Potosi

Potosi, capital of a department of the same name, and one of the most famous mining-towns of South America, stands in a dreary and barren district, nearly 50 miles SW. of Chuquisaca. It is built on the side of the Cerro de Potosi (15,381 feet), at an elevation of 13,000 feet above the sea, and is thus one of the loftiest inhabited places on the globe. The town has a circumference of some 4 miles; but fully one-half is composed of tottering and ruined buildings, uninhabited and desolate, and the whole place, with its squalor, dilapidation, and dirt, presents a sinister aspect. The public buildings include a handsome cathedral and a mint which employs 200 hands; and the reservoirs are also worthy of mention. The streets are steep and narrow, and there are no wagons or carriages, but only llamas and mules. The climate is very trying: all the four seasons may be experienced in one day, but usually it is bitterly cold, owing to the elevation and to the mountains all round, from which the snow scarcely ever melts. Yet is Potosi one of the principal commercial towns of Bolivia. English and French manufactures are imported; and, as the country in the vicinity produces little or nothing, all supplies have to be brought from a distance. The industry of the place is limited to silver-mining. The Cerro is still rich in this ore, although the production, owing to the exhaustion of the mines near the summit, and the frequent rush of water in those worked at a lower level, has greatly fallen off. Potosi was founded in 1545, and in 1611 had 160,000 inhabitants. Its population does not now exceed 12,000. —The department, a plateau country, rich in minerals and cattle, has an area of 54,300 sq. m. and a pop. (1892) of 360,400. It is second in pop. of the Bolivian departments.