The opportunities for higher education are relatively superior to those for primary, though this by law is free and compulsory. But as no schools have been provided in many Districts, not half of the children have been able to attend, and the percentage of illiteracy is large. At the moment, however, 1921, plans have been inaugurated to remedy this state of affairs, and teachers have sailed from the United States to aid in the further development of educational facilities. There are four universities in Peru, that of San Marcos in Lima, the oldest on this hemisphere; others of lesser scope and merit in Arequipa, Cuzco, and Trujillo. Lima has also a School of Mines; one of Engineering, Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, and Architectural; one of Arts and Trades; a Normal School, a Naval School at Callao, and a Military Academy at Chorillos, a suburb of Lima. There are secondary schools called _colegios_ in the principal cities, and private schools of high grade. PRESS, RELIGION, ETC. =Press.= Aside from official publications, the Press includes newspapers and periodicals of considerable variety. Lima has several good newspapers which have a wide circulation, owing to the fact that they are carried free of charge inside the Republic, as are literary and scientific journals also. Some of the smaller towns have their own newspapers. =Religion.= The religion of the country is Roman Catholic, but other forms of worship are permitted. Provision is made for the civil marriage of foreigners. =Postal and Telegraph Service.= Foreign letters and parcels for most of the montaña region enter by way of the Amazon River and Iquitos. Telegraph service is much employed locally, as the cost is only 40 centavos, 20 cents, for ten words to any part of the country. The address and signature are counted, as in all of the Republics. Additional words are at the same rate. There are about 8000 miles of wire. The United States has cable connection with Peru by three lines. Lima has wireless connection with Iquitos, a distance of 650 miles in a straight line, over a mountain wall more than three miles high. Other wireless stations are at Callao, Pisco, Chala, Ilo, Leticia, El Canto, Orellana. There are many telephone systems with nearly 200,000 miles of wire. =Money= is of gold, silver, and copper. The gold Peruvian _libra_ is the equivalent of the English sovereign, and in general they circulate interchangeably. The _libra_ is divided into ten _soles_; a _sol_, about 50 cents (48.6), into 100 _centavos_. The =Metric System=, legal for weights and measures, must be employed in the Custom Houses and in other Government offices. Old Spanish standards are also used in Lima and quite generally in the country: the _vara_, 33¹⁄₃ inches, the _libra_, a trifle over a pound, _arroba_, _25 libras_, _quintal_, _100 libras_, _fanegada_, a little over 7 acres, etc. CHAPTER XX PERU: PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS