The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-03-01

Is completed. I have written or this re- zion in a former letter. It consists of strip of arid land. 1e1o miles long and from O to 20 niles wide. running fro the Pacific ocean back 10 the mountains 1t is nearly everywhere as dry as I bcu. but there are 55 l'ttio rivers fed by tae snows of the Andes waicl give as manv valleys. where they ean raise sugar. rice and cotton, and which are now pro- ducing millions of dollars s,aorth of these staple today. The amount of sugar at- ready grown is worth in the neighbor- hood of $tc,G53,9J0 per annum the rice s worth more than g. 0o0.0o0 and the cotttr sells for $67,oo0,000. There are oyer zoo. o00 acres in cane and the sugar costs .s raise iia cents a pound There are about 300ta men employed in the cotton pIants- lions. and in some of the valleys they are rsisins from 50o to 1000 pounds to the acre.
 The government is studying the eous.,- vatcn of the water with view to in- crcs1ing the irrieate1 area of the descrt and it is estimated that more than s million and qua rter acres of crops can be grown by the building of additional reservoirs and dams in the mountains. MT. Sutton, the American civil engineer. who is the chief of the Peruvian gover.- ment irrigation survey. estimates that the annual flow of water through this coastal region is 24,000, ,0eo acre-feet and that 10 per cent of it would give thess additional farms. The government is now rffEing hydrolosicai studies ali along the coast from Ecuador to Chile and most of the valleys are being con- sidered with view to the extension of their farms
 As il is now all of there valleys aie producing. We took on a cargo at every port on our way down the coast and at each barge loads of rice, sugar or cot ton were brought out to the steamer At one place we loaded a large drove of cat tie, at another about 50 hogs and at third they transferred some tons of rics to the hold of the steamer.
 This desert region contains the bulk of the white population of Pesu. The co;,- try has altogether very c.ose to 5.O0000o inhabitants. The average density Is about seven 10 the square mile. The great bulk Of the people ere Indians. of whom more than 2,000,000 live on the high plateaus of the Andes. The Ama- zonian region is populated almost entirely by Indians. About one-fourth of the ia- habitants are Cholos. or nalfbreeds, a cross between the Indians and the whites, and there are altogether perhaps less than a million who are of pure Cau- casfon descent
 great part of the coast population lives in the cities and towns. Lima and Callao have together perhaps 200. 900. Arequipd, the chief city of the south has about 50,000. and there are sev- cral cities of 15.000 and upward in the small river valleys On my way here l stopped at Paita. Its popula ton is put down at 6000. but it seemed to me that one-half that number would be a generous estimate. The next port was Eten, said to contain 1S,000, and still further south was Pacasmayo and Sala- rI oi mi, salaverry is the port for Trujillo the old town founded by Pizarro in honor or his native town. It contains about 20,000. I was not able to visit it, ow- ing to our short stay. although it lies only 10 miles inland. Ii is said to he beautiful place and to be surrounded by a very rich country.
 Pacasmayo looks like a little city of Arabia. Ii is made up of ilov, white buildings, with flat roofs. It Res right on the. shore with desert mountains be- hind il: and it has a steel pier which was built by the American civil engi- neer and speculafor Henry Neiggs, when he was constructing railroads up and down the west coast The town is paved with cobblestones. and 1t seems to be prosperous It has a little railroad which runs back into a valley. through which it is said it might con hect with an easy pass over the Andes.
 dN o. The houses are all of one story. built of stuceo. and painted all the colors ot the rainbow. The roofs are flat There are but few windows facing the street. and those which so face are covered with iron grating or bars.
 Calao. the chief port of Peru. is the only live, up-to o-date town along tie coast. It has a population of about 10000. and it is so close to Lima. with its 150,000 or 160. 900. that tho two may be practically considered as one. There is an electric street care line connect ing the two cities. and one can go from one to the other in Ia minutes, at a cost of 10 cents.
 The harbor of Callao consist of a 1 great bay so guarded by rocky islands that basin the shape of a half moon is enclosed. It is noweplanned to join the islands with the mainland so as to add more land to the port. A part of the harbor is further protected by stone mole. and there is large dock at which steamers and sailing vessels can >lie at anchor discharging their cargoes.
 The port of Callao is one of the busiest Q. the western Pacific. Over 1890 vessels cleared there last year and the traffic will greatly increase from nJw on. The Pe- luvian government has plans for the inn provement of the harbor and it will add to the docks. which are HOW 800 feet long. When the islands have heen joined to- sether there will be a solid mole or pier running out, to them and vessels of any size can tie up at the wharves. After the canal is completed the character of the vessels will change They will be larger and better a\d many will fly the American flag. At present the most of the craft at Callao are composed of sail ing ships and tramp steamers. 1 counted 40 sailing vessels loaded with lumber, grain, rice and other heavy cargo. The lumber had come down from the Puer, sound region. There were also many passenger steamers. some Peruvian. some Chilean and some Britisa. I saw German ships bound for San Francisco and a British liner of 12.o0U tons was just steaming cut for Europe via the Strait of Magellan. Among the curious craft were three little war vessels of the Peru Nian navy and two submarines, as well as Japanese steamer In the latter it seemed to me, I was looking at the fore runner of the Asatic merchant marine of the western Pacific of the near future.
 We anchored out in tiie harbcr and | largained with Choio CT half-breed Tn. dian to take my eight pieces of baggage to Lima. The price agreed upon was sY Peruvian or s450 in gold. For this he carried the trunks in his boat to tho shore and waited until passed them were loaded upon mule cart and trans- ferred to the tran,way by which they were carried to ..ie capital. and thence by cart to the hotel II seemed cheap enough.