the exploration of all the various routes by the United States Government.

In 1877, the Nicaragua Canal Concession was canvassed by a representative of Lesseps, who had turned his attention to this route; but the party in favour of the United States was too strong in the Nicaraguan Congress.

The President of the United States appointed Admiral Ammen and Mr. A. G. Menocal delegates on behalf of the United States Government to attend the International Congress held at Paris, May 15th, 1879. This Congress was convened ostensibly to determine the relative merits of the different canal schemes, but, in fact, to select and approve the route of Panama, for which Lieut. Napoleon Bonaparte-Wyse had the previous year obtained a concession from the Colombian Government. Admiral Ammen and Mr. Menocal were present at the sittings of the Congress, and presented the advantages of the Nicaraguan route. Action was, however, limited by the adoption of a resolution that the construction of a canal at a uniform level was possible, and that " the maritime canal which would above all offer such advantages, should be located between the Gulf of Limon and the Bay of Panama."

Mr. Blaine, as Secretary of State, and his successor, Mr. Frelinghuysen, prepared the way for a more definite interest on the part of the United States in a Nicaragua canal. Mr. Frelinghuysen's treaty was concluded and submitted to the Senate in December, 1884. Great secrecy as to its provisions was maintained, but a copy of

President Arthur's message, with which the treaty was transmitted, as well as of the treaty itself, were published in the "New York Tribune" of December 18th, 1884.1 In the following year the treaty was withdrawn for further consideration, and was not again presented before Congress.

1 See Appendix, No. III.

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CHAPTER VIII.

SOCIAL AND POLITICAL NICARAGUA.

N treating of the social and political aspect of Nicaragua, I have come to the conclusion that a pincelazo á brocha gorda, as the Spaniards have it, a brief general consideration, of Nicaraguan life and characteristics, those curious little ways, especially, that so frequently attract the attention, and amuse, and not unseldom try the patience of, the European traveller-is preferable to a mere formal detailing of one's journeyings from day to day, embodying a categorical account of individual towns, villages, ports, and plantations, with the respective information thereto appertaining.

As might be expected, very little of the comfort of modern travel is to be experienced in Nicaragua. The existing railroad system consists of only two separate divisions, neither of them extensive. The first, fifty-six miles in length, commencing at the port of Corinto on the Pacific coast, terminates at Momotombo on the northwestern shore of Lake Managua, thus affording a connection with the lake steamers, while the second section connects Managua with Granada, a distance of thirty-two miles.

Both the railroad and the steamboat lines on Lake Managua are owned and administered by the Government, who defrayed the cost out of the public funds, most of the money being raised, so it is said, "by dint of wholesale economies made in the various branches of the public service." The steamer service on Lake Nicaragua, like that on the San Juan river, belongs to, and is managed by Mr. Pellas, an Italian resident of Greytown. There are three classes of railway passenger coaches, with a graduated baggage allowance, all excess being charged as first-class freight. At any rate, so read the regulations, which, judging from personal experience, I should say were certainly more honoured in the breach than in the observance, seeing that the average Nicaraguan traveller invariably enters a train with several bags and parcels, generally a bundle of bedding and a caged bird, a gourd or two for the making of tiste, and frequently a pot de chambre, all of which are strewn around in the most reckless manner, regardless of the fellow-travellers' comfort. In the United States, people, it is known, travel with a minimum of baggage; here they carry most of the household effects. The first-class cars are supposed to have the luxury of a separate smoking compartment, but in all classes smoking is allowed, men and women alike indulging in the cigar or cigarette. Newsboys, selling generally Spanish translations of French authors-Xavier de Montépin, Ohnet, Guy de Maupassant -or local papers, "El Diarito," "El 93," etc., and the confitero flit to and fro. Nicaraguan trains go very leisurely, and the local joke among the foreign residents

is that even the locomotives seem to be affected by that enervating feeling due to a tropical climate. The river steamer service is very indifferent, even after all due allowance is made for the difficulties to be overcome. Although forearmed, apart from a first-class ticket giving me the right to a berth, with a general letter of introduction to the pursers entitling me, as one might reasonably imagine, to at least a little extra consideration at their hands, I found myself quite left behind in the struggle for accommodation, all the berths being monopolized by doubtless more or less worthy, but not too cleanly, Indian traders and market-women, who on taking possession proceeded to scatter in their cabins and surrounding the entrances a chaotic mixture of wares, wardrobes, and

travelling impedimenta. Wretched, in fact one may almost say uneatable, food is supplied, but I noticed that the local experienced traveller wisely strengthens his soup with a little Liebig, and carries his own coffee and chocolate, bringing to mind the Mexican proverb, "Mas vale saber el camino que ser buen vaquero." "It is better to know the road than be a good cowboy." The washing accommodation is almost nil. The unprepared grumble and complain, but so far no improvement has been vouchsafed them.

A few minutes before arriving at one's destination on the lake steamers, the passengers are busily engaged in removing the traces of a more or less fatiguing journey, smart skirts and shawls, clean shirts and high collars, being donned in frantic haste, the local dandy even going so far as to produce a new silk hat to celebrate the occasion.

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