capital. The second-class ports are Tumbez, Talara, Pimentel, Chimbote, Samanco, Casma, Huacho, Cerro-Azul, Tambo de Mora, Lomas and Chala,’ on the coast, Puno on Lake Titicaca, and Leticia on the Amazon near the western mouth of the Javary. Callao (q.v.) is the chief port of the republic and monopolizes the greater part of its foreign trade. Its harbour one of the best on the west coast of South America, has been greatly improved by the port works begun under the administration of President Balta, Paita and Chimbote have good natural harbours, but the others, for the most part, are open roadsteads or unsheltered bays. Mollendo is a shipping port for Bolivian exports sent over the railway from Puno. There were 12 foreign steamship lines trading at Peruvian ports in 1908, some of them making regular trips up and down the coast at frequent intervals and carrying much of its coastwise traffic. Foreign sailing vessels since 1886 have not been permitted to engage in this traffic, but permission is given to steamships on application and under certain conditions. The imports were valued in 1907 at 55,147,870 soles (10 soles＝£1 stg.) and the exports at 57,477,320 soles—the former showing a considerable increase and the latter a small decrease in comparison with 1906. The exports consist of cotton, sugar, cocaine, hides and skins, rubber and other forest products, wool, guano and mineral products. The most important export is sugar, the products of the mines ranking second. The largest share in Peru’s foreign trade is taken by Great Britain, Chile ranking second and the United States third.
Products.—Although her mining industries have been, the longest and most widely known, the principal source of Peru's wealth is agriculture. This seems incompatible with the arid character of the country and the peculiar conditions of its civilization, but irrigation has been successfully employed in the fertile valleys of the coast.
Agriculture.—Sugar-cane is cultivated in most of the coast valleys, and with exceptional success in those of the Canete, Rimac, Chancay, Huaura, Supe, Santa, Chicama, Pacasmayo and’ Chiclayo. Some of the large estates are owned and worked by British subjects. The industry was nearly ruined by the Chileans in 1880, but its recovery soon followed the termination of the war and the output has been steadily increasing. At the outbreak of the war the production was about 80,000 tons; in 1905 the production of sugar and molasses amounted to 161,851 metric tons, of which 134,344 were exported. In 1906 the total production reached 169,418 metric tons, Next in importance is cotton, which is grown along the greater part of the Peruvian coast, but chiefly in the departments of Piura, Lima and Ica. Four kinds are produced: rough cotton or “vegetable wool,” sea island, brown or Mitafifi, and smooth or American. Production is steadily increasing, the export having been 8000 metric tons in 1900, 17,386 in 1905 and 20,000 in 1906. Local consumption required about 2500 tons in 1905. Rice is an important crop in the inundated lands of Lambayeque and Libertad. It is a universal article of food in Peru, and the output is consumed in the country. Maize is another important food product which is generally cultivated along the coast and in the lower valleys of the sierra. In some places two or three crops a year are obtained. It is the staple food everywhere, and little is exported. It is largely used in the manufacture of chicha, a fermented drink popular among the lower classes. Tobacco is grown in the department of Piura, and in the montaña departments of Loreto, Amazonas and Cajamarca. The local consumption is large and the export small. Another montaña product is coffee, whose successful development is prevented by difficult transport. A superior quality of bean is produced in the eastern valleys of the Andes, especially in the Chanchamayo valley. Cacao is another montaña product, although like coffee it is cultivated in the warm valleys of the sierra, but the export is small. With cheap transport to the coast the production of coffee and cacao must largely increase. Coca (Erythroxylon coca) is a product peculiar to the eastern Andean slopes of Bolivia and Peru, where it has long been cultivated for its leaves These are sun-dried, packed in bales, and distributed throughout the sierra region, where coca is used by the natives as a stimulant. The Cholos are never without it, and with it are able to perform incredible tasks with little food. The common manner of using it is to masticate the dried leaves with a little lime. Cocaine is also derived from coca leaves, and a considerable quantity of the drug is exported. The coca shrub is most successfully cultivated at an elevation of 5000 to 6000 ft. Fruits in great variety are grown everywhere in Peru, but beyond local market demands their commercial production is limited to grapes and olives Grapes are produced in many of the irrigated valleys of the coast, such as Chincha, Lunahuana, Ica, Vitor, Majes, Andaray, Moquegua and Locumba, and the fruit is manufactured into wines and brandies. Excellent clarets and white wines are produced, and the industry is steadily increasing Olives were introduced early in colonial times and are cultivated in several coast valleys, especially in the provinces of Camaná (Arequipa) and Moquegua The fruit is commonly used for the manufacture of oil, which is consumed in the country, and only a small part is exported. Were large markets available, other fruits such as oranges, lemons, limes and bananas would undoubtedly be extensively cultivated In the sierra region, wheat, barley, oats, quinua (Chenopodium quinoa), alfalfa, Indian corn, oca (Oxalis tuberosa) and potatoes are the principal products. Wheat is widely grown but the output is not large. Barley and oats are grown for forage, but for this purpose alfalfa has become the staple, and without it the mountain pack-trains could not be maintained. Quinua is an indigenous plant. growing at elevations of 13,500 ft. and more; its grain is an important food among the upland natives. Potatoes are grown everywhere in the sierras, and with quinua are the only crops that can be raised for human food above 13,000 ft. Yuca (Manihot utilissima), known as cassava in the West Indies and mandioca in Brazil, is also widely cultivated for food and for the manufacture of starch.
There are good pastures in the sierras, and cattle have been successfully reared in some of the departments since the early years of Spanish occupation, chiefly in Ancachs, Cajamarca, Junin, Ayacucho, Puno, and some parts of Cuzco. The development alfalfa cultivation is extending the area of cattle-breeding somewhat and is improving the quality of the beefLivestock. produced. The cattle are commonly small and hardy, and, like the Mexican cattle, are able to bear unfavourable conditions. Sheep are reared over a somewhat wider range, exclusively for their wool, The “natives,” or descendants of the early importations, are small, long-legged animals, whose wool is scanty and poor. Since the end of the 19th century efforts have been made to improve the stock through the importation of merinos, with good results. Sheep ranges under the care of Scottish shepherds have also been established in the department of Junin, the stock being imported from southern Patagonia, England and Australia. Goats are raised in Piura and Lambayeque for their skins and fat, and swine-breeding for the production of lard has become important in some of the coast valleys immediately north of Lima. Horses are reared only to a limited extent, although there is a demand for them for military purposes. The government is seeking to promote the industry through the importation of breeding mares from Argentina. Mules are bred in Piura and Apurimac, and are highly esteemed for mountain travel. The chief breeding industry is that of the llama, alpaca and vicuña—animals of the Auchenia family domesticated by the Indians and bred, the first as a pack animal, and the other two for their wool, hides and meat. The llama was the only beast of burden known to the South American natives before the arrival of the Spaniards and is highly serviceable on the difficult trails of the Andes. The alpaca and vicuña are smaller and weaker and have never been used for this service, but their fine, glossy fleeces were used by the Indians in the manufacture of clothing and are still an important commercial asset of the elevated table-lands of Peru and Bolivia. The export of wool in 1905 exceeded 3,300,000 ℔. The rearing of these animals requires much patience and skill, in which no one has been able to match the Indian breeders of the Andean plateaus.
The natural products of Peru include rubber, cabinet woods in great variety, cinchona or Peruvian bark and other medicinal Products, various fibres, and guano, There are two kinds of rubber supplied by the Peruvian montaña forests: jebe (also written hebe) or seringa, and caucho—the former being collected from the Hevea guayanensis, or H. brasiliensis, and the latter from the Castilloa elastica and some other varieties. The Hevea product is obtained annually by tapping the trees and coagulating the sap over a smoky fire, but the caucho is procured by felling the tree and collecting the sap in a hollow in the ground where it is coagulated by stirring in a mixture of soa and the juice of a plant called vetilla. As the species from which Ceará rubber is obtained (Hancorina speciosa) is found in Bolivia, it is probable that this is also a source of the Peruvian caucho. The Hevea is found along the water-courses of the lowlands, which includes the large tributaries of the Marañon, while the caucho species flourish on higher ground, above 900 ft. elevation. Owing to the export tax on rubber (8 cents per kilogram on jebe and 5 cents on caucho) it is probable that the official statistics do not cover the total production, which was returned as 2539 metric tons in 1905, valued at £913,989. The export of cinchona, or Peruvian bark, is not important in itself, being only 64 tons, valued at £1406 in 1905. The best bark comes from the Carabaya district in south-eastern Peru, but it is found in many localities on the eastern slopes of the Andes. The Peruvian supply is practically exhausted through the destructive methods employed in collecting the bark, and the world now depends chiefly on Bolivia and Ecuador. The forests of eastern Peru are rich in fine cabinet woods, but their inaccessibility renders them of no great value. Among the best known of them are cedar, walnut, ironwood and caoba, a kind of mahogany. Many of the forest trees of the upper Amazon valley of Brazil are likewise found in Peru. The palm family is numerous and includes the species producing vegetable ivory (Phytelephas), straw for plaiting Panama hats (Carludovica palmata), and the peach palm (Guilielma speciosa).
From guano an immense revenue was derived during the third quarter of the 19th century and it is still one of the largest exports. the guano beds are found on the barren islands of the Pacific coast. They were developed commercially during the administration (1845–1851) of President Ramon Castilla, at the same time that the nitrate deposits of Tarapaca became a Guano.
