HONDURAS. 



HUGO, VICTOR-MARIE. 479 



\ras also appointed, by virtue of a vote bearing 

 date March 5, to investigate the alleged frauds 

 on the public exchequer, of which ex-President 

 Marco Aurelio Soto is accused. 



Railroads. Mr. Hungerford, Engineer-in- 

 Chief of the Central Railroad of Honduras, 

 has surveyed the line to connect Trujillo 

 with Juiticalpa, a distance of two hundred 

 miles. The concession to build this line was 

 given to a New York syndicate. Work has 

 been proceeding on the line of the Northern 

 Honduras Railway, which is to connect Tru- 

 jillo with Puerto Cortes, or any point on the 

 frontier of Guatemala, for which the conces- 

 sion was obtained in 1884, and which is ex- 

 pected to be in operation in September, 1887. 

 Liberal inducements are also held out by the 

 Government to lonafide settlers from abroad 

 in this section of the country, which even now 

 is very important as a fruit-growing region, 

 whence an active export is going on to New 

 Orleans and New York of bananas and cocoa- 

 nuts, especially from the island of Bonaca, 

 where there are extensive cocoanut-walks, and 

 from which point bananas are also shipped in 

 great quantities to American ports. 



Transportation. In October the Government 

 made a contract with Don Eduardo Busquet 

 for the establishment of a coasting-line of 

 steamers on the northern Atlantic coast. 



The Government also took vigorously in 

 hand in 1885 river improvements and the dig- 

 ging of canals to connect rivers in the repub- 

 lic. Thus a contract was made with George 

 "W. Shears to deepen the Ulua and Blanco riv- 

 ers, so that they may be navigable to a point 

 called La Imprenta. A similar contract was 

 made with Waldemar Allstrom and Don Miguel 

 Luis Aguilera, for the deepening of the Aguan 

 river all the way to a locality called La Lima, 

 ten miles from the city of Yoro. 



Tobacco. The Government has made efforts 

 to facilitate the cultivation of tobacco. To- 

 bacco-seed is allowed, by decree of October, 

 1885, to enter the country duty free. The 

 tobacco-tax, which planters have to pay, is 

 $3 for every hundred pounds produced, and 

 the tax on cigars, which manufacturers have 

 to pay, is $1 a thousand. 



Mines. Gold and silver mining enterprises in 

 Honduras, in which American companies are 

 engaged, are becoming more profitable. There 

 are five New York companies. 



The October report of the Yuscaran Mining 

 Company stated that the company had already 

 expended a large amount of money, and that 

 a shaft had been sunk about 140 feet. It is 

 proposed to sink this shaft 400 feet before driv- 

 ing, to connect with the main Guayabillas vein. 



The report of the Paraiso Reduction Com- 

 pany, of Dec. 1, mentions the purchase and 

 erection of a large roastine-furuace. The com- 

 pany also purchased the " Ultimo " and " Coco " 

 ingenios, both necessary to control the water 

 of the Quebracla Grande River and for milling 

 facilities ; furthermore, the ingenio of Daniel 



Fortin, the largest and best-equipped native 

 reduction-works in that district. Engineers 

 were engaged in a complete survey of the 

 whole water system of the district. By secur- 

 ing the immense water-power, thousands of 

 tons of ore could be made available daily for 

 treatment at a profit. 



The development of the Santa Elena mines 

 uncovered such a mass of gold-bearing quartz 

 that it was considered best to introduce stamp- 

 ing machinery at the Paraiso reduction-works, 

 and treat it as a free milling of ore by plate 

 amalgamation. Machinery for a forty-stamp 

 mill complete was shipped in August from Cin- 

 cinnati, to be in place on March 1, 1886, in- 

 creasing the capacity of the Paraiso reduction- 

 plant about 100 tons a day. There were made 

 at the Santa Elena mine three very rich dis- 

 coveries in the month of September veins with 

 the usual good average of silver and gold, and 

 rich threads in the center of the veins. 



The general report made by Don Adolfo Zu- 

 riga, Attorney-General of Honduras, in Sep- 

 tember, dated from Tegucigalpa, says, u With- 

 in the next six months there will be very con- 

 siderable quantities of gold and silver shipped 

 to New York from here, and within two years 

 Yuscaran will be such a mining center as will 

 equal any mining district in America." 



Commerce. The following table shows the 

 imports from Central America : 



The average trade movement in 1883 and 

 1884 was distributed as follows : 



HUGO) VICTOR-MARIE, a French author, born 

 in Besancon, Feb. 26, 1802 ; died hi Paris, May 

 22, 1885. He was the third son of Count Jo- 

 seph-Leopold-Sigisbert Hugo, a distinguished 

 soldier of the revolutionary and Napoleonic 

 wars and a military writer of reputation, and 

 Sophie Trebuchet, the daughter of a ship-own- 

 er of Nantes. His father was one of the ear- 

 liest volunteers of the revolutionary array, 



