Geologically, Nicaragua is no less rich than Honduras in variety of structure and mineral possibilities. The volcanic formations on the extreme West are rich in pumice and sulphur, while across the lake are andesyte, trachyte, greenstone, and metalliferous porphyries, succeeded by crystallized schists, dolerites, and metamorphic beds, extending, so far as is known, beneath the alluvial deposits of the coast-region. The Chontales gold mines have been worked for some time near Libertad, and so have the silver mines of Matagalpa and Dipilto; but the total annual yield of precious metals seldom exceeds $200,000. The chief articles of export are cacao, hides, coffee, and gums, as well as gold and silver bullion; and in 1880 the exports amounted to $2,057,500, and the imports to $1,475,000. The revenue for this year was $2,435,000, while the expenditures slightly exceeded it. All Nicaraguans between the age of eighteen and thirty-five are in the army. For more than half a century Nicaragua has been darkly distinguished above all other countries of the world by war and bloodshed. Military _pronunciamientos_, civil war, and popular revolts have so exhausted all the resources of this rich country that it is quiet at last from utter exhaustion. Could these fermenting republics be induced to give up their absurd and expensive military establishments, and expend the money, now worse than wasted, in opening roads and teaching the people something besides military drill, the prosperity of this wonderfully fertile and agreeable region would be assured. Only their revolutionary habits now stand in the way of the introduction of foreign capital; and are not these habits fostered by the constant military display which guards the President and judges alike? It is certainly foreign to all Northern ideas to have a court of justice guarded by military sentinels. Would that this Eden might be reclaimed, the swords beaten into ploughshares, and the generals and other officers turn their wasted energies to agriculture and commerce! Nicaragua is divided into the following departments, according to the census of 1882:— Departments. Chief Cities. Managua 12,000 Managua 7,800 Granada 51,056 Granada 16,000 Leon 26,389 Leon 25,000 Rivas 16,875 Rivas 10,000 Chinandega 17,578 Chinandega 11,000 Chontales 27,738 Libertad 5,000 Matagalpa 51,699 Matagalpa 9,000 Nueva Segovia 36,902 Ocotal 3,000 San Juan del Norte 2,000 Greytown 1,512 Mosquitia 36,000 Blewfields 1,000