22 CENTRAL AMERICA. 



at the same time knowing there was neither 

 a reverberating or blast-furnace from one end 

 of it to the other, not a single fire-brick, 

 and not a single person who could build or 

 work any sort of furnace. The decree at 

 the same time placed a very heavy duty on 

 the exportation of bar-copper of all degrees 

 of fineness, under the plea that it was wanted 

 in Central America, where there was no 

 person to buy above a few pounds at a time, 

 and that rarely. Tliis last proclamation was 

 the last and final one, for the party aban- 

 doned the undertaking, throwing many men 

 out of employ, and leaving the works as a 

 comfortable domicile for wild beasts, snakes, 

 and vampire bats. 



The above series of contradictory and mis- 

 chievous decrees is only one instance out of 

 many that are constantly making their ap- 

 pearance, to their own ruin and poverty, and 

 to the detriment of all connected with them. 



It is impossible that, with such a succession 

 of plundering imbecile governments, a people 

 can be prosperous, but, with the great mass 

 of the inhabitants, " sufficient unto the day 

 is the evil thereof;"' and, when the danger 

 and day of oppression is past for a while, 

 they talk it over with many shrugs and 



