Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1909-12-09

ri 1r The ea.;crn or ..arihhe,, .;.,ro
lies low and Is drained by MANY rivers
TIE only industry of this section Ia ,bs
growing Of bananas which were shipned in
1908 to the number of 1,5Oc 700 lunches. WI.
ued a 80 cents a bunch The princ,u1l
town here is Bluefieds, a little sou., Of
the center, having 500, inhabitants. II Ia
1.1s6 miles from New Orleans and $40
miles from Colon. The Only other i'm
portsrt places on this east coast u-c
Greytown. ut the southern point, with o6W
i, abitants. near the north Of the San
Juan river, which was to have been tho
course of the isthmian canal II built
through Nicaragua. and Cape Ora cia =
a Dios. at the northern point. with only
l.j0 people. on the populated Pacific
slope the chief cities are Leon, the his
toric and interesting old capital with 80 =
0Co Inhabitants: ManaEua, the present
capital, with 5000; Matagalpa with 49,
900: Granada, with 1860: and several other
towns Of from 5000 20 1000. The prin-
cipal port on the Pacific SIZE IS rorin,o.
lear the northern end. with only ahou.
cNA reople. At the southern end Is tie
harbor OF San Juan del Sur.
IfOW To GET THERE
There is one railroad in Nicara qua
which starts at Corinto and runs TO Ma
naEua and thence across to Grenada on
Lake Nicaragua. which Is the largest in
land body Of water In all Latin America.
II one wishes TO go to Nicaragua, he can
take steamers on tho Atlantic side from
New York. New Orleans or Mobile. Co
ing by Pacific he will take steamers from
San Francisco or from coast points OF
other countries. Perhaps the quickest
way to reach II to-day is either Mexico
by rail and by steamer from Salina Cruz
to Torin,o. or by steamer from New Or
leans direct TO Bluenelds. The latter
Journey generally takes about four days.
IT, however. one lands on the east coast
It is nra< tically impossible TO GO to the
west coast on account Of the lack Of rail-
roads and other facilities common
way to go TO the west coast is via Fan
ANA and the Pacific side.
Tho total value OF the foreign trade of
Nicaragua in 1908 amounted to $500, 0Do,
Of which exports were S4.50oOo0, and i'm
ports $3,O0OON0. Nicaragua bought from,
the United States textiles, clothing. ma
chinery. etc. valued at 81 800 900. She sold
to the United States bananas. coffee. rub
Der. mahogany, cattle, hides. etc, valued
at slW0Ur0
Nicaragua has president, cabinet
with Ave ministers or secretaries. IS de-
partments or States and five divisions
like our Territories. Its national assem-
bly, consists of only one chamber which
is now in session.
Lying between 10 degrees - minutes and
Il degrees IS minutes north latitude aid
between So degrees II minutes and de-
grees 40 minutes west longitude. il is
loca ted all within the tropics, but it has a
considerable variety of climate. Although
the east coast is low-lying ann very
warm, the central and western sections
are in parts so mountainous and elevated
that the temperature never reaches a
high point and the climate can be con-
sidered salubrious. The western section
in which the greater part OF the popula
ton Is located. has such a varying iati-
tude, and the country is SO broken with
lakes and so close to the sea. that it IL
not by any means as hot as II would
appear to be on the map.