leaf not being understood, or at any rate attempted. Rice, extensively used, is abundant; the climate and soil being suited to its cultivation. Indigo and cochineal were formerly produced in large quantities, but, superseded by the introduction of mineral dyes, the cultivation, particularly of the latter, has almost entirely ceased. The

yuca, the yam (name), and the sweet potato are the principal farinaceous roots extensively cultivated. The potato also thrives well, and produces large crops in the more elevated regions, yet imported potatoes are used everywhere in the towns.

The bread-fruit grows to perfection in Nicaragua, yet the natives are said not to appreciate its full value. The cocoa-nut palm is abundant, and on the Caribbean coast

its fruit is an important article of commerce; no efforts have been made to utilize the fibre of the husk, which in the East Indies has added so largely to the profits derived from cocoa-nut groves. Frijoles, the brown beans forming such a prominent article of diet throughout Spanish America, are produced abundantly, while other

edibles and fruits of the tropics yield ample crops, such as oranges, lemons, limes, citrons, shaddocks, pine-apples, mameys, chirimoyas, guavas, mangoes, and aguacates (alligator pears). The vegetables of the temperate zone grow well in the more elevated districts, where cabbages, turnips, radishes, lettuce, egg plants, and tomatoes can be raised with slight labour and care.

CATTLE-RAISING.

Cattle-raising on the savannas-extensive plains of grass, affording pasturage in the rainy season, and with few shrubs growing on them—of the central and northern provinces is one of the great sources of wealth, the production of horned cattle being large enough to supply all the necessities of home consumption, and to allow a considerable exportation, principally to San Salvador, where cattle are scarce. Large haciendas, owned by the richest and most influential people of the country, are entirely devoted to this industry. Dairy farms have been established in the neighbourhood of the principal cities and towns and are doing well.

FAUNA.

The fauna is like that of the other Central American states. The jaguar, puma, and ocelot still infest the more wooded districts, alligators are found in the lakes and swarm in the San Juan and other rivers, while the vulture, buzzard, toucans, humming-birds, and howling monkeys are common. The species of reptiles cover a

wide range.

COMMERCE.

The imports amount to about £500,000, being the value of manufactured goods brought from the European and American markets. The principal articles exported

are coffee, rubber, woods, hides, gums, indigo, sugar, cocoa, and bananas, to the value of £470,000.

The rates by the steamer route on the river San Juan are high, though less than via the Pacific, but this is more than counterbalanced by the uncertainty and delay on this line. The lines from Europe and the United States are good, and the rates generally low.1 The canal will bring about a great change, and when that work is completed, Granada, and other towns close by, will be virtually seaports, and ocean steamers will be able to load and discharge their cargoes at their wharves. The lake will be the centre and point of distribution of trade for the whole country.

1 TO BLUEFIELDS. From New Orleans, Southern Pacific Company's steamers, from December to March every twenty days, remainder of the year ever ten days.

TO CAPE GRACIAS Á DIOS. From New York, Honduras and Central American Steamship Company, every three weeks.

TO CORINTO. From San Francisco and from Panama, Pacific Mail Steamship Company, thrice per month.

To GREYTOWN. From Southampton, Royal Mail Steam Packet Company to Colon, thence by Royal Mail or other local cargo

steamers.

From New York, Honduras and Central American Steamship Company, every three weeks; Pacific Mail Steamship Company to Colon, thence by Royal Mail. (Steamers leave Greytown for Granada, on Lake Nicaragua, every four days.)

(Managua, the capital, is reached by steamer to Greytown or to Corinto, thence by rail and lake steamers.)

CHAPTER XII.

THE DEMAND OF THE AGE: SHIP

A

CANALS.

SERIES of great works, in the form of ship canals, providing rapid and inexpensive transportation, marks the latter part of the nineteenth century, and every maritime power is concerned with schemes of ocean transit. The mechanical and financial means for undertaking and executing great enterprises have greatly improved, while the volume of commerce has vastly increased, and works impossible thirty or forty years ago are quite feasible to-day. Money is cheaper by a half than it was twenty years ago, while engineering appliances have so improved, that the cost, not only in labour but in time, has been lessened in a like proportion.

Commerce has advanced with colossal strides. The business done by the world's shipping and railways is immense, and increases at a rate greatly exceeding the growth either of population or of industries. More than half the shipping of the whole world is owned by Great Britain, while one-half the railways have either been built directly, or with money supplied, by this