and shipped in large quantities from Peruvian ports; coal and guano are also worked.

The nitrate fields of Chile are estimated to cover 89, 177 hectares, and to contain 2,316 millions of metric quintals of the nitrate of commerce. The total produce is stated to have been 550,000 tons in 1884; 420,000 in 1885; 443,000 in 1886; 702,000 in 1887; 773,000 in 1888; 903,000 in 1889; 1,009,000 in 1890; and 877,000 in 1891; 804, 842 in 1892; 938,871 in 1893; 1,082,285 in 1894; 1,220,000 in 1895; 1,092,000 in 1896; 1,064,075 in 1897; 1,254,000 in 1898; 1,360,000 tons in 1899; 1,490,000 tons in 1900; 1,267,800 tons in 1901; 1,419,400 tons in 1902; 1,614,400 tons in 1903. The number of work people employed in extracting nitrate in 1902 was 24,538. In 1902 the output of iodine amounted to 130 metric tons. A large amount of British capital has been employed in developing the nitrate industry of Chile.

In the Department of Valparaiso in 1895 there were 417 industrial establishments which in that year consumed raw material valued at 20,057,573 pesos, and employed 12,616 operatives with 162 steam-engines of altogether 1,766 horse-power. The most important of these establishments were sugar refineries, gas-works, breweries, mineral and aerated water factories, carriage and cart works, saw-mills, and works for machine-making. In 1902 a factory for cotton fabrics with 60 looms was begun at Chiguyanti with English capital, and other industrial enterprises are being undertaken.

Commerce.

The following table shows the value of the imports and exports (including re-exports) of Chile (special trade, including bullion and specie) for five years in pesos of 18d.:

Imports. 106,260,358 128,538,142 139,300,766 132,428,204 142,470,569 Exports. 163,106,133 161,642,568 171,844,976 185,879,965 194,222,902

For 1902 the import duties (in gold) amounted to 25,178,352 pesos, and the export duties to 45,240,707 pesos; warehouse receipts, 220,547 pesos; Arica (Bolivia) and Sama (Peru), 150,545 pesos; total, 70,790,151 pesos. Receipts in currency amounted to 717,672 pesos.

The following table shows the chief imports and exports for 1902 :

Of the exports in 1902, mineral products reached the value of 152,697,525 pesos; animal products, 7,250,693 pesos; and vegetable products, 9,582, 233 pesos.

Of the nitrate exported about 39 per cent. goes to Germany, 17.3 to France, 133 to the United States, 112 to Great Britain, and 10.9 per cent. to Belgium.

For the years stated the foreign trade of Chile (pesos of 18d.) was distributed as follows:

The foreign trade is distributed over about 15 ports, the principal of which are Iquique, Valparaiso, Pisagua, Coquimbo, Coronal, and Antofagasta.

The commercial intercourse between Chile and the United Kingdom is shown in the subjoined tabular statement in each of the last five years, according to the Board of Trade returns :

The chief imports into, and domestic exports from the United Kingdom from and to Chile in two years, were as follows (but of the metal imports here given large quantities are really from Bolivia):

:1

The value of the imports into and exports from the United States from and to Chile in the last 3 years ending June 30, according to United States statistics, was as follows, in U.S. dollars:

The imports from Chile in 1903 comprised nitrate of soda, 8,497,147 dollars; the exports included ironwork, 937,891 dollars; mineral oil, 625,879 dollars; cotton goods, 613,835 dollars.

Shipping and Navigation.

The commercial navy of Chile consisted, on January 1, 1902, of 145 vessels of 72,717 tons, of which 59 of 35,099 tons were steamers. The shipping entered and cleared at the ports of Chile in 1902 was as follows:—

Of the tonnage entered in the foreign trade, 1,918,883 tons, and of the tonnage cleared 1,681,373 tons was British.

The Chilian South American Steamboat Company,' with 12 steamers for general navigation and 7 for river navigation, receives an annual subvention. The vessels of the company ply between South American Pacific ports, but do not now go to San Francisco in California. Other steamship lines on the coast are those of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company (British), the Kosmos Steamship Company (German), and two American companies.

Communications.

In 1902 there were in Chile 13,800 miles of public road, 7,380 miles of vicinal road, and 705 miles of navigable river.

Chile was the first State in South America in the construction of railways. In 1903 the total length of lines open for traffic was 2,800 English miles, of which 1,320 belonged to the State. The greater part of the State railway line has a gauge of 66 inches; the short State lines have narrower gauges, some of them being only 39 37 inches. The gauges of the private railways range from 30 inches to 57 inches. The cost of the State lines to the end of 1900 was 86,463,437 pesos. The revenue of the railways in 1902 was 38,080,633 pesos, and the expenses 28,300,968 pesos. The number of pas

sengers in the year was 8,538,155 ; and 5,773,216 metric tons of goods were carried. There is a prospect of the trans-Andine railway being completed by a line from Los Andes to the summit of the Cordillera, to join one of the same gauge (1 mètre) from Mendoza. In 1902 there were 133 miles of tramway in the principal towns.

The post-office in 1902 despatched 58,805,378 packets in the inland service, and 9,993,784 in the international. There were 869 post-offices. Postal revenue, 1902, 2,253,895 pesos: expenditure 2,190,807 pesos.

The length of telegraph lines at the end of 1902 was 11,060 miles, of which 9,276 miles belonged to the State. In 1902 there were 608 telegraph offices; 4,879,719 messages were sent. The Chile Telephone Company has 9,260 miles of telephone line and 5,409 subscribers; other telephone lines in Chile have a length of 185 miles.

Money and Credit.

Chile has no State bank. The number of joint-stock banks of issue was 15 in December 1901. Their joint paid-up capital amounted to 42,120,000 pesos, and reserve fund to 4,428,563 pesos. The largest of the banks is the Bank of Chile with a paid-up capital of 20,000,000 pesos. The banks are required to guarantee their note issue by depositing gold, Government notes, or securities in the Treasury. There are also 10 land banks which issue scrip payable to bearer and bearing interest, and lend money secured as a first charge on landed property and repayable at fixed periods. The Santiago savings bank on December 31, 1901, had 49,158 accounts open and held deposits amounting to 3,625,258 pesos.

The conversion law of February 11, 1895, provided that the redemption of the paper currency should be effected from June 1 of that year, at the rate of 18d. per peso, and authorised the issue of the coinage described below. The nominal value of the coinage of Chile during the last six years is given as follows:

In July 1898, owing to financial troubles, the President was authorised to issue paper money to the amount of 50,000,000 pesos, to lend to the banks 20,000,000 pesos at 4 per cent., and in order to withdraw the paper issue at the end of four years, to raise a loan of 4,000,0007. In December, 1904, the Chamber of Deputies passed a bill for the issue of 30,000,000 pesos in paper money, of which 15,000,000 are to be issued immediately and 1,000,000 every month for the next fifteen months. The conversion has been postponed until 1910.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

According to the Act of 1895, the coinage of Chile is as follows:--Gold coins are 20, 10, 5 peso pieces, called respectively Condor, Doblon, and Escudo. The 10-peso gold piece weighs 599103 grammes 916 fine and therefore contains 5.49178 grammes of fine gold. Silver coins are the peso, weighing 20 grammes, 835 fine, and the fifth, tenth, and twentieth of a peso. Bronze coins (95 of copper to 5 of nickel) are the centavo and 2-, 2-, and -centavo pieces. The monetary unit is the twentieth part of a condor or the (uncoined) gold peso. The English sovereign has a legal value of 13 pesos.

The metric system has been legally established in Chile since 1865, but the old Spanish weights and measures are still in use to some extent.

Diplomatic and Consular Representatives.

1. OF CHILE IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Envoy and Minister.-Don Domingo Gana.

First Secretary.-Don Victor Eastman.
Attaché.-Don Santiago Monk.

Naval Attaché.-Lieut. L. Rosas.

Consul in London.-A. Torres.

There are Consular representatives at Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, Dublin, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Leith, Liverpool (C.G.), Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, Southampton and many other places.

2. OF GREAT BRITAIN IN CHILE.

Envoy and Minister.-A. S. Raikes, appointed January 1, 1905.

There are Consular representatives at Coquimbo (C.), Valparaiso (C.G.), Antofagasta (V.C.), Arica (V.C.), Caldera, Coronel, Iquique (C.), Lota, Pisagua (V.C.), Punta Arenas (V.C.), Talcahuano (V.C.), Tocopilla, Tomé, Traiguen.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Chile. 1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Annuario Estadístico. Valparaiso.

Memorias presentandas al Congreso nacional por los Ministros de Estado en los departamentos de Relaciones Exteriores, Hacienda, &c Santiago, 1901.

Estadística comercial de la República de Chile. Annual. Valparaiso, 1901.

Synopsis estadística y geográfica de Chile. Santiago, Annual.

Reports on the trade, manufactures, agriculture of Chile in Foreign Office Reports, annual series. London.

Statement on behalf of Chile in reply to the Argentine Report, submitted to the British Arbitration Tribunal. 6 vols. London, 1901-02.

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Anrique (N.) and Silva (L. I.), Ensayo de una Bibliografia Historica i Geografica de Chile. Santiago, 1902.

Asta-Buruaga Francisco S.), Diccionario geográfico de la República de Chile. S. New York, 1867.

Ball (John), Notes of a Naturalist in South America. London, 1887.

Barros Arana (Diego), La guerre du Pacifique. Paris, 1882; and Historia general de Chile.

Child (Theodore), The Spanish American Republics. London, 1891.

Conway (Sir M.), Aconcagua and Tierra del Fuego. London, 1902.
FitzGerald (E. A.), The Highest Andes, London, 1899.

Fountain (P.), The Great Mountains and Forests of South America. London, 1902.
Gay (Claudio), Historia general de Chile.

Guerre entre le Chili, le Pérou et Bolivie en 1879.

Paris, 1879.

Hancock (A. M.), A History of Chili. 8. Chicago, 1893.

Hervey (M. H.), Dark Days in Chile. London, 1892.

Holdich (Sir T. H.), The Countries of the King's Award. London, 1904.

Keane (A. H.), Central and South America. [In Stanford's Compendium.] London,

1901.

Kunz (Hugo), Chile und die Deutschen Colonien. Leipzig, 1891.

Mackenna (Vicuña), Obras históricas sobre Chile.

Maldonado (R.), Estudios geograficos é hidrograficos sobre Chile. Santiago, 1897.
Markham (C. R.), The War between Chile and Peru, 1879-81. London, 1883.

Nordenskjöld (O.), Skildringar från den Swenska Expeditionen till Magellans-länderna, 1895-97. Stockholm, 1899.

Rosales (R. P. Diego de), Historia general del Reyno de Chile. 3 vols. 8. Valparaiso

1877-78.

Smith (W. A.), Temperate Chile, London, 1900.