Internally the condition of Bolivia has in the main been quiet since the Chilean war, and the contest between clericalism and radicalism has lost much of its bitterness. General Camacho led an unsuccessful insurrection in 1890 and afterwards fled to Valparaiso. Three years later he planned another insurrection and the government had great difficulty in obtaining arms and money for operations against him. Chileans finally furnished rifles and a loan, and shortly afterwards a treaty was negotiated by which Bolivia abandoned its alliance with Peru and came under Chilean influence. Peru resented this and the following year her restrictions on Bolivian commerce nearly brought the two countries to blows. The crisis, however, passed, and Bolivia has returned to the policy of avoiding entangling alliances, while pressing Brazil, Chile, or Peru to give her outlets to the ocean. In 1896, Alonso, leader of the conservatives, and that energetic general and explorer, Jose Manuel Pando, chief of the liberals, contested the presidential election. In this contest the geographical jealousies which exist between northern and southern Bolivia played a considerable role. Alonso was successful and served as president during three years, but early in 1899 Pando began warlike operations and in April overthrew Alonso in a decisive battle. Under his vigorous administration the country has been quiet. The plain of the Madeira has been opened up to settlement, and the international position of the government is now vastly improved. ECUADOR CHAPTER I THE CARAS The irrigated valleys of Chile lie open to the ocean or are easily accessible over the low coast range. The sea-board of Peru is likewise defenceless, and though the Andean passes are high they are dry and practicable and offer a way of approach to the table-land behind. The want of rain from Valparaiso to Paita is explained by the Antarctic current whose waters cool the breezes so that the warmer land condenses no moisture. But at the northern boundary of Peru the coast bends abruptly to the east; the cold current follows its original north-east direction and lets the warm tropical waters wash the land. From the Gulf of Guayaquil to Panama the coast and mountainsides are covered with luxuriant vegetation and the ascent of the passes becomes well-nigh impracticable. Therefore the Andean plateau in Ecuador is accessible from the Pacific only on the south and the Colombian plateaux are virtually cut off from communication with the western ocean.