HoUdUeas. 



601 



cattle dnriDg the fiscal year ended with July of each of the following 

 years mentioned below, were as follows : 



There appears to have been a material shrinkage, year by year, in 

 the amoont of duties from exports of cattle, while at the same time the 

 sum received at Truxillo, in the year ended with July, 1884, showed a 

 marked increase. That increase was due to the opening of a trade in 

 beeves between the port named and the West India Islands.. That 

 trade was favored by concessions from the Honduras Government, but 

 even the advantage thus afforded failed to make the traffic profitable, 

 and it was abandoned after a trial of some two years. The losses which 

 resulted were heavy. The steamer Marco Aurelio> fitted for and used 

 in the exportation or cattle from Honduras to Cuba, has for some time 

 been offered for sale in New Orleans. This seems to indicate that her 

 owners see no hope of a profitable revival. of that branch of the cattle 

 business. J3uring the year 1884-'85 exports of cattle from Truxillo fell 

 from 22,443 to 2,960. ThiB last-mentioned number were probably sent 

 to British Honduras, which gets from this Eepublic all the beef required 

 for consumption in Belize. 



Puerto Cortes exports nearly as many cattle as Truxillo. In the year 

 ended with July, 1883, exports from Puerto Cortes numbered 1,555. 

 During the following year the nuniber increased to 2,738, or 76 percent. 

 In the year ended July 30, 1885, the exports fell off 710 animals, or 35 

 per cent. At Amapala, on the Pacific coast, 1,030 were exported in 

 1883-'84, and only 446 were shipped thence in 1884-'85. 



The most noteworthy changes in the value of exports of cattl^ from 

 this Republic are those shown by reports from the frontiers. When the 

 Cuban trade sprang up it drew to Truxillo many cattle, which would, 

 but for the new demand, have gone across the border to Guatemala,' 

 to Salvador, and to other adjoining Eepublics. The result was that 

 receipts of export duties from the frontiers decreased some 70^ per cent, 

 in the year 1883-'84,. when the Cuban trade was in its most active 

 stage. When the Cuban trade died export^ by way of the frontiers in- 

 creased 45 per cent. These facts seem to indicate that the opening of 

 the trade with the Antilles diverted 45 per ceiit. of the surplus beeves 

 from their usual markets in adjoining countries, and also drew from the 

 Honduras domestic markets 25 per cent, of the beeves exported from 

 Truxillo. 



It is a fact worthy of note that although exports from the ports of the 

 north coast increased in 1883-'84, there was in the total exports of that 

 year a decrease of 11,524 cattle. Another curious fact is that, while ex- 

 ports by way of the north coast shrank from 25,181 cattle in 1883-'84 

 to 4,988 in 'l8S4-'85, the total exports through other customs districts 

 appear to have increased only 3,943 during that year. 



These facts seem to warrant the inference that the supply of cattle is 

 increasing rapidly in Honduras. This inference seems to.be the more 



