To  His  Excellency,

The  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations  of  Chile.
Report  Presented  by  Director  of  Boundary  Office  of
Chile  to  Minister  of  Interior  of  Chile.
[Translation.]

Santiago,  August  6,  1904.
Mr.  Minister:

You  have  been  kind  enough  to  place  before  me  the
protest  formulated  before  you,  on  the  16th  of  last
month,  by  the  Government  of  Peru,  respecting  decree
Number  1786  of  May  4th  last,  enacted  by  the  Ministry
of  Interior,  which  sets  out  the  points  for  the  boundary
line  between  the  departments  of  Pisagua  and  Arica,
east  of  Arepunta,  which  is  the  point  of  origin  of  the
ravine  and  River  Camarones.
This  protest,  written,  it  seems,  in  ignorance  of  the
report  of  the  Boundaries  Office  which  served  as  the
basis  for  the  decree,  contains  several  mistakes  in  fact
which  I  hasten  to  point  out  to  you  so  that  you  may
refer  to  them  in  your  answer.  Otherwise,  silence  in
this  respect  might  be  interpreted  as  an  acceptance.
1.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  affirmed  that  the  decree  of
May  4th  "constitutes  an  interpretation  of  the  laws
that  determine  the  boundaries  in  question. ' '

In  the  third  paragraph  of  my  report  (Official  Bulle-
tin, Number  7901,  page  1532),  I  have  cited  the  Peru-
vian laws  of  December  1,  1868,  and  of  June  15,  1875,


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neither  of  which  is  the  basis  for  determining  the  boun-
dary line  in  question,  east  of  Arepunta.  The  decree  of
May  4th  can  not  then  contain  an  interpretation  of  a  dis-
position that  does  not  exist.
2.  The  protest  then  affirms  that,  according  to  the
census  of  1876,  all  the  districts  of  the  province  of  Tara-
paca,  including  that  of  Camina,  were  situated  to  the
south  of  the  Camarones  River  and  of  its  chief  tribu-
tary, the  Caritaya.
