I  have  believed  it  necessary  to  establish  the  dates  of
the  borate  claims  in  Pisagua  and  in  Arica  because  on
the  lists  published  by  one  of  the  interested  parties,  al-
though there  are  borate  claims  solicited  from  the
courts  of  Arica  since  1894,  those  solicited  from  the
Pisagua  courts  date  only  from  1898.  According  to  the
information  that  I  have  obtained,  it  is  effective,  never-
theless, that  in  1894  two  claims  of  fifty  hectares  each,
at  Chilcaya  and  Surire,  were  solicited  from  the  courts
of  Pisagua,  one  of  the  witnesses,  Sr.  Juan  S.  Ossio,  be-
ing interested  in  one  of  the  claims.  In  1895,  a  small
claim  of  three  hectares  at  Oquecollo  was  solicited  by
the  natives  of  Isluga,  Castros,  Condores,  Mamanis,
Challapas,  etc.  In  1896,  many  claims  at  Surire,  Chull-
uncane,  and  the  Llacho  pampa,  having  a  total  area  of
three  thousand  hectares,  were  solicited,  some  by  natives
and  others  by  resident  of  Iquique  and  Pisagua.
Without  going  into  further  details  respecting  the  re-
maining depositions,  I  shall  state  only  that  in  them,
as  in  the  others,  it  is  observed  that  the  witnesses,  upon
the  part  of  Tarapaca,  have  been  able,  because  of  their
residence,  profession,  or  business,  to  prove  their  state-
ments, and  have  not  limited  themselves  to  answering
affirmatively  or  negatively  the  questions  asked  of  them.
