Guano has been used in Peru as a manure since the time of the Incas. The trade to Europe began in 1846. The chief deposits were on the Chincha Islands. From 1853 to 1872 as many as 8,000,000 tons were taken from them, but in the latter year they were exhausted. Since then the deposits on the Lobos, Macabi, and Guañape Islands to the north and on the headland of Tarapaca to the south have been worked. About 600,000 tons remain in the north, and perhaps 1,800,000 in Tarapaca.

Greater now than guano as an article of export to Great Britain is cubic nitre, a government monopoly. The exports of nitre were as follows in each of the years from 1876 to 1885 :

As Chile now possesses the province of Tarapaca, where are large nitre deposits, the exports during the three years 1879-81 materially decreased, though they have risen again since the latter date.

The exports of sugar to Great Britain, in an unrefined state, small previous to the year 1869, assumed large proportions in recent years. The value of the exports of sugar rose from 512,1127. in 1874 to 1,380,6227. in 1879; but fell to 702,8691. in 1882; 470,8197. in 1883; 316,5917. in 1884; and 442,4917. in 1885.

The export to Great Britain of sheep and alpaca wool, of the value of 320,7927. in 1882, and 118,000l. in 1883, in 1884 rose to 579,1037., and fell to 270,4037. in 1885. The raw cotton exported in 1883, to the value of 132,033l., fell in 1884 to 92,607, and rose to 121,4957. in 1885; and copper, unwrought or partwrought, of the value of 356,8961. in 1878, and only 17,6331. in 1883, rose again in 1884 to 46,5597., and fell to 7,3317. in 1885.

The imports of British produce into Peru comprise mainly cotton and woollen manufactures. The imports of cotton goods amounted to 594,1667. in 1878; to 228,0317. in 1879; to 478,1577. in 1882; to 437,9767. in 1884, and 274,6997. in 1885. Of woollens the imports were of the value of 180,1807. in 1884, and 151,5167. in 1885.

In 1883, 635 vessels of 526,024 tons entered the Port of Callao. The merchant navy of Peru numbered 147 vessels, of 49,860 tons, including 8 steamers, of 1,768 tons, at the end of 1877.

A system of railways, designed to develop the wealth of the country, has been in course of construction since the year 1852, mainly at the expense of the state. In 1878 there were open for traffic, or in course of construction, eleven lines belonging to the state, 1,281 English miles in total length, and costing 128,354,600 soles, or 25,670,9201.: eight lines belonging to private persons, 496 miles in length, and costing 24,420,000 soles, or 4,884,6007.; and two lines, belonging in part to the state and in part to individuals, 253 miles, costing 27,200,000 soles, or 5,440,000l., being a total of twenty-two lines, 2,030 miles in length, and representing a cost of 179,974,600 soles, or 35,994,920l. In 1884 the total working length of the Peruvian railways was reported as 996 miles.

The construction of the lines of railway belonging to the State was undertaken solely for purposes of public utility, remunerative results not being calculated upon in a country so sparsely populated as Peru. Referring to the longest of the State lines, from Arequipa to Puno, near the summit of the Andes, the British Minister and Consul-General, in a report of the year 1878, says:-' 232 miles of difficult railway have been made, at an expense of about 6,000,000l., in order that three or four goods trains may run per week.' Of the railways belonging to private individuals, only the double line from Lima to Callao, eight miles, from Lima to Chorrillos, nine miles in length, the property of an English company, is reported to be a commercial success.

Peru has numerous silver mines. The most important are situated mainly in the Cerro de Pasco. Their produce amounted to 1,395,936 ounces in 1874; to 1,357,432 ounces in 1875; to 1,358,792 ounces in 1876, and to 1,427,592 ounces in 1877. The length of telegraph lines in 1878 was 1,382 miles.

Diplomatic Representatives.

1. OF PERU IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Secretary.-Agustin Espinosa.
Consul.-Alejandro B. Robertson.

2. OF GREAT BRITAIN IN PERU.

Minister and Consul-General.-Colonel Charles Edward Mansfield. Appointed Dec. 24, 1884.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The money, weights, and measures of Peru, and the British equivalents, are

U U

The French metric system of weights and measures was established by law in 1860, but has not yet come into general use.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Peru.

1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Demarcacion politica del Peru. Edicion oficial de la direccion de estadística. Fol. Lima, 1874.

Paz Soldan (Mariano Felipe), Diccionario Geográfico-Estadístico del Pera: Contiene ademas la Etimologia Aymara y Quechua de las principales pobla ciones, Lagos, Rios, Cerros, &c. 8. Lima, 1879.

Raimondi, Antonio. 'El Peru.' 3 vols. Published Lima, 1874.

Report by Sir Spenser St. John, British Minister, on the population, mining industry, and railways of Peru; in Reports from H.M.'s Secretaries of Embassy and Legation.' Part IV. 1878. 8. London, 1878.

Report by Mr. Consul Graham on the trade of Islay, dated Islay, January 15 1875; in Reports from H.M.'s Consuls.' Part III. 1875. 8. London, 1875 Reports by Mr. Consul Nugent on the trade of Arica; by Mr. Consul March on the trade of Callao; and by Mr. Consul Graham on the trade and commerce of Islay, dated Feb. 1876; in 'Reports from H.M.'s Consuls' Part VI. 1876. 8. London, 1876.

Reports by Mr. Consul March on the trade of Callao, and by Mr. ActingConsul Robilliard on the trade of Islay, dated January-May 1877; in 'Reports from H.M.'s Consuls.' Part V. 1877. 8. London, 1877.

Report by Mr. Acting-Consul Robilliard on the trade of Mollendo (Islay), dated February 7, 1879; in 'Reports from H.M.'s Consuls.' Part II, 1879. 8. London, 1879.

Report by Acting Cousul Wilson on the trade and commerce of Callao for 1883-84, in Reports of H.M.'s Consuls.' Part VII. London, 1885.

Report on the trade and commerce of Peru, in 'Reports of the Consuls of the United States,' No. 46, 1884. Washington, 1884.

Trade of Peru with Great Britain; in

Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions for the year 1885.' Imp. 4. London, 1886.

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Albertini (L. E.), Pérou en 1878. Paris, 1878.

Bates (H. W.), Central and South America. London, 1882.

Cherot (A.), Le Pérou Productions, Guano, Commerce, Finances, &c. & Paris, 1876.

Duffield (A.), Peru in the Guano Age. 8. London, 1877.

Fuentes (Manuel A.), Lima, or Sketches of the Capital of Peru: Historical, Statistical, Administrative, Commercial, and Moral. 8. London, 1866.

Grandidier (E.), Voyage dans l'Amérique du Sud, Pérou et Bolivie. 8. Paris,

1863.

Hill (S. S.), Travels in Peru and Mexico. 2 vols. 8. London, 1860. Hutchinson (T. J.), Two Years in Peru. 2 vols. 8. London, 1874. Markham (Clements R.), Travels in Peru and India, while superintending the collection of Chinchona plants and seeds in South America, and their Introduction into India. 8. London, 1862.

Markham (C. R.), Cuzco and Lima. London, 1858.

Markham (C. R.), The War between Peru and Chili, 1879-81. London, 1883.

Markham (C. R.), Peru. 1881.

Menendez (D. Baldomero), Manuel de geografia y estadistica del Perú. 12. Paris, 1862.

Paz Soldan (Mariano Felipe), Historia del Peru Independente. 3 vols. Squier (E. G.), Peru: Incidents of travels and exploration in the Land of the Incas. 8. London, 1877.

Temple (Edmond), Travels in various parts of Peru. 2 vols. London, 1830. The Railways of Peru in 1873. 8. London, 1874.

Tschudi (Joh. Jakob von), Reisen durch Südamerika. 5 vols. 8. Leipzig, 1866-68.

Ursel (Comte C. d'), Sud-Amérique: Séjours et voyages au Brésil, en Bolivie, et au Pérou. 12. Paris, 1879.

Wappaeus (Joh. Eduard), Die Republic Peru; in Stein's Handbuch de Geographie und Statistik.' Part III. 8. Leipzig, 1864.

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

!SALVADOR.

(REPÚBLICA DEL SALVADOR.)

Constitution and Government.

THE republic of Salvador, an independent state since 1853, when it dissolved its federative union with Honduras and Nicaragua, is governed nominally under a constitution proclaimed in March 1864, and modified in February 1880, December 1883, and March 1886. The constitution vests the legislative power in a National Assembly of Deputies, and in a House of Representatives in the proportion of 1 member to 15,000 inhabitants. The election is by suffrage of all citizens of the republic. The Representatives are chosen for one year. The executive is in the hands of a President, whose tenure of office is limited to four years.

President of the Republic.-General Francisco Menendez, previsionally appointed June 19, 1885.

The regular election of the President has in recent years beet constantly superseded by 'pronunciamientos' and military nominations.

The administrative affairs of the republic are carried on, under the President, by a ministry of four members, having charge of the departments of the Interior, War and Finance, Foreign Affairs ar Public Instruction.

The army numbers 1,200 men, with 25,000 militia.

Revenue, Population, and Trade.

The revenue for 1883 was returned at 4,061,320 dollars, and expenditure 4,001,954 dollars; in 1884, the former was 4,067,91 dollars and the latter 4,057,146 dollars.

The revenue is derived largely from customs and excise. The largest item of expense is the army, 552,606 dollars in 1884; while 138,354 dollars is set down for public instruction, and 387,44) dollars for Government.

Salvador has no foreign debt, and had in 1871 but a smal public debt, amounting to 705,800 dollars, or 141,1601., represented chiefly by 'libranzas,' or treasury bills. The debt was largely in creased during the years 1872 and 1873, when the republic raise at various periods troops to invade Honduras. The internal cesolidated debt at the end of 1884 was returned at 1,575,292 dollars, There exists besides a floating debt of at least 3,046,197 dollars.

The area of the republic is estimated at 7,225 English square miles divided into 14 departments. The population, according to an official return of 1882, was 613,273-290,870 males and 322,40S