the stone and then washing it from a 6 per cent average to from 80 to 98 per cent barrilla. At present, it is the only grade of Bolivian copper exported, and is shipped exclusively to France, where it is said to command a higher price than bar copper. So far as known, those of Corocoro are the only mines in the world yielding barrilla.
Hitherto, it has been necessary to transport copper by pack animals either to the Chilean port of Arica or to the lowest point of navigation on the Desaguadero, a distance of 35 miles, where it is loaded on the river steamers and carried to Desaguadero, and from thence by the lake steamers to Puno, Peru, from whence it is shipped by rail to the Peruvian port of Mollendo. The cost of transportation by these routes has thus far proved a serious drawback to the exportation of copper.
In view of the transportation facilities now being provided for this district, the amount of copper annually exported from Bolivia will be greatly increased within the next eighteen months. Even under present conditions, it is expected that the production for 1892 will be greatly in excess of any previous year. The Antofagasta Railway, now completed to Oruro, will shortly be extended to Corocoro and thence to La Paz, thus affording direct railway transportation to the coast. In addition to this, the Peruvian Corporation owning and operating the southern railway system of Peru and the Lake Titicaca and Desaguadero River steamers are preparing to place their line in direct connection with Corocoro and otherwise increase their facilities for competing with the Antofagasta Railway for the increasing traffic of this district. To this end, they sent out from Glasgow on the 1st of June of this year a fine steamer of 260 tons burden, which will soon be afloat on Lake Titicaca, and are now having a large dredge built in Europe and a smaller one at their railway shops in Arequipa, Peru, to be used in dredging the Desaguadero River, so as to extend navigation as far south as Concordia. From this point, a
