thousand miles of navigable waters both above and below
the falls.

Nearly all the railways are plantation roads, extending from the various
ports to regions of production a few miles inland. The most important
railway development is that in the vicinity of Rio, where short local
roads to the suburban settlements and the coffee-plantations converge at
the harbor. About fourteen thousand miles of railway are completed and
under actual construction. A considerable part of the mileage is owned
and operated by the state, and it has become the policy of the latter to
control its roads and to encourage immigration. One result of this
policy is the increasing number of German and Italian colonies, that
establish settlements in every district penetrated by a new road.

In 1900 the total foreign trade aggregated upward of two hundred and
seventy-five million dollars. The imports consist of cotton and woollen
manufactures, structural steel and machinery, preserved fish and meats,
and coal-oil. Great Britain, Germany, the United States, and France have
nearly all the trade. The United States sells to Brazil textiles and
coal-oil to the amount of over eleven million dollars yearly, and buys
of the country coffee and rubber to the amount of six times as much.

_Rio de Janeiro_, commonly called "Rio," is the capital and commercial
centre. Its harbor is one of the best in South America. Formerly all the
coffee was shipped from this port, but the greater part now goes from
_Santos_. _Porto Alegre_, the port of the German colonies, has also a
growing export trade.

_Bahia_, _Pernambuco_ (or _Recife_), _Maceio_, _Ceara_ are the markets
for cotton, sugar, and tobacco, much of which is shipped to other
Brazilian ports for home consumption. _Para_ and _Ceara_ monopolize
nearly all the rubber trade. The position of _Manaos_, at the confluence
of several rivers, makes it one of the most important markets of the
Amazon basin, and most of the crude rubber is first collected there for
shipment. _Cuyaba_ is the commercial centre of the mining region; its
outlet is the Paraguay River, and Buenos Aires profits by its trade.

=Argentina and the Plate River Countries.=--These states are situated in a
latitude corresponding to that of the United States. The entire area
from the coast to the slopes of the Andes is a vast prairie-region. As a
result of position, climate, and surface the agricultural industries are
the same as in the United States--