HONDURAS. 



423 



falls short of an average yield ; but the higher 

 price compensates for the difference. 



Mahogany. Crotches were selling at Port-au- 

 Prince in July, 1886, at $50 to $250 (Haitian 

 money) the 1,000 cubic feet, and logs at $50 10 

 $80. While mahogany lias gradually become 

 scarcer in Hayti, Cuba, Mexico, and other tropi- 

 cal countries of the New World, it lias become 

 the fashionable furniture and cabinet wood in 

 the United States, as it is now and has been 

 for two centuries in England and on the Con- 

 tinent of Europe. It is largely used in house- 

 trimmings in our large cities. So great has the 

 increase in the use of mahogany become in this 

 country that many manufacturers, especially in 

 the Western States, have been making goods 

 of cherry, birch, and other cheap woods, and 

 staining them to imitate mahogany. 



Postal Service. There were in Hayti, in 1884, 

 only three post-offices, which dispatched dur- 

 ing the year 206,209 letters and postal- cards, 

 and 135,082 newspapers and sample-packages. 

 The receipts amounted to 62,822 francs, and 

 the expenses to 134,125 francs. 



Commerce. There were imported into Hayti 

 in 1885-'86 $6,012,555 worth of merchandise, 

 the export of products being $7,859,990. The 

 main export articles were coffee, logwood, co- 

 coa, cotton, lignum- vita3, hides, sugar, fustic, 

 mahogany, and honey. The export through 

 the port of Cape Haytien alone was $1,718,360, 

 and the import $1,379,983. The American 

 trade with Hayti has been as follows: 



In ISSo-'SB the maritime movement in the 

 four leading ports was : 



ENTERED. 



HOLLAND. See NETHERLANDS. 



HONDURAS, a republic in Central America; 

 area, 39,600 square miles ; population, 351,700. 



Government. The President is Gen. Luis 

 Bogran, whose term will expire on Nov. 27, 

 1887. The Cabinet is composed of the follow- 

 ing ministers : Foreign Affairs, Licenciado Don 

 Jeronimo Zelaya; Justice, Public Works, and 

 War, Senor R. Alvarado; Interior, Senor A. 

 Gomez; Finance, Sefior F. Planas; Agricult- 

 ure, Senor A. Zelaya. The United States Min- 



ister is Hon. H. C. Hall, resident at Guatema- 

 la; the Consul-General of Honduras, at New 

 York, is Jacobo Baiz ; the Consul at San Fran- 

 cisco is John T. Wright; at New Orleans, E. 

 A. Lever; at Philadelphia, Salomon Foster. 

 The American Consul at Ruatan and Trujillo is 

 William C. Burchard ; at Tegucigalpa, D. W. 

 Herring, and at Yuscaran, Jacob P. Imboden. 



Finances. The republic owes British and 

 French capitalists $25,000,000 on bonds. When 

 the republic issued these bonds, they were sold 

 at par ; but the banking-house and agents tied 

 to other countries with the proceeds, so that 

 Honduras only got about $1,000,000 worth of 

 railway material in return for the bond issue. 

 These bonds were quoted at seven cents on 

 the dollar on the London Stock Exchange Jan. 

 1, 1887. The internal debt of $750,000 com- 

 prises $700,000 treasury notes in circulation 

 and $50,000 floating debt. The budget for 

 1884 estimated the income at $1,100,000, and 

 the outlay at $1,004,567; the revenue for 1886 

 was estimated at $2,250,000. Col. P. Donan, a 

 Dakota capitalist, secured a concession in June 

 for founding in the capital, Tegucigalpa, a na- 

 tional bank of issue, With a share capital of 

 $1,000,000, toward which $250.000 were then 

 subscribed by New York, Chicago, New Or- 

 leans, and Minneapolis financial men, the bank 

 to have the privilege of issuing $500,000 in 

 $5 and $10 bank-notes, under guarantee of 

 the Government ; $250,000 to be deposited in 

 the treasury in cash prior to issuing the notes, 

 and $250,000 to be set aside for a branch bank 

 at Chicago, branch establishments to be opened 

 likewise at Araapala, Puerto Cort6z, and Tru- 

 jillo ; loans to the Government not to exceed 

 at any time the sum of $100,000, for which 10 

 per cent, per annum interest will be paid, and 

 the customs receipts pledged. The bank-notes 

 of the new bank are to be taken in payment 

 at their face value in all Government offices. 



Railroads. There is in operation the railway 

 line between Puerto Cort6z and San Pedro- 

 Sula, seventy miles. In October, Col. P. Do- 

 nan, representing Gen. Thomas L. Rosser and 

 other American capitalists, opened negotiations 

 with the Government of Honduras about the 

 construction of a railway to connect Puerto 

 Cortez, in the bay of Honduras, with the port 

 of Amapala on the Pacific. Surveys were pro- 

 ceeding in August along the coast between 

 Trujillo and Puerto Cort6z, preparatory to 

 making the embankments and laying the rails 

 on the projected Northern Railroad. 



Telegraphs. The number of offices in 1883 

 was 63, employing 230 operators, the length of 

 wire being 1,360 miles ; and 107,730 messages 

 were forwarded. The receipts amounted to 

 $12,624, and the expenses to $11.384. In Au- 

 gust the Government granted Don Carlos L. 

 Trista, of Trujillo, a concession establishing a 

 line of telegraph between Trujillo and La Cei- 

 ba, with stations at Santa Fe and Balfate, as 

 well as other convenient points, the privilege 

 to extend over ten years. 



