HONDURAS. 255 



exclusive of 1,300 frequenting the liigh schools and 180 following the courses of 

 the national university in the capital. 



Salvador has been an independent state only since 1859, and even since then 

 its constitution, which should be representative, has been frequently modified or 

 superseded by a military government tempered by insurrections. In theorj" the 

 legislative power is vested in a national assembly of 42 members, elected for 

 one year by popular suffrage, while the executive is exercised by a pi-esident, who 

 is also elected by the people, but for four years, and who chooses his own ministry, 

 consisting of four secretaries of state. 



The standing army comprises about 2,000 of all arms, with a militia nominally 

 40,000 strong. The administration of justice is entrusted to a supreme court 

 situated in the capital, with courts of appeal at Santa Ana, Cojutepeque, and San 

 Miguel, tribunals of first instance for each of the three judiciary districts, and 

 justices of the peace for the towns and communes. 



As in most American states, the revenue is mainly derived from the customs, 

 about one-third being contributed by monopolies on tobacco and spirits. Not 

 more than a fourth of the national income is absorbed by the army, a proportion 

 less than that expended on education and public works. In 1890 the debt 

 amounted to £1,300,000. 



Under the Spanish regime Salvador formed part of the viceroyalty of Guate- 

 mala, comprising the four provinces of Sonsonate, San Salvador, San Yicente, 

 and San Miguel. At present the republic is divided into fourteen adminis- 

 trative departments, grouped under three divisions, for which see Appendix. 



TV. — Honduras. 



The very name of Honduras recalls the times of the discovery, when the 

 Spanish pilots, advancing cautiously along the. coasts, reported shallow soundings 

 [/londuras) in the waters at the head of Honduras Bay. Columbus, who in 1502 

 first explored these waters between Capes Caxinas (Honduras) and Gracias-à-Dios, 

 ran great risks amid the surrounding reefs and shoals. But its present name was 

 given to the seaboard not by Columbus, but by Bartholomew de las Casas, who in 

 his Discover// of ihe West Indies by the Spaniards, speaks of the land of 

 " Hondure," as if this name were of Indian origin. Twenty-two years later, at 

 the time of Fernan Cortes' famous expedition across Yucatan, the country was 

 known to the Spaniards by the name of Hibueras or Higueras, and it has also been 

 called " New Estrcmadura " 



After forming part of the Guatemalan viceroyalty, Honduras was separated 

 from the mother country with the rest of Central America, and at present forms 

 one of the five sister republics. But despite its natural advantages of climate, 

 central position and excellent harbours on both oceans, its j^rogress has been 

 relatively slow. Under the Spanish rule the seaports and cultivated plains on 

 the Atlantic side attracted the attention of the corsairs by w'hom these coast- 

 lands were ravaged for a great distance inland. The country has, doubtless. 



