PERU 97 
the profits to go to the State, and another por 
tion to be utilized in railway extension. 
The Peruvian Corporation, it should be 
stated, was organized by Europeans holding 
Peruvian bonds on which it was impossible to 
collect the guaranteed interest, due to the mis 
management of the government as well as the 
outcome of the war with Chile. This corpo 
ration took over and cancelled the indebted 
ness in return for certain privileges among 
which was the right to exploit the rail 
ways. 
To Henry Meiggs, an American from San 
Francisco, Peru and the world is indebted for 
the completion of what are the most marvelous 
railways on the globe. By a series of twists 
and turns, which include 65 tunnels and 67 
bridges, it climbs to the highest point in the 
world ever reached by a railway, 15,665 feet 
above sea level in a distance of 138 miles, to 
what is locally called “the roof of the world.” 
Some idea of the rapidity of the ascent may 
be gained when I state that in the first twenty- 
five miles from Lima the train ascends 2800