rapids on the two rivers. The flooding of the market with Malay and Ceylon rubber seriously affected Bolivian production and export, but these have recently increased. With the forming of plantations in this section, a work which an American company has undertaken, the rubber should be better able to compete with that of Ceylon, as its superior quality is known. The fact that the Bolivian export tax is lower than that of Brazil gives the former an advantage. In the Department of Cochabamba are great quantities of _maniçoba_ trees producing rubber known as _ceará_, of good quality but not the best. It might be cultivated in hilly regions and on banks of streams of the Yungas and other valleys in the Department of La Paz. The lot of the _seringueiros_, the rubber workers, is bad; it may and must be bettered if the industry is to continue. The establishing of plantations will be a great improvement, but some amenities of life might be made available even in the ordinary forest. INVESTMENTS From the description of Bolivia, it is apparent that mining presents the most attractive field for the large capitalist. Mining experts with less money may be tempted to investigate gold prospects or to search for rich veins of other metals, later organizing companies for their development or selling at a handsome profit their acquired claims, as some persons have done hitherto. However sales are not always easily made. Petroleum is numbered among the mining possibilities, although the most favorably located fields may be preempted already, chiefly by American Companies, the Braden and the Richmond Levering, in spite of the difficulties of access and development. The petroleum procured would find its market in Bolivia and in the neighboring countries of the East and West Coasts where it is greatly needed. The oil with a paraffin base is of high grade running to 45.8 Baumé. Stock raising of various kinds would be profitable in certain localities, and some forms of agriculture and small industries. Railway construction, the development of electric power, the installation of sanitary and other public works will afford many openings for engineers. CHAPTER XXVIII CHILE: AREA, HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, POPULATION, ETC. The country of Chile, the seventh in size of the South American Republics, is frequently ranked with the two largest, Brazil and Argentina, owing to the enterprise of its inhabitants: a natural result of their location in the temperate zone, from 17° 57′ to 55° 59′ South Latitude; increased perhaps by their long struggle with the Araucanian Indians. AREA, POPULATION, BOUNDARY =Area.= Chile, with an extent of 290,000 square miles, is ribbon like in shape, having a length of nearly 2700 miles, a trifle more than Argentina; in a direct line 2140 miles, with a width of 70-248, miles averaging about 85. =Population.= The country with approximately 4,000,000 inhabitants is fifth in this respect.