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Rh coloration and Indian or negroid features. The prevailing language is a degenerate form of Spanish, nearer to Galician than to Castilian. Most of the native dialects have ceased to exist, but a corrupt form of English is spoken on parts of the east coast. All who speak Spanish are classed as Ladinos; the half-castes generally are termed Mestizos; and the name of Sambos or Zambos is confined to the descendants of Indian and negro parents; these are also incorrectly called Caribs. The number of the uncivilized Indians, whose camps or villages are situated in open glades among the forests of the plateau region, is usually estimated at 30,000; but this would seem to be an exaggeration. Pure-blooded Indians are not numerous, as whole districts were depopulated and whole tribes exterminated by the Spanish colonists and the buccaneers. A few may be descendants of the Aztecs and Mayas, whose temples, sculptures, burial-grounds, &c., have not yet been fully explored. For a general account of this ancient civilization and of the Indian tribes see and : Archaeology. A collection of Nicaraguan antiquities is preserved in the National Museum at Washington, U.S.A.; and the archaeological collection brought to Europe by Dr W. Lehmann in 1910 was exhibited in the Berlin Museum of Fine Arts.

Constitution and Administration.—The former constitution proclaimed on the 4th of July 1894 and amended on the 10th of December 1896, was superseded on the 30th of March 1905, when a new constitution was promulgated. By this instrument the legislative power is vested in a single chamber of 36 members (instead of 40, as under the old constitution), elected by universal male suffrage for six years (instead of two). The executive is entrusted to a president similarly chosen for six years (instead of four) and aided by a cabinet representing the five ministries of foreign affairs and education, finance, internal administration and justice, war and marine, and public works. For administrative purposes the republic is divided into 13 departments and 2 comarcas, each under a political head who acts as military commandant and controls education, finance, &c. The administration of justice is entrusted to numerous courts of first instance, three courts of appeal, and a supreme court. The active army of 4000 men can be increased to 40,000 in war. All able-bodied citizens between the ages of seventeen and fifty-five are compelled to serve one year with the colours and are then enrolled in the reserve. Roman Catholicism is the prevailing creed, but all religions are tolerated, and none receives any endowment or other special privilege from the state. The bishop of Leon, whose diocese is included in the archiepiscopal province of Guatemala, is the spiritual head of the Roman Catholics. There are numerous elementary schools, at which the teaching is free and compulsory, besides ten colleges for secondary or technical education, and two universities.

History.—For a general account of the Spanish administration during the colonial period, i.e. up to 1821, and of the subsequent attempts to unite all the Central American republics in a single