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 THE PERUVIAN WAR 275 ment ordered the occupation of Antofagasta, and on the 14th of February, Colonel Sotomayor with a body of men, estimated at from two to five hundred, took pos- session of the port. On the i6th of February, Soto- mayor was sent to protect the mining interests at Cara- coles. Then the Bolivian president, General Hilarion Daza, declared war, March ist, expelled some Chilean residents from the country and confiscated their pro- perty. On the 23rd of the month, a skirmish occurred at the village of Calama on the banks of the river Loa, between Sotomayor's force, amounting now to six hun- dred men, and aparty of one hundred and thirty-five Bolivians commanded by Dr. Ladislao Cabrera. The latter had posted his men on the road at a point com- manding, from an advantageous position on the heights, the ford which Sotomayor must pass. For three hours the little party of Bolivians fought their superior foes, but at length gave way and retreated toward Potosi. The Bolivians lost twenty killed and thirty prisoners, the Chileans twelve killed and wounded. Peru now offered her services as a mediator and sent envoys to the Bolivian and Chilean capitals. But in view of the fact that the Chileans knew of the secret treaty of 1873, between Bolivia and Peru, the latter's offer of mediation was not fruitful of results. Besides, Chile had another grievance with Peru, for the latter had, in 1875, passed a law intended to monopolize the Tarapaca nitrate beds. True, TarapacA was Peruvian territory, but this law was inimical to Chilean inter- ests in that region and to Chilean capital invested in the Tarapacd nitrate works. The Peruvian envoy to Santiago, Senor Lavalle, had required, as a basis of arbitration, that the Chilean troops should evacuate Antofagasta; that there should