rise to the statements contained in the chronicles.

Of the circumstances which determine the commercial importance of a country, few take rank with the character and variety of its productions. The products of Nicaragua are useful and varied, and only the development of her industries is needed to yield them in vast quantities. A passing glance at the geology of the country will introduce a large class of natural products. West of the lakes the soft volcanic rocks, or tufas, which make excellent building material, abound upon the surface or within easy reach of it, while along with these occur sulphurous pumice and other recent volcanic formations. East of the lakes are found in great quantities andesite rocks, trachytes, greenstone, and in the Cordilleras, metalliferous porphyries abounding in gold and silver quartz. Gold mining has long been carried on, though not with very great success, by an English company, in the neighborhood of Libertad in the Chontales district, and silver mining, with better results, in the Matagalpa and Segovia districts. According to recent reports, more

important discoveries of gold have been made in previously unexplored parts of Segovia, and in the lower part of the Chontales district, near the head of the Savallo River, which flows into the San Juan a short distance above Castillo. The difficulty of transporting suitable machinery through the dense forests and over the steep mountains has hitherto stood in the way of successful mining on a large scale, so that the output of the precious metals has seldom exceeded $200,000 per annum. The vast forests that cover the country, over a wide extent of territory, without a break from the Atlantic to the lakes, abound in woods, gums, medicinal and flavoring plants, all of value and already known to commerce. Among the first are mahogany, cedars, rosewood, ironwood, logwood and many other dyewoods; among the second, rubber and gum copal; and among the last, vanilla and sarsaparilla.

The cultivated portion of Nicaragua constitutes but a small part of its total area. A comparatively insignificant section of the Chontales district, with larger portions of the

Matagalpa and Segovia districts, are under cultivation east of the lakes. West of the lakes the area of cultivation extends from the plain of Conejo south to Rivas, over a stretch of country from twenty to forty miles wide and more than 100 miles long. There are, however, large tracts of uncultivated land interspersed between the cultivated tracts, even in that section. The staple products are corn, rice, sugar, beans, cotton, tobacco, coffee and cocoa. A great variety of vegetables is also raised. Coffee raising has been largely developed within the last five years, and a government bounty of five cents per tree is stimulating it to further extension. The coffee tree flourishes only at comparatively high altitudes, but the numerous mountain sides afford a wide field for its cultivation. The slopes of Ometepec and Medeira, in Lake Nicaragua, have long been covered with coffee plantations, which are among the most productive in the country. The nature of the climate makes a succession of crops possible. Sugar yields two to three crops during the year, and corn, which is the staple food of the Indian population, yields

four crops. Nicaragua is indeed a fruitful land,

for its variety of fruits is astonishing. and many

Ba

nanas, plantains, guavas, many others grow wild in the forests, but the two first named are of course greatly improved by. cultivation. Mango trees, burdened with fruit, form hedges along the highways in the Rivas district. Oranges, lemons and limes abound throughout the western provinces, while watermelons, muskmelons, and citrons, are to be had all the year round. Another product usually classed as a fruit, but in reality a vegetable, and without an equal for a salad, is the alligator pear.

The cultivation of cacao is a profitable industry. The government gives a bounty of ten cents for every tree planted, and it is said that every pound of the beans raised can be sold in the home market for consumption at fifty cents. The famous Paris house of Menier has a large plantation in the Rivas district.

Besides the products of the soil an important industry is cattle raising. Large herds are bred both in the eastern and western provinces, and hides form one of the chief articles of export. The eastern part of the country, how

ever, is the better adapted to the raising of cattle, as in the western provinces the animals suffer greatly from thirst during the prolonged droughts, when all the streams are dried up and dependence for water is placed almost entirely on wells, where cattle are watered at fifty cents per head per month. The foreign trade of the country is as yet comparatively trifling, the exports being only about $3,000,000 and the imports about $3,500,000 per annum. The principal ports are Greytown and Bluefields on the Atlantic, and Corinto and San Juan del Sur on the Pacific coast.

It is not too much to say that the climate of a country exercises as potent influences on its inhabitants as do their inherited tendencies; for where races are concerned, the inherited tendencies are largely determined by climatic conditions. But little has been said of the climate of Nicaragua in English-speaking countries and that little is in the main inaccurate. When the author, in the early winter of 1891, mentioned to his friends that he thought of going to Nicaragua, they with one accord attempted to dissuade him from taking the trip.