After a further strenuous mountain journey, he sailed from the Chilean coast, and landed in Sydney with, it is said, a mixed flock of 276 llamas, alpacas, and vicuñas.

Mr. Hinchliff in referring to this episode in 1863 remarks: "These immensely valuable animals are now thriving in Australia and increasing so rapidly that they are already talked of as a very important element in the future wealth of our colonies."

But this prediction, it seems, was of too optimistic a nature. At all events I, for one-who in my youth exchanged the remote possibility of a diplomatic cocked hat for the privilege of chasing sheep in the back blocks of New Zealand-met with no llamas, or even tales of llamas in Australasia. But it need not be deduced from this fact alone that these animals do not exist somewhere in the Dominions!

Perhaps the end of a chapter devoted to these breezy callings of the open air would be as fitting a place as any other in which to refer briefly to the South American feats of such noted mountain-climbers as Conway, Whymper, and Fitzgerald, and to the work of explorers and frontierdelimitators such as Holditch, Fawcett, and Edwards.

There are lady travelers of a past generation, too, such as Lady Brassey, whose cruise in the Sunbeam was largely devoted to South America, and Lady Burton, who roughed it with her brilliant husband across the "backblocks" of Brazil.

But it is necessary to resist the temptation to launch out in these directions. There are of course, many other travelers and geographers of note, including the recently deceased Sir Clements Markham, to whom reference is made in another place. The names I have given are merely representative of the various bodies-a course that must necessarily be adopted if encyclopædic dimensions are to be avoided in this work.

In connection even with such weighty subjects as these, it is by no means out of place to make a passing refer

ence to sport. One of the most notable fields of British influence in South America has been-and is-connected with sport. The importance of this is not to be underrated; for the football and the golf-club, the lawn-tennis racquet and the racing craft, the polo ball and the coachhorn, and all the rest of such gear, have been vitally instrumental in evoking a real intimacy and mutual respect between the British and the South Americans. No more convincing evidence exists of the stage which has been arrived at in this respect, than the play of the Argentine polo teams in England, the tour of a Corinthian "Soccer" eleven in Brazil, and the visit of Lord Hawke's cricket team to Argentina.

CHAPTER XXV

ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE BRITISH IN THE NINETEENTH

CENTURY (III)

Part played by the British in communications and transport-The South American steamship service-The introduction of steam navigation into the Pacific-William Wheelwright's work-Arrival of the first steamers-Progress in the Pacific and in the Atlantic-North American competition—A Darien project—The founding of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company-Supremacy of British shipping established -Increase of British trade with Brazil-Costliness of the early ocean mails-British control-British railway enterprise in South America -Its value as a national advertisement-Work of the pioneers—Indians and fever-Labor difficulties-William Wheelwright and the railways of South America-Some details of a notable career-Industrial concessions and feats-The first South American railway—A Chilean enterprise-Wheelwright's scientific attainments-His degree of fame Railway enterprise in Paraguay-The development of the Argentine railways-A modest beginning-Effect on land valuesThe first railways of Uruguay-Of Venezuela-The first cables and tramways-Some modern feats of the South American railway enterprise Magnitude of the general industrial achievements.

U

NDOUBTEDLY some of the most monumental

work achieved by the British in South America has been in connection with communications and transport. Indeed the shipping, railway-and, in a lesser degree, the tramway-enterprise of the British in the Southern Continent has every right to be regarded with deep pride by the nation in general.

We may begin with the shipping industry, since that is primarily concerned with the coasts of the continent, and we may subsequently proceed to its inland heart by means of the railways!

It is somewhat curious that the west coast of South America should have had the advantage of a steamer connection with Europe for so many years before a similar

benefit was enjoyed by the far less remote east coast. One of the chief reasons for this undoubtedly lay in the political stability of Chile, and the confusion that prevailed at the time in the young river Plate States; although Brazil, it must be said, was entirely free from this state of affairs.

The full credit for the introduction of steam navigation into the Pacific must be given to Mr. William Wheelwright, a very notable North American steam pioneer, who is referred to at some length later. Wheelwright, having in 1833 obtained the necessary concessions from the Chilean and Peruvian governments, came to England to establish a company for the running of the steamers. He found the city of London in an unresponsive mood. For years his efforts to overcome its apathy in this particular direction were unsuccessful. At length he had the good fortune to meet Lord Abinger, who entered warmly into the project. In 1839 the company was formed, and two steamers, each of 750 tons and 180 horsepower, were built.

This tardy response, however, had set the whole enterprise in peril. There was no time to be lost if the first steamer were to arrive in a Chilean port within the period of time stipulated in the concession granted by the Chileans so many years before! The new enterprise was known as the Pacific Steam Navigating Company, and it was in 1840 that its first steamers, the Peru and the Chili, drove southwards on their way to the Pacific Ocean with not an hour to spare!

An arbitrary delay of fourteen days enforced by the Brazilian Government in the harbor of Rio de Janeiro put all hope of success out of the question, and ultimately the vessels arrived off the Chilean coast exactly thirteen days after the stipulated time-limit of years had expired! Fortunately the Chilean Government was keenly alive to the benefits promised by this service, and renewed for ten years those privileges which have ever

since been enjoyed by the Pacific Steam Navigation Com

pany.

Considering that the enterprise was in its infancy, these early privileges were liberal. The Chilean government granted an annual subsidy of £12,000 for the direct steam communication with England. At a later period the Pacific Steam Navigation Company in connection with the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company entered into a contract with the British Government for the fortnightly conveyance of mails between Panama and Valparaiso.

Shortly after 1850 the Pacific Steam Navigation Company had on the West Coast of South America the following vessels:

So much for the inauguration of the British steamer enterprise in the Pacific. In the Atlantic-owing to the disturbed political condition of the river Plate States that has already been referred to-the chief freight and passenger traffic was almost entirely confined to the Brazilian ports.

Towards the middle of the nineteenth century a serious competitive element entered into this commerce. The ten years between 1840 and 1850 were apparently somewhat critical ones for the British shipping trade with Brazil. During this period the value of the freights carried remained stationary at an annual figure of some three and a half millions sterling. A stagnation of this kind could entail nothing else but a serious lagging behind in the general progress, and actually nearly all the advance in tonnage during this decade was snapped up by the North