CHAPTER XI.

VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS.

Tropical vegetation cannot well be described; but the fact that even when

seen it is hard to understand, need not prevent an attempt to sketch the

general features. The real trouble that meets the novice on the threshold

of the tropics is the utter inadequacy of the English language to express

the variety and luxuriance he sees in the vegetable world. Even in color

his vocabulary fails him, and he must include in the name “green” so many

distinct tints that at last he relinquishes the difficult task and falls

back upon the commonplace epithets, or leaves his tale untold. In the

abundance, in the confusion, of plant-life the observer sees that as he

goes from shore to mountain the trees and plants are not the same, and he

will readily divide the vegetation into four tolerably distinct regions;

these are the Shore, the River-bottoms, the Upland, and the Arid plain.

On all the low Cayos that are almost awash with every wave, and on the

low margin of the mainland, extending up the wide rivers for miles, are

the mangroves (_Rhizophora mangle_), giving the landscape a dull look not

at all attractive. They make indeed a hedge of interlaced branches and

tangled roots inhospitably forbidding landing on the shores. In their

branches are orchids, bromeliads, and other showy plants, while above

all this comparatively low bush rises the graceful coco or the confra

(_Manicaria Plukenetii_). The presence of mangroves is usually considered

an indication of the haunt of malaria, but on insufficient grounds; for

when these trees are cleared away, the shore is admirably suited for

coconuts, which with equal unreason are popularly regarded as token of a

salubrious climate.

[Illustration: IN THE CHOCON FOREST.]

As we follow up the rivers from the shore, we see the mangroves breaking

their dense wall, while reeds and bambus fill the gaps; until at last

mangroves have disappeared, as the rich valleys are reached. And now no

one, or two, or six species can claim supremacy. Two trees are, however,

prominent, where man has not interfered,—the cohune and the mahogany;

both trees of attractive form and size, and both by their presence

indicating the richest soil. The unspoiled forest of the river region

presents a wonderful variety above the ground; but among its roots the

exceptionally rich soil is almost bare, dwarf palms, wild bananas,

gingers, and ferns scantily covering its surface. From the trees hang

long vines (_vejucos_), some of them of value for cordage, others, as

the paullinia (_P. sorbilis_) and zarza (_Smilax sp._), possessed of

medicinal properties, while others are full of grateful sap. Endless

variety reigns, and on every side the puzzled observer sees different

trees. Often the stems are so covered with orchids, aroids, and other

parasitic and climbing plants that they can hardly be recognized, and

their leaves and flowers are but a part of the fresh canopy some sixty

feet or more above the ground. From a mountain ridge this forest looks

like a level plain, even as the top of a well-trimmed hedge; its surface

is here and there broken by the giant mahogany, or seamed by the river

and its affluents. Rosewood, cedar, palo de mulatto, cacao, figs,[48]

are all here, and the palms, from the noble cohune to the insignificant

chamaedoras, are plentifully scattered among the other trees. During

the season of flowers the brilliant yellow of the wild tamarind

(_Schizolobium_), the equally bright magenta of the Palo de Cortez, and

the white of the plumosa, appear to the observer from above like a rich

mosaic, while all this color is invisible to one who is beneath these

trees. All vegetation here is not merely luxuriant, it is composite.

There are no solitary trees, no hermits, in the vegetable world. Every

trunk is but a trellis for vines, some of them, like the matapalo,

strangling the fostering tree, or a nest for plants that do not seem

able to get up in the forest on their own stems. If I find a branch in

blossom, I must make sure that it is of the tree itself, and not part of

some mistletoe-like hanger-on. I have seen single trees bearing on their

trunk and branches enough orchids and other choice plants to stock a

hothouse. The matapalo deserves more than a passing word, for it is the

type of a numerous group of plants in the tropics. This vine may start

from the ground, but quite as often it germinates in the hollow of a

branch, or among the other parasites of the higher branches; in either

case it is at first a slender, innocent-looking vine, clinging timidly

to the tree for support and protection. Soon the vine grows until its

proportions resemble those of a huge serpent, and it has reached the

topmost branches and mingled its own foliage and flowers with those of

its trellis. The standard tree is from that moment doomed, and wastes

away in the murderous grasp of the vegetable anaconda. The matapalo may

fall in the ruin of its decaying foster-parent, but not infrequently it

has prepared for the emergency by sending out many a guy and splitting

the main stem into numerous buttresses, so that it can stand alone—a very

remarkable tree, and one often used as a boundary-mark.

[Illustration: Matapalo Tree.]

In this region of the river-bottoms we could linger long; but it must

be left, for a scientific description of its treasures would fill many

volumes of the size of this, and the explorer has not yet collected[49]

the material needed. Any botanist who would devote three months to the

thorough exploration of the valley forests of Guatemala ought to add not

less than a hundred new species to the flora of the region, and also

determine the species of most of the beautiful cabinet woods now known

only by their native names.[50]

Climbing the hills brings one to a very distinct vegetation, and here in

the uplands are trees in masses; that is, there are whole forests of one

or two species, and the representatives of the kinds most common in the

cooler regions are found here. There are pine-trees as much as eight

feet in diameter, and spruces of little less size. Oaks also of several

species are abundant; but the palm family almost disappears in the dryer

soil, only the cabbage-palm climbing out of the rich lowlands,—and that

is not abundant enough to give character to the vegetation. While in

the lowlands the ground is devoid of sod, here the grass carpets the

soil, extending to the very tree-trunks, and is kept in fine order by

the numerous sheep. Agaves are found on the hillsides, creepers like the

clematis take the place of the vejucos, and stevias, bouvardias, and

dahlias that of gingers and marantas.

The fourth region is quite as distinct as either of the others. It

comprises the dry lava plains where the changes of diurnal temperature

are considerable, and where the soil, though rich, is scant and

insufficiently watered. Here are found the calabash-tree (_Crescentia

cujete_), espina blanca, or gum arabic, and the cockspur (_Acacia

spadicifera_); while a coarse grass covers the ground between the lava

blocks.

In Guatemala there are two families of plants,—Palm and

Orchid,—presenting numerous species and of attractive and beautiful

appearance, at the same time by no means devoid of commercial importance.

[Illustration: Attalea Cohune.

A _Staminate blossoms_.

B _Stem of same_.

C _Cluster of unripe nuts_.

D _Transverse section of nut_.

E _Longitudinal section of nut_.]

Chief among palms stands the cohune (_Attalea cohune_), known also as

manàca and corozo. When young, the palm has no stem, its enormous leaves

rising from the ground more than thirty feet. The rhachis, or midrib,

of the pinnate fronds is of a rich red color, and larger round than a

man’s wrist, the distinct, conduplicate divisions being long and broad.

Mr. Morris estimates a leaf he saw in British Honduras at sixty feet in

length and eight feet in breadth. I have never seen one more than forty

feet long and five wide; but this is not an uncommon size of the manàca

as it is cut for thatching, one leaf extending across the roof. After

remaining some years in the manàca state, the stem begins to elongate,

and as it rises, the leaves become smaller, as is the case with the

coconut and other palms so far as known. The leaf-stems are persistent,

giving the tree a rough, untidy look, but doubtless having a purpose to

fulfil in the economy of Nature. This palm is now known as corozo, and

begins to fruit. The male inflorescence is an immense mass of more than

thirty thousand staminate flowers in a compound raceme between four and

five feet long; these have a heavy, not disagreeable odor, and attract a

great many bees and wasps, so that on one occasion the mozo who climbed

the stem and cut for me a fine specimen was badly stung. These insects

were so persistent after a great deal of shaking that the camera was used

as quickly as possible, specimens were saved, and the spadix was, with

the too-attractive flowers, thrown into the river. The pollen, which

under the microscope shows a form exactly like a baker’s roll, is in

such abundance from the four hundred and fifty thousand stamens that it

would fill a pint measure. The spathe, or cover of the inflorescence,

looks like leather, is deeply furrowed on the outside, and would make a

commodious bath-tub for a child. The fertile spadix has shorter branches,

with the rather large flowers succeeded by from five to ten nuts, the

whole bunch, which is about five feet long and weighs more than a hundred

pounds, bearing from eight hundred to a thousand nuts. These nuts are

two and a half inches long, and covered with a fibrous husk and so

thick a shell that the valuable kernel cannot be extracted in quantity

without powerful and expensive machinery. Like the coconut, the fruit

is normally three-celled. But as in that palm two of the cells give up

the struggle for existence in early life, so in the cohune; and I have

never, in the scores of nuts opened, found more than one cell. Professor

Watson has noticed two cells in several specimens, but never three. In

the illustration of this palm the bunch of nearly ripe nuts is clearly

shown, and in the diagram of flowers and fruit the fibrous husks and

the abortive cells may be seen. The natives crush the ripe nuts between

stones, and after pounding the rather small kernel in a mahogany mortar,

boil the resulting cake until the oil floats; this is skimmed off and

boiled again, to drive out the water. The average yield is a quart of

oil from a hundred nuts. The oil is said to be superior to coconut-oil,

a pint of it giving as much light, or rather burning as long, as a quart

of the latter.[51] It is not probable that the manufacture will pay in

the presence of the more tractable coconut. As the cohune grows older,

the hitherto persistent leaf-stems drop, the scars disappear, and the

smooth stem rises thirty to fifty feet clear to the crown of leaves at

the summit.

[Illustration: CHOCUN PALMS.]

The pimento-palm has a small cinnamon-colored stem much used for house

building, as is also the poknoboy (_Bactris balanoidea_). The warree

cohune (_Bactris cohune_), armed with spines, bears an edible nut much

easier to crack than the larger fruit of the attalea. The cabbage-palm

(_Oreodoxa oleracea_) is common in the upper valleys, and the base of

the leaf is a very poor cabbage, nor is it eaten to any extent. In the

forests the pacaya (_Euterpe edulis_) is a slender tree, the unexpanded

flower-buds being the edible part; and these are on sale in the

market-places tied in neat and attractive bundles. In taste it is rather

insipid. On the ridges the _Acrocomia sclerocarpa_ flourishes; its stem

is, like the warree cohune, armed with formidable spines, which serve as

pins, needles, and awls. The _Acrocomia vinifera_ also is common in the

valley of the Motagua. Along the river-banks the _Desmoncus_, a climbing

palm, is very common and very troublesome to the explorer; but it shows

such a curious adaptation of parts to special ends that its bad qualities

may be overlooked by the naturalist. It is generally understood that

in the foliage of palms the palmate form is the earlier, and that the

growth or development of the midrib results in a pinnate or feather form.

This is seen to be the case in the coco-palm, where the first leaves are

palmate or fan-shaped; but when the palm is a few months old it puts off

these childish garments and dons the toga virilis in the pinnate form. In

the desmoncus the development does not stop with the mere lengthening of

the midrib, but transforms the leaflets at the end into claws to aid the

limp stem to climb into sunlight. Here is a leaf-tip to show how this is

done; the ribs of the leaflets, instead of expanding into thin blades,

have thickened and bent backward to serve as the barbs of an arrow and

allow motion in one direction only. The leaf can push the stiffly bent

fingers through the thick foliage, where they stick fast and hold up the

stem. The rattan-palm (_Calamus rotang_) of the East Indies climbs over

the trees in a similar way. The Guatemalan climber bears a small cluster

of spiny but edible nuts. The graceful little Chamaedoreas may be found

in flower or fruit at almost any season of the year, and their slender

stems make good walking-sticks. The confra (_Manicaria Plukenetii_),

so useful for thatching, grows only near the sea, usually in clumps of

five or more. The nut is globular when one-celled, and about two inches

in diameter. The coco (_Cocos nucifera_) is too well known to need

description, though we shall consider the commercial importance of the

nuts presently. Of the other fifty or more species of palms few have been

identified, and their local names have no meaning for us.

[Illustration: Leaf-tip of Climbing Palm.]

To the family of orchids the collector is sure to turn with eagerness;

but I must confess that the brilliant colors and bizarre forms of these

flowers are not attractive to me. They are parasites; and although

possessing a commercial value far above many more beautiful and honest

flowers, only the vanilla has any useful qualities, so far as known. The

vanilla moreover is an article of luxury, not necessity; for doubtless

the chemist will discover, if he has not already done so, a substitute in

some of the thousand and one products of the decomposition of coal-tar.

All along the coast the _Epidendrum bicornutum_ and the _Schomburgkia

tibicina_ are very common, affecting mangroves especially. On

orange-trees in the Motagua valley grows a bright little yellow

_Oncidium_, the flower being the largest part of the plant. In the

mountains is an orchid which bears several long spikes of rich purple

flowers, which with the pure white clusters of a ground orchid care much

used in church decoration. So little is popularly known of the vanilla

(_V. planifolia_) that I may be pardoned for quoting from Mr. Morris the

directions lately issued from his Botanical Department of Jamaica, which

are entirely applicable to the plant in Guatemala. In the Chocon forests

it grows abundantly and fruits naturally, the insect needed to fertilize

the flowers being present; and the pods are of excellent quality.

_Vanilla._—“This is a vigorous, soft-stemmed vine, the cured fruits

of which are the valuable vanilla-beans of commerce. If cuttings are

taken, their upper ends, or portion to appear above ground, may readily

be determined by examination of the base of the attached leaf, in the

axil or upper face of which is a small growth-bud. Cut the stem with say

three or four joints at one fourth of an inch below the basal node or

joint, then place the base of each cutting shallowly in prepared soil

against the bole or trunk of a rough-barked, low-branching tree, as, for

instance, calabash, or on a low-trellised frame three or four feet high,

the supports of which should be unbarked logwood, yoke, or calabash.

“If the insect which fertilizes the flowers of this orchid in its

natural habitat is not present, in order to secure a crop of fruit it is

necessary that the flowers should be artificially fertilized. This may be

easily accomplished as follows. In the flower is a central white column,

at the summit of which is a detachable cap or anther, which if touched on

the lower front edge with a sharpened pencil or knife-blade will adhere

to the implement. The pollen masses contained in the anther must then

be made lightly to touch the sticky disk situated on the front of the

column. Each flower must be so treated at or about noon of the day on

which it opens.

“To cure vanilla-beans, gather when full, steep for about two minutes in

boiling water, and place in flannel to dry in the sun. When perfectly

dry, place them the next day on plates of iron or tin, anointing once or

twice with sweet oil, to keep them soft and plump. Complete the curing

process by exposing them carefully in the sun for several days [weeks].

When quite cured they should have a uniformly rich brown color, and the

full fragrance of this valuable product.”

In my own experience I have found it very difficult properly to dry the

pods in the damp atmosphere of the rainy season on the coast, and prefer

to use the hot-air dryers now generally used for tea, coffee, cacao, etc.

Of the family of ferns little need be said. The gold-fern (_Gymnogramma

aurea_) is a common weed at Livingston, and adiantums, lygodiums, and

selaginellas are found everywhere in the forests. While the small ferns

are abundant, tree-ferns are very scarce, only one specimen being seen

(in the forests of El Mico), and that not a fine one.

_Mahogany._—From the small extent of coast-line possessed by Guatemala,

her mahogany exports are perhaps not so extensive as those of the two

Hondurases on either side of her. In 1884 there was exported of all

woods (mahogany being the chief) from the port of Izabal (Livingston) a

measurement of 352,066 feet, valued at four cents a foot, or $14,082.64;

while the shipments from Belize for the same time were about 3,000,000

feet, worth $150,000. This is not because the Guatemalan forests

yield less of this valuable wood; on the contrary, mahogany-trees are

very abundant in the Chocon forests, on the smaller tributaries of the

Polochic, and in the Motagua valley. I have myself seen hundreds of

immense trees deep in the forests, while along the larger watercourses

the trees have generally been cut. In British Honduras the origin and

existence of the colony is due to mahogany-cutting. The mahogany-lands

are in the hands of a few proprietors who will not sell nor allow

settlers, since the young trees grow rapidly; and it is said that in

thirty years from a clearing, logs of large size may be cut from the

shoots which spring from the stumps. The business of mahogany-cutting is

thoroughly organized and made the most of. In the neighboring republic,

much of the mahogany-land belongs to the Government, which allows any one

to cut the timber on pretended payment of five dollars stumpage. A few

private individuals cut here and there and in a desultory way. The work

at a mahogany bank is generally done by Caribs, who are skilful woodmen.

The hunter or _montero_ strikes alone into the forest and searches for

trees. If he finds enough of a suitable size (squaring not less than

eighteen inches) within reasonable distance from the “bank,” a road is

opened from the tree to the river. Often the buttresses are immense, and

the platform, or “barbecue,” is raised a dozen feet from the ground. The

log is roughly squared, hauled to the river, usually by night, by the

light of pine-torches, and only when floated to port is it trimmed into

its final shape for the market. The best mahogany comes from limestone

regions.

With the mahogany is usually found the cedar (_Cedrela odorata_), from

which cigar-boxes are made, and which is also used (as is mahogany) for

single-log canoas, dories, and cayucos.

As an article of export, logwood ranks next to mahogany, of which the

best is found in the region of the Usumacinta. It is not a large tree,

fifteen to twenty feet high, and much easier to handle than the mahogany.

The dark heartwood alone is used.

The Santa Maria (_Calophyllum calaba_) is much used in house-building.

Rosewood (_Dalbergia_) grows to a large size and is most beautifully

veined, as is also the exquisite Palo de mulatto (_Spondias lutea_); but

both sink in water, and are difficult to transport. I have used rosewood

logs twenty inches thick to support a cistern, as they are almost

imperishable, and not attacked by insects. Sapodilla (_Achras sapota_) is

nearly as heavy. When freshly hewn, its color is curiously red, beefy in

tone; but it soon loses this on exposure, and shrinks considerably. It

splits easily, but is so tough that splinters are used as nails in soft

woods. Salmwood (_Jacaranda, sp._) is light colored, and much used for

door and window frames. Ziricote is beautifully veined.

Two species of pine are common, the _Pinus cubensis_, or _ocote_,

whence is obtained the fat-pine which serves as candle for a great

majority of the people of Central America, and the long-leaved pine (_P.

macrophylla_) of the mountains. I have placed in the Appendix a list of

other woods valuable in many ways, but never exported, and known only by

their local names.

The two products that in former years ranked high among the Guatemalan

exports, indigo and cochineal, have now been so completely superseded by

other dyes, the product of the laboratory, that they no longer need be

considered of importance, although enough indigo is still made to supply

native dyers, the Indios especially prizing the true indigo blue. Both

dye-stuffs were chiefly cultivated on the Pacific slopes, and I have seen

half-neglected _nopaleras_ in the vicinity of Antigua and Amatitlan, the

nopal or opuntia generally yielding place to sugar-cane and retiring to

the roadside and neglected corners, while the cochineal insect, unfed

and uncared-for, is gradually disappearing. In 1883 there were exported

135.02 cwt. of indigo, valued at $16,881.25; while in 1884 only 62.67

cwt., of a value of $7,833.75. A more decided decrease is seen in the

exportation of cochineal in those years, the amounts being 184.01 cwt.,

of a value of $9,200.50, in 1883, against 8.12 cwt., valued at $406, in

1884.

It has been my fortune to visit many of the tropical regions of the

world, and I have visited them not from idle curiosity, but with a

genuine interest in their inhabitants and productions. I have looked

upon the human, animal, and vegetable population of these places as

closely as my limited knowledge and the time allowed me would permit. It

is an agreeable study to place the physical capabilities of a region,

the richness of the soil, the climatic influences, the geographical and

commercial situation, side by side with the people, their industry,

strength, and intelligence, and from these premises draw the conclusion

of the might-be.

Once in travelling alone on horseback over the desert lands which lie

between the mountains of the Island of Maui, of the Hawaiian group, I

was impressed with the desolate, arid land of that great plain. Stunted

indigo, verbena, and malvaceous weeds thinly covered the parched soil,

which was cracked in every direction. Ten thousand feet above me rose the

vast dome of Haleakala, bare on this landward side, but which had sent

down for centuries volcanic ash to make this plain, and which now was

covering these earlier deposits with the decomposition of its rich lavas.

I examined this soil and found it full of the elements best suited for

the growth of cane. As is the case with many of our own Western plains

comprised in what was known as the Great American Desert, which have

often impressed me as the most inhospitable land, not even excepting the

Sahara, I have ever seen, this Hawaiian plain needed only water to turn

the desert into a fertile field. I laid before the then Government of

Hawaii my plan for reclaiming this land, which in great part belonged to

the School Fund. The Minister of Foreign Relations, the Hon. Robert C.

Wyllie, a most remarkable man, saw the physical possibilities, but also

the financial impossibilities, so far as the Government was concerned.

Years went by, when on a second visit to Maui I had the pleasure of

seeing that my plan had in part been carried out by private parties, and

prospering sugar plantations, valued at many millions, occupied the once

waste land.

In travelling through Guatemala I was convinced of the physical

advantages the country possessed, though I was not blind to the

indisputable fact that of all countries I have seen, Guatemala, in

common with the other States of Central America, makes least use of her

natural advantages, and does least to overcome those obstacles Nature has

thrown in her way. My readers will pardon me, I trust, if, in briefly

discussing the present outcome of the soil, I let my imagination, trained

and curbed by an extended experience, suggest at the same time what the

wonderfully fertile lands of Guatemala might yield, properly cultivated.

While I will endeavor to guard myself from all exaggeration, I cannot

conceal from myself the fact that those not familiar with tropical

luxuriance of growth and fruitfulness will not fully acquit me of this

fault so generally charged to travellers.

[Illustration: Indian Plough; a Type of Guatemaltecan Agriculture.]

_Sugar-cane._—Arranging the products to be described, not in a scientific

order, but in that sequence which their commercial importance seems to

suit, sugar-cane easily leads; and this in spite of the difficulties of

the labor supply, which I deem of more importance than the artificial

competition of the very inferior sugar-beet. It is a bold assertion that

no country or climate is better suited to the culture of sugar-cane.

I have watched the growth of four of the choicest varieties[52] of

cane side by side with that usually cultivated on the Atlantic coast

(Bourbon), compared this with the growth of cane in Louisiana, the West

Indies, Guiana, the Hawaiian Islands, India, the East Indies, Egypt, and

the Mauritius, and I have ascertained the cost of cultivation, expense

of living, yield and freight of product to market, in all these various

centres of sugar-production, in a much more elaborate way than would be

in place to record in this book.

[Illustration: A Primitive Sugar-mill.]

At present the sugar-plantations of any importance are on the Pacific

side of Guatemala, although some, as that of San Geronimo, near Salamà,

are in the high interior. The valley of the Michatoya is full of small

plantations, or _ingenios_. From the Pacific ports was exported in 1883,

44,927.27 cwt. of sugar, valued at $223,136.35; in 1884. about 7,000

cwt. less. The home consumption of sugar is very great, and most of

that raised in the Department of Chiquimula is not exported. Much of

the manufacture is by the rudest wooden mills, and the sugar resembles

the poorest quality of maple-sugar; it is cooled in wooden blocks in

hemispherical form, and comes to market wrapped in corn husks, when it

is called _panela_.

That the sugar production may be better understood, I give the statistics

for 1883, as published by the Government. A _finca_ is a plantation; a

_manzana_ equals an acre and three quarters, more or less; an _arroba_

weighs twenty-five pounds, and a _quintal_ one hundred pounds.

+--------------+--------+---------+-----------+

| | Number | Manzanas| Arrobas |

|Departments. | of | planted.| of |

| | fincas.| | sugar. |

| | | | |

+--------------+--------+---------+-----------+

|Guatemala | 68 | 203 | 3,259 |

|Escuintla | 55 | 1,851 | 40,507 |

|Sacatepequez | 2 | 163 | 13,494 |

|Chimaltenango | 265 | 216 | 2,168 |

|Sololà | 16 | 214 | 132 |

|Suchitepequez | 20 | 312 | 7,999 |

|Retalhuleu | 31 | 305 | 4,200 |

|Quezaltenango | 23 | 249 | |

|San Marcos | 66 | 252 | |

|Huehuetenango | 513 | 112 | 311 |

|Quiché | 57 | 43 | |

|Baja Verapaz | 77 | 384 | 2,201 |

|Alta Verapaz | 61 | 157 | 411 |

|Peten | 71 | 127 | |

|Zacapa | 106 | 213 | 4,696 |

|Chiquimula | 505 | 605 | 56,254 |

|Jalapa | 135 | 1,800 | 1,052 |

|Jutiapa | 144 | 380 | 15,136 |

|Santa Rosa | 32 | 174 | 2,719 |

+--------------+--------+---------+-----------+

|Totals |2,247 | 7,810 | 154,599 |

| | | | @ $1.75 |

|Value | | |$270,548.25|

+--------------+--------+---------+-----------+

+--------------+----------+----------+-----------+

| | Loads of | Arrobas | Quintals |

|Departments. |panela, 64| of | of |

| | parcels | molasses.| moscovado.|

| | each. | | |

+--------------+----------+----------+-----------+

|Guatemala | 1,571 | 5,162 | 1,472 |

|Escuintla | 7,315 | 66,441 | 15,168 |

|Sacatepequez | 413 | 35,765 | 45,796 |

|Chimaltenango | 2,128 | 13 | |

|Sololà | 1,067 | 150 | |

|Suchitepequez | 4,149 | 9,560 | |

|Retalhuleu | 3,191 | 9,825 | 8 |

|Quezaltenango | 1,641 | 6,661 | |

|San Marcos | 6,996 | 4,918 | |

|Huehuetenango | 4,043 | 122 | |

|Quiché | 1,256 | | |

|Baja Verapaz | 3,889 | 3,401 | 2,003 |

|Alta Verapaz | 867 | 632 | |

|Peten | 499 | | |

|Zacapa | 1,549 | 2,125 | 8 |

|Chiquimula | 17,201 | 7,558 | 42 |

|Jalapa | 741 | 269 | |

|Jutiapa | 2,202 | 6,461 | |

|Santa Rosa | 6,465 | 121 | |

+--------------+----------+----------+-----------+

|Totals | 67,183 |159,184 | 64,497 |

| | @ $8.00 |@ 25 cts. |@ $2.00 |

|Value | $537,464 |$39,896 |$128,994 |

+--------------+----------+----------+-----------+

While this table is by no means exact, it shows fairly the amount of

saccharine products and their distribution. It is curious to note

how many very small plantations are reported from the Department

of Huehuetenango yielding almost exclusively the coarse panela. In

Chiquimula the large proportion of sugar is due to foreign enterprise.

There the cane-fields are capable of irrigation from the Hondo or other

streams, and the cane is chiefly a small red variety. Escuintla and

Jalapa have nearly the same area of cane planted, but the former, by

superior machinery, produces forty times the amount of sugar, and ten

times as much panela. The cultivation at present is almost confined to

burying the seed-cane and trashing, that is, stripping the lower leaves

twice in a season. In the rich valleys of the Atlantic, cane will grow

nine feet in as many months, will yield four tons of sugar to the acre,

will rattoon freely for twenty years without replanting, and may be

ground during nine months of the year. Much of the product of the cane

is in Guatemala converted into aguardiente, or rum. With the exception

of the experimental plantation to which I have referred, I know of no

sugar fincas in northern Guatemala, although there are several in similar

situations in British Honduras.

It is a well-known saying in this part of the world that “Wherever

mahogany will grow, there every tropical product will flourish; and

wherever logwood grows, there you can produce the finest rice.” Cane

certainly is no exception to this rule.

_Coffee._—Second on the list may be placed coffee, both from the

importance of the present product, and from its very excellent quality.

On the coast the Liberian coffee flourishes, and as the berries do not

drop as soon as ripe, the trouble of harvesting is much lessened. Most

of the crop exported from Livingston goes to England, and it has up

to the present time been difficult to obtain the best quality, except

through England. In 1883, 404,069.39 cwt. of a value (at twelve cents) of

$4,848,832.68 were exported. On this the Government levies a tax, varying

year by year, proportioned to the harvest.

The present importance of the coffee interest is shown by the following

table of the coffee crop, commencing October, 1883, and ending June,

1884:—

+-------------+--------+-----------+-----------+---------------+-------+

|Departments. | Fincas.| Trees. | Crop. | Value. | Pounds|

| | | | | | per |

| | | | | | tree. |

+-------------+--------+-----------+-----------+---------------+-------+

|Guatemala | 213 | 756,484 | 11,340.26 | $113,402.60 | 1.50 |

|Amatitlan | 507 | 5,152,900 | 45,288.76 | 452,887.60 | |

|Escuintla | 104 | 5,914,850 | 38,560.00 | 385,600.00 | 0.65 |

|Sacatepequez | 626 | 2,805,400 | 18,286.18 | 182,860.80 | |

|Chimaltenango| 47 | 3,511,839 | 27,573.26 | 275,732.60 | |

|Sololà | 82 | 2,287,525 | 27,993.52 | 279,935.20 | |

|Suchitepequez| 253 | 3,511,839 | 52,860.32 | 528,603.20 | 1.50 |

|Retalhuleu | 598 | 5,129,857 | 33,250.15 | 332,501.50 | |

|Quezaltenango| 409 | 8,903,552 |124,779.70 | 1,247,797.00 | 1.50 |

|San Marcos | 177 | 1,595,488 | 45,115.68 | 451,156.80 | 0.40 |

|Huehuetenango| 248 | 627,276 | 7,354.94 | 73,549.40 | |

|Alta Verapaz | 265 | 3,835,084 | 2,883.25 | 288,732.50 | 0.75 |

|Baja Verapaz | 54 | 900,856 | 813.54 | 8,135.40 | |

|Peten | 101 | 18,545 | 278.36 | 2,783.60 | 1.50 |

|Zucapa | 91 | 56,410 | 182.36 | 1,823.60 | |

|Chiquimula | 1,000 | 908,670 | 6,595.52 | 65,955.20 | |

|Jalapa | 96 | 30,210 | 206.86 | 2,068.60 | |

|Santa Rosa | 560 | 4,354,428 | 26,032.45 | 260,324.50 | 0.60 |

+-------------+--------+-----------+-----------+---------------+-------+

|Totals | 5,431 |60,301,213 |495,385.11 | $4,953,850.11 | 0.82 |

+-------------+--------+-----------+-----------+---------------+-------+

If the figures of this table are correct, the average yield throughout

the republic is 0.82 lb. per tree; in Escuintla .65 lb.; in Santa Rosa

.60; in Guatemala 1.5; in Quezaltenango and Peten the same; in Alta

Verapaz .75; and in San Marcos .40,—figures which show a very large

number of non-bearing trees.

Coffee is planted in the shade, and the young plants require the

protection of banana or other trees until well established. Plants are

set ten feet apart each way, and topped when about six feet high. The

Liberian variety is large beaned, and although of a lower price than

the best Arabian, is more prolific, and in the lower lands, where the

latter does not do well, is certainly more profitable.[53] It begins

to bear the third year, produces three to four hundred pounds per acre

in the fifth year, attains its maximum in the tenth, and is old in the

thirtieth. Coffee exhausts the soil more than any crop except tobacco.

_Cacao._—All through the forests of the Atlantic coast cacao grows

wild, and even in this condition generally of choice quality. On the

Pacific coast are the chief plantations, although the amount exported is

insignificant (1,492 lbs. in 1884). Just over the Mexican boundary, in

the province of Soconusco, grows the most celebrated cacao known; and

probably careful selection of seed and cultivation would produce the

same results in Guatemalan territory. Throughout the republic there is

probably less cacao raised than before the Conquest, when the nib was

current as money, and chocolate a royal drink. Like the coffee-tree,

cacao requires protection,[54] which must be continuous, for the cacao

never outgrows it; but a thin shade such as the India-rubber affords

will answer very well, and in this case the _madre cacao_ is profitable.

A cacao-plantation should be in full bearing about the seventh year;

and while the curing of the pods requires much care and experience, the

cultivation of the trees is very simple. The many varieties and the

interesting process by which the bean is prepared for market are well

described in the pamphlet to which reference has been made. Plantations

in the valleys of the Polochic, Chocon, and Motagua would yield a rich

return. In Guatemala are several factories for preparing chocolate from

the bean, and I have seen samples of very high quality. It is generally,

if not always, flavored with cinnamon, and when used as a beverage is

churned or beaten into froth.

[Illustration: Theobroma Cacao (Chocolate Tree).

A _Enlarged flower._

B _Stamens and pistil._

C _Andrœcium._

D _Petal._

E _Ovary, vertical._

F _Ovary, transverse._

G _Pod section._

H _Ripe pod._]

_India-rubber._—Like the cacao, the _Castilloa elastica_ grows wild in

all the coast valleys; but although the Government has placed a bounty on

plantations of this very desirable tree, few have been formed. Now, as

formerly, the Indios collect the gum in a very wasteful way, and soon the

supply will be greatly lessened. I am tempted to quote from Juarros[55]

what I believe is the earliest notice of the use of India-rubber for

waterproof garments. “On pricking the trunk of this tree [ule] an

abundant juice issues, which serves, as Fuentes assures us, to coat a

boot, with which one can pass a stream or a swamp dryshod.”

[Illustration: Castilloa elastica (India-rubber Tree).]

The castilloa grows to a height of about forty to fifty feet, and its

clean, smooth stem may be two feet in diameter at the base. The leaves

are large, oblong in shape, and rather hairy. The foliage is light

green in color, and not very dense. The small greenish flowers appear

in February and March, and the seed ripens three months later. Mr.

Morris[56] gives the following account of the rubber gathering:—

“The castilloa rubber-tree is fit to be tapped for caoutchoue, or the

gummy substance produced by its milk, when about seven to ten years

old. The milk is obtained at present, from trees growing wild, by men

called rubber-gatherers, who are well acquainted with all the localities

inhabited by the Toonu [ule]. The proper season for tapping the trees

is after the autumn rains, which occur some months after the trees have

ripened their fruit, and before they put forth buds for the next season.

The flow of milk is most copious during the months of October, November,

December, and January. The rubber-gatherers commence operations on an

untapped tree by reaching with a ladder, or by means of lianes, the

upper portions of its trunk, and scoring the bark the whole length with

deep cuts, which extend all round. The cuts are sometimes made so as to

form a series of spirals all round the tree; at other times they are

shaped simply like the letter V, with a small piece of hoop-iron, the

blade of a cutlass, or the leaf of a palm placed at the lower angle to

form a spout to lead the milk into a receptacle below. A number of trees

are treated in this manner, and left to bleed for several hours. At

the close of the day the rubber-gatherer collects all the milk, washes

it by means of water, and leaves it standing till the next morning.

He now procures a quantity of the stem of the moon-plant (_Calonyction

speciosum_), pounds it into a mass, and throws it into a bucket of water.

After this decoction has been strained, it is added to the rubber milk in

the proportion of one pint to a gallon, or until, after brisk stirring,

the whole of the milk is coagulated. The masses of rubber floating on

the surface are now strained from the liquid, kneaded into cakes, and

placed under heavy weights to get rid of all watery particles.” It is

true that either very heavy weights are not handy, or the honest Indian

wishes to sell water at the price of rubber; for the masses, as I have

examined them freshly brought in for sale, contain a large quantity

of water held mechanically in the interstices. Alum is sometimes used

to coagulate the milk, but is thought to render the gum hard and less

elastic. A full-grown tree should yield about eight gallons of milk

when first tapped,—which is equivalent to sixteen pounds of rubber,

worth from ten to twelve dollars. Although the law of Guatemala forbids

the tapping of young trees, and tries to regulate the frequency of the

attack, it is ineffectual to prevent the gradual destruction of the wild

trees through improvident bleeding, and only the establishment of private

plantations will prevent the final extinction of this most valuable

source of rubber. The Para rubber (_Hevea brasiliensis_) grows only in

swamps unfit for cultivation; the true rubber (_Ficus elastica_), so

popular a house-plant, does not seem to thrive and yield a supply of

rubber away from its native East Indies; and the Ceara rubber of South

America (_Manihot Glaziovi_) is not of easy cultivation, so that the

Castilloa certainly promises to be the tree, of the many known to produce

rubber, most likely to supply in cultivation that useful gum civilized

nations cannot now do without, although the science of adulteration has

progressed so far that an ordinary pair of so-called rubber boots contain

hardly a spoonful of the pure gum, the rest being sulphur, coal-tar, and

other matters.

The trees should be planted forty feet apart; and as the seed is very

perishable, it should be planted, or at least packed in earth, as soon as

gathered.

_Sarsaparilla._—One of the most troublesome vejucos, or vines, common

all through the forests of the Atlantic seaboard is the zarza, or

sarsaparilla. Probably the American public is familiar with the popular

remedies compounded in part with this valuable medicinal plant, which,

belonging to the Smilax family, affects damp, warm forests, climbing to

great heights over the trees. The portion used is the long, tough root;

this the zarza-gatherer digs and pulls from the loose soil, replanting

the stem, which in due time replaces its stolen roots, to be again

robbed. The roots are washed, loosely bundled, and sold to the dealers,

who have the fibres made up into tight rolls, a few hundred of which

are then pressed together and sewed up in the thickest hide that can be

found; for the “custom of trade” includes the wrapper in the tare of the

more costly drug. Most of the sarsaparilla exported from Belize comes

from Guatemala and Honduras; but from Livingston more than 60,000 pounds

were exported in 1884, of an appraised value of ten cents per pound. The

plant is easily propagated by cuttings or seeds, and of course needs no

cultivation or clearing; the yield will average twenty pounds of dried

root from each plant.

_Bananas and Plantains._—No export from Guatemala has increased more

rapidly in value than have the products under this head. The permanent

establishment of lines of steamers between New Orleans and Livingston,

and the bounty offered by the Government, stimulated the planting of many

small fincas along the shores and on the river-banks. Under contract with

the steamship companies, the producer sells his bananas at 50 cents a

bunch (of not less than eight hands) during five months of the year, and

for 37½ cents the rest of the year. The cost of production may be placed

at 12½ cents per bunch. All these prices are in silver currency of the

value of the sham dollar of the United States. Plantains are sold at 25

cents a bunch of twenty-five, sometimes commanding $1.25 per hundred. The

profits of this business go, as usual, not to the producer, but to the

middle-man or the steamer-companies. For example, a man raises a hundred

bunches of good fruit; the cost to him is $12.50 delivered on board the

steamer. He is paid in the best season $50 in silver, for which he can

get $40 in American gold. The steamer people, after a voyage of four

days, during which all their expenses are paid by the passenger-list

and the Government mail-subsidies, sell the bananas on the wharf in New

Orleans for $125 in gold, or its equivalent,—clearing $85; while the

planter, for a year’s labor put into the bananas, gets $30. I have put

the price paid the planter at the highest, and the sales in New Orleans

at the lowest. The loss is insignificant at these figures, and it is not

uncommon for the profits of a single round trip of two weeks to exceed

$40,000. Half this shared with the planter would make him rich.

If the planting of bananas is to profit the grower, he must raise

enough—say twenty thousand bunches a month—to freight his own steamer,

and be independent of the present monopolies of the Italian fruiterers.

The extent of this business is seen in the fact that from Livingston in

1883 were exported 29,699 bunches, and in 1884, 54,633, or nearly double

the amount.

[Illustration: Bunch of Plantains (young).]

This is not the proper place to enter into a detailed history of the

banana, its culture and its varieties; but there is much uncertainty

in the Northern markets as to the distinction between bananas and

plantains, which it may be well to remove. At present plantains are not

brought to the Boston or New York markets. Botanically, it is difficult

to distinguish between these two fruits, as connecting varieties run

imperceptibly into the two extremes; no one, however, would ever mistake

a typical plantain for a banana, either single or in bunch. Of all the

varieties of the banana (and I have myself seen at least two hundred,

including the seeding-banana of Chittagong), only two or three are raised

for exportation in Guatemala, and these are by no means the best; but

as the steamer people will give no more for a choice variety, there is

no inducement to improve the stock. Both yellow and red varieties are

grown, and the former sometimes have two hundred and fifty bananas on a

bunch, weighing, unripe, ninety pounds. The plantain is yellow when ripe

(I have never seen a red variety), and is much larger and more curved

than a banana, while the bunches are looser and much smaller, seldom

numbering more than thirty-five fruits. Some plantains attain a length of

fifteen inches, and some are quite palatable uncooked; but the usual way

to eat them is either baked or fried. Few of our Northerners appreciate

the wonderful nutritive qualities of the plantain, which in this respect

surpasses the banana; and it may be authoritatively stated that sixteen

hundred and seven square feet of rich land will produce four thousand

pounds of nutritive substance from plantains, which will support fifty

persons, while the same land planted with wheat will support but two.

When the plantain is dried, it will keep from twenty to thirty years;

and if dried before ripening, an admirable meal (better than arrowroot)

can be made from the ground white fruits, while the ripe fruit forms a

conserve not unlike a fig in flavor, and of course free from the seeds so

troublesome in that fruit. One hundred parts of the fresh fruit contain

twenty-seven parts of nutritive matter, easily digested and superior to

pure starch. The comparative cost and profit of the two fruits may be

thus stated:—

Banana. Plantain.

Cost of one acre of land $1.00

Clearing and planting 20.00 300 bunches 15,000 fruits

430 stools 2.50 at .50 at $1.25

Care to first crop 10.00 less cost per hundred

Shipping 10.00

------- ----------- -------------

$43.50 $106.50 $144.00

The second year the increase would be in favor of the plantain, and the

product has reached more than thirty-five thousand per acre. Of the fibre

no account has been taken, although this bids fair to become an important

by-product. The plantain contains more fibre than the banana,—the inner

portion in both stems being much finer. At present the possible four

pounds of fibre in each stem is wasted; and as the stems should be cut to

the ground after the fruit is gathered, these large fibrous trunks are

much in the way of cultivation. It will be remembered that the Manilla

hemp is the product of a species of banana (_Musa textilis_).

Usually bananas or plantains are planted in a cafétal or in a cacao or

orange orchard, to shade the young plants, and after three or four years

are removed as the more permanent trees attain their growth. All the

fruit exported must be cut and shipped while quite green and not fully

grown; and this, conjoined to the tar and bilge smell of the steamers,

certainly gives the fruit a flavor it does not have in its native land

when allowed to attain its full growth and then slowly ripened under

shelter from the sun. Bananas, like some pears, should not be allowed to

ripen on the trees.

There are two articles of food and commerce which should certainly

attract the attention of merchants, and so of the public, in our Northern

States,—fresh plantains, as a most nutritious and delicious vegetable,

more costly than the banana, though of easier transport; and the dried

plantain, for which there is already an increasing market on the Pacific

coast.

_Pita and Sisal Hemp._—The mention of the plantain-fibre calls to

mind two very valuable fibrous plants at present little cultivated

in Guatemala, except for home consumption. The _pita_, or silk-grass

(_Bromelia pita_) belongs to the pineapple family, and is very commonly

used for hedges in the interior of the country. The long sharp leaves

are rotted, and the fibre extracted by the rudest means, usually by

pounding on stones in a running stream; but the product makes most

durable and desirable hammocks and bags and cords. The other plant is

most cultivated in Yucatan, whence the name Sisal hemp, from the shipping

port. It is also called henequen (_Agave ixtli_), and much resembles the

century-plant. Common over the mountain-ranges, certainly to a height of

eight thousand feet, it is little used, except for hedges. From Yucatan

it is exported to the annual value of $500,000. The ixtli grows in poor

dry soil and is easily propagated by cuttings. An American machine

removes the pulp and cleans the fibre at the rate of a leaf a minute, and

the product is then baled and shipped without further trouble. The fibre,

according to the “Textile Record,” costs the planter two thirds of a cent

per pound, the freight to New York is three quarters of a cent, and with

commissions and incidental expenses, the total charge per pound is a cent

and a half, and it sells for from five to seven cents per pound. In the

English market Sisal hemp is quoted at £30 per ton.

The species and varieties of the agaves or henequen and pulque plants are

not clearly distinguished; but two types are tolerably distinct. _Agave

Americana_, or maguey, is cultivated in Mexico for the juice which when

fermented is called pulque. The plant after some years of growth in a

stemless condition throws up a stem very rapidly to a height of forty

feet, or even more. The Mexican cultivator, however, nips this stem

before it has attained two feet; and scooping a large hollow in the cut

stump, waits for the sap to collect. The yield from a vigorous plant—and

the sap continues to run for three months—is from two to three hundred

gallons! The agave, it must be remembered, grows in the driest soil.

The fibre of the leaf is very strong, and is used to make paper of the

toughest and most durable kind.

[Illustration: Pounding Rice.]

The _Agave ixtli_, or henequen, is larger than the last species. When the

plants are three years old the leaves may be cut, and a good plant should

yield from fifty to a hundred leaves annually, the cutting being repeated

every four months. The continuous fibres in a leaf are sometimes five and

a half feet long, and are used by the natives without spinning. The life

of the ixtli subjected to this pruning and not allowed to flower, may

extend to ten years, but usually is several years less.

_Bromelia pita_ produces a much finer and stronger fibre, but is not so

easy to handle. As these fibres come to market they are often confounded,

even by the Indios, and the term “pita” is not infrequently applied to

the product of agaves, and even of plantains.

The genus _Fourcroya_, closely allied to agave, also yields valuable

fibres.

_Rice._—The upland variety grows remarkably well in the bottom-lands of

the Chocon River, producing two crops a year of very heavy rice. All

through the logwood country it might profitably be cultivated; but up

to the present time not enough has been raised fairly to determine how

much the yield per acre may be. There are no suitable rice-mills, and the

grain is hulled by the rude and wasteful method of pounding in mortars.

_Oranges._—The delusion which has led so many to plant orange-trees on

the frost-visited sand-banks of Florida has at least turned the attention

of Americans to the desirability of orange-walks not too remote from our

principal fruit-markets. The Florida oranges, while sweet and juicy, are

wanting in flavor, especially the mandarin variety, which is far inferior

to the fruit of that variety raised in China. Even the Louisiana oranges,

which are generally superior to those from Florida, are not first-rate,

and in both States I have seen the foliage utterly destroyed by frost,—an

accident which must seriously interfere with the succeeding crop. As

a substitute for these unsuitable regions, Guatemala offers great

advantages. At Teleman, on the Polochic, the quality of the uncultivated

fruit is nearly equal to the Syrian oranges; that is, finer than any I

have seen in Jamaica or the West Indies generally,—and the same fruit can

be raised on all the bottom-lands of the Atlantic coast. Lemons do not do

so well, as this fruit requires a cooler climate and must be relegated

to the higher interior valleys; but limes grow wild in remarkable

perfection, being often used as hedge-plants. Raised from seed, the

plants at three years are six feet high, and in five are bearing. On the

western side limas, or sweet lemons, citrons, and toranjas, or shaddocks,

grow very well. Oranges of many varieties can be grown in the greatest

perfection in the rich valleys; and yet it is difficult to obtain oranges

enough for home consumption even where the alcaldes are not so stupid

as one reported during the cholera scare in 1884, who ordered all the

orange-trees in his village to be cut down, as their fruit was sure to

cause cholera! Along the coast of Honduras, near Trujillo, I have bought

for one dollar a barrel the finest limes I ever saw.

_Coconuts._—On the sandy shores, where no other fruit will grow, the

coconut flourishes. As a rule the nuts are not so large as those of the

Pacific Islands; but I have seen some of good size on the north shore of

the Island of Roatan. The low, sandy cayos and the equally low shores

of Manabique are admirably suited for coconut-walks. In one place on

the Hondureñan coast a large factory was established at great cost, but

for some reason not known to the writer it has been abandoned; and now,

nowhere on the northern coast of Guatemala is any organized attempt to

prepare either the oil or fibre (coir or cobre), and the nuts are shipped

to the United States or to England. Prolific bearers, these palms require

no care after they come into bearing in the fourth year; and as they

bear heavily by the seventh year, a young walk soon becomes a source of

profit. Usually a tree produces a flower-spathe every month; so there are

generally on a tree nuts in all stages. On a single spadix I have counted

five thousand nine hundred and fifty staminate or male blossoms, and

fifty-two pistillate or female. Of the latter not more than thirty, and

usually only twenty, develop into nuts; but a young tree in a good soil

will probably bear three hundred and sixty nuts per annum, worth $9. In a

walk, however, it is a good tree that is worth $3 per annum.

The trade in green nuts is of course limited; but they usually sell at

the rate of two cents apiece. No more delicious drink is found in the

tropical fruits than the rich milk of the nut when so green that the

shell is easily cut with a knife. When fully ripe, the nuts may be piled

in a damp place and left to germinate. The milk disappears, and its place

is occupied by a porous mass completely filling the cavity and of the

consistency of sponge-cake, quite edible withal. As the shoot pushes

through the eye and breaks through the thick husk, the innocent-looking

sponge seems to absorb the meat of the coconut; when this is finished,

the plant has, as it were, hatched itself from the old shell, and is

ready to continue life on its own basis. The coconut presents a good

illustration of the development of pinnate or feather leaves from palmate

(or leaves shaped like a fan),—all the early leaves of this palm being

of the latter class, while the noble leaves of the mature palm are long

pinnate.

[Illustration: Growth of a Young Coconut.]

If the trees are planted about sixty to the acre in ordinary situations,

such a plantation should not cost, including the land, more than forty

dollars until the trees bear; and in eight years the planter may expect

a crop of at least eight thousand nuts annually,—which should net him

about two hundred dollars. It is a great mistake to plant the nut on the

surface of the ground, as it is liable to be overturned by the winds, or

too thick, as it then grows tall and spindly, and bears poorly.

The exports of coconuts from Belize during six years previous to 1882, as

given by Mr. Morris,[57] are shown thus:—

1876 381,000

1877 604,000

1878 698,000

1879 919,000

1880 1,623,000

1881 6,047,160

A remarkable increase, that shows that the profits induce more extensive

planting. As to the duration of a fruitful coconut, I have not sufficient

data. I have seen old trees on Utila that had been growing less than

twenty-five years, and I have seen trees still bearing on the shores of

Hawaii which are distinctly marked with the cannon-balls Captain Cook’s

ships fired at the village of Kaawaloa after the great navigator’s tragic

death, more than a century ago; and these trees must have been well grown

at that remote day. I may add that on the Hawaiian Group few coconuts

bear before they are seven years old,—some not until they are fourteen.

_Pineapples._—No systematic cultivation of this most delicious fruit

has been undertaken in Guatemala, although the wild pines are of good

quality. The _piña de azucar_, or sugar-pine, is large (over six pounds),

and very tender and juicy; but the horse-pine has more flavor. On the

Chocon plantation the pine-fields planted in the lighter soil do very

well, but require cleaning five times each year. The sprouts from the

base of the fruit are planted, and after two years the stock has spread

so as to produce several pines annually. Three thousand plants to the

acre should yield, at six cents per pine, a hundred and twenty dollars

the first crop, and a hundred and eighty dollars afterwards. Whether

these fine fruits can profitably drive the inferior pineapples of the

West Indies from our markets, is yet doubtful. A wild pine, in which the

fruit is not crowded into a compact head, but is more acid and of less

flavor, is common in the mountains; but I have never seen this species

offered for sale.

_Nutmegs._—While I do not know of a dozen trees of the nutmeg, outside of

the Chocon plantation, the soil and climate are admirably suited to this

tree. The nutmeg requires at least eighty inches of rainfall per annum,

begins to bear when eight or ten years old, and improves for a century.

The first few years the yield is from one to five thousand nuts, of

from sixty-eight to one hundred and twenty to the pound. In the Botanic

Gardens, Trinidad, the net yield per tree has been more than twenty

pounds (say eighteen hundred nuts), with an average price of fifty-four

cents per pound. This would amount to three hundred and fifty dollars

per acre. The value of the mace is additional. In the Chocon region the

trees have not yet matured; but there seems no doubt that the conditions

of growth and fruitfulness are better than on the Island of Trinidad, and

with these trees planted thirty feet apart, or forty-five to an acre,

allowing one third to be male or barren trees, we should have at least

1,600 × 30 = 48,000 nutmegs to the acre. Averaging the nuts at ninety to

the pound, the crop would weigh five hundred and thirty-three pounds,

and at fifty cents per pound would amount to two hundred and sixty-six

dollars. Considering the less expense for care this permanent crop

would require, the profit would be sufficient even at forty cents per

pound. The red, fresh mace does not bring so high a price as when old and

golden-colored.

_Maiz._—Indian corn (_Zea mays_) grows well all over the republic,

and forms the most important food of the Indian tribes. Yet the kinds

cultivated are not of fine quality, although growing freely. The stalks

are often a dozen feet high, and three ears are not uncommon. Three crops

can be raised annually. The corn is always stored and transported in the

husk. When the Spaniards first came among the Central Americans, they

found the milpas of maiz carefully cultivated; and as to-day the little

cornfields are found all over the country cultivated precisely as the

ancients were doing centuries ago, so the product is to-day prepared

and eaten in the same old-time manner. Mr. Belt,[58] in his work on

Nicaragua,—unfortunately too little known,—describes the preparation of

maiz better than I have seen done elsewhere. He says: “In Central America

the bread made from the maiz is prepared at the present day exactly

as it was in ancient Mexico. The grain is first of all boiled, along

with wood-ashes or a little lime. The alkali loosens the outer skin of

the grain, and this is rubbed off with the hands in running water; a

little of it at a time is placed upon a slightly concave stone,—called a

_metatle_, from the Aztec _metatl_,—on which it is rubbed with another

stone, shaped like a rolling-pin. A little water is thrown on it as it is

bruised, and it is thus formed into paste. A ball of the paste is taken

and flattened out between the hands into a cake about ten inches diameter

and three sixteenths inch thick, which is baked on a slightly concave

earthenware [or iron] pan. The cakes so made are called _tortillas_, and

are very nutritious. When travelling, I preferred them myself to bread

made from wheaten flour. When well made and eaten warm, they are very

palatable.”

Besides the importance of this grain for human food, it is necessary for

the horses, who could not well endure the hard steep roads on sacate

alone. Much might be exported to the neighboring republics.

_Wheat._—Throughout the uplands much wheat is grown. The straw is

generally small, but the grain heavy and good. In the grain centres, such

as Sololà, the wheat is inspected and weighed by Government officials.

The seed is sown in drills rather than broadcast. I found the bread

made from this home wheat of a uniformly good quality, though sometimes

dark colored,—indeed it is superior to the bread found in the country

throughout the United States.

_Potatoes, and other Food-Plants._—However the philosopher may try to

confine his attention to those products of a country which may have a

commercial value, be he cynic or epicurean he will be interested in those

fruits and vegetables not necessary to the support of life, but none the

less very important factors in human comfort. I have briefly noticed the

principal fruits that may be exported from Guatemala, and have passed

unnoticed the scores of valuable woods, because I can add nothing to

the general knowledge of these. For the same reason I have omitted the

hundred and one drugs or medicinal plants; but I should fail in my duty

to this pleasant country if I did not tell of some of those fruits and

vegetables that add to the pleasure of life.

The common potato I have already mentioned in a former chapter (p. 136).

The sweet potato (_Batatas edulis_) will grow in all its varieties, from

the huge purple-fleshed tuber to the delicate little yellow form; but it

is very little cultivated. The yam (_Dioscorea_) is much more common, but

dry and tasteless. The cocos or kalo (_Colocasium esculentum_) grows well

in the wetter lands, but is more common in Belize than in Guatemala, and

in neither place attains the prominence as a vegetable that it enjoys

in the Pacific Islands or in China and the East Indies. The cassava

(_Manihot utilissima_), so important a food in South America, is here

mostly confined to Carib use, and I have never seen it inland or on the

south coast; as a dietary its importance merits attention, and it should

be exported. In a dry climate it keeps well, and I have specimens four

years old still perfectly good. Frijoles, or beans, black, white, and

red, are very abundant and good. The Mexicans are the greatest consumers

of beans in the world, and their neighbors southward probably rank next.

The breadfruit (_Artocarpus incisa_) grows remarkably well in Livingston

and Belize, although I think the fruit is smaller than in the Pacific

islands. Carefully baked when full grown, but not ripe, it is a fine

vegetable, and the baked fruit sliced and fried is a delicacy. The odor

of the uncooked fruit is very unpleasant. Squashes, cucumbers (including

a small spiny wild one which is very good), melons, grow well, and

pumpkins are planted among the corn, as in New England. Indeed, the

variety of squashes is very great, and one may see a dozen or fifteen

kinds in a single heap. They are fed to cattle as pumpkins are with us.

Some are so hard that they keep a long time. The _chiote_ (_Sechium

edule_) is a rapid growing runner, often covering the houses, and bearing

a fruit about the shape of a pear and three inches thick, covered with

soft prickles. This was abundant all through the villages, and in the

plazas it was sold parboiled, fried, or preserved in sugar. It tastes

much like a vegetable marrow.

Tomatoes grow everywhere, and are of great importance in the kitchen,

next to the universal chile (_Capsicum annuum_). Peppers of other kinds

are used, especially a large green one which is stuffed with minced

meat coated with egg and crumbs and served as _Chile relleno_. Pawpaws

(_Carica papaya_) are common (a small wild species is abundant on the

Pacific coast); and the fruit, as large as a cantaloupe, and filled with

pungent seeds like those of the tropæolum, is eaten raw, or cooked in

tarts. Its juice is of the greatest use in making tough meat tender. The

akee (_Blighia sapida_) is much like a custard when cooked.

The avocado (_Persea gratissima_) is one of the fruits that have many

names. In Peru it is called _palta_, and the Mexican _ahuacatl_ was

twisted by the Spaniards into _aguacate_ and _avocado_, and the English

corrupted this last into alligator-pear. Intermediate, like the carica,

between vegetable and fruit, few strangers like the aguacate at first.

There are many varieties; but the best is pear-shaped, weighing about

a pound, with a shiny purple, leathery skin. Between the skin and the

rather large kernel is a greenish pulp nearly an inch thick, which is the

edible part of this delicious fruit. It is of a buttery consistency, and

may serve as substitute for butter, and be eaten alone, or with salt and

pepper. The sapote (_Lucuma mammosa_) somewhat resembles the aguacate in

the size and position of the edible pulp; but the outside is rough and

brown, and the salmon-colored interior is insipid and inferior.

Among the first rank of fruits may be placed the mango (_Mangifera

indica_), although the West Indian is far inferior to the East Indian

representative. As a mere shade-tree the mango is beautiful; but the rich

juicy, golden-meated fruit, slightly tinged with a flavor of turpentine

in the poorer sorts, is a never-to-be-forgotten delight. The unripe fruit

is good baked or made into a sauce, when it much resembles apples in

taste. The slippery, juicy meat, and the strong fibres which attach this

to the large flat stone, make it anything but an easy task for the novice

to eat this fruit; he should have plenty of water and napkins within

reach. When the tree does not bear well, root-pruning may be resorted

to, although the natives usually hack the stem. I have planted seeds of

the sour mango sent from Hawaii, and they have grown rapidly and promise

well. The mango may be grafted as easily, it is said, as the cherry or

apple.

The icaco (_Chrysobalanus icaco_), or coco-plum, grows near the shore,

and makes an excellent preserve; so does the manzanilla, a small

crab-apple.

In the interior, a tree very commonly used for fences is the jocote

(_Spondias purpurea_?). This bears a plum-like fruit all over the smaller

branches, which is either yellow or red when ripe, and very juicy. The

stone closely resembles a medium-sized peanut. The juice when fermented

makes a very popular drink (_Chicha_). To propagate the tree it is only

necessary to plant a branch or cutting, which may be several inches in

diameter, and it takes root and bears the next season. I am not sure

of the species of spondias, but it is much smaller than the _S. dulcis_

of the Pacific Islands, and more like the hog-plum of Jamaica. Peaches

grow in the highlands, but of the poorest quality, and the trees are

in blossom and fruit at the same time. Figs grow very well; yet the

Guatemaltecans import canned figs from New Orleans. The star-apple

(_Chrysophyllum cainito_), so popular in the West Indies, the mangosteen

(_Garcinia mangostana_), the most delicious fruit of the East Indies, the

loquat (_Eriobotrya japonica_), the durian (_Durio zibethinus_), that

foul-smelling but pleasant-tasting fruit, the bhêl (_Ægle marmelos_), the

Marquesan plum (_Spondias dulcis_), and a host of others might grow here,

but do not.

Guavas or goyavas grow wild, but are of very poor quality; I have not

found the very fine strawberry guavas, but have planted seeds of the

black guava, the best of its kind. Cherimoyers (_Anona cherimolia_) are

very common in the uplands, extending even into the region of occasional

frosts. A red-pulped variety is much prized. The sour-sop (_Anona

muricata_) is cultivated all along the coast, and is seldom absent from

a Carib village. Grapes grow finely on the Pacific slope, and would

probably do equally well on the north. That most pleasing fruit of the

passion-flower (_Passiflora sp._), the granadilla, or water-lemon, may

be found, in the season, for sale in every plaza in the highlands. The

more common kind is of the size of a large hen’s egg, and the tough shell

contains an aromatic jelly of which one can eat almost without limit;

this fruit is sold at ten for a cuartil (3 cents). The larger species has

a fine purple blossom as large as a saucer, while the fruit is more than

a foot long. These vines are easily propagated by cuttings. The tamarind

(_Tamarindus officinalis_) is found all over the country, and its pulpy

pods make a wholesome and cooling drink. There are many other fruits

which I have not tasted and cannot describe; but they are generally those

that a stranger does not especially like, nor are they abundant. While

our common garden vegetables can be easily raised, if kept from ants,

especially from the ravages of the zompopos, there are few gardens that

contain any of them.

With food for man, it is important to provide well for his faithful

servants, horses, mules, and cattle. On the uplands the pasturage is

good, and the sheep and neat cattle thrive. On the lowlands and in the

river valleys grass must be planted, and the Guinea grass (_Panicum

jumentorum_) and Bahama grass (_Cynodon dactylon_) are usually chosen.

On the ridges _Paspalum distichum_ grows naturally, and in the interior

the grass is the same, I am told, as that of the famous plains of Yoro,

Olancho, and Comayagua in Honduras, where one acre will pasture two

animals, while in Texas four acres will barely feed one.

The fauna of Guatemala has been almost as much neglected as the flora;

but although insect-life seems abundant, and many of the rivers swarm

with fish, I believe that animal life is comparatively scarce. Game

certainly is, red-deer, peccaries, javias, turkeys, and pigeons being

almost the whole bag. Among the mammals the monkeys are here fairly

represented, the little white-faced (_Cebus albifrons_) being the most

attractive. This monkey has a face nearly devoid of hair, and as white as

a European. The hands and feet are very well formed, the nails especially

so, and the tail is quite long. It seems less difficult for him to stand

erect than for most monkeys, and when domesticated (an easy process) he

is an affectionate pet. The howling-monkeys (_Mycetes stentor_) will be

remembered by every traveller as the noisiest of the nocturnal animals.

Several other small _monos_ are common in the forests (_Simia apella_,

_S. fatuellus_, and _S. capucina_), where they feed on wild-figs and

other fruits. The pezote (_Nassua solitaria_) is found in the forests of

the eastern mountain-ranges.

The manatee, or lamantin (_Manatus Americanus_), once found in the Golfo

Dulce, is now seldom, if ever, seen on the coast of Guatemala, although

still found in British Honduras, where the hide is used for whips, canes,

etc. I have seen the tracks of the danta (_Tapirus Americanus_) in the

Chocon forests, but never the animal, as its habits are more nocturnal

than mine. Conies (_Lepus Douglassi_), taltusas (_Geomys heterodus_),

mapachines (_Procyon cancrivorus_), and armadillos (_Dasypus sp._) are

common articles of food among the Indios. Red-deer (_Cervus dama_) are

found in the interior. Peccaries (_Jabali_, _Dicotyles tajaçu_) feed in

droves in the bottom-lands, and are perhaps the most dangerous of the

wild animals of Guatemala; their sharp tusks will cut terribly, and the

little beast is too stupid to be frightened away when thoroughly angered.

It is said that even the jaguar fears to attack a drove, but skulks

behind, hoping to pick up a straggler. They can, however, be tamed, and

I have seen them with domestic pigs about the streets of San Felipe,

Pansos, and other places. The white-lipped peccary, jaguilla, or warree

(_Dicotyles torquatus_), makes its presence known at a considerable

distance by the peculiar odor emitted from a small pouch on its back.

The hunter, when killing, takes care to cut this sack out at once, or it

would quickly taint the entire body of this otherwise good pork. In the

open forests I have often found peccary tracks, but never unaccompanied

by the full, round print of the jaguar. When pursued, the peccary takes

readily to the water, and swims rivers. The jaguar, or tigre, as he is

always called in Central America, is not a very dangerous animal, as he

fears man much more than man fears him. The tigre is especially fond of

dogs, and will enter a house at night to carry off the prized morsel;

sometimes when hungry he will persistently resist all efforts to drive

him away from a house-yard, and one of my monteros was attacked by one

when sleeping in the forest. In this case the tigre was in complete

darkness, and was badly gashed by the man’s machete; but so far from

being frightened, he actually pursued the montero more than a mile to

the nearest house, where a gun was obtained and the wounded animal shot.

I have seen skins between five and six feet long, exclusive of head and

tail. The puma (_Felis concolor_) is more common in the mountain regions,

and the “lion” that descended from the Volcan de Agua and ravaged the

country about the young City of Guatemala (_antigua_) was of this

species. The ocelot (_Leopardus pardalis_) and coyote (_Canis ochropus_)

are also found in the interior.

Of creeping things the warm regions of the earth are supposed to be

prolific. I had been told of the terrible serpents,—the boas that hung

from the trees and whipped up deer, the deadly tomagoff, and others,

until I was ready to see their folds around every tree, or their coils

under every bush. I was to be deprived of a swim in the rivers and lakes

because of the alligators, and I must beware of scorpions and centipedes.

Now, in fact, the alligators are few in number, small in size, and very

deficient in courage. There are a hundred in Florida to every one in

Guatemala, and I seldom got a shot at any; I was able to kill only one,

and he was not over seven feet in length. A much larger one came ashore

to lay her eggs near a house on the Chocon plantation, and was killed.

The musky odor of the alligator is very strong during the breeding

season, and the eggs (which are eaten by the Caribs) have a very strong

flavor. They are small,—less than three inches long,—alike at each end,

and rough; when dry, the shells contract, and finally split in spiral

strips. Young alligators, not more than a foot long, are eaten, it is

said, by the Indios.

The iguana I have already described. So abundant are these delicious

reptiles that they are sometimes brought to Belize by the dory-load; and

one may see several hundred Caribs each carrying home one or two iguanas,

still alive, but with toes tied together, over the back. Of other lizards

there are many kinds, from the harmless little fellows which make a

squeaking in the thatch at night, to the long-tailed, crested lizards

which rob the hens’ nests and even make way with the small chickens.

Fresh-water turtles are abundant, and one, the _hikatee_, is excellent

eating; so are its eggs, of the size of a pullet’s, of which some two or

three dozen are found in a nest six or eight inches below the surface of

the sand. The sexes are easily distinguished by the shape of the tail,

the female having a shorter and thicker one. The sea-turtle (including

the hawksbill, so valuable for the tortoise-shell) are very abundant, and

are caught in seines by the use of floating decoys. Some of these turtle

weigh one hundred and fifty pounds, and their steaks are white and tender

as the best veal. I have never been on the shore at the egg-season, and

so can say nothing of the taste; but I am told they are much inferior to

the eggs of the iguana. It is a common thing to capture sea-turtles which

have had a flapper bitten off by sharks, and usually the wound has healed

well, the soft scales covering the stump completely.

Of the frogs, the most troublesome are those which get into the cisterns

or behind the water-jars, and make a very loud and disagreeable noise.

On the Atlantic coast snakes are much less common than on the Pacific.

Two long, slender snakes, quite harmless,—one green, the other

reddish-brown,—are seen once in a while; but although the natives believe

that all snakes are poisonous, only the tomagoff,—a short, thick snake of

dark color,—the rattlesnake, and the coral snake are really venomous, and

these are rarely seen. Stories are told of boas seen lying across a road

with head and tail concealed in the trees on either side; but they lack

confirmation, and perhaps may be classed with the absurd snake story told

by Juarros.[59]

The supply of fish is good. The saw-fish grows to a great size, and

its teeth are very long and sharp. The jew-fish is large, weighing

several hundred pounds, and is good food. Snappers, mullet, bone-fish,

king-fish, and a score of others of which we know only the local names,

including one with solid red meat, are found in the rivers and bays. Of

crustaceans, the crayfish takes the place of the lobster, and a small

crab is common among the mangroves and in swampy forests; larger crabs

come to the shores in breeding-time, but not in such numbers as at

Belize.

Scorpions are large and dreaded; but their sting is not more painful

than that of a hornet, and they are sluggish, and not abundant even in

their chosen haunts. Centipedes are seen on the tree-stems, and many are

drowned during the rains. This articulate is by no means quick in its

motions, and falls a prey to the agile cockroach.

Spiders are abundant, both in species and individuals; and Mr. Frederick

Sarg, of Guatemala, has drawn most beautifully, and carefully described,

many new species. The hairy tarantula is the most dreaded; but others

found on the rocks by the river-sides are perhaps larger.

The birds of Guatemala are of great beauty; and the quetzal (_Macropharus

mocino_), the pavo (_Meleagris ocellata_), and the curassow, are perhaps

unsurpassed in splendor of plumage. The wild turkey was supposed to

be peculiar to Honduras, but has been found in Verapaz. Toucans with

enormous bills and brilliant colors, parrots even more brightly colored,

especially the guacamayo (_Psittacus macao_), and many species of

humming-birds, frequent the river-banks; the palomas, or doves, and the

social and noisy yellow-tails are on the trees, especially the qualm

(_Cecropia sp._); the white cranes and the great pelicans frequent the

shoals; the johncrows (_Cathartes aurea_) congregate on the trees about

the towns and serve as scavengers; and owls, hawks, and eagles are

distinct elements of the Guatemaltecan avifauna.

Not less brilliant than the birds are the lepidoptera. The superb blue

butterfly (_Morpho sp._) flits among the trees with its wings spreading

nine inches; with this are smaller relatives,—black, blue, carmine,

and yellow; some with swallow-tails (Papilionidæ), others short and

broad. Among the beetles are two of immense size,—the Hercules beetle

(_Dynastes Herculis_) and the harlequin (_Acrocinus longimanus_); the

former attains a size of five inches in length, and the latter infests

the rubber-trees. Another beetle—one of the Elateridæ (_Pyrophorus

nyctophorus_)—gives a most brilliant and constant light, quite as bright

as the _cacuyo_ of the West Indies. All through the highlands wasp-nests

of large size and curious form are seen in the trees; ants also build

mud-nests in the trees and on posts. Many chapters might be written of

the habits of the Central American ants, which are perhaps the most

abundant of indigenous insects,—the little “crazy ant,” which runs

rapidly in all directions, seemingly without any object; the zompopos, or

leaf-cutters (_Œcodoma_), whose trains are seen all through the forests,

bearing above them the great sail-like fragments of leaf they have cut

to stock their homes; the comajen (white ant), which destroys dead-wood

and is intolerant of light; the fire-ant; and many others. The zompopos

are very destructive in the vegetable garden, and indeed would quickly

destroy a cacao, orange, or coffee plantation if allowed to establish

their immense burrow in the midst. Some of the burrows are thirty feet

in diameter, and can only be destroyed by persistent efforts,—fire,

coal-tar, and carbolic acid being the best agents of destruction.[60] The

sandflies are almost unendurable along the coast at certain seasons, and

so are the mosquitoes (the genuine _Culex mosquito_, with striped body

and black lancet) on the rivers. House-flies are not seen at Livingston;

but all through the country the “botlass” is a pest. A bite by this

fly leaves a persistent black spot, surrounded by an inflamed circle.

Jiggers, beef-worms, and coloradias are troublesome about the towns

and where there is uncleanness. The garrapatos (_Ixodes bovis_) are

often found on horses and other animals, and when full are as large as a

coffee-bean. Man does not escape this pest; but they are so large that

they are easily picked off, especially if one has a monkey.

Among the mollusks the conch holds an important place both as an

article of food and as an instrument of noise. Three kinds are

distinguished,—the _queen_, _king_, and _horse_; the two last being the

best for eating, while the first is much sought for cameo-cutting. A

fine pink pearl is found in some of the shells. I consider a conch-soup

quite equal to oyster-soup; but it is said (with some reason) to be

a strong aphrodisiac. Madrepores, corals, sea-fans, and the varied

inhabitants of reefs, are found in considerable variety, and are now the

subject of collection and study by at least two competent observers.

Jellyfish (_Medusæ_), Portuguese men-of-war (_Physalia_), and star-fish

(_Asterias_) are abundant, and a naturalist would have a good harvest on

the cayos and reefs of the Bay of Honduras.

[Illustration: Passiflora Brighami, Watson.]

[Illustration: CENTRAL AMERICAN VOLCANOES.]