Besides the regular boats there were a large number of tramp steamers and sailers and spe cially chartered boats plying between Europe and the river Plata, for the most part carrying grain and livestock products from Buenos Aires, Rosario, San Lorenzo (near Rosario) and Bahia Blanca, and bringing back coal and miscellaneous cargo.
Between. the United States and the river Plata six steamship lines, all British, offered freight service and• one or two of .these also carried passengers. These were the Lamport and Holt (the only important passenger-carry ing line), Barber, Norton, Houston,, Prince and American-Rio Plata lines. They maintained a fortnightly or monthly service from New York, stopping at Brazilian ports in one or both directions. The United States and Brasil Line, flying the American flag, was established primarily to carry the products of the United States Steel Products Company to Brazil and bring back manganese for • steel manufacture, but it also offered general cargo service. The Booth Line had sailings from New York to Para, Manaos and Iquitos, and also on occa sion to ports on the north coast of Brazil, and the Brazilian line, the Lloyd Brazileiro, aced between New York and all the important Brazilian ports, The west coast enjoyed adequate ocean transportation facilities, both to oversea coun tries and between the various coast ports, The regular European lines included the Kosmos and Roland lines, flying the German flag, the three English companies, the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, Gulf Line and Lamport and Holt, and the Johnson Line, maintaining service to Denmark and Norway. To the United States ships of three lines sailed regu larly from west coast ports — the Merchants, West Coast and New York and South Amer ica lines, each with sailings varying from one to two months apart. These lines made the trip around the Horn until the opening of the canal, but now go by way of Panama. Be tween Japan and the Pacific Coast the large ships of one line, the Toyo Kisen Kaisha, pro vided regular and adequate service. In the coasting trade between the ports of Chile, Peru and Ecuador three companies maintained reg ular schedules, the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, the Compania Sud Americana de Vapores (Chilean) and the Compania Peruana de Vapores y Dique del Callao (Peruvian Steamship and Drydock Company of Callao).
Ships of the Kosmos Line and others sailing to transoceanic ports also made stops at the portant ports of the west coast and carried more or less coasting traffic. Besides these regular sailings there were a large number of tramp steamers and sailing vessels taking ni trate from Chile to Europe and the United States or bringing coal from Australia and Wales.
The flags of more than half-a-dozen coun tries were carried on the ships of the regular lines that served the ports of the north coast. Spain was represented by the Compagnia Transatlantica de Barcelona, Italy by La 'Ve loce, France by the Compagnie Generale Trins atlantique, Holland by the Royal Dutch West India Mail, Germany by the Hamburg Ainer ican, England by the Harrison and Leyland lines, the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company and the United Fruit Company (British ves sels sailing from United States ports), and the United States by the '
In Venezuela, La Guaira and Puerto Ca bello were the chief ports of call, the cargo to and from Maracaibo, the important coffee dis trict, being transshipped at Curacao, and a good part of the trade of Ciudad Bolivar and the Orinoco being handled through Trinidad. In Colombia 'either Cartagena or Puerto Colom bia, the port for Barranquilla, was visited by the liners serving the country, and in addition the port of Santa Marta became prominent be cause of heavy shipments of bananas. Barran quilla, the most important commercial city of the Colombian Republic, is shut off from the ocean by a great bar at the mouth of the Mag dalena, which permits the entry of boats of lighter draft only. Various projects have been discussed and contracts have even been let for dredging and maintaining a channel through this bar, but this has not been accomplished so far and cargo must come and go through Puerto Colombia.