A railway, sixty miles in length, connects the cotton-growing centres with the chief seaport of the department, Paita, where all the vessels engaged in trade on the west coast of South America make regular calls. The harbor is visited several times a week by passenger and cargo steamers of English, North American, German, and South American lines and by sailing ships flying the flags of all nations. Here the cotton bales are transferred from the freight car to the ship’s hold to be carried to foreign ports; and Paita presents an animated scene while the cargo is being loaded. The railway extends from the port northward till it reaches the Chira valley, which it ascends as far as Sullana, an important cotton market, after which it turns southward, following the valley of the Piura to the state capital and, five miles beyond, to Catacaos, in the heart of the cotton region. Along its route are many thriving towns and villages, which owe their existence chiefly to the cotton industry, though this is by no means the only important product of the department. Panamá hats—which are not made in Panamá at all, and which, in Ecuador and Peru, where this industry flourishes, are called _jipi-japa_ (pronounced “hippy-happa”), from the name of the fibre used in their manufacture—are made in Catacaos. The finest hats are woven with great care, the fibre being kept under water during the process and never exposed to the sun until the hat is finished. On all the passenger steamers that call at Paita, venders of these hats may be seen bargaining with travellers, and the sales amount to large sums, as the most ordinary Panamá hat, when purchased from the weavers themselves, costs at least a pound sterling. The imitation of this article has been so successfully manufactured that the trade is greatly injured thereby, though it is said, on the other hand, that the genuine _jipi-japa_ is increasing in value, owing to its scarcity on the market. Like other coast departments, Piura extends inland to the valleys of the Amazon headwaters, and includes in its territory not only the cotton fields of the coast, but the mines of the sierra, the pastures of the uplands, and the coffee, tobacco, and sugar-cane of the Montaña. The province of Ayabaca has gold mines, forests in which the valuable Peruvian bark is found, pastures for cattle and sheep, and plantations of coffee and sugar-cane. In the district of Frias, every town is a rose garden, and bee-keeping is a flourishing industry. Huancabamba is a rich field for cattle-raising, and is especially noted for the superior wool of its sheep, the fleece of which is black, long, and of silky texture. In its lower valleys are cultivated tobacco, coffee, and sugar-cane. In the provinces of Paita and Piura are vast saline fields, beds of saltpetre, pitch deposits, and important petroleum wells.