a body, in case the necessary supplies should not be provided for its support. Nevertheless, early in the following year, 1824, the executive ordered a light battalion to be organized with the title of "Defenders of the Independence."
There are few officers who can lay claim to military prowess, for they have had little opportunity of evincing it, excepting, however, Colonel Arze, a relation of the president. Colonel Arzu, chief of the mathematical college, and above all the president himself.
The rate of military pay is low with regard to the prices of provisions and necessaries of life. There are two national powder-mills; one at the Antigua, and the other on the banks of the river Vacas: in the former alone is manufactured all the powder requisite for the service of the state.
The flag of the national ports and vessels consists of three horizontal stripes; the bottom and top blue, and the centre white; in the latter of which is the shield of the
