
The Republic oy Salvador. eS 
frivolous as the inhabitants of Leon and Puntarenas. They sing 
and dance and make love like veritable children of the sun. 
The Andes of Salvador form a highly volcanic central range 
with no less than sixteen volcanic peaks from four to eight 
thousand feet high. The volcano Isalco near Acjutla is always 
in eruption, and the traveler can constantly see the fire and 
smoke, and hear the roar of ejected lava. Salvador pos- 
sesses also many lakes and rivers, as for instance the lakes Guya 
-and Llopango and the river Lempel and San Miguel. There are 
many considerable cities and towns in the interior, and among 
others are Sosonatte, Santa Ana and San Miguel. The richness 
of the country consists mainly of the products I mentioned be- 
fore, and especially of tobacco, the best in Central America. 
The mineral wealth is not great, although there are some silver 
and iron mines near Santa Ana and Tabanco. 
The government of the republic is carried on by a president, 
vice-president and two ministers. The legislature consists of 
two chambers, an upper one ot twelve senators and a lower of 
twenty-four representatives. The standing army is only 1,000 
men, though in case of necessity everybody is called to arms. 
In the last struggle with Guatemala (1885) Salvador in the short 
space of a few days had an army of 12,000 men, and what an 
army it was the battle of Chalchnapa has shown.— MZ. Lopateckt. 

WALIVE PLANTS OF AUSTRALIA. 
Australian plants have proved in many cases equally well 
adapted to the soil and climate of the Pacific Coast. The direc- 
tor of the Technological Museum, Sydney, furnishes an interest- 
ing book on the useful plants of that continent, from which we 
glean the following notes of some, as yet unknown to this coast. 
It may not be generally known that Australia produces an in- 
digenous hop, which in the early days of settlement, was exten- 
sively used for making yeast and beer. 
Eucalyptus dumosa yields a kind of manna, which is eaten by 
the natives in some parts of Victoria. It is the nidus of an insect 
and is a starch-like substance resembling small shells, white or 
yellowish-white in color and sweet to the taste. 
The settlers of Tasmania obtain a kind of cider from a species 
of gum, and another species (Eucalyptus Viminalis) also yields a 
sweet manna. 
The native cherry (Exocarpus Capressiformis), has excited 
considerable attention in Europe from the fact that, contrary to 
the usual order of things, the stones grow outside of the fruit. 
Baron von Muller recommends the culture of Geitonoplesium 
cymosum as a substitute for aspargus. 
The native peach or guandong, Fasauns accuminatus, makes 
