part of the Republic save Chayanta, in southwestern Bolivia, where a company is working on a small scale.[1]
LOCATION OF THE BOLIVIAN GOLD BELTS.
The gold-bearing regions of Bolivia are divided into two great belts, well defined and unique in their formation. The one best known has its origin in northwestern Bolivia, in the province of Muñecas, and extends southeast through the provinces of Larecaja, Yungas, Inquisivi, the department of Cochabamba, and thence enters Santa Cruz, the extreme eastern department of the Republic. The other has its origin in southwestern Bolivia, in the province of Lipez, and extends almost due east until it passes slightly to the south of Tupisa and Cinti, and thence bears steadily northeast until it joins the northern belt in Santa Cruz; and thence, united, they enter Brazil and constitute one of the richest districts of that Republic.
Within the vast triangle described by these converging lines lies the great silver belt of Bolivia, running parallel with the Cordillera Real, north-northeast and south-southeast.
The extreme north of Bolivia, east of the Cordillera Real, or main Andean range, is also reputed to be rich in gold; but, as this section of the country is occupied by the Chunchos, a brave and treacherous tribe who admit no white man among them and whose almost impenetrable forests make it a comparatively easy matter for them to hold the country against every effort of the whites to enter, nothing definite is known as to its mineral wealth.
The principal gold-bearing districts of Bolivia are, by common consent, those belonging to the northern belt. The reports of competent engineers, recently sent from London to examine this section of Bolivia, show that the vast alluvial deposits of Suchez and Yani, on the eastern slope of the Cordillera Real, are even
- ↑ Two European companies, however, will shortly commence work in Tipuani, and a third is now being organized in La Paz for the same purpose.
