Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/588

 552 PERU.

The Peruvian navy consisted, in the summer of 1869, of 5 iron- clads, the 'Independencia,' frigate, 14 guns; the ' Atahualpa,' turret ship, 3 guns ; the ' Manco Capac,' turret, 3 guns ; the ' Victo- ria,' 2 guns, and the ' Loan,' 2 guns ; and of seven other steamers, the ' Callao,' 30 guns, the ' America,' 14 guns, the ' Union,' 14 guns, the ' Chalaco,' 4 guns, the ' Tumbez,' 4 guns, the ' Chanchamaya,' 2 guns, and the ' Colon,' 2 guns. The most important of these ships, the ironclad frigate ' Independencia,' built at Poplar, London, in 1865, has a stem constructed as a ram, and the armament con- sists entirely of Armstrong guns on the shunt principle — viz. 12 70-pounders of 4 tons each on the main deck, and 2 pivot guns, 150-pounders, weighing 7 tons each, on the upper deck. These latter guns can be fired on a line even with the keel. The two next largest ironclads in the list, the 'Atahualpa,' and the 'Manco Capac,' are so-called Monitors, and were purchased in March, 1869, from the United States. Each of these ships carries, on revolving turrets, three guns, throwing shots of 500 pounds weight. They are thickly armoured from stem to stern, and when in action only six inches above the sea-level, with the further defence of being able to hurl streams of boiling water on an enemy attempting to get on board.

The area of Peru is estimated to extend over 502,760 square miles, while the population, according to a rough enumeration made in 1860, amounts to 2,865,000, the greater number of them descen- dants of Spaniards, mixed with ' Indians.'

Trade and Industry.

The imports of the republic averaged five millions sterling in the years 1863-67, and the exports rather more than six millions. The following seven ports divided between them the total exports of 1866 :

Callao Iquique. Arica Is] ay

Huanchaco San Jos6. Payta

Total

Value of Exports

Dollars

24,996,028

5,602.739

2,809,645

3,541,086

920,410

895,616

1,741,480

40,511,291

£ 3,853.554 863,754 433.153 545,917 141,896 138,075 268,478

6,245,491

The commercial intercourse between Peru and the United King- dom is shown in the subjoined tabular statement, which gives the total value of the exports from Peru to Great Britain and Ireland,