COLOMBIA.- In the north-coast countries of Colombia and Venezuela railroad building has made little progress, partly because of the mountainous character of the country and partly because of the fact that each country is but sparsely inhabited. In Colombia the main arteries of travel are still the rivers, particularly the Magdalena, and nearly all railways lead off from this river or from the seacoasts. The foreign traveler usually lands either at Carta gena (thence reaching the river by rail at Cala mar, 62 miles away), or at Puerto Colombia, going thence to Barranquilla, a rail distance of 17 miles. A river boat carries him to La Dorado, whe're the Dorado Extension Railway leads around a series of rapids to Puerto Bel tran, the river voyage being then continued to Girardot. The rest of the journey to Bogota, the capital, is by railways of two different gauges, a distance of 109 miles. From Bogota two short lines lead out north and southeast, besides the line running to the Magdalena River. The Antioquia Railway, nearly completed, con nects Medellin with the Magdalena, and a short line leads out from the river port of Puerto Wilches, to be eventually continued to Bucara manga. Isolated lines serving local needs in clude the Cucuta Railway (44 miles) in the east, the Santa Marta Railway (92 miles) in the north, and the Cauca Railway (103 miles) in the.west. A short line running from the Magdalena at Girardot to Espinal completes the list. The railway construction program of Colombia includes the completion of the lines from the Magdalena to Bucaramanga and to Medellin, the continuation of the Cauca Rail way to Popayan, the connecting of the Cucuta Railway with the Magdalena, the building of a line from Medellin to the Gulf of Darien, and the construction of a line from Girardot to Cali, thus giving Bogota access to the Pacific.
530 miles of railway in Venezuela are all of three and one-half feet gauge or less, and serve the regions along the coast. The chief line is the Great Railway of Venezuela, a German road of 111 miles running from Caracas to Valencia. It was a costly road to build, having 86 tunnels arid 212 bridges.
Both the terminal cities of this road are con nected with the coast, Valencia by an English owned railway of 34 miles running to Puerto Cabella and Caracas by the La Guaira and Caracas line, also English, which in its 23 miles passes over le bridges and through nine tunnels, and climbs 5,000 feet. The Bolivar Railway (109 miles) connects the interior city of Barquisimeto with the coast at Tucacas, and is important as a carrier of copper ore from the mines at Aroa, about 50 miles from Tucacas. This road is also English-owned as is the Cen tral Railway (46 miles) running southeast from Caracas. Most of the other railways, penetrating short distances into the interior from the coast and from lake Maracaibo, are financed by Venezuelan capital, three being government-owned. Several projects for new railways have been talked of, but extensive construction will have to await the development of the country.
GUIANA.—In British Guiana there are about 100 miles of railway, the chief line being that from Georgetown to New Amsterdam, 60 miles long. Dutch Guiana has a single road of about 109 miles.
Bnazn..— Brazil, a country whose great ex panses have as yet not even been fully ex plored, holds igeat promise for future railway construction. There are now some 16,000 miles of railroad in the country, and lines pro jected and under construction when the European War broke out would have added 8,000 or 10,000 miles more. Existing lines, with one notable exception, have naturally been laid where the country is most thickly settled, that is in the coastal regions and the immediate hinterland, and the great interior plains and forests are penetrated by only one line that has connections with the coast. Construction has been most in evidence in the more productive section, comprising the agricultural and mining states of the south. Almost one-half of the total mileage of the country is owned by the federalgovernment, although most of this is leased. The gauges of Brazilian railways range from two feet to five feet three inches, but about 90 per cent of the mileage is metre gauge.