Industrial and commercial South America

Agriculture

While for centuries Peru has been celebrated as a land of marvelous mineral riches, especially of gold and silver, nevertheless, in spite of her desert shore, her bleak table-land, and her undeveloped montaña, like California, her chief wealth is in her agriculture. What the figures say about the exports is easily ascertainable; but though corroborating this statement they do not tell all the story, since most of the mineral production is exported, while the greater part of the agricultural stays at home. Of the latter, sugar is the leading product.

Sugar grows along the coast and, where opportunity offers, up to a height of 4500 feet; in the montaña to a height of 6000 feet. At present most of it is raised near the coast. The Chicama Valley, famed for its splendid estates, produces more sugar than the entire Island of Porto Rico, and this of the finest quality. In the temperate, equable climate, the cane matures early and may be cut all the year around. It is unusually rich in sucrose. Some estates are 15-20 miles square, producing 15,000-30,000 tons each; 50-60 tons of cane to the acre is quite usual. The cane is cut and ground from 18 to 24 months after planting, and being cut throughout the year instead of during four or five months only, the same amount of work may be done with far less machinery and fewer laborers. In places a two months suspension is made, when the river is full, to attend to irrigation and to clean or repair machinery, etc.

The cane has more than 14 per cent sucrose, often 16 or 17 per cent. The returns have nowhere been surpassed; the production to the acre is double that of Cuba, where the average is 23-24 tons, in Peru 45-50 tons. At Cartavio, an estate of 29,000 acres in the Chicama Valley, they once cut 79.8 long tons of cane per acre from a field of 85 acres. This had 15.24 per cent sucrose and gave 12 tons of sugar an acre, a probable record. The grinding capacity is 1000 metric tons in 23 hours. In 1917 they ground 240,000 tons making 34,000 tons of sugar, mostly white granulated. The Casa Grande in the same valley, said to be the largest estate in the world, has a population of 11,000. Churches, schools, hospitals, and “movies” are provided for the work people, and the luxuries of modern life for owners and superintendents. In the montaña sugar cane is said to grow to a height of 30 feet and once planted to persist for a century. One writer speaks of two or three crops from one planting, but nine years without replanting is not unusual on the coast.

In the year 1915-16, 100,000 tons were exported from Salaverry, more the year following; half as much from the smaller port of Huanchaco near by. Production in Peru reached 400,000 tons in 1918. The plantation Tambo Real, on the Santa River near Chimbote, was recently sold for $1,750,000. Just back of the port is plenty of good sugar land, now desert but easily irrigable. As the nitrates have never been washed out of the land by rain, the soil is of extraordinary fertility; with irrigation the cane receives the precise amount of water required and at the right season. Back of Samanco are two large sugar estates, one belonging to the British Sugar Company, which has a larger at Cañete in the south, producing long ago 30,000 tons a year. One estate had years ago 22 miles of tramway which was to be increased. In some places small farmers owning or renting land sell their cane to sugar mills. Most of the estates have the best of machinery. In 1911 $100,000 worth of sugar machinery was imported into one Department, Lambayeque. Labor is cheaper than in Cuba, formerly 60 cents a day, but with housing and other perquisites. Much sugar has been exported to Chile; recently to Europe and the United States. Some years ago sugar could be sold at a port at a profit for 1.5 cents a pound, more recently at 2.5 cents. There is still a field for investment in desert land, suitable for those with sufficient capital to arrange for irrigation. About 600,000 acres are now devoted to sugar.

Cotton. Native to the country is cotton, and Peru has its own special variety, Gossypium Peruvianum. It is so soft and fine that it is called vegetable wool, and it is much used for weaving underwear, stockings, etc., with wool, which it even improves, as the cloth is less liable to shrinkage than all wool. This variety grows to a height of 10-16 feet, giving a first small crop in eight months, but not reaching its best until the sixth year. It holds out well through drought, requiring but one irrigation yearly. The trees are planted 15 feet apart, the interspace being occupied with vegetables and corn. No ploughing is necessary and two crops a year are obtained. With the names full rough and moderate rough it is mixed with wool for textile manufacture. Piura is its special habitat, but it grows well in Ica at the south.

The Egyptian, the Sea Island, or the ordinary American are preferred by some growers on account of their earlier development. The Egyptian is cultivated in Ica from the shore to 60 miles inland, also in Lima; the Sea Island and the Peruvian Mitafifi, similar to the Egyptian, near Huacho and Supe; the smooth cotton from ordinary American seed anywhere. The Egyptian, also called Upland, grows to about four feet, yielding two or three years, beginning six months after sowing. It needs several waterings, but has an advantage in being free from weevil blight. This and the ordinary American are the most popular varieties. Peru is twelfth among world producers, needing only more irrigated land for greatly increased production. There is water enough but labor and capital have been wanting. All conditions are favorable as in Egypt. The length of the various cotton fibres is given as: Sea Island, 1.61 inches; Egyptian, 1.41; Peruvian, 1.30; Brazilian, 1.17; American upland, 1.02; Indian, 0.8.

Coffee. An important product is coffee, the best said to be grown in the sierra region; but the finest I ever drank was raised on a small plantation back of Samanco, where it was roasted, ground, and made within the hour, of course pulverized and dripped as universally in South America. In the deep valleys at the east also, excellent coffee is grown: in Puno, in the Chanchamayo and the Perené valleys, called the montaña by the sierra people, in Huánuco farther north, in the Paucartambo valley of Cuzco south, as well as in the Pacasmayo and other coast sections. Five hundred plants are set to the acre, 800 in the Perené, which produce each 2 pounds annually. Even with a low price for coffee its production is profitable there, in spite of the one time $60 a ton freight rate to Callao; large profits are made at good prices. After supplying home consumption there is a considerable export.

Cacao. The production of cacao, which grows wild in the montaña, should be greatly increased. The Department of Cuzco produces a particularly fine article with exquisite taste and aroma, which brings a higher price than that of Brazil or Ecuador, though little known outside of the country. In the Perené Valley a plantation of 200,000 trees has been set out. Vast tracts in the Departments of Amazonas and San Martín and in the Province of Jaen are also suited to its growth.

Coca. The culture of coca is important, but more limited as to future development since its medicinal use should not be greatly increased and its general use not at all. The plant is a shrub, usually six feet high, cultivated in the districts of Otuzco (the most important) and Huamachuco (Libertad), Huanta (Ayacucho), Cuzco, and Huánuco. It grows best in valleys of 3000 to 7000 feet altitude, where the temperature varies from 60° to 85°, in clayey but not marshy ground, with iron but no salt. It needs frequent rains and humidity. Three or four crops may be picked annually, the first in 18 months; the yield continues 40 years. Care is needed in picking the leaves and in drying. A great quantity is consumed by the Indians, and some is exported to Europe and the United States, both as dried leaves for making wines, tonics, etc., and for the extraction of alkaloid; also as cocaine for the making of which over 20 small factories exist in Peru. Chewing coca leaves is of great service on the plateau for necessary and unusual exertion, but injurious and stupefying when its use is continuous.

Rice is grown in the north in Lambayeque and in the Pacasmayo Valley of Libertad. With one flooding and little ploughing the crops are produced annually, 46,000 tons in 1917. A little is exported but more is imported. The two varieties grown are Carolina and Jamaica. The straw is not utilized.

Fruits of various kinds may be grown in all the coast valleys, but south of Lima the culture, especially of grapes, is more advanced. Even in poor years it is said that the grape crop is superior to the European average; but too little attention has been paid to improving and extending the industry. The vineyards are small and combined with the other interests of a hacienda. The grapes are grown on stocks about eight feet apart, supported first by canes, later by trellises on adobe columns. Nine hundred gallons of wine an acre is an average yield. Italia and Abilla are cultivated for white wines, Quebranta, Moscatel, and others for red; the former of these two being most prolific and generally grown. A pink Italia is a fine table fruit. Wines cheap and good are manufactured to the amount of 2,200,000 gallons yearly, and 770,000 gallons of pisco, made from white grapes, also quantities of alcohol. The sugar of the montaña is used to make aguardiente or rum; in several coast districts a finer quality is made from grapes and is probably what in some sections is called pisco.

Peru is rich in the variety of fruit possibilities, but grapes and olives are the only ones cultivated in a large way, with a view to commercial profit. Olives grown in the south from imported trees are said to excel those of Spain or California. About 70,000 pounds are exported. The yield of oil is about 30 per cent; not enough is made for home consumption. Large possibilities exist in this direction. Other fruits grown are of course oranges, bananas, melons, pomegranates, paltas, or aguacates, or as we call them, alligator pears, fine as properly eaten, the half fruit with salad dressing inside; chirimoias, when in perfection nothing better; strawberries nearly all the year around at Lima, more like the wild fruit with delicate flavor; prickly pears, peanuts, pears, cherries, etc.

Vegetables in great variety are raised, some like ours, others never before met with. Potatoes in many varieties grow up to an altitude of 13,000 feet or more. The wild bitter tuber from which the varieties were probably developed still grows wild. Enock says the yellow potato (not sweet) is unrivalled for excellence, but I saw none superior to the best of our white. Other tubers cultivated are the yam (three crops a year), manioc, and others.

Maize. The best maize in the world, says Vivian, is grown in Peru; but I am sure that he never ate any sweet corn in Rhode Island. Grown in all parts of the country up to 11,500 feet, it is native, like potatoes and cotton, and is one of the main stays of the country. Maize and potatoes are the chief foods of the Indians. Parched corn is much eaten on the plateau; it is most useful where bread is not to be had, and often is to be preferred. Toasted maize is called cancha. Three, sometimes four, crops are had annually. Food for man and beast, the stalks used for fodder, it is all consumed in the country. That grown near Cuzco is said to be of the finest quality, with grains the size of large beans, a very thin pellicle, and very farinaceous. One district in Lima produces 10,000 tons a year.

Cereals are raised, wheat, barley, and oats, from 5000 to 11,500 feet. Wheat formerly grown on the coast is now seen on the uplands, but large importations of wheat and flour are made. Barley grows to a greater height, 12,000 feet or more and is much used for animal fodder, for mules and horses, taking the place of oats, which are not much cultivated. Alfalfa, much better for fodder than barley, is largely used, growing in sheltered places up to 12,000 feet, about the same as maize. A specialty of Peru and Bolivia is quinua, which is very prolific and grows freely in poor soil from 9000 up to 13,500 feet. It would be well if it were widely cultivated in other countries. Suitable conditions could be found in many places not necessarily at such altitudes. For many purposes it seems preferable to corn meal. It may be eaten raw with sugar or water or cooked as mush; it is called a tonic for soroche. The grains are round, about the size of mustard seed.

Tobacco is raised to a small extent, especially in Tumbes and adjoining districts. It is called of superior quality, and is preferred by some Peruvians to the imported, but it is too strong and coarse for many; the upper class Peruvians generally prefer Havanas. Perhaps 1000 tons are produced, some of which is exported to Bolivia, Chile, and Brazil. The Government has a monopoly of its sale, regulating price and profits of native and imported both, and owning the cigarette factories.

Ramie grass and haricot beans produce each four crops a year, flax and hemp, two crops; the castor oil plant is cultivated, and at the south the mulberry with the silk-worm.

Forestry

Forest products except rubber have received little attention, although the export of tagua, vegetable ivory, has greatly increased within the last ten years. The palm grows wild in the montaña. The nuts are picked up by the Indians and carried to Iquitos, thence sent to Europe. They are also used in the forest for curing rubber, the only industry of much importance in this section.

Rubber for years has been exported in considerable quantities, at first collected from districts on the tributaries of the Marañon, later from those of the Ucayali. Earlier the rubber gatherers called caucheros cut down the caucho trees, a hole in the ground having been previously prepared to receive the milk, which was then coagulated by a solution of soap with the juice of a native plant called vetilla. This method of cutting down the trees, which still has some vogue in other countries, is now forbidden in Peru. The caucho here averages 100 pounds to a tree. It was exported in planks or cakes weighing 80 to 100 pounds each. The jebe, rubber of the finest quality passing for the best Pará fine, comes from the hevea brasiliensis or other species of hevea. These trees are found lower down than the castilloa elastica (from which comes the caucho) at an altitude of about 300 feet, where it grows to a height of 60 to 70 feet. By tapping the hevea, about 20 pounds yearly of rubber is obtained. Peru’s rubber export 1908-12 averaged 4¹⁄₂-5¹⁄₂ million pounds worth 20 to 30 million dollars; but the lowering of price due to the Ceylon plantations, and perhaps the discovery of atrocities practiced upon the Indians in some quarters greatly diminished the export for some years. It seems to be reviving. In 1916 $3,400,000 worth was exported. Better regulations have been made and the possibility of arranging a system of plantations is discussed. Nearly all the rubber is exported from Iquitos; but some from the Madre de Dios section, the Inambari, and the Urubamba goes out by way of Mollendo. The export duty of Peru, 8 per cent, has been much less than that of Brazil.

Other forest products, which now receive little attention, include all kinds of valuable timbers, medicinal plants, dye woods, etc., usual in a tropical forest.

Stock Raising

Cattle. The cattle industry is one of large importance, pasturage beginning in the foot-hills of the coast, and going up to 13,000 feet or more. The large ranches are in the sierra, some having 20,000 cattle and 500,000 sheep. Cattle are raised in Cajamarca, Junín, Ayacucho, Cuzco, and Puno. The beef is apt to be tough, badly cut, and is better boiled than roasted. Cross breeding with Argentine or other stock would improve it greatly, and attention is being paid to the matter. The pasture lands are called excellent. Hides are quite largely exported and cattle are imported from Argentina and Chile, chiefly for slaughter, a few for stock. Mutton is largely eaten in the sierra.

Wool is an important export, likely to increase, for the plateau affords ample space, with good wild grasses. The native sheep have rather long legs and a rough scanty fleece; crossed with merinos they give more wool. Good stock was brought from Punta Arenas some years ago with an experienced manager, and near Lake Junín a big ranch has been developing on 130 square miles. There is no finer country for sheep raising than the high valleys of the plateau. Alpacas, vicuñas and llamas also afford wool, the first two of much greater value. The vicuña wool is the finest, but there are so few of the animals that the export is small. That of alpaca, however, is greater than that of wool, at least in value. The larger part of the world’s supply of the genuine article comes from the Peruvian and Bolivian plateau. The llama, the great burden bearer, has a heavy but coarse fleece, yet some of it is exported. There are more of these three animals in Bolivia. The Indians are expert in their care. The guanaco is a larger animal, somewhat similar, which has never been domesticated, and is hunted by the Indians for food. The chinchilla, and the viscacha, the Peruvian hare, are hunted for their skins. Many pigs are raised and lard is exported.

Horses. The horses are rather small, but are very fine saddle animals. Some have five distinct gaits. I found them more sure-footed than mules, going up and down veritable rock stairways with ease. They are to some extent originally of Arabian stock.

Fish of the finest quality of 40 or more varieties and in great abundance are found off the coast; large lobsters, scallops, the corbina, cod, sole, smelt, mackerel, and many others are caught.

Guano. There are seals on the islands and an enormous number of sea-birds, which have made the great deposits of guano on the islands. As there was no rain the deposits have been preserved for centuries without loss of the nitrogen of which there is 14 per cent. The islands occur singly or in groups along the coast, some far out beyond the track of the steamers. All are barren and uninhabited. The Chincha Islands had enormous deposits now exhausted. There has been much waste, and deposits have been removed so ruthlessly as to disturb the birds; but now there are careful regulations. Agreement was made some years ago with the Peruvian Corporation (British) by which they were allotted 2,000,000 tons of the guano; of this they have had more than half; operations have recently been restricted and few shipments made.

Mining

The mine fields of Peru, once famous for their production of gold and silver, never wholly neglected, were for a time less vigorously worked. In the days of the Spanish colonists gold and silver were the chief objects of acquisition, but lately these metals have seemed less fashionable than copper. The variety in Peru’s wealth in minerals is shown to some extent by a list of her production in 1917 in millions of pounds in round numbers: copper, 84; copper matte, 4.4; copper ore, 16.5; vanadium, 7; lead ore, 7.5; antimony ore, 3.75; silver ore, 1.76; tungsten, 1. Smaller quantities of other ores were produced: gold, 2000 pounds; sulphur, 120,000; metallic silver, 8000; silver concentrates, 700,000; precipitated silver, 10,000; lead bullion, 250,000; lead concentrates, 650,000; zinc ores, 640,000; lead slag, 177,000; copper cement, 145,000; molybdenum, 12,000; gold ores, 30,500. Many other minerals exist, not exported in large enough quantities to have been given in this list.

Copper. Americans were slow to become interested in mining investments in South America as in commercial trade, but when assured of the success of the pioneer enterprise inaugurated at Cerro de Pasco by New York capitalists about 1900, others followed, and large sums have now been invested in several Republics. Silver was discovered at Cerro de Pasco in 1630 and $200,000,000 were produced in one century. Four hundred and fifty million ounces were obtained by hand labor, the ore being carried by llamas to primitive smelters. Little interest was taken in copper; only ore with 25-50 per cent of the metal was formerly exported. Here at Cerro, where is located, some say, the richest copper deposit in the world, the titanic forces of nature cast upward a wonderful mass of material, gold, silver, copper, etc. Here are great open pits several hundred feet deep, worked for centuries for silver.

The Cerro de Pasco Company has spent about $30,000,000 in acquiring properties here and at Morococha, in constructing smelters, railways, buildings for employees, and in developing the properties, from which handsome returns are now obtained. The property of the Cerro de Pasco Mining Company consists of 730 mining claims and 108 coal mining claims. The reserves exceed 3,000,000 tons of copper ore, one estimate is 75,000,000. Nearly every claim carries ore with gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, and cobalt. High silver values exist to 100 feet deep, sometimes running to thousands of ounces a ton, deeper are silver copper ores, and lower still little silver and more copper. The old open mines are 100-300 feet deep. The mines are very wet, especially below 400 feet. A drainage canal begun by Meiggs in 1877 was completed in 1907. The new workings include five shafts and two tunnels of two miles each. The shafts have openings at four levels, the bottom 410 feet. Waste is used for filling, as timber is dear. The smelter has five blast furnaces, each running 300 tons daily. A converter is in another building. A hydro-electric plant completed in 1913 cost $1,000,000. There is a 10 mile ditch and pipe line with one 750 foot fall and a second of 200 feet. The transmission line, 70 miles, serves Morococha and Pasco. There is a coke plant near the smelter and a brick plant of great value. The coal mines are at Goyllarisquisga and Quishuarcancha, 21 and 11 miles respectively. The coal is not very good, averaging 35 per cent carbon, but answers the purpose.

The Corporation owns 12 mines at Morococha and rents others. The deepest shaft is 750 feet. Several drainage tunnels are required. The production, 12,000 tons a month, was expected to be increased to 16,000. The ore of the several mines runs 5, 14, 15, and in one mine 20 per cent copper continuously, the 14 per cent with 14-70 ounces of silver per ton. The ore averages 7 per cent copper and 10 ounces silver. The mines have produced 20,000,000 pounds of copper a year, one third of the de Pasco Company’s output. Morococha is ten miles from Ticlio, the highest point on the main line of the Central Railway; the ore is sent to a smelter at Casapalca, altitude 13,600 feet, ten miles farther down.

The property at Casapalca also is controlled by the Cerro de Pasco Company. In one mine there, a 5000 foot adit cuts the vein 2500 feet below the outcrop; other adits are higher. The ore is sent to the smelter by an aerial tram. The output is 2500 tons a month, two per cent copper, and 40 ounces silver. The Casapalca smelter has three blast furnaces and four barrel type converters. The flue dust is briquetted and returned. It does custom work for independent miners, and in 1916 treated 175,000 dry tons, producing nearly 20,000,000 pounds of fine copper, 3,000,000 ounces of silver, and 3587 of gold; the capacity is now increased 50 per cent. A new smelter has been erected at Yauli by the Company. The Cerro de Pasco property is said to be the most costly ever developed; the ores are refractory. With the cost production eight cents a pound on an output of over 70,000,000 tons a year, $4.20 a share is earned on 14 cent copper, double on 20 cent copper. The Corporation’s income in 1916 was $3,676,000, about 12 per cent on the investment; about 8 per cent was paid in dividends, not an undue amount on what was considered by many a very large risk.

Another great copper property, also owned by Americans, is at Yauricocha, about 50 miles south of Yauli, and west of the Oroya-Huancayo Railway. Four hundred and fifty thousand tons averaging 16 per cent copper and 2¹⁄₂ ounces of silver per ton, five per cent of the probable ore in sight, are now ready for stoping. The smelter and blast furnace have an output of 15-18 tons of blister copper daily. Native labor of fair quality may be obtained at one fifth of the cost in the United States, while the ore is said to be six times as rich as most of that in the West. Considerable water power is available. An automobile road has been constructed from the station Pachacayo 60 miles to the mine.

There are other rich copper deposits in Peru, in Huancavelica, Cuzco, Arequipa, Ica, Apurimac, Junín, Ancash, Cajamarca; but as yet none of them is in full production. Ferrobamba in the Department of Cuzco, 45 miles west of the city, at an altitude of 13,000 feet, is one of the largest properties, with 207 claims over 225 acres. The concession includes water rights; 120,000 horse power is available. The ore can be worked by steam shovels. One field is estimated to contain 12,000,000 tons of ore, 6 per cent copper, 3 ounces silver and 9 grams gold. Its inaccessibility has so far prevented extensive operations. The Anaconda Copper Company owns a copper property in the Department of Arequipa. Copper matte is exported from Queruvilca, Otuzco, Santiago de Chuco, and Cajabamba.

Coal, contrary to earlier supposition, is now known to be widespread in Peru. The astonishing figures of 6¹⁄₄ billion tons have recently been given as the estimated supply, over 4 billion of these in Tumbes, a quantity hitherto unsuspected, perhaps unverified. However, coal deposits are certainly scattered along the great Andes Range and in the foothills, mainly in the central and northern sections. Within 100 miles of the coast are millions of tons of anthracite coal near Cupisnique and Huayday; millions more back of Chimbote and along the Huailas Valley, anthracite, semi-anthracite, and bituminous with many veins 4¹⁄₂-13 feet thick. Higher in the plateau region are deposits of soft coal near Oyón, Cerro de Pasco, and at Jatunhuasi. The de Pasco coal, 35 per cent carbon, must be washed before coking in the smelter. Forty per cent of the material is rejected. The best coal is used on the Railway. It costs $2.92 at the mine. The Company has no more than is needed for their smelters and railway. Better coal is found at Jatunhuasi 30 miles from Pachacayo, on the road to the copper mines at Yauricocha, the same company owning both. This coal, 45 per cent carbon, makes better coke which now sells at $25 a ton at Pachacayo, previously at $40. This deposit, estimated at 40,000,000 tons, is said to be the largest known in Peru of high grade coking coal, and the only one capable of large scale mining without pumping.

At Paracas in the Department of Ica are veins near the sea. Capital for working the coal mines has not hitherto been available; and land transport a few miles by llamas has been more expensive than carriage by sea a few thousand. The need is imperative; and foreign capitalists should and no doubt soon will aid in the development of these rich resources. The annual production is now estimated as 400,000 tons.

Gold and silver are always interesting, and there is still plenty in Peru. In 1916 about $1,200,000 worth of gold was mined, though accurate statistics are impossible, on account of the difficulty of estimating the quantity got out by the Indians. A Peruvian engineer estimates the product from the Inambari River through their primitive methods as $100,000 yearly. They build a floor in the river, and the next season wash out the gold sand in the crevices. There are auriferous deposits in Puno and Cuzco; both veins and placers at Sandia and Carabaya, and at Quispicanchis and Paucartambo. Gold coinage in 1918 amounted to nearly $3,000,000. The Aporama Goldfields property near the Hauri Hauri River at Sandia, Puno, has placer deposits covering 1277 acres. It was just reaching production stage when the War opened and interfered. The New Chuquitambo Company has 142 acres in the Cerro de Pasco Province. The Inca Mining Company, American, has the Santo Domingo Mines on the Inambari River, now in the Madre de Dios Department. From Tirapata on the Juliaca-Cuzco Railway, there is a wagon road for some miles, then a mule trail over the Aricoma Pass, 16,500 feet, and down to an altitude of 7000 feet. Even with the difficulties attending the transportation of machinery and supplies $8,000,000 have been produced without exhausting the deposit. The Cochasayhuas mine in Cotabambas yields $20,000 a month. Seventy per cent of the gold production is said to come from Puno.

Silver. Of silver mines the most important is reported to be that of the Anglo-French Company near the port of Huarmey. Dividends have averaged from 20 to 25 per cent per annum. Possibly rivalling this, are mines farther south at an altitude up to 16,500 feet, the reduction works at 15,200 feet in the Cerro Quespesisa, 120 miles back of Pisco. Less favorably located, but one of the most productive districts in Peru, in the last 50 years it has yielded 6,000,000 ounces of silver with crude processes and a loss of over 25 per cent. The fuel used is taquia (llama dung) of which 1500 tons a year are burned. The temperature in the middle of the day is 45°. At that altitude there is no great difference in the seasons in the torrid zone. Supplies are brought from Pisco, a four and a half days’ journey.

The Morococha mines produced in 1916 (estimated) 1,500,000 ounces. The selected ore sent from Colquipocro to a Liverpool smelter averaged for some years $200 a ton, while the thousands of tons on the dump run $80 a ton. Silver is usually found with either copper or lead, in Peru oftener with the latter, while gold is in veins of ferruginous quartz, generally with other metals as silver and copper, as well as in sand, alluvial deposits, and in nuggets. Other silver mines operated are in Cajamarca, Ancash, at Yauli near Oroya, at Cailloma in Arequipa 100 miles north of Sumbay, and elsewhere.

Vanadium is found near Cerro de Pasco, the property of Americans. From 70 to 80 per cent of the world’s supply is believed to be in Peru, the second largest stock in Colorado. It is of great value for certain purposes in steel construction. The Peruvian ore, roasted before shipping, contains 25 per cent of vanadium. Three thousand five hundred tons were exported in 1918.

Quicksilver. In the old mines of Huancavelica there is resumption of work through the activity of Señor Fernandini, a prominent Peruvian mine owner who has a smelter near that of Cerro de Pasco. He has been clearing out old tunnels, and driving new ones across, to cut the ores 700 feet below the old surface workings. A hydro-electric plant is on trial for the furnaces. The mines are high on the mountain above the town Huancavelica. The ore is a bright red cinnabar, mercury sulphide, impregnating clean sandstone uniformly, or along planes or fractures.

Other minerals exported are tungsten, in 1917 1500 tons with a 60 per cent basis; a deposit at Yauli gives 14 per cent zinc with silver; a large borax lake near the city of Arequipa is likely soon to be developed; salt, a government monopoly, is found in many places but mainly worked in the salinas of Huacho near Lima. Bismuth, molybdenum, and antimony are found.

Petroleum is a very important product of Peru, the total area of oil territory being 5000 square miles, not all proved but with possibilities. The chief field is in Tumbes and Piura in the north, the Titicaca so far having made slight production. The latter field is 300 miles from the sea and eight from Lake Titicaca, near the Bolivian frontier and extending toward Cuzco. Deposits have been found in several provinces but the chief work was not far from the Juliaca station where 10 wells were sunk, in 1912 producing an average of 50 barrels a day, the oil with the paraffin base. At last accounts the work had been discontinued. In 1915 there were 524 wells in the country.

The field at the north extends 180 miles south from the town of Tumbes to some distance beyond Paita, running east to the mountains and perhaps including the Islands of Lobos. The field is 30 miles wide, though some believe it may extend 150 miles. Here is practically no rain, no vegetation, and no water, except that of the sea which is used for all purposes. The temperature is called ideal. The wells range from 250 to over 3000 feet deep. At the north there is a slight plateau 160-500 feet high, running down towards the south.

The Zorritos field farthest north and the oldest in Peru is 24 miles south of Tumbes, with wells four miles along the coast, drilled mostly at the water’s edge and some in the ocean. The deepest is 3000 feet but most are 600-2000 feet. Some wells produce 500-600 barrels a day, but one third of those dug were failures.

The Lobitos field in Piura, 60 miles north of Paita, with a proved area of 725 square miles the second largest in Peru, has all its wells over 2000 feet deep. One sunk to 3435 feet was a failure. A well around 3000 feet deep costs $10 per foot average, against $1.50 or $2.00 for wells under 1500 feet. The shallower wells here are short lived. In 1915 a new pool was opened 12 miles north.

The Negritos field is the richest, 40 miles north of Paita, with an area of 650 square miles. The average depth of the wells is 2500-3000 feet and the most important oil deposits are below 1500 feet. Eleven miles east is an asphalt seepage called La Brea. The oil from Negritos is piped 16 miles north to Talara, the port where the refinery and the wharves are situated. Besides the 6-inch pipe line there is a narrow gauge railway. The modern refinery has a capacity of 6000 barrels a day. With pressure stills employed the oil will give 75 per cent benzine. The Talara port permits vessels of 28-foot draught to approach the wharves. The International Petroleum Company, said to be controlled by Standard Oil interests, now operates this property and has taken over the smaller property of the Lagunitos Oil Company 11 miles from Talara. The amount of oil production in Peru has in ten years increased from 756,226 barrels of 42 gallons to 2,550,000 barrels in 1916, two thirds of the last amount coming from Negritos and Lagunitos.

Industries

While Peru does not support large manufacturing industries she has more than some other South American countries and ample means for increase. Scattered along the coast are more than 50 streams which, though small, falling 10,000 feet, are capable of providing an immense amount of electric power. The use of electricity is already widespread, electric lights and telephones are found in many towns, in several, electric cars; the development of this source of power is progressing.

Of factories, sugar mills take the lead, 50 haciendas near the coast having their own mills. In some of these 75 per cent of the sucrose is extracted with the use of the best machinery. Alcohol and aguardiente are made from both sugar cane and grapes, as well as wine from the latter. There are rice mills, and factories for making soap, tallow, lard, matches, chocolate, paper, and other ordinary articles; tobacco, cigar and cigarette factories, flour mills, etc. Panamá hats, though made by hand, must not be forgotten.

Of great importance is the manufacture of textiles, in which the Indians were so proficient in Inca days that their work is said never to have been surpassed. Now there are seven cotton factories, five of these at Lima, making 24,000,000 yards of cloth for the home market. Three thousand operatives are employed. Also there are five woolen factories, at Lima, Cuzco, and Arequipa. Although the Indians are illiterate and lacking in initiative they have a taste for mechanics as well as for agriculture and pastoral pursuits. They still weave and spin, making excellent ponchos and blankets. Education will be a developer. The Indian’s patience and skill should be utilized, his ambition roused, so that he may desire to live more comfortably. Higher wages and more varied wants for these people will produce more business and prosperity in all lines.

Investments

Peru obviously offers very favorable opportunities in many lines: railway construction and varied works of engineering, irrigation, sanitation, development of electric power; agriculture, especially the raising of sugar and cotton along the coast, and of a variety of additional products in the montaña; mining of all kinds, especially coal; stock raising; all of these in many sections with a very desirable climate. Of stock, the raising of sheep for the export of wool would doubtless be most profitable. The grasses of the table-land are excellent fodder; the climate is cold enough to ensure heavy fleece but not so extreme as to be injurious in snow storms or in fair weather. By importing a few rams an expert in the business would be able to conduct it with large profit.

The farmer may purchase land in the montaña at $1.00 an acre and up, according to location, or secure it on other terms arranged for immigrants. Rubber and timber lands are leased under special regulations. Fruit raising and poultry might be profitable in some places. There is an excellent chance for small factories, perhaps for large ones. In many cities of the North and West Coasts American hotels or boarding houses, if properly conducted, would have great success.