to 60 deg. F., making it one of the best climatic
regions in South America. The rainfall is moderate and the seasons are
not strongly marked, the difference being indicated by rainfall rather
than by temperature. The rainy season is from November to February.
Cochabamba is essentially an agricultural department, although its
mineral resources are good and include deposits of gold, silver and
copper. Its temperate climate favours the production of wheat, Indian
corn, barley and potatoes, and most of the fruits and vegetables of the
temperate zone. Coca, cacao, tobacco and most of the fruits and
vegetables of the tropics are also produced. Its forest products include
rubber and cinchona. Lack of transportation facilities, however, have
been an insuperable obstacle to the development of any industry beyond
local needs except those of cinchona and rubber. Sheep and cattle thrive
in this region, and an experiment with silkworms gave highly successful
results. The population is chiefly of the Indian and _mestizo_ types,
education is in a backward state, and there are no manufactures other
than those of the domestic stage, the natives making many articles of
wearing apparel and daily use in their own homes. Rough highways and
mule-paths are the only means of communication, but a projected railway
from Cochabamba (city) to Oruro, 132 m., promises to bring this isolated
region into touch with the commercial world. The department is divided
into nine provinces, but there is no effective local government outside
the municipalities. The capital is Cochabamba; other important towns are
Punata, Tarata, Totora, Mizque and Sacaba.

COCHABAMBA, a city of Bolivia, capital of the department of the same
name and of the province of Cercado, situated on the Rocha, a small
tributary of the Guapay river, in lat. 17 deg. 27' S. and long. 65 deg.
46' W. Pop. (1900) 21,886, mostly Indians and _mestizos_. The city
stands in a broad valley of the Bolivian plateau, 8400 ft. above
sea-level, overshadowed by the snow-clad heights of Tunari and Larati,
291 m. north-north-west of Sucre and 132 m. east-north-east of Oruro,
with both of which places it is connected by rough mountain roads. A
subsidized stage-coach line runs to Oruro. A contract for a railway
between the two cities was made in 1906, connecting with the Antofagasta
and Arica lines. The climate is mild and temperate, and the surrounding
country fertile and cultivated. Cochabamba is ofte