312 SELLING LATIN AMERICA 
larly provided with modern methods for 
handling goods. The fact is that the burro, 
the llama, the camel, the elephant, the coolie 
and the Indian are yet the greatest common 
carriers, and it will be many, many years be 
fore the shrill whistle of the locomotive will 
supplant the jingling bells of the pack train, 
or the slow moving caravan, in the outer edges 
of terra firma. In Latin America to-day, in 
proportion to its size, there are comparatively 
few railways, and fully another century will 
elapse before it possesses half the amount of 
mileage that we have at present in the United 
States. This is primarily due to the scarcity 
of population and secondarily to the inaccessi 
bility of many of its interior towns, built in 
early days in remote and secluded spots so as 
to be free from the frequent invasions of bucca 
neers, as were the coast cities, or for the pur 
pose of being near some rich mine or fertile 
agricultural district. The narrow mountain 
trails that wend their circuitous and tiresome 
way along the gigantic buttresses which Na 
ture has so profusely placed throughout this