Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/18

12 BOLIVIA migrants into the country since the separation from Spain have chiefly settled in these places and in La Paz. Pure negroes are rarely met w ith. On the Pacific Bolivia has a coast line of 250 m. at most, including the sinuosities, which are numerous and of considerable ex- tent. The shore is high and rugged, and in parts interrupted by lofty hills; while to the interior stretches an arid sandy desert, only habitable in narrow strips along the banks of the rivers. The passage across this desert and over the Andes is attended with many hard- ships ; and transportation can only be effected on the backs of mules. In the tune of the incas this wilderness was traversed from Peru to Chili by a paved road or path wide enough for a single person to walk on. There is at present but one road leading from the coast to the in- terior, from Cobija to Oruro. Until 1872 there were but two seaport towns of any im- portance on the coast. These were Oobija or Lamar, lat. 22 32' 50", a free port on the bay of Santa Maria Magdalena or Endymion, af- fording good anchorage for ships of any size, and shelter from the S. winds which prevail here ; and Tocopilla, on the bay of Algodonales. But in that year the small town of Mejillones, on the bay of the same name, about lat. 23 S., was very considerably extended, owing to the recent discovery of rich silver mines in the district of Caracoles, equally divided between Chili and Bolivia. By the middle of the year re- ferred to, 24 blocks of 300 feet square had been laid out, and a number of new buildings com- pleted, these having been for the most part constructed on sites given by the government to families moving thither from Cobija, which town, it is supposed, will soon fall into decay after the railway now in process of construc- tion from Caracoles to Mejillones is finished. Poor families received pecuniary assistance to enable them to move. The water at Mejillo- nes is plentiful and excellent ; an exception to the rule that on that part of the Pacific coast extending from Paita in the north of Peru to Valdivia in the south of Chili, water is neither abundant nor good. The bay of Mejillones, or Bahia de la Herradura (Horseshoe bay), S. of Cobija, has eight fathoms of water, and is sheltered by the Morro de Mejillones. North of Cobija bay are several shallow sandy bays with rocky points or promontories; but the most extensive inlet along the coast is Moreno bay (named from Mt. Moreno beside it, about 7,000 ft. high), lat. 23 29', 17 m. wide, but frequented only by coasters. Between Manina creek and the river Loa are several guano beds, still worked, but showing signs of exhaustion. The most striking feature of Bolivia is its gigan- tic mountains. These separate in the south- west portion of the republic, between lat. 21 and 22 S., into two systems, the Cordillera Occidental and the Cordillera Oriental or Cor- dillera Real, the latter consisting of many lofty ridges. These two great chains unite again to the north in the ridge cluster of Apolobamba, lat. 14 35' S. In the W. Cordillera, the fol- lowing peaks rise beyond the limit of perpetual snow : Tacora, Tatasavaya, Pomarapi (21,700 ft. above the sea level), Parinacocha or Parina- cota (22,030ft.), Guallatiri or Gualatieri (21,960 ft.), Iquimo, Toroni, Yabricoya, and the volca- noes Isluya and Sajama or Sahama (22,350 ft.), this last being, with the exception of Aconcagua, the highest point in the new world. In lat. 21 S. this'same chain widens in an easterly direc- tion, presenting a number of snow-covered mountains, especially in Ion. 68 20' and 68 50' ; and still further E., the volcanoes Ollagua, Olca, and Tica. The Cordillera de Lipez, the uniting link between the E. and W. Cordilleras, is mainly composed of snow-capped peaks termi- nating in slender needle-shaped points. In lat. 22 S. the Cordillera Oriental forms a nudo, or ridge cluster, having for its nucleus the Cerro de Chorolqne ; from which point the Chocaya and the Tasna and Ubina ranges stretch north- ward in two parallel ridges to lat. 20 S., where they unite at the portillo of Guasaco, one of the most elevated passes on the globe. A single chain, Frailes, continues thence to lat. 19 S. Here it takes the name of Cordillera de los Azanaques de Condo, and again breaking off into five distinct branches, terminates in the Nevado de Illimani, the loftiest of whose three summits rises 21, 145 ft. above the sea. East of the Cordillera de los Frailes, and in the line of the Tasna and Ubina ridge (also named the Cordillera de Chichas), the great eastern chain forms the Nudo de Potosi y Porco, which is likewise the central point of the nevadoa of the same names. Beyond the limits of the hill country, which extends into the valley of the Rio Grande or Guapey to a distance of nearly 400 m. from the coast, lies the great Moxos plain, in which not even a pebble is to be found. During the wet season this region is flooded, and transit by boats is practicable in almost every direction through its dense forests. The country of the Chiquitos is rocky and ele- vated above the reach of inundation. Between the two great Cordilleras lies the valley of the Desaguadero, a vast inter-alpine plain, with an estimated area of 30,000 sq. m., which from its great elevation 13,340 ft. on an average and the height of the mountains which surround it, might be called the Thibet of South America. In this table land, which is intersected by iso- lated hills and low mountain ranges, are Lake Titicaca, and the rich silver and copper mines of Corocoro to the north, while the S. part is mainly covered by a vast, solid, and almost un- interrupted crust of salt many inches thick, and nearly 5,000 sq. m. in extent. Between the mountain ranges stretching eastward toward the great wooded plain are numerous fertile valleys, principal among which is the Valle Grande. Lake Titicaca, whose waters are divi- ded between Peru and Bolivia, and whose shores were the chief seat of power of the inoas, is situated in the table land just referred to. It is the largest inland lake in South America,