POTOSI  , a

city of Bolivia, capital of the department of Potosi, 47 M . (direct) S.W. of Sucre, or 88 m. by the post-road . Pop . (1906, estimate), 23,450 . Potosi stands on a barren terrace on the northern slope of the Cerro Gordo de Potosi, 12,992 ft. above sea-level, and is one of the highest towns in the world . The famous cerro from which its name is taken rises above the town to a height of 15,381 ft., a barren, white-capped cone honeycombed with mining shafts . The town is regularly laid out with streets crossing each other at right angles . The smoke-begrimed buildings, many of which are unoccupied and in ruins, are commonly of adobe . A large plaza forms the conventional centre, around which are grouped various religious edifices, the government house, town hall, national college, the old " royal mint " dating from 1585, and the treasury . The city has a massive, plain cathedral, which in part dates from early colonial times, and in part from the closing years of Spanish rule . The water supply is derived from a costly system, of reservoirs and aqueducts constructed by the Spanish government during the years of the city's greatest prosperity . There are 27 of these artificial lakes, and the aqueducts originally numbered 32, some of which are no longer serviceable .

Rough

mountain roads and pack animals are the only means of transportation to and from Potosi, but a railway from Oruro to Tupiza via Potosi, forming part of the projected Pan-American route, was contracted for in 1908 . In 1611 the population of Potosi was reported to be 16o,000, which probably included the whole mining district . A part of the diminution since then is explained by the fact that the great majority of the mines on the cerro have been abandoned . The foundation of the city dates from 1547, two years after the first discovery of silver on the cerro by an Indian herder named Gualci . Charles V. conferred upon it the title of " villa imperial." From 1545 to 1800 the crown tax of one-fifth upon the mineral product amounted to £32,600,000, showing an acknowledged output of £163,000,000 . The actual output, however, must have been much greater, as Spain was flooded with contraband silver, and there was a large trade in it at La Plata ports, whence it was taken to Brazil and Portugal . The total output to 1864 has been estimated at more than £400,000,000, but the annual output at the beginning of the loth century barely exceeded 400,000 ozs . The struggle for independence began in Potosi on the 9th of November 1810, but the Spanish forces succeeded in retaining possession down to 1822 .