South America: its missionary problems

Front matter

J.r

^r

SOUTH AME tk^

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

Preface ix

I The South American Continent 1

Preface

TTntil very recently, South America has been a practically unknown continent to the vast majority of the people, even of educated and reading people, in North America and in Europe.

In the average school, even of a high class, little has been taught and less has been learned about this great southern section of the Western Hemisphere, notwithstanding the fact that it is most interesting in itself and has a most interesting history.

Through commercial travelers, members of the consular corps, and higher representatives of governments, the occasional literary tourist, and especially through missionaries, at last attention has been attracted and considerable information has been imparted concerning this continent.

The attempt of the French companies, and even their failure, to cut a canal from the -waters of the Atlantic to the waters of the Pacific called attention to the Isthmus of Panama, but the construction of the canal by the United States government has turned the gaze of the Whole world, not only toward the Isthmian Canal Zone, but also, toward the whole continent of South America.

More and more the world must think of South America. The nations must take South America into their calculations. Business men, manufacturers, importers and exporters, producers and consumers, must and will give more thought to this continent. The man of science

X Preface

and the general student will seek familiarity with it. The tourist, looking for new scenes, will voyage to and journey through this southern continent for its long and lofty mountain ranges, its immense rivers, its almost boundless plains, and its growing cities and varied countries. Most of all, the Christian world should become profoundly interested in South America.

Some years of residence in that land and a number of tours around and through the continent have given the writer a deep interest in its countries and their people, and a strong sympathy in their progress. One outcome of his experience is this book, which has been written in view of a special purpose on the part of those who have invited its production. The style of the work has been determined by this particular plan. It seeks to give information, both comprehensive and detailed and also suggestive, as to the different countries and their inhabitants. !A.t the same time it reveals religious conditions and discusses the work and possibilities of Protestant missions in that land.

It is hoped that the book may excite interest on the part of the readers and others in the uplift and advancement of the people of South America.

Thomas B. Neely.

New York City, June 15, 1909.

Naturally in this material age we see the chief evidence of progress in commercial expansion. In Brazil we see that in ten years her foreign commerce has grown from $235,000,000 to $494,000,000; in this same period she has spent millions upon millions in improving her rivers and harbors, in building railways, in making her municipalities, especially the capital, Eio de Janeiro, cities of notable attractiveness. Argentina's foreign trade has grown in the last ten years from $193,000,000 to $583,000,000 — an astonishing growth for a nation of only six millions of people. That republie is gridironed with a splendid railway system, Buenos Aires, the capital, possessing a population of 1,200,000. Chile's foreign commerce has grown in the same period from $100,000,- 000 to $210,000,000, and we find her extending her railway systems and preparing herself for a most important position among the nations of South America. The foreign trade of Peru has grown from $25,000,000 to $50,000,000 in the last decade, and this republie is experiencing a new life that augurs well for the future. Similar facts might be mentioned with regard to Uruguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Colombia. If the situation is not quite so favorable in Venezuela and Paraguay, it is only a question of time when they will show a like record.

— John Barrett

It is undeniable that Argentina can give lodgment to 100,000,000 people and can furnish nourishment at a remarkably cheap rate, for as many more, when her whole area is utilized.

— Albert Hale

The immigration statistics of South America for 1908 show sixty-seven per cent, as large a number of foreigners coming to South America as passed through all our Atlantic ports.

— Homer C. Stunts

SOMETIMES South America is spoken of as Location flBd a country. It is not a country but a con- Boundaries

tinent made up of many countries. It lies rather to the southeast than directly south of the United States. This may easily be observed by glancing at a map showing the Western Hemisphere. Santiago in Chile is actually farther east than New York City. South America has on its east side the Atlantic Ocean, into which it juts far out toward Africa. To the north are the Atlantic and its extension known as the Caribbean Sea. Northwestward and westward are Central America and the wide Pacific. To the south, where the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans meet, its southern point projects toward the Antarctic Ocean. South America extends from about 13 degrees north of the equator to 56 degrees south latitude, a total of about 69 degrees, and hence the greater part of South America is south of the equator.

Peculiar The configuration of South America is peculiar. *** It is shaped like a leg of mutton or like an irregular triangle standing on its apex, its greatest breadth from east to west is 3,500 miles, and its greatest length from north to south is about 4,600 miles.

Vast Size The vastness of this southern continent is very impressive and, when the facts and figtires are given, to most persons they are quite surprising. The size of the continent, as compared with North America, shows that there is little difference. North America contains 8,559,000' square miles, while South America has 7,598,000. This shows some difference in figures but when it is remembered that North America has a very considerable frigid region, while South America has very little, it will be concluded that for produstive purposes. South America is practically as large as North America. Less than one per cent, of South America is insular.

' Statistics as far as possible are based upon figures in publications of the International Bureau of American Republics. Where these are not available, other standard authorities are used.

We get a more definite idea of the immense Comparative Area Panama size of this continent when we glance at the ^* *"*~ dimensions of the countries covering the continent and, particularly, when we select special countries and compare them with others with which we are more familiar. Let us take them as nearly as possible in order of size, and begin with the httle Republic of Panama, which many laughed at on the ground that it was too small to be an independent republic. But a httle study shows that Panama is larger than two Switzerlands, and hardly anybody thinks of Switzerland as too small to be a republic and have a government of its own. Switzerland has 15,976 square miles, while the Republic of Panama has 33,000 square miles. So Panama is larger than four states the size of New Jersey or Massachusetts, and exceeds Ireland by 1,400 square miles.

Uruguay with its 72,210 square miles is a Uruguay and little larger than Scotland, Ireland, and Wales ^^^S^y together, and it is over 3,000 square miles larger than the six New England states with Delaware added^ Paraguay, away up in the interior, has 98,000 square miles, or nearly ten thousand more than are in England, Scotland, and Wales joined together.

Panama'

33.00

360.341

EcuadoT,, IIS.OOOi l.400/,000 I95<po0

.British Guiana \ 90,2 77

.jpTenchGuiana 30.500 32.908

Chile

3 076210

50,00\0;

STATISTICALMAP

First figure for each country §ives area in square miles Second figure, population Third ■ Indians

Ecua^r Ecuador has 116,000 square miles which

ChUe makes it larger than two states the size of

CosTEE Fabm, Brazil

Dbting Coffee, Beazil bring it to the size of British Columbia, with its 310,191 square miles.

Venezuela, with an area of 364,000 square Venezuela, miles is a country great in extent. Colombia, 3°^^'*' estimated to have 444,980 square miles, with a Peru coast-line of about 1,300 miles, is in two senses next to Venezuela, in proximity and in extent. It is larger than France, Spain, and Portugal. BoUvia is credited with an area of 605,400 square miles, and is larger by 15,000 square miles than Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick. Peru is large enough for a great empire, having 695,733 square miles.

Argentina has a territory embracing 1,135,840 Argentina square miles, being larger than the United States east of the Mississippi River, or as large as the Turkish empire in Europe and Asia. It is nearly as large as twenty-five Pennsylvanias or twenty-four New Yorks. We will get an idea as to its length, if we take a line as long as Argentina, and, starting at the southern tip of Florida, run it northward. It will run through Florida, Georgia, South CaroUna, North Carolina, and all the states to the north, and then through Canada, and away up into northern Labrador.

Coming to Brazil, we have a country so large Braza that some may be surprised and, perhaps be ready to question the statements. Nevertheless they are facts. Brazil contains 3,292,991 square miles. That is to say, Brazil, a single country in South America is larger than the entire United States from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. In other words, Brazil is larger than the whole United States leaving out Alaska and the insular possessions. Not including Alaska, the United States contains 3,025,500 square miles. From North to South Brazil measures 2,600 miles, and from east to west at its widest part it measures 2,500 miles, and its coast-line on the Atlantic extends 3,700 miles.

Possible The average population in Belgium in 1900 was 589 to the square mile. If Brazil was populated in the same proportion as Belgium is per square mile, Brazil would have a population of 1,939,571,699. That is to say, Brazil, a single country in South America, could hold and support the entire population of the world, and hundreds of millions more, the estimate of the earth's population at the beginning of the twentieth century being 1,600,000,000.

South America is a great continent with Mountain everything on a grand scale. For example ^°S®* its mountains are great. The Andean range, near the west coast is about 4,400 miles long. In the southern part, there is a single range. From northern Argentina and through the central part there are two ranges, or rather, a double range, while in the extreme north it forks into three branches. The Andes are the highest mountains of the Western Hemisphere, many peaks being over 20,000 feet above the level of the sea.

The highest mountain is Aconcagua, in Argen- Special tina, close to the Chilean line. It is roughly pgj^tujg. estimated as nearly 23,000 feet above the sea-level, and there is now no dispute that it is the highest mountain in the Andes, and the loftiest in the entire Western Hemisphere. Many of these peaks are volcanoes. Some are extinct, or supposedly so, some are quiescent but suspicious, while some are active all the time. Lower ranges of mountains are found on the eastern side of the continent, especially along the eastern coast of Brazil.

South America is a continent with great and Plains fertile plains. The greatest are those between the And^ on the west and the mountains in eastern Brazil and the Atlantic coast, and they extend almost the entire length of the continent. In the north, they are called llanos, which is Spanish for plains. Then come the selvas of the Amazon and the campos of Brazil, the word campos being Portuguese for plains. In southern Brazil there is the Matto Grosso, which means "great woods." Farther south in western Paraguay, the southern border of eastern Bohvia, and northeastern Argentina, is the region of the Gran Chaco, which name means "great himt."

Plata g^j2i farther south are the pampas of Argentina and Uruguay, or, as they are sometimes called, the plains or pampas of the Plata. They are somewhat like the prairies of the middle parts of the United States. Generally speaking they are destitute of timber. The soil is a fine alluvium, full of the right chemical elements and admirably adapted to agriculture, wherever the rainfall is sufficient. In the north there are rich grasses but farther south are the dry plains with their stunted and poor plant life. Rivera— South America is a continent of great rivers, the greatest in the Western Hemisphere. Nearly all the great rivers are on the eastern side and flow from the Andean region to the Atlantic. The Orinoco in the north is 1,450 miles long. Adding its tributaries it has a very long stretch of navigable waters.

The Rio de la Plata, or the Silver River, as La Plata it is called, nins in a southerly or southeasterly direction. The name La Plata is now limited to the wide waterway, beginning where the Parana and the Uruguay meet and flow into it on their way to the sea, but the real La Plata is a river system, made up of a number of large rivers like the Uruguay, the Parana, the Paraguay, the Bermejo, and the Pilcomayo, and other rivers whose waters touch Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina. This system drains a great area and the Rio de la Plata discharges more water into the sea than the Mississippi. Sea vessels can go up 1,200 or 1,300 miles above Buenos Aires, and smaller vessels can go into the interior 2,360 miles.

The greatest of all American rivers is the Amazon Amazon, El Rio de las Amazonas, the River of the Amazons, so named it is beheved because Orellana in 1541 told that along its shores he had seen Amazonas, or women warriors. The remarkable length of this great river will be suggested by the fact that a United States gunboat steamed up from its mouth nearly 2,400 miles, to the city of Iquitos, in eastern Peru. Smaller steamers can go up the headwaters within 325 miles of Lima, which is on the other side of the Andes. It has 27,000 miles of navigable waters, or, including all the affluents, some calculate about double that number of miles. Though not the longest river in the world, the basin of the Amazon is the largest, and the quantity of water it conveys is the greatest. It drains one million square miles more than the Mississippi, and its maximum discharge is two and a half times the maximum discharge of the Mississippi. The Amazon, Orinoco, and La Plata systems drain an area of 3,686,400 square miles. Climate The vastness of South America is only equaled by its variety. With such mountains, such plains, and such rivers there must be a varied topography. With three fourths of the continent l5dng between the tropics and the other fourth in the temperate zone, there must be great variety of climate. There are the tropical, semitropical, temperate, and a little of the frigid at the southern tip of the continent and on the summits of the mountains. Climates, however, are not determined by latitude alone, but also by elevation, by winds, and by ocean currents. Thus along the CordUleras are tracts of table-land where a temperate climate is enjoyed. The city of Quito, almost directly under the equator, but with an elevation of about two miles above sea-level, has a delightfully temperate climate.

So there may be various climates, from Effect of tropical to temperate, and even to frigid, on ^1^ °° . the same line of latitude, and within a short distance of each other. On the coast of Ecuador, at Guayaquil, one will find extreme tropical heat, but from this he can journey up to Quito where he will find a temperate climate, and thence he can go higher in the mountains and find ice and snow. So the cold current and the cool winds that come up from the Antarctic regions greatly modify the climate along the west coast of Chile. The topography of South America naturally throws the largest and longest rivers on the east side, and the winds that blow westward charged with moisture from the Atlantic strike the eastern side of the Andes and condense into snow and rain from which these mighty streams are fed.

Natural The economic possibilities of South America

Products gg^jjjjQ^ jjg overestimated. The gigp,ntic river systems, the great area of land surface, the varieties of climate, all impress us so as to raise the greatest expectations as to the productiveness of the soil, while the mountains, the plains, and even the river beds suggest that beneath the surface may be many hidden treasures of incalculable value.

Mineral One naturally thinks first of mineral resources.

esources rpj^gy gjj.jg^ everywhere. Let us take a glance at them. Gold is found in every country in South America. It is found in Panama. The Guianas, the supposed region of the Eldorado sought by the early discoverers, are still rich in gold. Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina have gold, and even down in Tierra del Fuego gold is found. Silver is found in abundance. The silver mines of Potosi, Bolivia, have been worked for centm-ies. They are said to have produced over one billion five hundred miUion dollars' worth of silver, and yet they are far from being exhausted. Rich as Bolivia is in gold and silver, she is still richer in tin, and the value of the tin exported jf Emeralds ECUAjf "-.Stock r

Pearls

^PearlsAsphait

AMA-

\Cottonv IGpJd ■"

.. NEZUELA

•.....-a' ' TimK.

Bananas .

coal'-; — - Tobacco

PERU&e>-.Co^>, BRAZIL sugar

IRubbeV-;.. Cocoa.

""■ Coffee"'': A Manganese i c-K,^* ■'■ T Diamonds^

CHILE :stocK

Bieara

Hemp /fiiaBe

_ Grapes Cereals i Cattle WheyatI Sheep^ iSiheeSj

Sheep Cu^

•Stock,

RUGUAY iRGENTiNA

NATURAL RESOURCES is much greater than her exports of gold and silver combined. Copper of the finest quality is found in great quantities in many of the countries, as are iron, lead, bismuth, antimony, and other metals.

Gems Diamonds are found in BrazU. So are topazes and other precious stones. Emeralds may still be found in Colombia, and pearls are taken from the northern waters.

Nitrates Even out of the waste places comes wealth. The desert on the west coast of South America, which was regarded as worthless, has been found to contain that which is more valuable than gold and silver. Though a desert, it produces that which will make the desert blossom as a rose. Here is found an immeasurable supply of nitrates which are used as fertilizers and for other purposes. The export duties alone have brought the government of Chile, in twenty-four years, the immense sum of $280,000,000 gold.

Coal Coal is being found in many sections, Petroleum , , ,.,. . , ,,

AsDhalt ^ large quantities are mmed on the

coast of Chile. Petroleum has been discovered on the coast of Peru, in various parts of Argentina, and is beheved to exist in other places. Asphalt is obtained in vast quantities on the island [of Trinidad and in Venezuela.

The mineral resources of South America are Forest immense and may not be overestimated, but the continent is far richer in the actual and possible productions of the forest and the field. South America has magnificent forests with varieties of wood that are merely useful and others that are beautiful. Among them are mahogany, rosewood, and logwood. There is the hard quebracho, which may be used for railroad ties, or it may be ground up and from it may be obtained a product for tanning purposes. The vast forests are practically inexhaustible and to these forests the world must look for its supplies.

The exuberance of vegetable productions Vegetables is astonishing. There are fruits large and small, and of almost every kind. It is the home country of the batata or sweet potato. Europe is indebted to Peru for potatoes and various plant products.

The medicinal plants are invaluable. A Medicinal South American root furnishes ipecacuanha, ^^p^^ From the cinchona tree conies quinin. From the coca comes cocain. In 1907, Brazil exported cocoa to the amount of $10,000,000. Ecuador exported $6,311,655, and other coimtries added largely to these sums. Brazil's production of cocoa in 1907 was over 60,000,000 pounds.

Rubber In various sections of South America , there are innxmierable rubber trees. In Peru, in 1907, $5,000,000 worth of rubber was produced; Bolivia exported $5,300,000 worth, and BrazU exported rubber to the value of $70,000,000. Coffee Coffee was introduced into South America, and has become one of the most important productions of the continent.. It is raised in several countries, but the great coffee producer is Brazil, which is said to raise three fourths of the coffee used in the whole world. It is reported that in 1907 Brazil exported $142,000,000 worth of coffee.

Soil Rice, sugar, arrowroot, agave, and other plants which have been brought to South America in the last four centuries also flourish. Wheat, maize, oats, and flax are now among the greatest products.

Wheat, The yield of wheat in Argentina, the greatest

]VE3.iz6 Linseed ^^^^^ country in the southern continent, was,

in 1907-8, 4,920,000 tons. Of the total wheat

crop, in 1906-7, 1,300,000 tons were retained for

home consumption and seed, so that 2,900,000

Products and Cereals

Sheep-baising in the Andes tons were available for export. In 1905, Argentina exported 2,868,281 tons of wheat, and in 1906, 2,247,998 tons. Argentina is now a source of wheat supply to which the whole world turns. In 1905, Argentina exported 2,222,289 tons of maize, 654,792 tons of hnseed, and 144,760 metric tons of flour.

On the plains there are grasses, including Grasses alfalfa, with which to feed the cattle, and ^""^ Stock Argentina is sending meat to the peoples in other lands. On the pampas are millions of cattle, great flocks of sheep, and vast herds of horses. In 1907, Argentina had 25,844,800 cattle, 77,580,500 sheep, 5,462,170 horses, 545,870 mules and donkeys, and 2,845,700 swine.

This is only one country. Across the great Cattle river is Uruguay, also a heavy producer, and j^n"*'*^ both these countries are exporting large quantities of jerked beef and chilled meats of various kinds. Naturally there is also a large exportation of hides and wool. It is to be noted that Liebig's beef extracts are prepared at Fray Bentos on the Uruguay River.

This is an inadequate presentation of the Grounds of economic possibilities of South America. With ^^^^^^^ this extensive list of actual and possible pro- ment ducts the economic possibilities cannot be overestimated. In the possible commercial development the continent itself will play an important part. Its very formation will aid in its exploitation.

Accessible By the principal rivers the interior is accessible Anuizon ^^^^ ^V *o the Andes, the backbone of the continent. Large vessels can ascend the Amazon and its tributaries. By the Amazon the shipments can be made to and from eastern Peru and northern Bolivia. With a little more extension of the railroads, it may indeed be foimd speedier and more advantageous to send the products of the region west of the high Andes, which are intended for Europe or even the eastern part of the United States, over the mountain passes and along the Amazon than to ship them by way of the Pacific Ocean. The railroads are coming down from Bolivia and will come down from Peru, and so the trade on the Amazon wiU connect with railroads in Peru and BoUvia.

AProyi- jt certainly seems providential that, in that

Waterway tropical interior with its rank vegetation, where for an indefinite period it will be exceedingly difficult if not impossible to construct railroads, nature has constructed a great waterway that extends almost the entire width of the continent, and branches off in all directions, and so penetrates a great part of the tropical section of the continent.

Again, the great interior is accessible by Regions the extensive La Plata system, so that by its u^^ttj^T-. waters Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Plata and eastern Bolivia may be reached. The Amazon and La Plata systems come very close together. A steamer may go from Rio de Janeiro northward, enter the Amazon, and go up a tributary coming from the south. Another steamer may sail from Rio and, going south, enter the Rio de la Plata and steaming on to the north, reach a point within a comparatively few miles of the vessel that sailed up the waters of the Amazon.

Some day a canal will be cut connecting the Connection La Plata system with the Amazon and it will systems be possible for a vessel to make the circuit either way. Several years ago when there was a tremendous flood in the La Plata region, small islands with tigers, snakes, and other wild animals were floated down to Buenos Aires and Montevideo and the Atlantic, and an explanation given was that the high waters of the Amazon system had overflowed into the La Plata system. Certainly they come close together and the divide between them is very slight.

Railways The great plains, on the other hand, lend p°! * themselves to railway construction, which has already greatly aided in the development of certain sections of South America. That they reach a great extent of country may be seen from the map showing the railroads in Argentina and the other countries touching the La Plata. Already Argentina is literally gridironed. Over the pampas they run in all directions though not everywhere, and in such long straight lines as can hardly be foimd in any other land.

Mountain Greater difficulties are found in the mountain ai way j.ggjQjjg q^ ^j^g ^gg^ coast. The mountains

make the difficulties, but the distance between the mountains and the sea is short. So there are lines running from ports on the Pacific back up into the interior. There are few longitudinal lines, because of the character of the region between the mountains and the ocean, as the mountain ridges run down to the coast. There are, however, some valleys opening up to railroad construction as, for example, those from Valparaiso to Santiago and from Santiago down to southern Chile which have been occupied by a railroad. In spite of the difficulties on the west coast, much has been accomphshed. Railroads have been run from the coast up into the Andean highlands.

The oldest road was constructed by an Two American, WUham Wheelwright. He ran it l^^^^^ from the coast of Chile back to Copiapo. Another American, Henry Meiggs, built the wonderful railroad from Callao and Lima up to Oroya in the high Andes.

The road from MoUendo on the Peruvian Roads coast runs up to Bohvia. So from Antof agasta, '°*° *. * the old Bolivian port, but now held by Chile, a road runs up to Oruro in Bolivia. A new railroad running from Guayaquil on the coast of Ecuador up to Quito, the capital, has been completed. This will mean that what has been a journey of days will be reduced to fifteen hours.

Ecuador is projecting another railroad from Projected another point on the Pacific coast to Quito, and still another to run over to the headwaters of the Amazon near the Brazilian boundary.

i ode Janeiro 'Sao Paulo

'PortoAleftre

Montevideo Buenos Aires

RAILWAY MAP

Principal Lines, i-m-i Total Mileage, 30.000

This will tap the rubber-producing district. Peru has contracted for a railroad from Oroya to the UcayaU River, a tributary of the Amazon, and for another line from the Ucayali down to the coast. Chile is constructing a new line from Arica on the coast up to La Paz in Bolivia, and the Santiago line is being extended to the south.

The great project of tunneling the Andes is Transbeing rapidly prosecuted. The transandine x^n'^el railroad on the west side has been completed up to Juncal. The road on the east side is well up to the Uspallata Pass, and soon it will be possible to go from Buenos Aires to Santiago and Valparaiso, or from these Chilean cities to Buenos Aires without change of cars. The whole is to be completed by June, 1910, and it will be the first transcontinental railroad from the Atlantic waters to the Pacific coast in South America.

The intercontinental or Pan-American Eail- Interroad is much more than a mere dream. The pj(,jgj.t possibility of riding from the extreme of North America to the extreme of South America is rapidly changing from a possibility into a probability.

Argentina has built a road to the very Present border of Bohvia and the latter Republic has sections" just finished a road from La Paz to Oruro and will extend it farther south to meet the road from Argentina. That will enable one to go from La Paz to Buenos Aires and on to Bahia Blanca and farther after a while. , It will also enable the traveler to connect with the transandine railway and go over to Valparaiso or down into southern ChUe.

Other Fonns The countries are being well suppHed with ° ""icTtion ^^^^ ^"^^ telegraph lines, and are getting their own steamship lineg.

A Great ^1 these things make for the development ment '-'^ *^® great resources of South America. The Assured facilities for transportation will bring forth and distribute the various products. The economic possibilities are so vast that they cannot be calculated. It means a wonderful development and a great commerce, and South America is open to the whole world.

Panama The greatest work for communication in South America is the construction of the shipcanal across the Isthmus of Panama. It is the greatest piece of engineering of the kind the world has ever known. The construction of the great Suez Canal was child's play as compared with this gigantic undertaking. It means the cutting down or through a mountain