those of the railway, Pacific mail, and canal company. Ten
thousand persons were left without shelter.
[XXVI-96] _Pan. Star and Herald_, April 10, 1885. Burt and
the canal company's officers caused supplies to be brought
to Colon. Their houses and offices offered shelter to the
destitute inhabitants. Kane and his officers and men labored
day and night to relieve suffering, and won themselves the
gratitude of the distressed community. _La Estrella de Pan._,
Apr. 4, 1885. According to later accounts, the losses by the
burning of Colon were 18 lives, and about $6,000,000. _Pan.
Ev'g Telegram_, Apr. 3, 1886.
[XXVI-97] The number killed probably did not exceed 25. The
prisoners were treated with every consideration, and soon
after released. Much property was damaged. _Pan. Cronista_,
Apr. 11, 1885; _Nueva Era_, of Paso del Norte, Apr. 1, 1885;
_La Estrella de Pan._, Apr. 4, 1885.
[XXVI-98] Sec. of gov., C. A. Mendoza; of war and fomento,
Jerónimo Ossa; of treasury, Cárlos Icaza Arosemena. The last
two declined the appointments. Commander of the state forces,
B. Correoso. _Gaceta de Pan._, Apr. 7, 1885; _Pan. Star and
Herald_, Apr. 9, 1885; _Cent. Am. Miscel._, no. 29, 41-3.
[XXVI-99] Toward the latter part of April, there were about
400 in Panamá city. Total number of marines on the Isthmus
600, their commanding officer being Brevet Lieut-col. Charles
Heywood, who commanded at Panamá. McCalla held command in
Colon. In case of need, the Am. squadron could place on
shore 1,800 men, and 30 pieces of artillery. _Pan. Star and
Herald_, Apr. 23, 1855; _La Estrella de Pan._, May 2, 1885.
[XXVI-100] Aizpuru expected soon to be attacked by a superior
force from Cauca. He despatched B. Correoso and A. Clément as
peace commissioners to Buenaventura, but they were arrested
there. _Pan. Star and Herald_, Apr. 25, 27, May 4, 1885.
[XXVI-101] After which it was to proceed to Cartagena. _La
Estrella de Pan._, May 4, 1885.
[XXVI-102] Aizpuru's terms were as follows: 1st. To resign
his powers into the hands of Vives Leon, Pablo Arosemena,
or any other constitutionally entitled to receive them. 2d.
General pardon for all offences of a strictly political
character, but the punishment of the guilty of crimes in
Panamá, Colon, or elsewhere on the Isthmus. _Id._, Apr. 29,
1885.
[XXVI-103] On the 4th he claimed to have delivered a larger
number of arms than his commissioners had bound him to
surrender. _La Estrella de Pan._, May 3, 9, 1885.
[XXVI-104] _La Estrella de Occid._, May 16, 1885. Both
Aizpuru and Correoso were subsequently deprived of their
military rank. The former, being tried by court-martial in
Bogotá, was sentenced, Nov. 3, 1885, to 10 years' exile,
with loss of offices, income, and political rights during
that time, and payment of costs and of damages caused by his
rebellion. _Pan. Star and Herald_, Oct. 1, Dec. 10, 24, 1885.
[XXVI-105] Upon which they were publicly complimented by
Rear-admiral Jouett in general orders.
[XXVI-106] 'No siembran mas que lo que justamente consumen
por temor de ser robados en la forma de contribuciones.'
_Maldonado_, _Asuntos Polit. Pan._, MS., 25.
[XXVI-107] Witness the proceedings of the troops brought
by Santa Coloma, and later, at different times, by the
battalions Tiradores, Pichincha, 3d de línea, and others.
Upon the subject of undue federal interference with the
domestic affairs of the Isthmus, the following charges
preferred by M. J. Perez from Panamá in a letter of Oct. 22,
1884, to Aníbal Galindo, are worthy of notice: 1st. Public
intervention of the general government in internal affairs
of the state; 2d. Barefaced protection by the gen. govt
to rebels in arms against the constitutional govt of the
state; 3d. Intimate alliance of the federal force with the
opposing conservatives and with the radicals to disarm the
government, and exercise pressure on the assembly, forcibly
hindering its performance of constitutional functions; 4th.
Consequences of the foregoing course; acts of piracy on
the part of the rebels, violence, bloodshed, international
claims, humiliation. _Pan. Cronista_, Oct. 25, 1884. Correoso
corroborates all this in his remarks on the conduct of the
Guardia Colombiana on the Isthmus, in 1860, 1865, 1868,
1873-5, 1878, and subsequently. _Sucesos de Pan._, 3-8.
[XXVI-108] 'No solo es víctima de sus propios males, sino
tambien de los que le vienen de fuera.' _Maldonado_, _Asuntos
Polít. Pan._, MS., 26.
[XXVI-109] Discussions in the national Consejo de
Delegatarios, in Nov. and Dec. 1885, and law of Dec. 11,
1885, to regulate the gov. of Panamá. _Pan. Star and Herald_,
Jan. 6-15, 1886.
[XXVI-110] _Id._, March 20, 29, supplem., 1886. The
publication of the journal was restored after the term of
suspension expired. Vila's course was disapproved by the
general government, and he was peremptorily recalled for
disobedience of orders. The proprietors of the journal have
made a claim for heavy damages. _Buenaventura Correoso_,
_Sucesos de Panamá Informe á la Nacion_, Buga, 1886, 4to, 24
pp. The writer, one of the prominent political men of Panamá,
in this pamphlet purposes, as he assures us, to point out
the source of the almost continuous disturbances that have
occurred on the Isthmus since 1860, laying particular stress
on the events from 1880 to 1885. It might be expecting too
much that he should express an impartial and wholly unwarped
judgment on those events, and on his political opponents. It
must be acknowledged, however, that his statements appear to
be fair enough, and that his assumption of responsibility
for some of the acts which he censures is frank. _Simon
Maldonado_, _Asuntos Políticos de Panamá_, MS., 42 pp. The
author of this review is a native of Panamá, and has filled
responsible positions in his country, more especially in
the judiciary. His views of affairs there are impartial, and
entitled to consideration for their soundness.
[XXVII-1] An official doc. of the U. S. govt gives 174,800;
_Am. Cyclop._, of 1873-6, 178,277; Crowe, _Gospel in Cent.
Am._, roughly computes it at 200,000. Other authorities
widely differ. I refer the reader to the following maps,
namely: John Baily's, 1850; Max. Von Sonnenstern's offic.
maps of Salv., 1858, and Guat., 1859; Herman Au's, of Guat.,
1875; Paul Levy's, of Nic., 1873; Molina's map of Costa R. in
his Bosquejo.
[XXVII-2] 'Never so great as during the summer months in
England.' _Dunlop's Cent. Am._, 258; _Crosby's Statem._, MS.,
114-17: _Guat._, _Mem. Min. Hac._, 1883, 15-16.
[XXVII-3] The same may be said, though in a less degree, of
the northern and eastern coast of Hond. from Omoa to Gracias
á Dios.
[XXVII-4] La Union, San Miguel, Acajutla, Sonsonate, etc.,
owing to local causes.
[XXVII-5] The average temperature at Tegucigalpa, Comayagua,
Juticalpa, and Gracias is about 74°. _Squier's Notes on Cent.
Am._, 25-7; _Belly_, _A travers l'Amér. Cent._, i. 53-4.
[XXVII-6] Cold and salubrious on the table-lands in the
interior, the thermom. ranging from 65° to 75° Fahr.
_Molina_, _Bosq. Costa R._, 28. The climate of Costa R.
varies from 50° to 60° Fahr., according to elevation.
_Galindo_, in _Journ. Royal Geog. Soc. of London_, vi. 134;
_Laferrière_, _De Paris à Guatém._, 47-8.
[XXVII-7] This is by far the pleasanter season, the forenoons
being usually cloudless, with a clear, elastic, and balmy
atmosphere. Owing to local influences in some portions of the
eastern coasts it rains more or less the whole year. _Crowe's
Gospel_, 1-12.
[XXVII-8] Consisting of three groups; viz, the Costa Rican
traversing that republic and Panama, the Honduran and
Nicaraguan, and the Guatemalan.
[XXVII-9] Some of the summits are 17,000 ft high. Several
spurs from the Sierra Madre—the main ridge—cut the plains at
right angles, and sometimes reach the sea-shore.
[XXVII-10] All the volcanoes of Cent. Am. are on the Pacific
coast, almost in a line, and running due north-west and
south-east, beginning with the Cartago or Irazú, in Costa
Rica, which is 11,480 ft high, and has left traces of violent
eruptions before the historic period; the only proof of its
present activity being a small rill of smoke visible from the
foot of the mountain. There are hundreds of other volcanic
peaks and extinct craters on the line, the most notable
being the Turrialba, which was in active eruption in 1866,
the ashy matter from it having been beneficial to the coffee
plantations; Chirripó, Blanco, Závalo, Barba, Los Votos 9,840
ft high, also in Costa R. Abogado, Cerro Pelado, Tenorio,
Cucuilapa, Miravalles, Rincon de la Vieja, La Hedionda,
Orosi, Madera, Ometepec, Zapatera, Guanapepe, Guanacaure,
Solentinami, Mombacho, Chiltepe, Masaya or Nindirí; this
last said to have been in a state of eruption upwards of
250 years ago, and still continues active; it had a small
eruption Nov. 10, 1858; Managua; Momotombo, 6,500 ft high,
near the Managua or Leon Lake, about which the Indians had
a tradition of a tremendous eruption some 100 years before
the coming of the Spaniards, the lava running into the lake
and destroying all the fish; the latter part of the story
seems to be incorrect, there being evidence that the lava
did not reach the lake shore; it partially revived in 1852;
Las Pilas, Asososca, Orota, Telica, Santa Clara, El Viejo
6,000 ft high; El Chonco; Cosigüina, whose first eruption
was Jan. 20, 1835, believed to have been the most violent
ever recorded in history; and Joltepec—all in Nic. El Tigre,
Nacaome, and Amapala, or Conchagua, in Hond. In the republic
of Salv. are several; namely, the San Salvador, which had not
broken out in upwards of three centuries; but in old times
it ejected immense masses of lava and scoriæ to a distance
of more than 18 miles. It is of great depth, computed by
Weems, an American who descended it, at about 5,000 varas;
the bottom is occupied by a lake; San Miguel, about 15,000
ft high. In old times it ejected large quantities of cinders
and half-melted stones of immense size. The country for 30
miles or more, including the site of San Miguel, one of the
oldest towns in Am., being covered with lava and scoriæ;
San Vicente; Izalco, which broke out about 100 years ago,
is in constant activity, but has not caused any serious
damage; Paneon, and Santa Ana. In Guat. are the Pacaya;
the Volcan de Agua; the Volcan de Fuego constantly smoking
with occasional explosion and shocks, its last eruption
being in 1880; Encuentro, Acatenango; Atitlan so remarkable
at one time for frequent and violent eruptions, the last
ones being in 1828 and 1833, which caused much destruction
on the coast of Suchitepequez; Tesamielco, Zapotitlan,
Amilpas, Quezaltenango, and Cerro Quemado whose last eruption
was in 1785. There are many other nameless ones. Near a
number of the active and extinct volcanoes are small and
almost circular openings in the ground, through which is
ejected smoke or steam. The natives call them ausoles or
infiernillos, little hells. _Dunlop's Cent. Am._, 3, 13-17,
52-5, 91-2, 118-20, 284-90; _Squier's Trav._, ii. 101-19;
_Squier's Cent. Am._, 359-61, 492-8. Other authorities
speaking of the volcanoes of Cent. Am. are: _Stout's Nic._,
143; _Silliman's Journal_, xxviii. 332; _Levy_, _Nic._,
75-85, 147-53; _Guat._, _Gaceta_, Feb. 10, 1854; _Diario de
Avisos_, Nov. 22, 1856; _Nic._, _Gaceta_, June 5, Aug. 7,
1869; March 18, 1871; _Salv._, _Diario Oficial_, Oct. 11,
Nov. 15, 1878; _Overland Monthly_, xiii. 324; _La Voz de
Méj._, March 17, 1866; _Pim and Seemann's Dottings_, 39-40;
_Baily's Cent. Am._, 75-8; _Wells' Hond._, 231-2; _Harper's
Mag._, xix. 739; and the _Encyclopædias_; _Guat._, _Revista
Observatorio Meteor._, i. 21-3.
[XXVII-11] About 300 have been recorded in 3½ centuries,
which are probably the hundredth part of the actual number.
[XXVII-12] _Hist. Cent. Am._, ii. 719-21, this series.
[XXVII-13] June 20th, at 3 A. M., was felt a heavy shock in
Guat.; no great damage was done. In Comayagua and Tegucigalpa
the shocks continued from the 20th to the 25th; the people
abandoning their dwellings. Many buildings, both public and
private, were much injured. The shocks were also felt in
Trujillo.
[XXVII-14] Apr. 23, 1830, Guat. experienced one said to
have been the most severe since that of 1773. Feb. and
Sept. 1831, a great part of San Salvador was ruined. The
authorities and most of the people fled to Cojutepeque. This
was the sixth time the city had been more or less damaged
by earthquakes. Sept. 2, 1841, Cartago, in Costa R., was
nearly levelled to the ground; of 3,000 houses previously
existing, not 100 remained entire; of the 8 churches, the
smallest and ugliest was the only one escaping uninjured.
May 1844, the city of Granada was nearly ruined; the town of
Nicaragua was greatly damaged, the lake of this name rising
and falling several times, as if having a tide. Amatitlan,
Petapa, Palin, and other places near the volcano of Pacaya,
hardly had a house left standing in the end of March and in
beginning of April 1845. In the repub. of Guat. shocks have
been repeatedly experienced, those of 1884 and 1885 causing
devastation in Amatitlan. San Salvador experienced heavy
ones in 1575, 1593, 1625, 1656, and 1798, and was completely
ruined in 1839, 1854, and 1873, and several other towns in
the republic fared almost as badly in the latter year. Oct.
2, 1878, there was loss of life. Dec. 27-29, 1879, Ilopango,
Candelaria, and other places were demolished. In Costa R. the
destruction of Puntarenita occurred Aug. 4, 1854; and in 1882
the towns of Alajuela, San Ramon, Grecia, and Heredia were
damaged, with heavy loss of life. In Dec. 1867, a tidal wave
swallowed the island of Zapotilla, in Golfo Dulce, drowning
all the inhabitants. The earthquake shocks seem to be of two
kinds, namely, the perpendicular, which are felt only in the
vicinity of volcanoes, and the horizontal, reaching great
distances from the places where they originate, being very
unequal in their progress, in some parts rocking the ground
violently, and in others, in their direct line, nearer their
source, being but slightly felt. _Dunlop's Cent. Am._, 290-3;
_Squier's Cent. Am._, 298, 304-7, 465; _Squier's Travels_,
ii. 85, 120-6; _Ponton's Earthquakes_, 69, 76-7; _Reichardt_,
_Cent. Am._, 83-4; _Nouv. Annales Voy._, clxv. 360-1; lxxxv.
264; lciii. 121; _Montúfar_, _Reseña Hist._, iii. 608-9;
_Wagner_, _Costa R._, Pref. viii.; _Costa R._, _Col. Ley._,
vii. 101-3; _Id._, _Gaceta_, Sept. 10, 1853; July 15, Aug.
5, 26, Sept. 2, 1854; _Id._, _Boletin Ofic._, Aug. 31, Dec.
23, 1854; _Niles' Reg._, lxi. 257; _Pim's Gate of the Pac._,
26; _Mission Scient. au Mex. Geol._, 13-16, 511-12; _Wells'
Hond._, 233; _Salv._, _El Siglo_, May 28, June 3, 1851, Sept.
3, 1852; _Id._, _Diario Ofic._, Oct. 5-27, 1878; Jan. 13, 14,
1880; _Id._, _Gaceta_, May 20, 1854; _Id._, _El Rol_, Oct.
13, 20, Nov. 10, 17, Dec. 1, 1854; Feb. 9, 1855; _Guat._,
_Gaceta_, Oct. 21, 1853; May 5, 1854; _Nic._, _Gaceta_, March
26, 1864; Feb. 10, 1866; Jan. 18, May 9, Oct. 31, 1868; Jan.
8, June 18, Aug. 20, 1870; _La Union de Nic._, Jan. 12, 1861;
_El Porvenir de Nic._, Oct. 15, 1871; _U. S. Gov. Doc._, H.
Ex. Doc., Cong. 43, Sess. 1, i. pt 1, 796, 808, 814; _Id._,
Cong. 44, Sess. 1, i. pt 1, 129; _Uriarte_, _Terremotos de
Cent. Am._, in _Mex. Soc. Geog._, _Boletin_, ii. 189-95;
_Mex._, _Eco Mercantil_, Apr. 24, 1882; _Pan. Star and
Herald_, Jan. 5, 7, 11, 1886. Very full information from 1469
to 1882 in _Guat._, _Revista Observatorio Meteor._, i. 24-39.
[XXVII-15] Worthy of mention were the shocks of July 11,
1854, felt throughout the Isthmus, Sept. 11th, the same year,
felt in Chiriquí; 1857, 1858, 1868, and Sept. 7, 1882; this
last was a heavy one, damaging public and private buildings;
also delaying the transmission of passengers and merchandise
over the railway. _Salv._, _El Rol_, Dec. 1, 1854; _Costa
R._, _Gaceta_, Oct. 21, 1854; _S. F. Alta_, Oct. 2, 1857;
_Sac. Union_, Aug. 2, 1858; _S. F. Call_, June 23, 1868;
Sept. 8, 9, 25, 1882; _S. F. Chronicle_, Sept. 9, 1882; _La
Estrella de Pan._, Sept. 14, 1882; _Pan. Star and Herald_,
Sept. 14, 1882.
[XXVII-16] The most important ones are the Usumasinta, known
also under the names of Lacandon, Pasion, etc., in Guat.,
of about the size of the Garonne or Elbe in Europe, or the
Hudson in the U. S., which drains nearly half of the state,
and pours its waters through several mouths into the bay of
Campeche and the laguna de Términos. The Dulce unites the
bay of Hond. with the Dulce Gulf. The Hondo; the Belize,
or Old River, famous for the fine mahogany its banks have
yielded; the Motagua and the Polochic; the Black or Tinto
in the Poyais country; the San Juan del Norte, Coco, also
named Telpaneca and Wanks, Grande or Chocoyos, and the Mico
or Blewfields; the Tipitapa, uniting lakes Nicaragua and
Managua; the Paz, separating Guat. and Salv.; and the deep
and rapid Lempa, the largest on the western shore, at its
lowest ebb exceeds 140 yards in breadth.
[XXVII-17] The following are the notable ones: Atitlan, in
Guat., covering upwards of 250 square miles; declared to be
unfathomable, a line of 300 fathoms not reaching the bottom.
Though receiving the waters of many rivers, no outlet has
been found for its dark and benumbing waters; still, it
is probable that a subterraneous outlet exists, as in the
lakes of Guijar and Metapa in Salv., which are united by a
subterraneous communication. Golfo Dulce, or Izabal Lake, of
about 50 miles in circuit, subject to violent agitations,
and forming the port of Izabal on the Atlantic coast of
Guat. The small Amatitlan, about 20 miles from the city of
Guat., which, notwithstanding its hot springs and brackish
waters, abounds in a delicate fish called mojarra, in other
small fish, and in wild fowl. In Hond. is the Yojos. In Nic.,
the lake of the same name, whose surplus waters run to the
Atlantic by the San Juan del Norte River; an inland sea, 96
miles long, and 40 miles in its greatest breadth, forming an
ellipse with its main axis due N. W. to S. E. Its depth in
some parts is of 45 fathoms, and its area must be at least
2,000 square miles. It contains a small archipelago. Lake
Managua is 38 or 35 miles in length, and 16 in its greatest
breadth. It has little depth, and several sand banks render
navigation difficult. The laguna de Masaya, 340 ft lower
than the city of the same name, which is 750 ft above the sea
level. Its area is of about 10 square miles. _Lévy_, _Nic._,
86, 95-8.
[XXVII-18] From 8° to 11° 16´ N. lat., and 81° 40´ to 85°
40´ long. W. of Greenwich. _Molina_, _Bosq. Costa R._,
25. Between 8° and 17° 30´ N. lat., and 11° 50´ to 22° 32´
W. of Santiago de Chile, which is situate in meridian 70°
38´ 6´´ west of Greenwich. _Astaburuaga_, _Cent. Am._, 2.
_Am. Cyclopædia_, v. 393, gives it betw. 8° 11´ and 11°
8´ N. lat., and long. 82° 28´ to 85° 45´ W. of Greenwich.
Between about 8° and 11° N. lat., and 82° to 86° W. long.
_Encyclopædia Britannica_, vi. 397.
[XXVII-19] By the law of March 27, 1835, the country was
divided into three departments; namely, Cartago, Alajuela,
and Guanacaste, with a jefe político at the head of each.
Repealed by executive decree of April 28, 1843, after having
had several amendments. _Costa R._, _Col. Ley._, iv. 180-3.
[XXVII-20] San José has 9 regidores, Cartago and Heredia
7. Each municipality chooses a president and vice-president
from among its own members, and a secretary. At each cantonal
head town there are alcaldes, and in each barrio a juez de
paz. _Costa R._, _Id._, iii. 226-40; x. 465-92; xi. 89-138;
xvii. 161-98; xix. 168-74; _Costa R._, _Mem. Instruc. Púb._,
1884, annexes 12-17; _Id._, _Mem. Gobern._, 1852-84; _El
Costaricense_, Nov. 24, 1849; _Costa R._, _Gaceta_, Feb. 9,
16, March 2, 1850.
[XXVII-21] San José, the national capital, was founded a
little more than 100 years ago, owing its existence to the
earthquakes which nearly destroyed Cartago, the old capital.
San José is situated on an elevation of about 4,500 ft.,
upon the table-land formed between the mountains of Dota or
Herradura on the south, and those of Barba on the north. On
one side flows the river Torres, and on the other the María
Aguilar. Its streets are paved, straight, and forming right
angles. The dwellings are mostly of a single story, with
spacious courts; there are, however, a good many buildings of
two stories. The majority are made of adobe, plastered over;
but the national palace is of stone, and a fine building. An
aqueduct supplies the city with water from the Torres, though
a large portion of the fluid consumed is drawn from the
wells existing in almost every house. Besides, the government
palace, the university, Mora theatre, some of the churches,
and a few other buildings, do honor to the city. The electric
light was introduced in 1884. Cartago, the oldest town in
the state, though it has lost its political importance,
and has been shattered by earthquakes, retains some traces
of its former magnificence. It is gradually improving.
_Molina_, _Bosq. Costa R._, 51; _Astaburuaga_, _Cent. Am._,
50; _Squier's Cent. Am._, 463-4; _Boyle's Ride Across a
Continent_, ii. 217; _Laferrière_, _De Paris à Guatém._, 47;
_Wappäus_, _Mex. und Cent. Am._, 364-5; _Costa R._, _Informe
Gobern._, 1874, 2-3; _El Cronista_, S. F., Oct. 18, 1884.
[XXVII-22] It is situated between lat. 10° 45´ and 14° 55´,
and between long. 83° 15´ and 87° 38´. _Am. Cyc._, xii. 420.
Between 10° 30´ and 15° lat., and from 83° 11´ to 87° long.
_Encyclop. Brit._, xvii. 490. Between 9° 45´ and 15° lat.
N., and between 83° 20´ and 87° 30´ long. W. _Squier's Cent.
Am._, 348. Between 10° 50´ and 15° N. lat., and between 83°
13´ and 87° 37´ long. W. of Greenwich. _Nic._, _Gaceta_, Jan.
18, 1868.
[XXVII-23] That is the civilized region. There is, besides,
a wild portion comprising about 24,000 geographical miles.
_Lévy_, _Nic._, 372.
[XXVII-24] In the absence of the prefecto the first alcalde
of the head town acts in his place ad int., with the full
pay of the office. _Nic._, _Acuerdos y Dec._, 1857-8, 70-8,
203-5; _Rocha_, _Cód. Nic._, i. 58-77, 145-8, 195-6; ii.
5-20; _Nic._, _Boletin Ofic._, Apr. 16, 1856; Feb. 8 to Nov.
15, passim, 1862; _Id._, _Gaceta_, March 5, 1864; _Id._,
_Informe Gobern._, 1863-83.
[XXVII-25] The corporations are formed, according to the
importance of the locality, with one or two alcaldes, and
their respective suplentes, regidores, one secretary, one
síndico, and the agricultural judge, all serving without
pay. The prefecto controls the municipal affairs of his
whole department, and especially those of the chief town.
He presides ex-officio over all the municipalities, and in
case of a tie has a casting vote. He cannot be accused except
before the senate, and is consequently a petty president in
his department. _Lévy_, _Nic._, 331-5.
[XXVII-26] It was made a city in 1846, and special ordinances
were provided for it from time to time. _Rocha_, _Cód. Nic._,
i. 148; _Sandoval_, _Rev. Polít._, 58; _Nic._, _Registro
Ofic._, 342; _Id._, _Dec. y Acuerdos_, 1863, 2, 46, 118-19;
_Id._, _Dec. y Acuerdos de la Junta_, 12-13, 145-8.
[XXVII-27] It has been greatly damaged by military
operations, but never burned down, like Granada.
[XXVII-28] Leon was connected in 1881 with Corinto by rail;
and the line has been afterward extended to Leon Viejo,
on Lake Managua, and thence to Granada. Notable places in
the department of Leon are Telica, birthplace of Miguel
Larreyuaga, an oidor of the last Spanish audiencia, or
superior court of judicature, who drew up the declaration
of independence; El Sáuce, Santa Rosa, El Jicaral or San
Buenaventura, and San Nicolas.
[XXVII-29] Granada has a good commercial position on the N.
W. end of Lake Nicaragua, and at the foot of the Mombacho
volcano. It was burned by pirates in 1665, nearly ruined
by the freebooters in 1670, the raiders having come on
both occasions by the San Juan River and the lake; and a
third time destroyed by fire in 1685, the work of pirates
who landed at Escalante on the Pacific. In 1844 it was
greatly damaged by earthquakes. In 1856 it was burned by
William Walker, the filibuster. But it has risen from its
ashes, and become prosperous. The city is irregular in its
construction, the streets not being straight or rectangular.
They are mostly unpaved, and generally in a bad condition.
The city obtains water for consumption from the lake, distant
about a mile, brought by men on their shoulders; and its
food supplies, not from the surrounding fields, but from
numerous Indian pueblos on the S. E. Masaya was an Indian
town, but raised to the rank of a city in 1839. _Rocha_,
_Cód. Nic._, i. 148. It is supplied with water from the deep
lagoon south of and near the city. There were women who for
80 cents monthly supplied two large jars of water every
day. A steam-pump was put up in 1872 to raise the water
of the lake to the plaza. There is no building worthy of
mention in the place. Other notable towns in the department
of Granada are Nandaimé, Jinotepe, San Rafael de la Costa,
Diriomo, Tipitapa, Nindirí, and Zapatera Island. The towns
of San Cárlos and El Castillo, on the San Juan, belong to
the same department, though governed in a special manner.
San Juan del Norte, alias Greytown, has little importance
now; its houses are of wood and palm-thatched. Rivas bore
the name of Nicaragua till the early part of the present
century. The city has suffered greatly from earthquakes,
particularly in 1844. It was partially destroyed during the
Walker war. A real curiosity in the department of Rivas is
the island of Ometepe in the lake, having two towns, the
Pueblo Grande, or villa de Altagracia, and the Moyogalpa,
united by a good wagon road. Chinandega is one of the most
beautiful spots in Nic. It is a perfect garden. In the wild
or uncivilized portion of the territory lies the Mosquito
region, whose chief town is Blewfields, having two wooden
buildings; the rest being mere huts. _Lévy_, _Nic._, 373-90;
_Laferrière_, _De Paris á Guatém._, 73-6; _Saravia_, _Bosq.
Polít. Estadist._, 10-11; _Marure_, _Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am._,
153-4; _Froebel's Cent. Am._, 19, 29-47, 62-75, 92-104;
_Froebel_, _Aus Amerika_, i. 250-80, 311-17, 350-4; _Squier's
Trav._, i. 138-40, 146-50, 211-15, 258-67, 339, 353-6, 365;
_Squier's Cent. Am._, 346-7, 356-9, 366-76; _Squier's Nic._,
646; _Belly_, _Nic._, i. 196-9, 212, 225-9, 249; _Stillman's
Golden Fleece_, 206-8; _Dunlop's Cent. Am._, 6-8; _Stout's
Nic._, 27-9, 41-5, 98-100, 156-64; _Baily's Cent. Am._,
117-18; _Bates' Cent. Am._, 131-2; _Marr_, _Cent. Am._, i.
158-9, 165-71, 228-30; _Boyle's Ride_, i. 13, 83-91; ii. 8;
_Reichardt_, _Nic._, 6-18, 20-7, 59, 62-3, 71-2, 81-9, 105-6,
129-31, 134, 155-9, 165-9, 231; _Wells' Hond._, 39, 42, 72-4.
[XXVII-30] Hond. is therefore betw. 13° 10' and 16° lat.
N., and within 83° 20' and 89° 30' long. W. _Squier's Cent.
Am._, 68; _Encyclop. Brit._, xii. 133. Between 13° 10' and
16° 5' N. lat., and within 83° 12' and 89° 47' W. long. _Am.
Cyclop._, viii. 787.
[XXVII-31] The towns have their municipal corporations, whose
members are required by law to be able to read and write.
[XXVII-32] Before 1827 it was a prosperous city; but the
serviles burnt it that year. Since then it has suffered
several times, especially in 1872 and 1873.
[XXVII-33] _Squier's Cent. Am._, 129-30; this authority also
gives a cut of the cathedral on p. 261; _Wappäus_, _Mex. und
Cent. Am._, 310-11; _Huston's Journey_, 24-7.
[XXVII-34] The town stands on the right bank of the Choluteca
River in an amphitheatre among the hills. It has a fine stone
bridge of ten arches spanning the river. _Wells' Hond._,
186-8; _Laferrière_, _De Paris á Guatém._, 95-6; _Squier's
Cent. Am._, 155.
[XXVII-35] Omoa is situated about a quarter of a mile from
the beach on level ground, but the back country rises rapidly
into a chain of high mountains, beginning abruptly at Puerto
Caballos, now called Puerto Cortés. Owing to its position,
Omoa is generally cool and healthy, has seldom been visited
by epidemics. The place is defended by the San Fernando
castle. Trujillo lies close by the sea at the foot of a lofty
mountain covered with vegetation, and reaching to the very
edge of the water. The town was at one time of considerable
importance, both in a commercial and military point of
view; but now it has an antique, dilapidated, and abandoned
appearance. Amapala, on the island of Tigre, was in old times
a favorite resort of pirates; it was here that Drake had his
depot during his operations in the Pacific. Owing to the
visits of those marauders, the Indian population of Tigre
and Zacate Grande retired to the mainland, and the islands
remained almost entirely deserted till 1838, when Amapala
was made a free port, since which time it has become a very
important place. It has a salubrious climate. Further details
on the towns of Honduras may be found in _Montgomery's Narr.
of a Journey to Guat., etc., in 1838_, 31; _Squier's Cent.
Am._, 98-129, 142-161; _Squier's Hond. R. R._, 74-84, 99-102;
_Squier's Trav._, ii. 164-8; _Young's Resid. Mosq. Shore_,
138-40; _Wells' Hond._, 324-5, 574-9; _Reichardt_, _Cent.
Am._, 89-90, 93-5; _Wappäus_, _Mex. und Cent. Am._, 311-19;
_Froebel's Cent. Am._, 177-83; _Pim's Gate of the Pac._,
28-9.
[XXVII-36] It is comprised within lat. 13° and 14° 30' N.,
and long. 87° 30' and 90° 20' W. _Am. Cyclop._, xiv. 610.
Between 13° and 14° 10' N. lat., and between 87° and 90° W.
long. _Squier's Cent. Am._, 279; _Laferrière_, _De Paris á
Guatém._, 111.
[XXVII-37] By decree of President Gonzalez, July 14, 1875,
the department of San Miguel was cut up, and that of Gotera
created with the districts of Gotera and Osicala. San Miguel
was compensated with Chinameca, detached from Usulutan.
_Salv._, _Diario Ofic._, July 20, 1875.
[XXVII-38] It is made a part of the governor's duty to keep
the gen. govt apprised of every important occurrence within
his department or its vicinity; in addition to which he
must furnish annually a gen. report on every branch of the
public service, with suggestions for the further improvement
and progress of the communities under his charge. His
subordinates in districts and towns report to him. A number
of governors' reports may be seen in _Salv._, _Gaceta_, Sept.
3 to Dec. 24, 1876; Jan. 2 to Dec. 18, 1877; _Id._, _Diario
Ofic._, May 17 to Dec. 3, 1879; Jan. 15, 1880, etc.
[XXVII-39] Towns of from 200 to 2,000 inhabitants two
regidores, of upwards of 2,000 to 10,000 four, and those
exceeding the latter number six. Each corporation elects a
competent clerk to authenticate its acts and those of the
alcalde.
[XXVII-40] _Id._, May 1-16, 1875; March 5-22, 1879.
[XXVII-41] Like other Spanish towns, it covers a large area
in proportion to the population. The houses are built low,
of a single story, and adapted to resist the constant shakes
of the earth. Each house has an inner court, frequently
containing a fountain and garden. The dwellers run out to the
court on feeling a temblor of some force. When the shocks are
heavy and continuous, they seek safety in the plazas and open
fields, where they erect tents.
[XXVII-42] It is situated between N. lat. 13° 50' and 18°
15', and within W. long. 88° 14' and 93° 12'. _Am. Cyclop._,
viii. 288. Between 13° 42' and 18° lat. N., and between 88°
and 93° 5' W. long. _Encyclop. Brit._, xi. 211.
[XXVII-43] The chief towns have the same names as the
departments to which they belong, excepting those of
Sacatepéquez, Quiché, Peten, Baja Verapaz, Alta Verapaz,
and Santa Rosa, whose respective names are Antigua, Santa
Cruz del Quiché, Flores, Salamá, Coban, and Cuajiniquilapa.
_Salv._, _Gaceta Ofic._, June 6, 1877; _Guat._, _Mem. Sec.
Gobern. y Just._, 1884, 4-5, annex 4; _El Guatemalteco_, May
10, 1884.
[XXVII-44] Under the old system the department was under a
corregidor who was not only civil governor, but also military
chief, judge, revenue collector, and postmaster. _Berendt_,
in _Smithsonian Rept_, 1867, 424.
[XXVII-45] Under art. 34 of this organic law the jefes were
required to send the supreme gov. for approbation police
regulations, under the instructions furnished them for the
sake of uniformity. They did not fail to comply. _Guat._,
_Mem. Sec. Gobern. y Just._, 1880, 1-2.
[XXVII-46] The law determined with precision the manner
of organizing the municipalities, and the functions of
the councilmen, increasing at the same time the number of
committees; at that time they had committees of finance,
supplies, water, police, health, ornamentation, schools,
vaccination, roads, and statistics. Further information
on internal administration, police, and gen. condition of
the departments may be found in _Guat._, _Recop. Ley._, i.
492-512, 527-75; _Barrios_, _Mensaje_, 1876; _Salv. Diario
Ofic._, May 13 to 16, 1875; _Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Gobern._,
1880, 1881, 1882, 1884; _Batres' Sketch Guat._, 23;
_Conkling's Guide_, 341.
[XXVII-47] With only three exceptions every department had a
surplus. The three excepted had deficits amounting together
to $3,578.
[XXVII-48] I will name a few of the authorities: _Dillon_,
_Beautés de l'hist._, 218-38; _Thompson's Guat._, 465-9;
_Stephens' Trav. Cent. Am._, i. 192-4; _Nuevo Viajero Univ._,
iii. 602-7; _Baily's Cent. Am._, 49-54; _Valois_, _Mexique_,
291-6; _Reichardt_, _Cent. Am._, 54; _Crosby's Statem._, MS.,
86-90; _Belly_, _Nic._, i. 114-16; _Laferrière_, _De Paris
à Guatém._, 259-60; _Dicc. Univ. Hist. Geog._, iii. 724-7;
_Dunlop's Cent. Am._, 76-86; _Squier's Cent. Am._, 497-50;
_U. S. Gov. Doc._, H. Ex. Doc. Cong. 43, Sess. 1, i. 444-5;
_Astaburuaga_, _Cent. Am._, 78-9; _Am. Cyclop._, viii. 290-2;
_Encyclop. Brit._, xi. 214.
[XXVII-49] There are two fortresses, the Matamoros and San
José. Among the open places are the plaza mayor, and the
recently laid out plaza de la Concordia, now the favorite
resort of the inhabitants. There is another plaza containing
a fine theatre.
[XXVII-50] San Francisco, La Recoleccion, La Merced, and
Santo Domingo are among the notable ones.
[XXVII-51] The govt in late years has provided for an
increase of the water supply to meet the future requirements
of a town whose population is rapidly growing. _Guat._, _Mem.
Sec. Fomento_, 1884, 43-4; 1885, 49-51, 56-8.
[XXVII-52] With government aid, a jockey club was also
established in 1882. _Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Fomento_, 47-50, 75.
[XXVII-53] Antigua, or Old Guat., presents its majestic
ruins, much the same as they were left by the earthquakes of
1773. Many of the buildings appear like fortresses. Among
the best preserved are the old government palace and the
university. The place was much damaged by an earthquake in
1874. Thompson in his _Cent. Am._ has a description of the
ruins as they were in 1825, 245-9; others have described them
at later dates. _Stephens' Trav._, i. 266-71, 278-80; ii.
204; _Reichardt_, _Cent. Am._, 53-5; _Macgregor's Prog. of
Am._, i. 791-2; _Valois_, _Mexique_, 376-8, 390; _Squier's
Cent. Am._, 456, 504-10; _Batres' Sketch_, 27-9, 40.
Quezaltenango is 8,130 feet above the sea. It is every day
growing in importance and wealth. Living is cheap there; the
climate is cool and healthy. Most of the streets are narrow,
but they are well paved and have flagstone sidewalks. The
houses are of good appearance, some of them of two stories.
Among the public buildings are the penitentiary, on the plan
of that in Philadelphia, the Indian cabildo of two stories,
the hospital, national institute, and other educational
establishments, some fine churches, etc. _Boddam Whetham's
Across Cent. Am._, 66-7; _Conkling's Guide_, 334, 337, 343.
The city of Flores, head town of the department of Peten, is
worthy of mention for its picturesque position on one of the
islands of Lake Itzal, and its charming view from a distance.
The place is hot, however, and uncleanly.
[XXVII-54] Occupying the Isthmus which connects North and
South America, between lat. N. 6° 45´ and 9° 40´, and within
long. W. 77° and 83°. The area is of about 31,921 square
miles. In its general form it is an arc curving from east to
west, with the convex side toward the north. In the widest
part from sea, to sea it is about 120 miles, in the narrowest
from the gulf of San Blas to the mouth of the Bayano River
about 30, and along the line of the railway 47½ miles. _Am.
Cyclop._, xiii. 31.
[XXVII-55] In addition to these are Taboguilla, Urabá, Naos,
Perico, Culebra, San José, Tórtola, Tortolita, Iguana,
Washington, Napoleon, Stanley, and many smaller ones.
_Tavares_, _Gulf and Isthmus of Darien_, March 31, 1761,
MS., 52-65; _Imray's Sail. Directions_, 6-12; _Humboldt_,
_Tableau_, 710.
[XXVII-56] The largest being the Tuira, 160 miles long,
navigable about 102 for barges, empties into the gulf of San
Miguel; the Chagres, navigable for bungos about 30 miles,
runs into the Caribbean Sea; the Chepo flows into the bay of
Panamá.
[XXVII-57] The principal town of Coclé is Penonomé; of
Chiriquí, David; and of Veragua, Santiago. The rest bear the
same names as their respective departments.
[XXVII-58] The governor and prefectos report yearly to
the chief of the Isthmus the state of their respective
departments. _Pan._, _Mem. Soc. Jeneral_, 1877, etc.
[XXVII-59] Just prior to the influx of the foreign element,
upon the discovery of the gold placers in California, the
town had a gloomy and ruinous aspect. There was nothing to
be seen all around but ruin and poverty; whole blocks and
streets of old, dilapidated buildings, propped-up houses
with people living in them, and luxuriant vegetation in
the plazas, walls, etc. With the coming of foreigners a
great change took place within the short space of three or
four years. Nearly all the old dwellings underwent repairs,
and new ones were built. In lieu of the old sad appearance
and silence, all was now bustle and movement. _Maldonado_,
_Asuntos Polít. Pan._, MS., 7.
[XXVII-60] The cathedral has nothing to recommend it except
its two fine towers. It is in a ruinous condition, and
though repaired a few years ago and reduced to a single nave,
further repairs are loudly called for. This building as well
as the cabildo face the main plaza.
[XXVII-61] Efforts have been made in late years by the state
government for the construction of an aqueduct; but without
success. _Pan._, _Gaceta_, May 16, 1874; Apr. 9, 30, 1876;
_Pan. Star and Herald_, May 19, 1874; Feb. 14, Apr. 13, 1876.
[XXVII-62] The following are among the authorities giving
more or less detailed descriptions of the city of Panamá:
_Cash's Sketch_, 54-61, 29-71; _Bidwell's Pan._, 1-9, 75-7,
119-35, 341-8; _Beechy's Voy._, i. 11-17, 23-4; _Scarlett's
South Am._, ii. 189-211, 221-9, 254-69; _Seemann's Narr._,
84-8, 275-95, 289-94; _Wilson's Trav. in Cal._, 9-10, 17-19;
_Wortley's Trav._, 320-2; _Scherzer_, _Narr._, ii. 424-5;
_Pim's Gate_, 209-20.
[XXVII-63] _Gisborne's Darien_, 160-70, 205-9; _Otis' Isth.
Pan._, 70-127; _Harper's Mag._, xvii. 19-28, 32-9; _Tomes'
Pan._, 40-66. The following contain descriptions of other
places as well as of the transit between the two seas:
_London Geog. Soc. Jour._, i. 69-101; xxiii., 184; _Niles'
Reg._, xxxviii. 141; _Reichardt_, _Cent. Am._, 201-2;
_Willey's Person. Mem._, 37-8; _Masset's Exper. of a '49er_,
MS., 1; _Lachapelle's Raousset-Boulbon_, 43-7; _Champagnac_,
_Voyageur_, 175-6; _Froebel_, _Aus Amerika_, 211-31;
_Nic._, _Cor. Ist._, May 30, 1850; _Marryatt's Mountains_,
1-17; _Holinski_, _La Californie_, 45-61; _Rouhaud_, _Reg.
Nouvelles_, 167; _Nouv. Annales des Voy._, cxxiii. 220-2,
226-7; cxlv. 17-22; cxlvii. 15-17; _Polynesian_, v. 29;
vi. 121; _Thornton's Or. and Cal._, ii. 348-54; _Oswald
Cal. und Seine_, 87-92; _Kelley's Canal Mantimera_, 27-8;
_Auger_, _Voy. en Cal._, 35-92; _Saint-Amant_, 25-62,
80-97; _Griswold's Pan._, 41-7; _Rossi_, _Souvenirs_, 47-50;
_Esguerra_, _Dicc. Geog. Colombia_, 2-275; _Pan._, _Gaceta_,
Jan. 23, 1881.
[XXVII-64] Department of Pan., including 18,378 in the
city, 43,462; Coclé, 33,134; Colon, including 4,000 in that
port, 1,057 in Chagres, and 1,319 in Portobello, 8,276;
Los Santos, 37,670; Veragua, 36,210; Bocas del Toro, 5,250;
Darien, 1,036. _Pan._, _Mem. Sec. Fomento_, 1882, 43-6. The
population at the time the Isthmus seceded from Spain was
variously estimated at from 80,000 to 111,550; 1843, 129,697;
the census of 1863 yielded 180,000; but it is believed the
population was made to appear larger than it really was, so
as to gain one more representative in the national congress.
The best informed citizens computed it at only 150,000. In
1868, 220,542, authorities keeping the same figures till
1879, excepting one estimate for 1874 reducing it to 174,000.
_Humboldt_, _Pers. Narr._, vi., pt i. 142; _Seemann's Voy._,
i. 296; _Imray's Sail. Dir._, 14; _Bidwell's Isth. Pan._,
178-80; _Pan. Star and Herald_, Feb. 18, 1868; _Mex. Soc.
Geog. Boletin_, 3d ép. i. 728; _Colombia_, _Diario Ofic._,
Sept. 6, 1872; Aug. 4, 1874; March 1, 1876; _Esguerra_,
_Dicc. Geog. Colomb._, 171.
[XXVII-65] _Veraguas_, _Decr. de la Cám._; _Id._, _Notas
Ofic._; _Id._, _Ordenanzas_, 1853; _Chiriquí_, _Corresp.
Gob. Nac._, 1851; _Id._, _Ofic. del Gob._; _Id._, _Comp. de
Fomento_, 1855; all in _Pinart_, _Pan. Coll. Doc._, MSS.,
nos. 63, 65, 69, p. 25-7, no. 39, 4-9, no. 88, p. 22, no. 40,
1-4; besides other doc. in the same Coll., no. 31, p. 40-1,
nos. 49, 50, 52, 103; _U. S. Gov. Doc._, H. Ex. Doc. 41,
Cong. 36, Sess. 2, vi. 55; _El Noticioso del Istmo Am._, in
the _Californian_, S. F., ii., June 12, 1847.
[XXVII-66] For their dwelling-places I refer to _Native Races
of the Pac. States_, i. 795-7, this series.
[XXVII-67] In 1835. _Veraguas_, _Dec. de la Cám._, in _Pin._,
_Pan. Col. Doc._, MS., no. 57, 17-22; _Id._, _Informe_, in
_Id._, MS., no. 78.
[XXVII-68] Their chief at times visited the British consul at
Panamá, but never agreed to his returning the visit at their
homes. _Seemann's Voy._, i. 321. Neither would they accept
presents from any white person. One of their chiefs who
accepted a present was degraded by his tribe, and the present
was sent back. _Bidwell's Isth. Pan._, 36.
[XXVII-69] Many persons were killed by the Bayanos in Oct.
1870; and their hostilities were repeated in 1874. _Pan._,
_Gaceta_, Nov. 10, 1870; Dec. 23, 1873; Apr. 14, 1874; _Id._,
_Star and Herald_, Feb. 17, March 12, 1874; _Id._, _Informe
Sec. Est._, 1874, 18-19.
[XXVII-70] The lower classes are improvident and fond of
dress and finery.
[XXVII-71] Low dresses without sleeves, and with lace
trimmings on the bust.
[XXVII-72] There are many of them given to gossiping and
propagating scandalous reports even about their friends.
Politics and the bottle have in late years debauched many
a fine young man, the vice of drunkenness of late gaining
ground.
[XXVII-73] There are associations of various kinds, including
secret ones, like the masonic, of which there are several
lodges, with many native Panamanians among their members. The
natives still observe the custom of long mournings as of old.
In a community where families are more or less connected by
ties of blood or marriage, the result is that mourning often
seems to be the common dress.
[XXVII-74] Details in _Constitucional del Istmo_, Nov. 21,
1832; _Colegio de Pan._, _Decreto_, 1-2; _El Movimiento_,
Dec. 1, 1844; _N. Granada_, _Gaceta_, Feb. 22, 1846;
_Bogotá_, _Gac. Ofic._, Feb. 6, 1848; _Chiriquí_, _Decretos_,
MS., 1849; _Pan._, _Crón. Ofic._, Nov. 9, 1849, to March
1, 1854, passim; _Chiriquí_, _Inf. del Gob._, MSS., 1851-2;
_Pan._, _Gaceta Extraord._, Dec. 23, 1857; March 30, 1858.
[XXVII-75] In 1869 there were no public primary schools in
the state. Parents with means had teachers at home, or sent
their children to the few private schools then existing, to
Bogotá, the national capital, or abroad. Children of poor
parents had to grow in utter ignorance.
[XXVII-76] In 1874 there were in the state 17 primary
schools with 1,065 pupils. The numbers steadily increased
till 1882, when the schools were 59 and the pupils 2,167.
There were appropriated for supporting the schools in 1873
$14,191, and every year after there was an increase; the
amount allowed in 1882 being $33,310, and in 1883 $63,962,
the govt now becoming alive to the fact that the funds
formerly supplied were insufficient, as appeared in the
report of the educational bureau on Nov. 15, 1881. _Pan._,
_El Elector_, May 1, 1883; _Pan._, _Inf. Sec. Est._, 1866;
_Id._, _Mensaje_, 1872; _Id._, _Mem. Sec. Est._, 1876;
_Id._, _Informe Direct. Gen. Instruc. Púb._, 1877-80; _Id._,
_Leyes_, 1876-7, 26-32; _Id._, _Mem. Sec. Gob._, 1877; _Id._,
_Min. Sec. Gob._, 1879; _Pan._, _Boletin Ofic._, May 28,
1863, to Sept. 8, 1869, passim; _Id._, _Gaceta_, July 28,
1870, to Feb. 20, 1881, passim; _Colombia_, _Diario Ofic._,
Feb. 18, Aug. 14, 1874; Jan. 27, March 2, 1876.
[XXVII-77] It began its existence as the _Panamá Star_, a
very small sheet, in 1849; now it has eight large pages.
_S. F. Times_, March 13, 1869; _S. F. Alta_, March 13, 1869;
_Pan. Star and Herald_, Jan. 11, 1886.
[XXVII-78] I have had occasion to quote both publications
repeatedly on narrating events on the Isthmus and in Central
America.
[XXVII-79] The bull is led by a rope into the most public
streets. A number of men challenge the brute, which
occasionally rushes at its tormentors; but as the rope holds
it, only by a rare chance is any one hurt. The bull is thus
worried by the men-brutes till it is ready to drop.
[XXVII-80] Games of chance and night orgies having become
prevalent, in 1878 a heavy tax was levied on gambling-houses,
and a severe decree issued to check orgies and brawls.
_Pan._, _Gaceta_, Jan. 31, Aug. 15, 1878.
[XXVII-81] The following authorities have spoken of the
manners and customs of the Isthmus, and character of
its people at different periods from 1845 to late years:
_Macgregor's Progress of Am._, i. 820-34; _Seemann's Narr._,
i. 140-1, 299-310, passim; _Oliveira_, in _Nouv. Ann. Voy._,
cxxiii., 216-27; _McCollum's Cal._, 16-26; _Worthy's Trav._,
335-6; _Johnson's Sights_, 11-87; _Foote's Recoll._, 135-47;
_Merrill's Statem._, MS., i.; _Fremont's Am. Trav._, 57-65,
166-7; _Griswold's Isth._, 130-68, 179-80; _Gisborne's
Darien_, 170-216, pass.; _Delano's Chips_, 80-92; _Helper's
Land of Gold_, 209-23; _Mollhausen's Diary_, ii. 374-9;
_Harper's Mag._, xix. 433, 437-54; _Trollope's W. Ind._, 240,
248-50; _Pim's Gate of the Pac._, 210-14; _Gazlay's Pac.
Monthly_, i. 17-30; _Baxley's What I Saw_, 30-45; _China
Route_, _Sketch of New_, 54-74; _Gordon's Guide_, 14-15;
_Eardley-Wilmot's Our Jour._, 66-71; _Pan. Star and Herald_,
Feb. 7, 1875.
[XXVII-82] In 1840 small-pox prevailed in Chagres among
the natives; foreigners, being mostly vaccinated, escaped
unscathed. It visited the Isthmus again as an epidemic in
1863, 1880, and 1881, with great ravages each time, owing
to neglect of the common rules of hygiene, or aversion of
the lower classes to vaccination. _Niles' Reg._, lix. 17;
_Bidwell's Isth. Pan._, 222-3; _Cash's Sketch_, 62-3; _Pan._,
_Gaceta_, March 14, Aug. 1, Oct. 17, 1880; Sept. 22, 1881;
_El Coclesano_, Aug. 5, 20, 1881; _S. F. Bulletin_, July 16,
1881.
[XXVII-83] The Isthmus seems to have been spared on its first
visit to Am. in 1832-4. _Pan._, _Doc. Ofic._, in _Pinart_,
_Col. Doc._, MS., no. 31, 41-4.
[XXVII-84] The havoc, however, was greater among transient
foreigners and the native colored population. _Maldonado_,
_Asuntos Polít. Pan._, MS., 7-8. It was most virulent from
Jan. to July 1849. There were cases nearly to the end of
1850. _Williams' Statem._, MS., 2; _Willey's Pers. Mem._,
MS., 48-53; _Roach's Statem._, MS., 1; _Cannon's Statem._,
MS., 1; _S. F. News_, Nov. 8, 1850. Chiriquí escaped
the infliction by the timely establishment of a rigorous
quarantine against Pan. _Chiriquí_, _Dec. Gobern._, in
_Pinart_, _Pan. Col. Doc._, MS., 89, 2-5, 25; _Veraguas_,
Dec., in _Id._, MS., nos. 70-2.
[XXVII-85] If we except Colon, Chagres, and Portobello,
the climate is healthy. Men abstaining from the abuse of
alcoholic drinks, and observing the common rules of hygiene,
need not be apprehensive of the climate.
[XXVII-86] The symptoms were cramps, severe pain in
the spine, vomiting, and fever, followed by loss of
consciousness. The attack generally lasted several days.
[XXVII-87] _Pan._, _Gaceta_, Oct. 11, 1877; Apr. 29, 1880.
[XXVII-88] There was, however, a private hospital, mainly
supported by the French and Italians, where sick foreigners
found good attendance. Many a life has been saved in it.
[XXVII-89] Four disastrous conflagrations visited the present
city of Panamá prior to 1825; namely, in 1737, 1756, 1781,
and 1821, the first being the work of incendiaries from Guat.
_Seemann's Voy._, 288. Chagres was nearly all burned down
Dec. 9, 1847. _Polynesian_, in _S. F. Californian_, iii.
no. 4, Aug. 14, 1848. Gorgona was ruined in 1851. Panamá had
property destroyed in 1856 valued at half a million dollars.
Colon was afflicted in 1863 and 1868, and finally ruined by
the incendiaries Prestan and others in 1885. Panamá had three
great conflagrations; viz., June 5, 1870, Feb. 19, 1874, and
March 6, 1878. The loss of property in the three probably
exceeded four million dollars. _Pan._, _Merc. Chronicle_,
March 29, 1868; _Nic._, _Gaceta_, Feb. 7, 1863; Apr. 25,
1868; June, 1870; _Id._, _Boletin_ _Ofic._, June 18, Dec. 25,
1870; _Jülfs_, _Die Seehäfen_, 3; _S. F. Chronicle_, June 21,
30, 1870; March 10, 1878; _S. F. Alta_, July 1, 1870; Feb.
28, March 9, 1874; _S. F. Call_, June 9, 1870; March 9, 1874;
Apr. 2, 1878; _Pan. Star and Herald_, Feb. 21, 24, 1874;
_Pan._, _Gaceta_, July 10, 1874; March 17 to July 1, Dec. 15,
1878; _Colombia_, _Diario Ofic._, May 30, 1874, p. 1749; _S.
F. Post_, Feb. 28, 1874; March 8, 1878.
[XXVIII-1] Being an estimated increase since 1877 of 245,847.
_Salv._, _Gaceta Ofic._, Dec. 4, 1877. The population was
computed in 1810 at different figures, none reliable. The one
deemed most accurate was as follows: 646,666 Indians, 313,334
mulattoes and some negroes, 40,000 whites, making a total of
1,000,000, probably including 100,000 for Chiapas. _Guat._,
_Apuntam._, 105, 110; _Salv._, _Diario Ofic._, July 2, 1879;
_Lastarría_, in _La América_, 445; _Baily's Cent. Am._, 28,
32; _Nouv. Annales des Voy._, iv. 1820, 36; _Ocios de Esp.
Emig._, v. 2. In 1823 the whole was set down at 1,600,000.
_Humboldt's Pers. Narr._, vi. pt 1, 127, 131. Marure computed
it in 1824, giving Costa R. 70,000, Nic. 207,269, Salv.
212,573, Hond. 137,069, and Guat. 660,580; total, 1,287,491.
_Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am._, 148, and app. no. 6. G. A. Thompson,
Brit. commissioner to Cent. Am., in 1823 estimated 2,000,000
in the following proportions: one fifth of whites, two fifths
of mixed classes, and two fifths of Indians. _Narr. Official
Visit_, 451. Galindo, an intelligent officer of the Cent. Am.
govt, about 1837 set the population at 685,000 Ind., 740,000
ladinos or mestizos, and 475,000 whites; total, 1,900,000.
He evidently overestimated the number of whites. Crowe,
_Gospel_, 40, referring specifically to Guat., estimated the
number of pure whites at not over 5,000, which seems to be
short of the truth. The proportions he gave were: Indians,
three fifths; ladinos or mestizos, one fourth; whites, one
fortieth; mulattoes, one eighty-third; negroes, one fiftieth;
zambos, one hundredth. It is unnecessary to burden this note
with figures for each year after 1837. I will merely append
those for 1866, given by a writer who must have got his data
from reliable sources: Costa R., 150,000, mostly white, and
including from 5,000 to 10,000 Talamanca Indians. According
to a Costa Rica census, there were in the republic in 1864
112 persons of 90 years and upwards; of whom 14 were of
100, 4 of 102, one of 103, one of 104, one of 111, one of
117, one of 118, and one of 122. The majority of cases of
great longevity were of women. _Costa R._, _Censo_, 100-3.
Nic., 380,000, of whom 80,000 pure Indians, 30,000 whites,
30,000 negroes, and the rest of mixed breeds, the mestizos
of white and Indian predominating on the Pac. coast, and the
zambos, or mixture of negro and Indian, on the Atlantic;
there were probably 30,000 in Mosquitia; Salv., 750,000;
Hond., 300,000; Guat., 1,219,500. _Laferrière_, _De Paris á
Guatém._, 47, 71, 93, 189, 251; _Pim's Gate of the Pac._,
37, 75. Other publications treating of the subject from
time to time: _Costa R._, _Boletin Ofic._, Feb. 9, March
30, 1854; _Id._, _Gaceta_, July 15, 1854; _Id._, _Mem. Sec.
Interior_, 1860 and 1861; _Id._, _Informe Gobern._, 1868 and
1874; _Id._, _Censo_, 1864; _Id._, _Col. Ley._, xxxii. 250-2;
_Squier's Cent. Am._, 21, 45-57, 279, 348, 449, 465, 648-9;
_Id._, _Travels_, i. 32-3; _Molina_, _Bosq. Costa R._, 28-9;
_Belly_, _Nic._, i. 138-42, 249-54; _Rocha_, _Cód. Nic._, i.
185-6; _Nic._, _Registro Ofic._, 270, 312, 316, 382; _Id._,
_Boletin Ofic._, March to Aug. 1862, pass.; _Id._, _Gaceta_,
Jan. 1863 to Apr. 11, 1874, pass.; _Lévy_, _Nic._, 234 et
seq.; _Salv._, _Gaceta_, Jan. 26 to Nov. 18, 1850; Feb. 3,
March 3, 1854; Apr. 1, 1876; May 28 to Nov. 28, 1878; May
18 to Nov. 29, 1879; _Crosby's Statem._, MS., 93; _Wells'
Hond._, 554-7; _Guat._, _Recop. Ley._, i. 473; _Guat._, _Mem.
Sec. Fomento_, 1880-5, with tables; and numerous others.
[XXVIII-2] The departments of Guat. having the largest
numbers were Totomicapam, 144,312; Guat., 130,581;
Huehuetenango, 121,123; Alta Verapaz, 93,407. The rest range
from 76,103 in Lalolá and 75,553 in Quiché, to 31,637 in
Jalapa. Peten is put down with 8,297, Izabal with 3,761, and
Livingston with 1,471. _Costa R._, _Gaceta_, July 11, Aug.
13, 1885; _Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Fomento_, 1884, 40, annex 6;
1885, 43-4, annex 12; _El Guatemalteco_, Jan. 1 to Dec. 5,
1884, pass.; _Pan. Star and Herald_, Feb. 9, 1884; Sept. 30,
1885.
[XXVIII-3] The proportions in 1880 were, white and mixed,
men, 183,536, females, 196,292; pure Indians, men, 421,518,
females, 423,256. Grand total, 1,224,602. _Guat._, _Mem. Sec.
Fomento_, 1885, annex 12, table 16.
[XXVIII-4] The first law to promote colonization was issued
Jan. 22, 1824, by the national constituent assembly of
Cent. Am. _Marure_, _Bosq. Hist. Cent. Am._, 133, app.
xviii.-xxvii.; _Guat._, _Recop. Ley._, i. 815-20; _Id._,
_Boletin Ofic._, June 22, 1835; _Nic._, _Corr. Ist._, Aug. 8,
1850; _Hond._, _Gaceta Ofic._, March 20, 1854; _Rocha_, _Cód.
Nic._, i. 42-3, 53; _Baily's Cent. Am._, 43-5.
[XXVIII-5] Containing upwards of 14,000,000 acres of virgin
soil, and affording every climate. _Brief Statem. of the
Important Grants Conceded to ... by the State of Guat._,
Lond., 1839; _Guat. Charte de Concession du territ. de Vera
Paz_, Bruxelles, 1840, 8vo, 1-34; _Guat._, _Mem. Concession_,
17-130; _Marure_, _Efem._, 38; _Squier's Travels_, i. 422-4;
_Id._, _Compend. Hist. Cent. Am._, 77-9.
[XXVIII-6] It was first formed out of, or at least originated
from, the débris of the Poyais bubble, of which I spoke
elsewhere in connection with Mosquitia.
[XXVIII-7] They talked of their ability to spread Brit.
influence in the country. They even threatened to sell their
charter to some other government.
[XXVIII-8] Details on the subject will be found in _Dunlop's
Cent. Am._, 160, 190-1; _Niles' Reg._, li. 36; _Reichardt_,
_Cent. Am._, 39, 238; _Guat._, _Memoria_, 1837, 17-19; _Id._,
_Comm. and Agric. Co._, 1-132; _Anderson's Cent. Am._, 5-93,
97-138.
[XXVIII-9] It stipulated a conditional sale of the lands
lying between the left bank of the river Motagua and the
right bank of the river Cahabon to where it runs into the
Polochic, including all the coast and neighboring islands
within these limits; and inland as far as Gualan, and the
interior limits of the province of Santo Tomás. The company
was to pay for the computed 8,000 caballerías at the rate
of $20 for each caballería, in ten yearly instalments of
$16,000. It was also to present the Guat. govt 2,000 muskets,
similar to those used by the Belgian army, and four large
guns; likewise pay one fifth the expense of erecting a city
at Santo Tomás, make a cart road to the river Motagua, and
introduce steamers for navigating the river. _Guat._, _Recop.
Ley._, i. 824-38; _Reichardt_, _Cent. Am._, 239-43; _Belly_,
_Nic._, ii. 36-7; _Dunlop's Cent. Am._, 303-6; _Crowe's
Gospel_, 169-70; _Amerique Cent. Cie. Belge_, pt i. 5-64, pt
ii. 110-13; _Valois_, _Mexique_, 438-42; _Claquet_, _Rapport
S. Tomás_, 7-9; _Cuelebrouk, Blondeel van_, _Colonie de Santo
Tomas_, 1-240 pp., with maps and plans; _Laferrière_, _De
Paris á Guatém._, 250-1; _Brouez_, _Colonie Belge_, 103-29.
[XXVIII-10] With a few exceptions, however, they were to be
governed by their own laws, and were, besides, to enjoy a
number of exemptions. The custom-house of Izabal was to be
removed to Santo Tomás.
[XXVIII-11] The grants were repealed in April 1854. _Guat._,
_Recop. Ley._, i. 838-9; _Belize_, _Packet Intelligencer_,
June 17, 1854; _Squier's Cent. Am._, 512-13; _Payne's Hist.
Europ. Colonies_, 327; _Crosby's Statem._, MS., 98.
[XXVIII-12] See laws and decrees of Feb. 29, 1868, Oct. 2,
1873, Aug. 19, 1878, June 27, 1884, and a decree of Presid.
Barillas in 1885; also official correspond with the U. S.
govt. _Guat._, _Recop. Ley._, i. 841-5; _Id._, _Id._, _Gob.
Democ._, i. 197-8; _Nic._, _Gaceta_, Apr. 18, 1868; _S.
F. Times_, May 9, 1868; _Mex._, _Diario Ofic._, Sept. 18,
1878; _Manero_, _Doc. Interes._, 105-6; _U. S. Govt Doc._,
Cong. 42, Sess. 2, H. Ex. Doc. 1 (For. Rel.), 542-3; _El
Guatemalteco_, June 30, 1884; _S. F. Bulletin_, June 15,
1885.
[XXVIII-13] Cultivating one half, and becoming a citizen,
provided he had not been imprisoned meanwhile for crime. The
concession involved several other facilities, and privileges.
_Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Fomento_, 1884, 7-8; _Pan. Star and
Herald_, July 23, 1883.
[XXVIII-14] On the ground that a large number of
English-speaking negroes thus introduced could never become
assimilated with their already mixed population, and would
soon create a balance of power in their hands, as against
the remainder of the population. The rulers saw in the plan
danger to their institutions and customs. _U. S. Govt Docs._,
Cong. 35, Sess. 2, Sen. Miscel. Doc., 26; _Foreign Affairs_,
1862, 881-4, 897-910; _Crosby's Statem. of Events in Cal._,
MS., 95-100; _Pim's Gate of the Pac._, 138-46.
[XXVIII-15] _Squier's Cent. Am._, 275-6; _Squier's Hond._,
267-78; _Nic._, _Gaceta_, Sept. 21, 1867; Jan. 4, 25, Nov.
14, 1868; _Pan. Star and Herald_, Sept. 17, Dec. 4, 1885.
[XXVIII-16] The government granting 500,000 square varas of
land to each family, and specifying the number of families
to be settled. It was to guard against improper persons
being introduced, that is to say, only those of good moral
character and industrious habits, professing the catholic
religion, and willing to sever their connection with and
throw off the protection of their former nationalities, were
to be received. Upon complying with the required conditions,
they would be granted the rights of citizenship. _Rocha_,
_Cód. Nic._, i. 167-8. A number of Prussians, among whom
were several families, arrived in September 1846 on the brig
_Frisch_ at San Juan del Norte, desiring to settle in the
country. The government tendered them facilities to settle
in the interior, provided they would first relinquish their
allegiance to Prussia. Only six men remained; the rest went
away. _Nic._, _Boletin Ofic._, 345-6, 367. In 1851 it was
contemplated to establish, under liberal grants, a French
colony in Nic.; but it was not carried out. _Dupuy_, _Nic._,
8-27.
[XXVIII-17] Congress on Feb. 13, 1862, declared the former
null and void, and refused to sanction the latter. _Rocha_,
_Cód. Nic._, i. 187; _Nic._, _Boletin Ofic._, March 1, 1862.
[XXVIII-18] The deed of full ownership was to be executed six
months after the immigrant's arrival. He was also exempted
from import dues on everything he brought to enable him
to settle. Fabens, Walker's friend, was named director of
colonization. _Perez_, _Mem._, 7; _El Nicaragüense_, Jan.
5, 1856; _Wells' Walker's Exped._, 106-11; _Nic._, _Boletin
Ofic._, Apr. 16, 1856.
[XXVIII-19] The govt declared it null in 1866. _La Union de
Nic._, May 18, 1861; _Nic._, _Decretos_, 1865-6, 74-5.
[XXVIII-20] The govt has not ceased to promote immigration.
In 1873 concessions were made to the colony in Gottel
Valley, and in 1878 efforts were made to bring colonists
from Alsace-Loraine. _Nic._, _Gaceta_, Feb. 11, 1865; Apr. 6,
Aug. 24, 1867; _El Porvenir de Nic._, Apr. 13, Aug. 3, 1873;
_Salv._, _Diario Ofic._, Dec. 12, 1878.
[XXVIII-21] It has refrained from introducing the African
element, though men of that race can alone be advantageously
employed in her low-lying hot region. The immigration of
Chinese has been prohibited as injurious. _Bates' Cent. Am._,
140; _Costa R._, _Informe Sec. Hac._, 1875, 7-8.
[XXVIII-22] With the same civil and political rights enjoyed
by natives. Those desiring to retain their nationality are
equally protected, and are exempted from military service
and extraordinary taxation. They may freely dispose of their
property, which at their death goes to their legal heir,
whether by will or ab intestato. _Costa R._, _Col. Ley._, v.
114-16; _Molina_, _Bosq. Costa R._, 44.
[XXVIII-23] They were exempted from imposts for 15 years.
[XXVIII-24] The settlement was effected where there were no
ready means to procure supplies, or to dispose of products
without great trouble and expense. Besides, the settlers were
unfamiliar with tropical agriculture.
[XXVIII-25] Nineteen died at San José. One was killed by
a tiger on the way there, and his remains, with those of
his wife and child, were buried under the evergreens of San
Miguel; the rest went up the Sesapiqui River, where 9 were
soon after put under the sod; 9 died at Miravalles, and 4 at
Alajuela.
[XXVIII-26] Concession to Sir Henry Bulwer. _Costa R._,
_Boletin Ofic._, July 20, 1854.
[XXVIII-27] The grant covered 54 square miles in the
Reventazon Valley, between Cartago and the Atlantic Ocean;
the company were to settle 7,000 adult colonists within 20
years. An additional absolute concession of 32 acres for each
colonist was also made. But the principal grant was to be
forfeited if the main condition was not fulfilled. _Bülow_,
_Nic._, 124-39; _Costa R._, _Boletin Ofic._, March 9, 1854;
_Calvo_, _Memoria_, 8; _Costa R._, _Mem. Sec. Rel._, 1851,
7-8; 1854, 8; _Id._, _Informe Gobern. y Rel._, 1853, 13-14;
_Id._, _Doc. Soc. Itin._, 1-102; _Wagner_, _Costa R._, 181-3,
332-5; _Marr_, _Cent. Am._, ii. 172-3, 179-81, 218-19, 228-9.
[XXVIII-28] Each family was to have 10 acres, a temporary
dwelling, provisions for six months, the use of a cow and
ox for one year, all for $80, reimbursable in equal annual
instalments during 10 years. _Wagner_, _Costa R._, 250-6,
473-93.
[XXVIII-29] Further details on the subject may be found in
_Squier's Cent. Am._, 462, 473-80; _Belly_, _Nic._, i. 355-6;
_Reichardt_, _Nic._, 245-8, 290-6, ix.-xiv.; _Molina_, _Bosq.
Costa R._, 126; _Id._, _Coup d'œil Costa R._, 30-3; _Id._,
_Der Freistaat Costa R._, 67-83.
[XXVIII-30] That same year the colonization of Golfo Dulce
was contemplated. _El Nicaragüense_, July 19, 1856; _Lafond_,
_Golfo Dulce_.
[XXVIII-31] _Costa R._, _Col. Ley._, xv. 176-9.
[XXVIII-32] In 1878 with Barreto to introduce Canary
Islanders, and in 1881 with Perera. _Voz de Méj._, Aug. 30,
1878; _Mex._, _Diario Ofic._, Sept. 2, 1878; _Costa R._,
_Col. Ley._, 1881, 94-8.
[XXVIII-33] Mestizo is the offspring of white and Indian;
mulatto of white and black; quadroon of white and mulatto;
octoroon of white and quadroon; zambo is an offspring of
Indian and negro, more extended intermixtures are given
elsewhere.
[XXVIII-34] For examples, in Nic., Gen. Corral, Walker's
victim, Gregorio Juarez and Rosalío Cortez, ministers of
state, were mulattoes. Anselmo Rivas, also a minister,
resembled an Abyssinian; Fruto Chamorro, the conservative
president, showed evidences of many mixtures. _Belly_,
_Nic._, i. 255.
[XXVIII-35] The whites in their social intercourse maintain a
certain exclusion, but in other respects equality prevails.
Knowing their numerical inferiority, they have followed the
policy of concession. _Squier's Travels_, i. 268.
[XXVIII-36] According to Trollope, pure Spanish blood is
an exception. He thinks there must be a great admixture of
Indian blood with it. The gen. color is that of a white man,
but of a very swarthy one. _W. Ind. and the Sp. Main._, 275.
[XXVIII-37] _Belly_, _Nic._, ii. 132. Trollope, _West
Ind._, 275-6, speaks disparagingly of Costa Rican women's
personal appearance. Another Englishman treats them with
more gallantry: 'Blonde hair, gray eyes, and red cheeks
are rare in no class; and many a pretty face may be seen on
market-day, scarcely darker or more Spanish-looking than a
west-country girl's. _Boyle's Ride Across a Continent_, 225.
[XXVIII-38] Being a compact population, and constantly
thrown into the company of one another through family or
business relations, a certain fraternity became established,
and the practice obtained of calling each other hermano and
hermanitico at every meeting. _Astaburuaga_, _Cent. Am._,
52-3. Owing to that practice, the Costa Ricans have been
nicknamed hermaniticos.
[XXVIII-39] That is to say, they are not given to stealing or
barefaced cheating; but at a bargain they will take all the
advantage they can; and if a lie will help, their conscience
is elastic enough to use it. In this they are neither better
nor worse than other nations claiming a high standard of
honesty. Their sense of morality, in sex relations, is not
what it should be. Divorces and separations are common, and
concubinage quite prevalent. The superintendent of the census
for 1864 recorded '1,200 separados de hecho, quienes sin
equivocarme puedo decir que viven en concubinato, sin contar
la frecuencia de este entre solteros y solteras.' _Costa R._,
_Censo_, 1864, xxv.
[XXVIII-40] They dislike wasting their resources in wars
or war material, preferring the arts of peace, and to
welcome those bringing them wealth from other countries.
_Laferrière_, _De Paris à Guatémala_, 45-6, 57.
[XXVIII-41] A large number of houses in Cent. Am. are made
with tapial, which is common earth put moist into boxes of
the dimensions of the walls, and beaten with mallets. Another
sort of building is made by driving a number of poles into
the ground at a yard or two from each other, to which long
canes are tied, the space between the canes being filled
up with mud, or with mud and stones. When dry, the outside
is plastered over with mortar. The houses are protected by
projecting roofs. There are likewise many houses built with
thick adobe walls, covered with concave tiles.
[XXVIII-42] Dirty and slovenly. _Trollope's W. Ind._, 260,
268. The only articles of furniture in them are a hammock, a
table, a bedstead without mattress, and two or three of the
commonest wooden chairs.
[XXVIII-43] _Belly_, _Nic._, i. 367-8.
[XXVIII-44] Hence the constant use of emetics, castor oil,
soda purgante or refrescante, rhubarb, quinine, sarsaparilla,
and florida water, which are looked upon as universal
panaceas. _Laferrière_, _De Paris à Guatém._, 57. The large
revenue derived by the government from the monopoly of
the sale of spirituous liquors shows how great must be the
consumption. _Boyle's Ride Across a Continent_, ii. 225.
[XXVIII-45] The Indians are never found in the cities.
_Laferrière_, _De Paris à Guatém._, 42-4.
[XXVIII-46] Belly speaks of the great variety and abundance
of commodities exhibited in the market on such days. Cacao
nibs were used as small change. The sales of one Saturday
that he visited the market exceeded $100,000. _Nic._, i. 392.
[XXVIII-47] Some of these rebozos are of silk, made in San
Salvador, and sold in Costa Rica at $18 or $20 apiece.
[XXVIII-48] All classes seem to be given to the vice. At
the club a minister of state or some other high functionary
presides over the faro-bank. _Boyle's Ride_, 226.
[XXVIII-49] There is a good deal of heresy and infidelity
exhibited by the higher class; but the poor people are very
devout.
[XXVIII-50] A favorite amusement of all Cent. Am.
_Laferrière_, _De Paris à Guatém._, 56-7; _Reichardt_, _Nic._,
123-5. In connection with the manners and customs of Costa
Ricans, see also _Frisch_, _Staaten von Mex._, 88; _Wagner_,
_Costa R._, 170-8, 189-92, 194.
[XXVIII-51] The native women when carrying a jar of water on
their heads present the sculptural profiles of caryatides.
_Belly_, _Nic._, i. 198. Beautifully moulded and unobtrusive
in their manners; kind and hospitable to strangers. _Squier's
Travels_, i. 284, 294.
[XXVIII-52] The women are not well educated; but they are
simple and unaffected, quick of apprehension, and ready at
good-natured repartee. _Id._, 269.
[XXVIII-53] Cemeteries being generally in bad condition.
Squier has it that the priests have perpetuated the practice,
because they derive a considerable fee from each burial.
_Travels_, i. 383-4.
[XXVIII-54] 'The aristocracy keeps the shops, and there it
dozes;... the lower orders keep the plaza, and there they
doze.' _Boyle's Ride Across a Continent_, 102.
[XXVIII-55] Belly, _Nic._, 217, speaking of those of mixed
blood, says they are the victims of traditional indolence,
and of the absence of moral light rather than of actual
depravity. The nearer to the pure Indian type, the more
reliable and faithful they are. Stout, _Nic._, 118, says that
the Nicaraguans are possessed of many virtues.
[XXVIII-56] Such offences which in other countries would be
indelible blots, throwing their authors out of the company
of honorable people, are after a while overlooked, and the
perpetrators reinstated in society. _Lévy_, _Nic._, 275.
[XXVIII-57] The waistcoat and cravat are often dispensed
with. Gloves are rarely worn. Loud colors, with large chains
and trinkets are too often displayed.
[XXVIII-58] The ordinary saddle or albarda is a cheap affair
and uncomfortable. There are horses of an easy amble, which
are quite rapid and yet gentle. _Squier's Travels_, i. 157;
ii. 91.
[XXVIII-59] _Lévy_, _Nic._, 272; _Belly_, _Nic._, i. 198;
_Wells' Explor._, 74-5. The people generally are clean in
their persons except when travelling, or when ill, and in
the latter case the touch of water is prohibited. _Squier's
Travels_, 59, 153-4, 269, 271, 289.
[XXVIII-60] For a hot climate the adobe, warm in winter and
cool in summer, is not to be surpassed as a dwelling. In the
courts are shade trees, making the corridors upon which all
the rooms open exceedingly pleasant. _Id._, i. 33-4; _Id._,
_Cent. Am._, 365; _Id._, _Nic._, 649; _Stout's Nic._, 38,
62-4, 66. Doors and windows are wide. The windows have no
glass, being enclosed on the outside with an iron railing
constructed sometimes like a balcony. The floors are of soft
brick. The roof, sloping considerably, is of concave tiles.
The yard often has a flower garden, or is used for raising
poultry, or maybe pigs.
[XXVIII-61] Kitchen, laundry, stables, etc., are at the end
of the yard, or when possible, in a separate yard.
[XXVIII-62] In late years some foreign furniture has been
imported. Most parlors are furnished as follows: Chairs with
leather seats, easy chairs of the same, mostly rockers. In
houses of the wealthy is a round or oval centre-table, and
other tables fitting into the corners, and possibly a piano,
a hanging lamp, and small mirrors, together with framed
lithographs or paintings hanging on the walls. The bedrooms
have similar chairs, a hammock, and a bed of rawhide extended
and nailed to a wooden frame, supported by four legs. At each
end rises a pillar to sustain a sort of awning which covers
the whole bed, and answers also for a mosquito net. The
appurtenances of the bed are a mat, sheets, and pillows. No
mattresses are ever used. Some persons prefer a common cot.
_Levy_, _Nic._, 262-7; _Belly_, _Nic._, 197.
[XXVIII-63] In some places coyol oil or lard in tin lamps are
used, with or without a glass chimney. In Segovia the people
often have no other light than that emitted by a burning
piece of resinous pine.
[XXVIII-64] Quite simple. _Squier's Travels_, 120, 272-5.
Breakfast invariably comprises eggs, roast meat, beans, and
cheese, to which other dishes may be added or not; finishing
with chocolate or coffee, the former mixed with roasted corn,
and the latter with milk. The dinner consists of soup, boiled
meat and greens, followed by a stew of beef, pork, fish,
or fowl, with some vegetables, and dessert in the form of a
variety of dulces. Rice is as necessary at dinner as beans
at breakfast. Between breakfast and dinner, fruits or some
cooling beverage are partaken of. Supper is a frugal meal,
accompanied with chocolate, or tiste, which is the national
beverage of Nic.—a mixture of cacao, and ground roasted
corn, beaten in cold water with sugar. Wheaten bread is made
of imported flour; but it is too expensive for general use,
and is generally sweetened. The tortilla of Nic. is larger,
thicker, and of coarser dough than in other parts. In many
places it is considered 'artículo de lujo,' and instead
of it, boiled or roasted green plantains are used. Wine is
rarely brought into requisition. The only fermented liquor
in common use is the aguardiente distilled from molasses,
which only the lower classes drink, and not to excess. The
poorer classes are very irregular in their eating, for they
eat at all hours; living mostly on plantains, beans, cheese,
and chicharrones and other fat portions of pork. Fruit in
superabundance is eaten. _Lévy_, _Nic._, 267-72; _Stout's
Nic._, 130-2; _Squier's Travels_, i. 271.
[XXVIII-65] The govt has at the capital a fine military band,
which gives public concerts in the open air twice a week. The
marimba and old Spanish guitar are much used. Occasionally a
Spanish dramatic or zarzuela company, or a troupe of acrobats
or other artists, visit the country.
[XXVIII-66] In Leon some of the élite do not frequent the
place, but they, not excepting the priests, practise it in
their corridors. Little parties are got up of afternoons to
have chicken-fights, and at times large sums change hands.
[XXVIII-67] Govt has from time to time passed laws to
prohibit gaming. _Rocha_, _Cód. Nic._, ii. 81-3; _La Union de
Nic._, March 9, 1861; _Nic._, _Gaceta_, Jan. 15, 1870; _Pan.
Star and Herald_, March 20, 1886.
[XXVIII-68] Occasionally those who take part in the dangerous
amusement receive fatal injuries. _Lévy_, _Nic._, 288-94;
_Squier's Travels_, i. 331-3. The following authorities
also treat of the character, and manners, and customs of
the Nicaraguans. _Reichardt_, _Nic._, 80-1, 88-90, 102-25;
_Heine_, _Wanderbilder_, 96-107, 187-204, passim; _De Bow's
Rev._, xiii. 236-58; _Wells' Walker's Exped._, 44-79, 84-5,
106-7, 241-2, 422.
[XXVIII-69] 'Whatever may be the future history of Cent. Am.,
its most important part, in all that requires intelligence,
activity, concentration, and force, will be performed by San
Salvador.' _Squier's Cent. Am._, 315.
[XXVIII-70] Aboriginal names of places have been generally
preserved; and there are a few towns, exclusively inhabited
by Indians, who use their own language among themselves.
_Squier's Cent. Am._, 318-23.
[XXVIII-71] About 50 miles in length, and 20 to 25 miles in
breadth, lying between La Libertad and Acajutla.
[XXVIII-72] Nevertheless, in business transactions he is
indisposed to trust others.
[XXVIII-73] This garment is elaborately but rudely
embroidered about the neck and shoulders with colored thread.
It is often laid aside in the country towns. _Montgomery's
Narr._, 98-9; _Squier's Cent. Am._, 321.
[XXVIII-74] _Laferrière_, _De Paris à Guatém._, 211-21.
[XXVIII-75] Upon the death of an infant, all rejoice, dance,
and carouse, the parents also taking part, presumably on the
belief that it has joined the choir of angels in heaven. If
the child is a male one, they paint whiskers and a mustache
on its face to make it resemble that of Jesus, and call it a
jesusito.
[XXIX-1] A large number of the priests are blacks, and they
regard with ill-concealed jealousy the advance of Americans
in Cent. Am. Every measure of the liberals to promote foreign
immigration meets with opposition on the part of the black
priests.
[XXIX-2] Lying between the Rio Roman and Cape or Segovia
River, an area of some 15,000 square miles.
[XXIX-3] Their ancestors had favored the French in the
squabbles with England, and in 1796 were, by order of
the British government, transported en masse, to the
number of about 5,000, and at heavy expense, to the then
deserted island of Roatan, in the bay of Honduras. They
were subsequently invited by the Spanish authorities to the
mainland; and aided to found settlements near the port of
Trujillo. Since then they have rapidly increased, extending
themselves both to the eastward and westward of that port.
_Squier's Cent. Am._, 232.
[XXIX-4] The black Caribs are represented as tall and stout,
and more mercurial and vehement than the pure Caribs; the
latter are shorter, but powerfully built.
[XXIX-5] Leaving out the dignified and courteous members
of the old and wealthy families, the people show a
strange mixture of politeness, simplicity, shrewdness,
and effrontery, and above all, an indescribably passive
indifference of countenance. _Wells' Hond._, 202-3.
[XXIX-6] It has been said of the Cent. Am. woman, 'she
nursed, made tortillas, and died.' _Id._, 215.
[XXIX-7] The women of this class lead a degraded life. If the
man has large means, his mistress has menials under her; if
not, she is maid of all work. _Bates' Cent. Am._, 115.
[XXIX-8] Notwithstanding this lack of education, Cent. Am.
women never fail to interest the traveller by the peculiar
gentleness and dignity of their demeanor. _Wells' Hond._,
227-8.
[XXIX-9] 'Sitting at the window in the afternoon and evening
to recover from the fatigue of it.' _Id._, 195.
[XXIX-10] Breakfast bill of fare: boiled rice and beans,
salads, bread, butter, cheese, tortillas, coffee and milk,
fruit. Dinner: soup, beef, salad, a variety of vegetables.
There are other dishes, such as ollas fried with garlic,
piccadillo of half-cooked lights, oil, rice, and plantains,
baked slices of liver, salchichas or blood puddings with
plenty of garlic, catamales filled with bits of fat meat and
cheese, boiled meat, broth, etc.; the repast concludes with
sweetmeats and coffee. Wines and liquors are generally of
poor quality. The rum of the country is the most harmless.
Cooking is generally done on an adobe fogon, or range, in a
small building behind the dwelling-house. _Id._, 192-4.
[XXIX-11] The couriers, wearing leathern caites, travel that
distance every day, at a gait between a fast walk and a run.
[XXIX-12] Gloves fringed around the cuffs with silver, and
a small riding-whip, complete the attire. To ride and dance
well are parts of the Central American's education. _Id._,
201, 227.
[XXIX-13] Religious feasts are common, and the people seem to
be close observants of the ceremonies, and yet cannot be said
to be as much priest-ridden as other Central Americans.
[XXIX-14] Even manacled prisoners are permitted, under guard,
to beg for money to relieve their condition.
[XXIX-15] Good colored servants brought in from abroad soon
fall into the indolent habits of the blacks surrounding them.
The stranger then finds that his man 'Bob Long has become Don
Roberto Longorio.'
[XXIX-16] An official document sets the whole population on
the 1st of Jan., 1886, at 1,322,544 souls. _Guat._, _Mem.
Sec. Fomento_, 1886, annex no. 1.
[XXIX-17] Among those traders are a number of European
Spaniards, who are every year joined by some of their
relations from the old country.
[XXIX-18] Of mild disposition, good natural talents, aptitude
for learning, and lively imagination. Hospitality is one of
their virtues. _Montgomery's Narr._, 157-60.
[XXIX-19] Belly, who wrote before the upsetting of the old
conservative régime, says: 'Un population que son beau
climat sollicite à l'inertie, et qui sort a peine de la
plus abominable éducation religieuse et morale que jamais
un peuple ait subie.' _A trav. l'Amér. Cent._, i. 153-4.
Laferrière visited the country some years later, and fully
confirms the above. _De Paris à Guatém._, 263.
[XXIX-20] 'Those of the better class will compare well with
any people for good morals, discreet conduct, and admirable
behavior.' _Min. Hudson's Rept_, in _U. S. Gov. Doc._, H. Ex.
Doc., Cong. 43, Sess. 1, i. 446.
[XXIX-21] Most of the women smoke, the elder ones cigars, and
the young cigarettes. They do it, however, in a pretty and
refined manner. _Stephens' Trav. Cent. Am._, i. 256.
[XXIX-22] 'A natural roving appetite inclines them to favor
and to freely indulge such intercourse.' _Min. Hudson's
Rept_, in _U. S. Gov. Doc._, H. Ex. Doc., Cong. 43, Sess. 1,
i. 445.
[XXIX-23] Every Ind. village has its own authorities, most of
whom are chosen from among the inhabitants.
[XXIX-24] The old system attempted to improve their condition
by enacting laws believed to be conducive to that end.
Witness clauses of a decree of the constituent assembly
of Nov. 8, 1851, giving force to certain laws of 1839,
and reviving others of the old Spanish Recop. de Indios,
which were intended to prevent the maltreatment of Indians.
_Guat._, _Recop. Ley._, i. 246, 512-15, 846-53. On the
6th of Sept., 1879, a decree was passed, acknowledging the
lamentable condition of ignorance and abjectedness the Indian
had been kept in, and providing that at least a portion of
them should attend the pub. schools already established in
nearly all the departments. _Salv._, _Diario Ofic._, Sept.
20, 1879.
[XXIX-25] The German writers Scherzer and Von Tempski, and
the American Stephens, have occupied themselves with those
people. According to them the inhabitants live isolated, and
render no service to Guat. They practise a religion which
is a mixture of catholic and heathen rites. The only ladinos
allowed to live with them are the priest and his attendants.
[XXIX-26] The towns conquered by the Spaniards did not
contain all the Lacandones. According to Pinelo, the
Lacandones and Manchés were computed, in 1637, at 100,000.
This was subsequent to the invasion of their territory by
Quiñones. Squier, _Cent. Am._, 568-72, gives much information
on the subject.
[XXIX-27] Now and then a few of them visit the Mexican states
of Chiapas, Tabasco, and Campeche to procure tobacco and
other things, and suddenly disappear by unknown paths, and
never allow strangers to visit them.
[XXIX-28] The eastern Lacandones are tillers of the soil,
hunters, and fishermen. Though occasionally baptized by
catholic missionaries, and fond of saying prayers, they still
adhere to their old heathen worship, and indulge in polygamy.
They visit the whites and settled Indians to sell their
produce. _Berendt's Explor. in Cent. Am._, in _Smithsonian
Rept_, 1867, 425.
[XXIX-29] Fine and costly tortoise-shell combs were at
one time much used. Women wear hats only when riding on
horseback. The Guat. female is fond of embroidered articles,
costly fans, rich jewelry, and every other finery. There are
other women in the world like them.
[XXIX-30] It being starched into stiff folds, it supplied in
some measure the place of a jacket.
[XXIX-31] Wealthy women objected to their female servants
wearing other than naguas, and would have none that wore
shoes.
[XXIX-32] Such places are convenient, though not agreeable,
owing to the variety and abundance of fleas, jiggers, etc.
_Laferrière_, _De Paris à Guatém._, 267; _Stephens' Trav.
Cent. Am._, i. 163-81.
[XXIX-33] In bull-fights they merely worry and torture the
animal, but never kill it in presence of the public.
[XXIX-34] The vice is not prevalent among the Indians who
live apart in their villages. During the bathing season
in Amatitlan, for instance, the time is spent in gambling,
and intrigues between the sexes, and among the visitors are
always a number of veritable sharpers. The native generally
bears his losses with hardly a sign of impatience. _Dunlop's
Cent. Am._, 152-3; _Stephens' Trav. Cent. Am._, i. 261,
298-301; _Boddam Whetham_, _Across Cent. Am._, 136-8.
[XXIX-35] _Barrios_, _Mensaje_, 1876, 55-6; _Guat._, _Mem.
Sec. Fomento_, 1880, 35-6; 1883, 59-60; 1884, 40-1; 1885,
44-6.
[XXIX-36] _Bates' Cent. Am., etc._, 110.
[XXIX-37] The fevers of the country are the intermittent,
resembling the worst form of fever and ague in the western
U. S.; the calentura, which is a type of the same. It is
not common in the interior, and yields usually to strong
cathartics, followed by quinine, which physicians are
wont to administer in heavy doses. _Wells' Hond._, 547-8.
Yellow fever breaks out with more or less virulence some
years at the ports, particularly on the Atlantic side;
it has occasionally spread to the interior. _Diario de
Méx._, 539-40, 569-71; _Amér. Cent. Cie Belge_, ii. 48-52;
_Disturnell's Infl. of Clim._, 252; _Costa R._, _Informe Sec.
Gobern._, 1869, 15; _Nic._, _Gaceta_, May 9 to Aug. 8, 1868;
_Laferrière_, _De Paris à Guatém._, 47-8, and table 444 B.
Measles and scarlet fever have also made their appearance
epidemically, destroying many lives. _Salv._, _El Siglo_, May
28 to Aug. 14, 1851; _Id._, _Diario Ofic._, July 31, 1875;
_Costa R._, _Mem. Sec. Guerra_, etc., 1867, doc. D, 31.
[XXIX-38] Nic. adopted timely precautions to escape it, by
having the people vaccinated. _Nic._, _Boletin Ofic._, Aug.
2, 1862.
[XXIX-39] _Rocha_, _Cód. Nic._, ii. 165; _Costa R._, _Mem.
Min. Gobern._, 1852-3; _Id._, 1884, annex A.
[XXIX-40] Elephantiasis is not common, but occasionally found
in the upland regions. Only one leg is stricken; the swelling
often reaches above the knee. It is considered incurable
and fatal. _Costa R._, _Informe Sec. Interior_, 1864, 9-10;
_Nic._, _Informe Min. Gobern._, 1871, 7; _Guat._, _Recop.
Ley._, _Gob. Democ._, ii. 21; _Wells' Hond._, 548.
[XXIX-41] _Journ. of a Voy._, in _Am. Register_, iii. 147;
_Soc. Mex. Geog._, _Bol._, viii. 507; _Costa R._, _Col.
Ley._, xxiii. 259-63; _Id._, _Mem. Sec. Gobern._, 1884,
99-100.
[XXIX-42] But few cases appeared in Hond. down to 1856.
_Wells' Hond._, 549. A malady presenting some of the symptoms
of cholera did considerable havoc in Costa R. in 1845, and
it was apprehended that it might degenerate into the Asiatic
type, but it fortunately did not. In the same state the
government, to ward off an expected invasion of the disease
on the 9th of Feb., 1849, established a strict quarantine,
which was raised on the 9th of April. _Nic._, _Registro
Ofic._, 107; _Costa R._, _Col. Ley._, xi. 14-15, 20.
[XXIX-43] We have seen how previous to and during the
Walker war cholera destroyed a conservative army in Managua,
and later one from Costa Rica, and how for a long time it
hindered military operations. _Perez_, _Mem. Hist. Rev.
Nic._, 140; _Costa R._, _Mem. Min. Rel._, 1856, 9-11; _S.
F. Herald_, Sept. 5, 1855; _Id._, _Bulletin_, June 6, 1856;
_Id._, _Alta_, Oct. 2, 1857; _El Tiempo_, Aug. 14, Sept. 15,
1857; _El Estandarte Nac._, Sept. 15, 1857; _El Eco Nac._,
Oct. 1, 1857.
[XXIX-44] Costa R. by timely precautions escaped the
infliction. _Nic._, _Gac._, Dec. 22, 1866; March 9 to Nov.
9, 1867, passim; Jan. 25, 1868; _Id._, _Decretos_, 1867, 50;
_Id._, _Mem. Min. Fomento_, 1869, 7; _Costa R._, _Mem. Sec.
Guerra_, etc., 1867, 8, doc. A, 23, D, 31; _El Porvenir de
Nic._, Feb. 18, 1872.
[XXX-1] Thus were established in Salv. the Colegio Seminario,
which subsequently assumed the name of Colegio y Universidad
del Salvador, in Nic., the Universidad de Leon, and in
Guatemala was founded the Academia de Estudios, with which
became incorporated the old university of San Cárlos, the
Colegio de Abogados, and the Protomedicato, which had existed
several years of the colonial period. _Squier's Trav. Cent.
Am._, ii. 390-1; _Squier_, _Compend. Hist. Cent. Am._, 36-7;
_Astaburuaga_, _Cent. Am._, 22; _Dunlop's Cent. Am._, 181;
_Montúfar_, _Reseña Hist._, i. 333; _Guat._, _Recop. Ley._,
i. 798-806; iii. 11-214. The Colegio de Abogados y Junta
Académica de Jurisprudencia had been installed June 5, 1810.
_Diario de Méx._, Sept. 22, 1810; _Juarros_, _Guat._, ii., p.
vii.
[XXX-2] See laws, official reports, and statements of
travellers. _Costa R._, _Col. Ley._, iii. 223-6; xi. 158-215;
xii. 156; _Montúfar_, _Resúmen Hist._, iii. 562-4, 640-1;
Ministerial annual reports, 1848-54; _El Costaricense_, Nov.
10, 17, 1849; _Molina_, _Bosq. Costa R._, 46-7; _Squier's
Cent. Am._, 468-9; _Wagner_, _Costa R._, 186-8, 219-29;
_Costa R._, _Bol. Ofic._, Jan. 10, 1856.
[XXX-3] There was a normal school for training teachers, at
San José, and institutes for secondary instruction in several
cities.
[XXX-4] It was created May 3, 1843, made pontificial in 1853
by Pius IX. _Costa R._, _Col. Ley._, viii. 25-8, 121-82; xi.
9-12; xii. 268-75; _Montúfar_, _Reseña Hist._, iv. 412-14,
419; _El Costaricense_, Dec. 1, 1849; _Wagner_, _Costa R._,
220-3.
[XXX-5] The percentage of each dept given in _Costa R._,
_Gaceta_, July 11, 1885, suppl. See also _Annual Repts of
Min. of Pub. Instruc._, 1858-83; _Wappäus_, _Mex. und Cent.
Am._, 359-60.
[XXX-6] Early in 1872 the university of Leon, the former
Colegio Tridentino, had but three chairs and 66 alumni, and
four classes of secondary instruction attended by 102 pupils;
that of Granada had only a chair of law, and seven classes
of secondary instruction attended by 160 pupils. In primary
instruction, there were at that time only 92 schools for boys
and 9 for girls, a number of them private, and one missionary
in Cuapa, attended by 3,871 boys and 532 girls, out of
a population of 205,500, or say 20 children out of 1,000
inhabitants; only 532 girls out of 18,000 of school age, and
4,000 boys out of 12,000, were receiving instruction. _Lévy_,
_Nic._, 360-3. Teachers of pub. schools are paid $12 a month
and a little extra in larger towns. That state of things was
due mainly to the neglect of parents. The funds appropriated
for education were constantly tampered with and defrauded;
this was acknowledged by the minister of instruction. There
were no schools for adults, no professional institutes. As a
rule, wealthy families sent their sons to be educated abroad,
or at least in Guat. There was in 1873 no scientific course
provided with the requisite materials, no laboratories, no
museum, no public or private collections, no observatory,
nothing; not even a small library. The conclusion to be drawn
from the above is that the general intellectual level could
not be high.
[XXX-7] 'Fuera de la multitud de causas dependientes del
carácter, y del estado social de nuestros pueblos ... no
tenemos nuestros idóneos suficientes.' _Mensaje_, in _Costa
R._, _Gaceta_, Feb. 4, 1885.
[XXX-8] The newspapers often contain fine poetical
compositions by native writers.
[XXX-9] The following authorities contain further details:
The official reports of ministers from 1850 to the present
time; _Nic._, _Dec. y Acuerdos_, from 1851 down; _Id._,
_Gaceta_, Oct. 14, 1848; March 31, 1849; and for years 1862
to 1874 passim, and others.
[XXX-10] Even in the dark days, when her affairs were in the
hands of despotic rulers, education was not neglected as much
as might have been expected.
[XXX-11] _Montúfar_, _Reseña Hist._, v. 52-3, 270.
[XXX-12] The Am. min., Jan. 8, 1872, says: 'Primary
instruction is expanding yearly in its numbers and area.'
Min. Biddle's Desp., in _U. S. Gov. Doc._, H. Ex. Doc., Cong.
42, Sess. 3, i. 511-12.
[XXX-13] At San Salvador, Santa Ana, and San Miguel.
[XXX-14] In 1875 there were 333 primary schools for boys, 50
for girls, 23 mixed, 29 high schools, one normal for males
and one for females, one telegraphic, one lithographic, and
one academy of fine arts. The appropriations for teachers in
1874 were nearly $69,000. It must be also remarked that many
are teaching without compensation to benefit their country.
Secondary and higher instruction are free. The primary is
uniform, gratuitous, and obligatory. _Laferrière_, _De Paris
à Guatém._, 202, 206, 282.
[XXX-15] The press, though not fully developed, has,
nevertheless, given at times evidences of ability, when not
hampered by restrictions on the part of would-be despotic
rulers. _Salv._, _Gac._, Dec. 21, 1849; Dec. 5, 1877;
_Salv._, _Diario Ofic._, Jan. 2, 1875, to Oct. 23, 1879,
passim; _Pan. Star and Herald_, March 4, May 10, 1875; Sept.
18, 1882; Sept. 9 and 18, 1885.
[XXX-16] Montúfar gives the causes, speaking on the subject
for 1838. _Resúmen Hist._, iii. 278-9.
[XXX-17] In chemistry, engineering, the higher mathematics,
they are deficient, and cannot compete with the universities
of Nic., Salv., or Guat. They are, in fact, but little in
advance of the common schools in the U. S. Still, they give
promise of greater usefulness and advancement in the future.
_Squier's Cent. Am._, 267-8.
[XXX-18] Hond. has furnished more than her quota of the
distinguished men of Cent. Am.; among them soldiers,
statesmen, and orators. _Wells' Hond._, 549.
[XXX-19] Such as exist with only a feeble life are generally
engaged in acrimonious political wranglings.
[XXX-20] President Soto in his message of 1877 enumerates the
improvements made, but confesses that they do not satisfy his
aspirations. _Salv._, _Gaceta Ofic._, June 19, 20, 1877.
[XXX-21] In 1881 about $64,000, and in 1882 nearly $74,000,
were expended for public instruction. A number of teachers
arrived early in 1883 from Europe, as also a complete outfit
for a scientific college. _Pan. Star and Herald_, March 23,
1883.
[XXX-22] At the end of 1882 there were 811 primary schools;
namely, 528 elementary for boys and 226 for girls, 5
complementary for boys, 3 for girls; one Sunday school for
working-women, and 48 night schools for artisans, etc. This
was an increase of 26 over 1881. The attendance was of 26,773
boys and 10,696 girls, an increase of 2,166 of both sexes
over 1881. Early in 1884, the primary schools were 844,
including 47 night schools for men, one for women, one Sunday
school for women, and 16 mixed schools. The attendance had
also greatly increased. The buildings confiscated from the
church in 1872 were applied to education. There were likewise
several private and municipal schools. _Barrios_, _Mensaje_,
Sept. 11, 1876, 33-8; _B. Whetham's Across Cent. Am._, 39;
_U. S. Gov. Doc._, H. Ex. Doc., Cong. 44, Sess. I, i. pt i.
137-8, 148, 175; _Guat._, _Recop. Ley._, _Gob. Democ._, ii.
81-192, passim; _Belly_, _A trav. l'Amér. Cent._, i. 131-4;
_Salv._, _Gaceta_, Aug. 18, Oct. 7, Nov. 8, 1876; Feb. 11 to
Nov. 27, 1877, passim; _Id._, _Diario Ofic._, Aug. 15, 1878;
_Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Instruc. Púb._, 1880-4; _Reichardt_,
_Cent. Am._, 57, 227; _La Estrella de Pan._, Jan. 10, 1884;
_Batres_, _Sketch of Guat._, 19-20, 40-72, passim; _El
Guatemalteco_, Jan. 26, Feb. 2, Dec. 24, 1884; _Conkling's
Guide_, 337, 341.
[XXX-23] _Pan. Ev'g Telegram_, May 26, 1886.
[XXX-24] The academy has pupils who pay their own expenses,
and are not obliged to join the military service; and others
placed therein by the govt, and intended to be commissioned
as officers of the army. _Pan. Star and Herald_, Jan. 11,
1877; _Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Guerra_, 1882-4; _Guat._, _Recop.
Ley._, ii. 692-700; _Id._, _Id._, _Gob. Democ._, i. 141-54;
ii. 125-8; _Salv._, _Diario Ofic._, Sept. 19, 1877; July 5,
1878.
[XXX-25] Besides having a school of drawing, painting,
and modelling, and a night-school for artisans, it is
provided with a cabinet of physics, with the view of
establishing a school of chemistry applicable to industry.
The museum installed in 1866 is every day enriched with new
acquisitions.
[XXX-26] 1872-4, paid by municipalities, $16,051; by national
govt, $112,048; 1879-83, paid by municipalities, to whom had
been ceded the urban tax, $36,242; by the national treasury,
$1,773,899. It seems that the total amount paid for pub.
instruction from 1860 to 1870 had not much exceeded $60,000.
_Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Fomento_, 1885, annex 12, table 16.
[XXX-27] Under the former régime books objectionable to the
church, for sustaining liberal ideas on social or religious
topics, were placed, by a decree of the national assembly of
Oct. 16, 1841, in the list of the forbidden; and the church
was authorized to proceed against them. _Guat._, _Recop.
Ley._, iii. 286-7.
[XXX-28] This was made evident in several acts. The clergy
were daily abused; the liberal leaders constantly inveighing
against their fanaticism and intolerance, and ridiculing
many things which the populace looked upon as sacred. Friars
were held up in a multitude of anecdotes, and otherwise, as
so many destructive insects. _El Liberal_, nos. 28-30, 41,
45, 49. The arts and objects of priestcraft were exposed
to ridicule, contempt, and reprobation. A play called 'La
Inquisicion por dentro' had a great run, and brought that
institution into effectual and lasting odium. _Squier's
Travels Cent. Am._, i. 372. The inquisition of Mex. had had
jurisdiction over Cent. Am. After its final abolishment, the
king of Spain decreed, March 9, 1820, that all cases pending
before its courts should be referred to the ordinaries for
determination. The inquisitors failed to obey, and removed
from the archives of Guat. all the cases pending there,
alleging complicity on the part of the archbishop. The matter
was laid before the córtes by Deputy Mendez of Salv. May 14,
1821. _Dispos. Var._, iii. 152; _Fernando VII._, _Decretos_,
285-6; _Córtes_, _Diario_, xviii. 1821, May 14, 6.
[XXX-29] One on pastorals; another required the archbishop's
appointments of parish priests to be previously submitted
for confirmation to the chief of the state. _La Tertulia
Patriótica_, no. 4. By law of Nov. 8, 1824, the clergy were
deprived of their privilege to import goods free of duties;
another of June 9, 1826, reduced the tithes to one half. _El
Liberal_, no. 36. Others of May 3, and June 9, 1826, gave
natural children the right to inherit either extestamento or
abintestato, and those of ordained priests and professed nuns
were placed in the same category; one forbidding, Sept. 1,
1826, the prelates of religious orders to recognize obedience
to or hold relations with their respective generals in Spain;
and finally, the famous decrees of June 10 and July 20,
1826, forbidding the admission into convents or nunneries
of persons under 23 years, or to profession any under
25. _Marure_, _Bosq. Rev. Cent. Am._, i. 244-6; _Guat._,
_Gaceta_, Feb. 16, 1856; _Squier's Cent. Am._, 265-7.
[XXX-30] Such writings appeared in _El Indicador_, nos. 90,
94, 95, 149, 152.
[XXX-31] This was almost unanimously sanctioned by the
people, and at once carried into effect. _Rocha_, _Cód.
Nic._, i. 373; ii. 373-80; _Guat._, _Recop. Ley._, i. 273;
_Id._, _Montúfar_, _Reseña Hist._, i. 156-8; _Squier_,
_Compend. Hist. Cent. Am._, 61; _Squier's Trav. Cent. Am._,
i. 370-1; ii. 390-4; _Thompson's Guat._, 145-50; _Stout's
Nic._, 149-51; _Crowe's Gospel_, 123-32, 135; _Reichardt_,
_Cent. Am._, 39; _Cal. Overland Monthly_, xiv. 160-1;
_Dunlop's Cent. Am._, 178, 181, 186; _Nic._, _El Porvenir_,
Oct. 22, 1871; Feb. 16, 1873.
[XXX-32] Under this law Fred. Crowe, an English protestant
missionary, and the author of the _Gospel in Central
America_, resided several years in Guat., till he was driven
away by the serviles.
[XXX-33] Pursuant to which Father Delgado was chosen and
acted as bishop of San Salvador, though without confirmation
by the pope, for about four years. He was never confirmed,
but retained as vicar-general, under the archb. of Guat.
_Montúfar_, _Reseña Hist._, ii. 13-17; _Marure_, _Bosq Hist.
Rev. Cent. Am._, 196-9, and Docs, xviii.-xix., xxx.-xxxii.;
_Id._, _Efem._, 14; _Mem., Hist. Rev. Cent. Am._, 32-7;
_Cabildo_, _Ecles. Informe_, 54-5; _Squier's Trav. Cent.
Am._, i. 370-1; _Niles' Reg._, xxix. 39.
[XXX-34] _Guat._, _Recop. Ley._, iii. 273, 294-324;
_Montúfar_, _Reseña Hist._, iii. 522-4; iv. 146, 205-7, 552;
_Crosby's Statem._, MS., 91, 105-7, 110-11; _Squier's Cent.
Am._, 515-16; _Belly_, _Nic._, i. 162-3.
[XXX-35] Infidelity spread extensively among the mestizos,
and the white people also, so that the requirements of the
church became constantly neglected. Obnoxious books were in
the hands of all classes. Some of the more candid priests
avowed deistical and atheistical notions. _Crowe's Gospel_,
256-7.
[XXX-36] A large number were charged with libidinous
practices; even unnatural crimes were among the number.
Excesses in eating and drinking, gambling, rioting, and bad
language were quite common with them. Exorbitant fees, and
extorting personal services, and grinding the poor were of
daily occurrence. And yet the offenders were not punished,
nor even suspended.
[XXX-37] At Habana, Cuba, whose diocese he had charge of for
many years, never resigning the see of Guatemala, though he
repeatedly refused to return thereto. His remains were taken
there, however, by the Spanish war schooner _Polka_, and
interred in Santa Teresa church, June 1846, with the utmost
pomp of church and state. _Montúfar_, _Reseña Hist._, v.
12-13, 19-25.
[XXX-38] The Marquis José de Aycinena, who had expected the
appointment, was balked in his ambition, but was made bishop
of Trajanapolis in part. infid.; he died Feb. 17, 1865. A few
months earlier, Aug. 23, 1864, occurred the death of another
prelate, a native of Guat., named José M. Barrutia y Cróquer,
bishop of Camaco in part. infid. _Nic._, _Gaceta_, Sept.
24, 1864; March 18, 1865. Antonio Larrazábal, who had also
been made a bishop in part. infid., had died Dec. 2, 1853.
_Costa R._, _Gaceta_, Jan. 7, 1854; _Belly_, _A trav. l'Amér.
Cent._, i. 136-7.
[XXX-39] _Nic._, _Gaceta_, Feb. 16, 1867; _Pan. Mercantile
Chronicle_, Feb. 17, 1867.
[XXX-40] Piñol died at Habana, June 24, 1881; Urruela's
demise was on June 8, 1873, at Leon. _Nic._, _Gaceta_, June
14, 1873; _Voz de Méj._, July 28, 1881.
[XXX-41] In 1872 the Capuchin friars of La Antigua, who were
natives of Spain, were sent out of the country; all convents
of friars were closed, and the property of the several
orders was confiscated. In 1873 the consolidation of mortmain
property, proceeding from pious endowments, capellanías, and
legacies to the church and benevolent establishments, was
decreed. In 1874 nunneries were closed, and the confiscation
of their estates went on. The government agreed to allow
pensions to the nuns and native friars for their support.
At the same time all communities of religions of either sex
under any form whatever were forbidden forever. The fuero
eclesiástico was abolished, and the most unlimited freedom
of religion proclaimed. Civil marriage was declared legal,
and where the parties desired a religious ceremony the former
must precede it. Ecclesiastics were forbidden to appear
with frocks or other official insignia in public out of the
church. Cemeteries were secularized. _Barrios_, _Mensaje_,
Sept. 11, 1876; _Guat._, _Recop. Ley. Gob. Democ._, i.
159-61, 192-6; ii. 13-14, 23-7, 58, 64-5, 205; _El Porvenir
de Nic._, Apr. 20, 27, 1873; _U. S. Gov. Doc._, H. Ex.
Doc., Cong. 43, Sess. 2, i. 99-101, 106, 147; _Pan. Star and
Herald_, Oct. 23, 1873; _Salv._, _Diario_, Dec. 21, 1878;
_Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Gobern. y Just._, 1880, 2-5; 1882, 11-12.
[XXX-42] In 1883 a protestant chapel was established in the
capital, in charge of Rev. Mr Hill. _Pan. Star and Herald_,
March 23, 1883.
[XXX-43] There had been before him, from 1539 to 1810,
twenty bishops, the immediate predecessor of Barranco being
Manuel Julian Rodriguez, who ruled till 1810. Bernardo Pavon
was appointed but died before his consecration. _Juarros_,
_Guat._, i. 181; _Mex._, _Compend. Concilio III. en Mex._,
418-21; _Morelli_, _Fast. Nov. Orb._, 107.
[XXX-44] _Nic._, _Corr. Ist._, Dec. 1, 1849; _Guat._, _Gac._,
Nov. 30, 1849.
[XXX-45] Formerly there were convents of Franciscan, Merced,
and Carmelite orders.
[XXX-46] The church has no property whatever; the priests
are generally poor, and entirely dependent on fees, and on
contributions of the devout for festivals, etc.
[XXX-47] _Wells' Hond._, 551-2, 555; _Wappäus_, _Mex. und
Cent. Am._, 305.
[XXX-48] The papal bull to erect the diocese of San Salvador
is dated 4th day of the Kalends of Oct., 1842. _Montúfar_,
_Reseña Hist._, iv. 171-85.
[XXX-49] He was a strong, finely formed, and pretentious
individual; a count palatine, and attendant on the
pontifical throne, one who had a right to be preceded by a
tintinnabulum. He was not like the poor, meek man who was
born in a stable at Bethlehem.
[XXX-50] _Id._, _Reseña Hist._, v. 649, 661-2; _Salv._,
_Gac._, July 29, 1853; _Id._, _Diario Ofic._, Nov. 4, 1875;
_Nic._, _Corr. Ist._, May 23, 1851.
[XXX-51] _Salv._, _Diario Ofic._, Aug. 8, 13, 1875.
[XXX-52] The most noted were: Friar Benito de Baldonado,
1620-9, who founded two hospitals; he died in Leon; Diego
Morsillo Rubio de Auñon, 1704-9, who being afterward
transferred to La Paz, was twice viceroy and captain-general
of Peru; Isidro Marin de Bullon y Figueroa, 1746-8, who
began the construction of the cathedral of Leon, and died
in Guatemala; Estévan Lorenzo de Tristan, 1775-83; in 1780
he finished and inaugurated the cathedral, and it is added
that through his exertions Cent. Am. obtained the privilege
of free trade; José Antonio de la Huerta Casso, 1795-1804,
notable for his efforts in developing education. Montúfar
makes severe comments on some of the prelates. _Reseña
Hist._, iv. 136-9. Nicolás García Jerez, a Dominican, became
bishop in 1810, and figured prominently in the revolutionary
period. He had to emigrate in 1824 to Guatemala, where he
died in 1825. Vicar Cuadra was guardian till 1851, when
under a reconstruction of the diocese, Costa R. having
been detached, Jorge Viteri y Ungo was transferred to it
from Salvador. He died July 25, 1853. The see had no bishop
till the appointment of Bernardo Piñol y Aycinena. It took
place in Nov. 1855, and the papal bulls reached Granada in
1856, where, owing to Walker's war, they were kept in the
parish church, and finally destroyed with the city. Piñol
was consecrated in Guat. July 17, 1859, and performed his
functions till Sept. 14, 1868, when he departed for Guat.
as archb. During his rule Manuel Ulloa was made bishop of
Lemira, in part. infid., and coadjutor; he was made bishop
of Nic. in 1871, and resigned the office in 1883. _El
Costaricense_, Nov. 10, 1849; _Salv._, _Gaceta_, March 8,
1850; Aug. 12, 1853; _Pio IX._, _Carta_; _Squier's Trav.
Cent. Am._, i. 391; _Nic._, _Corr. Ist._, Feb. 6, March 7,
June 20, Dec. 12, 1850; _Id._, _Gac._, Aug. 13, Sept. 3,
1853, Dec. 16, 1865; Jan. 6, Apr. 21, 1866; _Id._, _Semanal
Nic._, Oct. 10, 1872; _Id._, _Boletin Ofic._, Apr. 12, 1862;
_Id._, _Dec. y Acuerdos_, 1859, ii. 162; 1863, 215; 1865,
136; _El Rol_, March 15, 1855; _Decreto sobre la bula de
S. S._; _Perez_, _Mem. Rev. Nic._, i. 8-9; _El Porvenir de
Nic._, Feb. 25, 1872; _Levy_, _Nic._, 62-6; _Pan. Star and
Herald_, July 2, 1883.
[XXX-53] In 1871 a number of jesuits expelled from Guat.
managed to get into the country, and were allowed to remain
several years, but were finally sent away. Details have been
given in a former chapter. In 1872 several friars expelled
from other parts tried to enter the country, but were not
permitted to stay. _El Porvenir de Nic._, Oct. 1, 1871, to
Feb. 16, 1873, passim; _Nic._, _Semanal Nic._, June 18, 1872;
_Id._, _Mem. Min. Gobern._, 1875, 23-4; 1883, 25-6, annex B,
27-8, F, 1-4.
[XXX-54] For the seminary $2,000; the bishop $3,000; the
chapter and other ecclesiastics $4,158; music $1,000;
other expenses about $4,000. The chapter consists of dean,
archdeacon, chancellor, three canons, and six or seven other
officials. The church gets the first-fruits from farmers.
Tithes have been abolished since 1862. 300 or 400 priests
without parishes depend entirely on fees. The cathedral has
no valuables, having been sacked several times. _Nic._,
_Boletin Ofic._, Dec. 6, 1856; March 1, 1862; _Union_,
_Nic._, March 2, 1861; _Nic._, _Dec. y Acuerdos_, 1857-8,
261-5; _Id._, _Gac._, Aug. 6, 1870; _Lévy_, _Nic._, 383-4.
[XXX-55] See treaty with France of Apr. 11, 1859.
[XXX-56] Appointments of parish priests, and publications
of papal bulls or briefs, and decrees of ecclesiastical
councils must first obtain an exequatur from the president
of the republic. Parish priests before assuming their offices
must take the oath to support the constitution, and to do no
act against the nation's independence or the public peace.
_Nic._, _Mem. Min. Fomento_, 1869, 13-16; 1871, 9-10; _Id._,
_Mem. Min. Rel._, 1871, 7-10, 25-8; _Id._, _Gaceta_, May 30,
1868; Oct. 29, Nov. 5, 1870.
[XXX-57] Anselmo Llorente y Lafuente was the first called
to fill the position of bishop of San José de Costa Rica,
April 10, 1851. He had not been long in office when he tried
to collect tithes on coffee, but failed, and his course
greatly displeased the people and lowered their regard for
the church. The matter was finally settled by a concordat
entered into at Rome, Oct. 2, 1852, and tithes were declared
abolished. He died in 1872; and the government soon after
proposed a successor, who was not approved of by the Roman
curia. Finally, Oct. 11, 1879, the government nominated
Bernard August Thiel, a native of Germany, and professor
of the university of Costa Rica, for the office, and he was
confirmed by the pope Feb. 27, 1880. During the vacancy the
see was under the guardianship of the bishop of Abydos, in
part. infid. _Costa R._, _Col. Ley._, v. 155-60; _Marure_,
_Bosq. Hist. Rev. Cent. Am._, 208; _Montúfar_, _Reseña
Hist._, ii. 247-9; _Costa R._, _Mem. Min. Rel._, 1851, 1-2,
10-12; 1854, 11-12; _Id._, _Informe Sec. Rel._, 1872, 19-20;
1873, 19; 1874, 12; 1880, 19-20; _Molina_, _Bosq. Costa R._,
63, 111-12; _El Siglo_, July 18, 1851.
[XXX-58] For the bishop $3,000, the ecclesiastical chapter
$3,000, and the Colegio Tridentino $3,000. _Montúfar_,
_Reseña Hist._, ii. 207; _Costa R._, _Mem. Min. Rel._, 1859,
11; _Id._, _Gac. Gob._, July 16, 23, 30, 1853; _Hond._,
_Gac. Ofic._, Jan. 24, 1853, suppl.; _Salv._, _Gac._,
Aug. 12, 1853; _Guat._, _Gac._, Sept. 16, Oct. 14, 1853;
_Astaburuaga_, _Cent. Am._, 49-50.
[XXX-59] _Costa R._, _Mem. Sec. Rel._, 1884, 31.
[XXX-60] The clergy have, indeed, lost much of their
influence. The mode of life of the majority of them cannot
inspire respect. Letter from Costa R. by a British consul,
quoted in _Squier's Cent. Am._, 468-9; _Wappäus_, _Mex.
und Cent. Am._, 360. Laferrière, writing for 1873, gives a
discreditable picture of the church, its priests and feasts.
_De Paris à Guatém._, 56.
[XXX-61] There is a protestant church and cemetery in San
José. The government cordially upholds the liberal laws on
the subject of religion. _Costa R._, _Mem. Sec. Rel._, 1884,
32.
[XXX-62] His salary was also suspended. _Costa R._, _Mem.
Sec. Rel._, 1885, 17.
[XXX-63] Of whom 39 received their offices during the
colonial period, the last one being Friar Higinio Duran, of
the order of Mercy and a native of Lima. He took possession
in 1818, and died in Chepo on the 22d of Oct., 1823.
This bishop was one of the signers of the declaration of
independ. of the Isthmus in 1821. His successors were Manuel
Vasquez, Juan J. Cabarcas Gonzalez, Juan F. del R. Manfiedo
y Ballestas, Friar Eduardo Vasquez, who died in Rome, Jan.
2, 1870, Ignacio Antonio Parra, who took possession June 3,
1871. _Hernaez_, _Extracto del Libro de la Comp. de Jesus_,
in _Maldonado_, _Asuntos Polít de Pan._, MS., 34-5; _Pan._,
_Col. Docs._, MS., nos. 125-6; _Pan. Docs._; _Montúfar_,
_Reseña Hist._, iv. 344; _Nic._, _Boletin Ofic._, Nov.
1, 1862; _Pan._, _Boletin Ofic._, March 4, 1869; _Id._,
_Gaceta_, June 6, 1871. Parra held the office only a few
years, and was succeeded by Telésforo Paúl, who occupied it
till Dec. 1884, when he repaired to Bogotá, his native city,
to fill that archepiscopal see. The assembly of the state
on the 22d of Dec., 1884, adopted a resolution recognizing
his efforts to promote harmony, and appointed a committee
to escort him as far as Barranquilla. _La Estrella de Pan._,
Jan. 1, 1885; _El Cronista_ (Pan.), Jan. 3, 1885.
[XXX-64] _Bidwell's Isth. Pan._, 242. The congress of Nueva
Granada in 1837 fixed the bishop's salary at $4,000. _N.
Granada_, _Registro Ofic._, 21.
[XXX-65] Originally there were 11 churches, 4 convents of
friars, one nunnery, a cathedral, and one ecclesiastical
college established by the government of Old Colombia under
a rector, vice-rector, and assistant, with a sufficient
revenue. A law of New Granada provided for the sale at
auction of all property that had formerly belonged to the
jesuits not required for national use. _Pan._, _Crón. Ofic._,
Aug. 5, 1852. Stories are related of buried treasures having
been disinterred in after years by jesuit agents, from the
ground of their old house, and from the orchard of T. M.
Feuillet. These stories bear some semblance of truth. See
Memoranda, in _Maldonado_, _Apuntes_, MS., 36 et seq.
[XXX-66] The bishops in the exercise of their functions,
and administration of church property, had the assistance of
the civil authorities, who carried out their orders without
questioning them.
[XXX-67] Every New Granadan or Colombian assigned, to the
prejudice of his heirs, a certain amount to the church for
masses and other supposed benefits it could do to his soul.
Successive descendants followed the example. The priests
often threatened the dying with the penalties of hell if they
did not purchase their salvation. Clerical intolerance knew
no limits.
[XXX-68] Excepting only cathedrals, the chief church of each
parish, and the sacred vessels and ornaments. _Maldonado_,
_Asuntos Polít. Pan._, MS., 3-5, 15, 17.
[XXX-69] The bishop of Panamá left, and his priests followed
his example one by one. Panamá was thus left without a
priest; the dead had to be buried without the offices
of a minister; for more than a year the churches had no
bell-tolling or officiating minister. An English catholic
missionary, passing to San Francisco, ventured to say mass
and baptize in private. He was arrested, though finally
allowed to embark. _Bidwell's Isth. Pan._, 238-43.
[XXX-70] The laws were modified in May 1864. The govt
reserved the right of inspection, but made the oath of
submission obligatory on the chief of the church having
authority as such. Bulls or orders emanating from any one
residing in a foreign country could not be published or
enforced without first obtaining permission from the national
executive. _Pan._, _Boletin Ofic._, Jan. 16, 1868.
[XXX-71] Under Mosquera's decrees when he was dictator, the
few nuns—four aged and one young—occupying the convent of La
Concepcion in Panamá were made to abandon it in Sept. 1862.
_Nic._, _Boletin Ofic._, Oct. 4, 1862. These women would
not forsake the cloister, but sought an asylum in Lima. With
tearful eyes they exiled themselves from their home, and from
friends, many of whom had received their education from them.
Their departure caused no little feeling in the pub. heart.
_Maldonado_, _Asuntos Polít. Pan._, MS., 18.
[XXX-72] Dec. 15, 1868, a charter was granted by the state
govt to a protestant church association. _Pan._, _Boletin
Ofic._, Feb. 18, 1869.
[XXXI-1] Some of the alcaldes mayores had in 1810 only
$300 allowed them yearly, others $500, and the highest
paid received $1,200. The system did not recommend itself.
_Guat._, _Apunt._, 65-71. There was also a consulado or
tribunal of commerce established in Guat. April 30, 1794.
_Juarros' Stat. and Comm. Hist. Guat._, 142-3.
[XXXI-2] Royal decree of July 25, 1814. _Fernando VII._,
Dec., 12.
[XXXI-3] The king ratified it June 4, 1820. The Indians were
benefited thereby, for even priests were strictly forbidden
to flog them. _Id._, 301-2.
[XXXI-4] Those desirous of studying the judiciary of Guat.
as it existed down to 1872 may find information in _Guat._,
_Recop. Ley._, i. 241-2, 603-4; ii. 21-45, 51-69; iii.
215-29, 365-6; _Rocha_, _Cód. Nic._, ii. 242-3; _Montúfar_,
_Reseña Hist._, ii. 336-41; _Guat._, _Boletin Ofic._, 132-7.
[XXXI-5] The first complete reorganization was by the law
of May 22, 1872. The creation of the superior court at
Quezaltenango was by law of July 29, 1872. _Guat._, _Recop.
Ley. Gob. Democ._, i. 88-9, 114-15. On the 15th of Oct.,
1876, a supreme court, composed of a president and four
magistrados, was established, because the organization of
the superior courts hindered the prompt administration
of justice. _Salv._, _Gaceta Ofic._, Oct. 13, 14, 1876.
Subsequently, there was an increase in the number of
justices, the court was divided into five sections or
chambers, of which the fifth was suppressed March 29, 1882.
[XXXI-6] Trial by jury had been decreed, on the promulgation
of the Livingston code in Jan. 1837, under the law of Aug.
27, 1836. It was suspended by decree of March 13, 1838, on
the ground of its impracticability in a country so unprepared
for it as Guat. then was. _Montúfar_, _Reseña Hist._, ii.
289-343; iii. 63-84; _Salv._, _Diario Ofic._, Feb. 14, 1875;
_Pineda de Mont_, _Nota_, in _Guat._, _Recop. Ley._, i. 464;
_Dunlop's Cent. Am._, 192; _Squier's Trav. Cent. Am._, ii.
419, 426.
[XXXI-7] In consequence 350 reformatory articles were adopted
in connection with the civil code, and the reforms to the
code of procedure in civil cases were almost as extensive;
a few were also made to the commercial; and a considerable
number to the penal code, and to that of procedure in
criminal causes. _Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Gobern., etc._, 1880-3.
[XXXI-8] _Guat._, _Mem. Sec. Fomento_, 1880, 38-9, 65-6,
1885, 53, and annex 13.
[XXXI-9] During 1881 the supreme court, issued 1,995
sentences in criminal cases, only two of them were capital,
one of which was commuted; in 1882, 1,467; 1883, 1,726; 1884,
2,489 offences were classified as crimes, and 10,130 as mere
misdemeanors; of the former 1,321, and of the latter 1,460,
were acquitted; 1,168 of the former and 8,670 of the latter
were sentenced, none to death, and only two to extraordinary
imprisonment.
[XXXI-10] It was notorious that escaped criminals freely
moved, menacing the lives of those who had had any agency
in their arrest. The facility for evading the action of the
law was such that criminals did not fear it. _Hond._, _Mem.
Ministro Gen._, 1852, 9-10.
[XXXI-11] A robber and murderer named Umansor, who effected
his escape from the fort at Omoa, survived under 400 blows on
two occasions; but 200 blows on the bare back generally ended
the sufferings of the culprit when applied with that design.
_Wells' Hond._, 229-30.
[XXXI-12] _Presid. Soto_, _Mensaje_, May 27, 1877.
[XXXI-13] _Salv._, _Mem. Sec. Gobern._, 1875; _Id._, _Diario
Ofic._, March 17, 1875.
[XXXI-14] Trial by jury in criminal cases was first
established in Aug. 1832, but being found impracticable,
owing to the ignorance of the masses, it was abolished.
_Dunlop's Cent. Am._, 186. The system was restored by the
constitution of 1872. _Salv._, _Diario Ofic._, Oct. 17, 1875.
[XXXI-15] The supreme court is composed of eleven
magistrados, one of whom is the president. In San Salv. there
are two chambers of 2d resort with two justices in each, and
one of 3d resort composed of the president and the two senior
justices. A majority of the magistrados constitutes the
full supreme court. There is also a chamber of 2d instance
in San Miguel, and another in Santa Ana. Seven suplentes
or substitutes fill temporary absences of the incumbents,
three for the capital, and two for each of the others. No
magistrado, or judge of a court of first resort, can hold
office in the executive or legislative departments of the
government. The supreme court-martial was abolished by law of
Aug. 31, 1875. Military courts of first instance existing in
the depts were suppressed, excepting that in the capital, and
their functions devolved on the comandantes. _Salv._, _Diario
Ofic._, Sept. 3d-8th; _Id._, _Gaceta Ofic._, Sept. 13, 1876.
[XXXI-16] _Presid. Zaldívar_, _Mensaje_, Jan. 14, 1878.
[XXXI-17] The 1st chamber of 2d instance in the capital,
1,736; the 2d, 1,889; that of Santa Ana, 2,323; and the one
at San Miguel, 1,370. _Salv._, _Mem. Sec. Rel. Just., etc._,
1879; _Salv._, _Diario Ofic._, June 26, 28, July 4, 13, 1878.
[XXXI-18] The Livingston code of Louisiana with trial by jury
was established in 1836, but suspended in 1845. _Dunlop's
Cent. Am._, 192; _Sandoval_, _Rev. Polít._, 22. The organic
law of the courts is dated July 4, 1857, and underwent
modifications Sept. 3, 1858. _Rocha_, _Cód. Nic._, ii.
167-98; _Nic._, _Dec. y Acuerdos_, 1859, ii. 27-8; _Informe_,
_Min. Gobern._, 1859.
[XXXI-19] The former has jurisdiction over the depts of
Leon, Chinandega, and Segovia; and the latter over those of
Granada, Rivas, Chontales, and Matagalpa. _Lévy_, _Nic._,
344.
[XXXI-20] There is in each department or district a court
for civil and criminal affairs; but in largely populated
departments there is also a court of criminal jurisdiction.
_Rocha_, _Cód. Nic._, ii. 217, 244-316. There should also be
a juez de agricultura, and a juez de la mesta, under existing
laws. Cases involving only $100 are acted upon verbally; all
others in writing.
[XXXI-21] _Nic._, _Informe Min. Fomento_, 1869; _Id._, _Dec.
y Acuerdos_, 1871, 123-33; _Id._, _Gaceta_, March 18, Apr. 1,
22, June 3, 1871; _El Porvenir de Nic._, Oct. 22, 1871; Feb.
25, 1872; _Nic._, _Mem. Min. Hac._, 1872; _Id._, _Informe
Min. Gobern._, 1875.
[XXXI-22] 'Los pleitos, por decirlo así, se eternizan, y
es muy raro ver uno que llegue á concluirse.' _Mensaje del
Presid._, Marzo 1871.
[XXXI-23] _Nic._, _Semanal Nic._, Oct. 16, 1873.
[XXXI-24] _Marure_, _Efem._, 49. It has been asserted that
as a rule offenders are not vigorously prosecuted, and for
various reasons often go unpunished.
[XXXI-25] _Ley de presidios_, Aug. 18, 1858; _Ley de Palos_,
Sept. 1, 1858. Prisoners sentenced to hard labor serve out
their terms on the works in forts San Juan and San Cárlos,
by president's order of Oct. 6, 1880. _Nic._, _Mem. Min.
Gobern._, 1883, 22-3, and annex B, 27.
[XXXI-26] Of which 578 resulted in conviction; 244 were
dismissed; and 1,087 were pending. _Id._, annex G, no. vi.
[XXXI-27] _Costa R._, _Col. Ley._, iii.-xxii., passim; _Id._,
_Mem. Min. Gobern._, 1857 and 1859; _Montúfar_, _Reseña
Hist._, v. 344, 348.
[XXXI-28] The yearly salaries are: chief president, $2,160;
the other presidents, $2,040 each; justices, $1,800 each;
secretary, $1,200. The yearly appropriation for the supreme
court is nearly $43,000. _Costa R._, _Mem. Sec. Gobern._,
1884, annex D.
[XXXI-29] Suits for sums not exceeding $100 and trivial
offences are attended to by alcaldes and jueces de paz.
There is also a special court of hacienda to adjudicate upon
claims of the treasury against private parties, and for the
trial of offences against the revenue, including also the
counterfeiting of coin. The expense of this court is nearly
$700 per month. In Limon there is an alcalde who acts as
judge. The civil and criminal judges of San José receive $105
a month each; the other judges, $125; the alcalde at Limon,
$50. The yearly expenditure of the judiciary, including
the supreme court, fiscal agencies, casa de reclusion $720;
presidio de San Lúcas $11,560; and contingents for the year
1884 was a little over $90,100. In former years, when the
ecclesiastic and military fueros were recognized, each had
its own courts, the system being an inheritance from the old
Spanish rule. It has been abolished.
[XXXI-30] _Costa R._, _Informe Sec. Int._, 1860 and 1865.
[XXXI-31] This was recognized by the min. of justice in
his report of May 15, 1884. _Costa R._, _Mem. Soc. Just. y
Gracia_, 1884, 29.
[XXXI-32] The commissions began their labors at once, but had
not completed them in July 1885. _Costa R._, _Mem. Just. y
Gracia_, 1872-85.
[XXXI-33] A law of July 10, 1873, introduced the jury system
in criminal causes. _Costa R._, _Col. Ley._, xxii. 52-69;
_Id._, _Informe Sec. Just._, 1873, 23-4; 1876, 19-20.
[XXXI-34] The prison on Coco was first decreed July 3, 1874,
but the law not having been carried out, it was reiterated
Jan. 21, 1878. The regulation of Feb. 25, 1874, for San Lúcas
placed it under the control of the governor of the comarca
of Puntarenas. _Costa R._, _Col. Ley._, xxii. 35-48, 89-90;
_Id._, _Inf. Sec. Gobern._, 1874, 28; 1879, 16-18; _Id._,
_Col. Dispos. Leg._, 1878, 92-3.
[XXXI-35] Composed of three justices, whose terms of office
are of four years. There are substitutes to fill temporary
vacancies.
[XXXI-36] The alcaldes and regidores have charge of the
preservation of order in their respective districts, and
initiate proceedings for offences against the laws, and after
the investigation has been completed, pass the papers to the
proper court. These officials also have jurisdiction over
civil causes not exceeding $200 in value. When the claim
does not exceed $25, the court's decision is final. If it
does, the court hears the parties, receives the testimony
of witnesses, and renders a decision, which may be appealed
from to the superior court. Judges and alcaldes in former
years were greatly respected by the people, and their decrees
obeyed without demur. _Maldonado_, _Asuntos Polít. Pan._,
MS., 2, 5.
[XXXI-37] Other penalties: imprisonment, banishment,
deprivation or suspension of political rights, surveillance
of the authorities, fines, etc. Credits are allowed prisoners
for good behavior. Trial by jury in criminal cases exists. A
jury of seven meet at the chief town, hear the evidence, and
by an absolute majority convict, qualifying the offence, or
acquit. _Pan._, _Gaceta_, Aug. 30, to Sept. 24, 1863; Feb.
19, 1880; _Id._, _Boletin Ofic._, Nov. 18, 1865.
[XXXI-38] The civil, penal, procedure, military, and
commercial codes. _Id._, Sept. 5, 1868; _Id._, _Inf. Mem.
Sec. Est._, 1872, 13; 1877, 33.
[XXXI-39] He drew the conclusion that the jury system, in the
state of ignorance so general among the masses, instead of
being a safeguard for society served to afford impunity to
criminals. _Id._, _Mem. Sec. Jen. Est._, 1876, 19-22; 1879,
102-3.
[XXXI-40] _Pan._, _Ley._, 1879-80, 52-5.
[XXXI-41] _Pan._, _Informe Gobernador_, 17-19.
[XXXI-42] A decree of Dec. 23, 1879, fixed the force at 140
with the officers; a second of March 1, 1880, ordered the
organization of the battalion Ancon no. 1 with 95 to 125;
another of Feb. 22, 1881, reduced it to 75. The pay of the
rank and file was fixed in 1880 as follows: 1st sergt, $27;
2d sergt, $24; 1st corporal, $21; 2d corp., $18; private,
$15. No rations allowed. _Pan._, _Gaceta_, Jan. 8, March 21,
May 9, June 24, 27, 1880; Sept. 15, 25, 1881. The force was
greatly augmented during the disturbances of 1885. _Pan. Star
and Herald_, Dec. 22, 1885.
[XXXI-43] A law of 1881 established the ranks of
gen.-in-chief, gen. of division, gen. of brigade, colonel,
lieut-col, major, capt., lieut, and sub-lieut. On the 1st of
Dec., 1877, there were 8 generals, 43 colonels, lieut-col,
and majors, and 254 from captains down. The appropriations
for 1877 and 1878 were $64,000 each, of which $45,000 was for
pay. _Pan._, _Mem. Sec. Jen. Est._, 1878, p. xxvii.-xxxii.;
_Id._, _Id._, _Hacienda_, 1878, annex X.
[XXXI-44] Laferrière, writing for 1873, says that the
regulars did not count for much as to numbers, though the
country had been of late years under a military gov. _De
Paris à Guatém._, 55-6.
[XXXI-45] _Costa R._, _Mem. Min. Guer._, 1883 and 1884.
[XXXI-46] There were garrisons in Managua, Granada,
Leon, Corinto, San Cárlos, Castillo Viejo, and Matagalpa,
aggregating with the officers 506 men. The revenue guards
and police number about 460. _Nic._, _Mem. Min. Guer._, 1883.
The battalions stationed at Managua, the capital, bears the
name of guardia de los supremos poderes, being the guard
of honor of congress or the executive. The officers and
soldiers are well dressed. The other troops merely get a pair
of pants and a shirt. The bright trimmings distinguish them
from civilians. As to pay, the general of division in active
service receives $5 per day; the private only 30 cts per day
and no rations. _Lévy_, _Nic._, 343-4.
[XXXI-47] In 1882 the monthly appropriation for pensions was
$1,188. _Nic._, _Mem. Min. Guer._, 1883.
[XXXI-48] The army might be raised to 30,000 or 40,000
men. _Pan. Star and Herald_, June 2, 1886. The practice has
been to send out press-gangs, to seize men and force them
into the ranks, thus forming as motley a set as can well be
imagined; some have shirts, some jackets, and others neither.
Most of them probably have breeches, but exceedingly short
at the legs. _Wells' Hond._, 238-40; Laferrière, _De Paris
à Guatém._, 100-1; _Squier's Trav._, ii. 183-4.