HONDTRAS, a republican state of Central America, extending e. and w. from the Caribbean sea to the Pacific ocean, and separating Nicaragua on the s.e. front Guate mala on the n.w. It stretches in n. lat. between 13° 10' and 16% and in w. long. between 83° and 89° 45', containing about 47.063 sq.m., including a portion of the Mos quito territory, and 351,700 inhabitants, most of them wholly or partly of aboriginal blood. The country is generally mountainous, being traversed by the Cordilleras (q.v.), which connect the Andes on the s. with the Sierra Madre on the north. The principal rivers are the Chamelicon, Ulna, Agnan, and Choluteca. An excellent agricultural country, Honduras abounds also in mineral The minerals are gold, silver, copper, iron, cinnabar, zinc, antimony, tin, platinum, opal, amethysts, asbestos, chalk, limestone, marble, and coal. The soil produces valuable timber, fruit-t•ees, cotton, sugar, coffee, tobacco, indigo, maize, wheat, potatoes, yams, plantains, bananas, and beans. The foreign trade is carried on chiefly with Great Britain, the United States,
and Spain. The annual value of exports, consisting of timber, tobacco, hides, dye stuffs, etc., may be estimated at 1,230,000 dollars, or £246,000. The imports, amounting to 750,000 dollars, or .€149,000, consist to the extent of more than one-half of cotton manufactures—the articles next in order being woolens, silks, and wines and spirits. This republic is for administrative purposes divided into the seven departments Comayagna, Tejucigalpa, Choluteca, Santa Barbara, Gracias, Goro, and Minch°. The revenue amounts to about €97,000. The expenditure has for several years exceeded the revenue, while loans have been raised to construct an interoceanic railway from Port Cortez, on the Atlantic. to the bay of Fonseca, on the Pacific ocean. Of the entire length of 232 m. only.56 In. on the Atlantic. side were finished in 1879.