The point from which the water is derived is known as Tincuantepe, distant from Masaya 16 miles, and elevated above the city 800 feet. Around the fall of Tincuantepe, the scenery is very picturesque. The water is pure, wholesome, and clear as crystal. At Nindiri, a small Indian village, 11⁄2 miles from Masaya, the company has built an immense reservoir, with an elevation of 140 feet, capable of holding 600,000 gallons. From Nindiri to Masaya, there is a pressure equal to 500 pounds to the square inch.

The mains are of 3 and 4 inch iron pipe. The principal main is laid on Monibo street. Few mains as yet have been laid on the side streets. This company was organized with a capital stock of $126,000; that is, thirty shares, at $4,200 per share. The piping was purchased in the United States. There is every indication to believe that the enterprise will prove a paying one. Masaya has a population estimated at 16,000, and is on the line of the national railroad running from Managua to Granada.

MASATEPE WATERWORKS.

Masatepe is a small village, about one hour and a half's ride from Masaya, and has within and around its confines a population of 10,000. The source of the water supply is Lake Masaya. This lake lies 300 feet below the town of the same name, surrounded, excepting on the western side, by precipitous cliffs, down which three or four rocky paths have been cut. In order to reach a proper level, the water is pumped from the lake to a height of 1,020 feet. The length of the main, that is, from the lake to Masatepe, is 3 miles.

A company was organized to construct these works on a basis of one thousand shares at $25 per share, and it is estimated that the plant cost $25,000.

LEON WATERWORKS.

On the 7th of July last, a concession was granted by the city of Leon to a company for the introduction of water and the erection of the necessary works. A company has been organized, with a capital stock amounting to $107,500, divided into two hundred and fifteen shares, at $500 per share. The municipality of Leon has subscribed for six shares. It is believed that the works will not cost less than $120,000.

The water is to be taken from the Rio Chiquita, distant about half a mile from the city. It is understood that the company will lay about 13 miles of piping between now and the early part of next year.

The enterprise should be successful, as it has a greater population to draw from than any other portion of Nicaragua. The inhabitants of Leon are supposed to number 40,000.

SAN ANTONIO SUGAR REFINERY.

Upon this enterprise I have already reported, but as the management has made some improvements since that report, it is proper to revert to it again.

The company has just lately purchased a mile of portable railway, costing $5,000 in gold. This machinery was bought in the United States, because it comes free into this country under the reciprocity treaty and because it is superior to all others. The company has also added electrical machinery to its already perfect sugar-refining plant. Electric lights will be placed in the main building and in the houses set apart for the officers and employés.

The San Antonio Sugar Company is the most important undertaking in Nicaragua, and, I believe, in the whole of Central America. Their object is to revolutionize the sugar industry of these countries, which their capital and extensive plant will well enable them to do.

The gentleman who has charge of the purchasing department of this concern assures me that American pumps and boilers take the lead of all others.

PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS.

The business men of Granada are now considering the advisability of improving their water system. At this time the supply is very limited and inadequate to the needs of the city. This system will be improved if the gentlemen who have the new venture in hand can induce the old company to dispose of its interests. It is believed that the old company will sell. As soon as the transfer is consummated, the new company will proceed to expend $60,000 in improving the water system and $40,000 for electrical machinery. I am assured that the city of Granada will be lighted by electricity not later than the middle of the year 1893.

Besides the tramway that runs from the station to the market in Granada, it is proposed to construct another from the cemetery to Lake Nicaragua. Those interested in the project have estimated the cost to construct the line at $50,000 (soles).

The young men of Granada are considering the proposition of erecting a hippodrome, where there can be racing and a place for athletic games of all kinds. It is proposed to construct public baths on the shores of Lake Nicaragua, in Granada.

Capitalists of Leon are considering the suggestion to build a tramway through the principal street and to the railroad station.

WILLIAM NEWell,

Consul.

Chapter IX.

RELIGION AND PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.

Nicaragua is a Catholic country, and the constitution recognizes this fact by declaring:

ARTICLE 6. The religion of the Republic is the Roman Catholic Apostolic. The Government protects its practice.

No person is molested, however, on account of religious ideas. Public instruction has been under the immediate and direct control of the Government ever since 1877, and that it is fully alive to the importance of the work is proved by the fact that it expends upon it 8 per cent of its income. Señor Gamez, in his Noticias geográficas, etc., says that the Nicaraguan Government expends for this purpose no less than $18,883.28% per month, or $226,599.38

per year.

Besides the schools supported by the Government, there are others supported by the respective municipalities, and others exclusively private, or established and conducted by private enterprise.

When Señor Gamez wrote (1892), there were 263 Government schools, with 303 teachers, and an attendance of 16,554 pupils; 10 municipal schools, with 15 teachers and 871 pupils; and 37 private schools with 95 teachers and 1,895 pupils; total, 310 schools, 413 teachers, and an attendance of 19,320 pupils.

In addition to the primary schools, there are two "intermediate,” or rather high, schools for boys, and one of the same character for girls, having together 51 teachers (42 for boys, 9 for girls), and an attendance of 1,441 pupils (724 boys, 717 girls).

Until very recently, there have been two universities in Nicaragua, one in León, and another in Granada, fully equipped for the teaching of jurisprudence and medicine, with powers to confer academical degrees. Under a decree promulgated by President Sacasa, the two universities have been consolidated into one.

There is but one public library in Nicaragua, which is located at Managua. It contains a very choice collection of the works of foreign and American authors, numbering 6,310 volumes and 600 pamphlets. This library is supported by the national Government, and derives no revenue save from that source, as it is free to the public.

Chapter X.

COST OF LIVING, WAGES, ETC.

The style of domestic architecture in Nicaragua is the same that prevails throughout the whole of Spanish America. The houses of the laboring classes vary in solidity according to the variations of climate; being, in the hot lands, near the coast, merely light structures of wood or cane and thatched with palm leaves. In the colder regions, they are built of adobe, or sun-dried brick, and roofed with tiles. The better class of houses are built in the old Spanish style which was introduced into Spain by the Moors, sometimes of two stories, but more frequently of one only, built around a courtyard or patio. In a warm climate, no pleasanter residence can be imagined than these houses. The thick walls are built of adobe, cemented and whitewashed, or of stone. These and the heavy-tiled roofs exclude the heat. The rooms are spacious and very lofty, with great doors, and windows without glass sashes, but closed by heavy wooden shutters and protected on the outside by a grating of iron bars. All the doors of the rooms open upon a veranda surrounding the patio, which is filled with shrubbery and flowers. Here, easy chairs and hammocks afford inviting resting places. In the towns, however delightful these houses may be as places of residence, the fact that the verandas and other embellishments are on the interior gives the street a gloomy appearance. The majority of city residences are also connected with stores. As a rule, few merchants or traders reside away from their places of business. Rents are high and have greatly increased of late