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  before ­
  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  inaccessibility ­
  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  buccaneers, ­
  as  were  the  coast  cities,  or  for  the  purpose ­
  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  Nature ­
  has  so  profusely  placed  throughout  this