Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/354

 340 PERU $5,661,865; 1869, $6,908,475; 1870, $8,805,- 865; 1871, $10,798,850; 1872, $14,351,195; 1873, $12,623,110. From the following sy- nopsis for the port of Callao may be formed an idea of the trade with the United States. In the year ending Sept. 30, 1872, there entered 118 American vessels, with an aggregate ton- nage of 124,085, and cargoes of lumber, wheat, coal, sperm oil, railway ties, &c., of a total value of $3,641,695; and the number of vessels cleared for the United States was 114, aggre- gate tonnage 115,604, mostly laden with guano, the total value of the cargoes being $4,039,352. The total shipments of petroleum from the United States in the year 187l-'2 comprised 181,629 gallons; in 1872-'3, 233,490; and in 1873-'4, 272,555. The value of the produce and bullion shipped from the port of Arica in 1866 was $3,898,733; 1867, $3,510,760 50; 1868, $3,758,172; 1869, $3,353,443 25; 1870, $3,936,531 12; 1871, $4,882,232 75; 1872, $5,427,290 37; and up to June 30, 1873, they reached $2,510,608 08. The steamers of four lines, English, French, German, and Chilian, numbering 59, are engaged in the carrying ser- vice between Callao and Panama, and Callao and the southern ports of Chili, and also be- tween Oallao and European ports via the straits of Magellan. The steamers touching at only the principal ports on the coast are weekly, and those calling at all ports semi- weekly. . The coasting trade is very extensive, and is carried on, besides the steamers already referred to, by a Peruvian merchant navy comprising (in 1869) 95 vessels with a total of 9,596 tons, 11 being steamers, with an aggregate of 435 tons. Lake Titicaca is now navigated by steamers plying regularly between Puno and the Bolivian ports on the S. E. shore ; and the thorough explora- tion of the eastern rivers, after seven years of constant labor, has been terminated, the hy- drographical commission having arrived about the middle of 1874 within 140 m. of the termi- nus of the Oroya railway. There is a regular service of steamers on the Huallaga and the Ucayali. The following government railways are completed or in process of construction (1875) under the direction of the American contractor Henry Meiggs : ways were contracted for by private indi- viduals, to be completed in 1876 : LINES. Length. Cost. Tacna to Bolivia (government share in this line $75 000) 108 m. 89* 48 63 144 36 $5.625,000 8,750,000 1,364,062 1,687,500 9,375,000 2,250,000 Lima to Huacho Pisco to lea (finished 1873) Payta to Piura Lima to Pisco Total 488| m. $24,051,562 LINES. Length. Cost. Year of completion. Callao and Oroya 130m. $25,875,000 1874 Mollendo and Arequipa. Arequipa and Puno Puno and Cuzco 107 222 230 11,250,000 80,000,000 23,437,500 1870 1873 1874 Chimbote and Huaraz. . 172 22,500,000 1876 Ilo and Moquegua Pacasmayo, Guadalupe, and Magdalena 63 83 6,281,250 6,656,250 1872 1873 Total 1 007m $126 000 000 The following railways belong to private in- dividuals : Cerro de Pasco to Pasco (silver mines), 15 m. ; Iquique to the Noria, 37 m. ; Pisagua to Sal de Obispo, 35 m. ; Eten to Ferrenafe, 28 m. The following state rail- The following lines are projected, all but the three last by the government : Oroya to Chan- camayo, 80 m. ; Tacna to Puno, 301 m. ; Sa- laverry to Ascope, 40 m. ; Oroya, Jauja, and. Ayacucho, 240 m. ; Chancay to Cerro de Pas- co, 120 m. ; Trujillo to Eten, 148 m. ; Huacho to Lambayeque, 560 m. ; total, 1,489 m. The aggregate cost of these lines was to be $210,- 000,000. The following lines, costing $6,000,- 000, belong to English companies: Arica to Tacna (6 per cent, security), 39 m. ; Callao to Lima, and Lima to Chorillos, 15^ m. ; total, 55 m. "When the foregoing lines are com- pleted, Peru will have an aggregate of 3,194 m. of railway (exclusive of a branch of the Arequipa and Puno railway, to be extended to La Paz in Bolivia), at a cost of about $390,- 000,000; to which should be added at least $85,000,000 for water works, besides the im- mense sums required for the ramifications of some of the lines, which cannot be estimated at less than $125,000,000. Except those on the table lands, there are few good common roads in the country, and the internal carrying is almost exclusively performed by mules, lla- mas, and Indians. There was in 1873 about 1,000 m. of telegraph in the republic, but the service was neither efficient nor productive. Many of the lines pass over barren deserts, traversed only by the muleteers and Indians of the coast, and the distances between the sta- tions are very long. All the lines now belong to the state. A coast cable is shortly to place Payta in communication with Panama, and another will extend to Chili ; both were con- tracted for in 1874; they will connect with the great Atlantic telegraph network. The pres- ent constitution of Peru was promulgated on Aug. 31, 1867. The legislative power is vest- ed in a senate and a house of representatives, the former composed of two deputies for each province, and the latter of representatives ap- pointed by the electoral colleges of provinces and parishes, at the rate of one member for every 20,000 inhabitants. The deputies to the provincial colleges are chosen by the paro- chial electoral colleges, who in turn send rep- resentatives to congress. In 1872 the senate comprised 40 members, and the house of repre- sentatives 80. The president and vice presi- den are elected by the people for a term of five years. The president is aided by five ministers appointed by himself, respectively