The largest mercantile houses in Guatemala are German; Americans of the North are absent. When it was suggested to the agent of one of the largest cotton-mills in New England that the cases in which its cloths were usually packed for market could not be handled in a country provided only with mule transportation, the Yankee agent thought it not worth the trouble to pack in smaller bales, as did the English and French manufacturers. Ready-made clothes are cheaper in France, and shoes in Germany and France. If I want barbed wire for my fences, corrugated iron for my warehouses, or rails for my tramways, my English correspondent can deliver all these to me on my wharf at Livingston much cheaper than I can buy any of these manufactures of iron in protected New York. England, from her experience in her tropical colonies, knows how to prepare merchandise, and what sorts are needed for the trade with tropical America; she buys the crop of mahogany, logwood, and coffee, and saves exchange by selling her own products, and at the same time supports her own vessels in the carrying trade. If it were not for the fresh fruit which the United States needs, there would probably not be a single line of steamers between these countries; for on the Pacific side Guatemala is merely a way-station. Finally, the sarsaparilla goes to England, and is there manufactured into extract or syrup for the use of the immense establishments of patent medicines in the United States. Now let us see what Guatemala contributes to the needs of foreign nations; and I give a table of exports for two years, that the changes may be noted. Of the former staples, such as indigo and cochineal, the amount now exported is insignificant; the exportation of coffee fell off, owing to a short crop; sugar was influenced by the low prices ruling in foreign markets. TABLE OF EXPORTS.