of virgin forest to draw upon. The Bolivian product is of
the best because of the high percentage of quinine sulphate which it
yields. The industry is destructive in method, and the area of cinchona
forests is steadily diminishing. Many other Bolivian plants are
commercially valuable, and organized industry and trade in them will
certainly be profitable.

The industrial activities of the Bolivian people are still of a very
primitive character. An act was passed in 1894 authorizing the
government to offer premiums and grant advantageous concessions for the
development of manufacturing industries, especially in sugar production,
but conditions have not been favourable and the results have been
disappointing. Spinning and weaving are carried on among the people as a
household occupation, and fabrics are made of an exceptionally
substantial character. It is not uncommon to see the natives busily
twirling their rude spindles as they follow their troops of pack animals
over rough mountain roads, and the yarn produced is woven into cloth in
their own houses on rough Spanish looms of colonial patterns. Not only
is coarse cloth for their own garments made in this manner from the
fleece of the llama, but cotton and woollen goods of a serviceable
character are manufactured, and still finer fabrics are woven from the
wool of the alpaca and vicuna, sometimes mixed with silk or lamb's wool.
The Indian women are expert weavers, and their handiwork often commands
high prices. In the Mojos and Chiquitos districts the natives were
taught by the Jesuit missionaries to weave an excellent cotton cloth,
and the industry still exists. Cashmere, baize, waterproof _ponchos_ of
fine wool and silk, and many other fabrics are made by the Indians of
the Andean departments. They are skilled in the use of dyes, and the
Indian women pride themselves on a large number of finely-woven,
brilliantly-coloured petticoats. Tanning and saddlery are carried on by
the natives with primitive methods, but with excellent results. They are
skilful in the preparation of lap robes and rugs from the skins of the
alpaca and vicuna. The home markets are supplied, by native industry,
with cigars and cigarettes, soap, candles, hats, gloves, starch, cheese
and pottery. Sugar is still made in the old way, and there is a small
production of wine and silk in certain districts. No country is better
supplied with water power, and electric lighting and electric power
plants hav