Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/25

Rh Bolivia belong to tho following tribes : The Sirionos, who inhabit the banks of the Rio Grande or Guapay, and of the Rio Pirai ; the Hichilos, who occupy the pampas north of San Carlos in the department of Beni ; the Penoquiqmas, living in the upper or southern districts of the lliver Ttonama or San Miguel ; the Guaranocas inhabiting the western portion of the space between the rivers Tucabaca and Latiriquique ; the Potororos in the north-west of the same district ; and the Chiriguanos, occupying the country along the north of the upper Pilcomayo below the con- lluence of the Pilaya. To these may be added the Tolas, who though they generally occupy the lower basin of the Rio Vermejo in the Argentine portion of the Chaco, occasionally make raids into the departments of Tarija and Chuquisaca, plundering and destroying the villages, and carrying off women and cattle. The Quichuaand Aymara have no relations or sympathies with the Indians of the plains, who in their turn hold the civilized Indians in great contempt. These descendants of the Peruvians under the empire of the Incas are still numerous, notwithstanding the many causes which have tended to diminish their numbers, and form a distinct race, preserving the language and manners of their ancestors, their habits having been only somewhat modified by the circumstances in which they have been placed since they came under the dominion of the Spaniards. The Quichuas are mild in character, apparently subdued and apathetic, qualities which are but the natural result of the state of subjection and debase ment in which they were long held by their conquerors ; they are, however, robust and muscular, and capable of great endurance, though little inclined to labour ; their customs are rude and simple, their mode of living poor in the extreme. The Aymara are perhaps more mobile in char acter, but in other respects similar. Both are cultivators of the land according to their rude notions of husbandry ; vegetables, especially maize and potatoes, form the staple of their food, and they indulge freely in their favourite chicha, an intoxicating liquor prepared from maize; many are employed as drivers of llama trains, or are breeders of the llama, sheep, or goats, which they possess in great numbers. Among the half-bred population of Bolivia, who stand in relation of numbers to the Inca Indians as about one to two, there are distinguished the sambo, or half-negro half- Indian, powerful in frame and intelligent, but unfaithful and cunning ; the mulatto, or offspring of the Spaniard and negro ; and the ckolo, the descendant of the alliances of the Spaniards with the Inca Indians. The last generally resemble their fathers in character, and occupy themselves chiefly in mining. It is to the Cholos that Bolivia owes its political independence. The population of Bolivia has greatly increased since the year of independence, 1825, when the whole number did not exceed 979,000; in 1831 it exceeded 1,000,000 ; at the census of 1846 it had risen to 1,380,000. The follow ing table shows the population of each department, as given by Ondarza in 1858. This is the most recent detailed statement of the population of Bolivia, but an estimate of the population of the ecclesiastical divisions of the country for 1874 is appended to it ; the provinces into which each department is divided are also named, on the authority of Herr Reck:—

Departments. LA PAZ Provinces C La Paz Omasuyos Ingavi Sicasica Muuecas Yungas Larecaja L Inquisivi Population, 1803. ! 475,322 Carryforward, 475,322 Departments. Provinces. Population, 185 Brought forward, 475,322 Cochabamba Cliza COCHABAMBA - Tapacari Mizque - 349,892 Arque &amp;gt;. Ayopaya Potosi Porco POTOSI. . -j Chayanta &amp;gt; 281,229 Chichas . Lipez Yamparaes ClIUQUISACA Tomina-azero &amp;gt; 223,668 Cinti SAKTA CRTJZ DE LA SIERRA. Santa Cruz Yallc Grande Chiquitos Cordillera 153,164 Oruro ORURO Pari a or Poopo 110,931 Carangas Tarija TARIJA Salinas 88,900 Concepcion 1 Mojos BENI Caupolican or Apolobamba 53,973 Juracares i ATACAMA ...1 Jpper and Lower Deserts 5,273 1,742,352 Wild Indians 245,000 Total 1,987,352

The Archbishopric of La Plata, including the departments of Potosi, Chuquisaca, Oruro, Tarija, and Atacama, con tained in 1874 706,989 inhabitants ; the Bishopric of La Paz, the department of La Paz, 519,465 ; the Bishopric of Santa Cruz, the department of Santa Cruz, 205,131 ; and the Bishopric of Cochabamba, the department of Cocha bamba, 379,783, total, 1,811,368. Decrees of 1866 and 1867 ordered the formation of two new departments, viz., Mdgarejo, to be formed of part of the existing department of Cochabamba, and including the town of Tarata, and Mexilloncs, on the coast. The populations of the chief towns, in 1858, were as follows : La Paz, 76,372 ; Cochabamba, 40,678 ; Chu quisaca or Sucre, 23,979 ; Potosi, 22,580; Santa Cruz, 9780 ; Oruro (the seat of Government since 1869), 7980; Tarija, 5680; Trinidad, 4170; Cobija, 2380. Among the small number of foreigners in the country, Italians, Spaniards, and French are in a majority.

The area of Bolivia, hitherto very uncertain, on account of the indefinite state of the frontier on the east and south, has been calculated at Gotha, on the basis of the recent determination of the boundary with Brazil, at 536,200 English square miles, or about ten times the extent of England.

The religion of the people is Roman Catholic. Since the commencement of the republican government a considerable part of the revenues of the minor convents and monastic establishments in Bolivia has been diverted from their original purposes to form a fund for the establish ment and support of seminaries of education. Colleges on improved modern principles are formed in each of the departments. A university having long existed at Chu quisaca for the education of the youth of Upper Peru, the utility of the establishment was greatly augmented, during the administration of General Sucre, by an im provement in the modes of instruction, and an increase in the number of the departments of education. In Potosi, likewise, efficient means were adopted by General Miller, while prefect of that department, to establish there a college for the study of mineralogy, a branch of education of great importance in a place wholly dependent on mining.