The principal agricultural products of Mexico are sisal-hemp, sugar, cocoa, coffee, barley, Indian corn, wheat, pulse, cotton, tobacco, potatoes. The value of the farms and other agricultural property, including cocoa and palm-gardens, has been estimated at 120,000,000l. There are 479 square leagues of forest, valued at 6,800,000l. Mountain-land is estimated to cover 18,134 square leagues, and uncultivated land 4,822 square leagues. The total value of the wheat product in 1883 was 3,505,1787., Indian corn 22,837,1981., sugar 1,747,000l., pulse 2,000,000l., cotton 1,321,1667. The total value of all agricultural products was 35,490,2177. Large numbers of cattle are reared in Mexico for the United States. In 1883, in Northern Mexico alone, in an area of 300,000 square miles, there were 1,500,000 cattle, 2,500,000 goats, 1,000,000 horses, and 1,000,000 sheep. In the whole of Mexico, in 1883, there were 20,574 cattle ranches, valued at 103,000,0007. There were in Mexico in 1882, 88 cotton factories, representing a total capital of about 2,000,000l. sterling: the number of workmen employed was 12,846. The amount of cotton consumed is estimated at 75,000,000 lbs. From 1880-84 The shipping of Mexico, 1,270 vessels, includes small vessels engaged in the coasting trade. The total number of vessels that entered Mexican ports in 1884-85 was 4,510, of 1,995,095 tons. In 1879 Mexico had but 372 miles of railway. the construction of new lines was rather too rapid. In 1887 there were open for traffic 3,870 miles, besides 92 miles of city or suburban lines, altogether 3,962 miles. When completed the Mexican National Line will place the Mexican capital at a distance from New York of only 3,092 miles, or 155 hours. The total length of telegraph lines in 1886 was 12,700 English miles, with 460 offices; of which 7,500 miles belong to the Federal Government. The post-office carried 19,788,657 letters, newspapers, &c., in the year 1882-83. At the end of June 1885 there were 1,000 postoffices in the republic. Diplomatic and Consular Representatives. Diplomatic relations between Great Britain and Mexico were interrupted from 1867 until the year 1883, when they were resumed :— 1. OF MEXICO IN GREAT BRITAIN. Envoy and Minister-General Don Francesco Z. Mena, accredited May 13, 1887. Secretaries.-Pablo Martinez del Campo, Manuel Pacheco, M. J. Lizardi. 2. OF GREAT BRITAIN IN MEXICO. Envoy and Minister.-Sir Spenser St. John, K.C.M.G., accredited Jan. 5, 1885. Secretary. Sir Francis C. E. Denys, Bart. Money, Weights, and Measures. MONEY. The silver peso of 100 centavos of 0.869 ounce in weight, 0-901 fine • nominal value, 4s.; actual price, about 3s. 1 d. The weights and measures of the metric system were introduced in 1884. But the old Spanish measures are still in use. The principal ones are these: Weight. 1 libra=0·46 kilogramme = 1.014 avoirdupois. 1 arroba = 25 libras 25.357 avoirdupois. = For gold and silver : libra 4,608 granos. 1 ochava 6 tomines. 1 tomine = 12 granos. 20 granos = 1 French gramme. Length. 1 vara =0·837 mètre = 2 ft. 8 English inch. Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Mexico. 1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS. Anales del Minesterio de fomento, colonizacion, indústria y comercio. 8. Mexico, 1887. Boletin del ministerio de fomento de la República Mexicana. Fol. Mexico, 1887. Comercio exterior de Mexico. Fol. Mexico. 1887. Cuadro Geografico, Estadistica Descriptivo é'Historico de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Mexico, 1885. Estadística de la República Mexicana. Mexico. 1880. Memoria del Secretario del despacho de hacienda. Fol. Mexico, 1887. Report on Cattle in Mexico, by Consul-General Sutton, in Reports from the Consuls of the United States.' No. 31, 1883. Washington, 1883. Reports on Mexico in Reports of the U.S. Consuls.' Nos. 39 and 40, 1884. Washington, 1884. Report on the imports and exports of Mexico, and the trade and industries of Northern Mexico, and the Reports of the Consuls of the United States.' No. 49, 1885. Washington, 1885. Report on the Financial Condition of Mexico by Mr. Jenner in No. 28 'Diplomatic and Consular Reports.' 1886. Report by Mr. Jenner on investments for British capital in Mexico, in Part IV. of Reports of H.M.'s Diplomatic and Consular Agents.' London, 1886. Report on trade of Mexico for 1885 and 1886 in 'Deutsches HandelsArchiv.' July 1887. Report on mines and minerals of the State of Vera Cruz, in No. 66; on the cotton factories at Vera Cruz, in No. 64; on the commerce of Vera Cruz, in No. 65 and 146; on the trade of the Federal district, in No. 202 of Diplomatic and Consular Reports.' London, 1887. Trade of the United Kingdom with Mexico, in Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions in the year 1886.' 4. London, 1887. 2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS. Boletin de la sociedad de geografia y estadística de la República Mexicana. 8. Mexico, 1878-83. Brocklehurst (T. U.), Mexico To-day. London, 1883. Castro (Lorenzo), The Republic of Mexico in 1882. New York, 1882. Cubas (A. Garcia), Atlas metódico de la geografia de la República Mexicana. 8. Mexico, 1874. Diccionario geográfico y estadístico de la República Mexicana. 5 vols. Fol. Mexico, 1874-76. El Economista Mexicano, weekly. Mexico, 1887. Flint (H. M.), Mexico under Maximilian. 12. Philadelphia, 1867. Garcia y Cubas (A.), Apuntes relativos à la poblacion de la República Mexicana. 8. Mexico, 1871. Geiger (John Lewis), A Peep at Mexico: Narrative of a Journey across the Republic from the Pacific to the Gulf. 8. London, 1874. Griffin (S. B.), Mexico of To-day. New York, 1886. Hamilton (L. L. C.), Hamilton's Mexican Handbook. London, 1884. La Bédollière (Emile G. de), Histoire de la guerre du Mexique. 4. Paris, 1866. Mata (Florencio). Anuario de Mexico, 1886. Ober (F. A.), Travels in Mexico. Boston, U.S., 1884. Perez (J. E.), Almanaque estadístico de las oficinas y Guia de forasteroso del Comercio de la República para 1880. 8. Mexico, 1881. Ratzel (Fried.), Aus Mexico, Reiseskizzen aus den Jahren 1874-5. Breslau, 1878. Scobel (A.), Die Verkehrswege, Mexicos und ihre wirtschaftliche Bedeutung. In 'Deutsche Geographische Blätter.' Band X., Heft 1. Bremen, 1887. NICARAGUA. (REPÚBLICA DE NICARAGUA.) Constitution and Government. THE Constitution of the republic of Nicaragua was proclaimed on August 19, 1858. It vests the legislative power in a Congress of two Houses, the upper called the Senate, comprising 18 members, and the lower, called the House of Representatives, 21 members. Both branches of the legislature are elected by universal suffrage, the members of the House of Representatives for the term of four, and those of the Senate of six years. The executive power is with a President elected for four years. President of the Republic.-D. Evaristo Carazo, elected President of the Republic, December 1886; entered office March 1, 1887. The President exercises his functions through a council of responsible ministers, composed of the four departments of Foreign Affairs and Public Instruction; Finance; Interior, Justice, War and Marine; Public Works. Revenue, Population, and Trade. In 1883 the revenue was 1,969,569 dollars, and the expenditure 1,712,994 dollars; in 1884 the former was 1,835,553 dollars, and the latter 2,091,128 dollars; in 1885 they were respectively 1,801,727 dollars and 1,816,520 dollars, and in 1886, 1,594,000 dollars and 1,999,000 dollars. Two-thirds of the total annual revenue are derived from government monopolies on spirits, tobacco, and gunpowder, and the remainder chiefly from import duties and a tax on slaughtered cattle. The expenditure is principally for the maintenance of an army of two thousand men, and the payment of interest of the public debt. The revenue from customs dues has been-in 1882, 731,426 dollars; in 1883, 615,130 dollars; and in 1884, 704,104 dollars. From an official statement it appears that in the beginning of 1887 the total amount of the public debt was 1,592,000 dollars, distributed as follows: Interior loans and rest of consolidated bonds Custom-house bonds Sundry creditors Dollars 311,000 703,000 390,000 In December 1886 a loan was raised in London for 285,000!, in 6 per cent. bonds, with a mortgage on the 93 miles of railway controlled by the State as well as on the Customs revenue, which, in 1885, yielded 704,000 dollars. Education is advancing; and according to an official statement of 1887 there were 251 schools with 11,914 pupils. There are, besides, two higher schools for boys and one for girls. The army numbers 703 men (including 397 police) and 9,600 militia. The area of the republic is estimated at 49,500 English square miles, and the population in 1883 is officially stated to be 275,815 (136,947 males, and 138,868 females), giving less than six inhabitants per square mile; but a British Consular Report of 1883 gives the total population at about 400,000. According to an official return for 1882, there were in that year 16,444 births and 8,979 deaths, leaving a surplus of 7,465. The great mass of the popula- | tion consists of aboriginal 'Indians,' Mulattoes, Negroes, and mixed races, and the number of Europeans and their descendants is very small and on the decrease. There are few towns, and the chief occupation of the inhabitants is the rearing of cattle, carried on in a rude fashion. The old capital of the republic is the city of Leon, ten miles from the Pacific, surrounded by five active volcanoes, and partly in ruins; its population is 25,000. At present the seat of government is the town of Managua, situated on the southern border of the great lake of the same name, with about 12,000 inhabitants. The capital is provisional, being built on the slope of an active volcano, and liable therefore to instant destruction. The commerce of Nicaragua is very small. The imports in 1888 amounted to 1,855,058 dollars, and the exports to 2,461,970 dollars; in 1884 the former were 1,939,922 dollars, and the latter 2,169,262; in 1886 the former 1,868,000 dollars, and the latter 2,557,000 dollars. From 1881 to 1884 the imports amounted to 7,157,525 dollars, or, in the average, 1,790,000 dollars; and the exports, 8,926,965 dollars, or, in the average, 2,481,000 dollars. The leading exports are coffee and india-rubber, the former valued at 692,649 dollars in 1884, and the latter at 491,778 dollars. The value of fustic exported was 305,563 dollars, of gold 197,700 dollars. Of the exports in 1884, 810,674 dollars went to the United States, and 775,922 dollars to England, 234,351 dollars to France, 228,617 dollars to Germany. Of the imports in 1886, 564,000 dollars came from England, 383,000 dollars from the United States, 170,000 dollars from France, 110,000 dollars from Germany. In the annual Statement of the Board of Trade,' the commercial intercourse of Great Britain with the Republic is merged into 'Central America.' (See page 624.) |