From mining and banking to farming and general commerce, the scope is sufficiently broad. In no other kind of enterprise, however, has intelligence and skill been so freely lavished as upon that of the railways. The British have not the sole monopoly of these great undertakings, it is true. There are the local Government lines, numerous French railways, and others of various nationalities that are ably served and administered. Yet almost every one of the most important lines throughout the entire Southern continent owes its existence to British capital, and is managed by British officials. The record is a remarkable one, and the full tale of its magnitude has yet to be written. It is true that in many branches of industry the ratio of British increase has not been in proportion with that of other countries--a falling off that may be inevitable, but that in any case is regrettable. Fortunately, this is not the case with the railways. Indeed, when the progress that is now being made is taken into consideration, it becomes evident that the results that must ensue within the space of a few years cannot well fail to affect the entire world. Of the feats of this kind that are at the present moment being achieved some of the most important are concerned with Bolivia, Paraguay, and the hinterland of Brazil. The opening up of many of the hitherto inaccessible regions of these countries means more than the enclosing within the fold of civilisation vast areas of rubber, timber, and general agriculture. It promises, in fact, some revelations in the way of minerals and mines that, although the possibility of a disappointment must never be lost sight of, are likely enough to prove of an astonishing nature. The tales of gold in the untravelled lands where the Indian still holds sway do undoubtedly not emanate merely from the imagination of the few travellers who have penetrated within certain of the districts. The reluctance of the aboriginal to disclose the spots from which they derive the precious metal is an acknowledged phase of his character. But it is not solely upon the unwilling testimony of the Indians that such hopes are based. It is well enough known that when the expulsion of the Jesuits occurred, and when many of the remoter districts in which they had established precarious missions returned to a state of savagery and seclusion, numbers of the mines that were even then known were abandoned when in the full flush of their yield--a yield that the primitive native implements could never make complete.