BOLIVIA.

(REPÚBLICA BOLIVIANA.)

Constitution and Government.

THE Constitution of the Republic of Bolivia bears date October 28, 1880. By its provisions the executive power is vested in a President, elected for a term of four years by universal suffrage; while the legislative authority rests with a Congress of two chambers, called the Senate, and the Chamber of Deputies, both elected by universal suffrage. There are 66 Deputies. The President is assisted in his executive functions by two Vice-presidents and a ministry, divided into five departments-of Foreign Relations and Colonisation; of Finance; of War; of Justice; and of the Interior.

President of the Republic.-Señor Don Aniceto Arce, nominated President August 6, 1888.

The capital of the Republic is Sucre, but the seat of the Government is usually La Paz. The supreme political, administrative, and military authority in each department is vested in a prefect. The Republic is divided into eight departments; each department is divided into provinces, governed by a sub-prefect, and each province is composed of several cantons, each governed by a correjidor. The capital of each province has its munici pal council.

Area and Population.

The area of Bolivia was estimated in 1869 at 842,729 English square miles, with a population of close upon two millions. The following table gives, after official returns of 1880-88, the area of each of the existing provinces, with their estimated population (excluding aboriginal Indians):

As a result of the war with Chile, 1879-80, Bolivia has ceded to that country all her coast territory. The aboriginal or Indian population of

Bolivia is estimated at a million; the mestizos or mixed races at 500,000, and the whites about 500,000. They are all regarded as at least nominally Christian. The present population may be estimated at about 2,300,000.

The population of La Paz is officially given at 56,849; Cochabamba, 19,507; Sucre (the capital), 17,098; Potosi, 11,944; Santa Cruz, 10,288.

Religion, Instruction, and Justice.

The Roman Catholic is the recognised religion of the State; the public exercise of any other form is not permitted.

There are four universities. The following figures are given for 1888:Primary schools 506, with 707 teachers and 24,583 pupils (of whom 8,822 girls); secondary schools and colleges 22, with 2,234 pupils; 774 students of law, medicine, and theology, with 55 professors, in the universities. The Government contribution to public primary schools in 1888 was 43,900 bolivianos.

The judicial power resides in the Supreme Court, the district courts, and in the courts of local justices. The Republic is divided into 7 judicial districts.

Finance.

In the budget for the financial year 1889-90 the receipts from all sources were calculated at 3,624,200 bolivianos, and the expenditure at 3,734,814 bolivianos.

According to an official Bolivian statement of December 1888, the foreign debt amounted to 6,027,292 dollars, and the internal to 8,736,075 dollars, giving a total of 14,763,367 dollars. Another estimate gives the debt as 6 millions sterling.

Defence.

Bolivia has a standing army of 900 men and 124 officers in actual service. There is also a national guard, in which all citizens are bound The annual cost of the army amounts to one-third of the total

to serve.

public revenue.

Production and Industry.

Till within the last few years, the vast agricultural and mineral resources of the country were entirely dormant for want of means of communicacion, but more recently an attempt has been made to construct roads and railways. The silver mines of Potosi alone are estimated to have produced 600 millions sterling from their discovery in 1545 down to 1864. The india-rubber supply of Bolivia is of the finest quality, and almost inexhaustible. Coca is one of the most important products of Bolivia; in 1884-85 the quantity derived was valued at 343,6661. Cinchona is another important culture; a report of the United States Consul referring to 1884-85 estimates the number of trees at 5 millions, and the quantity of bark produced in the year at 200,000 lbs.

Commerce.

The average value of the imports is estimated at 1,200,000Z., and exports 1,800,0007. Two-thirds of the exports consist of silver. In 1889 the total Bolivian exports by Buenos Ayres was 3,327,645 Argentine dollars, mostly

COMMERCE-COMMUNICATIONS

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silver and gold. The total imports by Buenos Ayres in that year amounted to 106,487 dollars; about one-half was for textiles. Export of silver bar and ore in 1888, 17,064,218 bolivianos; in 1889, 12,145,545 bolivianos. Nearly one-half of the imports are calculated to come from the United Kingdom, mainly through the port of Arica in Peru. Considerable trade is also done with France and Germany. The exports comprise, besides silver, Peruvian bark, india-rubber, gum, cocoa and coffee, and copper, tin, and other ores.

The total value of the merchandise sent to and received direct from Great Britain, in each of the five years 1885 to 1889, according to the Board of Trade Returns, is shown in the subjoined table:-

Exports to Great Britain 200,046 190,619 145,947 142,548
Imports of British pro-
duce

44,276 53,594 84,615 111,018

The principal exports of Bolivia to Great Britain are copper ore and regulus, and cubic nitre. In the year 1888 the value of the exports of copper, both ore and regulus, amounted to 49,9487.; and of nitre to 74,5307. The British imports into the Republic consist chiefly of cotton goods, of the value of 3,0087.; of iron, wrought and unwrought, of the value of 51,4247.; machinery, 13,2107.; coals, 7,6427.; carriages, 13,7531., in 1888.

Communications.

Bolivia has no sea-coast. There are several projects for the construc tion of railways in Bolivia. A railway connects the Chilian port of Antofagasta with the Bolivian frontier at Ascotan. At present about 300 miles of this railway are built in Bolivian territory, and it is expected that it will be in the important mineral district of Oruro in the middle of the year 1891. Besides this, concessions have been given for other lines which are being studied and will, it is stated, soon begin to be built -namely, from the city of La Pan to the Peruvian frontier, to join the line from Mollendo on the Pacific coast to Puno on Lake Titicaca; from the River Paraguay, in the east of Bolivia, to the city of Santa Cruz. The line coming from Antofagasta will be continued from Uyuni to Potosi, and from Oruro to the important agricultural centre of Cochabamba.

There is a line of telegraph between Chililaga, on Lake Titicaca, La Paz, and Oruro to Sucre, 180 miles; another between the capital and Potosi and the Argentine frontier on the one hand and the Pacific coast on the other. There were 16,127 messages in 1886. Revenue, 9,219 bolivianos; expenditure, 12,339 bolivianos. There passed through the Post Office 1,525,606 letters in 1886.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The money, weights, and measures of Bolivia, and the British equivalents, are:-

MONEY.

The Boliviano or Dollar, of 100 Centesimes, was struck on the basis of the 5-franc piece; present value (Aug. 1890) about 2s. 6d. The gold ounce is nominally equal to 17 silver pesos.

Consular Representative

OF BOLIVIA IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Consul-General.-Francisco Suarez, 12 Fenchurch Street, E.C.

Great Britain has no representative in Bolivia.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Bolivia.

1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Report on the Trade, &c., of Bolivia in 1884-85, in 'Reports from the Consul of the United States,' January 1886. Washington, 1886.

Report on the Trade of Bolivia in 1887, in Deutsches Handels-Archiv,' August, and on a Projected Railway, October 1888. Berlin, 1888.

Trade of Bolivia with Great Britain, in Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries in the year 1889.' Imp. 4. London, 1890.

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Bolivia, a paper in the Deutsche Kolonial-Zeitung,' Heft 18, 1886, p. 548. Berlin, 1886. Ballivian (Manuel V.) and Idiaguez (Edwardo), Diccionario Geographico de la Republica de Bolivia. La Paz. 1890.

Bonelli (L. H. de). Travels in Bolivia. 2 vols. London, 1854.

Church (Col. Geo. Earl), Papers and Documents relating to the Bolivian Loan, the National Bolivian Navigation Company, &c. 8. London, 1873.

Dalence (M.), Bosquejo estadistico de Bolivia. 8. Chuquisaca, 1878,

D'Orbigny, Descripcion geográfica, histórica y estadistica de Bolivia. 1844.

D'Orbigny (A.), Voyage dans l'Amérique Méridionale. 9 vols. Paris, 1835-47.

Grandidier (P.), Voyage dans l'Amérique du Sud. 8. Paris, 1861.

Mathews (Edward D.), Up the Amazon and Madeira Rivers, through Bolivia and Peru. 8. London, 1879.

Moreno (J. L.), Nociones de geografia de Bolivia. Sucre, 1889.

Rock (Hugo), Geographie und Statistik der Republik Bolivia. In Petermann's Mittheilungen,' Parts VII. and VIII. 4. Gotha, 1865.

Tschudi (J. J. von), Reisen durch Südamerika. 4 vols. 8. Leipzig, 1856.

Ursel (Comte C. d'), Sud Amérique: Séjours et voyages au Bresi, en Bolivie, &c. 12. Paris, 1879.

Weddell (H. A.), Voyage dans le Nord de la Bolivie. Paris, 1853.

Wiener (Charles), Pérou et Bolivie. Paris, 1880.

BRAZIL.

(ESTADOS UNIDOS DO BRAZIL.)

Constitution and Government.

IN 1807 the royal family of Portugal fled to Brazil; in 1815 the colony was declared a kingdom'; and the Portuguese Court having returned to Europe in 1821, a national congress assembled at Rio de Janeiro, and on May 13, 1822, Dom Pedro, eldest son of King João VI. of Portugal, was chosen 'Perpetual Defender' of Brazil. He proclaimed the independence of the country on September 7, 1822, and was chosen Constitutional Emperor and Perpetual Defender' on October 12 following. In 1831 he abdicated the crown in favour of his only son, Dom Pedro II., who reigned as Emperor until November 15, 1889, when by a revolution he was dethroned, and he and his family exiled, and Brazil declared a Republic under the title of the United States of Brazil.

President of the Republic.-Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca.

By a decree of June 22, 1890, the Provisional Government convoked, for the 15th of November, the first National Congress, and, subject to the approval of this Congress, published a new Constitution. According to this, the Brazilian nation, adopting the federative republican form of government, constitutes itself as the United States of Brazil. Each of the old Provinces will form a State, administered at its own expense without interference from the Federal Government save for defence, for the maintenance of order, and for the execution of the Federal laws. Fiscal arrangements in such matters as customs, rates of postage, and bank-note circulation will belong to the Union exclusively.

The legislative authority will be exercised by the National Congress with the sanction of the President of the Republic. Congress will consist of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. It will meet annually on the 3rd of May, independently of summonses, and will sit four months, but may be prorogued or convoked extraordinarily by the President of the Republic. Each Chamber will appoint its own officials. Deputies and Senators will be paid, and neither can be Ministers of State. Deputies must have been Brazilian citizens for seven years. Senators must be over thirty-five years of age and must have been citizens for nine years. Clergymen, military commandants, heads of police, magistrates, and administrative functionaries who may be dismissed without judicial sentence will not be eligible for either Chamber.

1

At the meeting of the Congress a Committee was appointed to draft a Constitution.