El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-08-15

ture is that railroads will be built
I from the Argentine boundary tlIOuSII
! eastern Bolivia to CorumDa1 49,.
With n railway center a. 80 $3.50 a
| Cruz. The latter town lies IN llg II . --f, ;
/ OF the petroleum territory, ana A. y -
! eventually be q great railroad SsntSl-
] At the present time eastern DOLLf-a
! Is practically inaccessible and II can
not be opened up to colonizauon ulltLL
] railroads are built There IS no way
4 TO get into the country excepting on
loot or on mule back, ana nc Wy "
get the crops out When the IdlLroau
! is completed to Corumba the caLIe can
1e driven there and shipped 20 Inc me
7 markets Of eastern Brazil but Just nov
! ~ IS not possible to send them down 70
] Buenos Aires on account OF the heaEy
freight rates Of the steamers on the
Paraguay and Parana rivers.
Cities Reached With Dtffieuity'
The most Of the cities are stin mac
cessible except upon mules, and there
are towns of 20, 900 and $4,000 ana more
that can be reached only by mules.
away from the railroads there are
practically no hotels fit to live in The
country inns are more like stables than
anything else, and in the out-of-the-Way
places it is almost impossible TO buy
1000 Of the indians or TO obtain quar-
ters IN their huts for the night. The
beds Of the inns are platforms made
OF stone or sun dried brick, ano the
Deddlng is often lousy and dirty. one
should carry a camp bed, and he SHOULD
De supplied with rugs, heavy boots and
rubber coat or poncho. He should al
50 carry along some provisions.
Exhibit for Exposition.
During my stay here I have gone
over the exhibit that Bolivia has pre-
pared for the San Francisco exposition.
A large part OF this comes from eastern
Bolivia It includes, with other things,
samples OF the fine timber found there.
About one fifth Of that whole country
is covered with trees. The area is as
large as the state of Missouri and the
timber is about the finest in South
America Some Of it is so hard It will
turn the edge Of an ak, and a great
deal OF it takes a beautiful polish. The
cabinet woods include ebony, walnut
mahogany, cedar and lignum-vitae.
Some Of the trees are Of great Eirth
and height. and the wood is so heavy
that it will not float II will require
railroads or steamers TO bring 1t to the
markets. There are also many rubber
Tees-trees that bear the silk cotton
and those producing vegetable wax
Samples OF all these products will be
sent to san Francisco.
Cotton Thrives in Eastern Portion.
Eastern Bolivia may De one OF the
cotton lands Of the future. The people
have been experimenting with seed
from America and Egypt, and they
find that they can grow cotton all the
way from eight or nine thousand feet
above the sea downward. Indeed. some
good cotton Is being raised in the de-
pressions Of the high plateau Of the
Andes and on the slopes that lead down
into the valleys. Some has been grown
even at two miles above the sea This
is the case near CuzcO, Peru
Chew Coca Leaves.
All Of the indians chew coca leaves,
and the demand for them is enormous.
Every farm hand has TO have them,
and an allowance Of coca is a mart OF
ne contract with all rr-frnwa a
coca leaves are also shipped TO Europe
and the United States TO be manufac-
tured into the cocaine Of commerce.
Among the products Of eastern Bo-
livia are rubber and quinine. Bolivia
has been producing millions OF pounds I
Of rubber every year and there are rub
Der camps scattered all along the trfb-
ltaries Of the Amazon Just now these
amps are in a bad way on account OF /
The competition, the rubber Of South i
America is having with that Of Ceylon I
md Malaysia which, although Guilt /
-ated, can be produced at a far less i
cost than that OF the wild trees OF /
eastern Bolivia
For a similar reason there is also a 4
falling off in the product Of the Gin
chona tree from which comes our qui-
line. Quinine is often called Peruvian /
lark. II first came from Peru. but Il
alter from the trees that grow wild in i
his country For a long time Bolivia /
md Peru had a monopoly Of the Qui- I
line production. and in order to hold it
hey forbade the sending Of cinchona
eeds away from the country. How
yer. some were sneaked out and taken |
o Ceylon and other parts Of India ]
Plantations were started there and |
7ithin a few years the Indian uuinine ]
7as competing with that Of South
-merica- Later still the seeds were
arried TO Java, and now Java is pro- |
uclng most Of the Quinine OF the
rOrld. In the meantime the prices
ave steadily fallen. The bark which /
! 1882 brought something like 50 q
Ound in Bolivian money. now sells for !
bagatelle, and the cultivated planta- /
ions that were set out here are run
I a loss.
-4@.~~oo~-..D4~N-so4.140@9N4o1.