchandize, such as dry goods, guaraná,
iron pots and kettles, ordinary claret, bar iron, and a few other odds
and ends suitable for sale in the Mojos and Beni districts. I should
estimate the total weight of merchandize thus taken up the rapids at
about thirty tons, and its value at about £10,000.
State of the River at the time of the Journey.
The state of the river was considered favourable for the ascent of
the rapids, as the ^\''ater had fallen about six feet from its highest
flood level, and was falling daily. Consequently the currents were
not so strong as at high water, and many side channels were available
which could not be used either at high or at low water. At high
water they would be useless, as the currents would carry the canoes
into the overhanging branches of the trees bordering the bank ; and at
low water they would be entirely dry. At many of the rapids the use of
these side channels avoids the danger of hauling the canoes through
the main rapids where the power of the water is greatest.
Start from San Antonio^
My own canoe bad fourteen paddles, but as I had to take whatever
men I could get, several sick Indians who were desirous of returning
to Bolivia fell to my lot. This caused me generally to be far in the
rear of the other canoes, and often obliged me to take a.long spell at
the paddle myself, for on many days during the latter portion of the
journey I have paddled for eight hours at a stretch.
At starting from San Antonio the baggage had to be taken over
to the left bank and there passed overland, while the empty canoes
were sent back to the right bank and passed up the channel which
separates Holy Island from the mainland. This work of transferring
the cargo took up the whole day, and at dark we had not succeeded
in re-embarking all the effects, so made the canoes fast to the bank,
and passed the night of the 24th still in San Antonio, but above the
lall on the left bank of the river opposite the settlement.
6
San Antonio to Theotonio.
Tlie next day the 25th, and part of the 26th, was passed in as¬
cending from San Antonio to Theotonio, which was reached in the
afternoon of the 26th. The currents on both sides of the river being
very strong we could only paddle for short distances, and it may be
said that the whole distance was done by "roping," that is, sending
forward the small canoe, or montarla, with a light cable, the end
of which to be made fast to any available stump or tree, then the
crew of the larger canoe, or garitea, haul on the rope until the point
to which the rope is made fast is reached, and then the montarla goes
ahead again and the process is repeated. This slow mode of progi^ess
will account for the great time occupied in getting over the short dis¬
tance of about nine miles by water from San Antonio to Theotonio.
Theotonio.
Arriving at the Theotonio Falls, one has to cross a large bay formed
by the river at the foot of the fall, and here the waves are almost
always high, especially when the wind blows up the fall. Here my
garitea had a very narrow escap'e of swamping with all on board, for
being low down in the water the waves dashed over the quarter, and
many of my Indians being Cruzeños, and therefore unaccustomed to
canoe navigation, took fright, and by rising up and ceasing to paddle
endangered greatly the safety of the canoe. However, by encouraging
them by words and prompt action in baling out the water that had
entered the canoe, we happily got to the foot of the fall, on the right
bank, where the Bolivian merchants that had preceded me from San
Antonio were waiting to assist me in passing my garitea and baggage
over the portage.
Bailway Line between San Antonio and Theotonio should
be kept Inland.
The country between San Antonio and Theotonio needs but little
description, as the surveys have already been completed to Macacos,
and the path has been cut inland of the fall. I observed that between
Macacos and Theotonio, the right bank of the river is hilly, the banks
rising in places with a straight wall of twenty or thirty feet elevation
above the highest water level. The line, therefore, between these
points must probably be kept away from the river, and a cut should
be run inland from Arauz's Bead at any favourable place on the first
7
two miles from Macacos, in order to determine how great is the ex¬
tent of the rough ground on those miles. The result of this cut
would also determine how the drop to lower land at station No. 3
or Ross Town should be overcome, and indeed determine whether
such descent be advisable or not.
Inland Line advocated.
An investigation of the surveys and sections made by the Public
Works Company shows that the road had found an elevated plateau
at about three miles from Macacos, gently rising from 100 to 180
feet above high water at San Antonio. The engineers of the Public
Works Company left this plateau and turned down to the river, on
nearing which the line encounters a drop of 150 feet in 27 chains,
equal to about per cent., or 1 in 12, but the necessity, if any, for
leaving the plateau and seeking the river bank, does not appear.
From this plateau, I think, a strenuous effort should be made to
keep the high ground gained, and run the line as direct as possible
for Ribeirao. An inland line would probably secure good crossings
over the rivers Yaci-Paraiia, Tres-Irmaos, and Ribeirao, and avoid
any low lying lands that may exist near the outlets of those streams.
A glance at the levels given by the Public Works Company's sections
would lead to a belief that a great inland plateau, about 150 to 200
feet above high water at San Antonio, exists a few miles from the
course of the river through the rapids, and having gained this plateau
it would certainly be advisable to endeavour to keep on it. My
remarks upon the country through the remainder of the falls, should
therefore be considered as remarks upon the river bank, and not
necessarily upon the site of the railway.
Theotonio healthier than San Antonio.
To resume then the account of my journey up the rapids. The
afternoon of the 26 th of April was occupied in transferring my ga¬
ritea and baggage to the upper side of the fall.- The portage was
about 600 yards in length and passes over a rocky hill about fifty
feet high. Theotonio is reported to be much healthier than San
Antonio, and it might be found advisable to make a sanitarium at
this fall, or perhaps even make the Drawing and Accounting Offices
there.
8
Method of passing canoes up strong currents.
From Theotonio tlie canoes started in Indian File, with the small
montarlas ahead, the passing of the strong currents being much faci¬
litated if this order is kept. The practice is that each garitea should
be furnished with a strong but light cable of about fifty fathoms length,
and on arriving at a current that cannot be passed by paddling, the
montarla goes ahead with the rope of the foremost garitea as before
described, and then each garitea embarks the point of the cable of
the garitea next behind him, so that a continuous chain is formed
over the current, which is surmounted by these means. If the current
is a long one and requires more than one " roping " to ascend it, then
no garitea is allowed to leave a point gained by hauling until the
garitea next behind it shall have reached that point and given the end
of its rope again to the foremost one.
Theotonio to Morinhos.
The 27th and 28th were occupied in ascending from Theotonio to
Morinhos, which was reached on the morning of the 29th. Several
strong currents are met with on this length of the river, and in one
of them my garitea became fixed on a rock. A montarla that was
sent to my help by my Bolivian friends was driven with great force
against the bow of my garitea and sucked under water by the current,
the four men who were in lier with difficulty escaping by clinsfing to
branches of trees, while the montarla did not appear, until some
distance below us it came up to the surface of the water.
Arauz's Egad.
The river bank between Theotonio and Morinhos is very level, and
Arauz s road, which runs close on the river edge, would serve very
well for the site of the line should it prove desirable to leave the
higher ground before referred to. 1 may here mention that Arauz's
road was in most parts where I visited it much overgrown, but it
was evident that the work of clearing had in the first instance been
well done, nil the large trees having been felled. The overgrowth
was of quite recent character, and being entirely composed of soft and
succulent plants, would be easily cleared away ahead of any exploring
party or travellers by a very few Indians.
9
Moeinhos Rapid Passed.
The Rapid of Morinlios was passed with gariteas half unloaded and
in two rope's lengths through a channel on the right bank of the
river, about four hours being occupied in passing all the seven
gariteas through the currents. Above the real fall, and perhaps only
200 yards further up stream, very strong currents were met with and
the whole of the rest of the day was occupied in overcoming them.
The river Morinhos passes close by the foot of a hill which rises to
perhaps 100 feet, but Arauz's road runs at the base of it with plenty
of room for the line without causing any considerable work.
Above Morinhos Rapid.
Prom Morinhos upwards we continued paddling and roping up the
right bank which presented a uniformly level appearance, and on the
afternoon of the 30th we crossed over to the left bank of the river,
in order to avoid many strong currents which are met with near
the mouth of the Yaci-Paraná.
YaCI-P arana.
Prom the section shown by the Public Works Company's Engineers
of the river bank in the neighbourhood of Yaci-Paraná it would
appear that some two miles and a quarter of the bank is liable to
flooding at high water. The exigencies of the ascent forced me to
keep in the company of the other gariteas on the left bank of the
river, and from that side I could plainly see that although the land
on the river bank upon the opposite or railway side was low lying,
there was high land about a mile and a half to two miles inland.
This also is another argument in favour of keeping, if possible, on
the high plateau found by Arauz's road between Macacos and
Theotonio.
Calderao do Inferno.
On the 3rd of May we. arrived at the foot of the Rapid of Calderao
do Inferno, having once visited the railway side of the river finding
the bank as usual very level and suitable for the site of the line if
necessary. The fall was passed on the left bank or opposite side
of the river, and it took us the whole of the 4th and part of the
5th to get thç cargoes carried over the portage of nearly a mile in
length, and the canoes hauled empty up the rapid. Of the right
10
bank of the river at this fall I cannot speak from actual observation,
but my assistant Mr. Dalton who was over this portion of Arauz's
road in July and August of 1873, reports it to be uneven and very
rocky from the ^ Kabo ' or lower fall to the top fall a distance of
three or four miles." This description would also do for the left bank
that I was over, but the rocky ground there, was principally com¬
posed of large boulders and a section over it would not be very
heavy. The section given by the Public Works Company doubtless
indicates correctly the right bank of the river at the fall, and shows
that a line along the river margin would not meet with any more
serious obstacles than a shoi't cutting of about J mile in length and
10 feet average depth.
From Calderao do Inferno to Cirao.
On the 6th of May the canoes were re-loaded, and the upward
journey was recommenced, and by night fall the foot of the Girao falls
was reached. When nearing the falls the hills above Girao show
bold and high, but appear isolated and have not the appearance of
forming part of any continuous range. It seems therefore probable
that the inland line that I have suggested would avoid the broken
ground at Calderao, Girao and Tres-Irmaos. There is nothing special
to remark of the river bank between Calderao and Girao. Arauz's
track was taken about two miles inland and ran over a mile or
so of very uneven ground, the section showing cuttings and banks
of 20 and 30 feet in depth. My assistant Mr. Dalton describes
this portion of the line as passing over very bad country," but
there was no reason for taking the track away from the river
bank where a much lighter section could have been obtained.
Deaths of two Indians at Calderao do Inferno, causes
explained.
At this part of the journey I had the misfortune to lose two of my
crew, a man and a boy, and as the fall of Calderao do Inferno bears
nearly as bad a name as San Antonio for fever, I shall explain the
causes that in my opinion account for these deaths. Firstly one
should observe, that in ascending the rapids, the crews are composed
of Indian sthat have been for some time engaged on the Madeira
river in rubber gathering. Those of a weak constitution suffer
from fever and are naturally anxious to embrace an opportunity of
11
returning to tlieir country, they get over San Antonio, Theotonio and
Morin h os falls and it is at Calderao and Girao that their strength
begins to fail and the weak ones of the crew die. I do not believe
that there is any special danger to life at either of these falls, save
only that it is thereabouts that the constant wettings and hard labour
of the ascent commence to tell upon the Indians. The boy that died
in my canoe shortly after leaving Calderao was an earth eater and
having indulged too largely in that disgusting vice of certain of the
tribes, I believe that the intense heat of the sun killed him, his
stomach being in a thoroughly disorganised state. The man, had
stolen cachaça (native rum) at Morinhos and while intoxicated had
fallen in the river, this brought on a severe cold. The nights were
wet and cold and he according to a custom that exists with many of
the Indian tribes determined to die, and received his relatives'
commissions to those members of his family that had preceded him
in their last journey. I therefore found it impossible to save his life
and during the night at Girao ho died. I myself was very unwell at
these falls, but it was merely a return of a bilious fever that I had
suffered from in San Antonio and could not be anything special to
the part of the river about Calderao and Girao.
Passage of Giuao Eapid.
The passage of the Giráo falls required that the unloaded craft
should be hauled over the portage of about ^ a mile in length, the
descent from the summit being down a steep rock. This work
occupied the whole of the 7th of May and on the 8th the upward
journey was continued.
Girao to Tres-Irmaos.
The 8th, 9th and 10th of May were occupied in passing from
Girao to Tres-Irmaos, the railway bank of the river appearing to be
almost level and with few streams or ravines. Of the many streams
marked on the survey of the Public Works Company on this length,
I only noticed two that were of any consequence and for these
openings of 60 or 80 feet would probably suffice.
Passage of the Eapid of Tres-Irmaos.
The rapid of Tres-Irmaos was passed on the right bank on the
II th without any of the canoes being unloaded, and without greater
trouble than that encountered in strong currents between many of
the falls.
12
The river of Tres-Irmaos is a considerable stream, I ascended it
for about a mile. The banks are of solid earth and suitable for
receiving screw piles. Openings of an agrégat© waterway of 180 feet
would, if the river is to be passed anywhere near its outlet into the
Madeira, have to be provided.
Pacaguara Savages.
Here we met the first savage tribe that we had seen, consisting of
men and a child who belonged to the Pacaguaras " that have their
" Malocales " or settlements on the river Tres-Irmaos. The men had
on shirts and trousers received from the engineering parties that had
been up the river, and were very well behaved and at our request,
brought from, their plantations a supply of plantains and fresh maize,
for which they received the payment of an axe, machete, or a few fish¬
hooks and some line. These savages might if properly treated be.
made useful in fishing and hunting, and in scouting for tlie few tribes,
that are hostile.
Tres-Irmaos to the big bekd.
On the 13th we reached the point where Arauz's road leaves the
river and crosses the big bend. This point has been named " San
Louise," The river bank from Tres-Irmaos to this place needs no
description being in every respect favourable for the railway if the^
line has to follow the river's course.
Across the big bend.
The track across the big bend was described to me by several of the^
Indians who had accompanied Sr. Arauz, as perfectly level and dly.,
There has been some idea of its being swampy during the rainy
season, but enquiry proves this to be incorrect, for the section given
by the Public Works Company shows rock at the bottom of all the
small streams crossed. I had in my canoe a very intelligent
Bolivian of rather a superior class, who had been one of the mayor¬
domos or foremen under Senor Arauz, and this man assured me that
from the track over the big bend, looking eastwards, no sign of hills
could be seen, but only a vast undulating plain. Senor Arauz has
also assured me that there are no hills to be seen, and all the evidence
that I could collect leads me to the belief that a cut across the interior,
entirely avoiding all the bends of the river, would not only shorten
ÎS
the length of the line, but would locate it where the smallest amount
of earthwork and bridging would be met with.
Paredao and Pederneira Rapids.
Pour days were occupied in passing round the big bend, and over¬
coming the rapids of Paredáo, Pederneira, and another fall above the
latter that is not named or mentioned in Messrs. KellePs maps.
Prom end of track over big bend up Stream.
On the 17th we passed the huts called "La Cruz,''at the point
where Arauz's road struck the river bank after passing the big bend.
The land hereabouts is fairly level, but there are several ravines,
three of which would require sixty feet spans. Mr. Dalton reports
the first mile up from "La Cruz " as " low-lying," but I did not notice
this considering it fairly suitable for the line, and on this length I
notice in my diary, that I landed twice.
As Penhas Coloradas.
About eight miles above La Cruz, occur on the right bank, the hills
called " As Penhas Coloradas " the " Red cliffs " which rise straight
up from the water a height of perhaps a 100 feet. The Public Works
Company's Engineers surveyed Arauz's road over these hills, but do
not appear to have taken any levels, for in their sections about 25
miles from stations 1 7 to 19 is entirely missing, neither can I find in
their level books any record of lev^els having been taken over this
length. These hills continue for nearly three miles when the land
returns to its natural level. The ascent and descent of these hills
would, if the line has to go over them, be severe and give heavy
work, but there summit is tolerably fiat. To cut a side benching
round on the river side of these hills would be an almost impossible
work, for the current is very strong at their base, and therefore a
bank would require to be protected from scour by expensive piling or
revetment.
*
Araras Rapid.
The Rapid of Araras was passed on the right bank on the 18th,
without unloading canoes, and with only one " roping " of about 80
feet. It is said that when the river is low the left bank is the best
for ascending this rapid, but with water the right bank is preferred,
14
as the " olada or wave is high on the left bank when the river is at
all full.
Araras to the Rabo do Eibeirao.
The right bank from Araras, past Periquitos and to the " Kabo,'^
or the " tail " of the Pibeirao falls requires no description. It is all
fairly level, and the section given by the Public Works Company
shows that there are no earthworks of any consequence. This portion
of the journey was passed on the 1 9th, the rapid of Periquitos being
ascended on the right bank without unloading canoes.
The Rabo do Ribeirao.
The passage of the " Rabo " and Fall of Ribeirao occupied the 20th,
21st, 22nd, and part of the 23rd. The Rabo extends for about
five miles below the real Fall of Ribeirao, and is a succession
of whirlpools and currents, extremely dangerous to canoes, either on
the upward or downward journey. The downward journey is by far
the most dangerous as the canoes have to be steered in full course
through the boulders and rocks scattered over this length of the river,
which here has an average fall of about 4|^ feet per mile.
Navigation of the Rabo do Ribeirao impossible.
If any scheme of partial navigation between the rapids is ever
carried out, a tramway would have to be laid down over this length,
for no steamer could live in these broken waters. The bank does not
offer any material obstruction to the building of the line up to the
fall, at which place the levels taken by the Public Works Company's
Engineers appear to have concluded, for no section is given above the
river of Ribeirao.
The Ribeirao Falls.
At the foot of the fall the river forms a bay somewhat similar to,
but smaller than that below Theotonio. Round this bay the water
runs in a return current which flows with great force up stream, and
if the crew do not paddle with great strength, the canoe is in danger
of being carried into the rough and broken water at the foot of the
fall. To pass the upper fall it is always necessary to take the right
bank of the river, and unload the canoes entirely, hauling them over
the portage of about 500 yards in length, and re-erab^rking the
canoes above the fall.
15
The River Ribeirao.
The River of Ribeirao, which is at the foot of the fall, is a consider -
able stream at the outlet, but narrows a very short distance there¬
from—a sixty foot span would probably suffice.
From Ribeirao to Misericordia.
The land on the railway side of the river from Ribeirao to Miseri¬
cordia is rocky and rather uneven, having stretches of raised lands for
distances of a quarter to half a mile intermixed with reaches of the
ordinary level. The elevated portions are not, however, more than
twenty feet above the level ones, and therefore the works would not
be heavy as the elevations could be graded up and down.
The Misericordia Rapid.
The Rapid of Misericordia, passed on the morning of the 24th, is
especially dangerous, although at first sight it appears a mere
" corriente." The river swirls over a point of rock and forms a suc¬
cession of whirlpools from which no canoe, if once drawn in, can
escape. In ascending, this rapid must be passed by a creek on the
right bank. It is said that at low water this rapid does not offer
much obstacle, but I did not receive any information from my Indians
to that effect. The channel on the right bank offers no obstacles that
cannot be overcome by hard work in unloading or hauling, and is there¬
fore preferable. The descent should be made almost in mid-channel,
while if anything, steering to the left rather than to the right bank.
Captain Miller of the Steamer "Explorador" met with.
At this rapid three canoes descending from Bolivia came up to us
and in one of these was Captain Miller, who had assisted Dr. Velarde
to take the " Explorador " up the rapids. Captain Miller had left
the Company's service, served the late contractors the Public Works
Company for a time, and was then on his way to San Antonio or
Manaos in search of employment.
Sr. Barros Cardozo, Brazilian Consul at Exaltación, reported
Assassinated-
From him I learned that Señor Barros Cardozo, Brazilian Consul
in Exaltación and the Mojos provinces, had been assassinated by one
of his own Brazilian servants. I was pleased to find that this outrage
16
had not been committed by Bolivian Indians, who are, as a rule,
much quieter and more tractable than the mixed races of BraziL
Misericordia to Madeira.
Proceeding onwards from Misericordia our canoes kept on the right
bank, the country showing fairly level and with few igarapes (ravines)
until about two miles above the fall, where the river bank appears to
be rather low. Here it would be advisable to locate the line on the
land side of a hollow that is to be found a few chains inland, espe¬
cially as these rather low-lying lands extend nearly up to the cachuela
of Madeira, which was reached on the evening of the 24th, after
having passed four strong currents, and arrived at the principal fall,
which was to be passed on the following morning with canoes half
unloaded.
The Madeira Bapid.
#
At the Bapid of Madeira there is a hill of perhaps 150 feet high on
the railway side, but it is evidently an isolated bluff, and even if the
line should not be taken inland, there is room at the foot of the hill
on the river side, for the road. Arauz's road has been carried over
this hill, but needlessly so.
Junction of the Biver Beni.
The whole of the 25 th was occupied in passing the principal fall of
the Madeira Bapids, and the currents above it. The junction of the
Biver Beni occurs amongst tjie currents above the principal fall, and
from this circumstance the fall has been named the " Cachuela do
Madeira," as below the junction the Madeira, river is said to com¬
mence. From the junction of the Beni to that of the " Itenez," the
river is by some called the " Bio Grande," by others the " Itenez,"
and it is only above the latter junction that the Mamore reigns.
Above the Madeira Fall, and in the neighbourhood of the junction of
the Beni, the river is much broken up by islands, and consequently
the navigation of this stretch is almost, if not quite as bad as that of
the ^'Babo do Biberao." At the junction of the Biver Beni, the
river appears to' divide into two parts, and they appeared to me to
be of almost equal width and volume of water.
The Layes Bapid.
Early morning of the 26th the expedition continued the ascent of
17
the rapids of Layes " formed by two small falls with a current below
them. These were passed with canoes half-unloaded. ISTear the fall,
but below it, is a wide stream on the right side of the river, which
would probably require a span of hundred feet, while the earthworks
hereabouts would be inconsiderable.
Cocoa trees very plentiful.
In this part of the river I noticed a great many wild cocoa trees,
which, although growing almost universally on the banks of the Ma¬
deira and Mamore, are hereabouts more thickly collected together.
The fruit of these trees is of very superior quality, and with very
little trouble an excellent plantation might be organized.
The Pao-Gtrande Fall.
The Fall of Pao-Crande we reached on the morning of the 27th,
and had to unload all the cargo and carry it over the portage about
a quarter mile in length. This fall is impassable by loaded canoes at
any season, and only on the right bank can empty ones be hauled
up the falls of a channel between an island and the mainland. This
channel has two " saltos " or jumps each of about four feet in height,
and it was wonderful to see how well the Bolivian Indians manage
o
to make the canoes ascend these almost perpendicular falls. The
right bank is very rocky, and considerable work in removing boulders
may be met with here. Above the fall, there are several bluffs, and
over one of these Arauz's Boad has been taken. My assistant, Mr.
Dalton, says of this part of the line, Above Pao-Grande the road
" is good for about five miles, when three or four very stiff rises are
met with, over these for some un-accountable reason the road is cut
whereas had it been carried alono^ the river bank, an almost level
^Mine would have been found." In this opinion I concur, and this
fall will, I believe, be passed by the railway with a section somewhat
similar to, but certainly not heavier than, that of the first three
miles from San x4.ntonio to Macacos.
Pao-Grande to Bananeira.
Between the falls of Pao-Grande and Bananeira the road is fairly
level with no ravines that cannot be crossed by thirty-foot spans. In
this stretch there is hollow land a short distance inland from the
river bank. Tliis low-lying land is probably inundated in the rainy
season by drainage water that cannot get through into the river,
2
18
but there is a width of high land close on the bank sufficient for
the line, and probably the pools could be drained through this bank,
or by deepening the existing igarapes.
The Eapids of Bananeiras.
The Rapids of Bananeiras were reached at early morning of the
2 9th, and ascended on the left bank. The principal fall had to be
passed with empty canoes, the cargoes being carried orer a very short
portage across an island. The head currents of these rapids however
give nearly as much trouble as those below Riberao, and are very
dangerous. They occupied us for the whole of the 29th and the 30th.
Rubber gathering near Bananeiras.
At this fall, about eight or ten years ago, two Bolivians made a
small settlement and collected rubber. One of them was returning to
Bolivia with our expedition after having made a small competency by
rubber-gathering on the Madeira River below San Antonio. He told
me that he and his friends stopped at Bananeiras for nearly twelve
months on the Bolivian or left side of the river. They found that
the quantity of rubber given by the Seringa trees of the rapids was
not so great as that given by those of the lower Madeira, but their
health was uniformly good and they were not molested at all by
savages.
Bananeiras to Guajara-Merim.
From Bananeiras up up to Guajará-Merim I was obliged to keep
on the opposite side of the river to that on which the railway has to
run, but the many glimpses I got of the railway side would lead one to
believe that there do not exist any obstacles to construction. The
surveys of the Public Works Company also warrant the same inference
being drawn, the only noticeable feature on this length being that at
about five miles below Cuajará Guasu a marshy lake is said to exist,
but the usual high bank appears to run along the river margin, with
width sufficient for the location of the line.
Above Bananeiras and Guajará, the hills of the " Sierra da Paca
Nova" show bold and high, being apparently some 30 to 40 miles
inland.
19
Pout selected by Engineebs of Public Works Company belo^
Guajara-Merim.
The rapids of Guajará, Gnasii and Merim, offer no obstacle of any
* consequence to free navigation either in ascending or descending, the
fall being but slight and distributed over nearly a mile of the course of
the river. I am informed that one of the Engineers of the Public
Works Company selected a landing place about a mile below Guajará-
Merim, it being in his opinion suitable for a terminus, having good
water access in the dry season and being apparently a healthy spot.
Last op the Kapids passed.
The last of the rapids was passed on the morning of the 1st of
June, after thirty-seven days' hard and constant labour in battling
with the force of the many currents.
General Remarks upon the Country through which the
Railway has to pass.
Before passing to the second division of my report I will shortly
state my belief, that in the whole stretch of country from San Antonio
to Guajará-Merim, there is no natural obstacle that should at all
call for doubt as to the feasibility of the construction of the Madeira
and Mamore Railway. If we take the 240 miles of river bank into
consideration, it may be broadly asserted that few if any rivers that
are encumbered with rapids, have such almost uniformly level banks,
as those of the Madeira. My assistant Mr. Grant Dalton, who had
the opportunity of accompanying the Public Works Company's
Engineers over the whole of Arauz's road from San Antonio up to
Bananeiras, says in his report to the Company dated J une 16th, 1874 ;
—" There are no Engineering difficulties of any niioment, tke road
will as a rule run through a level country, inequalities of ground
being rare between the Cachuelas. At the Cachuelas the ground is
invariably uneven, but will be easily got over with light banks and
cuttings in which notmugh rock will be found."
Timber for Sleepers, Bridges, &c.
Timber of good quality for sleqpers and smaller bridges or culverts
is found, throughout nearly the whole length of the line. The
Public Works Company made a provisional contract with Señor
20
Ignacio Arauz for the supply of sleepers of good hard wood at
three per nailrei, or say eightpenee a piece. There are many kinds of
excellent hard woods, but it is difficult to get the proper names of them,
as the workmen of Bolivia of course do not know the names used in
Brazil. They are however universally good judges of timber and can
select woods that will not perish when used in the ground. Pao de
Arco, Massuranduba, Laura, and Itauba, may be mentioned as being
amongst the best kinds of timber for sleepers or bridging.
Mr. Caldwell's Contract.
A contract having been entered into by Mr. Josiah Caldwell,
estimating is on my part unnecessary, but I may here say that in my
opinion he has secured an excellent contract, and that I believe if he
sends a few Engineers like those he sent out in the early part of last
year and backs up their efforts by a judicious selection of imported
labour, and a careful arrangement for supply of materials and stores,
two and a half years counted from the commencement of the works
should see the Madeira and Mamore Bail way an accomplished fact.
Climate at the Bapids.
The question of climate in the rapids is I think now proved to be,
that although at San Antonio ague fever is prevalent, all the country
above that spot is fairly healthy. In the clearing of Arauz's road,
more than 150 people must have been engaged for upwards of twelve
months and the deaths were I believe two or three only. The
Engineers engaged in the survey of that road for the Public Works
Company enjoyed good health when away from San Antonio, and out
of the hundred individuals that formed the expedition that I accom¬
panied up the rapids, only three lives were lost on the journey.
San Antonio or Theotonio as Head-quarters.
There appears to be great prejudice against San Antonio, and
though I believe it to be unjust, still it would not be wise to shut
one's eyes to its existence ; it might therefore be prudent to remove the
head-quarters of the construction staff somewhat higher up the
country, say to Macacos or Theotonio.
Fish, Came, Plantains, &c.
Fish and game abound in the rapids, and plantations of yuca and
21
plantains are easily and rapidly capable of being brought to form
material helps to the provisioning of a body of labourers.
Rainfall.
The average rainfall at San Antonio for 1873 was 7*61 inches per
month, making a total of 91*32 inches for the year, 17*55 inches of
this fell during the six months of dry season from 1st of May to 31st
of October, and the remainder 73*77 inches fell during the rainy
season from 1st of November to 30th of April ; but on 44 days
out of the 181 in this period absolutely no rain fell at all, and
only on 20 days during the same period did the rainfall of the
24 hours exceed a fall of one inch. In these 20 days 37*49 inches,
or more than half the total fall of the six months' rainy season, fell.
woek may be carried on all the year round in forests.
These figures prove, I think, that the works of the railway may be
carried on all the year round, with intermissions of a few hours, or
perhaps days, as the heavier storms of rain require. I believe that if
the workmen are well housed they are as well off in the forest during
the rainy season as they can be at San Antonio or any other head¬
quarters.
Huts—Palm Roofs preferable to Zinc.
For hut accommodation for the labourers, I am decidedly in favour
of erecting good palm leaf huts ; they last quite long enough for what
is required of them, and make cool and well ventilated and water¬
proof huts when properly erected. Zinc roofing is suitable for stores
or permanent buildings, but as it attracts the heat of the sun enor¬
mously, it requires a second roof of planking underneath it, and is
therefore too costly to be used for hut accommodation for labourers.
General Information as to Operations of Contrac¬
tors—Para Agency.
To make complete the* portion of my report that refers more
directly to the railway, I cannot do better than introduce here a copy
of a letter that I forwarded to the new contractors in January, 1874
in reply to a letter of theirs asking for general information.
My further experience and travel since that date has only served
to confirm the views I then expressed, with exception of the advice
22
given as to the employment of Messrs. Samuel Gi. Pond and Co., as
agents in Pará. An inspection of their accounts rendered to the
London office has convinced me that their charges are exorbitant.
Letter to Dorsey and Caldwell.
San Antonio, 2nd January, 1874.
Messrs. Dorsey and Caldwell.
Gentlemen,
According to promise in my letter of the 20th ultimo^
which replied partly to yours of the 10th October, I now proceed to
offer you a few further remarks upon the points raised in your letter
referred to.
In order to reply somewhat categorically to your letter I
have selected nine subjects therefrom. They are—
1. The ri^er stages between Pará and San Antonio.
2. The most desirable mode of transporting materials.
3. Is it safe to send a steamer from Europe to San Antonio ?
3a. If so what is greatest draught allowable in the
river Madeira.
3b. From Pará to San Antonio in 10 days and from
San Antonio to Pará in 5 days.
4. List of articles advisable for immediate dispatch here.
5. Advice and suggestions as to best manner of proceeding
with the woT'k.
6. How best to provide labour.
7. How best fco house the labourers.
8. How best to feed and keep them.
9. AVidth and character of streams that railway is to cross.
Kiver stages between Par! and San Antonio.
1. The distances are reckoned as about 900 miles on the Amazon from
Pará to Serpa and 600 on the Madeira from Serpa to San Antonio,
Doth rivers are fairly supplied with wooding stations.
♦
Wood or Coal.
The price of wood is from 30 milreis to 40 milreis, sa} ¿03 to ¿04
per 1,000 sticks, which are here reckoned as being equal to a ton of
coal, bufc if the coal is good I should say the ton would vield most
O V / ,
work.
23
Stations on the Amazon.
On the Amazon the principal settlements are Breves, Giirapá, Mont
Alegre, Santarem, Obidos, Villa Bella and Serpa, at most of which
towns bullocks and general supplies can be obtained.
Stations on the Madeira.
On the Madeira, except Borba, a poor place, there are nothing but
small stations of the " Seringueiros " or rubber gatherers. All these
men keep wood on sale, but you cannot count upon supplies or pro¬
visions.
Obstacles to Navigation in the Madeira,
The navigation is free from all obstacles from Para up the Amazon
and Madeira until the Piedras de Urnas, on the lajter river, are reached
about three days' steam from Serpa. This is the first dangerous point,
and for six months out of the year requires perfect knowledge of the
channels, 1 believe there is plenty of water in these channels all the
year round, but when the rocks are just covered by the water great
care is necessary. The other dangerous points in this river above the
last named are Marmelos, Das Abeillas, and Tamandoa ; the first and.
last being sand banks, and the other a rocky channel.
Sand-bank, in Amazon near Villa Bella,
In saying that the Amazon is free from all obstacle, I should men¬
tion that there have been years when in the months of September or
October a sand bank or bar, near Villa Bella, has only had eight feet
of water on it, but I do not think this is well authenticated,
2. Transport of Materials up Hiver.
In transport of materials we have to consider the ocean, the river
and the road. My opinion is that at first the ocean and river traffic
should be kept separate and distinct from each other, for the reasons
that I have already given you in my letter of the 20th ultimo, namely
scarcity of " prácticos " (pilots), difficulties of clearing at Para and
opposition from the Amazonas Company, Limited,
Para Agencv.
I therefore recommend that the first shipments bo made to Pará,.
24
and consigned to Messrs. Samuel G. Pond & Co., wlio will tranship
them, and who have great facilities for getting goods through the cus¬
toms. As they are our Company's agents, all matters in connection
with the concession will be properly attended to.
Ocean Steamers through to San Antonio,
I could not advise that you try to send a steamer right through to
this place this season, for you will hardly be ready to send a full cargo
before March or April next, and the river begins to fall again in May.
It appears to me that the heavy cargoes of rails, bridgework, &c.,
should be got ready for dispatch from Para towards the end of next
November ; by th^t time you would have been able to arrange for ocean¬
going steamers to run up here quickly in succession during the four to
fíve months of full river, and you will have got good gangs of men
here for unloading. But if you wish to run your ocean steamers up
here before November, you must have a wooding station and tugs and
barges ready below the Piedras de Urnas, so that you can come up
from thence with a 2 feet 6 inches to 3 feet draught. But as you can
make a very good start with the materials on the ground (of which
more hereafter), I strongly advise you to come and see for yourselves,
and perfect your arrangements after due consideration and consultation
out here.
Steamers running from San Antonio to Para,
The Amazon Company, Limited, run a steamer up here regularly
every month, starting on the night of 5th from Para and arriving here
on the 20th ; there is also another from Manaos, starting from thence
on 27th, and arriving here on the 4th or 5th; and I have no doubt
but that you could get a special rate named by the Amazonas Com¬
pany in London for the transport of your first shipments.
Freights between Para and San Antonio.
£6 per ton is the lowest that has yet been obtained, but I think
that to prevent opposition they would take £4 or£5.
Transport of Materials over Line,
For transport of material over the road I strongly advise that as
little as possible be sent ahead of the rails. As probably two-thirds
of the line will be surface construction the I'ails should be laid down
2Ô
smartly, and if necessary temporary bridges set np at the ravines, so
tliat an open road will always be kept behind the advanced parties.
This is the American method of construction ; I need not therefore
enlarge on the subject, and will content myself by saying that in my
opinion this work will be best and most speedily carried out by the
adoption of such a system,
3. Safety of sending Steamers from Europe to San Antonio,
As to the safety of sending steamers from Europe to this, as I have
already stated, I see no reason why this should not be effected during
the months of January to April, The total rise of the river here from
its lowest is 48 feet 6 inches, but this height is only reached in March,
but we may safely calculate on 25 feet of flood water from December
to end of June at this place. The dangerous points on the river are,
as already stated, four in number, and over these there is at lowest
water always three feet ; therefore we ought to be able to calculate
on 28 feet for seven months, and if the river were thoroughly surveyed
I believe this would be found correct,
3a. Greatest draught permissible.
But the river is of various widths, and as we have no certain infor¬
mation as to rise and fall lowef down, T think it well to say that
steamers of fourteen feet to sixteen feet draught can come up from
January 1st to April 30th.
3b. Time occupied—Coal or Wood.
With reference to time occupied this depends on the fuel burnt ; if
you send ocean steamers up they must burn coal all through their
trip, and they ought to run up from Para in thirteen or fourteen days
at most. Certainly coal has gone up seriously in price lately, although
in the States it is cheaper than at home, but even at ¿£3 a ton here,
if of good quality, I believe you will save expense by its use in
general on these rivers. If you burn wood you must have large fire-
grates and tubes, and these are very expensive with coal fuel. This,
therefore, offers a subject for consideration in arrangingthe ocean and
river traffic. To have supplies of coal to enable ocean steamers to run
up the rivers, you must have deposits at Para, and perhaps one station
half way up, while, if you intend to burn wood on the rivers you
must, I opine, change your steamer at Para. '
26
4. Articles for immediate Dispatch here.
For a good start you will find everything here in the way of plant,
for I have taken over all the late contractor's stores. Material for
sixteen miles of permanent way is here, if we except Ibhotson's
Clips," which I much want to see sent to us, but I would advise you to
lay in the road temporarily with the " fishes " we have here, get ahead
thus over temporary bridges, and having created confidence .relay
again and put in the finished works.
Materials required for First Dispatch.
You will, however, have to arrange for sending a couple of locomo¬
tives with trucks, etc.,.before next wet season ; also, you may think it
convenient to send the remainder of the material required for the San
Antonio Jetty, and bridge work for the first section of the line which
is probably the roughest of the whole length. The only articles in
plant that I can recollect as wanting at once are a good supply of rope
falls of all diameters, also light chain, ¿ in. and in. in diameter.
It will be well also to have a good stock of Piassava rope for canoe
work, but this you will buy cheapest in Para or Manaos.
5. San Antonio Jetty, &c.
One of the works that should be carried out during the coming
dry season is the erection of the San Antonio Jetty ; for which, send
two vertical boilers, engines, jibs, crabs, etc., on travelling trollies; to
lift to two or three tons, so that you may have full facilities for
unloading your vessels to come up next fall. I have sent home my
final suggestions for this work, so that Colonel Church will be able
to settle the matter with you ; and I need only say here that my plan
No. 7, for an I— shaped jetty is, I believe, the best and most
economical that we can set up. This plan was sent to Mr. Hopkins
with my No, 16. of 24th of June last, accompanied by a schedule
showing the ironwork still required.
»
Fairlie Locomotives.
For the rest of the work we have not yet sufficient data to decide
on the details, but if we are supplied with the Fairlie Locomotive and
the " Ibbotson Clip," we shall make a good job of the line.
27
Bridge Work.
For bridges I do not think yon can do better than send out light
iron pile shafts and girders for thirty and sixty feet spans, but pray
take every care that all the parts are thoroughly interchangeable,
otherwise great loss and delay will occur. There is no reason why
the head of a pile shaft should not suit a cap or a coupling ; those we
have here are so arranged that they cannot be used indiscriminately.
Work from San Antonio end of Line.
As to the mode of doing the work, my opinion is that it must all be
done from this end. The only works you could attack from the Gua-
jará end would be clearing and earthwork, and by the time you got
your rails and other iron up there from this end these works would
probably have to be done over again. Push a road through from this
end that you can get your trucks over and then finish up afterwards.
6. Labour.
The Labour question is the most difficult perhaps of all. The
late contractors never attacked it with sufficient vigour. You must
draw labour from every possible quarter and not depend upon any
single one.
Bolivian Labourers—Coolies or Chinese.
Bolivia will undoubtedly send a valuable contingent, say 1,000 men,
and these, if properly sought for, ought to be had for £3 to per
month and found. I do not think it will be much use sending into
Bolivia from the Pacific side ; wages are high there on account of the
many roads going on in Peru and Chili ; also there is great opposition
to us there from the Peruvian interests. A commencement to
recruit labourers should be made in the Mojos and Beni de¬
partment, and if American or English gold for advances is sent up
and the wages I have quoted are offered I believe the men will be
found : then the search can be continued upwards towards Cochabamba
from this side with greater prospect of success from the prestige it
will have gained by partial success in Mojos and Beni. You must
always have a good number of Bolivian Indians for canoe work, clearing
and other timber work, but your earthwork and other construction
ought to be done with imported labour. On this point you will not
need advice from me as to the sources from which it can be drawn ;
28
I will therefore only say that I believe the East Indian coolie or the
Chinese would do well here ; a good many of them would have ague
fever, but they would recover as the work of clearing went on.
7,_HuTS.
Decidedly the best houses for this country are made with palm
boards and palm leaf roofs, and up the line the palm trees are very
abundant ; near a station such as this they get scarce, and it is not
desirable to build houses close together with palm leaf roofs as fire
then spreads rapidly.
Zinc Eoofs required at Stations.
At stations therefore zinc roofs boarded underneath will be found
the best and most economical. Asphalted felt has been used with suc¬
cess on many works, but I am not much in favour of this article ; it
requires good boarding underneath, and even then is apt to leak at the
nail holes. Here the alternations of sun and rain are very trying, and
"felt" would I think deteriorate rapidly. Zinc sheeting is put to¬
gether rapidly and lasts well ; any rough boarding underneath answers
its purpose of stopping the radiation of heat.
8.—Food Supplies.
Considering that you have perfectly free navigation from San
Antonio to Para and other ports of Brazil where supplies are obtain¬
able in large quantities, I think that bullocks, farinha, charqui, coffee,
sugar, and rice should be expected from Brazil for some time to come.
Once we have a temporary road through, then good supplies will un¬
doubtedly come down from Bo livia , and by that time producers there
will have become convinced of the reality of the undertaking and will
have raised crops for our supply and for export. At present I do not see
how we can expect Bolivia to yield large quantities of cereals, for as
there has hitherto been no means of exportation, only sufiâcient for
home consumption has been raised.
General Store.
»
I would impress upon you the vital necessity of at once establishing
a good store here with food, clothing, etc., both for Europeans and
Indians. By this you will be able to keep your men well contented,
and while charging prices far below those current on the river, you
will be able to make such profits as will materially reduce the price of
29
labour. It would be impossible to tell you in writing the kind of
stores required. I would therefore suggest that you purchase a first
stock in Pará, as unless you have the proper things in calicoes,
dungarees, shirtings, etc., losses will occur.
Cost of Keep of Labourers.
The average calculation of this river for the keep of an Indian is a
milrei or two shillings per day, but I have kept them well for much
less, and my practice is to estimate at two shillings per day and save
30 to 50 per cent.
Medical Eequirements.
You will doubtless send a good medical staff with ofiicers accus¬
tomed to treat tropical maladies such as fever, ague, dysentery, etc.,
and pray by no means forget to let the doctors bring out a fresh stock
of vaccine matter, as few, if any, of the Bolivian Indians are
vaccinated.
9.—Streams to be crossed.
Detailed information as to width and character of streams is not
to hand yet. There are two large rivers to cross, the Yaci-Parana
and Tres-Irmaos ; the former of these spreads itself at its junction
with the Madeira, but in neither case will it be necessary to have
openings of greater individual width than 60 feet. With a
succession of these we can bridge these rivers rapidly and well, for
as there is no great current down either of them there is no
necessity to give them greater waterways. For all other streams 30
and 60 feet spans will be ample, placing one or more in each case as
circumstances may require.
I think I have now replied to the various queries in your letter,
and I assure you that both myself and my assistant, Mr. Dalton, who
has been here since the works started, will most gladly render you any
assistance or co-operation in our power.
I am, Gentlemen,
Yours very faithfully,
{Signed) E. D. Mathews,
Besident Engineer.
30
IL—au AJAR A MERTM TO EXALTACIOÎs.
Port aboye the Falls.
Tlie river above the fails narrows considerably, its general breadth
being about half a mile, with deep water giving every facility for free
navigation. Above the Guajará Merim there is very good quiet
water on the railway side, where a good harbour can be made, should
further experience prove that the fall cannot be easily passed by
steamers.
Islands of Cavalho Marinho.
The Islands of Cavalho Marinho, about ten miles above Guajará
Merim, are several in number, but there is plenty of water in the
channels, so that they offer no obstruction to navigation. Canoes are
obliged to keep crossing from side to side of the river, in order to
avoid the strong currents usual at the bends, but a steamer would be
able to keep mid-channel, as the ordinary current of the river does not
I think run more than two miles per hour.
The Hills of Paca Nova.
The range of hills called La Sierra da Paca Xova " by Messrs.
Keller are very plainly seen from the islands of Cavalho Marinho."
Messrs. Keller depict them as trending out to the " Cachuela do Pao
Grande, but this I do not think is correct. They seemed to me to
finish off a good distance from the river, and the hills of Pao Grande'
are I believe quite separated from those of Paca Nova.
The River to Junction of Itenez.
There is nothing special to report of the river from Las Ilhas do
Cavalho Marinho " to the junction of the river Itenez, which we
reached on the 7th of June, after seven days' hard paddling, and I
might say seven nights as well, for the practice is to paddle as much
as possible during the night so as to avoid the chance of attack from
the savages : thus very long hours of work are made during this por¬
tion of the journey, from 14 to 18 hours being the usual allowance of
paddling given to the men.
J unction of Itenez with the Mamoré.
The river Itenez, whose waters are clean and dark coloured, is
31
wider than the Mamore at the Junction. The waters of the Mamore
are probably greater in volume, as they are deeper and give their
whitish clayey colour to the united waters below. Both these rivers
are exceedingly handsome at the junction, and so fine a meeting of
the waters" it would be difficult to match.
The river Matocari.
On the 12th of June we passed the river Matocari on the right
bank. This stream is said to be navigable to the villages of San
Joaquin and San Bamon, and might doubtless be utilised during the
rainy season, instead of taking goods for those villages round by the
river Itenez and the Fort of Principe da Beira.
Grazing lands below Exaltación.—Proposed transport
of cattle to San AnTONIO.
Above this river we commence to pass many open lands or
"pampas" on either side of the river, with excellent grass for cattle
feeding grounds. The largest of these cattle feeding establishments
is called " La Estancia de Santiago " and was the property of the
late Don Barros Cardoza, Brazilian Consul in Bolivia for some years.
He is reported to have had nearly 8,000 head of cattle, and I am
credibly informed that, had he not lost his life in the early part of
1874, he had intended to drive a large number of his cattle by land
from Cuajará Merim to San Antonio down the road cut by Señor
Ignacio Arauz. From his estancia to the first cachuela, the cattle
would have been taken in canoes, or on rafts, a comparatively easy
work, as the navigation is entirely free from other obstacle than a few
" playas " or banks of sand which stretch out into the river at low
water, leaving, however, in every case a channel deep enough and wida
enough for craft dtawing not more than 7 or 8 feet. Pasturage for the
cattle would be easily found at night along the river banks, which are
covered with " capim," a rough wild grass, or " chuchia," a kind of wild
cane, the succulent points of which are greedily eaten by the cattle.
Price of oxen at the estancias and at San Antonio.
Oxen in the estancias of Mojos are worth from 15 to 20 pesos
faibles, say about ¿£2, 10s. to ¿£3. 10s. a head, while at San Antonio
and on the higher Madeira they are worth from 80 to 100 milreis or
£S to £10.
32
Cocoa plantations of Exaltación.
On tlie 15tli the canoes arrived at the chocolotalesof Exalta-
clon, which are very large plantations of cocoa trees belonging to the
government. These plantations are farmed ont by the authorities of
Exaltación and Trinidad to speculators who make good profits as
there is no labour, or very little, expended in clearing. At the
proper season a party of Indians descend the river from Exaltación,
collect the fruit, clear away a little of the rubbish from beneath
the trees, and then the "chocolotales" are abandoned to the savages and
wild animals till the annual time of collecting again comes round.
Doubtless these " chocolotales " were planted at the time when the
Indians were more populous in the fifteen missions of the depart¬
ment of the Beni.
El Cerrito : the go's estate near Exaltación.
" El Cerrito," the National Bolivian Navigation Company's pro¬
perty, was reached on the 1 6th. This place is named from the only small
hill that is to be found on this part of the river for many miles, and
is said to be the only spot that, at exceptional high floods, is not in¬
undated. There are four houses all belonging to the Company,
well built with palm leaf roofs and wattle and dab walls. Here
I found a Bolivian named " Melchior Cruz," in charge with five peons,
acting under the orders of Señor Francisco Ceballos, who lives in
Exaltación and has an " Ingenio de caña ," or sugar mill there. Señor
Ceballos had been left in charge by Dr. Velarde. The men are em¬
ployed in a " chaco," or plantation, which is certainly very well kept.
The ground cleared may be about ten acres, and is well stocked with
yucas (mandioca) plantains and sugar cane. The products are sold to
passers by when possible, and the crops of yuca made into harina de
yuca," or mandioca flour, while the cane is sent to Sr. Ceballo's mill
for grinding. In consequence of the small demand in comparison
with the large supply of these articles in Exaltación, it is probable
that the plantation does not yield at present more than sufficient to
cover the expenses.
The Estate of great service during construction of the
Kailway.
To the enterprise, however, the plantation will be of great service
when the works are in progress. A steamer with canoes in tow
33
could take large supplies of the products of the estate to Guajara
Merim, and thus the enterprise would be sure of obtaining the neces¬
sary vegetable food for the labourers at reasonable prices. The
Bolivian agriculturists of the Beni are all most patriotically disposed
in favour of the railway, but I fear their patriotism would not pre¬
vent their putting exceptionally high priced upon their productions if
the}' saw that the enterprise was dependent upon them. In my
ascent of the rapids, I had to pay a Bolivian, who was descending to
the Hiver Madeira, 12 milreis, or ¿£1. 4s. Od., for an arroba of
25 pounds weight of mandioca flour, worth about a peso or a peso and
a-half in Exaltación, say 3s. 2d. to 4s. lOd. It will be well, there¬
fore, that the Company should have means of its own of supplying
fruit and breadstufls at reasonable prices.
The S.S. Exploeador.
The small steamer the " Explorador " is here, and in safety. As
far as one could tell, the hull seems tight and good, as she did not
make any water to speak of. The boiler is said to be useless, having
burst twice on the trip up the rapids. The wood fittings are in fair
condition ; the paint, gilding, and varnish only being damaged.
"Whether the whole of the machinery was in working order I could
not say, but my cursory inspection showed it to be not much
damaged by exposure.
Exaltación.
On the 17th I arrived at Exallacion, which is the first village in
Bolivia that a traveller up the Mamoré meets with. Here I had to
stay eleven days, it being necessary to find a new crew for the further
journey to Trinidad, the men that I had brought from San Antonio
all belonging to Exaltación, or to the villages on the Maddalena and
Baures rivers. I was exceedingly well received by Sr. Francisco
Ceballos, and by the majority of the inhabitants, but the Corregidor,
one Faustino Yaroma, a nomination of the party in power under the
" Frias " regime, did not seem inclined to lend assistance to anyone
belonging to the enterprise.
In Exaltación there are about a dozen Bolivians of some sort of
position and education, a " cura," or parish priest, and the before-
mentioned Corregidor. All these men, except the " cura," keep small
stores, and exchange their goods with the Cayubaba Indians for
chocolate, mandioca, sugar, or rice, all of which articles are sent to
Trinidad or Santa Cruz for sale to merchants established there.
34
Population of Exaltación decrbasiNö—Keller's opl^iön of"
the Climate of Exaltación disputed.
The Cayubaba Indians are, I fear, decreasing rapidly in numbers^
the deserted houses and the lines of the old streets giving a sad and
desolate look to the place. The present population cannot be more
than 1,500, and I should judge that less than fifty years ago there
must have been nearly 4,000 Indians in the old mission of "La
Exaltación de la Santa Cruz." Señor Keller has given a graphic
description of the town, it is, therefore, unnecessary for me to occupy
space and time on the subject ; I observe, however, that amongst
the causes which tend to contribute to the decadence of so flourishing
a town," he cites the fevers, which he says of " late years appear to
have taken an endemic character." To this I would remark that in
exceptionally" high floods, which appear with a rather remarkably
regularity to occur about once in seven years, the lands of Exaltación
are flooded to a depth of perhaps six inches, and after the retirement
of the waters, ague fever may be epidemic or prevalent, but I could
not agree that fever in Exaltación is " endemic," or peculiar to the
country—on the contrary, I should say that " El Cerrito " and
" Exaltación " are generally very healthy places.
Cause of the Decline of the Indian Population of the Beni.
The reason for the decline of the Indian population is to be found,
without doubt, in the baneful efiects to Bolivia of the rubber-col¬
lecting trade of the Madeira and Purus rivers. This trade is the real
cause that is rapidly depopulating not only Exaltación, but all the
towns of the Department of the Beni.
To take the year 1873 as an example of the working of the emigra¬
tion from Bolivia to the rubber districts of Korthern Brazil. In that
year 43 canoes descended the rapids from Bolivia, with merchants on
their way to Europe with ventures of " cascarilla " (cinchona bark), or
with speculators in the rubber "estradas" of the Madeira river ;
while in the same year 13 canoes only ascended to Bolivia. We may
average the Indians that leave Bolivia with these canoes at 10 per
canoe, and thus we have an exodus of 430 Indians from their country
in twelve months, w^hile only 130 return in the same period ; we thus
have 300 Indians lost to Bolivia in 1873, and as the rubber collecting
fever has been decidedly on the decrease for the last four or five
years, the year 1873 does not give a fifth of the number of Indians
35
that have left in previous years^ We may, I venture to think, esti¬
mate the drain to-human life that the Department of the Beni has
suffered from the Northern Brazilian rubber trade at 1,000 men per
annum during the decade of 1862 to 1872. The worst feature of this
emigration is, perhaps, the fact that rubber speculators and merchants
descending the rapids will not allow the Indians to take any of the
females of their families with them. This is done on account of
avarice in some cases and necessity in others, which prompt the
" patron " or owner of the descending craft to load his canoes as fully
as he can with his merchandise, reserving as small a place as possible
for provisions, which, on account of the quantity of farinha consumed,
occupy so much space that every mouth that requires to be filled,
without its owner being able to assist in the propulsion of the craft,
becomes a very serious consideration. Thus it arises that in every
town of the Beni the females are in a majority of perhaps five to one
over the males, and the populations are decreasing.
Proposal for Ee-populating the Beki.
Here t may mention tKat in Trinidad I had a conversation with
Don José Manuel Suarez, the prefect of the Beni, upon the subject of
the serious depopulation of the Department and that at his request I
addressed some remarks upon the subject to Señor Don Mariano
Baptista, the Minister of Home Government and Foreign Affairs in
Sucre. Sr. Suarez proposes that the Government of Bolivia should
send a special mission to Brazil, to ask to be allowed to interview all
the Bolivian peons that are in the province of the Amazon, whether
engaged with rubber collectors or others, engage them if possible for
work on the Madeira and Mamore Eailway, remitting through
Government agency a portion of their earnings to their destitute
female relatives in Bolivia, and at the termination of their agreements
sending them back to Bolivia. These Bolivian peons are held by the
Seringueiros," or rubber collectors, and in this respect there is
nothing to choose between Brazilians or Bolivians, in a perfect state
of slavery, by means of debt and drink. At most of the Barracas on
the Madeira river, where the Seringueiros live, the Sundays are
passed in perfect orgies of drunkenness. On that day it is that the
peon delivers over to the "patron" the rubber that he has collected
during the week ; he is then treated liberally to white rum (called
" cachaça " on the river), and when under the influence of this liquor
he is induced to buy trinkets, calicoes, ribbons, and other articles
36
that he could very well do without. These are charged to him at
enormous prices, whilst his rubber is credited to him at inversely cor¬
responding low ones, and he is thus kept under a heavy load of debt,
and cannot, under the Brazilian laws, leave his patron " until it is
worked off, which happy event the patron takes care shall not happen.
If a Bolivian authority, aided by the Brazilian officials, were to visit
these unhappy exiles, and to settle between patron" and "peon'
the just state of the accounts, paying the amount fixed upon to the
patron, I believe that a thousand Bolivian peons could with ease be
gathered together on the banks of the Madeira river. They could
work on the railway for two or three years with advantage to them¬
selves and their country, and return to their native villages at the
expiration of their agreements with a small fund in hand. This
would be the only and the most expeditious method of re-populating
the now half deserted villages of the Department of the Beni. The
Minister at Sucre heard my arguments and acknowledged them
to be true, but as at home it is said to be " a far cry to Loch Awe,'
so in Bolivia it is " a far cry from Sucre to the Beni," and the
Government were too much occupied in devisiug means for securing
their own retention of power in the capital to be able to devote time
or thought to places so distant as Trinidad or Exaltación.
The pobt of Exaltación.—"Tierras disbarancandas" falling
banks.
The port of the town of Exaltación is situated at the apex of an
immense bend in the river Mamore, each arm being at least a league
in length. The wind therefore exerts a great force on the craft made
fast at the foot of the bank, which rises more than 50 feet above low
water level. On this part of the river boats are also much exposed to
danger from the falling banks, called " Tieix'as Disbarancandas." The
Mamore, and indeed all the rivers of the Beni valley, are for ever shift¬
ing their courses in many parts of the forests through which they flow.
They undermine the banks on one side, which falling away form the
numerous curves, on the convex shore of which the mud and sand
brought down by the current is deposited, and playas and banks termed
' ^ igapo " lands are formed. On these a forest grows in course of time
and " vargem " lands arise.
Changes of the courses of the rivers.
The river on the concave side of the curve is continually causing
the trees of the terra flrma to fall and obstruct its course, a barricade
37
or " palisada " is formed, the river then returns in exceptionally high
floods to its old course, bursting through the vargem and igapo lands«
and so the ever recurring changes of the river course continue. In
illustration of this I saw on the river Chapari a place where the cur¬
rent was breaking down a bank that was apparently " terra firma,"
and had trees growing on it that were of great age. At the foot of
this bank and under some 15 feet of earth was a deposit of timber
blackened and in fact almost carbonised by time and pressure of the
super-incumbent earth. From the manner in which these logs of tim¬
ber were deposited, one above the other, it was evident that it formed
part of a huge collection of drift-wood such as may often be seen col¬
lected together in many parts of the rivers. In all works on the river
side, great care must be taken to see that the bank is not a " tierra-
disbarancanda," or of slipping nature. In the Cachuelas, however, this
feature of the river does not appear to exist, but on the ]Mamore all
chacos," "barracas" and "pueblos" are placed some distance from
the river, generally from a mile to a mile, so that they may not be
exposed to this danger.
Land-slip at the port of Exaltación.
Whilst I was at Exaltación an enormous mass of the bank at the
port gave way and fell into the river, causing the loss of one man and
a large canoe. This landslip measured more than 100 feet in lengthy
the breadth of earth that fell being more than 30 feet at top, which
was upwards of 40 feet above the then water level. It is therefore
evident that a more secure situation must be sought for the port of
Exaltación when any navigation of the Mamore commences. The
port which is used at high water, about a couple of miles higher up
the river than the one used for the greater part of the year, is, I think,
always preferable notwithstanding its greater distance from the village
when the water is low.
Provisions from Exaltación.
Provisions are at present rather difficult to obtain in any quantity
at Exaltación, from the fact that no stocks are kept, the demand being
very limited. There is,-however, no doubt but that when the owners
of plantations and feeding grounds in or near Exaltación become con¬
vinced that the railway will be constructed, they will at once prepare
large quantities of various articles suitable for provisioning the work¬
men on the railroad, or for sale on the Madeira and Amazon rivers. The
following are some of the prices current when I was in Exaltación.
38
Prices of provisions at Exaltación.
" Farinlia de Yuca or mandioca flour, 12 reales (4:s. lOd.) per Bo¬
livian arroba of 25 lbs. Rice, 6 reales the arroba in the husk, this
only produces about 151bs. when husked, thus the dressed rice may be
put at 2d. per lb. Sugar, brown in cakes called " empanisadas " ¿ a
reale, say 2|d. per lb. Ordinary aguadiente, 8 reales (3s. 2|d.) per
frasqueira'' of 3 bottles, a stronger and better sort of spirit fetches
à reales per bottle. Meat, fresh, sells at 1 peso of 8 reales (3s. 2Jd.) per
arroba of 25lbs., when preserved by being salted and dried in the sun
it is called ''charqui," and sells at 3 pesos (9s. 7|^d.) per arroba, say
4-|d. per lb. Wheaten bread is very scarce, when obtainable, costs
^ a reale, say 2|d. for a small loaf that may perhaps weigh a couple
of ounces. The flour comes from Cochabamba.
Labourers from Exaltación.
Yery few men for the works could be counted upon as obtainable at
Exaltación, as I do not think there were more than 100 men in the
town at the time I was there, and the few "patrons*' of the place
appeared very anxious to engage the men that returned from the river
Madeira to Bolivia. Exaltación, however, will probably always be of
importance to the enterprise, from its being the best point at which to
unite labourers from the other " pueblos *' previous to their descending
the river to the railway, and also its being the market at which to
obtain the above mentioned supplies for the provisioning of, the la¬
bourers when at work. I would, however, recommend that the Com¬
pany's possession at " El Cerrito " should be utilised as much as
possible in these ways, as there the Indians would not be exposed to
be tempted away from their contract by the native patrons of Exalta¬
ción and its neighbourhood.
Wood Fuel for Steamers.
Before concluding this chapter of my report, I would advert to the
difficulty that to me appears to exist in supplying the wood necessary
for the fuel of the steamers which will ply from the upper terminus
of the railway to Exaltación. This portion of the Mamore is much
iufested by savages, principally " Chacobos, " and there is no doubt but
that they would prove troublesome for a considerable time to isolated
settlers. Messrs. Keller give the distance from Cuajará Merim to
Exaltación at 72| leagues say 200 miles. On account of the nume-
39
5fOns playas " or sand banks it would not be possible to navigate by
night except when perhaps the moon was very clear, and allowing for
the strength of the current and the smallness of the steamers that will
probably for some time be used, it would be necessary to have wood¬
ing stations say about 50 miles apart from each other. Three stations
would therefore be required and I would suggest that the Brazilian
and Bolivian (xovernments be requested to make these stations military
outposts, each to be garrisoned by about 40 to 50 men who could also
be employed in cutting the wood for the steamers. The price agreed
upon by the navigation company and the governments would defray
the expenses and a great step would be taken-towards repressing the
savages in their attacks on the passing craft.
IIL—EXALTACION TO TRINIDAD.
Start from Exaltación.
Having secured a crew of eleven men in Exaltación after consider¬
able diflSculty and some opposition from the Corregidor, I started on
the 28th of June for Trinidad.
Crops of grain grown on the sand banks.
The river on this section preserves a very uniform width of from
800 to 1,200 yards and runs through level plains of very rich alluvial
soil on which the Cayubaba Indians of Exaltación and the Mobimas
of Santa Ana have numerous plantations, some of the playas or sand
banks are of enormous size, and on them the Mobimas during the dry
season plant several kinds of frijoles " or beans, and also a sort of
pulse called " mani " from which they make their favourite beverage
of " chicha," and which they also use as a substitute for rice ; there
are also many pampas for cattle grazing.
Lands very suitable for settlement.
The lands on this portion of the river would I think be very
suitable for emigration, as the climate is good, the land of excellent
quality for the production of crops of sugar-cane, rice, maize
plantains and every other description of tropical produce, or for
cattle rearing. Also there are no savages in this district, the
country between Exaltación and Trinidad being traversable freely on
40
either side of the river. The river abounds in fish, and wild ducks,
herons, storks, and other waterfowl are plentiful on its banks.
Hiver Yacuma and Village of Sta Ana.—Trade to Heyes, &c.
On the 30th, we passed the mouth of the river Yacuma, a day's
paddle up which river is the village of Santa Ana the home of the
Mobima Indians.
It is by this river that traders take goods for the pueblos of
Heyes, San Pablo, San Borja and Santa Cruz all of which are
peopled by the Maropa Indians, and from which villages a trade is
carried to the towns of Apolobamba in Bolivian territory and Sandia
in Per avian. The river Yacuma is said to be navigable all the year
round for large canoes, and is free from savages, therefore, a small
steamer may be advantageously employed here after the construction
of the railway of the cachuelas.
Steamers to trade on the affluents op the Mamoré and
Itenez.
One of the merchants who accompanied me up the rapids, sold
goods to the value of ¿£3,400 in Exaltación to a trader who sends
canoes up the afíiuents of the Mamoré or the Itenez to the various
pueblos of the Department of the Beni, such as San Joaquin, San
Hamon, San Nicolas and San Pedro on the Machupa river, Maddalena
on the Itonama, Concepción de Baures and El Carmen on the Baure
river sometimes called " Hio Blanco," the above mentioned town of
Heyes and others on the Yacuma, and San Ignacio on the Jamucheo.
Considerable trade will doubtless be opened up with these towns and
villages, and work will be found for two small steamers, one to run
on the afíiuents of the Mamoré and the other on those of the Itenez
the hçad-quarters of both being at Exaltación or El Cerrito."
Hiver Jamucheo and Tillage of San Ignacio,
On the 1st of July we passed the mouth of the river Apiri on
which there are no villages, and on the 3rd and 4th we got to
districts where the Canichana Indians have their chacos on the
Mamoré. At nigíit of the 4th we stopped opposite the mouth of
the river Jamucheo. When this river is full the pueblo of San
.Ignacio, on its banks can be reached in six or seven days, but when
dry three weeks are often required as the canoes have to be dragged
over the many shallow parts of the river bed.
41
Port of San Pedro.
Half a day^s journey from the Piver Jamucheo is the port of San
Pedro the pueblo of the Canichana Indians. The village is about
two leagues from its port on the Mamoré, and is situated on the
source of the Machupa river which is as aforesaid an affluent of the
Itenez. '
The Canichana Indians of San Pedro.
At the port of San Pedro on the Mamoré there is a large and well
built shed for the sentinel who takes charge of the canoes belonging
to the villagers, and from the style of the work, the quality of the
timber and the tidiness of the place, my previous favourable opinion,
obtained by the employment of a few Canichanas in San Antonio,
was confirmed to the effect that these Indians are the most desirable
of any of the various tribes of the Beni. They are excellent
workmen with the axe and are I thin k less addicted to the use of
ardent spirits than the Cayubabas or the Trinitarios.
Koad from the Mamoré to San Pedro required.
Traders going to San Pedro use the port on the Mamoré, instead
of making the round by the river Itenez. Their canoes are hauled
up on land and dragged by oxen across the two leagues of pampa
between the Mamoré and the Machupa. The Navigation Company
will do well to make a corduroy road over this track so that the
town of San Pedro may be accessible during all seasons from the
Mamoré.
San Xavier.
At night of the 6th we were opposite to the port of San Xavier a
village of small importance situated on a creek running into the right
bank of the Mamoré.
The Eiver Ybari.
On the 8th we entered the Ybari, on which river the town of
Trinidad, the capital of the Department of the Beni is situated, and on
the 9th after eleven days good work we arrived lat its port, the town
being distant about two leagues from the river.
Trinidad.—Principal Trade.—-Señor Ignacio Bello.—Journey
to Cochabamba instead of Santa Cruz decided upon.
In Trinidad I was exceedingly well received by all the inhabitants,
42
who are enthusiastic in favour of the railway, which affords them the
only hope of arresting the decay of the department arising from the
emigration before referred to of the Indians to the Madeira riven
There are here a few merchants of considerable position and resources
whose principal trade appears to be the export of cocoa to Cocha-
bamba and Santa Cruz, receiving in return flour from Cochabamba,
and dry goods from Santa Cruz, brought from the town of Curumba
on the river Paraguay. The principal of these merchants, Señor
Ignacio Bello, has always been anxious to do everything in his power
to assist in the construction of the railway, and received me with
great kindness ; and as I found that he was on the point of making a
journey to Cochabamba, I decided to proceed in his company, and give
up any idea of visiting Santa Cruz, more especially as I was informed
that the river Piray was very dry, and the savage Sirionoswho dwell
on its banks were very active, having attacked several canoes during
the months immediately prior to my arrival in Trinidad.
Country round Trinidad.—Periodical Inundations.—Splendid
Cattle.
The country round Trinidad is a flat pampa, with a rough kind of
tall grass, which requires burning frequently. These pampas are
almost annually flooded, and are, I think, more subject to these inun¬
dations than those of Exaltación. The inundations at times rise up
to the town itself, there being only one street that is said to be left
dry on these occasions. The grazing lands, however, generally have
some slight eminences upon them, where the cattle find refuge during
these floods, and as, upon the retirement of the waters, the grass
springs up with renewed vigour after the rubbish has been burnt
away, the cattle thrive excellently, and are really handsome animals,
being nearly twice as large as the Brazilian oxen. They would, indeed
compare very favourably with our ordinary English cattle.
Prices of Provisions.—Prices of Imported Goods.
Prices of provisions are much the same as those current in Exalta¬
ción. I observe, however, that Manchester goods, such as calicoes,
longcloths, ribbons, (fee., are brought to Trinidad from Curumbá mà
Santa Cruz, at prices far below those at which they can be brought at
present from Pará mà the Cachuelas, and it is evident that when the
trade in these goods is carried up the Amazon and over the railway,
the merchants of Pará must be contented with smaller profits than
those they now obtain. Pará, on the Amazon, and Curumbá, on the
4:3
Paraguay, are both Brazilian ports, and I presume that the same
tariff of customs mies alike at both places, nevertheless calicoes,
bought in Pará, that cannot be sold in the river Madeira for less
than 250 or 300 reis—say Is. to Is. 2^d. per yard, can be bought in
Trinidad at 2 reales, or 9|d. j also, longcloths, on the Madeira, sell
at 200 to 300 reis (9|^d. to Is. 2|d.) per yard, and are only worth
to 21 reales, say 7:|d. to Is. per yard in Trinidad. It must, however,
be noted that only very low quality goods are brought from Curumbá,
and that the secret of business in Trinidad seems to be to sell at a
low price without regard to quality.
Articles most suitable for Importation to Trinidad.
The articles that leave the best profit when taken up the Cachuelas
are iron pots, enamelled saucepans and other general ironware for
house use, also claret of a low class, for anything called *'wine,'*
and sold in bottles with pretty etiquettes" fetches 8 reales (3s. 2 Jd.)
per bottle, and no Bolivian in the Beni would pay more even for
" Chateau Margaux " or " Chambertin."
Small-pox at Trinidad.
The town of Trinidad did not display a very animated appearance
at the tune of my visit, but that was not to be wondered at, as small»
pox was very prevalent.
Population Decreasing.
The people also complained bitterly of the great emigration of the
Indians during past years to the Madeira river, and as in Exaltación,
the remains of streets that were well populated but a few years ago,
tell a sad tale of the results Bolivia of the rubber fever of the
Amazon valley.
Madeira and Mamor^ Eailway the only Salvation
for the Beni.
The construction of the Madeira and Mamore Bailway is the only
event that can save the once flourishing department of the Beni from
becoming again the hunting grounds of the savage Siriono and the
wild beasts of the forest. The few merchants of the town are so
convinced of this that they are merely living on in the hope of being
able to wait for the realization of the undertaking, and Sr. Ignacio
u
Bello, tlie wealthiest of them all, in money or in cattle, made the
journey in^ my company to Cochahamba, with the avowed intention of
purchasing a property there and leaving the Beni. He gave as a
reason the pressing need of education for his children, but if that
were all, he could send his children to Cochabamba and remain him¬
self in Mojos. I prefer to think that the true reason for his leaving
is the increasing poverty of the Department. The construction of
the railway would, however, arrest entirely the decay by affording a
ready means of transit to a good market for the chocolate, sugar,
oxen, hides, skins, and other produce of which the inhabitants are
now only able to realize but a small amount in value compared with
what they will.be able to, when the line is open, and some of the
exiled Bolivian peons have been brought back to their homes.
Bate of Wages for Peons.
In consequence of the scarcity of hands, the peons now get 30 to
40 per cent, more for their journeys than they did a couple of years
ago ; thus, from Trinidad to Coni, they now get eight pesos for the
up-river voyage, and two for bringing back the canoes, while formerly
the price was six to seven pesos for the round trip. The monthly
rate of pay does not, however, seem to have altered much, as it is
still about five pesos (16s.) per month, so that the price established in
San Antonio of "ten pesos fuertes," or £2 per month, should be
sufficient to induce patrons and peons to go to the works.
Labour from the Beni for the Bailway.
Being desirous of testing the possibility of obtaining labour from
the Beni, for the railway, I invited some of the principal residents to
express to me in writing their willingness to assist in the construction
of the line when resumed, explaining to them the great assistance
they would be rendering to the contractors by taking their labourers
to the works, and undertaking the entire care of their men in manner
similar to that done by Señor Ignacio Arauz, in the cutting of the
track from San Antonio to Guaiara Merim. My ideas were responded
to by the principal men of the place, namely, Sr. José Suarez, the
Prefect j Sr. Ignacio Bello, his son-in-law ; Sr. Miguel Maria Cuellas,
Sr. Manuel Becerra, Sr. Jesus Arauz,, brother of Sr. Ignacio Arauz,
and Sr. Francisco Ceballos, of Exaltación. By means of these
'Apatrones" I believe that 5 to 600 men could yet be raised, for the
wor^s of the railway, in the various pueblos of the Beni ; and, as ]
45
maintain, tliat whoever carries ont these works must always have a
certain number of Benianos for timber work, and for navigation pur¬
poses, amongst the rapids, I am of opinion that no better plan can
be adopted than that of entering into contracts with some of the
above-named parties for the supply of this labour. All responsibility
as to housing and feeding these peons would thereby be taken off the
principal contractor's employés.
lY.—TEIlSriDAD TO CONI.
Start from Trinidad.
On the 19th of July I started with Don Ignació Bello and other
traders, there being in all eleven canoes, with an aggregate number of
a hundred Indians in the crews that then left Trinidad for the port
of Cochabamba, on the Eiver Coni, an affluent of the Hiver Chapari,
which itself is an affluent of the Mamoré. All these canoes, except
my own, were laden with cocoa in the bean, or " pepita," as it is
there called, a few tiger skins and tamarinds being the only other
articles that were taken up for sale in the interior of Bolivia.
Outlet from Trinidad to Mamoré.
Canoes ascending the river from Trinidad do not have to return by
the rivers Ybari to the Mamoré, as there is a lagoon about à league
from the town, from which a creek or curiche gives egress to the
principal river. This creek is not, however, large enough for even
small steamers, such as the " Explorador," which would always have
to descend the river Ybari to its mouth, before they could ascend
the Mamoré, which above Trinidad, still preserves a bold and wide
course, with free facilities for navigation, and has many plantations
and sugar estates on its banks.
The Hiver Seguré.
On the third day out. from Trinidad, we passed the entrance to
a large lagoon situated on the right bank of the river, and then on the
left bank we passed the mouth of the Hiver Securé, which has its rise
in the mountains of the nortliern part of the province of Cochabamba.
This river though broad and wide for a great portion of its coursé
is very shallow, and entirely unnavigable from the driftwood and
timber collected therein. An expedition sent up by the Prefect of
46
Trinidad shortly before my arrival, returned with the only result of
the impracticability of the river for any kind of navigation.
Bella Yista, the port of Loreto.
The same day we got to Bella Yista, the port of Loreto, a small village
inhabited by Indians of the Trinitario family. Here is a " trapiche "
or sugar mill and many large and well-kept cane fields and planta"
tions, but the land is much cut up by old river courses called "madres,"
and must be entirely inundated in exceptionally high floods.
SiRiONo Savages.—Cocoa Plantations.
Above Bella Yista the right bank is subject to visitation by the "Si-
riono " savages, and it is advisable therefore for canoes to keep on the
left bank, on which, a short distance in the interior, are plantations of
cocoa (chocolo tales) belonging to the Government.
Junction op the Biver Grande.
On the 24th, the sixth day after leaving Trinidad, we got to the
"Junta de los Bios," being the junction of the Bio Grande with the
Mamore.
The Biver Piray.
Of the navigation of the Piray or Sará, which is an affluent
of the Bio Grande flowing from the district of Santa Cruz, I can
only speak from hearsay. It is said to be free from all obstacle to
navigation for. at least eight months of the year, but for the re¬
maining four I should think it would be closed to steamers, as even
canoes have to be unloaded and dragged over the shallows, which I am
informed are of frequent occurrence. The Bio Grande at its mouth
appeared to be very dry, while the Mamoré had plenty of water and
was about 500 yards in width.
The Biver Chimor^.
The next day we entered the Biver Cha[)ari, leaving the Mamoré,
or as it is there called the Chimoré, on our left. I was only able to
ascend the Chimoré a short distance, but that was sufficient to con¬
vince me that it is a far superior river to the Chapari in volume
of water : and I am informed by Dr. Yelarde, who has ascended it to
the port of Chimoré, distant only about two leagues from Coni, the
47
part oí Cochabamba, that it is far preferable to the Chapari for naviga¬
tion, having no great amount of driftwood and no rapids as far up as
he penetrated.
The Eiver Chapari.
The Eiver Chapari, though about 200 yards in width at its
junction with the Mamoré, is in my opinion entirely useless for
trading purposes. It is a very serpentine river, and the bends are so
continually changing their courses that the whole river is one
succession of sand banks and stockades of dead wood^ through which
even canoes are with difficulty manœuvredr
The Chapari useless for navigation.
The ascent of the Chapari occupied our party eleven days of constant
struggling with the stockades of dead wood and the rapids of the
River Coni on which the port is situated, and I think the conclusion
may at once be arrived at, that a better channel for navigation must
be found, and this is, I believe, afforded by the Eiver Chímoré.
Coni, the port for Cochabamba.
Coni is distant about 45 leagues from Cochabamba, and is a small
clearing with a few huts where the mule drivers and traders from
Cochabamba remain while waiting in the dry season for the canoes
from Trinidad. As the mule drivers only come to Coni when they
expect to get a freight, intending travellers must make arrangements
beforehand to have animals ready for their arrival, otherwise they
will have to foot it over veiy bad roads.
The Yuraoaré Indians.
The district is the home of the Yuracare Indians, who are called
savages, but are very friendly and well disposed. They are nomads in
so far as that they only live in one clearing for perhaps two or three
years, until they are tired of the spot or fancy that the chaco
does not yield so well as it did at first. They then make a move to
another part of their district, which ranges from the higher waters of
the Chapari to the foot of the hills of San Antonio and Espiritu
Santo on the road to Cochabamba.
Trade via Coni.—New Port for the Navigation Company.
At this place I found a Corregidor and one or two traders, who had
48
come down from Cochabamba, either to receive the departmental tolls
on the traffic, or to receive their cargoes of cocoa, and ship the return
loads of wheaten flour or salt. There were about 200 mules in all
waiting at Coni, the cargo for each one being 8 Bolivian arrobas, or
about two cwt. During the five or six months that this trade is
open, more than 1000 cargoes, of 8 arrobas each, are received
from Cochabamba in salt or flour, while a similar quantity of cocoa
or leather and tiger skins is returned, and this trade is carried on
under every possible difficulty of miserable roads, and defective means
of navigation.
Coni is about 950 feet above sea level, and has a delightful climate ;
while the vegetation is not of that dense and rank nature found on
the maiii portions of the Amazon and Madeira rivers, so that ague
and fever is very little if at all known. The Navigation Company
will have to set up a port and clearing at the small Indian village of
Chimoré on the river of the same name, and then the present port of
Coni will be abandoned.
V,—BOLIVIA—CONI TO COCHABAMBA—COCHABAMBA
TO SUCHE.
Start from Coni—Utilization of the Yüracaré Indians.
On the 9th of August I left Coni with five mules, an arriero, or
mule driver, and also taking with me the Cacique, or headman and
five boys of the Yuracare Indians, who were useful on the road in
carrying small packages, and with their bows and arrows shooting
fish in the river, or game in the forest, so as to provide a repast at
the halts at night. These Indians always volunteer to accompany a
traveller of any note, and as it is well that they should always be dis¬
posed to especially assist anyone connected with the navigation or
railway enterprises, I did all I could to keep them friendly, and
believe that when operations are resumed, should it be intended to
take men down to the works from Cochabamba, these Indians can be
made very useful in clearing ground at the Chimoré port, and in
taking the peons down to Trinidad, or even to Cuajará Merim.
They could also be utilized as guards against the few hostile tribes cf
the Mamore, such as the Sirionos and the Chacobos, while, if properly
managed, it might be possible to induce a hundred or two of them to
locate themselves at the wooding stations necessary on the Mamoré,
and referred to in the second chapter of this report. As these Indians
49
are more expert with their bows and arrows than the tribes of the
lower Mamore, their presence would eíFeetually check the incursions
of those savages that refuse to approach civilization in the slightest
degree.
Pachimoco.
The first night's halt was made at one of their chacos, called Pachi¬
moco, a single house where lives the Intendente of the tribe, the next
in authority to the Cacique. Here 1 was well treated, the supplies of
the chaco, such as yucas, maize, and plantains, being freely offered
to me, while the centre of the hut was given up to me for my camp
bed.
The Eiver San Antonio—The Yungas of Espíritu Santo.
On the second day we came to the River San Antonio, an affluent
of the San Mateo, which is an affluent of the Chapari. This river,
where we first crossed it, is about a mile in width, forming at this
season an immense playa of water-worn stones, through which the
river finds its way in shallow channels, whilst during the rains
the whole is covered with a very turbulent and rapid stream. Having
crossed the river, the track leaves the plains of the Mam oré and the
Chapari and .commences to enter upon the mountainous districts
called the Yungas of Espíritu Santo. The track so far is but a path
cut through the forest, and is in wet weather quite impassable,
from the depth of the mud and the numerous holes in which mule
and rider may easily come to grief ; but over the hilly lands it has in
former days been roughly paved after the fashion of old Spanish roads.
The Mountain Road very Bad.
The third day we followed up the course of the San Antonio,
descending into it several times and riding up and down the " cuestas,"
which are, perhaps, the roughest mountain paths I have yet ridden
over, the zig-zags being of the shortest and steepest possible. These
paths are, as is usual in mountain districts, much worn by the
trampling of the mules, and the drainage of the rains which hollows
them out, so that at times one appears to be riding between two walls
of earth.
Cristal Maio.
The third halt was made at a place called Cristal Maio, yt
an elevation of 1,920 feet above sea level. Here we came upon
4
50
the first settlements of Bolivians of the type found generally in
the interior, such as Cochabambinos, Pazeños, and others. Planting
** coca " is the only occupation of the settlers in this district, who are
continually extending their clearings down the slopes of the hills
towards the plains below.
The Coca Plant.
This plant is a small tree, allowed to grow to four or five
feet in height, and planted in rows kept in excellent order. The
^eaves only are valuable, being collected carefully, dried in the
sun, and then when pressed into seroons they fetch at Totora, the
great coca dépôt of the district, from 11 to 16 pesos the sesta" of
22 lbs., or say Is. 7d. to 2s. éd. per lb.
*
Use of the Coca.
Without this stimulant, used largely in the interior of Bolivia
and Peru, but unknown by, and apparently useless to, the
Indian of the plains of the Mamore, the Quichuan or Aymará
Indian appears unable to exist, for it serves him on his long journeys
with his mules or llamas in place of food or drink.
Best Districts for the Growth of Coca.
The best districts for its production appear to be the eastern slopes
of the northern hills of Bolivia, and a very large and valuable trade
is carried on at most of the towns of the republic in this article.
Continuous Rains.—Zinc Roofed Houses.
There is said to be much rain in this district, the months of August
and September alone being blessed with a few fine days. The houses,
in view of this constant rain; are built with roofs of very steep pitch,
at an angle of 60 degrees perhaps, whilst the settlers who can afford
it have covered their houses with sheets of tin or zinc, brought at
great expense from Cochabamba and the Pacific coast. The timbers
used are extraordinarily heavy, in order that the frequent violent
wind storms may not overturn the houses. A foundation wall of dry
stone, raised 18 inches from the ground, is first placed, and on that a
bed plate of hard timber dressed with the axe to 12 or 14 inches
square, then uprights and wall plates to match complete the solid
framing.
51
The fourth day's ride continued to be over very rough ground, the
whole of the distance done being over a succession of " cuestas,"
which in places were actual staircases. At one moment one would
ascend to 3,000 feet elevation, and then quickly down to 2,500, and
even 2,000, the road being dug out of the side of the rock, just wide
enough to allow of the passage of one mule with its burden.
Gold at Minas Maio.
At a place called Minas Maio, there is a tradition that gold has
been found in the sands of the ravine, and at Espiritu Santo the river
bed was full of quartz stones, from which I selected a few that have
since been declared by a geological authority to have come from gold
bearing reefs.
Metalliferous Character of the District.
There is also much ironstone of a shaley character in some of the
ravines ; copper pyrites also abound in some of the quartz stones in
the rivers, and there is no doubt that the region is highly metal¬
liferous, and will well repay explorers when the improved navigation
of the Mamorê shall have caused the amelioration of the present bad
roads of the district.
'^El Chaco."
The fourth night was passed at a house called " El Chaco," 3,250
feet above sea level. The settlers appear only to produce provisions
sufficient for their own use, and I found it impossible to purchase
even a fowl or a few eggs at any price, so that had T not taken a
small supply of " charqui " and tinned meats with me, I should have
passed a bad time on this part of the road.
Forage of the District.
A grass called "saracachi" is grown for the mules, and is, I
believe, peculiar to the district; it grows in bunches, and is cut off
at the ground, leaving the roots, which soon afford another growth.
Coffee Grown.
Coffee of a very superior class grows here, but does not appear to
be cultivated largely, owing, doubtless, to the greater profits yielded
bv the coca.
52
Wages of Peons.
The labourers or peons are all of the Quichuan race, and earn
4 reales, say Is. 7d., j)er day and their rations.
The mountains at El C^haco " rise on either side of the river to
a height of probably 6,000 or 7,000 feet, their tops, generally in
the clouds, being clothed with forest.
Landslip at Lina TamDo.
The fifth days' ride was from "El C-haco'^ over the cuesta of
Lina Tambo, the summit of which was 6,150 feet above sea level.
There had been a tremendous landslip, the path having been covered
up for more than a mile in length, a distance that had to be
traversed in drenching rain over the debris of the mountain side.
After passing the summit we crossed a river called the San Jacinto
(another affluent of the Chapari and Chimore system) over a bridge of
rough timbers spanning perhaps 60 feet, with dry stone abutments and
timber longitudinals. The fifth night was passed at a " pascana" or
resting place by the road side, we having failed to reach any habitation.
Toll at Los Jocotales.
On the sixth day we passed a few houses called " Los Jocotales,"
where a toll of 2 reales, 9 J pence is collected upon all cargoes of mer¬
chandize carried by mules or donkeys, but the traders complain bitterly
of having to pay tolls on a road that is so little cared for as this is.
Inca Corbal.
We then passed over a very high ridge, on the summit of which the
Aneroid marked nearly 8,000 feet above sea level, and the night was
passed in a small hut at Inca Corral, a wide valley, at an elevation of
7,715 feet, and running nearly N. and S., down which the wind blew
with searching force, the thermometer at night sinking to 39J® Fah¬
renheit. The country at this height is open, the few trees being quite
stunted and covered with mosses and lichens. Maize of a very large
size and very sweet is grown, also barley snd potatoes, while a root
called " Yacunes," somewhat like a small yellow carrot, is eaten raw
; and esteemed a great delicacy by the few cotters who live here to tend
the cattle which are in fair numbers.
53
Frost at night.—Cuesta de Malaga, the highest pass.
Rising early in the seventh morning, the gr^ss was covered with
hoar frost and the cold extreme. Proceeding np the valley or raised
plateau of Inca Corral we soon began the ascent of the Cuesta de Ma¬
laga, the highest and last before reaching Cochabamba, and really on
the dividing ridge of the watersheds of the Mamoré and Rio Grande
systems. On this ascent all trees stop at about 10,800 feet elevation,
while the still higher tops of the mountains had snow in their crevices.
I was told that in 1873 a snow-storm in August filled up the pass,
and that an arriero and his " recua,'' or drove of mules, perished in the
drift, a cross on the pathway attesting the fact. The summit of the
pass I made to be 12,550 feet, and soon after passing it we came to
cultivated lands and some isolated huts.
Barley and Potatoes.
Barley and potatoes are the only products, the soil being very barren
and full of stones. No trees are visible, and only a rough long grass
from which a few sheep and oxen find sustenance.
Total Change in the appearance of Nature.
From this point onwards into Bolivia the face of nature seems entirely
changed, the luxurious tropical vegetation of the plains being left behind,
and the stony barren hills of the Andes, with their occasional irrigated
valleys, entered upon.
cochi-janchi.
About 5 p.m. of the seventh day we got to the village of Cochi-
Janchi, at 10,950 feet above sea level, a village of mud or adobe houses,
which, from the absence of any trees, look very dreary. The people,
however, must be very laborious as the hills are much cultivated, some
up to their summits of probably 12,500 or 13,000 feet elevation.
*
Potatoes sent to Cochabamba.
The village has a church and probably fifty or sixty scattered farms,
and supplies Cochabamba with potatoes, in which a large trade appears
to be done, both in fresh fruit and preserved, called chuño," which
is really nothing more than a frozen potatoe and a most horrid sub-
54
stitute for tlie i*eal article. In this state, however, it is said to keep
for any length of time, and forms the staple article of food with the
yuichuan Indian.
Koad to Con i by Bandiola.
From the village there is another track that leads to Coni hy pass¬
ing through a district called Bandiola to the east of Espíritu Santu,
but that track also has to pass the ridge of Malaga, and I was credibly
informed that the cuestas in that direction are far more severe than
those over which I travelled, and as my Yuracaré Indians refused to
return to their homes by the Bandiola road, I think it may be agreed
that it is not a practicable one. The Malaga cuesta, although rising
to a great height was not very steep, the ascent and descent being so
gradual that I did not once have to dismount from my mule in going
over it.
On the eighth day, leaving Cochi-Janchi in the morning, we passed
another cuesta, whose summit was only 600 feet lower than that of
Malaga, and passing several villages came about midday to the pueblo
of Sacaba, a considerable town about four leagues from Cochabamba.
Sacaba.
From Sacaba the shortest road to Cochabamba is over a ridge o f
hills that stretch out into the plain where the city stands, but the
animals being very tired and footsore we made the detour round the
hills arriving at the town at dusk.
Cochabamba.
Cochabamba, probably the most important town of the Bepublic of
Bolivia, is situated in a plain 8,450 feet above sea level, overlooked
by the snow-clad heights of Tunari and Larati. The town is well
built, with regular streets, a handsome Cathedral and other public
buildings.
Agricultural Products.
The population probably is about 50,000 ; the greater portion
of whom are engaged in agriculture, for Cochabamba may certainly
claim to be the agricultural capital of Bolivia, whilst La Paz may be
termed the mineral capital. Large stores of flour, maize, corn, barley,
potatoes, fruits of all kinds such as apples, pears, apricots and
strawberries are forwarded from Cochabamba to the central towns of
the Bepublic.
55
Commercial Firms.
Here there are three German houses of considerable wealth and
position, and the American firm of Haviland and Keay who are
contractors for public works, and for the coaches that run to Arani
through the valley of Cliza.
Mineral Wealth of the District.
Very little if anything has been done in mining in the neighbour¬
hood of Cochabamba, owing to its still greater distance from the coast
than Potosí, Oruro, or many of the other mineral towns of Bolivia
but I am sure that there is immense wealth in minerals in all the
hills encircling the piain in which the city stands, and samples of
manganese, silver and lead ore that I have brought from the outcrop
of lodes in the district attest the fact.
Climate.
The climate of Cochabamba may I think be classed amongst the
finest of the world, it enjoying an almost perpetual summer, whilst
the nights are pleasantly cool and strengthening to constitutions
depressed by the humid heat of the Madeira and Amazon valleys.
Feeling of Public Opinion on the Enterprise.
From my reception in Cochabamba it is evident that all classes and
shades of political opinion are, notwithstanding the disappointment
caused by the abandonment by the Public Works Company of its
contract, resolved to do all possible to assist the enterprise to
completion. Cochabamba sees in it, its only hope of emancipating
itself from the heavy costs and charges levied upon all its European
necessities by the merchants of La Paz and the Pacific Coast, and
also its only hope of securing an outlet for those abundant agricultural
products that now are lost for want of customers.
Interview with the Municipality.
«
The Municipal Council invited me to a special session and
requested me to give them information upon certain points that were
in doubt wdth reference to the future prospects of the enterprise, and
also as to the supposed difiS-Culties of construction of the railway and
the u"^ ealthiness of the climate.
5G
Address sent to Congress by the Municipality.
Tlie remarks that I addressed to the Municipalitj being satisfactory
it was decided that a note should be sent to the Secretaries of the
Congress sitting in Sucre, praying the Congress to take the question
of continuance of support to the enterprise into early consideration
and praying that a favourable solution might be given to the matter,
whilst all the Deputies from the Cochabamba district, some twelve in
number, i^eceived special instructions to vote in favour of and to
protect the enterprise.
Why Popular Meetings were not held.
Public meetings in favour of the enterprise would have been
organised during my stay, had it not been feared that they might
give rise to some political manifestations of disapproval of the acts of
the Government in their interpretation of the decree of ovember,
1873, and as party spirit was very much excited amongst Government
supporters or Eqjos," Quevedistas and Corralistas, it was thought
advisable not to make the Company's affairs a vehicle for political
disturbances.
Labour obtainable.
With reference to the prospect of obtaining labourers from this
district I think that at least a thousand good workmen might be
obtained from the valleys of Cochabamba, Cliza and Arani; and
nothwithstanding the distrust left by the acts of the Public Works
Company in returning peons without due payment for their loss of
time suffered in a fruitless journey from Cochabamba to the ßeni,
or from Chiquitos to Santa Cruz, I had many applications from
peons desirous of proceeding to the railway, while two well known
contractors offered to enter into engagements for either subcontracts
or for supplying labour for the works.
Totora Eoute to Sucre determined upon.
I determined to make my journey to Sucre by way of Arani and
Totora, in order to see the new cart road in course of construction
between these places, and also at Totora, to obtain all the informa¬
tion possible with reference to the advisability of a road from thence
to the proposed new port on the Chimoré.
57
Tarata and Oliza.
Leaving Cochabamba on the 31st of August, in one of Messrs.
Haviland and Keay's coaches, we were soon in the pampas,
and passed the towns of Tarata and Cliza, both populous and
flourishing places. August being one of the dry months, the
pampas were bare and dusty, but evidently in the spring and
showery seasons large crops of barley, wheat, and maize are raised.
The pampas are dotted over with the dome-shaped huts and houses
of the Quichuan Indians, and from their being built in mud and
stones, the country presents features similar to those of many of
the plains of Central India.
punata.
The first night was passed at Punata, a town with about 16,000
inhabitants, and a place of considerable trade in cereals, felt hats, and
ponchos made from vicunha and other wools. Here I was introduced
to a Señor Manuel Arauco, who is the principal man of the place, and
was most hospitably received by him. He has a most interesting
museum of products of the province of which he is a native, and
showed me some excellently tanned specimens of leather ; also various
dyestufls and drugs collected in the forests of the hills which border
on the plains of the Beni.
Exportable Products of the Province.
Amongst other articles I noticed and brought away small samples of
brasiletto w^ood, campeachy, a root which might be utilised as a
purple dye instead of Orchella weed also turmeric collected near Santa
Cruz, and called coorcama " in the district. As this article commands
a large sale in Europe, at about ¿030 a ton, it might with great
advantage be made an article of export, viâ the railway of the
rapids. Señor Arauco, who is a most talented man, spoke with great
enthusiasm of the benefits to accrue to the eastern provinces of Bolivia
from the completion of the railway and navigation schemes.
Arani.—Lagoons near Yacas.—Irrigation Works.
Leaving Punata, the road passes through Arani, a small town at the
end of the pampa, and then commences to ascend the hills leading to
Yacas and Totora. Near Yacas are the lagoons from which it is
proposed to take water for the irrigation of the pampas of the Cliza
58
valley. The lagoons are three in number, the largest being about
1| leagues in length by half a league in breadth. The works, which
have been carried out by Messrs. Haviland and Keay, of Cochabamba,
for Mr. Meiggs, of Lima, are now in abeyance, and it was supposed
that they would be abandoned, the reason being that it was surmised,
that if the channel cut from the lagoons to the pampas were opened,
the lagoons would drain dry in about four years, and that no return
for the capital spent (about £50,000) would be obtained. I think it
may be considered that the lagoons are only drainage deposits from
the surrounding hills, which attain altitudes of 14 or 15,000 feet, the
lakes themselves being about 9,500 feet above sea level, while
the pampas to be irrigated are at an altitude of nearly 9,000 feet.
There are no rivers to empty themselves into the lagoons, and there
is only the drainage of the hills during the rainy season to depend
upon. Some authorities aver that the lagoons are supplied by springs,
while others think that they are decreasing yearly in size ; and it is
probable that they are parallels on a small scale of Lake Titicaca, in the
north-western corner of Bolivia, or of the Lake of "Valencia, inVenezuela
—lakes that are known to be decreasing yearly, from extended agricul¬
ture, and in the case of Lake Valencia denudation of forests. If
irrigation could be taken to the pampa lands of the Cliza valley, they
would, perhaps, become the richest agricultural plains in the world,
as their climate, owing to the considerable elevation, is suitable for
the production of almost any cereal.
Path from Yagas to the Hiver Chimorib.
Yacas is a small Indian village of no other interest than that it is
said, that from there exists a path that leads to the Chimoré and
Coni rivers, and its position on the map would lead to the belief that
it is favourably situated for explorations to these rivers.
New Road between Arani and Totora.—Pay of Labourers.
The road from Arani to Totora has been made without any engi¬
neering help, and consequently the grades are very uncertain, and the
routes taken might in many cases have been improved upon.
Notably one part of the road, about two leagues before arriving at
Pocona, has been taken overa ridge, the descent from which is accom¬
plished by a zig-zag of 3 inclines of possibly 1 in 6 at least, while the
road might have been taken up a quebrada, and the abrupt descent
avoided by a continuous grade of }^erhaps 1 in 25. However, consi-
59
derable work has been undertaken and some of the cuts are of great
depth, one point of rock and earth being cut to 50 feet depth ; on the
whole the work reflects great credit on the contractor Señor Demetrio
Jordan, of Cochabamba, and is the first road undertaken in the re¬
public by a Bolivian contractor. The tools in use by the peons were
of the most miserable description, and considering this, it is clear that
the Quichuan Indians may be made very fair navvies ; their daily
wage on the road was 4 reals, or say Is. 7d., without provisions.
PoCONA AND ToTOBA. PROPOSED RoAD from the biyer câlmoré
to Totora.—Internal System of Railways for Bolivia
initiated.
Pocona isbut a small village, but the next town arrived at, Totora, has
about 15,000 inhabitants, and possesses considerable trade principally
in coca, it being the chief emporium in eastern Bolivia for that article.
Coffee, flour, sugar and potatoes are also articles of export, while
foreign merchandize finds its way here from Sucre and Santa Cruz,
numerous droves or " recuas " of mules and donkeys being met with
between Totora and Sucre. I took a good deal of information in
Totora with reference to roads to the head waters of the Chimoré,
and was introduced to two of the principal men of the place, Don
Eugenio Soriano and ¿Don Saturnino Yela. These gentlemen are
owners of cocales or plantations of " coca" in the hills which form the
watersheds of the affluents of the Mamoré and of those of the Rio
Grande. Señor Soriano has made a track from Totora to Arepucho
where his cocales are situated and is now cutting a further track from
Arepucho to the Chimoré ; he is confident a much better road is
found viâ Arepucho than by Espíritu Santo and the Yungas of San
Antonio, and gives me the distances as follows : Totora to Arepucho,
14 leagues, and Arepucho to the Chimoré 12 leagues, total 26. The
road from Cochabamba to Coni viâ Espíritu Santo is 44 leagues.
If a road by Arepucho and Totora is made the 26 leagues can be
easily done in three days, and from Totora to Cochabamba, the road
being good, can be done in two days, making five days in all, the last
day of which can be done in coach from Arani. The Espíritu Santo
route cannot be got over in less than seven days, and the road is not
susceptible of much improvement, while the wide crossing of the River
San Antonio renders the route almost impracticable for general traffic.
I therefore conclude that our efforts should be directed to making
a road from the Chimoré vid Arepucho to Bacas or Totora, this
60
latter place having the advantage of being a good starting point
for a road to Sucre as well as to Cochabamba and Oruro. Thus a
future would be prepared for an internal system of railways for the
eastern part of the republic, in communication with the Madeira
and Mamoré Railway.
From Totora to Misque—Misque.—Aiquile.
The height of Totora is about 10,000 feet, and the road rises
slightly on leaving the town, then crosses a large plain about
500 feet below the Totora hills, then rises very sharply to 11,500 feet
and descending a very steep and bad " cuesta " gets to a quebrada,
up which the road for Misque is taken. Misque is an old cathedral
town, once of considerable importance, but of late years much aban¬
doned on account of the ague fever that is said to be prevalent there.
It is in a beautiful plain 7,000 feet above sea level, and as irrigation
is carried on to a great extent, the fields and feeding grounds were in
very fine order. From Misque to Aiquile, the road taken up a wide
and almost dry river bed is fairly level, the greatest altitude passed
over this section being about 9,000 feet. Aiquile, the next town of
importance, is a thriving place of about 4,000 inhabitants, from this
place a road branches off for Santa Cruz. Aiquile seems a very
healthy town, and many people have of late years moved to it from
Misque ; its elevation above sea level is 7,850 feet ; its trade seems to
be entirely in agricultural products.
Sugar Cane at Quiroga.
Chinguri, Quiroga, and Palca are the. next villages passed through ;
they are unimportant and call for no remark, other than at Quiroga,
about 7,000 feet above sea level, there are several very large and fine
cañaverales, or fields of sugar cane, small in height and of slender
growth, but said to yield good produce. Cultivation was well carried
on there, considerable work in aqueducts, channels, and other irrigation
requirements being carried out.
The "Rio Grande."
*
About six leagues from Quiroga we entered on the " Rio Grande,"
flowing between two ranges of hills, on either side of which a road
might, with considerable ease, be made. The track now crosses the
river about seven times, and then comes to a bridge now broken down
entirely ; the stone abutments of very inferior masonry are, however,
61
still standing. The roadway was, I am told, a suspension affair, which,
being hung with too great a sag, was soon washed away. The river
offers great facilities at the site for a span of a hundred feet, as two
points of rock jut out from the main hills on either side, giving good
foundations for the abutments. The Rio G-rande, therefore, does not
offer any very great obstacle to the construction of a good road to Sucre.
In the rainy season, when the river is full, a balsa," or raft, lower
down the river than the old bridge, forms at present the means of
communication.
Flour Mill at Canto Molino.
After leaving Palca, the short but sharp " cuesta " of the "Jabon¬
cillo," so called from the greasy nature of the earth, a kind of clay
slate, has to be surmounted. The next, called "Masa-cruz," rises
to an elevation of 8,550 feet above sea level, and on the Sucre
side falls 1,350 feet in about a couple of miles. At the foot
of this hill, at the junction point of three large ravines, is a
flour-mill, called " Canto Molino," where most of the wheat and
maize grown in the Cochabamba district is sent for grinding. The
power used is water, the machinery an old-fashioned vertical wheel,
while grind-stones of fair diameter and hard grit are found in the
neighbouring hills.
Thermal Spring at Huata.—First View of Sucre.
From Canto Molino the road continues j up a ravine of from two
to three hundred yards in width, with hilly country on either side,
which offers good sidelong ground for a road, but here, as is usual
throughout Bolivia, the road is taken up the bed of the river, which^
from being dry for the greater part of the year, offers a ready-made
road good enough for animal traflic. At Huata, in this ravine,
there is a bathing establishment at a thermal spring, much used by
the residents of Sucre. Beyond this village there is a very sharp
cuesta, which rises to 10,000 feet above sea level, and shortly
after surmounting the crest of the hill, one comes in sight of the
capital of Bolivia, " Sucre," or " Chuquisaca," as it is called in the
Quichuan tongue. The first appearance of the town is very pleasing,
from the number of churches, convents, and other large public
buildings, but the country round is very bare and dull looking,
water being very scarce and only to be met with in the bottom of
the deep ravines.
62
VI.—SUCRE.
Arrival at Sucre.
On the eighth day from Cochabamba I arrived at Sucre, the
time occupied usually in travelling between the two places being
five to six days, the detour that I made by Totora being two days'
journey longer than the route by the valley of San Pedro.
Sucre.—Public Buildings.—Bad Municipal Arrangements.—
Small Pox.
Sucre, although nominally the capital of Bolivia, is not the largest
or most influential town of the republic, being surpassed in population,
and consequently in commerce, both by Cochabamba and La Paz,
while Potosí, once more populous than any of the three, has still
nearly as many inhabitants as Sucre, which may be said to have a
population of about 25,000. There are no manufactures and but little
agriculture, so that the town owes its importance to its being the
constitutional seat of government and the site of the principal univer¬
sities and religious establishments of the country. The principal
cathedral is dedicated to " Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe," and the
Archbishopric of La Plata, with the see of Chuquisaca for
head-quarters, once had jurisdiction over all the ecclesiastical
dignities of Southern South America. There is a palace for the
President, a Hall of Congress, and some imposing-looking structures
amongst the colleges, convents, and other public buildings ; whilst the
streets and squares being broad and fairly well paved, the town has
altogether a very decent appearance, although it is to be regretted
that the sanitary arrangements of the Municipality should in this
city, as well as in all the other principal towns of Bolivia, be
conspicuous for, and remarkable solely from, their absence. For
this reason it is that small pox hangs for such long periods of time
about these cities, and kills yearly large numbers of the Indian
population, who, averse to vaccination in ignorance of its benefits,
fall easy victims to this terrible scourge of South American cities.
Whilst I was in Sucre this plague was rife, my own servant
boy, a Cruzeño,' falling a victim.
Dr. Velarde—Report presented to Congress—Articles
published in newspapers.
Here I met, for the first time. Dr. Juan Francisco Velarde, who
had temporarily resigned his position as agent of the Navigation
63
Company in Bolivia, in order to represent the town of Sant^ Cruz in
the Congress ; he received me most enthusiastically and kindly. Dr.
Yelarde seemed to look upon my unadvised coming to Sucre as some¬
thing almost providential, as he had begun to have serious misgivings
as to the treatment the affairs of the enterprise would receive at the
hands of Congress, owing to the active hostility of its enemies and
the lukewarmness of its friends ; the advent of a coadjutor was to him,
therefore, an event of unparalleled importance. Finding that the
question of the "Empresa Church," as the affairs of the Navigation
and Bailway Companies are universally spoken of throughout
Bolivia, could not come to discussion in the Congress for some weeks,
I applied myself to sounding the views of the deputies with reference
to the enterprise, and informing the public generally of its views and
aims. I also prepared a report upon the events that had transpired
in connection with the railway since the letting of the contract in
1872, and had it printed for and delivered to the deputies in Congress.
Dr, Yelarde had, in the month of July previous to my arrival, pre¬
pared and published a most lucid and painstaking pamphlet con¬
cerning the affairs of the enterprise and the causes that had delayed
its realization, but nevertheless the enemies of the railway continued
to be very active ; and as certain schemes which had for their object
the carrying of Bolivian commerce by the waters of the Kiver Para¬
guay to the Atlantic at Monte Video and Buenos Ayres, were being
brought before the Congress by competing concessionaries. Dr. Y elarde
and I considered it necessary to keep the public instructed, by means
of newspaper articles, in the condition of and the aims and objects
of the " Empresa Church these articles we brought out in " La
Crónica," an independent journal published in Sucre during the
sittings of Congress.
New Concessions being applied for in Congress—Caracoles
and Mejillones Bailway—La Paz and Lake Titicaca
Bailway.
The schemes for which new concessions or renewal of old ones were
being sought in the Congress of 1874, were mostly connected with
the opening up of the eastern side of Bolivia. With regard to the
Pacific side, the Concessionaire of the Caracoles and Mejillones Bail-
way, Sr. Braun, asked for the payment of interest due on the bonds
issued by the Bolivian Government for the construction of that rail¬
way, but failed to get any satisfactory resolution. Sr. Zara, the
Concessionaire of the La Paz and Yungas Bailway, of two feet guage.
64
in the department of Tja Paz, sought for and I believe obtained from
the Grovernment a concession for an extension of that railway from
La Paz to the Lake of Titicaca ; this concession did not, however,
come before the Congress, the Government appearing to have power
to grant it without the necessity of an application to the Assembly.
Schemes for Eoads to the Eiver Paraguay—Senor Paradiz's
Scheme.
The applications for concessions on the eastern side were four in
number, all having for their object the construction of roads across
the unknown territory which separates Bolivia from the Biver
Paraguay. One scheme taken up in Sucre by a Señor Paradiz,
obtained the recognition of concessions granted in 1853, for the con¬
struction of a road from Santa Cruz viâ Chiquitos to a port on the
Paraguay Biver, to be called Port Vargas, situated about 180 miles
below the Brazilian port of Curumba, in the disputed territory of the
Gran Chaco. The projector of this enterprise estimates that with
about ¿060,000 he can complete his cart track, establish a rural colony
at this port, and place two steamers, a schooner, and sundry lighters
upon the river, and as he has secured the right to all duties that may
be levied at the port for a period of eight years, he calculates that a
profit of over 70 per cent, will be earned. His estimate of cost is, I
think, far too low, and his chances of success are but small, as he has
not been able to form his Company or obtain assistance in Buenos
Ayres, for which town he started in December last from Sucre.
Señor M. S. Aranaes Scheme.
The second scheme is propounded by Señor Miguel Suarez Arana,
a Bolivian gentleman of good family. He proposes to construct two
cart roads, one from Santa Cruz to an undefined port on the right
bank of the Biver Paraguay, and the other from a town called
Lagunillas, in the Cordillera, to the same port. The concessionaire
asks for two-thirds of the duties to be created at the proposed port
for a period of 40 years and seeks for tolls, premiums and other
advantages. This proposalj however, did not come before the Congress,
but was referred for settlement to the Government under special
powers granted shortly before the Congress closed.
Captain Greenleaf Cilley's Scheme.
The third scheme is brought forward by Captain Greenleaf Cilley,
a retired commander of the United States Navy, who proposes to
65
construct a railway from Santa Cruz to the territory of Otuquis on the
upper waters of the river of the same name, an affluent of the Kiver
Paraguay. The length of this line would probably be not less than
300 miles, and Captain Greenleaf Cilley, estimating the cost of con¬
struction at «£8,000 per mile, asked fora guarantee of 7 percent on the
expenditure, and for two leagues of land on either side of the line.
But Bolivia is not reckless enough to promise a guarantee on such
an enormous capital, and Captain Cilley had to strike the guarantee
clauses out of his application. At the time I left Sucre the concession
had not been granted even in this mutilated state, but was waiting
for a report by the Council of State. Captain Cilley is the representa¬
tive of the Yernet family of Buenos Ayres, who are descendants of
the " Oliden " who received a concession of lands from Bolivia nearly
fifty years ago. These lands are high and well suited for culti¬
vation of coffee or cocoa, and Captain Cilley hopes to be able to
attract emigration to them, if he can obtain the concession for the
railway and funds wherewith to construct it.
Señor Beyes Cardona's Scheme.
Sr. Reyes Cardona, for some time Minister to the Brazilian Court
at Bio Janeiro, proposes a colossal scheme of railroads commencing
at Bahia Negra on the Paraguay, crossing the deserts of Izozo to
Santa Cruz, and from thence by Sucre on to La Paz. This vague
scheme seemed to possess only one fixed idea, which was to seize the
X600,000 deposited in the Bank of England for the construction of
the Madeira and Mamoré Railway. In what part of the grand scheme
of internal railways for Bolivia the fund was to be spent did not
appear to be of much consequence, so that it was handed over to Sr
Reyes Cardona, tobe dealt with as his self-acknowledged "honour,
talent and patriotism " should direct.
Effect of New Proposals upon Public Opinion.
These various schemes .tended to weaken public interest in the
opening up of the trade route for Bolivia viâ the rapids of the
Madeira and the River Amazon, and though the route of the Paraguay
could never be at all antagonistic to that of the Amazon, some sections
of the Bolivian public were glad to accept the delay in the
construction of the Madeira and Mamoré Railway as an excuse for
listening to new schemes and new interests.*
5
66
The Brazilian Minister at Sucre assists the Enterprise.
y
The " Empresa Church was, however, veiy fortunate in finding a
staunch advocate and firm friend at Sucre, in the person of Sr. Liionel
d^Alencar, the Minister of Brazil to the Bepublic of Bolivia. This
gentleman whom I had the honour of knowing in 1868 at Caracas, he
being then Chargé d'Affaires to the Bepublic of Venezuela, took a
lively interest in forwarding the prospects of the enterprise by sending
friendly communications to the Minister, Señor Mariano Baptista, ex¬
pressing the great interest with which Brazil looked upon the Madeira
and Mamoré Bailway, and assuring the Minister of the desire of
the Brazilian Government to assist Bolivia by offering the guarantee
upon the extra capital, which it was known had been asked for at
Bio Janeiro by the Company's agent there. Sr. d'Alencar also gave
his opinion to the effect that Brazil would not look with any favour
upon or assist schemes having for their object the carrying of Bolivian
traffic by the Biver Paraguay to the Atlantic.
Political Parties.
Political parties in Bolivia spring up, change or die out according
as some leading spirit rises up for a time and soon gives place to another
and newer man, for politics in Bolivia cannot be defined in any other
way than as purely personal.
Quevedistas.
The party once led by General Melgarejo, formerly President of the
Bepublic, has now for its chief General Quintin Que vedo, whose fol¬
lowers are termed Quevedistas. To General Quevedo belongs the
honour of having not only been the first to demonstrate practically
the existence of a trade route for Bolivia by the Madeira and
Amazon Biver, but also of having been the introducer of the grand
idea to American enterprise.
The Political Character given to the Enteeprise.
The " Empresa'Church," therefore, at present, doubtless, has to
struggle against the dislike inherent to it in the minds of sup¬
porters of other political parties in Bolivia, it being generally con¬
sidered throughout Bolivia as a Quevedistic creation ; and here I must
do the party the honour due to it of saying that it has throughout
the struggle loyally supported the enterprise.
67
corealistas.
Another party in Bolivia is termed that of the Corralistas, from
its component followers achnowledging as their head Dr. Casimiro
Corral, Minister of Home G-overnment and Foreign Affairs in the
Bepublic, under the presidency of General Morales. This party is a
large and influential one, and its members, with the exception of
some resident in La Paz, have alwaj^s supported the various decrees
that have been passed in favour of the construction of the Madeira
and Mamore Bailway.
Bojos or Ballivianistas.
The third party in Bolivia is the one at present in power, and is
headed now by Don Tomas Frias, the actual President of Bolivia.
The terms Bojos," or Beds, and El partido Ballivian," are some¬
what indiscriminately applied to this section of public opinion,
which includes many independent members, as well as many of thá
supporters, and co-political religionists of the lately deceased Presi¬
dent Don Adolfo Ballivian.
It is well known that Señor Ballivian returned to Bolivia
from England in the year 1872, with a fixed resolve to crush the
Madeira and Mamore Bailway and the htational Bolivian Naviga¬
tion Company ; and, notwithstanding the failure of his project
for a new loan proposed by him to the Congress of that year, the
declared object of the new loan being principally the buying up of
the old one, and the cancellation of the subventions to the enterprise,
his more declared disciples in the Boj o " party still perpetuate his
idea, and endeavour in every way to throw obstacles in the path of
the enterprise in its efforts to re-habilitate itself. The more indepen¬
dent members of this party do not, however, join in this blind
policy of the Ballivianistas, and have afforded very valuable aid to
the enterprise during the late discussions in Bolivia.
The Opponents of the Enterprise Defined.
From this short review of the politics of Bolivia, it will be seen
that the only opponents of the " Empresa Church " form but a small
minority of the inhabitants of the Bepublic, and may be said to
be extreme Ballivianistas, including such men as the Señores
Aramayos, father and son, of whom more hereafter, and Señor
Nicolas A costa, at one time Secretary to General Narciso Campero
ß8
in the Legation to London. A few of the leading men of Lä
Paz, whose hard-headed, restrictive notions still lead them to believe
that the act of giving freedom and life to the eastern provinces of
Boli v^ia will inevitably bring death to the western ones, have, from
the inception of the enterprise, steadily opposed it, and, still con¬
sistent to their retrograde principles, continue to do so upon every
possible opportunity.
Interviews with President Prias and the Ministers.
Shortly after my arrival interviews were granted me by the Pre¬
sident, Sr. Prias, and the Ministers of Government and of Pinance,
Señores Baptista and Dalence, the result of these interviews being
to convince me that the enterprise need not look for any active
support from the present Government. In fact, I soon discovered
that the policy of the Government of Bolivia was one of masterly
inactivity, the Government being so fully occupied in maintaining
its own power that it feared to bring on any question in Con¬
gress that might at all provoke discussion or create criticism of
any of its acts. However, Señor Baptista, the most prominent
member of the Government, assured me that the enterprise need
not fear any opposition from his Government which would submit
itself entirely to any instructions that might be furnished it by
the Congress then sitting.
Project of a Decree submitted to Congress.
«
The next step, therefore, was to formulate a project of law having re¬
ference to the affairs of the enterprise, and get it submitted to the appro¬
val of Congress. Señor Yelarde, therefore, proposed the form of decree
which was submitted to Congress on the 21st of September, having ob¬
tained the signatures of six other deputies in its favour. This project stipu¬
lated that the remainder of the 83 per cent, of the product of the loan of
1872 should continue to be applied to the construction of the Madeira
and Mamoré Bailway, that the Companies should give guarantees for
the completion of the line, that the Government should consider the
time for the completion of the road as extended to two years from the
recommencement of the works, and should enter into negotiations with
Brazil for the obtaining of the necessary favours with regai'd to the
free navigation of the Hiver Madeira and the freedom of the traffic from
all taxation, as well as to solicit from Brazil its aid in the providing of
further funds ; that a permanent legation should be established in Lon-
69
don with powers to see to the proper inversion of the deposited fund
and to put an end to all litigation, and that speedy provision should
be made for a commencement of the collection of duties on all traffic
coming into or going out of Bolivia by way of the Amazon. The pro¬
ject was passed to the Commissions of Finance and Industry for their
report, but, owing to press of general business and the many sittings
that the Commissions held before coming to a resolution on the sub¬
ject, a whole month passed away, the reports on the project not being
returned to Congress until the 19th of October.
Causes of delay in obtaining a hearing in Congress.—October
Election of Officers of Congress favourable.
Questions as to the powers to be given to municipal authorities
throughout the Republic, and disturbances in La Paz occupied the atten¬
tion of Congress about this time so much that I feared the subject
the " Empresa Church might get shelved altogether, but on the 9th
of October new officers of Congress were elected, and a staunch sup¬
porter of the enterprise. Dr. Martin Lanza, of Cochabamba, was named
President, whilst Señor Velarde was appointed as one of the Secreta¬
ries, while, to balance this favourable election. Señor Ií»íicolas Acosta,
the most active of our declared enemies, was named as co-secretary.
This election of officers for the " mesa or table of Congress served to
prove that the friends of the enterprise were in a majority of at least
two to one in the Assembly, and enabled Dr. Velarde to make sure of
bringing the question of the railway to a hearing in Congress.
Interview with the Minister of Finance.
About the second week in October it became evident that the Com¬
missions would report favourably on Dr. Velarde's project of law re¬
garding the enterprise, and I called on the 13th on Dr. Dalence, the
Minister of Finance, suggesting to him that, in view of the evident
desire of the majority of the Bolivian public that the enterprise should
be carried to completion, it would be advisable to forward instructions to
the Financial Commissicmers in London to cease obstructing the Com¬
pany in its efforts to prosecute the work, and at least order them to
delay all legal proceedings on their part until the wishes of Con¬
gress should be made known.
Orders sent to London to suspend Legal Proceedings.
The Minister informed me that he would consult the President and
70
the Cabinet as to the desirability of adopting my suggestions ; and at
a subsequent interview assured me that a letter had been sent to
Messrs. Aramayo and Terrazas, ordering them to suspend all legal
action. The letter of the Cabinet in Sucre, dated October 17th, 1874,
and published in " The Official South American Gazette for 2nd of
February, is probably a correct copy of the instructions then sent to
the Commissioners.
FepopvT of the Majority of the Commissions.—Keport
of the Minority.
The United Commissions of Industry and Finance comprised
fourteen Members of Congress, and of these eleven signed a report
favourable to the continuation of the enterprise. This report was
most carefully drawn up, and successfully combating all the argu¬
ments of the opposition, offered for the acceptance of Congress a
decree nearly similar to the project proposed by Dr. Velarde. The
minority of three recapitulated all the accusations that have been
brought against Colonel Church by the opponents of his enterprise,
and proposed a short decree to the effect that as Colonel Church had
not complied with the laAV of the 5th of November, the Government
should, without loss of time, proceed to rescind the contracts, in con¬
formity with the said law. This ^proposition was signed by the Deputy
Nicolas Acosta before referred to, and by Deputies Luis F. Lanza
and B. Villalva, of La Paz.
Adverse Deports by the Bolivian Consul at Para, &c.—
Adverse Deports replied to.
The Government, on the 23rd of October, published in their Official
Gazette, El Dejimen Legal," a letter received from a certain Dr.
Benjamin Lens, who had in April, 1874, been sent down, ma the
Cachuelas, as Consul to Para. This gentleman had probably left
Bolivia with the idea of undertaking sub-contracts on the railway—a
work for which he doubtless tho\ight his position as Consul would
highly recommend him, as he might, with his consular powers, be
able to collect many of the Bolivian Indians on the Madeira Diver.
He was, therefore, much disgusted at finding the works at a stand¬
still, and addressed a communication to his Government, full of
exaggerations and mis-statements, as to the condition of San Antonio,
the materials and buildings there existent, and the conduct of the
employes of the Dailway Company. Dr. Lens, however, while villi-
71
fying all those connected with the enterprise, could not help admit¬
ting the usefulness of the railway to his country, and stated to his
Government his conviction that " it would be absurd to assert the
uselessness of the scheme, because the probable growth of Bolivia, if
the nineteen Cachuelas were overcome, is incontestible.'^ He also
stated that " the towns of the Beni, Santa Cruz , and Cochabamba call
for the execution of the great work that "the track which had
been made on one of the margins of the Madeira, proved that the
railway could be completed in two or three years,'' and that " its
incontestible benefits would amply remunerate Bolivia, by the encou¬
ragement of its commerce and the augmentation of its finances,
without taking into account the increase of its industry, principally
that of agriculture, its chief element of life." The Prefect of Trini¬
dad also sent up a communication by one Señor Juan de Dios Molina,
regarding the climate of San Antonio, and stating that on account
of the death of the Chief Engineer sent there by the new contractors, the
whole of the stafi* had been returned to London, and the place aban¬
doned ; while from Trinidad came another assault upon the enterprise,
in the form of a petition by one Hazario Buitrago, for permission
to seize the Company's property at the " Cerrito," near Exaltación,
declaring that the same was left without any care on the part of the
Company's employés. To the first two of these attacks I replied in
a report to the Government, dated the 28th of October, and Señor
Velarde replying to the third one about the same time, the
Government published our replies in the same official Gazette, thus
removing in great measure the bad effects caused by the hostile
com munications.
Teeaty with Chili.
The settlement of boundaries with Chili came on for discussion
about the middle of the month of October, and occupied Congress
until the 7th November, being argued with much warmth by the
opponents and supporters of the treaty concluded by the Government
with the Chilian Minister Sr. Carlos Walker-Martinez. The final
modifications of the Government treaty by the Assembly defined
the northern Chilian boundary as the 24th degree of latitude, from
the Pacific Coast to the highest points of the Andean range (except¬
ing towns already under Bolivian Government, such as Antofogasta),
and therefore reduces the Bolivian coast line to a still smaller extent
than that afforded by the miserably small slip given to Bolivia at
72
the time of the partition of the Spanish Empire of South America
into Eepuhlics.
The Ministry accept the Eeport op the Majority of the
Commissions.—Dr. Qcijarro proposed as New Envoy to
London.
Finding that our question now stood some chance of coming on
for discussion, and seeing the evident probability that the decree
proposed by the majority of the Commissions of Industry and
Finance, would be accepted by a majority in Congress, Dr. Velarde
and I thought it advisable to seek an interview with the Govern¬
ment, and again endeavour to induce the Ministers to declare openly
in favour of the enterprise. On the 3rd November we had a satis¬
factory interview with Sr. Baptista, Minister for Home and Foreign
Affairs, who assured us that the Government accepted the report
and proposal of the majority of the Commissions, and would support
the same in Congress. The Minister also said that the present
Financial Commissioners, Messrs. Aramayo and Terrazas, would
have to be recalled as the Government was convinced that the Com¬
panies could never work in harmony with those gentlemen. To that
proposition Dr. Velarde and I cordially agreed, and took the first
occasion to place the name of Dr. Antonio Quijarro before the
Minister, as one most suitable in every way to bring the various
matters in litigation between the Government and the Companies to
an amicable adjustment. Dr. Quijarro was deputy for Cobija, and a
staunch supporter of the policy of the Cabinet of Don Tomas Frias,
but at same time a warm friend to the enterprise, and heartily de¬
sirous of aiding in the opening up of the commercial route for Bolivia,
of the Amazon and Madeira Rivers.
Debate on the Enterprise Commenced.—The Debate Adjourned
and Resumed.—Speech of the Minister of Finance,
On the 7 th of November, a Saturday, the Chilian question was
finally disposed of, and the reports of the majority and minority of
the Commissions of Finance and Industry regarding the " Empresa
Church " were read to Congress, but no discussion took place
until the following Monday, when, after the election of the President
and Secretaries of Congress, who have to be re-elected monthly, Dr.
Velarde opened the debate with great moderation and lucidity, shortly
stating the necessity that had arisen that Congress should express
73
its views as to the necessity of removing the obstacles to progress
that the Financial Commissioners had raised in London, and impress¬
ing upon the deputies, by the reading of copious extracts from scientific
authorities, the advantages that would accrue to Bolivia from the
establishment of communication between Bolivia and Europe vià
the Atlantic route. On the 10th, Dr. Yelarde concluded his opening
speech, and the opposition was commenced by Sr. Nicholas Acosta,
who, making a violent and untruthful attack upon Colonel Church
and all connected with the enterprise, begged the Deputies to decide
that the enterprise should be put an end to at once and for ever.
Dr. Miguel Rivas, Deputy for the Department of the Beni, and a
supporter of Government, carried the debate over the 11th with an
eloquent speech in favour of the project of the majority of the Com¬
missions, Dr. Martin Lanza and Señor Enrique Borda, both of
Cochabamba, also warmly supporting the enterprise. The debate was
then adjourned to the 17th to allow for the election of a new Council
of State, an operation that occupied the Congress for an entire week,
owing to the excessively close balance of parties amongst the Deputies.
On the 17th, General Quintin Quevedo ably defended Colonel Church
against the accusations of Sr. Acosta,and Señores Sanjines and Navarro
spoke in favour of the cancellation of the concessions to the enter¬
prise, grounding their opposition principally upon the failure of the
Public Works Company to fulfil their contract. Dr. Yelarde replied
to the arguments of the opponents, and the debate was again ad¬
journed to the 19th, when Dr. Dalence, the Minister of Finance, being
requested to attend and state to Congress the views of the Cabinet,
said that the Government had thought it its duty to carry out the
law of the 5th of November, 1873, by the nomination of Messrs-
Aramayo and Terrazas as Financial Commissioners, and to support
their action in London in consequence of their unfavourable reports
as to the organization of the Companies, and the probability of the
construction of the line, but that the Government were extremely
desirous of seeing the Madeira and Mamore Railway constructed,
and was determined that not one penny of the deposited funds should
be spent in any other object. The Government consequently con¬
sidered that the project -of law submitted by the majority of the
Commissions should be adopted by the Congress. This speech of the
Minister of Finance did the enterprise great good by determining
the minds of many Deputies of the Ministerialist party, who had
hitherto been in doubt as to the course that wonld be taken by the
Government.
74
Dr. Quijarro's Speech—First Voting on the Bill—Second and
Third Headings.
Tlie same day Dr. Antonio Quijarro, Deputy for Cobija, and one
of the newly-elected Councillors of State, deliveTed an eloquent
oration, embracing a complete resume of the history of the enterprise
which he had supported from its inception, and while deploring the
delay and discredit that had occurred by reason of the default of the
Public Works Company, Dr. Quijarro earnestly recommended the
Assembly to vote for the decree presented by the majority of the
Commissions, and prove thus to the World that Bolivia really was most
desirous of jemerging from her isolated position, and intended to
uphold the proper fulfilment of the contracts she had made. The
friends of the enterprise being determined that the project should be
fully voted before the close of Congress, which was to take place on
theJ23rd of the month, called for a permanent session, and at 10 p.m.
of the 19th the first voting was taken, only about eleven Deputies
out of fifty-two present supporting the Opposition. On the 21st the
Commissions of Finance and Industry met at 8 a.m. prior to the
opening of Congress for the day, and agreed upon the final law that
should be submitted for the second and third readings. These readings
were quickly passed, a very feeble opposition being kept up by Señores
Acosta, Sanjines and Mas, while Dr. Belisario Salinas, Deputy for
La Paz and the Government candidate for the next Presidential term,
spoke very favourably of the enterprise, and eulogized warmly the
steadfastness displayed by Colonel Church in defending it against
attacks from all sides.
Bill Passed.
The proposal of the majority of the Commissions, which again
declared the unaltered desire of the great majority of Bolivians to
have the Madeira and Mamoré Bail way constructed, then became law,
except that it required sanction by the President of the Bepublic,
who affixed his signature and promulgated the decree in due form on
the 25th of November.
Publication in Sucre of Adverse Pamphlets—Opposition to the
Enterprise by F. Avelino Aramayo.
During the days on which the debate was in progress the enemies of
the enterprise were in full activity, and several adverse pamphlets
appeared in Sucre, some employing fair argument as their weapon.
75
and some violent abuse and scurrility. One of the latter class,
published by Señor F. Avelino Aramayo, son of Señor Aramayo,
one of the Financial Commissioners in London, is entitled, Bolivia
y su Crédito Victimas de la Especulación Church," or Bolivia
and her Credit Victims of the Church Speculation." This
scurrilous sheet attacked Colonel Church in a most shameless
manner, and contained all the erroneous arguments of the opponents
of the enterprise, such as that the Public Works Company, Limited,
was formed solely for the purpose of bringing out the loan of 1872,
and other statements equally false. I replied to Señor Aramayo in
the newspaper "La Crónica," already referred to, and exposed the
fallacy of his arguments, while he, replying to me in another pamphlet,
entitled, " Church y los suyos," or " Church and his Followers," boasts
of the fact that the whole of the opposition to the enterprise had been
created by himself when secretary to the deceased President Ballivian,
who in 1873 was occupied for some time in London as Financial Com¬
missioner of Bolivia. The younger Aramayo also acknowledges, in
the pamphlet, that certain letters that appeared anonymously in the
" Beforma," a newspaper of La Paz, in 1873, were written by him
from London to President Ballivian, and states that he, by his repre¬
sentations of the mismanagement and " inconveniences " of the
enterprise, induced his father (one of the present Financial Commis¬
sioners), General Campero (for some time Bolivian Minister to
London), and Mr. Sampson, late city editor of the " Times," to
believe that the " Empresa del Oriente," or enterprise of the East,
was premature, and that the undertaking it would bring disastrous
results to Bolivia. This Aramayo also carried his hostility to the
extent of placing small handbills in the seats of the Deputies in
Congress, insinuating that employés and others directly interested in
the Company should not be allowed to vote in the project then before
Congress with reference to the enterprise. This shaft had direct
reference to Dr. Velarde, Deputy for Santa Cruz, and previously
agent for the Company, who had been specially sent to Congress by
the Cruzeños to protect and further the interests of the undertaking,
but had also indirect reference to General Quintin Quevedo, who. Sr.
Aramayo affirmed, was a director and shareholder, and to other Deputies
who Sr. Aramayo ventured to hint had been bought over in the Com¬
pany's interests. This uncalled for active opposition from the Aramayos,
and the extremely vulgar style in which it was carried on, instead of
damaging the Companies, had, T believe, an effect the reverse of the
intended one, for it opened people's eyes to the fact that the desire of
76
the Aramayo family was to crush the Madeira and Mamorê Railway,
in direct opposition to the wishes of the majority of the Bolivian
nation, for the sole purposes of obtaining the manipulation of the
fund deposited in the Bank of England, and maintaining the isolation
of Bolivia from the contact of the civilizing power of steam naviga¬
tion on its eastern rivers.
Euhther Remarks upon the Opposition to the Enterprise.
The result of the contest in the Congress was to convince me, after
much investigation, that the opposition to the Madeira and Mamoré
Railway is kept up by but a small minority of interested parties in
Bolivia, and by some of the principal merchants of Tacna and La
Paz, who see in the success of the railway a break up of the monopoly
of trade with Bolivia that they have so long enjoyed, and a conse¬
quent probable diminution of their profits. The oppositionists in
Bolivia may be divided into Aramayistas and Paceños, of which the
first are clients of, or related to, the numerous family of Aram ayos,
who are to be found in almost all the western towns of Bolivia, but
whose reputation, if one may credit the pamphlets published in 1866
and 1867 by the creditors of the bankrupt mining firm of Aramayo
Brothers, is not of the most immaculate.
La Paz v. Cochabamba.
The Paceños are, as a rule, very jealous of the growth of Cocha¬
bamba, and of the importance that will accrue to that town from the
opening of the railway, and some of the Deputies from the La Paz
provinces having at the inception of the undertaking opposed it,
think it necessary to be consistent to the last, and register annually
their feeble protest against the inevitable opening up of the eastern
plains and rivers of their country ; but deputies Dr. Belisario
Salinas, of La Paz, and Señores Roman and Merisalde, of the Yungas
of La Paz, deserve to be mentioned as having emancipated them¬
selves from these narrow ideas, preferring to assist in the general
development and welfare of their country rather than restrain their
efibrts to the benefit only of their own immediate provinces.
Speeches at Close of Congress.
On the 25th of November the Congress was closed with speeches
from the President of the Republic, Señor Don Tomas Prias, and the
President of Congress, Dr. Serapio Reyes Ortiz, the latter of whom
77
congratulated the Assembly of 1874 upon "having dedicated the
national resources, obtained upon credit, to place Bolivia in contact
with the new world that is called the rich and exuberant valley of
the Amazon." He also stated that " it was a matter of high con¬
sideration and satisfaction for the Assembly to hear from the speech
of the President of the Bepublic, that that official, assuming rather
the character of Prime Minister, had been, and would always be,
anxious to show respect and homage to the majority of the Assembly,
even at the sacrifice, should it be necessary, of his own opinion."
Departure from Sucre delayed. Final interview with the
Ministry. Causes of delay in the Mission of Dr. Quijarro.
Extract from Letter received from Dr. Quijarro.
After the closing of Congress, I immediately determined to return
home, taking with me an official copy of the decree passed, but found
it impossible to obtain animals for the journey which T at first wished
to make by way of La Paz, in order to afford the fullest possible
information with reference to the position and prospects of the enter¬
prise, to the newly-arrived Minister of the United States. The
Ministry announced the intention of moving the seat of government
temporarily to La Paz, in order to carry out some new arrangements
pro})osed for the service of the custom houses of the coast ; disorder
in the battalion stationed at Cochabamba also took place, and these
events rendered it almost impossible to hire or purchase animals for
a journey. I was therefore detained until the 23rd of December
when I was fortunate enough to get mules as far as Potosí, where
I hoped to find postal mules for the prosecution of my journey to
La Paz. Previous to my departure I had interviews with the prin¬
cipal Minister, Señor Baptist a, who delivered me an official copy of
the decree to be handed to Colonel Church, together with his
assurances that Dr. Antonio Quijarro had been named the new
Diplomatic Bepresentative and Financial Commissioner in London,
it being hoped that the Government would be able to dispatch him
without loss of time. I was also informed by the Minister that it
was the intention of the • Government to seek a temporary loan from
the merchants of Sucre and Potosí for the purpose of dispatching Dr.
Quijarro on his mission, and several of these merchants assured me
that they would be willing to respond to the request. The revolu¬
tion now in progress broke out early in January, and doubtless has
prevented the Government from carrying out their promises, for Dr.
78
Qiiijarro writes me from Sucre with date of the 20th of February
last, saying that "the Minister Baptista had written to him from
La Paz on the 12th of that month, to the effect that as soon as the
pacification of Cochabamba was effected the Government would
occupy itself in forwarding matters in London ; and that he hoped
that by one of the mails of March he would be able to send a final
and satisfactory notice, for that it was clear, that the Government,
whose prestige had increased by a victory over the united parties of
Quevedistas and Corralistas, was firmly resolved to fulfil the wishes
of the Assembly." These advices Dr. Quijarro requested me to
participate to Colonel Church with his remembrances, and I am
therefore convinced that Br. Quijarro at his arrival will be found
most anxious to co-operate cordially with the Companies in the
prosecution of the railway and navigation enterprises.
Short Eemarks upon the Finances op Bolivia.
A concluding paragraph of this division of my report may, perhaps,
be advantageously devoted to a few remarks upon the financial posi¬
tion of Bolivia. Colonel Church, in his various papers notably that
entitled "Bolivia and Brazil in the Amazon Valley," contributed to
the "Fortnightly Beview" of November, 1870, has so clearly and
truthfully shown the vast undeveloped resources of the country that
it would be superfluous for me to enlarge upon the subject of the
"riches" of Bolivia, I would therefore limit myself to a consideration
of its " poverty " from a financial point of view, the first and prin¬
cipal reason for which is without doubt its isolated position, which
cannot be better described than by the words of, perhaps, the most
talented Minister that Bolivia ever possessed, namely, Bon Bafael
Bastillo, who, to quote from Colonel Church's paper above referred
to, wrote to the Brazilian Minister, in 1863, as follows :—" Bolivia,
"as your Excellency knows, occupies a territory entirely central in
this vast continent. It has but five degrees of latitude on the
" Pacific coast, and even this is disputed in part by the Bepublic of
" Chili."Bolivia is seated upon the masses of silver of the
" double range of the Andes. She has a territory fertile beyond
"measure, where the treasures of the most opposite climates are
'"grouped together. With all this Bolivia perishes from con-
" sumption for want of methods of communication which may
" carry to the markets of the world her valuable productions, and
* This five degrees has now been reduced to two and a-half, by the treaty
^offered to Chili by the late Congress of Bolivia.
79
"stimulate her sons to labour and industry." The only certain
means of ameliorating the poverty of Bolivia by the providing
of a mode of transport for its at present useless riches, lie, in my
opinion, on the eastern side of the Bepublic, for nature has declared
that the route to Europe shall not be a western one : and the enterprise
of the navigation of the Madeira and Amazon Rivers with the railway
of the rapids, offers a more speedy and economic transit than can
be afforded by any scheme having the River Paraguay for its
basis. In regard to time the Madeira and Mamoré Railway can
with ease dispatch its freights from the port of San Antonio ta
Europe in 28 days or possibly less, while the Paraguayan route
from Bahia Hegra to Europe will occupy at least 40. In reference to
cost the Madeira and Mamore Railway offers to carry a ton of
freight from the centres of Bolivia to its market in Europe for
<£15, whilst the lowest estimate that I have seen for the Paraguay
route was that of £26 per ton proposed in 1858 for the navigation
of the Yermejo.
But another reason for the present financial poverty of the*
country is the absolute non-existence of any financial talent or
even ordinary account keeping knowledge amongst the Ministers and
officials in power of late years. The absence of any proper knowledge
of national account keeping (for if the shorfccomings of the officials of
the Einan-ce Department of Bolivia are not to be set down to want
of knowledge, they must be charged to want of candour or straight¬
forwardness) has been thoroughly exposed in the matter of the loan of
1872. In the financial accounts for 1873 the debt appears as 8,500,000
Bolivian dollars or ¿01,700,000, the correct nominal amount of the
loan, and although no notice is taken of the operation of the sinking;
fund which by the end of 1873 had paid off a first drawing of £34,000,
there is in the estimated outgoings of the Treasury a credit taken for
the service of a loan of £2,000,000. Thé Grovernment also allowed
Sr. Aramayo to charge Colonel Church with having received £10,000
of the loan and devoted the sum to his own purposes, whilst it must have
known that the whole amount was fully and faithfully accounted for.
In the published national accounts for the year 1871 the government-
acknowledges the receipt of the amount, and the same Aramayo's name
appears as a witness to President Ballivien's receipt for £5,000 of the
amount, whilst the remaining £5,000 was paid directly to the Govern¬
ment by Messrs. Erlanger and Company, but no account is published of
the mode in which this £10,000 was expended by the Government, who
allow the idea to prevail in Bolivia that the sum was given to Colonel
80
Church by thô Government of General Melgarejo. Further the
officials of the Treasury persistently deny that they have received any
accounts from the firm of Messrs. Lumb, Wanklyn and Company in
respect to the disposal of the loan, whilst in the report of Señor
Pedro Garcia, Financial Agent of the Pepublic in 1872, to the
Minister of Finance and Industry,publir.hed in " La Paz" in September
of the same year, appears an account of the firm showing the state of
the accounts up to the 9 th of May of that year, and it is well known
that several copies of the final accounts have been duly forwarded
to the Bolivian Government.
The national receipts that even at the time the country gained
its independence amounted to 2 J millions of hard dollars, in 1873
only reached the poor total of 2,566,034 Bolivian dollars, or
say X513,207, whilst the Minister of Finance declares a require¬
ment of 3,660,679 dollars, or say ¿6732,135, thus showing a deficit
of £218,928 without offering to Congress any plan for equalizing
the national account, and it is a fact that in the Congress of 1874
not one proposal whether financial or political, except the treaty
with Chili, emanated from the Ministry. In the Ministerial state¬
ment of the National Finances for 1874 one sees at a glance that
there is no effort made to equalize income and expenditure ; for not
much more than £20,000 per annum is got from the Bolivian people
by any kind of direct taxation. Customs rentals cannot be expected
to increase until the Madeira and Mamoré Bailway commences to
create new entries on the eastern side, for Peru only can benefit by
any growth of commerce on the western side, having stipulated with
Bolivia that it shall only pay her £81,000 per annum out of the receipts
of the port of Arica. It is certain, therefore, that direct taxation must
be resorted to, and as there is no individual poverty visible in Bolivia,
I cannot see any reason why the Government should not be able to
show easily a fair balance-sheet which should meet the current wants
of the nation, and provide honourably for the service of the public
debt. A writer in *'La Crónica" of Sucre, of October 23rd, 1874,
after proposing the imposition of an Income Tax, a revised stamp
act and a new mining code adds, That such are the methods that
•
in his judgment should be taken in the then sitting Congress. The
''country would not refuse its aid to avoid the national bankruptcy
' ' imminent. In Europe confidence would be re-established, and re-
" sources which the country requires for the regulation of its finances
" would be obtained for the payment of the most onerous debts, the
" recal of the bad money circulating and the opening of good roads
81
between the principal cities, the effect of these measures being to
^ ' raise Bolivia to the level of the civilization at its doors, and placing
it in that high position which its natural riches and its central posi-
tion amongst the nations of South America entitle it to.''
VII.—SUCKE TO LONDON.
Start from Sucre.—Potosí.—Mines of Potosí.—Mint at
Potosí.
Starting from Sucre on the 23rd of December, I arrived at Potosí
on the evening of the 24th, and remained there until the 26th, partly
on account of a slight attack of ague fever that I suffered from
there, and partly waiting for postal mules to take me on the first
stage of the road to Oruro. Potosí, once the largest and most popu¬
lated town in Bolivia, is situated at about 13,200 feet above the level
of the sea, and owes its importance to the famous " Cerro " or Hill
which rises 2,300 feet above the town. This famous hill still gives
occupation to a population of about 25,000, while the ruined portion
of the city shows that but a few decades since a population of three
or four times that number must have found a livelihood from the
mining operations so easily carried on whilst the lodes could be worked
without any special appliances. The deposit of silver ore in this hill
may be said to be practically inexhaustible, for as soon as internal
means of transport in Bolivia shall be sufficiently advanced to allow
machinery to be brought to Potosí, the old levels and shafts can be
again worked, as the entry of water to these workings has been the
sole cause of the decline of the mining trade. At Potosí is the only
steam engine and machinery to be found in Bolivia, a machine for
coining having been at great expense taken there during the presi¬
dency of General Melgarejo. This machinery is made by Messrs.
Morgan, Orr and Co., of Philadelphia, and is managed by American
engineers and employes.
Potosí to Oruro.
From Potosí to Oruro was a journey of seven days, performed by
the aid of posting mules, the ordinary stages between each posting
house being about five or six leagues. The postal service is fair,
good baggage mules being kept, but a saddle mule is not to be
6
82
obtained at any price, an intending traveller must therefore provide
an animal for his own especial use. This part of the road is ex¬
cessively mountainous and barren, tlie only inhabitants being a few
Quichuan Indians, who at each of the po^ stations grow a little barley
and potatoes for their own wants, and for sale to travellers, asking
exorbitant prices for their products, as much as twenty shillings
being paid at times for a quintal, or 100 lbs. of barley in the straw.
The town of Poopo, a day's ride prior to arriving at Oruro, is
situated in the midst of several flourishing tin mines, and the whole
district of Oruro is noted for its richness in this respect.
Oruro.— Mining Operations.—Freight of Ore from Oruro to
Tacna.—Ore to be carried over the Madeira and Mamoré
Pailway.—Gold districts north of La Paz and Cocha-
bamba.
Oruro, with a population of about 8,000, is especially famous for
the mines of tin, copper and silver in its immediate neighbourhood.
There are here several Englishmen and Americans engaged in mining,
with as good results as can be expected to be obtained in the ab¬
sence of other means of transport for the ore than llamas and donkeys.
I brought home with me a small collection of minerals from this dis¬
trict, many of them containing as much as 10 per cent, of silver and from
40 to 50 per cent, of tin. The practice here is to pick from the stuff
sent up from the shaft the best looking pieces only, the selecting
being carried out by Indians who soon get very expert in the
work. The selected mass is then broken up by hand into small chips,
washed in order to rid it of as much of the earthy impurities as possi¬
ble, and packed into small bags of 50 lbs. each, two of which form the
burden of a llama. The freight paid for carriage to Tacna by llamas,
the cheapest mode of transport that exisis, is from 2 to 3 pesos per
quintal, say £7. 5s. to £10. 15s. per ton. This rate is not very high,
but the time occupied on the journey is very great, the principal
house in Oruro assuring me that it often took twelve months before
fchey could obtain a return from their investments in tin ore, or
barrilla,'^ as it is there called. When the Madeira and Mamoré
Railway is completed, and a fair road made from Totora to the port
on the Chimore, the existing road between Oruro and Cochabamba
will be improved, and the whole of the mineral traffic of the central
Andean Valley of Bolivia will doubtless find its way to European
markets over the Amazon route, even before the finances of the
83
country shall have sufficiently improvedl to enable an interior system
of railways to be commenced. There is no great difference in distance
between Oruro and Tacna, and Oruro and the port on the Chimoro, but
a journey with animals by the latter route offers far less risk, as pas¬
turage is plentiful everywhere, and there is no danger of the animals
dying from the effects of the soroche," so fatal on the pass of
Tacora, the highest point of the Andes, passed on the road from
Oruro to the Pacific Coast. One of the English miners, a Mr.
Penny, who works a flourishing mine about a mile from the city
of Oruro, and who has been resident in Bolivia for more than
twenty-five years having travelled over most parts of the Bepublic,
informed me that he had paid particular attention to the country
north of La Paz and Cochabamba, and that he considered that the
richest gold quartz in Bolivia, if not in the world, would be found in
the mountains of that district, for he was certain that all the rivers
that discharge into the Beni or the Mamore flow over gold-bearing
quartz.
The Bevolution.
Arriving at Oruro I found that the revolution which commenced
early in December by a mutiny of the 3rd Battalion at Tarata, near
Cochabamba, had extended to La Paz, where the 2nd Battalion had
declared General Quintin Que vedo President of the Bepublic.
Boute by La Paz abandoîired.
The postal service between Oruro and La Paz was entirely dis¬
organised, while the Government forces under General Hilarión
Daza were on the road between the two towns, it was therefore im¬
possible to prosecute my journey to La Paz, and I determined, after
being detained at Oruro for a week purchasing animals, to take the
straight road to Tacna by way of Tacora. During the week a night
attack on the Government house and barracks of Oruro was made
by a party in favour of the revolution, but after a smart fusilado, in
which two of the soldiers defending the barracks were killed, the
attacking force had to retire without having gained any advantage.
The Desaguadero.
I left Oruro on the 9th of January, the first day's journey being
ended at Tai Barca," on the banks of the " Desaguadei^o," or
84
riverine canal which unites the lakes of Titicaca and Poopo or Choro.
This canal has to be crossed on a pontoon or raft, kept in its course
by a hide rope stretched from bank to bank, a distance of about 300
yards, the tolls being 1 reale, say 4f d. per mule, J reale for a donkey,
and five llamas are passed for a reale. As the traffic is considerable
the ferry must be a fortune to the proprietor.
Llollia.
A day was lost at Llollia, a small Indian settlement 24 leagues from
Oruro, the mules having during the night escaped from the mud-
walled enclosure in which they had been placed, and on the 13th we
arrived at the village of Curahuara de Carangas, situated in a plain
12,890 feet above sea level.
Curahuara de Carangas.
*
This is probably one of the oldest Spauish settlements of the
Andes, the church being said to be more than 200 years old. Near
by are mines of silver and tin, the ores being of rich quality, but
they are not worked now, although the inhabitants of the place be¬
lieve that the district will some day turn out to be a second Caracoles.
Shortly after leaving Curahuara the track has to ascend a very steep
and stony ascent leading to a vast plateau, 800 feet higher than that
on which the village is situated, and from this plain rise the snow-
covered peaks of Bahama and Las Tetillas, the former of which is
said to rise to an elevation of 21,500 feet. Passing the postal
stations of Chocos, Sepulturas, and Cosepilla, where provisions for
travellers and forage for animals are scarce and excessively dear,
barley in the straw costing £2 per quintal of 100 lbs., being rations
for four animals for one night, we arrived at Tacora on the 16th, this
being the first station in Peruvian territory.
Peru Entered at Tacora.
At Tacora post-house the track for La Paz meets the one from
Oruro, and a few leagues beyond takes over the pass of Tacora,
probably 14,800 feet above sea level, and the highest elevation
travelled over in crossing the Andes between Peru and Bolivia. At
this ] ass the soroche is very'fatal to animals, the path being bordered
with bones and carcases of the mules or donkeys that have succumbed
to its fatal effects.
85
Projected Railway between Tacna and La Paz.
Descending the monntain on the western side, I observed
the marks left by the surveyors of the Tacna and La Paz
Railway, an undertaking that appeared to me to be an almost im¬
possible one, not so much from the height ascended to, as from the
enormous amount of earthwork that must be encountered in following
the curves of the ravines, up which the line is to be taken. In
Tacna I was informed that the surveys demonstrated the practicability
of the line, and that the ascent would be made with gradients not
exceeding 3 per cent., but estimates of cost of construction do not
appear to be made public.
Tacora to Tacna.
Prom the Tacora Pass to Tacna is a ride of a day and a half,
principally down a narrow ravine, which would be barren were it
not for the irrigation carried on at every available spot from the
small supply of water at the bottom of the gulch.
New Road from Tacna to La Paz.
A short distance from Palca, a postal station nine leagues from
Tacna, we came upon the new road that is constructing to La Paz ;
this will be a great improvement upon the old track, and proves
that Peru is making every possible effort to keep her trade with
Bolivia.
Tacna.
Tacna, where I arrived on the 18th of January, is situated in a
broad and arid plain, to which water has been brought at great
expense by an aqueduct, which, passing the hill of Tacora, leads a
supply from the head waters of the river Maury, which flows from
the eastern side of the Andes into the river Desaguadero of the
central plain of Bolivia. This work has been carried out at very
great expense, and does not yield a sufficient supply for the wants of
Tacna and its vicinity. The commerce of Tacna is undoubtedly of
very important character, but one sees at a glance that the only
" raison d'etre " of the city is owing to its being situated on the one
exit practicable at present for Bolivia to the Pacific Coast. There are
no Peruvian towns in communication with Tacna, and the long lines
of mules and donkeys seen continually entering into or leaving the
town, are all either destined for, or coming from, the neighbouring
Republic of Bolivia.
86
Arica.
Arica, the port of Tacna, is united to it by a railroad fairly con¬
structed and decently maintained, the works of the line having been
but slight. The country between the termini of the line is a barren
desert. Arica suffered greatly from the earthquake and tidal wave of
1868, the disastrous effects of which arevisible in the ruined portions
of the town, and the hulls of vessels washed far inland ; but the
custom house and pier have been rebuilt, and the place is slowly re¬
-covering, although it is probable that it will never again enjoy its
former importance, as the merchants of Tacna have reduced their
establishments at Arica to the lowest possible point.
Messrs. J. Campbell & Co.
In passing Tacna and Arica it was impossible not to observe the
hostility evinced by the only English firm of merchants there esta¬
blished, to the enterprise of the Madeira and Mamoré Kailway. This
firm, Messrs. John Campbell and Co., is in conjunction with and
practically the same as Messrs. Hains worth and Co., and Mr. John
Hegan, of London. These firms own nearly all the stock of the Tacna
and Arica railway, and in order to increase the value of that property
have laid out a considerable amount of capital in projecting a railway
from Tacna to La Paz, doubtless rightly judging that, as they hold
the key to the coast in the Tacna and Arica railroad, they will be for
years to come the masters of the position. The hostility of the firm
of Messrs J. Campbell and Co. is thus probably accounted for, and I
would do the general body of merchants of Tacna, comprising French
and German establishments of considerable eminence, the justice to
believe that they do not share the narrow views of the English firm,
for some of the principals of the foreign houses alluded to evinced to
me great interest in the progress and welfare of Colonel Church's
enterprise, stating their opinion that as its realization would immensely
assist the development of the internal resources of Bolivia, it must
indirectly benefit instead of damage the Pacific trade and credit ; for
Bolivia offers a field sufficiently large for the introduction of capi¬
tal and commercial intelligence on both sides of her at present isolated
position : and from one of the German houses of Tacna I received
every possible courtesy whilst I was denied any attention at all by
the English firm, simply, I believe, because I belonged to Colonel
Church's enterprise, for my letter of introduction from Sucre ought
to have entitled me to a different reception than that I met with at
the hands of the said firm.
87
Tacna to Plymouth.
Leaving Tacna on the 23rd of January, I embarked the same day
on the Pacific Steam Navigation Company's steamship the "Lima,'^
and the rest of my journey viâ Callao, Panamá, Aspinwall, Jamaica,
and St. Thomas' requires no comment, it being terminated by arrival
at Plymouth on the 1st of March.
VIII.—EESÜLTS TO BE EXPECTED FEOM THE
ENTEBPIIISE.
General Anticipations of Pesults from Enterprise.
It is not perhaps too much to say that the realization of the joint
enterprises of the Madeira and Mamore Bailway, and the National
Bolivian Navigation Company, will change the entire character of
not only the eastern provinces of Bolivia, but also of the Pepublic
itself, whilst at the same tiroe the Brazilian provinces of Mato Grosso
and the Amazonas will be most materially benefited.
I believe that I am correct in stating that a maxim of political
economy is to measure the value of a nation, not so much by the
amount of its mineral wealth, as by the development given to its
agidcultural resources, for the former source of national greatness must
sooner or later decay, if due attention is not paid to the creation oi'
fostering of the latter. It may, in the case of Bolivia, seem absurd
to say that its mineral wealth can ever appreciably decrease, and
certainly such an assertion or fear must to any one that has passed
over the higly metalliferous districts of Potosi, Oruro, and the whole
central plain of the country, appear entirely groundless, but the
examples of California and Australia teach us that though mineral dis¬
coveries are the first cause of the creation, and the settlements of new
countries, it is their agricultural development that causes them to
take rank amongst the nations of the world ; and this it is that
Colonel Church's enterprises will do for Bolivia, for there can be no
doubt but that their realization will place Bolivia in the foremost
rank of the Pepublics of South America. No scheme that has for its
object the opening up of the country on any other sides than its
northern and eastern can effect this result, for there alone exist
immense plains and tracts of country suitable for any kind of agricul¬
ture or cattle rearing. On the western side of the Pepublic the
88
barren and inaccessible heights of the Andes forbid any attempts
at settling, while the southern and eastern territory of the Gran
Chaco is a cheerless swamp, never capable of affording a home to
other than the irreclaimable savage, or the wild animals of the fast
decreasing forests of the continent.
Few, perhaps, are the enterprises that can offer to create and unfold
such vast industries as those found in the districts, to be benefited
by the opening of the Amazonian route to the interior of the conti¬
nent ; for as we descend in an eastward journey from the barren
summits of the Andeau Passes, we find that the railway will prove
the outlet not only for the mineral riches of Bolivia, her wools, hides,
and other animal products, the drugs, dyes, and other commercial
values of her unexplored forests, but will also develop agricultures
that already exist in considerable scale on the descending plateaux
of her eastern plains. Commencing at altitudes of 12,000 feet to
9,000^ barley and potatoes are grown; from 9,000 to 6,000, corn,
potatoes, apples, pears, and all kinds of fruit ; from 6,000 to 2,000,
coffee, coca, cocoa, and plantains; while from 2,000 down to the
plains of the Madeira and Amazon Valleys, cocoa, plantains, sugar¬
cane, maize, mandioca and other yams, tobacco, and other tropical
products grow luxuriantly.
Politically considered, tlie enterprise will be of vast benefit to
Bolivia, for her population, naturally a laborious one, will find em¬
ployment in the impetus given to commerce, and will consequently
become less turbulent, the need of, or occasion for, revolutions decreas¬
ing commensurately with the interest that each one will find in their
increasing prosperity. A bond of unity will also be created for
Bolivia, with her powerful neighbour Brazil, she being thereby
rendered more secure from the encroachments of the Bepublics of
the Pacific seaboard.
The results, financially considered, will be that probably a trade
equal, if not superior to that now carried on through the Peruvian
towns of Tacna and Arica will be created on the eastern side of the
Bepublic ; and from the customs' receipts of this trade Bolivia would
have far more than sufficient to keen up the service of, and rapidlj^
pay off both her internal and external debts. Taking the year 1873
as a guide, we find that the imports through the port of Arica
amounted to <£1,422,369, and the exports to £860,607. Of these
figures three-fourths of the-imports, or £1,066,776, and £842,345
of the exports fairly belong to Bolivia, making a total of £1,909,121
89
Bolivian commerce that passes through Peru, whose duties may
reasonably be averaged at 20 per cent, on the value of the trade, so that
Bolivia annually affords Peru a rental of more than £381,000, out of
which she magnanimously grants Bolivia a subsidy of £81,000. That
Bolivian commerce is not decreasing is proved by the fact that the
exports of Arica for 1874 exceeded by nearly a million hard dollars
those of 1873.
Bolivia is generally supposed to have rather more than 2,750,000
inhabitants. The present Arica statistics, therefore, give something
less than 14s. per head per annum, and it is not unreasonable to suppose
that a similar amount of trade will soon be carried over the Madeira
and Mamoré Kailway. The loan of 1872 demands an annual service
of £136,000, and figures that I have put together for paying off the
other debts of the country would serve to show that another
£120,000 per annum would release Bolivia from all its financial
embarrassments. The total requirement of £256,000 would in a very
few years be provided by the customs duties collected on the eastern
route, for the amount is not equal to three-fourths of the duties now
shown to be received by Peru from Bolivian commerce. Bolivia
would still have the Peruvian subsidy, the profits received from sale
of guano on the Pacific Coast, and her departmental rentals, for the
general government expenses and the improvement of her internal
means of communication. It is not, therefore, too much to say that the
realization of the Madeira and Mamoré Railway may be made the
means of materially changing and improving the present deplorable
financial and political appearance of the Republic.
With regard to the profits to be realized by the railway from the
traffic to be carried over it, I am prepared, after considerable investiga¬
tion, to accept the figures given by Colonel Church in his Preliminary
Report made upon the Railway " in 1870, as sufficiently correct for
a preliminary estimate, indeed there are many items of Bolivian
produce omitted, which will doubtless find their way to the Amazon
Yalley, such as flour, barley and potatoes from Cochabamba, and wines
and liquors from Cinti. In Colonel Church's estimate I would re¬
duce the number of passengers looked for, but at same time the cost
to the enterprise of their transportation is placed at such a high figure
that I do not think the net returns will be at all decreased by the
alteration. Also the cost of freight for a ton of goods over the railway
is set at £1 which is at least 10/- more than it should ever amount
to. Colonel Church's estimate of a net return from passenger and
7
9<3
freight traffic amounting to ^108,040 may therefore be taken as the
result that is likely to be arrived at within a short time after the
openicg of the line, and is sufficient to provide for a dividend of
10 per cent, upon the possible cost of the line : this dividend being as
Colonel Church points out entirely apart from all traffic that will
arise from the settlement of the lands under the grants of Brazil of
100 square leagues or 576,000 acres; 23,040 of which-have been
allotted at San Antonio to the Company by the commission appointed
by the Imperial Government for the demarcation of lands in the
Madeira Valley.
In the hope that my desire to afford the fullest possible information
upon every point that has come under my notice, has not led me to
incur the fault of having been too prolix, I have the honour to
remain.
Gentlemen,
Your most obedient Servant,
E. D. MATHEWS,
Resident Engineer.
Assoc. Inst. C.E.
Jjondon, 19, Great Winchester Street,
May 31st, 1875.
5556 042 158667