nus of the Central Railroad of Peru, as the transandean line is called, that shall pass by Tarma to the head of steamboat navigation at the foot of the falls on the Perene, a principal tributary of the Amazon. This point is 1,000 feet above the level of the sea, from which it is about 4,000 miles distant. There is already some navigation of the Amazon branch which reaches the little port of Iquitos, where a steamer arrives once a month. The principal traffic is in crude India rubber. In addition to the Central Railroad, and other lines included in the preceding table of "lines in operation," there are several steamship lines on the coast, and three steel steamers engaged in traffic on Lake Titicaca, the highest navigated water on the globe. These vessels, formerly the property of the Peruvian Government, have, in accordance with the terms of the contract, been turned over to the Peruvian Corporation. Two important steamship companies compete with each other for the coast trade of the Southern Pacific, with Europe and the United States. The Pacific Steam Navigation Company was first inspired by the American, Wheelwright, who had been a consul at Guayaquil (Ecuador) and saw the growing advantages of South American commerce. His countrymen giving no heed to his representations on the subject, he went to England with his ideas and met a substantial welcome, of which the outcome has been the most extensive fleet of commercial steamers in the possession of one company that the world has yet seen. They run one set between Panama and Valparaiso, touching at the various ports en route in such a manner that all the principal ports get weekly service, while the minor ports are visited less frequently, and smaller ships do the local freight traffic along the shore. The whole business is shared by a Chilean line, La Compañia Sud Americana, owned by English capitalists and subsidized by Chile, whose flag they fly, and to whom they are bound as national transports in the event of that power becoming involved in war. This line is running some of the largest and finest ships in the world, as to outfit. All the coast lines of steamers connect at Valparaiso with a line to Liverpool owned by the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. The passenger ships of all these lines are 450 feet long, 49 feet breadth of beam, and 34 feet depth of hold, with a freight-carrying capacity of 5,700 tons. The freight and passenger rates on the Pacific Steam Navigation and South American companies' steamers are exorbitant, and discriminate against the American shipper, who sends all his trade, which does not take sailing vessel around the Horn, by way of Panama. Thus the freight on live stock, which must necessarily be sent by the most expeditious route, is about double the rates in any other sea. From Panama to Callao the freight on a horse is $38, American gold; on a cow or ox, $12; on a donkey, $21, while the rate of passage is $160 for first class and $40 on deck. The charges of the Pacific Mail between San Francisco or New York and Panama are even worse, with inferior accommodations. In addition to these regular lines the French and Germans have freighting cruisers, with fair but limited accommodations for passengers, doing a semi-monthly service along the coast. The Germans have extended this traffic up the Central American coast and into Mexico, whence they are shipping out the valuable dye and cabinet woods with great celerity. English speculators have reckoned largely on superseding the Pacific routes with steamers plying between ports on the upper Amazon and Liverpool via the Atlantic Ocean. When, however, we reflect that from any port on the Peruvian Amazon to the port of Callao will be only two days' travel by rail after the transandean line is open for use, and that only 1,500 miles of the most peaceful water on the face of the globe lies between Callao and Panama; and further, that from the Amazon ports via the river to a point in the stormy Atlantic as near Liverpool as Panama will at present rates of travel require at least fourteen days for the out ward trip and twenty for the inward, of which 3,000 miles will be against the currents of the great river, we are enabled to understand how much money there is lying around loose in European markets waiting to be thrown upon the waste heap. In the north of Peru is the River Chira, navigable for nearly 200 miles in the main stream and tributaries for steamers drawing in the driest time 3 feet and in the full season from 6 to 10 feet. The valley is well cultivated throughout its whole extent and has no present means of transportation save mules and donkeys, which carry freight between the plantations and the Paita and Piura Railroad, of which a short section of 20 miles runs along the side of the valley. Stern-wheel steamers, suited to the carriage of passengers and freight, would find in this stream an excellent investment, as the river flows directly into the Bay of Paita, where steamers of all classes make regular entries in traversing the coast. There are no highway roads in Peru. In no section is the freight of the country hauled on wheels or its passengers transported in stages, unless, indeed, we except the very limited district in the valley of the Rimac, near Lima Everything in the way of supplies and the export of produce is moved on the backs of mules and donkeys; passengers travel in the saddle. The horses being gentle, well-trained beasts, there is less difficulty in this method of locomotion than one may at first view imagine. In the sierra you will meet my lady mounted on her splendid saddle mule, leading off for a trip of a day or two among the mountains, followed by her cargo mule and servant. The llama is still in use in the puna and somewhat in the sierra. This remarkable little animal, which has been called the camel of the Andes, was found by Pizarro among the Incas, who had domesticated it to carry burdens, being the only beast so employed on this continent before the introduction of European civilization. An interesting feature of its domestication is the fact that, while its docility has been so utilized, the creature will |