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tion, anrl
acepbalous.
INTERNATIONAL AMERICAN CONFERENCE.
enterprise, as far as the pra<.:tical part is concerned, may be considerecl
'l'his bad its natural rcRult, dissatisfactiou emmeu among tbe assistants, severa! of
tbe American engineers baving m·esented complaint at this con. ulate for non-fultill–
llltliJt of dctail.:; of coutr::tets malle with tbcm iu tbe United States anu for other rea–
sons, nlaDJ' of these cornplamts Leing, no doubt, well-fouuded.
Tbe work progressed very slowly and uusa.tisfactorilJ', and to-day, more than teu
montbs afrer the initiation of tLe surveys, tbey are not yet completell, altboug-b tbe
nt.ire distance is but :30 1eagues. It will be remem!Jered, moreover, that this is a
clirnate of perpetual suwmer, wbere inclerueucy of weatber is not a factor in the cou–
·ideratiou of obstaclcs. 1t will seem almo~:>t incredible to our railroad pcople in tue
United States that, witb ample fuutls aud competent engineers, ten months have not
sufficed to complete the survey of less than 100 miles, one-half of that distance being
a leve! plain.
In the mean time tbe company in France has dispatched many ship-loads of rails,
locon10tives, etc., cxpecting that at least the tin:Jt section would Le entirely finished
antl traiusrnnuing before now. The fault has been want ofaümini~:>trati\·ejndgment,
and the working staff as first organized has now gone to pieces, aud within tllc past
few days a large party of engineers (all Frencb) have arrived tu replace vauaucies.
Mr. Bnrr, as far as is uow known, still remains as chief engiueer, altuongll ~;ome of
bis former snbordinates bave made complaints agaiust bim to beadquarter;; at París.
It is true that in t.bis country tbe administration is mnch more difficnlt tllan at borne,
bnt ín the roatter of the :\lerida road there hn-s been such an ahseuue of good jutlgrnent
and administrativa tact asto serve a~ a warning to irupresarios in tbe fnture.
Lake Maracaibo is fed by abont one hundred aud fifty riYers, each one exteuding
far inland, ruakiug tbe circumference of the lake an almost continuons swarnp, witb
occasional stretcbes of solid ground between the river systems. lt will therefore be
readily seen that a railway froru tbe Cordillera could not possibly arrive at the city
of Maracaibo except by an enormous expenditure of ruoney, far in excess of the rnost
cQstly works of a stmilar characrer in auy part of the world. A convenient port ou
one of the lake tribntaries must be selected as a terminus, from tbere ¡¡teamers
must connecL witb Maracaibo. Tbis naturally necessitates a system of lake aud river
navigation in connection witb the railway, and, recogniziug this fact, the contractor
was ill-aclvised enough to have a clause placed in tlle conces ·ion giviug him tlle ex–
clusive rigbt of lake navigation. The absnrrlity of this is evident when it is con-
idered that hundreds of sailiug vessels have for generatioos tra\ersed the lake and
rivers, giving employment to thonsands of people, anrl that there already exist vari–
ous steam-suip lines, some under American charter. Appreciating t.llis, the cornpany
forrned by de l\1orny haste-rred to explaiu tha.t tbis exclusive privilege only
to team uavigation, which is also a ridiculons assumptiou, as for years American
cornpauies organized in New York and doing business unuer Venezuelan license have
been actively engaged in the navigation of the lakeand its rivers, aud their exclusiun
woulu now bring abont an international question.
It is much to be regretted that our own countrymen have not taken part in railway
matters iu tbis Repu blic, ancl the general opinion, as freely expressed in tbis section,
is to the etfect that if the Merida road, with all it.s natural drawbacks and unpopu–
larity, had beco from the first under American control the resnlt to-day would be
very differeut.
1\s tbe case now stanc!s, tinte and money bave been wasted, the prestige of tbe con–
strnctol·s has received asevere blow, aml the ouly thing tangible to ~:>how for so many
montb of work and uch a 1arge outlay is au iucomplete survey aud a few hnndrecl
yards of tmck Iaitl at tbe village of Santa Barbara. It is expectecl tbat the recent
arn val of the new stafffrom France may briug order out of chaos; bnt a very difterent
system ruust be adopted, and enm shonlr1 the survey and con truction now proceed
satisfactorily, yet it is don btfnl whether Congress, in i ts sessioñ of February next, -wi ll
approve the conces ion, even uuder modified and more rea onabl<~ conuitions. (Re–
port by E. H. Plumacher. U. S. Consul, Maracaibo, December 6, 1889.)
ECUADOR.
This country may be said to consist of three parts- the western slope, tbe Qnito
Va!ley, antl tbe region, so forruecl by tbe two Cordilleras of the Ancles tra.vers·
ing tbe eouutry from north tosouth. The Quito Valley having a general elevation
vf 7,000 fect is separateu iuto three parts by lateral ridges, called sierras; the first,
ou !>he soutb, contains the cities of Loja anu Cuenca antl is about 50 miles iu lengtb;
tbe mitldle k1~in about 130 miles in len<rtb i · rathcr barren and ha the citie of
Riobamba, Aml.Jato, aml Ta unga; tho thi~d ~nü ruost uortherl;", in which is situated
the city of Quito, the capital, is rich and fertile.