HONDURAS. 



423 



ratio with the increase of diameter, while the 

 former increases sixfold when the diameter is 

 doubled. A pipe of 1 inch diameter will de- 

 liver steam only 1,000 feet from the boiler ; a 

 3-inch pipe will conduct it 3,000 feet ; a 6- 

 inch pipe, 9,000 feet ; and a 12-inch pipe, 18,- 

 000 feet. The Holly system has been intro- 

 duced in Auburn, N. Y., Springfield, Mass., 

 and other cities. The apparatus is furnished 

 from the workshops of the Lockport company. 



HONDUR AS (REPIJBLICA DE HONDUKAS), one 

 of the five independent states of Central Amer- 

 ica. The territory of the republic, with an 

 area of 58,168 square miles, is divided into thir- 

 teen departments. The population is estimated 

 at 400,000. The capital is Tegucigalpa, with 

 about 12,000 inhabitants. The President is 

 Dr. Marco Aurelio Soto, elected in May, 1876, 

 for a term of four years. The sole minister of 

 the Republic is Dr. Ramon Rosa, general ad- 

 viser of the President. Honduras has thirty- 

 seven representatives, but no senate, in lieu 

 of which latter ten counsellors are appointed 

 by the Government to act as advisers, and con- 

 vened at the President's pleasure. The judicial 

 authority is vested in two chief justices, one of 

 whom resides in the present capital, and the 

 other in the former capital, Comayagua; a 

 district judge in each of the departments; and 

 a justice of the peace in every town, these last 

 being elected by their respective municipalities 

 for the term of one year, while the higher 

 judicial dignitaries are elected for life by the 

 Government. The actual strength of the stand- 

 ing army is set down at 1,500, and that of the 

 militia at 20,000. 



The national revenue, which under former 

 administrations rarely exceeded $300,000, is 

 now reported to reach $800,000. In regard to 

 the national debt, it has been stated on trust- 

 worthy authority that the terms of the Chat- 

 field-Cruz convention have been ratified in a 

 contract made between the representatives of 

 England and Honduras. The debt of $50,000 

 which it recognizes is to be paid off at the 

 rate of $10,000 per annum. Drafts on the four 

 principal custom-houses for $2,500 are to be 

 given to the representative of Her Britannic 

 Majesty's Government in January of each year. 

 For the year 1878 the drafts had already been 

 given. Should any deficiency in the amount 

 occur at any of the ports, the Honduras Gov- 

 ernment makes it good. During the five years, 

 and while the terms are being complied with, 

 the claim is to bear no interest. Should the 

 Government of Honduras fail in its annual pay- 

 ments, interest on the balance due is to be 

 charged at the rate of 5 per cent, per annum. 



To the already mentioned significant indica- 

 tions of financial prosperity may be also added 

 that of a combination set on foot in the United 

 States for the purpose of establishing a North 

 American banking, exchange, and commission 

 business in the capital of Honduras. With the 

 facilities to be derived from such an enterprise 

 the chief impediment to the extension of com- 



merce between the two countries would be 

 speedily removed. 



The railway is now in operation from Puerto 

 Cortez, on the Atlantic coast, to San Pedro 

 Sula, a distance of about 90 miles. The value 

 of the rolling stock is estimated at $500,000, 

 and the entire cost of the road is given at $2,- 

 000,000. There are at present about 750 miles 

 of telegraph, and 500 miles additional are in 

 process of construction. There is also a report 

 of an arrangement having been entered into 

 between Honduras and San Salvador for the 

 establishment of telegraphic communication 

 beeween the five Central American republics. 

 Should the project be carried into execution, 

 dispatches from Guatemala to Costa Rica will, 

 it is presumed, be transmitted at the rate of $1 

 per ten words, and from Nicaragua to Costa 

 Rica, or from Honduras to Guatemala over San 

 Salvador lines, at 50 cents. 



No official returns of the foreign commerce 

 of the republic have been published. With 

 steam communication between the Atlantic 

 ports and New Orleans, the fruit trade already 

 existing might be developed to a scale of con- 

 siderable importance. Although the service is 

 at present confined to sailing craft, chiefly 

 schooners, shipments of the value of $400,000 

 were made in 1877, by 180 vessels, with an 

 aggregate of 14,143 tons. Exquisite fruits 

 abound throughout the northern coast region 

 and adjacent islands, and could be landed at 

 New Orleans at an expense not exceeding those 

 of gathering, packing, and freight. From 30,- 

 000 to 40,000 head of cattle are annually ex- 

 ported to the island of Cuba alone. 



" Honduras is in the midst of her task of es- 

 tablishing schools," writes a newspaper corre- 

 spondent ; and indeed schools are now to be 

 found in every town and village of the repub- 

 lic. In 1878 the Government organized a 

 national college and a seminary at the capi- 

 tal, both of which are under the direction of 

 American teachers. The aggregate attendance 

 at school in the republic was 20,000. 



Honduras has fairly entered on the career 

 of civilization in the highest sense of the term. 

 Peace reigns undisturbed, the last ringleader 

 of discord, Jose Maria Medina, having been 

 shot in the course of the past year. Both 

 government and people have discovered that 

 their chief happiness is to be derived from in- 

 dustry and the enlightenment of the masses, 

 and manifest the .utmost zeal in their endeav- 

 ors to attain it by these means. Highways, 

 bridges, and other facilities for internal trans- 

 port are planned or constructed in the more 

 important sections ; postal and mercantile in- 

 tercourse with other countries extended and 

 encouraged (a contract was signed in 1878 for 

 a line of bi-weekly steamers to Cuba), and ex- 

 tensive concessions of land to North Americans 

 for the cultivation of coffee, cacao, and other 

 staples, on a scele hitherto unthought of in 

 those regions. Nor are the elements of health 

 and material comfort left unheeded, as attested 



