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 for six years. The executive power is with a President elected for four years.

President of the Republic.-Don Benjamin Guera.

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. The active army consists of 1,200 men, with a reserve of 10,000 men, and a militia or national guard of 5,000.

Area and Population.

The area of the Republic is estimated at 49,500 English square miles, and the population at between 350,000 and 400,000, giving about 7 inhabitants per square mile. The great mass of the population 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 18,000 inhabitants.

Instruction.

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.

Finance.

In 1888 the revenue was 3,814,140 dollars, and the expenditure 4,024,602 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 2,000 men, and the payment of interest on the public debt.

From an official statement it appears that the total amount of the public debt was 1,592,000 dollars, and a loan raised in London in 1886 for 285,000!. in 6 per cent. bonds, with a mortgage on the 93 lines of railway controlled by the State as well as on the customs revenue.

Industry and Commerce.

There are about 400,000 head of cattle in the Republic, and there is a large export of hides.

The imports in 1888 amounted to 2,146,000 dollars, and the exports to 1,522,000 dollars. The culture of bananas has rapidly grown in recent years; in 1887 they were exported to the value of 249,433 dollars. The leading exports are coffee and india-rubber. Of the exports 665,000 dollars went to Great Britain, 253,000 dollars to Germany, 246.000 dollars to France, 334,000 to the United States. Of the imports in 1888, 252,000 dollars came from England, 395,000 dollars from the United States, 351,000 dollars from France, 766,000 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 647).

Communications.

There entered the ports of the country in 1887 192 vessels of 191,409 tons.

There were 1,700 miles of telegraph lines in the Republic in 1888, with 53 stations. There are 99 miles of railway open, or being opened, in the Republic, which cost 2,700,000 dollars. In 1886 3,306,500 letters, &c., passed through the Post Office.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The system of money, weights, and measures is the same as in Honduras, though Mexican, Chilian, Peruvian, and other South American dollars and five-franc pieces circulate freely; there is also a paper currency.

Diplomatic and Consular Representatives.

1. OF NICARAGUA IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Envoy and Minister.-Adam Cardenas. Secretary.-Fernando Guzman. Consul-General.-Frederick Isaac.

2. OF GREAT BRITAIN IN NICARAGUA.

Minister and Consul-General.-J. P. Harriss-Gastrell.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Nicaragua.

1. OFFICAL PUBLICATIONS.

Report by Mr. Consul Gollan on the Commerce of Greytown, and the Construction of an Interoceanic Canal through Nicaragua, dated January 1876, in Reports from H.M.'s Consais Part IV. 1876. 8. London, 1876.

Report by Consul Jessel on the Commerce of Nicaragua, in 1882, and Consul Bingham on that of Greytown, in Reports of H.M.'s Consuls.' Part IX. 1883.

Reports on the Trade and Commerce of Greytown in 1884, in Part VIII, and Nicaragua in Part IX., of Reports of H.M.'s Consuls.' London, 1885.

Reports on the Commerce and Inventions of Nicaragua, in Nos. 53 and 54 of Reports of the Consuls of the United States,' 1885; and on the Revenue in No. 64, 1886, Washington. Report on the Trade of Nicaragua, in Deutsches Handels-Archiv,' February and July 1889.

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Belly (N.), Percement de l'isthme de Panama par le canal de Nicaragua. 8. Paris, 1885. Bell (Thomas), The Naturalist in Nicaragua: a Narrative of a Residence at the Gold Mines of Chontales, &c. 8. London, 1873.

Būlow (A. von), Der Freistaat Nicaragua in Mittelamerika. 8. Berlin, 1849.
Keller (J.), Le canal de Nicaragua. 8. Paris, 1859.

Paris, 1873.

Lery (P.), Notas geograficas y economicas sobre la república de Nicaragua. Marr (Wilhelm), Reise nach Centralamerika. 2 vols. 8. Hamburg, 1863. Scherzer (Karl, Ritter ron), Wanderungen durch die mittelamerikanischen Freistaaten Nicaragua, Honduras und San Salvador. 8. Braunschweig, 1857. Squier (E. G.), Sketches of Travel in Nicaragua. 8. New York, 1851.

Squier (E. G.), Nicaragua, its People, Scenery, Monuments, and the proposed Interoceanie Canal. 2 vols. 8. London, 1852. Wetham (J. W. Bodham), Across Central America. 8. London, 1877.

OMAN.

AN independent State in South-castern Arabia extending along a fa line-S.E. and S.W.--of almost 1,000 miles from the Gulf of Ormuz, a inland to the deserts. Area, 82,000 square miles; population, 1.500,00 The capital, Muscat (60,000 inhabitants), was occupied by the Portug till the seventeenth century. After various vicissitudes it was take the eighteenth century by Ahmed Ebn-Sáood, of Yemenite origin, and was elected Imam in 1741. His family have since ruled. The pres Sultan is Seyyid Feysal bin Turki, second son of the late Seyyid Turki Sa'eed bin Sultan, who succeeded his father June 4, 1888, but has not yette formally recognised by the British Government. In the beginning of present century the power of the Imam of Oman extended over a area of Arabia, the islands in the Persian Gulf, a strip on the Persian c and a long strip of the African coast south of Cape Guardafui, includ Socotra and Zanzibar. On the death of Sultan Sáood in 1854 Zanzibar G detached from Oman and placed under the rule of the second son, subsequent troubles curtailed the area of the state in Asia. The ch relations have for years existed between the Government of India Oman, and a British Consul or Political Resident resides at Muscat. is practically on the footing of an Indian native State, and essentially British protection. The authority of the Sultan does not extend far bey Muscat.

The revenue of the Sultan amounts to about 200,000 dollars.

The exports in 1888-89 were valued at 1,403,100 dollars; chiefly da 440,000 dollars; cotton fabrics, 120,000 dollars; rice, 90,000 dollars: & 65,000 dollars; pearls, 75,000 dollars; fruits, 35,000 dollars. The imper were valued at 1,857,270 dollars, chiefly rice, 502,800 dollars; sugar, dollars; coffee, 50,000 dollars; cottons, 223,700 dollars; oils, 27,000 dellas salt, 70,000 dollars; pearls, 100,000 dollars. The imports from India valued at 1,193,080 dollars; Persian Gulf, 401,560 dollars; South Ar and Africa, 210,030 dollars; United States, Mauritius, and Singapore, 223 dollars.

Vessels entered and cleared the port of Muscat in 1888-89, 476 · 162,450 tons, of which 111 of 131,800 tons were European and American

Administration Report of the Persian Gulf Political Residency for 1888-89. C

1889.

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ORANGE FREE STATE.

(ORANJE-VRIJSTAAT.)

Constitution and Government.

THE Republic known as the Orange Free State, founded originilly by Boers who quitted Cape Colony in 1836 and following years, is separated from the Cape Colony by the Orange River, has British Basutoland and Natal on the east, the Transvaal on the north, and Transvaal and Griqualand West on the west. Its independence was declared on February 23, 1854, and a Constitution was proclaimed April 10, 1854, and revised February 9, 1866, and May 8, 1879. The legislative authority is vested in a popular Assembly, the Volksraad, of 57 members, elected by suffrage of the burghers (adult white males) for four years from every district, town, and ward, or field-cornetcy in the country districts. Every two years one-half of the members vacate their seats and an election takes place. The members of the Volksraad receive pay at the rate of 17. per day. Eligible are burghers 25 years of age, owners of real property to the value of 5002. Voters must be white burghers by birth or naturalisation, be owners of real property of not less than 150%., or lessees of real property of an annual rental of 361., or have a yearly income of not less than 2007., or be owners of personal property of the value of 3007., and have been in the State for not less than three years. The executive is vested in a President chosen for five years by universal suffrage, who is assisted by an Executive Council. The Executive Council consists of the Government Secretary, the Landrost of the capital, and three unofficial members appointed by the Volksraad, one every year for three years.

President of the Republic.-Judge Reitz, sworn into office January 11, 1889, in succession to the late Sir John Henry, Brand.

There is a Landrost or Governor appointed to each of the districts (18) of the Republic by the President, the appointment requiring the confirma tion of the Volksraad. In every ward there are commissioners for various purposes, the members of which are elected-by the burghers.