JOURNEY TO GUATEMALA. 



141 



The trade of Central America is carried on principally 

 through the port of Izabal, where the goods are shipped 

 to Balize, and thence conveyed in English vessels to 

 Europe. Through the same channel are imported nearly 

 all the foreign manufactures and other objects consumed 

 in the country. The articles exported, besides those al- 

 ready enumerated, are hides, tallow, and bullion. Of 

 the latter, a considerable portion goes out through Jamai- 

 ca. The imports consist of English dry goods, cutlery, 

 hardware, and almost every species of European manu- 

 facture ; the productions of native artificers being merely 

 some cotton stuffs of the coarsest kind, serges, straw hats, 

 and mats, crockery, and a few articles of jewelry, none of 

 which, except the last mentioned, are exported. The ob- 

 jects constituting the wealth of the country, are, as pre- 

 viously stated, indigo and cochineal, which are produced 

 in great quantities and of excellent quality, and are ex- 

 changed for the manufactures of Europe. 



The form of government in Central America is a fede- 

 ral republic, called the Confederation of Central America. 

 This confederation comprises the five States of Costarica, 

 Nicaragua, Honduras, St. Salvador, and Guatemala. 

 The constitution, which is formed on the model of that of 

 the United States, provides for a general Congress, in 

 which the legislative power is vested, with local or state 

 legislatures for the direction of internal concerns. The 

 general Congress is composed of deputies elected in the 

 proportion of one to every thirty thousand inhabitants, 

 and half the members are re-elected every year. The 

 Senate is a permanent chamber, and acts as a Council to 

 the President ; it consists of two members from every 

 State ; and one third of the Senators are re-elected every 

 year. The executive power is vested in the President, 

 who is elected, like the Vice-President, for the term of four 

 years. The Secretaries of State are three ; one for the 

 foreign and home department, another for finance, and the 

 third for war, and are appointed by the President. The 



# 



