for the direct influences of the partial opening of the Nicaragua route of transit, and the consequent direction of public attention and individual enterprise to that portion of the Central American Isthmus. As the trade of Nicaragua, by way of this port must pass through the river San Juan, the Nicaraguan Customs Establishment has been fixed at the old Fort of San Carlos, at the head of the river, on the lake. The average rate of duty exacted under the Nicaraguan tariff, is about 21 per cent. ad valorem,[2] which, added to the British impositions at San Juan, makes the total duty to be paid on articles passing into the interior about 24 per cent. ----- Footnote 1: Since the above was written, the collection of customs at San Juan, from motives of policy, has been _suspended_, but not permanently abandoned, by the British Government. Footnote 2: It should be mentioned, however, that although the Nicaraguan tariff is nominally 21 per cent. ad valorem, yet as one half of the amount of duties may be paid in Government _vales_, or notes, which range from ten to sixty per cent. in value, according to their class and date, it is practically not more than 15 per cent. ----- When the political questions connected with British aggressions in Nicaragua shall have been satisfactorily and permanently adjusted, and the projected canal really commenced, this port will become one of the first importance, if not the most important, on the continent. Its prospective value can hardly be estimated; for apart from its position in respect to the proposed work, it is the only Atlantic port of one of the finest countries under the tropics, possessing inexhaustible agricultural and mineral resources, which recent movements indicate with certainty are destined to a speedy development.