porphyry rock, 250 feet high on the west, jutting boldly into the sea. This became naturally the base to which to tie a breakwater made out of the rock of the bluff. The stone blasted off became the foundation of a massive work formed by huge concrete blocks put in place by a powerful titan which moves on the completed work. This dike is completed to within 100 meters (328 feet) of the sea end. The water deepens very rapidly, so that the dike will rest at the end in about 18 meters (59 feet) of water.

"The east dike is built in the same manner, and the two when completed leave an entrance about 656 feet wide. The east jetty is built by carrying the materials along the shore from the promontory and depositing them by a second titan that operates on this work. About one-third the distance from the shore has been completed at this date. The plan clearly shows the details of the port itself. The ground where it is located is a low flat marsh which can be easily dredged. Across the rear of the protected area extends a line of wharting with an opening for the passage of vessels into the interior basin. On this wharfing are six warehouses, with railroad tracks on each side for handling goods between rail and ship. Back of an extensive interior basin is a row of piers and slips, which are to be built as the traffic requires it. This basin has a depth of 32.8 feet, and there is none less anywhere in the outer port in front of the warehouses. It will be seen by a glance at this plan that an important business is expected. "The costs of the harbor, port and terminal facilities, not including the railroad tracks, yards, etc., are as follows:

"These amounts are all in Mexican silver, the present rate of exchange being about 42 cents. As near as the total amount can be estimated in gold dollars, the Mexican Government will have expended, including interest paid out, from the beginning of its efforts to build the railroad under the Learned contract to the entire completion of the route ready for interoceanic traffic, about $33,000,000.

"As stated by Admiral Shufeldt, the fact that Tehuantepec is nearer the 'Axial line' of the commerce of the world-Hongkong, Yokohama, San Francisco, New York, Liverpool-gives this route great advantages over Panama. An inspection of the globe will show that the shortest ocean route from Panama to the East-Yokohama and Hong

kong-must pass along our coast to at least off San Francisco. In fact, the shortest line--the great circle-drawn between Panama and Yokohama passes through the Gulf of Mexico at Corpus Christi, more than 100 miles east of San Francisco and through the Aleutian Islands. It may be assumed that the average saving in distance by the Tehuantepec route over Panama to all points on our Atlantic coast and Europe is about 1,250 miles. The ordinary freight steamer makes about 10 miles an hour, or say, 250 miles per day, requiring five days. longer via Panama, assuming the time of crossing the two isthmuses to be the same. It will take a steamer about one day to pass through the Panama Canal, and the freight about two days to pass over Tehuantepec from ship to ship, leaving still four days to the advantage of Tehuantepec.

"It is assumed that at Tehuantepec the methods of handling cargo are the best and the quickest now employed anywhere. If the steamers built for this route are designed like the Morgan line steamers running to New Orleans and Galveston from New York, they will be able to discharge or load 5,000 tons of freight on board cars or on board ship in ten hours. This is done regularly at Algiers, opposite New Orleans. Each of the three under deeks for freight has great side ports hermetically sealed on the voyage, but opened up as the steamer lightens up in discharging. These ports are high enough so that a gang of men can truck the freight out of the ship into the cars, which have their floors at the level of the wharf floor. When the upper deck has been unloaded, the ship lightens up out of the water sufficiently to allow the next set of side ports to be swung open, and so on to the third. Heavy freight machinery, etc., which can not be readily trucked out is stored near the hatchways and lifted out by the ship's tackle and loaded on flat cars, which stand on a track immediately under the ship's side. The steamers are loaded from the cars in the same manner and in the same time. Ten hours will suffice to transfer a cargo of 5,000 tons from the steamer to a train of cars and start it on its journey over the Isthmus.

"As to grain, instead of the long voyage of 16,552 miles around Cape Horn from San Francisco to Liverpool, the sailing ships that carry it could run into Tehuantepec, transfer their cargoes by the method above described, if the grain is in bags, as is usual on this route, or by elevators, at the two terminals, if in bulk, and save 8,250 . miles really 12,000 miles, for actual' sailing' distance is generally 50 per cent greater than steaming' distance.

"This brings up another important matter which should not be lost sight of, viz, the nautical advantages of Tehuantepec. It is safe to say that sailing vessels will never use the Panama Canal. They can not reach it or get away from it. They always avoid the region of

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calms that prevail on both oceans opposite Panama. The opinion of Lieutenant Maury still holds good. He summed up the nautical advantages as follows:

"Should nature by one of her convulsions rend the American Continent in twain and make a channel across the Isthmus of Panama or Darien as deep, as wide, and as free as the Straits of Dover, it would never become a thoroughfare for sailing vessels, saving the outward bound or those that could reach it by leading winds.'

"It is a mistake to assume that the sailing vessel is passing and soon to give way entirely to steamers. The sailing fleet of the world, while diminished in numbers, is still an important factor in ocean commerce, and, as to the coastwise commerce of this country, it is still more important. Probably the coastwise tonnage in sail is twice that of steam, even figuring the steam ton as four times the sail ton. As to the relative cost of transportation over the two routes, this will depend upon the tolls and rates in each case, but as both routes are operated by Governments we may assume that there will be competition and the rates scaled to secure all the business possible.

"The extra cost of the four days to a steamer, say, $2,000, plus the canal tolls, would make a 5,000-ton cargo cost about $10,000 via Panama. No doubt the cost by Tehuantepec would be no greater and there would be still the saving in time of four days, which, to quick freight, is of great advantage in this age of rapid transportation. Many estimates have been made of the tonnage to be expected over a trans-Isthmian route. Some of these have been carefully worked out on a correct basis and some have been guessed at. Assuming 6,000,000 tons, which is about an average of the estimates, there is no doubt that, during the eight years when the completed and equipped Tehuantepec route will be in operation before the Panama Canal will be ready to receive traffic, this route will draw to itself at least one-balf of the tributary tonnage, and it is reasonable to expect that even after the canal has opened it will hold all the tonnage acquired which is tributary to this route.”

AMENDED CUSTOMS-HOUSE ORDINANCES.

(Continued.)

ART. 322. The exportation of antiquities and of Mexican historical objects is forbidden.

ART. 323. The captain or consignee of a vessel wishing to take on board native goods to be transported to foreign ports will present to the custom-house a duplicate request, setting forth the name of the ship, its tonnage capacity, and the name of the port whither it is going to carry the goods. To the original copy of the petition stamps will be attached according to the provisions of the stamp law.

ART. 325. The shippers of goods, when desirous of putting them on board, will present to the custom-house, on paper of the legal size and in duplicate, a written petition, which must set forth the name of the vessel, the name of the captain, the name of the port whither the goods are bound, the marks, numbers, number, class, and gross weight (the latter in letters) of the packages containing the goods, and, finally, their class and value.

ART. 326. The accounting department of the custom-house will compare the copies of each request with one another and will mark them with the proper correlative number; on the stamped copy the accountant will inscribe the word "Conforme" above his signature. Next, the custom-house collector will designate the inspector who will have charge of passing the goods, engrossing on the petition the words, "Permit the shipment." The inspector will place on record his intervention in the operation by engrossing on the petition the word “Despachado,” and, after these formalities have been complied with, the shipper may put the goods on board, subject to the permit of the commandant of the custom-house guards and the approval of the guards supervising the operation.

Exporters may declare approximately the number of pieces, weight, or dimensions of the goods; but in this case they will state clearly in their declarations that the data are not exact.

Goods thus declared will be subjected necessarily to the verification of the data supplied by the custom-house inspector, and the discrepancies that may be found will not involve the imposition of any penalty; but export duties, when payable, will be adjusted on the basis of the results of the verification.

When shippers declare that the particulars given by them in their petitions as to weight, dimensions, or quantity are correct, the goods will not necessarily be subjected to revision, save to the extent deemed expedient by the inspector, and if any discrepancies are found in the case of goods that are subject to export duty, additional duties will be collected over and above said export duties. When the discrepancies do not affect duty payments they will be regarded merely as errors and will involve a fine not exceeding $5 each.

When the shippers of goods for exportation and subject to export duties state in their petitions that the particulars given by them are correct and when on the goods being passed their quantity is found to be less, or when a part of the goods are not sent on board, the inspector will notify the custom-house collector in order that the shipment may be checked, and both will subscribe the annotation on the document itself. In this case duties will be assessed on the goods actually exported, and if on account of his not being under bond the exporter has already paid the duties, the custom-house will return to him the

excess.

ART. 336. When a native or foreign ship has finished the unloading of merchandise which it has on board for one or more ports of the Republic and the captain or consignee asks permission to take on cargo at some point on the coast where there is no custom-house section to witness the loading, such permission may be granted, subject to the following rules:

1. The captain or consignee of the vessel will request the permission of the custom-house collector by means of a written petition bearing the stamp required by the stamp law.

2. After such permission has been granted, the shipper will present a request, stamped according to law, and the custom-house, acting in accordance with the provisions of article 331, will, in issuing the certificate to the shipper, set forth therein, in addition to the particulars mentioned in said article, the ship's destination and the object which takes it thither.

III. The custom-house of the port from which the ship sails will at once notify the custom-house or custom-house section nearest to the point at which the ship takes cargo on board, and such custom-house or custom-house section will cause it to be watched in order that it may not take improper advantage of the permission; they will also report the result to the first-named custom-house, declaring the number, kind, and contents of the packages which the ship may take on board, and the value, weight, or dimensions of the goods which said packages may contain.

IV. The custom-house collector will take care not to grant the permission to which this article refers when the goods which the vessel is to carry are subject to export duties unless said duties shall have been paid in advance or satisfactorily guaranteed.

V. On no account will the permission in question be granted when the object is to ship metals which are subject to duties, for the exportation of such metals can only take place through custom-houses open to the trade of the high seas.

VI. When native goods, destined for exportation, have to be carried in the coasting trade from the port of their origin to another Mexican port at which they are to be directly transshipped or are to be landed with a view to being later on reshipped on the vessel that is to carry them abroad, the shippers may request that the formalities connected with the exportation, as well as the payment of duties, when called for, be effected at the first of the ports mentioned. In such case all the requirements provided by this chapter will be complied with in the custom-house in question and the captain or consignee will be required to present a petition in accordance with article 323, while the shipper will be required to present triplicate petitions to load the goods, to the end that one copy of each may be sent to the custom