CHAPTER XII.

EARTHQUAKES AND VOLCANOES.

Much has been written of the effect upon the character and feelings of

a people caused by constant dwelling among the more marked phenomena

of Nature. It is a mistake to suppose that the eye sees all that is

impressed on the retina, that the ear catches more than an insignificant

share of the innumerable sounds falling ceaselessly on the tympanum, or

that the mind interprets many of the marvels that each instant presents

to it. Only the educated eye, the practised ear, the cultivated mind,

can appreciate what the Creator has placed before it in this beautiful

world whose wonders no human understanding, however taught, is capable of

wholly comprehending. The worldly wisdom of the saying that “familiarity

breeds contempt” is applicable to the greater portion of humanity; and

dwellers among the Alps cease to see, if indeed they ever saw, what

strikes the dweller on the plain with awe as he gazes for the first time

at the Jungfrau. To a thinking, studying man, familiarity is the mother

of awe.

In a region where the molecular forces, those mighty slaves of a Divine

Will, are working out of doors, so to speak; where from the summit of a

volcanic peak one can count scores of others ranged on his right hand

and on his left; where he can see, if he has opened the door for such

vision, the cooling globe wrinkling with age, the force of contraction

liquefying in fervent heat the solid materials of the earth’s crust and

pouring out into daylight the molten rock, or puffing out the dust of

stones ground to powder in the gigantic mill,—his heart, his brain, his

very being, will be enlarged by the reflections that come to him in such

moments. Not so the Indio who lazily cultivates his milpa on the lower

slopes of this same volcano. His feet never seek the summit, where no

maiz can grow. He knows that the ground is very fertile where his hut is

placed; he has nothing that an earthquake can destroy, and the showers

of ashes, while injuring his present crop, are a pledge of increased

fertility in the future; then from the streams of lava he can run, should

they come in his way. When a more terrible outbreak of the great mass

above him disturbs his stolidity, he attributes it to some supernatural

agency, and calls upon his especial saints for the protection due their

votary. Have not the Central Americans baptized their volcanoes, and

have not these huge Christians since that rite been quiescent and proper

members of the Church?

The people who live in the midst of this region of volcanic disturbances

have not been elevated by communion with this manifestation of the

agencies of Nature. Their religion is not autochthonic; their choicest

traditions come from the non-volcanic lands to the eastward, and are

not tinged with the lurid glow of the earth-fires. Even their hell is

no fiery furnace, and the apostles of an Eastern religion introduced to

their imagination that supposed element of future punishment. Where a

suggestion of fire-worship appears, it is always called forth by the

sun,—that source of life and warmth and growth.

And yet, here is a country where volcanoes cluster,—their number reaching

several hundred,—where hot-springs are more common than the cold-springs

in most countries, and where earthquakes are very frequent and

destructive. The volcanoes of the Hawaiian Archipelago are larger, those

of Java more destructive, and the equatorial group of South America is

loftier; but here between Popocatepetl and Istaccuahuatl, the giants of

the plain of Anahuac, and the Costa Rican Turrialba extends an unbroken

line of mighty cones and gaping craters. Somewhere on that line, smoke is

ever rising; and at night the mariner along the Pacific coast sees the

beacon-fires lighted by no mortal hand.

We must not expect to find in native records any careful account, or

even notice, of eruptions or earthquakes; if referred to at all, it will

be much as in the quotation I have already given from the “Popul Vuh,”

where Cabracan is said to be in the habit of shaking the mountains. In

the three centuries and a half since Spain sent her educated sons to

this land, with the exception of some three hundred earthquakes and half

a hundred eruptions, we have no better record. While it is true that

geology has existed as a science only within the present century, yet

one would suppose that a catastrophe causing the death of hundreds of

people and the destruction of much property would be entered with some

minuteness in the annals of the time; but were it not for the masses

and church processions to calm the trembling earth or appease the angry

mountains, the worthy padres would perhaps have failed to notice these

disturbances of Nature in their parochial records. Even the stories we

have of the early experiences of the Spaniards in matters of vulcanology

are so mingled with devils and unholy work that they are nearly

incredible; and the stone volumes lying about the mountains, written by

the hand of Nature, rather than the human chronicles, must be our guide.

VOLCANOES.

Stephens has described some of the Central American volcanoes from

personal visits, but not with the pen of a geologist, and in the last

years of the French Empire able geologists[61] redescribed some of the

same peaks; but there are still more than a score of lofty cones that no

geologist has ever ascended, and there are many rising from an almost

unbroken forest, whose volcanic nature has not yet been fully determined.

Even in the present age of physical research Central America has been

sadly neglected; and we may express a hope that some young man is even

now training his thews and sinews, and hardening his constitution by

virtuous abstinence and careful exercise, as well as training his mind to

interpret and his eye to see the rich harvest that here awaits the proper

explorer. No feeble student need attempt the task. Death surely waits for

him in the jungle, on the precipices, in the treacherous craters, even

in the posada to which he brings his exhausted frame, should he be so

foolhardy as to ascend a volcano in this tropical climate.

This is not the place to enter into a scientific description of even the

little that is known of the volcanic phenomena of Central America; but

perhaps my readers will pardon me if I make some few quotations from what

Mr. Darwin once wrote me he considered the poetry of geology. I may at

the same time show faintly what a tempting field there is for the truly

scientific explorer.[62] What I have said already will be my excuse for

inaccuracies, and I can only claim to have consulted the best authorities

when my personal observation fails, and they must bear the blame of

any misstatements. I give first a list of the principal volcanoes,

then of their best-known eruptions, and finally an enumeration of the

earthquakes. Hot and mineral springs are very frequent all over the

country; but as their chemical constituents and medicinal properties have

not been determined, and their physical peculiarities are not noteworthy,

we may pass them by in this brief survey with the remark that the Indios

do not seem to have made much use of their medicinal virtues, and turn at

once to a catalogue of the volcanoes. From what I have myself seen of the

extinct craters in the republic of Guatemala, I am convinced that I have

collected in this list barely a tithe of the distinct volcanic vents. The

Soconuscan volcano Istak has never been described, and some have doubted

its existence; of the others whose names are in the list very few have

been examined by geologists. Beginning at the extreme northwestern end of

the chain in Central America, we find it extends south fifty-five degrees

east; and while the volcanoes are generally in line, there are several

subsidiary lines at right angles to the general trend.

Name. Present State. Last Eruption. Height.

IN GUATEMALA.

Tacanà Quiescent 1855

Tajumulco[63] Extinct 18,317(?)

Santa Maria (Exancul) ” 11,415

Cerro Quemado Quiescent 1785 10,205

Zuñil Extinct

Santa Clara ” 8,554

San Pedro ” 8,125

Atitlan Active 1852 9,870

Acatenango Quiescent 13,563

Fuego Active 1880 12,075

Agua Extinct 12,337

Pacaya (Pecul) Quiescent 1775 8,390

Cerro Redondo Extinct 3,550

Tecuamburro ”

Moyuta ”

Chingo ” 6,500

Amayo ”

Mita ” 5,000

Suchitan, or Santa Catarina ” 1469(?)

Monte Rico ”

Ipala ” 5,460

IN SAN SALVADOR.

Apaneca Extinct 5,826

Santa Ana Active 6,000

Izalco ” constant 6,000

San Salvador[64] ” 6,182

Cojutepeque, or Ilopango ” 3,400

San Vincente Quiescent 1643 7,600

Tecapa Extinct

Usulutan ”

Chinameca Quiescent 5,000

San Miguel Active 1844 6,244

Conchagua Quiescent 3,915

IN HONDURAS.

Zacate Grande Extinct 2,000

Tigre ” 2,632

Congrehoy Peak Quiescent 8,040

Bonito ”

Bay Islands Extinct 1,000

IN NICARAGUA.

Coseguina Quiescent 1835 3,600

Chonco ”

El Viejo (Belcher, 1838) ” 5,562

Santa Clara ” 4,700

Telica Active 1850 3,800

Orota Quiescent

Las Pilas ” 4,000

Axusco, or Asososco Extinct 4,690

Momotombo Active 1852 7,000

Momotombito Extinct

Guanapepe ”

Nindiri Quiescent

Masaya Active 1858 3,000

Mombacho Extinct 5,250

Zapeton, or Zapatera ”

Ometepec Active 1883 5,050

Madeira Quiescent 5,000

IN COSTA RICA.

Orosi Quiescent 8,650

Rincon de la Vieja ”

Miravalles Extinct 5,500

Tenorio ”

Los Votos, or Poas ” 10,500

Barba ”

Irazu, or Cartago Active 1726 11,450

Turrialba Extinct 12,533

Chiripo ”

Besides the volcanoes contained in the preceding list there are in

Columbia three volcanic peaks:—

Name. Present State. Height.

Pico Blanco Extinct 11,740

Rovalo (?) 7,021

Chiriqui (?) 11,265

The volcanoes on the Atlantic coast have been little noticed. Congrehoy

Peak has the sharpest cone I have ever seen, almost equalling the

impossible cones in Humboldt’s drawings of the Cordilleras; and I regret

that the only photograph I was able to make of the mountain-top rising

above the low-lying clouds was defective. Trusting too securely to my

camera, I did not measure the angle, although the sketch I made just

before is quite as the mountain looks. The sharpness is perhaps the

result of an eruption said to have taken place a few years ago, when the

crater fell in and ashes were carried as far as Belize,—a hundred and

fifty miles. Belonging to the same system as Congrehoy and Bonito are the

Bay Islands. Of these, Utila shows streams of vesicular basaltic lava,

and fragments of a more compact, older basalt; but I have found neither

on this island nor on Roatan any signs of a crater. The formation is,

however, distinctly volcanic, and apparently of a period anterior to the

eruptions which built the Island of Oahu in the Hawaiian Group,—I judge

by the amount of decomposition and degradation, the lavas in both cases

being similar in composition and physical character.

[Illustration: Congrehoy Peak.]

I have mentioned the deposits of volcanic sand found on the north shore

of the Lago de Izabal, in a region surrounded by what are thought to be

calcareous mountains; and I may add that several peaks in the Cockscomb

Range of British Honduras appear from a distance of perhaps forty miles

to be volcanic cones.

Passing over the traditional outbreaks of the Central American volcanoes

before the Conquest, the earliest recorded eruption was that of Masaya

in 1522; and the Spanish chroniclers tell a very amusing story of the

attempt of the Dominican friar Blase and his companions to draw up the

molten gold (lava) in an iron bucket from El Infierno de Masaya, or Hell

of Masaya. The bucket, as well as the chain which held it, melted on

approaching the lava; and the pious Churchmen, instead of being enriched

by the precious metal, were poorer by the cost of the expedition.

According to the same authority, the Indios at certain seasons cast

living maids into the crater to appease the fire, that it might not

break forth and injure their crops. This would indicate a continued

state of activity, without an outbreak from the crater, much as in the

Halemaumau of the volcano Kilauea. It is curious that in Yucatan the

Mayas sacrificed maidens to water by casting them into the sacred well

or Cenote of Chichen Itza;[65] and a similar sacrifice has been made at

Ilopango in modern times. In 1772 the next real eruption took place,

and in 1858 another slight one. The cone is directly over the Lake of

Masaya,—the only source of water in that dry land; and its ejections are

encroaching upon the area of the lake. But I will put the eruptions in a

tabular form for convenience:—

LIST OF THE RECORDED ERUPTIONS IN CENTRAL AMERICA.

Year. Volcano.

1522 Masaya

1526 Fuego

1565 Pacaya

1581 Fuego

1582 ”

1585 and 1586 ”

1614 ”

1623 ”

1643 San Vincente

1651 Pacaya

1664 ”

1668 ”

1670 (?) in Nicaragua

1671 Pacaya

1677 ”

1686 Fuego

1699 ”

1705 ”

1706 ”

1707 ”

1710 ” two eruptions

1717 ”

1723 Irazu

1726 ”

1732 Fuego

1737 ”

1764 Momotombo

1770 Izalco (formation of)

1772 Masaya

1775 (?) in Nicaragua

1775 Pacaya

1785 Cerro Quemado

1798 Izalco

1799 Fuego

1803 Izalco

1821 (?) in Nicaragua

1829 Fuego

1835 Coseguina

1844 San Miguel

1847 (?) in Nicaragua

1850 Telica

1852 Momotombo

1855 Tacanà

1855 Fuego

1856 ”

1857 ”

1858 Masaya

1869 Izalco

1870 ”

1880 Ilopango (Lago de)

1880 Fuego

1883 Omotepec

EARTHQUAKES.

I do not propose to weary my readers with a list of the three hundred

earthquakes that have been thought severe enough to be recorded; but a

picture of Central America would be unrecognizable without some color of

the natural disturbances that are inseparably connected in the popular

mind with this part of the continent.

In 1541 the capital of the kingdom of Guatemala, now Ciudad Vieja, was a

young and flourishing city. Founded in July, 1524, between the mountains

Agua and Fuego, in the place called Almolonga (“water-fountain”), with

the proud title of “City of Saint James of the Knights of Guatemala,” it

had grown to a respectable size, in spite of numerous misfortunes, to

which Juarros devotes an entire chapter of his “Compendio.” An earthquake

in 1526, so severe, says Bernal Diaz del Castillo, that men could not

stand, seems to have frightened the population less than did an enormous

lion (puma?) which descended the forest-clad slopes of Agua in 1532

and made great havoc, until a reward of twenty-five gold dollars and a

hundred fanegas of wheat induced a peasant to kill the monster. Politics

had, as is usually the case, made more disturbance than the forces of

Nature. The Conquistador Alvarado was recently dead, his widow, Doña

Beatriz de la Cueva, had claimed the government, and the obsequies of the

dead and the ceremonials of the new ruler were agitating the city when

the sudden and terrible destruction of both ruler and her capital came.

Accounts of the catastrophe vary, as is usual with all history,—which

some one has wisely called “probabilities and possibilities extracted

from lies;” but from nine extant descriptions and an examination of the

physical marks which three centuries have not wholly effaced, I believe

the following to be a fair story of the event:—

September is always a rainy month in Guatemala, and on Thursday, the 8th,

a storm began which was violent even for that place and season. Rain fell

in torrents, and continued to fall all that day and Friday and Saturday.

Two hours after dark on the last day a severe earthquake shock was felt,

and from Hunapu, since called the Volcan de Agua, came an avalanche of

water, carrying with it immense rocks and entire forests. The terror of

the earthquake and the roar of the unseen torrent wrought the excitement

of the inhabitants to the utmost. Soon the deluge reached the city; the

streets were filled to overflowing, and the houses were beaten by the

waves and battered by the great trees brought by the torrent. Among

the houses most exposed was that of Doña Beatriz, the widow of the

Adelantado. She was preparing for bed; but startled by the earthquake

and the terrible noise, endeavored to obtain safety in a small chapel

near by, and while clinging to the crucifix was killed by the fall of

the chapel wall. Her house was uninjured. All through the city the loss

of life was very great; six hundred Spaniards perished, and the loss of

Indios and Negroes was far greater. In the morning the remains of the

city hardly appeared above the trees, rocks, and mud of the avalanche.

It was then that the disheartened survivors decided to remove a league

eastward, to the present Antigua.

The earthquake did not destroy the city, still less was there an eruption

of water from the volcano; but the crater of the long-extinct cone had

been filled with the rains, and the tremor shattered the loose dam of

the crater-lip and let the great body of water down the steep side of

the mountain. There was water in the crater long before, and the crater

to-day shows marks of the broken wall and emptied lake. The destruction

of the city was considered a judgment of Heaven upon Doña Beatriz

for certain impious remarks made in her bereavement, and it was with

difficulty that her family were able to bury her remains in consecrated

ground.

On May 23, 1575, San Salvador (Cuscatlan) was destroyed by an earthquake

which also greatly damaged Antigua. Afterwards the latter city had

an experience that would have discouraged the people of any Northern

town, for in 1576 and 1577 it was badly shaken, and on Dec. 23, 1586,

destroyed. Then it was rebuilt enough to be again shattered on Feb. 18,

1651, and again on Feb. 12, 1689, and Sept. 29, 1717. The day after

this last shock Antigua was destroyed completely; but for all that, on

March 4, 1751, the chronicler writes “many ruins,” and then the centre

of disturbance goes southward for a while. In April, 1765, several

towns were destroyed in San Salvador, and the next month many in the

Department of Chiquimula in Guatemala; while during the following October

the “earthquake of San Rafael” shook many Guatemaltecan towns to pieces.

On July 29, 1773, Antigua was again destroyed,—if such a thing was

possible; and although her inhabitants yielded to the momentary

discouragement and permitted the Government to be removed to the Valley

of the Hermitage, they have never allowed the ruins to become desolate,

and to-day the traveller gazes in astonishment at the shattered walls of

nearly eighty churches still the ornament of the town. The Antigua that

once sheltered eighty thousand inhabitants, beautiful in its situation

and distinguished by its architectural display, is still attractive in

its ruins; its forty thousand inhabitants go in and out under the shadow

of the volcano and await the next destruction, which may come to-morrow

or years hence: the lesson that is past is all forgotten. I confess

myself that the ruined churches, so fresh after the sun and rains of a

century have penetrated their shattered walls, inspired no apprehension

of danger; they were objects of great interest rather than warning; and

it was no strange thing that those born in that charming place should

cling to it still.

In 1774 nearly all the towns on the Balsam Coast of San Salvador were

ruined. I hope my readers understand the delicate gradation in the terms

used in speaking of the misfortunes of earthquake countries. A place is

“shaken,” then “shattered,” then “ruined,” and finally “destroyed” by the

_visit_ of a _temblor_; and it is a very nice matter to decide exactly

where one term is appropriate and another not.

In February, 1798, San Salvador was badly shaken and after a rather long

rest, broken by “no great shakes,” two very destructive earthquakes were

felt in March and October, 1839. On Sept. 2, 1841, Cartago, in Costa

Rica, was destroyed; in June, 1847, the Balsam Coast was greatly ruined;

on May 16, 1852, the disturbances occurred northward, in the vicinity

of Quezaltenango; on April 16, 1854, San Salvador was destroyed,—not,

however, for the last time. On Nov. 6, 1857, Cojutepeque was badly

shaken, and the same misfortune came upon La Union Aug. 25, 1859. The

following December houses were shattered in Escuintla and Amatitlan;

Dec. 19, 1862, Antigua, Amatitlan, Escuintla, Tecpan Guatemala, and the

neighboring towns were severely shaken; June 12, 1870, Chiquimulilla

was destroyed, and much damage done in Cuajinicuilapa; a month later a

severe earthquake was felt in the Departments of Santa Rosa and Jutiapa;

March 4, 1873, San Salvador and the neighboring towns were destroyed,—a

process they must have become quite accustomed to by this time,—and

eighteen months later it was the turn of Patzicia to be destroyed, while

Chimaltenango, Antigua and the vicinity were only ruined. The year 1878

was marked by the destruction of several towns in Usulutan, San Salvador,

and on Dec. 27 and 30, 1879, most of the small towns in the neighborhood

of the Lago de Ilopango were overturned.

Hardly a month passes without some slight tremor in western Guatemala. In

recent years so much more attention has been paid to seismology, or the

observation and record of the time, duration, and direction of earthquake

shocks, that the longer lists seem to indicate the increase of slight

tremors; but this is not probable, and certainly the volcanic eruptions

have diminished in force and frequency. Fuego, the most important, lays

claim to twenty-one of the fifty recorded eruptions of the Central

American volcanoes; but during the present century it has cast out merely

sand, and no lava streams.

[Illustration: VOLCAN DE FUEGO.]

I have never had the experience of a very severe earthquake, although I

have had the pictures swing on the walls and the plastering crack and

fall; therefore I must borrow the description of an earthquake, that the

list just given may seem more real. The following account is considered

very truthful:—

“The night of the 16th of April, 1854, will ever be one of sad and

bitter memory for the people of Salvador. On that unfortunate night our

happy and beautiful capital was made a heap of ruins. Movements of the

earth were felt on Holy Thursday, preceded by sounds like the rolling

of heavy artillery over pavements and like distant thunder. The people

were a little alarmed in consequence of this phenomenon, but it did not

prevent them from meeting in the churches to celebrate the solemnities

of the day. On Saturday all was quiet, and confidence was restored.

The people of the neighborhood assembled as usual to celebrate the

Passover. The night of Saturday was tranquil, as was also the whole

of Sunday. The heat, it is true, was considerable, but the atmosphere

was calm and serene. For the first three hours of the evening nothing

unusual occurred; but at half-past nine a severe shock of an earthquake,

occurring without the preliminary noises, alarmed the whole city. Many

families left their houses and made encampments in the public squares,

while others prepared to pass the night in their respective courtyards.

“Finally, at ten minutes to eleven, without premonition of any kind,

the earth began to heave and tremble with such fearful force that in

ten seconds the entire city was prostrated. The crashing of houses and

churches stunned the ears of the terrified inhabitants, while a cloud

of dust from the falling ruins enveloped them in a pall of impenetrable

darkness. Not a drop of water could be got to relieve the half-choking

and suffocating, for the wells and fountains were filled up or made dry.

The clock-tower of the cathedral carried a great part of that edifice

with it in its fall. The towers of the church of San Francisco crushed

the episcopal oratory and part of the palace. The church of Santo Domingo

was buried beneath its towers, and the college of the Assumption was

entirely ruined. The new and beautiful edifice of the university was

demolished, the church of the Merced separated in the centre, and its

walls fell outward to the ground. Of the private houses a few were

left standing, but all were rendered uninhabitable. It is worthy of

remark that the walls left standing are old ones; all those of modern

construction have fallen. The public edifices of the Government and city

shared the common destruction.

“The devastation was effected, as we have said, in the first ten seconds;

for although the succeeding shocks were tremendous, and accompanied by

fearful rumblings beneath our feet, they had comparatively trifling

results for the reason that the first had left but little for their

ravages. Solemn and terrible was the picture presented on the dark

funereal night of a whole people clustering in the plazas and on their

knees crying with loud voices to Heaven for mercy, or in agonizing

accents calling for their children and friends whom they believed to

be buried beneath the ruins. A heaven opaque and ominous; a movement of

the earth rapid and unequal, causing a terror indescribable; an intense

sulphurous odor filling the atmosphere, and indicating an approaching

eruption of the volcano; streets filled with ruins, or overhung by

threatening walls; a suffocating cloud of dust almost rendering

respiration impossible,—such was the spectacle presented by the unhappy

city on that memorable and awful night.

“A hundred boys were shut up in the college, many invalids crowded the

hospitals, and the barracks were full of soldiers. The sense of the

catastrophe which must have befallen them gave poignancy to the first

moment of reflection after the earthquake was over. It was believed that

at least a fourth part of the inhabitants had been buried beneath the

ruins. The members of the Government, however, hastened to ascertain,

so far as practicable, the extent of the catastrophe, and to quiet the

public mind. It was found that the loss of life was much less than was

supposed; and it now appears probable that the number of killed will not

exceed one hundred, and of wounded, fifty. Fortunately the earthquake has

not been followed by rains, which gives an opportunity to disinter the

public archives, as also many of the valuables contained in the dwellings

of the citizens. The movements of the earth still continue, with strong

shocks; and the people, fearing a general swallowing up of the site of

the city, or that it may be buried under some sudden eruption of the

volcano, are hastening away.” In 1859 the city was again in order, as

the seat of government, after an ineffectual attempt to remove it to the

plain of Santa Tecla, ten miles distant.

The birth of the volcano of Izalco occurred in 1770. It is, indeed, only

a lateral opening of the volcano of Santa Ana, which, like Ætna, is a

mother of mountains. San Marcellino, Naranjo, Tamasique, Aguila, San

Juan, Launita, and Apaneca all seem to be her offspring. Near the base

of the main volcano was, previous to 1770, a large cattle rancho. At the

close of 1769 the people on this estate were alarmed by subterranean

noises and earthquake shocks, which continued to increase in loudness

and severity until February 23, when the earth opened about half a mile

from the houses on the hacienda, emitting fire, smoke, and lava. The

house-people fled from so terrible a neighbor; but the _vaqueros_, or

cowboys, who came daily to see the new monster, declared it grew worse

and worse, throwing out more smoke and flame daily, and that while the

flow of lava sometimes stopped for a while, vast quantities of sand and

stones were thrown out instead. For more than a century this action

has gone on, and the ejecta have formed a cone more than six thousand

feet high, or higher than Vesuvius. At intervals of from ten to twenty

minutes, loud explosions occur, with dense smoke and a puff of cinders

and stones. By night the view from Sonsonate is very attractive, as the

cloud of smoke is illuminated by the molten mass within, and the red-hot

stones shoot through this darker mass and seem to ignite vapors, which

flash like lightning. As these stones roll down the steep sides of the

cone, they leave a faint track some distance (optical, probably), and

sometimes the caldron boils over, sending rills of molten lava down

the cone. Well may the sailors call this “El faro de Salvador,”—the

lighthouse of Salvador. Like Stromboli, it is always active; and while

most volcanoes are noted for the irregularity of their eruptions, Izalco

is exceedingly regular, though sometimes acting with unusual violence

(1798, 1869, 1870). The volcano of Tanna, in the western Pacific,

exhibits this same pulsating character.

San Miguel is the largest active volcano in San Salvador, rising from

the plain to a height of perhaps sixty-five hundred feet. Like most of

the Central American volcanoes, its mass is a very regular cone, and its

form, size, and beautiful colors render it one of the grandest objects

of its class. From the deep green of the forest which surrounds its

base, the color fades to the light green of the upland grass, then to

the deep red of the scoriæ, and the top is grayish-white. Above all, the

ever-changing cloud of smoke floats lazily away. Of all the accounts

of ascents of Central American volcanoes, I have selected the account

published many years ago by Don Carlos Gutierrez of his ascent of San

Miguel, because it seems to convey a fair idea of the simplest form of

mountain-climbing and of the appearance of an active cone. He says:—

“We started from the city of San Miguel on the afternoon of the 7th of

December, 1848, directing our course towards the western border of the

plain where rises the dark bulk of the volcano. At eleven o’clock at

night we reached the foot of the mountain, distant four leagues from the

town. Although the moon shone with extraordinary brilliancy and the night

was one of serenest beauty, yet we considered it safer to take shelter in

an Indian hut for the remainder of the night than trust ourselves among

the fissures of the mountain in the treacherous moonlight. At four in

the morning, with the earliest dawn of day, we commenced our ascent on

horseback. We however soon found our course so much impeded by masses of

lava, over which it was difficult to force the animals, that we were

compelled to dismount and pursue our journey on foot. About half way up

the mountain the dikes of lava became less frequent, and the ground more

firm and open, and, although quite precipitous, yet not difficult of

ascent. This open belt, however, does not extend to the summit, and long

before we reached it we were again driven upon the beds of sharp, rough,

and unsteady lava.

“Our course now lay through a deep channel formed between two vast

currents of lava, composed of enormous crags, which in 1844 had flowed

out from fissures in the side of the volcano. We had not proceeded far

between these walls of rock when we found the scoriæ beneath our feet

so yielding and unsteady that we could scarcely retain our foothold.

Frequently we slid back three or four yards, thus losing in a moment the

advance which it had cost us great labor to accomplish. Nevertheless,

after many efforts and through much exertion, and after having suffered

several severe falls, we succeeded in reaching the throat of the

mountain. Here the lava was solid and the scoriæ firm; and though the

slope was very steep and dangerous, yet we found it easier to proceed

here than over the soft and yielding ashes below.

“About mid-day we reached the summit proper of the mountain and stood on

the edge of the great crater, which is surrounded by a wall of immense

rocks, irregular in height, and having a circuit of a mile and a half.

The area within these strange bulwarks is level; but on descending, we

found with alarm that it was traversed in every direction by profound

fissures, varying from one foot to five yards in width, from which

escaped dense clouds of sulphurous smoke. About in the centre of this

area was the yawning, active crater, or mouth of the crater, or mouth of

the volcano. Our guide peremptorily refused to advance farther, insisting

that we were liable at any moment to sink into some one of the numerous

fissures which yawned beneath the superficial crust. He added further

that in the neighborhood of the crater the gases were so pungent and the

sulphurous odor so overwhelming that we could not escape suffocation.

“The alarm with which our guide endeavored to inspire us did not,

however, get the better of our curiosity, and we determined to reach

the crater. Providing ourselves with long staves with which to test the

nature of the ground, we advanced carefully and slowly. At every step the

clouds of smoke became more dense, and the odor of the gases escaping

from the multitudinous fissures more overpowering. Our efforts, however,

were amply repaid by the sight which met our eyes when we finally reached

the brink of the crater. Nothing could be grander or more magnificent.

“A few months before, I had seen the volcano of Izalco, with its crown

of living fire and its flashing tongues of flame, throwing out floods

of incandescent lava; but sublime as was the spectacle, it paled and

grew tame in comparison with that before us. The crater, as before

observed, is in the centre of the level area which I have described. It

is of irregular width, in some places only ten or twelve yards broad; in

others, fifty or sixty, dividing the greater crater from side to side.

The depth of this orifice, or cleft, is so great that the eye cannot

fathom it. One sees only a vast gulf of molten lava, over which plays

a pale and sulphurous flame, reflected again and again from burned and

blistered rocks, fantastic in shape and capricious in position, which

form the walls of the orifice. Thick whorls of smoke drifted up from all

sides, so that at times I was unable to distinguish my companion, distant

only a few yards. An indescribable magnetic influence or fascination

seemed to rivet our eyes on the molten floods surging below us, and

which, from their roar and vibrations, seemed to threaten momentarily to

rise and overwhelm us, as if the volcano were on the verge of eruption.

“Our contemplations of this fearful orifice were therefore brief, the

smoke and odor overpowered us; and in a few moments we were forced to

abandon our positions and seek a breath of pure air at a distance. We

returned rapidly to the place where we had left our guide; and casting a

farewell glance over the strange area before us, commenced our descent,

reaching San Miguel at six o’clock in the evening, weary and exhausted.”

[Illustration: Volcan de Coseguina, from the Sea.]

Of the eruptions of the Central American volcanoes none in the historical

period have surpassed that of Coseguina in 1835. This mountain forms the

eastern gate-ward of the Gulf of Fonseca, Conchagua rising on the other

side of the rather narrow entrance. Not remarkably high (3,600 feet),

it rises directly from the sea, and by its irregular outline, scarred

slopes, and desolate appearance conveys the impression of a greater than

its real mass. On the 20th of January, 1835, the disturbance began with

very loud explosions, heard for a hundred leagues. Above the mountain

rose an inky cloud which spread outwards precisely as Pliny describes the

terrible cloud that rose above Vesuvius in 79, spreading like an Italian

pine. From this column of heated vapor and sand darted lightning-flashes,

produced either by the friction of the immense quantity of rough mineral

particles, or by the sudden projection of hot gases and minerals into

the much cooler atmosphere. As the cloud spread, the light of the sun

was obscured, everything looked sickly in the yellow light, and the

falling sand irritated both eyes and lungs. For two days the explosions

grew more frequent and louder, while the eruption of sand increased; and

on the third day the terrible noises were loudest in an almost absolute

darkness. The rain of sand continued until a deposit of several feet had

formed for many leagues around the crater. At Leon, in Nicaragua, more

than a hundred miles away, the sand was several inches deep, and it fell

in Vera Cruz, Jamaica, Santa Fé de Bogota, and over an area nearly two

thousand miles in diameter. At Belize the noise of the explosions was

so loud that the commandant mustered his troops and manned the forts,

thinking there was a naval action off the anchorage. For eight hundred

miles these noises were heard, and the vibrations near the volcano must

have been indeed terrible. We can credit the accounts of the terror of

the wild things of Nature as well as of human beings. For thirty leagues

around, the astounded people believed that the Last Judgment had come,

and in the darkness, thick with the falling ashes, groped hither and

thither, bearing crosses and uttering prayers inaudible to themselves in

the crash of elements. At the end of forty-three hours the earthquakes

and explosions ceased, and with a strong wind the ashes were gradually

blown away from the atmosphere. The returning light of day showed a

gloomy outlook. Ashes covered the country on every side. On Coseguina a

crater had opened a mile in diameter, and vast streams of lava had flowed

into the gulf on one side, and into the ocean on the other. While the

verdure was gone from the land, pumice covered the sea for a hundred and

fifty miles.

Terrible as was this outbreak, the explosive violence was not so great as

of the eruption from some unknown vent whose deposits are about Quiché in

Guatemala, in the valley of the Chixoy, and elsewhere; and Pacaya has in

some prehistoric time thrown out sand and pumice in greater quantity than

did Coseguina, as we see by the deposits about the Lago de Amatitlan.

[Illustration: Lago de Ilopango, 1880.]

With the mention of the Lago de Amatitlan it occurs to me that the

so-called volcanic lakes of Central America deserve a short notice. I

would not claim that there are not here genuine pit-craters filled with

water and called _lagos_ or _lagunas_. On the summit of many of the

extinct volcanoes are craters filled with water, as Ipala and others, and

as Agua was before the destruction of the crater-lip in 1541; while in

San Salvador and Nicaragua are many lakes, usually of small extent, but

sometimes so large as to mislead the casual observer as to their origin,

though of undoubtedly volcanic nature. Of this last class is the Lago

de Masaya, from whose deep pool the people of the neighboring village

obtain all their water. Coatepeque is another volcanic lake, whose walls

are so steep that they can be descended only at certain points by means

of ladders and steps cut in the lava rock. Finally there are many pits,

sometimes no more than a hundred feet in diameter, but of very great

depth, and filled sometimes with fresh water, but more commonly with

saline waters so strongly impregnated as to be undrinkable. The great

lakes of Amatitlan and Atitlan are not certainly volcanic, although their

shores are dotted with hot-springs and guarded by volcanoes,—they are

not, that is, actual craters; but the former seems to be the result of a

subsidence caused perhaps by the removal of material from lower layers

by eruptions of Pacaya, and it is of no considerable depth, while good

authority has considered the Lago de Atitlan the result of damming up

a valley and streams by the masses of the volcanic group of the same

name. A glance at the map of this lake (p. 154) as given by the French

geologists whose opinion is quoted, will show that the volcanoes occupy

a position not far from the geometrical centre of the Lago, or where

they should be if the lake was an ancient crater. Compare with this,

if you will, the plan of an undoubted volcanic lake, that of Ilopango

in San Salvador. This body of water is not only the seat of volcanic

eruptions, as is also the Great Lake of Nicaragua, but probably fills

a depression that has been the result of the coalescence of several

points of eruption. I have before me the interesting report to the

Guatemaltecan Government by my friend Edwin Rockstroh of his observations

made on the eruption of one of these craters in 1880. The lake is 9,200

metres wide from east to west, and 7,300 metres from north to south,

with an area of 54.3 kilometres. Completely surrounded by precipitous

mountains, interrupted only on the southeast by the narrow gorge through

which the waters of the lake are discharged, it receives no important

affluents from the surface; and as its emissary is of much greater

volume at all seasons than these insignificant brooks, it is probably

fed by subterranean springs,—indeed one of these, near the south shore,

enters with such force as to cause a ripple on the surface of the lake.

Soundings indicate a cup-like bottom with an extreme depth of less than

seven hundred feet (209.26 metres). The level of the lake has often

changed, and in 1880 the surface-level fell more than thirty-four feet,

leaving exposed stumps of trees encrusted with calcareous deposits. It

was before the last eruption well stocked with fish of the varieties

called by the people who lived near by _mojarra_, _burrito_ (both species

of the genus _Heros_), _pepesca_, and _chimbolo_. At times an eruption

of sulphurous gases partly asphyxiated the fish, driving them to the

shores, where they fell a prey to the fishermen. What the fishermen did

on occasion of greater disturbances is told in the following extract from

a Guatemaltecan journal;[66] the author, Don Camillo Galvan, formerly

Visitador-General, writes as follows:—

“The people of the pueblos around the lake, Cojutepeque, Texacuangos, and

Tepezontes, say that when the earthquakes came from the lake, which they

knew by the disappearance of fish, it was a sign that the monster lord of

those regions who dwelt in the depths of the lake was eating the fish,

and probably would consume them all shortly, unless provided with a more

delicate and juicy diet worthy of his power and voracity; for they say

that the monster only eats fish as men eat fruit, to refresh and allay

hunger. The natives, deeply afflicted by the fish famine, the failure of

an article of commerce and their ordinary diet, collected at the command

of their chiefs. Then the sorcerers (_los brujos_) commanded the people

to throw flowers and fruits into the lake: if the tremblings continued,

they were to cast in animals, preferring conies (_Lepus Douglassii_),

taltusas (_Geomys heterodus_), then armadillos (_Dasypus_), and

mapachines (_Procyon cancrivorus_). These animals must be caught alive

and cast living into the water, under penalty of no less than hanging

with the vine _zinak_. If some days passed, and the tremors continued,

and the fish did not come out of their caves, they (the brujos) took

a girl of from six to nine years old, decked her with flowers, and at

midnight the wizards took her to the middle of the lake and cast her in,

bound hand and foot and with a stone fast to her neck. The next day, if

the child appeared upon the surface and the tremors continued, another

victim was cast into the lake with the same ceremonies.

“Even in the years 1861 and 1862, when I visited these towns, they

told me, though with much reserve, that the people of Cojutepeque and

Chinameca kept this barbarous custom to prevent the failure of the fish.”

Near the end of November, 1879, a series of earthquakes shook the lake

(more than six hundred were counted), and on Jan. 11, 1880, the waters

had risen about four feet. On the next day, between half-past four and

half-past seven in the afternoon, 13,790,000 cubic metres of water

escaped from the outlet of the lake, making a stream of greater volume

than the Seine at Paris or the Rhine at Basle. The little river Jiboa,

which received this torrent, did great damage to the plantations on its

banks.

As is usual, the earthquakes were accompanied by the discharge of

sulphuretted hydrogen, now in such quantities as to be very unpleasant at

the city of San Salvador. On the 9th of January there appeared floating

on the surface numerous flakes of a black foam composed of ferric

sulphide, which in contact with flame burned with a slight explosion.

On the 20th, at eleven o’clock in the evening, a great disturbance was

noticed in the midst of the lake, and the next morning a pile of rocks

was seen, from whose midst arose a column of vapor. For more than a month

this vapor column was visible, and the pile of rocks near the centre of

the lake increased, while the water was heated and the sulphurous vapors

extended over all the neighborhood. Beyond this no permanent volcano was

formed above the level of the lake (1,600 feet above the sea).

It is dangerous to form conclusions as to the general course of volcanic

action anywhere, for science is very much in the dark as to the causes

of eruptions and earthquakes, as to the condition of the interior of our

globe, whether fluid or solid, and also as to whether the lavas poured

out during an eruption have been fluid since the earth was formed, or

have been suddenly melted either as cause or effect of what we call an

eruption. In the Central American volcanic region, as was stated at the

beginning of this chapter, little has been done in the way of scientific

exploration, and the facts recorded, beyond popular accounts of some

especial disturbance, are so meagre that no large space would be required

to present them to the reader. This is not, however, the place to enter

into a scientific discussion, and I must content myself with a few bare

statements.

In the first place, the volcanoes of the country discharge both ashes

and lava, the latter being most frequently trachytic. Basaltic lavas

occur, though less frequently than in Mexico and farther northward; and

the columnar structure seen so well at Regla in Mexico is very rare in

Guatemala. On the other hand, pumice and obsidian, which are classed with

the acid or trachytic lavas, are abundant, the latter furnishing material

for knives, while the former has many applications in the arts of the

present day. I have seen both basalt and basaltic rapilli in eastern

Guatemala near the boundary of San Salvador, and basaltic sand is common

on the southern coast.

Another feature of the Central American volcanoes is their remarkable

regularity of form. This is due to the fact that the emissions consist

of ash and lava of slight fluidity. In the Hawaiian Islands, where the

basaltic lava is more fluid than in any other volcanic region, the

lava-streams often flow for months, and extend fifty or sixty miles from

the crater, building by successive eruptions a cone of great diameter in

proportion to their height; Mauna Loa having a diameter of ninety miles

at the sea-level, with a height of less than fourteen thousand feet and

a slope of about seven degrees. The eruptions of the American volcanoes

are mainly of masses of rock which are piled regularly about the base,

in this way increasing the height, and great quantities of sand which

fills the interstices, and finally of lava in a thick, viscid state which

clings to the slopes of the growing cone and cements together the sand

and larger fragments. No lava-stream, at least of modern times, has been

found at any considerable distance from its source.

From the specimens I collected in some of the ravines which traverse

the older deposits, I saw that in former ages the outflow was not only

different from that of modern times, but of great variety of form in

contemporaneous streams, although the chemical composition did not vary

essentially.

Earthquakes are mainly due to the injection of intensely heated lava

into strata of cold rock in the process of forming dikes. When a volcano

pours its lava out of its summit-crater, the eruption may be wholly

free from earth tremors, as is often the case on the Hawaiian Islands;

and this gives rise to the popular belief that active volcanoes are in

some way a safety-valve for the subterranean forces. When, however, the

shrinkage of the earth’s crust or the explosive force of pent-up vapors

cracks the solid rock, thus giving passage to the molten mass which must

be supposed to underlie this volcanic region, the sudden contact of two

bodies of very different temperatures (perhaps two thousand degrees) must

cause vibrations entirely sufficient to account for the worst earthquake

recorded. That the supply of molten rock is ample beneath the crust of

this region, we have proof in the constant activity of Izalco, which for

more than a century has poured out lava with the other ejections.

This theory of earthquake action is so simple that it must commend itself

to any one who has observed the powerful vibrations excited by placing a

cold kettle upon a hot stove, or by admitting with force a stream of hot

water into a bath-tub partly filled with cold water. It may be stated

also that lava is a remarkably poor conductor of heat (I have been able

to walk over a crust that bent beneath my weight, and again where I left

footprints in the half-hardened lava), and solid lava might retain a

temperature of less than two hundred within a few feet of a molten mass

ranging among the thousands of degrees. The secular refrigeration of

the subterranean molten masses due to the slight conductivity of solid

lava is well illustrated in the temperature of hot-springs, that remains

unchanged for centuries.

Eruptions are usually of an explosive nature in the Central American

region (as described in the outbreak of Coseguina), and the ejected ash

is scattered often to a great distance to form by its decomposition

layers of soil especially fitted for the cultivation of coffee, sugar,

and the vine. Sulphur is not so abundantly deposited as at Ætna, Hekla,

or even the Mexican volcanoes.

APPENDIX.

What an attic-room is to the thrifty housewife, an appendix is to the

maker of a book. Some things that do not seem to be in place in the

parlor or chamber are yet useful, and altogether too good to be thrown

away, so they are put into the garret to await the expected use. In a

book there are matters that the writer thinks ought to interest some

reader, things that will be missed if they are not under the same roof,—I

mean between the covers of the volume in hand,—and yet the skill is

wanting to incorporate these odd pieces (of furniture, if you wish) in

the orderly chapters of the book. And so I give you here several long

notes and some longer lists.

A LIST OF COMMON CABINET WOODS, DYE-WOODS, AND TIMBER.

Almond (_Amygdalus communis_).

Fustic (_Maclura tinctoria_).

Funera.

Mahogany (_Swietenia mahogani_),—of various kinds, as red, circular,

buttress.

Mangrove (_Rhizophora Mangle_); the wood is dark red, and very durable.

Mangrove (_R. Candel_); the wood is very heavy and takes a fine polish.

Granadillo,—a very solid dark-red wood, much used for tables.

Ronron.

Guachapeli,—a dark, very hard and strong wood, used in boat-building.

Madre cacao (_Erythrina_),—soft.

Alligator wood (_Guarea Swartzii_).

Trompillo.

Tepemís,—yellow.

Uña de gato (_Pithecolobium unguis-cati_).

Blood-wood (_Laplacea hæmatoxylon_).

Palo de Cortez.

Palo de mulatto (_Spondias lutea_),—a most beautiful and durable

wood, very heavy.

Cola de pava.

Sangre de perro.

Cedar (_Cedrela odorata_).

Coco-wood (_Inga vera_).

Tatascame.

Saradillo.

Chaquiro.

Sechillo.

Sare.

Volador.

Brasiletto (_Cæsalpinia crista_).

Tatamite.

Goyava (_Psidium_); wood hard and compact, though not of great size.

Arnotto (_Bixa orellana_) variety, with white wood.

Zorra.

Marillo.

Medlar.

Bambu (_Bambusa_).

Huiliguiste,—light-colored wood.

Conacaste.

Balsam-tree (_Clusia rosea_).

Calabash-tree, Guaje (_Crescentia cujete_).

Tempisque.

Pié de paloma.

Nance,—dye-wood.

Orange (_Citrus_),—white and close grained.

Chichipate.

Cuaquiniquil.

Varillo.

Sunzapote.

Copinol.

Sicamite.

Chaperno.

Cedar (_Bursera_).

Tamiagua.

Locust, Anime (_Hymenæa courbaril_); from this tree gum-copal is

obtained.

Locust (_Byrsonima cinerea_).

Cambron.

Gum-thorn (_Acacia Arabica_).

Irayol,—yellow and ochre-colored.

Cotorron.

Quiebra-hacha (_Sloanea Jamaicensis_),—black wood.

Copalchi,—quinine-tree; the bark is used, and the wood is also in

demand.

Mammee (_Lucuma mammosa_); the wood is very hard and heavy, but

splits easily.

Chipilte.

Meloncillo,—dark.

Quita calzon.

Palo grande.

Pigeon-wood (_Coccoloba diversifolia_).

Rose-apple (_Jambosa vulgaris_).

Sebesten (_Cordia sebestena_).

Gorrion.

Canelillo.

Chicate.

Rosewood (_Dalbergia_).

Guilsinse.

Guaquilite.

Sandbox-tree (_Hura crepitans_).

Screw-pine (_Pandanus_); the heart-wood is very hard and ornamental.

Salm (_Jacaranda_); light-colored, much used for door-frames.

Ironwood (_Laplacea hæmatoxylon_).

Pine, ocote (_Pinus cubensis_).

Pine, long-leaved (_P. macrophyllum_).

Poknoboy (_Bactris balanoidea_).

Sandpaper-tree (_Curatella Americana_),—the rough leaves used for

sandpaper.

Hog-gum (_Symphonia globulifera_).

Walnut (_Picrodendron juglans_).

Tamarind (_Tamarindus Indica_).

Melon.

Espina blanca (_Acacia Arabica_).

Copal (_Hedwigia balsamifera_).

Copalche, small (_Strychnos pseudoquina_).

Pimiento (_Pimenta vulgaris_).

Zebra-wood (_Eugenia fragrans_).

Mignonette-tree (_Lawsonia inermis_).

Totascamite,—yellow.

Guazuma (_G. tomentosa_).

Pepeto.

Dulcete.

Oak (_Ilex sideroxyloides_).

Tamacillo.

Zapotillo.

Caumillo.

Spanish plum (_Spondias purpurea_).

Santa Maria (_Calophyllum calaba_).

Filo.

Macaligua.

Loro.

Madrefera.

Sincho.

Pomegranate (_Punica granatum_).

Sapodilla (_Achras sapota_).

Ziricote,—beautifully marked; heavy.

Pine, mountain (_P. Ayacahuite_).

Pine (_P. filifolia_).

Maho (_Spondias?_).

Sapoton (_Pachira macrocarpa_).

Tamarind, wild (_Pithecolobium filicifolium_).

White-wood (_Oreodaphne leucoxylon_).

Willow, yellow (_Salix_).

Ebony, mosaic (_Brya ebenus_).

Balsam (_Myrospermum salvatoriensis_).

Pimientillo.

Qualm (_Cecropia peltata_).

LEAF-CUTTING ANTS.

The Œcodoma, Zompopos, or leaf-cutting ants, are such a pest to the

fruit-growers of Central America that I have quoted from Mr. Belt the

most satisfactory account of their habits that has ever been published.

He says:—

“The first acquaintance a stranger generally makes with them

is on encountering their paths on the outskirts of the forest

crowded with the ants,—one lot carrying off the pieces of leaves,

each piece about the size of a sixpence and held up vertically

between the jaws of the ant, another lot hurrying along in an

opposite direction empty handed, but eager to get loaded with

their leafy burdens. If he follows this last division, it will

lead him to some young trees or shrubs, up which the ants mount,

and where each one, stationing itself on the edge of a leaf,

commences to make a circular cut with its scissor-like jaws from

the edge, its hinder feet being the centre on which it turns.

When the piece is nearly cut off, it is still stationed upon it,

and it looks as though it would fall to the ground with it; but

on being finally detached, the ant is generally found to have

hold of the leaf with one foot, and soon righting itself, and

arranging its burden to its satisfaction, it sets off at once on

its return. Following it again, it is seen to join a throng of

others, each laden like itself, and without a moment’s delay it

hurries along the well-worn path. As it proceeds, other paths,

each thronged with busy workers, come in from the sides, until

the main road often gets to be seven or eight inches broad, and

more thronged than the streets of the city of London.

“After travelling for some hundreds of yards, often for more

than half a mile, the formicarium is reached. It consists of low

wide mounds of brown clayey-looking earth, above and immediately

around which the bushes have been killed by their buds and leaves

having been persistently bitten off as they attempted to grow

after their first defoliation. Under high trees in the thick

forest the ants do not make their nests, because, I believe, the

ventilation of their underground galleries, about which they are

very particular, would be interfered with, and perhaps to avoid

the drip from the trees. It is on the outskirts of the forest,

or around clearings or near wide roads that let in the sun, that

these formicariums are generally found. Numerous round tunnels,

varying from half an inch to seven or eight inches in diameter,

lead down through the mounds of earth; and many more from some

distance around also lead underneath them. At some of the holes

on the mounds ants will be seen busily at work bringing up

little pellets of earth from below and casting them down on the

ever-increasing mounds, so that its surface is nearly fresh and

new-looking....

“The ceaseless toiling hosts impress one with their power, and

one asks, What forests can stand before such invaders? How is it

that vegetation is not eaten off the face of the earth? Surely

nowhere but in the tropics, where the recuperative powers of

Nature are immense and ever active, could such devastation be

withstood.... None of the indigenous trees appear so suitable for

them as the introduced ones....

“In June, 1859, very soon after the formation of my garden,

the leaf-cutting ants came down upon it, and at once commenced

denuding the young bananas, orange, and mango trees of their

leaves. I followed up the paths of the invading hosts to their

nest, which was about one hundred yards distant, close to the

edge of the forest. The nest was not a very large one, the low

mound of earth covering it being about four yards in diameter.

At first I tried to stop the holes up; but fresh ones were

immediately opened out. I then dug down below the mound and laid

bare the chambers beneath, filled with ant-food and young ants

in every stage of growth. But I soon found that the underground

ramifications extended so far and to so great a depth, whilst

the ants were continually at work making fresh excavations, that

it would be an immense task to eradicate them by such means;

and notwithstanding all the digging I had done the first day, I

found them as busily at work as ever at my garden, which they

were rapidly defoliating. At this stage our medical officer,

Dr. J. H. Simpson, came to my assistance, and suggested the

pouring carbolic acid, mixed with water, down their burrows.

The suggestion proved a most valuable one. We had a quantity

of common brown carbolic acid, about a pint of which I mixed

with four buckets of water, and, after stirring it well about,

poured it down their burrows. I could hear it rumbling down to

the lowest depths of the formicarium, four or five feet from

the surface. The effect was all that I could have wished; the

marauding parties were at once drawn off from my garden to meet

the new danger at home. The whole formicarium was disorganized.

Big fellows came stalking up from the cavernous regions below,

only to descend again in the utmost perplexity.

“Next day I found them busily employed bringing up the ant-food

from the old burrows and carrying it to a new one a few yards

distant; and here I first noticed a wonderful instance of their

reasoning powers. Between the old burrows and the new one was a

steep slope. Instead of descending this with their burdens, they

cast them down on the top of the slope, whence they rolled down

to the bottom, where another relay of laborers picked them up and

carried them to the new burrow. It was amusing to watch the ants

hurrying out with bundles of food, dropping them over the slope

and rushing back immediately for more. They also brought out

great numbers of dead ants that the fumes of the carbolic acid

had killed. A few days afterwards, when I visited the locality

again, I found both the old burrows and the new one entirely

deserted, and I thought they had died off; but subsequent events

convinced me that the survivors had only moved away to a greater

distance. It was fully twelve months before my garden was again

invaded. I had then a number of rose-trees, and also cabbages

growing, which the ants seemed to prefer to everything else. The

rose-trees were soon defoliated, and great havoc was made amongst

the cabbages. I followed them to their nest, and found it about

two hundred yards from the one of the year before. I poured down

the burrows, as before, several buckets of water with carbolic

acid. The water is required to carry the acid down to the lowest

chambers. The ants, as before, were at once withdrawn from my

garden; and two days afterwards, on visiting the place, I found

all the survivors at work on one track that led directly to the

old nest of the year before, where they were busily employed

making fresh excavations. Many were bringing along pieces of

the ant-food from the old to the new nests; others carried the

undeveloped white pupæ and larvæ. It was a wholesale and entire

migration; and the next day the formicarium down which I had last

poured the carbolic acid was entirely deserted.

“Don Francisco Velasquez informed me in 1870 that he had a powder

which made the ants mad, so that they bit and destroyed each

other. He gave me a little of it, and it proved to be corrosive

sublimate. I made several trials of it, and found it most

efficacious in turning a large column of the ants. A little of

it sprinkled across one of their paths in dry weather has a most

surprising effect. As soon as one of the ants touches the white

powder it commences to run about wildly, and to attack any other

ant it comes across. In a couple of hours round balls of the ants

will be found all biting each other; and numerous individuals

will be seen bitten completely in two, whilst others have lost

some of their legs or antennæ. News of the commotion is carried

to the formicarium, and huge fellows, measuring three quarters

of an inch in length, that only come out of the nest during a

migration or an attack on the nest or one of the working columns,

are seen stalking down with a determined air, as if they would

soon right matters. As soon, however, as they have touched the

sublimate, all their stateliness leaves them; they rush about,

their legs are seized hold of by some of the smaller ants already

affected by the poison, and they themselves begin to bite, and in

a short time become the centre of fresh balls of rabid ants.”[67]

I wish I could quote all Mr. Belt’s interesting article; for his

conclusion as to the use the ants make of the bits of leaf they are so

incessantly collecting, is an ingenious one, and probably true. It is

certain that the little fellows are never seen taking a nibble of their

burdens, which would probably be the case if this material was intended

for food; and Mr. Belt thinks that the smaller ants, who seldom leave

the nest and never carry leaves, have the task of cutting the leaves up

into very small bits, which serve as manure for a minute fungus, which

is the real ant-food. It seems that “some of the ants make mistakes, and

carry in unsuitable leaves; thus grass is always rejected by them. But I

have seen some ants, perhaps young ones, carrying leaves of grass; but

after a while these pieces are always brought out again and thrown away.

I can imagine a young ant getting a severe ear-wigging from one of the

major-domos for its stupidity.”

QUICHÉ PRAYER.

Here is a translation I have made from the Spanish version given by Milla

of a Quiché prayer; and as the petitioner is a supposed Christian, it

will serve to illustrate the theological status of the Indio converts,

and no less of their descendants of the present day. Compare it with the

heathen prayer (p. 249):—

“O Jesus Christ my God, thou God the Son with the Father and the

Holy Spirit art but one God! To-day on this day, at this hour,

on this day of Tijax, I invoke the holy spirits who attend the

dawn and the last glimmerings of day! With the holy spirits I

pray to thee, O chief of the Genii who dwell in this mountain

of Sija-Raxquin! Come, blessed spirits of Juan Vachiac, of

D. Domingo Vachiac, of Juan Ixquiaptop; blessed spirits of

Francisco Ecoquij, of Diego Soom, of Juan Tay, of Alonso Tzep;

holy spirits, I repeat, of Diego Tziquin and Don Pedro Noj; you,

O priests, to whom all things are open, and thou Chief of the

Genii; ye Gods of the mountain, Gods of the plain, Don Puruperto

Martin,—come, accept this incense, accept now this candle! Come

also mother mine, holy Mary, and thou my Lord of Esquipulas, the

Lord of Capetagua, ... Captain Santiago, Saint Christopher, ...

thou Lord and King Pascual, be present here! And thou frost, thou

God of the plain, thou God Quiacbasulup, thou Lord of Retal-euleu

[here follows a long list of names of towns and mountains]! I

make myself compadre and comadre, I who pray; I am the witness

and the brother of this man who makes himself your son, of this

man who prays. O blessed spirits, suffer no evil to come to him,

nor let him be in any way unhappy! I the one who speak, I the

priest, I who burn this incense, I who pray for him, I who take

him under my protection, I beseech you that he may easily find

his food. Do thou then, God, send him his money; do not allow him

to get sick with fever, let him not become paralytic, let him not

be choked with a cough, let him not be bitten by a serpent, let

him not be swollen with wind nor asthmatic, let him not become

mad nor be bitten by a dog, let him not perish by a thunderbolt,

suffer him not to perish by rum, nor die by sword or stave,

neither let an eagle snatch him away; assist him, O clouds!

assist him, O lightnings! assist him, O thunderclap! Aid him,

Saint Peter, aid him, Saint Paul, aid him, thou Eternal Father!

I then who have spoken for him thus far, I pray that sickness

may come upon his opponents; grant that when his enemy goes

forth from his house he may encounter sickness; grant likewise

that wherever he may please to go, there he may meet with

difficulties. Do your duty against enemies wherever they may be;

do it as I pray you, blessed spirits! God be with you! God the

Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost! So be it! Amen, Jesus!”

THE NAMES OF GUATEMALTECAN TOWNS.

It is uncertain whether at the present day any of the aboriginal names of

places survive, for the successive invaders from the North or from beyond

the seas, if they did not utterly destroy towns, imposed new names on

the conquered places. We speak of the ruins of Palenque or of Quirigua,

but we do not know the former names of these places, and call them, for

convenience, by the name of the nearest modern village. Much ingenuity

has been expended in the derivation of Indian names still extant, even

the name of the republic itself being one of the undetermined ones; for

while Guatemala is undoubtedly taken from the name of the Cakchiquel

capital, Tecpan Quahtemalan, it is not known whether this was named for

Prince Jieutemal, or indeed whether the prince of that name ever existed.

_Quiché_ is derived from _qui_, “many,” and _che_, “trees;” or from

_queche_, _quechelau_, meaning “a forest,”—an inappropriate name now.

No less questionable are the derivations of _Tucurúb_, “town of owls;”

_Es(Itz)cuintla(n)_, “land of dogs;” _Izmachi_, “black hair;” and many

others.

The termination _pan_ means a “standard” or “chief place;” hence,

_Mayapan_ of the Mayas, and _Totonicapan_ of the Totonaques. _Tepec_

is a “mountain,” or “high place;” hence, Alotepeque, Coatepeque,

Olintepeque, Jilotepeque, and Quezaltepeque,—all of them in mountainous

regions, the second being a volcano of considerable height. _Tlan_

means a “city” or “home;” hence, _Atitlan_, “the home of the old woman

(Atit),” _Zapotitlan_, etc. The most common termination is _tenango_, a

Mexican word with much the same meaning as _tlan_,—_Huehuetenango_ being

equivalent to “the ancient abode;” _Chimaltenango_ to “the House of the

Shield.”

A troublesome matter is the varying and uncertain orthography of most of

the names now in use. Goattemala, Gautemala, Guatimala, are all used by

writers. The termination _pan_ is often in official publications spelled

_pam_. Quezaltenango is properly, though seldom, written Quetzaltenango;

and Cumarcah or Gumarcah, Izabal or Yzabal, Jutiapa or Xutiapa, are

common variations. The omission of the letter _n_ in such words as

Montezuma and Montagua, and at the end of Escuintlan, is the rule in

Guatemala; but foreign writers do not always regard it. The interchange

of _b_ and _v_ is common,—as _bejuco_ or _vejuco_; _benta_ or _venta_.

So far as sound goes, the name of the large macaw may be _Juacamalla_ or

_Guacamaya_. _Tzololà_ was one form of _Sololà_; _Taltic_, of _Tactic_;

and _Mictlan_, of _Mita_.

It is quite possible that Soconusco is derived from _xoconochtli_, a word

meaning “wild figs,” and Honduras from _fonduras_, meaning “depths,”

although the application may not be clear at the present day. More

satisfactory are _Michatoyatl_, “a river abounding in fish;” _Paxa_,

“water which separates,”—the Rio Pax, or Paz, having always been the

boundary between Guatemala and San Salvador. _Tonalá_, the “City of the

Sun,” and _Gumarca(a)h_, “ruined houses,” are generally admitted to be

correct derivations.

The Spanish invaders exhibited slight inventive powers, and some half

a dozen saints were made godfathers and godmothers to all the Indian

towns that were important enough to be rechristened; and Santos Juan,

José, Tomas, and Marcos, and Santas Maria, Lucia, Ana, and Catarina

are the favorites, although Pedro, Esteban, Jago, Miguel, Antonio,

Cristoval, Pablo, Izabal, and Clara are by no means neglected. The

proper name of the capital city of Guatemala is Santiago (St. James); and

if the ambitious projects dear to the late President Barrios should be

accomplished, as seems not improbable, England will have to be satisfied

with St. George, and leave “The Court of St. James” to the Central

American kingdom.

To the Anglo-Saxon such names as True Cross, Holy Cross, Thanks to God,

City of Angels, Nativity, and Holy Saviour seem wholly inappropriate

as names of places; but to the devout Spaniard they were evidently

favorite appellations. Nor are they very different from Praise-God

Barebones, Faith, Prudence, and the like, which we know were not uncommon

appellatives among the Puritans.

NO RUINS OF DWELLINGS.

In all the remains of ancient cities or holy places hitherto discovered

in Central America, there are temples or oratories, and so-called

palaces, but not a sign of human habitations; even the palaces are

apparently too small for comfortable habitation, and the temples would

not admit more than four or five persons at the same time. Herrera says

there “were so many and such stately Stone Buildings that it was amazing;

and the greatest Wonder is, that, having no Use of any Metal, they were

able to raise such Structures, which seem to have been Temples, for

their Houses were always of Timber and thatched.” Always of less durable

material than stone, the houses have disappeared, and we must not infer

that there were no dwellers about the places where we find to-day only

monuments of the dead or religious edifices. At the present time there

is many a village in Guatemala where the church is the only building of

masonry, all the houses being of the most perishable materials, as palm

stems and leaves, bark and mud. If the town of Livingston were destroyed

to-day and not rebuilt, there would be nothing on the site after two

years to show that men had ever lived there.

It would certainly be interesting to learn why many of the temples have

doors, passages, and even rooms that a man of average stature cannot

stand erect in.

MIXTURE OF RACES IN CENTRAL AMERICA.

To show how difficult the study of race peculiarities must be in a

country where there is so much amalgamation, I give a list of the names

of some of the crosses:—

Crosses. Male. Female.

Mestizo (Ladino) Spaniard. Indian woman.

Castiso Spaniard. Mestiza.

Españolo Castiso. Spanish woman.

Mulato Negro. Spanish woman.

Morisco Spaniard. Mulata.

Albino Morisco. Spanish woman.

Tornatras Albino. Spanish woman.

Tente en el aire Tornatras. Spanish woman.

Lobo (wolf) Negro. Indian woman.

Caribujo Lobo. Indian woman.

Barsino Coyote (Indigene). Mulata.

Grifo Lobo. Negress.

Albarazado Coyote. Indian woman.

Chaniso Indio. Mestiza.

Mechino Coyote. Loba.

GUATEMALTECAN COOKERY.

I do not speak of the tables of the upper classes, where variety is

found in Guatemala as well as elsewhere; but of the common cookery

that a stranger finds in travelling, it may truly be said that it has

not a national character, nor does justice to the abundant material at

hand. What there is of it is, however, good; a fresh tortilla is better

than the cakes of the Northern backwoods, and the wheaten bread made

by the _panadero_ of the village is exceedingly palatable. Frijoles,

or beans, the most popular general dish, are always stewed over an

open fire, and are much better than the baked beans of New England.

Eggs are always present, either fried, poached, or baked in the shell

(_huevos tibios_); when fried, always seasoned with tomato, chillis,

and vinegar. _Salchichas_, or sausages, fried in lard, with plenty of

garlic; _gigote_, or hashed meat; _higate_, a potage made of figs, pork,

fowl, sugar, ginger, cinnamon and allspice, bread, soup, and innumerable

ollas,—are present as solid dishes, the meats generally being of poor

quality. Besides the vegetables of Northern gardens, there are _chiotes_,

palm-cabbage, and, best of all, plantain. For _verduras_, or greens,

there are many plants,—none, however, better than spinach or dandelions;

and the _ensaladas_ are not remarkable. In the shore region one can

have most delicious turtle-steak, white and tender as veal, iguanas

fricasseed,—perhaps the best native dish,—javia-steaks, armadillo (which

I am sorry to say I have not eaten), and fish of many kinds and flavors.

I have spoken of the bad coffees served as “esencia,” but have not said

enough about the chocolate, which I never found carelessly prepared.

Perhaps the best is prepared entirely at home; that is, the beans of

cacao are carefully roasted, as coffee might be, and the shells removed

by rubbing in the hands. The metatle then serves to crush the oily mass,

as corn is prepared in tortilla-making; sugar is added, and enough

cinnamon or vanilla to flavor the crushed cacao, which becomes pasty by

grinding, and may be run into moulds, or simply dropped on some cool

surface to harden. These chocolate-drops are dissolved in boiling milk as

wanted, and the whole churned to a froth. Prepared in this way, chocolate

is much better than the cake chocolate of the manufacturers. An ancient

recipe was much more complicated than this, and although I have never

tried it myself, I venture to give it to my readers. It is this: “One

hundred cacaos,—treating them as has been described,—two pods of chilli,

a handful of anis and orjevala, two of mesachasil or vanilla (this may be

replaced by six roses of Alexandria, powdered), two drams of cinnamon,

a dozen each of almonds and filberts, half a pound of white sugar, and

arnotto to color it.” This mixture must of course be whipped to a froth.

Perhaps the people of Guatemala are as cleanly as others; but according

to our observation the common practice was to allow the dogs to lick the

dishes, which received no additional washing. It was the custom also at

the table d’hôte in the hotels to finish a meal by filling the mouth

with water and spurting it on the tiled floor. Once, when we stopped at

a way-side house to get some coffee, the señora made a little fire out

of doors, put the coffee in a very black pot to boil, and, after fanning

the reluctant fire with her straw hat, threw herself on the ground

near by to rest and smoke her _puro_. When the pot was near to boiling,

she reached out her bare leg and tested the temperature of the contents

with her toe, as a Northern cook might have used his finger. Frank was

scandalized; but, after all, it was merely a matter of taste.

PHOTOGRAPHS USED IN ILLUSTRATION.

In stating that the scenes illustrated in this book are all from

photographs, it may be added that the clearness of the atmosphere enables

a distant view to be taken with great distinctness (unfortunately lost

in the mechanical reproductions) even in minute details. The lens used

for views not requiring extreme rapidity was the Dallmeyer single

landscape,—a lens unsurpassed for its purpose; while for architectural

subjects, or those in motion, a Ross rapid rectilinear was generally

used. The plates were those prepared by Allen & Rowell, of Boston,—as

usual, of the finest quality. For apparatus, the camera was a 5 × 8

size of the American Optical Company’s make, fitted with a changing

box containing eighteen plates, and also with an attachment, arranged

by the author, for making two or three smaller pictures on the 5 × 8

plate. I carried no tent, but changed my plates at night under a blanket,

depending on touch rather than sight. For the stereoscopic pictures, I

used a pair of Euryscope No. 0 lenses. The plates were developed months

afterwards, with a very small percentage of failures. In later journeys

in Guatemala I have used plates of the 8 × 10 size; but for all purposes

of illustration the 4 × 5 size is to be preferred. For packing the plates

I have used a strong barrel and cork-dust with complete success. It is a

matter of deep regret that the method of mechanical reproduction utterly

destroys all the beauty of the original photographs. In cases where

phototypes are presented from ink-drawings, these have generally been

drawn directly from a transparency which I have made from the original

negative and projected in the lantern. The drawings are of large size,

and reduced to one quarter, or even less, in the phototype. This method

insures at least accuracy of outline.

MONEY IN GUATEMALA.

Persons interested in silver coinage might have a good field for

collection here; and one of the Government collectors, who had a fancy

for numismatics, showed me a curious lot he had received in payment of

taxes. Maximilian coins from Mexico were the rarest; but every country of

Central and South America was well represented. Among current coins the

dollar of Peru and Chili (_sols_) are most common; and the smaller change

is mainly in Guatemalan and Hondureñan currency. The dollar (_peso_,

piece of eight) contains eight reals, and the real two medios, or four

cuartillos. This last is the smallest coin used, although the cent

(_centavo_) has been coined. A real is twelve and a half cents, a medio

six and a quarter, and a cuartillo three and an eighth; but in the text

I have spoken of these coins as valued in gold, or, approximately, ten,

five, and three cents.

CERTAIN HEIGHTS DETERMINED BY THE FRENCH EXPEDITION.

Tactic 4,725

Coban 4,356

San Cristobal 4,643

San Miguel Uspantán 6,040

Cunen 5,942

Sacapulas 3,826

Santa Cruz del Quiché 6,621

Quezaltenango 7,697

Totonicapan 8,150

Sololà 7,041

Guatemala City 5,013

Antigua 5,072

Ciudad Vieja 5,151

Escuintla 1,450

Amatitlan 3,901

Palin 3,753

Cuajinicuilapa 2,848

Cerro Redondo 3,542

Los Esclavos 2,394

Agua Blanca 2,658

Suchitan 4,108

Santa Catarina (Rio) 2,251

Santa Catarina (Pueblo) 2,324

Esquipulas 2,986

Paso del Rodeo 2,744

Los Horcones 3,637

Piedra de Amolar 2,340

Copan 1,830

Vado Hondo 1,237

Chiquimula 1,244

Zacapa 449

Pacaya 8,366

Volcan de Agua (summit) 12,313

” ” (S. Maria) 6,828

” ” (crater bot.) 12,087

Volcan de Fuego 13,127

” ” (La Meseta) 12,001

Acatenango 13,616

Volcan de Atitlan 11,723

Cerro Quemado 10,201

Santa Maria 11,483

Lago de Atitlan 5,112

Lago de Amatitlan 3,895

Lago de San Cristobal 4,643

I find it impossible to reconcile some of these measurements of the

French Expedition with my own or those of other observers; but usually

the difference is not greater than might be expected from observations

with the aneroid barometer.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

Land is usually bought and sold by _caballerias_ (33.33 acres),

_hectareas_ (2.47 acres), _manzanas_ (a square of one hundred yards),

or _varas_ (2.78 feet). The most common weights are the _quintal_ (a

hundredweight) and the _arroba_ (25 pounds of 16 ounces each). Among

the Indios other weights and measures are used, but I could find no

trustworthy information about them. They also retain the old cacao

currency to some extent, and I have been offered cacao-beans for small

change, as the cuartillo is not common away from the large cities.

400 cacao beans = contle.

8,000 ” ” = jiquipil = 20 contles.

24,000 ” ” = carga = 3 jiquipiles.

A LIST OF PLANTS OBSERVED IN GUATEMALA.

I am indebted to my friend Professor Sereno Watson, of Harvard, for the

identification of species, which to the number of sixty he has already

determined from some five hundred that he collected in the Departments of

Livingston and Izabal. I did not myself make any collection, but noted

the genera that were familiar to me as I travelled through the country.

So little has been published about the Guatemaltecan Flora that I have

ventured to add these notes to Professor Watson’s list.

Clematis americana, Will. Near Izabal.

dioica, L. Panajachel.

caripensis, HBK. Sacapulas, Jutiapa.

polycephala, Bert. V. de Agua.

sericea, HBK. San José.

Davilla rugosa, Poir. Banks of Rio Dulce, Rio Chocon.

lucida, Presl? Chocon.

Doliocarpus pubens, Mart. Livingston.

Curatella americana, L. Dry hills near Quirigua.

Tetracera n. sp. Rio Chocon.

Guatteria Jurgensenii, Hemsl. Shores of Lago de Izabal, Chocon.

n. sp.

Anona squamosa, L. Livingston, muricata, L. Cunen, Uspantán.

Anona Cherimolia, Mill. Common.

palustris, L. Sea-shore near Livingston.

Xylopia frutescens, Aubl., var. glabra. Shores of Lago de Izabal.

Cissampelus Pareira, L. Izabal, Rio Dulce.

tropæolifolia, DC.? Izabal.

Nymphaea ampla, DC. Rio Polochic, mouth of Rio Chocon.

Argemone mexicana, L.

Draba vulcanica, Benth. V. de Agua.

Cleome polygama, L. San Felipe.

Moringa pterygosperma, Gaertu. Zacapa, Chiquimula.

Bixa Orellana, L.

Xylosma nitida, A. G.

Alsodeia guatemalensis, Watson. Rio Chocon.

Oncoba laurina, Oliver. Izabal, Rio Chocon.

Casearia Brighami, Watson. Chocon.

Polygala asperuloides, HBK. Izabal.

Jatropha Curcas, L.

Janipha Manihot, HBK.

Croton. (Several sp. on coast, not determined.)

Euphorbia Poinsettii. Uplands.

Hura crepitans, L. Sacapulas, Zacapa.

Two euphorbiaceous trees in eastern highlands.

Drymaria cordata, Willd. Lago de Izabal.

Quercus (2 sp.). Cunen to Quiché.

Portulaca oleracea, L. Livingston, Chocon.

Phytolacca icosandra, L. Antigua, Santa Cruz del Quiché.

Amaranthus paniculatus, L. Cunen, Jutiapa.

Sida rhombifolia, L. Chocon.

Abutilon. (Trees at La Tinta. Several allied sp. banks of Rio Chocon.)

Hibiscus Abelmoschus, L. Izabal.

Gossypium barbadense, L. Livingston.

Hampea (?) stipitata, Watson. Large tree, Chocon.

Paritium tiliaceum, A. Juss. Shore near Santo Tomas.

Pavonia racemosa, Swartz. Rio Dulce.

Eriodendron ceiba. Sacapulas, Chocon, Quirigua.

Bernoullia flammea, Oliv. Istapa.

Cheirostemon platanoides, Hum. & Bon. V. de Fuego, Encuentros.

Helicteres guazumæfolia, HBK. Cerro del Mico.

Pachira macrocarpa. Rio Chocon, Motagua.

insignis, Sav. Red petals at Omoa.

sp. Chocon.

Theobroma cacao, L. Chocon, Quirigua, Pansos.

Guazuma tomentosa, HBK. Chocon.

Gouania tomentosa, Jacq.

Gomphia (Ouratea) guatemalensis, Engler. Chocon.

Vitis sicyoides, var. ovata, Baker. Lago de Izabal.

lanceolata, Watson. Rio Dulce, Rio Chocon.

vulpina, L. var. Izabalana, Watson. Izabal.

Clusia guatemalensis, Hemsl. V. de Fuego.

Large tree, Chocon.

Low, wide-spreading tree, Izabal.

Matapalo tree.

Symphonia globulifera, L. “Hog-gum.” Large tree, Chocon.

Calophyllum Calaba, Jacq. Livingston.

Maregraavia rectiflora, Triana & Planch.

var. Goudoutiana. Chocon.

Ruyschia Souroubea, W. Livingston.

Sauraujia oreophila, Hemsl. V. de Fuego.

pauciserrata, Hemsl. V. de Fuego.

Sauvagesia erecta, L. Cerro del Mico.

tenella, Lam. Barbasco.

Salix (2 sp.). Lago de Izabal, Rio Polochic, Amatitlan.

Erythroxylum sp. Livingston.

Linum guatemalense, Benth. V. de Agua.

Byrsonima crassifolia, HBK. Cult. Izabal.

Bunchosia Lanieri, Watson. Tree, Izabal.

Lindeniana, Juss. Cuilapa.

Stigmaphyllon Lupulus, Watson. Chocon.

Hiræa reclinata, Jacq. Rio Dulce.

sp.? Chocon?

Cardiospermum grandiflorum, Swartz, var. hirsutum, Radl. Izabal.

Halicacabum, L. Rio Chocon.

Serjania mexicana, Willd. Rio Chocon.

Paullinia sorbilis, Mart. Chocon.

velutina, DC. Chocon.

guatemalensis, Turcz.

Melia Azederach, L. Escuintla, Izabal, naturalized.

Guarea bijuga, C. DC.? Chocon.

Swietenia Mahogani, L. Chocon, Quirigua.

Cedrela odorata, L. Chocon.

Citrus medica, var. Limonum. Naturalized.

Oxalis dendroides, HBK. Cerro del Mico, 1500 ft.

Tribulus cistoides, L. Shores.

Guaiacum officinale, L.

guatemalense, Herb. Kew, Zacapa.

Quassia amara, L. Shores of Lago de Izabal.

Picræna excelsa, Lindl.? Chocon.

Alvaradoa amorphoides, Liebm. (?) Chocon.

Hippocratea ovata, Lam. Rio Dulce.

Wimmeria discolor, Schlecht. Rio Dulce.

Zizyphus guatemalensis, Hemsl.

Ficus (3 + sp.). Chocon.

Cecropia palmata, W. Rio Chocon.

Dorstenia contrayerva, L. Chixoy Valley.

Castilloa elastica, Cervant.

Maclura aurantiaca, Nutt.

Peperomia (2 sp.). On trees, Chocon.

Bursera gummifera, L.? Chocon.

Spondias lutea, L. Chocon.

purpurea, L. “Jocote.”

sp.? “Maho.” Chocon.

Rourea glabra, HBK. Lago de Izabal.

Connarus Pottsii, Watson. Shores at Izabal.

Mangifera indica, L. Naturalized.

Anacardium occidentale, L. Cayo Paloma, Pacific coast.

Quercus (2 sp.). Uplands above Cunen.

Indigofera anil, L.

Tephrosia toxicaria, Pers.

Sesbania exasperata, HBK.

Desmodium. 2 sp. at Chocon, another at El Mico.

Mucuna puriens, DC. Vado Hondo.

Erythrina velutina, W. Livingston.

Myroxylon Pereirac, Klotzs. Escuintla.

toluiferum, HBK. S. Coast.

Poinciana pulcherrima, L. Antigua.

Hæmatoxylon campechianum, L. Usumacinta Valley.

Guilandina bonduc, L. Shores.

Cæsalpinia (2 sp.). Chocon and Pacific.

Dalbergia calycina, Benth. Chocon.

Cassia fistula, L.

2 sp. common at Livingston, another at Antigua.

Tamarindus indica, L.

Hymenæa courbaril, L. Rio Chocon, Rio Polochic.

Bauhinia (2 sp.). Chocon, Quirigua.

Entada scandens, Benth. Chocon.

Prosopis juliflora, DC. Dry uplands.

Mimosa pudica, L.

casta, L. Livingston.

guatemalensis, Benth.

Acacia Farnesiana, W. Jutiapa, Cuilapa.

spadicigera, Schlecht.

arabica, W. Jutiapa. (4 + others.)

Calliandra saman, Gr. Santo Tomas.

Pithecolobium sp. Vado Hondo.

Inga vera, W. Rio Chocon, Rio Polochic.

Schizolobium sp. “Wild tamarind.” Rio Dulce, Rio Chocon.

Chrysobalanus Icaco, L. Shores.

Hirtella americana, Aublet. Chocon.

Rubus sp. Alta Verapaz.

Jambosa vulgaris, DC. Rio Dulce.

Psidium guava, Radd. Pansos, San Felipe.

sp. Quirigua, Rio Polochic.

Jussiæa repens, L. Rio Polochic.

Rhizophora Mangle, L. Rio Dulce, Santo Tomas.

Cacoucia coccinea, Aublet. Rio Chocon, common.

Terminalia Catappa, L. Naturalized, San Pedro Sula.

Persea gratissima, G. Naturalized.

Orcodaphne sp. Cunen.

Sechium edule, Sw. West coast, Cerro Redondo.

Cucumis Anguria, L. Punta Gorda.

Luffa acutangula, Roxb. West coast.

Lagenaria vulgaris, Sw.

Cyclanthera explodens, Naud. V. de Fuego.

Microsechium guatemalense, Hemsl. Trujillo, Palin.

Fevillea, sp.

Carica Papaya, L.

sp. with small, unedible fruit. Valleys of Volcan de Fuego.

Passiflora Brighami, Watson. Livingston, Rio Chocon.

edulis, Sims.

guatemalensis Watson. Chocon.

choconiana, Watson,

lunata, Willd.

coriacea, Juss.

quadrangularis, L. Antigua.

3 sp. Rio Chocon, 1 El Mico, small plant with veined leaves, Chocon.

Turnera sp. San Pedro.

Aristolochia, sp. with immense blossoms. Roatan.

Cereus (2 sp.). Jutiapa, Zacapa, Chixoy.

Opuntia coccinellifera, Mill. Antigua, Amatitlan.

Begonia scandens, Sw. Chocon.

2 sp. Chocon, 1 at Uspantán.

Ximenia americana, L. Livingston.

Loranthaceae. 3 sp. observed. Chocon, Zacapa.

Sambucus sp. Encuentros, Sololà.

Rondeletia cordata, Benth. Guatemala City.

gracilis, Hemsl. Coban.

Psychotria sp. Rio Chocon.

Bouvardia sp. Cunen.

leiantha, Benth. Chimaltenango.

Exostemma sp. Livingston.

Ageratum conyzoides, L. Common.

Stevia sp. Quiché, Cunen.

Mikania guaca. Chocon.

Wedelia phyllocephala, Kemel. Chixoy Valley.

Verbesina gigantea, Jacq. Zacapa.

Dahlia sp. Quiché, Quezaltenango.

Tagetes micrantha, Cav. V. de Fuego.

sp. 2. San Cristobal, Patzùn.

Lobelia fulgens, Willd. Uplands.

calcarata, Bertol. V. Santa Maria.

cordifolia, H&A. Coban.

Lobeliaceæ (3 sp.).

Chrysophyllum Cainito, L.

Sapota Achras, Mill.

Lucuma mammosa, G.

multiflora, A. DC. (?) Chocon.

Jasminum officinale, L. Naturalized.

Allamanda cathartica, L. Rio Chocon, Rio Polochic.

Vinca rosea, L.

Plumeria rubra L. (?) Several members of this family on Rio Chocon.

Asclepias curassavica, L. Livingston, Uspantán, Antigua.

Limnanthemum Humboldtianum, Gr. Lagoons, Rio Chocon.

Datura (Brugmansia) suaveolens, Humb., Bonpl. Izabal.

Physalis peruviana, L.

Capsicum frutescens, L.

annuum, L.

Crescentia Cujete, L. Jutiapa and dry uplands generally.

Jacaranda sp. Fine tree, Chocon.

Bignoniaceae. 3 sp. Chocon forests, 1 sp. Antigua.

Achimenes coccinea, Pers. Chixoy Valley.

Martynia sp. Chixoy Valley.

Jacobinia aurea, Hemsl. Chocon, Quirigua.

Ipomœa bona-nox, L.

Batatas, Lam.

Quamoclit, L.

Calonyction sp. Eight other convolvulaceæ noticed.

Cuscuta sp. Zacapa.

Cordia Sebestina, Jacq. Escuintla.

Heliotropium curassavicum, L. San José.

Salvia coccinea, L. Santa Cruz del Quiché. 3 other sp.

Lantana sp. Esquipulas.

Avicennia nitida, Jacq. Golfete.

Pinus cubensis, Griseb.

macrophylla, Parlat.

Ayacahuite, Erenb.

filifolia, Lindl.

Abies sp.

Monstera (2 sp.). Livingston, Chocon.

Aroids of many sp. and several genera.

Wolfia punctata, Gr. Rio Chocon.

Typha sp.

Euterpe oleracea, Mart.

edulis.

Oreodoxa oleracea.

Manicaria Plukenetii, Gr. and Wendl.

Livingston.

Desmoncus sp.

Acrocomia vinifera, Oersted. Izabal, Chixoy Valley.

Acrocomia sclerocarpa.

Cocos nucifera, L.

Attalea cohune, Mart.

Bactris balanoidea, Wendl. Izabal.

cohune, Watson. Chocon.

Twenty-five sp. palms were collected at Chocon, but have not been

determined yet.

Commelyna cayennensis, Rich. San Felipe, 2 sp. Cunen.

Pontederia sp. pink flowers. Livingston.

Bambusa (2 sp.). Motagua, Chocon.

Zea Mays, L.

Agave americana, L.

ixtli, Karw.

Fourcroya gigantea, Vent.

Pancratium caribæum, L. (?) Cayo Grande, Rio Polochic.

Crinum sp. Rio Dulce.

Smilax officinalis. Chocon.

Ananassa sativa, Lindl. Izabal, Chixoy Valley.

Bromelia Pinguin, L. Jutiapa.

Karatas, Lemair. Jutiapa.

Pita.

Tillandsia (2 sp.).

Bromeliaceæ (several sp.). Rio Dulce.

Heliconia Bihai, L. Pansos, Quirigua.

sp. Quirigua, Rio Dulce.

Renealmia sp.

Zinziber sp.

Maranta (2 sp.).

Vanilla planifolia, Andr. Chocon.

Epidendrum bicornutum, Hook.

Schomburgkia tubicina, Lindl.

Oncidium citrinum, Lindl. Los Amates.

iridifolium. HBK.

Notylia guatemalensis, Watson.

Ornithocephalus Pottsiæ, Watson.

Bletia Pottsii, Watson.

Salvinia auriculata, Aubl.

The number of Orchidaceæ in Guatemala is very large.

A LIST OF WORKS RELATING TO CENTRAL AMERICA.

A full bibliography of works that contain information about the region

through which we have been travelling together would fill a volume much

larger than the present; but the following brief list of some of the more

important titles may aid those who are interested in the past history or

the future prospects of the tropical part of this continent. I have not

thought it worth while to mention those unprinted works not at present

accessible to the public, nor the ephemeral publications of simple

tourists:—

ACOSTA, Fr. JOSÉ DE. Historia natural y moral de las Indias. Sevilla,

1590.

ADAM, LUCIEN. Études sur six Langues Américaines, Paris, 1878.

⸺ Du parler des Hommes et du parler des Femmes. Paris, 1879.

ALCEDO, ANTONIO DE. Diccionario geografico-histórico de las Indias

occidentales ó América; es á saber; de los reynos del Peru, Nueva España,

Tierra Firme, Chile y Nuevo Reyno de Granada. Madrid, 1786-89. 5 vols. An

English Translation, with Additions, by G. A. Thompson, was published in

London, 1812-15. 5 vols.

ANCONA, ELIGIO. Historia de Yucatan. Merida, 1878.

ANDAGOYA, PASCUAL DE, Narrative of. Translated by C. R. Markham. Hakluyt

Soc. London, 1865.

ASTABURUAGA, FRANCISCO S. Repúblicas de Centre-América o Idea de su

Historia i de su Estado actual. Santiago, Chili, 1837.

BAILY, JOHN. Central America; describing each of the States of Guatemala,

Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. London, 1850.

BALDWIN, JOHN D. Ancient America, in notes on American Archæology. New

York, 1872.

BANCROFT, HUBERT H. Native Races of the Pacific States of North America.

San Francisco, 1875 _et seq._

BARCIA, ANDRES GONZALES. Historiadores primitivos de las Indias

occidentales, que juntó, traduxo en parte y sacó á luz, ilustrados con

eruditas notas y copiosos índices el Señor Don Andres Gonzales Barcia,

del Consejo y Camera de Su Majestad. Madrid, año 1749.

BARD, S. A. Waikna: Adventures on the Mosquito Shore. London, 1855. 12mo.

BASTIAN, A. Die Culturlander des Alten Amerika. Berlin, 1878. 2 vols.

⸺ Steinsculpturen aus Guatemala. Berlin, 1882.

BATEMAN, JAMES. Orchidaceæ of Mexico and Guatemala. London, 1843. fol.

BATES, H. W. Central and South America. London, 1878.

BELAEZ, GARCIA. Memorias para la historia del antiguo reino de Guatemala.

Guatemala, 1851. 2 vols.

BELLY, FELIX. À travers l’Amérique Centrale; le Nicaragua et le Canal

Interocéanique. Paris, 1867.

BELT, THOMAS. The Naturalist in Nicaragua: a Narrative of a residence

at the Gold Mines of Chontales; Journeys in the Savannahs and Forests.

London, 1874.

BELTRAN DE SANTA ROSA, Fr. PEDRO. Arte del Idioma Maya reducido a

succintas reglas, y semilexicon Yucateco. Mexico, 1746; also Merida, 1859.

BENZONI, GIROLAMO. History of the new World. Travels 1541-1556. Venice,

1572. (First ed. 1565.) English Translation, Hakluyt Society, London,

1857.

BERENDT, Dr. C. H. Analytical Alphabet for the Mexican and Central

American Languages. New York, 1869. American Ethnological Society.

⸺ Remarks on the Centres of Ancient Civilization in Central America, and

their Geographical Distribution. New York, 1876. Bulletin of the American

Geographical Society.

BIOLOGIA-CENTRALI-AMERICANA; or, Contributions to the Knowledge of the

Fauna and Flora of Mexico and Central America. London, 1879.

BODHAM-WETHAM, J. W. Across Central America. London, 1877.

BONNYCASTLE, R. H. Spanish America; or, a Descriptive, Historical, and

Geographical Account of the Dominions of Spain in the Western Hemisphere,

Continental and Insular. London, 1818. 2 vols.

BOTURINI, BENADUCCI. Idea de una Nueva Historia General de la América

Septentrional. Madrid, 1746.

BOYLE, FREDERICK. Wanderings in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. London, 1868.

BRADFORD, ALEXANDER W. American Antiquities and the Red Race. New York,

1841.

BRASSEUR DE BOURBOURG. Histoire des Nations civilisées du Mexique et de

l’Amérique Centrale durant les siècles antérieurs a Christophe Colomb,

écrite sur les documents originaux et entièrement inédits, puisés aux

anciennes archives des Indigènes. Paris, 1859. 4 vols.

⸺ Popul Vuh. Le Livre sacré et les Mythes de l’Antiquité Américaine, avec

les Livres héroïques et historiques des Quichés. Ouvrage original des

Indigènes de Guatemala, texte Quiché et traduction française en regard.

Paris, 1861.

⸺ Bibliotheque Mexico-Guatemalienne, précédé d’un coup d’œil sur les

études Américaines. Paris, 1871.

⸺ Grammaire de la langue Quichée; espagnole-française mise en parallel

avec ses deux dialectes Cachiquel et Tzutuhil, etc. Paris, 1862.

⸺ Recherches sur les ruines de Palenque et sur les origines de la

civilisation du Mexique. Paris, 1866.

⸺ Voyage sur l’Isthme de Tehuantepec dans l’état de Chiapas et la

république de Guatemala (1859-1860). Paris, 1861.

BRETON, RAYMOND. Dictionnaire caraibe-français. Auxerre, 1665.

BRINTON, Dr. DANIEL G. American Hero Myths.

⸺ The Names of the Gods in the Kiche Myths of Central America.

Philadelphia, 1881. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society,

vol. xix.

⸺ The Maya Chronicles. Philadelphia, 1882.

BÜLOW, A. VON. Dcr Freistaat Nicaragua in Mittel-Amerika, und seine

Wichtigkeit für den Welthandel, etc. Berlin, 1849.

⸺ Der Freistaat Costa Rica in Mittel-Amerika, etc. Berlin, 1850.

BYAM, GEORGE. Wild Life in the Interior of Central America. London, 1849.

CABRERA, P. F. Description of an Ancient City discovered near Palenque in

Guatemala. Translated from the Report of Antonio del Rio. Followed by a

History of the Americans. 1822.

CARILLO, Canon CRESCENTIO. Manual de Historia y Geografía de la Peninsula

de Yucatan. Merida.

CASAS, BARTOLOMEO DE LAS. Narratio regionum indicarum per Hispanos

quosdam devastatarum. Francofort, 1598. De Bry.

⸺ An | Account | Of the First | Voyages and discoveries | Made by the

Spaniards in America | Containing | The most Exact Relation hitherto

pub | lished of their unparallel’d Cruelties | on the Indians, in the

destruction of a | bove Forty Millions of People. | With the Propositions

offer’d to the King of Spain, | to prevent the further Ruin of the West

Indies. | By Don Bartholomew de las Casas, Bishop of Chiapa, | who was

an Eye | -witness of their Cruelties. London, 1699.

CASAS, BARTOLOMEO DE LAS. Historia apologetica de las Indias 5 vols.

folio in manuscript, at Madrid. (A copy is in the Force. Library at

Washington.)

⸺ Historia de las Indias, ahora por primera vez dada á luz por el Marqués

de la Fuensanta del Valle y D. J. S. Rayon. Madrid, 1875-76. 5 vols.

CATHERWOOD, FREDERICK. Views of Ancient Monuments in Central America,

Chiapas, and Yucatan. London, 1844. Folio. See also Stephens.

CHARENCY, HENRI DE. Le Mithe de Votan. Paris, 1871.

CHARNAY, DÉSIRÉ. Cités et Ruines Américaines, Mitla, Palenqué, Izamal,

Chichen-Itza, Uxmal, recueillies et photographiées. Texte par Viollet le

Due. Paris, 1863. 49 folio plates.

⸺ Les Anciennes Villes du Nouveau Monde. Voyages d’Explorations au

Mexique et dans l’Amérique centrale, 1857-1882. Paris, 1885.

CLAVIGERO, FRANCISCO YAVIER. Storia antica del Messico, Cesena, 1780. 4

vols.

⸺ History of Mexico from Spanish and Mexican Historians, MSS., Paintings,

etc. Translated, with Dissertations, by Cullen. London, 1807. 2 vols.

⸺ Historia Antigua de Megico traducida por Don J. G. Mara. London, 1826.

2 vols. Maps and curious plates.

COCKBURN, JOHN. A Journey over Land from the Gulf of Honduras to the

Great South Sea. Performed by J. C. and Five Other Englishmen. London,

1735.

COGOLLUDO, DIEGO LOPEZ. Los tres Siglos de la dominacion Española en

Yucatan, ó sea Historia de esta provincia desde la conquista hasta la

independencia. 2 vols. 8vo. hf. bd. Campeche, 1842; Merida, 1845.

CORTEZ, HERNAN, Cartas y relaciones de, al Emperador Carlos V. Colegidas

é ilustradas por Don Pascual de Gayangos. Paris, 1866.

DAVIS, W. W. H. The Spanish Conquest of New Mexico. Doyleston, Pa., 1869.

DE LA BORDE. Relation de l’origine des Caraibes. Paris, 1674.

DIAZ DEL CASTILLO, BERNAL. Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva

España. Madrid, 1632. Another edition, 1795-6, Madrid, in 4 vols. English

editions: True History of the Conquest of Mexico. Translated by Keatinge.

London, 1800. Memoirs containing an account of the Conquest of Mexico.

Translated by J. G. Lockhart. London, 1844. 2 vols.

DONDE, JUAN, Y JOAQUIN. Apuntes sobre las plantas de Yucatan. Merida,

1874.

DUNLOP, R. G. Travels in Central America. London, 1847.

DUNN, HENRY. Guatimala, or the Republic of Central America in 1827-8;

being Sketches and Memorandums made during a Twelve-month’s Residence.

London, 1829. 8vo. pp. 328.

DUPAIX, Capt. Antiquités Mexicaines; contenant les diverses expéditions

du capitaine Dupaix entreprises au Mexique, aux ruines de Palenque.

Paris, 1834. See Kingsborough.

DURAN, Fr. DIEGO. Historia de las Indias de la Nueva España y Islas de

Tierra Firme. Mexico, 1867.

FABREGAT. Esposizione del Codice Borgia.

FANCOURT, C. ST. J. History of Yucatan to the close of the Seventeenth

Century. London, 1854.

FERNANDEZ, MANUEL. Bosquejo Físico, Político é Histórico de la República

del Salvador. San Salvador, 1869. pp. 166.

FLORES, Fr. ILDEFONSO JOSÉ. Arte de la Lengua Metropolitana del Regno

Cakchiquel ó Guatemalteco. Guatemala, 1753.

FOLEDO. Geografía de Centro-América. Guatemala, 1874.

FRANTZIUS, Dr. A. VON. Die Costa Rica Eisenbahn. In “Das Ausland,” 1868,

No. 6.

⸺ Der südöstliche Theil der Republik Costa Rica. 1869. In “Petermann’s

Mittheilungen.”

⸺ Klimatischen Verhältnisse Central Americas. Berlin, 1869. In

“Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde.”

Dr. Frantzius has also translated from Palacio the “San Salvador and

Honduras in 1576” (1873).

FUENTES Y GUZMAN. Historia de Guatemala ó recopilacion florida. 1609. New

edition. Madrid, 1882.

GABB, WILLIAM M. Notes on the Geology of Costa Rica. In American Journal

of Science and Art, November, 1874, and March, 1875.

GAGE, Fr. THOMAS. New Survey of the West Indies. 2d edit. London, 1655,

folio; 3d edit. 1677, 12mo; 4th edit. 1699, 8vo.

GALLATIN, ALBERT. Notes on the Semi-Civilized Nations of Mexico. Trans.

of the Amer. Ethnological Soc., vol. i. New York.

GARCIA, GREGORIO. Origen de los Indios del nuevo mundo. Valencia, 1607;

also Madrid. 1729.

GARCIA Y GARCIA, APOLINAR. Historia de la Guerra de Castas en Yucatan.

Merida, 1865. Not completed.

GOMARA, FRANCISCO LOPEZ DE. Historia general de las Indias. Anvers, 1554.

⸺ Pleasant Historie of the Conquest of the West Indies, now called New

Spayne, atcheived by the worthy Prince Hernando Cortez, Marquis of the

Valley of Huaxacac, most delectable to read. Translated by T. Nicholas

anno 1578. Black letter.

GONZALES, DARÍO. Compendio de Geografía de Centro-América. Guatemala,

1881.

GRANADOS Y GALVEZ, JOSÉ JOAQUIN. Tardes Americanos. Mexico, 1778.

GRIMM, W. Die Staaten Central-Americas. Berlin, 1871.

GRISEBACH, A. H. R. Flora of the British West Indian Islands. London,

1864.

GUZMAN. Apuntamientos sobre la geografía física de la república del

Salvador. 1883.

HABEL, Dr. The Sculptures of Santa Lucia Cozumalhuapa. Washington, 1879.

Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge.

HAEFKEN, I. Reize naar Guatemala. Gravenhage, 1828.

HAKLUYT SOCIETY’S PUBLICATIONS. Discovery of America; Cortez’s Expedition

to Honduras, etc. London, 1868.

HASSAUREK, F. Four Years among Spanish-Americans. London, 1868.

HELPS, ARTHUR. The Spanish Conquest in America, and its relation to

the History of Slavery and to the Government of the Colonies. London,

1855-1861. 4 vols.

HENDERSON, G. An Account of the British Settlement of Honduras. Being a

Brief View of its Commercial and Agricultural Resources, Soil, Climate,

Natural History, etc. To which are added Sketches of the Manners and

Customs of the Mosquito Indians. London, 1809. Second edition, 1811.

HERRAN, V. Notice sur les Cinque États du Centre-Amérique. Bordeaux, 1853.

HERRERA, ANTONIO DE. Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos

en las islas y tierra firme de el mar oceano, 1492-1531. Madrid, 1615.

General History of the continent and islands of America called the West

Indies. Translated by J. Stevens. London, 1740. 6 vols. (Only decades

1-3.)

HUMBOLDT, ALEXANDER VON. Vues des Cordilleres, et Monumens des Peuples

Indigènes de l’Amérique. Paris, 1810. 69 Pl. fol.

⸺ Essai politique sur le Royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne. Paris, 1611. 2

vols. 4to, Atlas folio. Another edition, 5 vols. 8 vo.

HUMBOLDT, ALEXANDER VON. Kleinere Schriften. Umrisse von Vulkanen aus den

Cordilleran von Quito und Mexico. Stuttgart, 1853. 8 vols. 4to. Atlas.

IXTLILXOCHTL. Histoire des Chichimeques ou des anciens rois de Tezcuco,

par Fernando d’Alva Ixtlilxochtl. Traduit par H. Ternaux-Compans. Paris,

1840.

JUARROS, DOMINGO. Compendio de la Historia de la Ciudad de Guatemala.

Guatemala, 1808. 2 vols. English translation by Bailly. London, 1823.

KINGSBOROUGH’S Antiquities of Mexico. 9 vols. folio. London, 1830-1848.

LAFERRIÈRE. De Paris à Guatemala. Paris, 1867.

LANDA, DIEGO DE. Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan. Edited by Brasseur de

Bourbourg. Paris, 1864.

LARENAUDIÈRE. Mexique et Guatemala. (L’Univers.) Paris, 1843.

LARRAZABAL. Apuntamientos sobre la Agricultura y Commercio del Reyno de

Guatemala. Republished by the Sociedad Económica. Guatemala, 1860.

LECLERC, CHARLES. Grammaire caraibe, suivie du catéchisme caraibe. Paris,

1877.

⸺ Bibliotheca Americana; Histoire, Géographie, Voyages, Archéologie et

Linguistique des deux Amériques et des îles Philippines. Paris, 1878.

LECLERCQ. Dictionnaire Caraibe-français. See Breton-Raymond. Rennes, 1665.

LEMALE, CARLOS. Guia geográfica descriptiva de los Centros de Poblacion

de la República de Guatemala. Guatemala, 1881.

LEVY, S. Notas geograficas y económicas sobre la República de Nicaragua.

Paris, 1873.

LIZANA. Historia de Nuestra Señora de Izamal.

LONG, R. C. The Ancient Architecture of America. New York, 1849.

LORENZANO, FRANCISCO ANTONIO. Historia de Nueva-España escrita por su

esclarecido conquistador, Hernan Cortez, aumentada con otros documientos

y notas. Mexico, 1770.

MAHOGANY-TREE: Its Botanical Qualities, and how to select and cut in the

Regions of its Growth. 1850.

MARGIL. El Perigrino Septentrional Atlante; delineado en la Vida del P.

F. Antonio Margil, escribela Is. F. de Espinoza. Mexico, 1737.

MARTYR, PETRUS. Petri Martyris ab Anghiera de rebus Oceanicis, et de orbe

novo decades III. Basileae, 1533.

MARURE, A. Apuntamientos para la historia de la revolucion de Centro

América, publicados en San Cristoval de Chiapa, 1829.

MAUDSLAY, A. P. Explorations in Guatemala, and the Examination of the

Newly-Discovered Indian Ruins of Quirigua, Tikal, and the Usumacinta.

London, 1883. Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society.

MECHLIN and WARREN. Report of a Journey from Belize to the city of

Guatemala. Belize, 1872.

MENDIETA, GERONIMO DE. Historia Ecclesiastica Indiana. Publicado por

Joaquin G. Icazbalceta. Mexico, 1870.

MEYE, HEINRICH, und SCHMIDT, JULIUS. Die Steinbildwerke von Copan

und Quirigua. Berlin, 1883. Folio. The Stone Sculptures of Copan and

Quirigua. New York, 1883. (Very incorrect; drawings poor.)

MILLA Y VIDAURRE, JOSÉ. Historia de la América Central desde el

descubrimiento del pais por los Españoles (1502) hasta su independencia

de la España (1821), precidida de una “Noticia Histórica” relativa á las

naciones que habitaban la América Central á la llegada de los Españoles.

Guatemala, 1879. 2 vols. (A very valuable work, extending only to the

year 1686, owing to the death of the author.)

MISSION Scientifique au Mexique et dans l’Amérique Centrale.

(Incomplete.) v. d.

MOKE. Histoire des Peuples Américains. (Cited by Brasseur de Bourbourg.)

MOLINA, ALONSO DE. Vocabulario en lengua Castellana y Mexicana. Mexico,

1571. Folio.

MOLINA, FELIPE. Bosquejo de la República de Costa Rica. Madrid, 1850.

MONTGOMERY, G. W. Narrative of a Journey to Guatemala, etc., in 1838. New

York, 1839.

MORELET, ARTHUR DE. Voyage dans l’Amérique Centrale, l’Île de Cuba et le

Yucatan. Paris, 1870.

⸺ Travels in Central America, including Accounts of some Regions

unexplored since the Conquest. From the French, by Mrs. M. F. Squier.

London, 1871.

MORRIS, D. The Colony of British Honduras, its Resources and Prospects;

with Particular Reference to its Indigenous Plants and Economic

Productions. London, 1883.

⸺ Cacao; How to Grow, and how to Cure it. London, n. d.

MORRIS, D. Liberian Coffee; its History and Cultivation. Kingston,

Jamaica, n. d.

MORTILLET, G. DE. Le Signe de la Croix avant le Christianisme. Paris,

1866.

MOTOLINIA, Fr. TORIBIO DE BENAVENTO. Historia de los Indios de Nueva

España. Coll. Ed. J. C. Icazbalceta. Mexico, 1858.

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NORMAN, B. M. Rambles in Yucatan; including a Visit to the Remarkable

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[Illustration: From an Ancient Manuscript.]

FOOTNOTES

[1] Petermann’s Mittheilungen, 1869.

[2] This business is declining, owing to the inferior cattle produced in

Florida and shipped at a cheaper rate.

[3] Guatemala has been accepted (1886) by both Nicaragua and Costa Rica

as referee in the boundary dispute.

[4] Another year we climbed the rock and found several interesting

plants, but no human remains.

[5] These were vampire bats (_Phyllostoma sp._); and several times

afterwards we saw cattle that had been so severely bitten that the blood

was still dripping from their shoulders the next morning. These little

fellows are about the size of an English sparrow; and yet they do as much

harm as their much larger relatives of South America. They have ventured

into our sleeping-room at Livingston; but would generally awaken us by

brushing our faces with their wings,—perhaps because our feet (the part

they usually attack) were covered.

[6] “These serpentes are lyke unto crocodiles, saving in bigness; they

call them guanas. Unto that day none of owre men durste aduenture to

taste of them, by reason of theyre horrible deformitie and lothsomnes.

Yet the Adelantado being entysed by the pleasantnes of the king’s sister,

Anacaona, determined to taste the serpentes. But when he felte the flesh

thereof to be so delycate to his tongue, he fel to amayne without al

feare. The which thyng his companions perceiuing, were not behynde hym

in greedyness; insomuch that they had now none other talke than of the

sweetnesse of these serpentes, which they affirm to be of more pleasant

taste than eyther our phesantes or partriches.”—_Peter Martyr, decad. i.

book v. (Eden’s English translation)._

[7] The Naturalist in Nicaragua, by Thomas Belt, p. 222.

[8] Should the new product, saccharine, meet with favor, the planting of

cane will follow the fate of indigo; and coal-tar will supply the sweet

things of life as well as the flavors and colors. Coal is “sweetness and

light”!

[9] Its armament was approved by the Royal Seal, Nov. 7, 1658, and an

order of Feb. 26, 1687, provided for its complete repair. The plan is

from a sketch by F. E. Blaisdell.

[10] I may add that soon after our arrival in Coban the Jefe politico

deposed this unworthy comandante, punishing him with various indignities.

[11] Owing to the heavy duty, iron stoves are seldom seen in Guatemala;

but a structure of stone, where that material is at hand, elsewhere of

sticks covered with clay, is reared to the height of about two feet. Its

size depends, of course, on the wants of the household; but large or

small, the form is always the same. Three suitable stones, forming what

would correspond to a pot-hole in an ordinary stove, are embedded in the

clay-top of this house-altar, and the long slim sticks that furnish fuel

serve also as poker, shovel, and tongs. There is no chimney, but the

smoke and steam escape by the many cracks in the walls or by the windows.

On one stone tripod a _comal_ for tortillas, on another an earthen

pitcher of coffee, and on another a stew-pan (_cazuela_) of frijoles, is

the usual kitchen arrangement. Answering its purpose as well as a costly

stove, it may be built for a few reals; and if an oven is needed for

bread, a stone and earthen dome built over such a table-like hearth makes

a capital one, not unlike those so common among the Canadians and in

other half-civilized countries.

[12] In 1882, $1,266,042.43, or about one fifth of the total revenue.

[13] The uses of pottery in Central America are almost universal;

it supplies not only water-cisterns, flour-barrels, ovens, stoves,

wash-tubs, baths, coffee-pots, stew-pans, but dishes, lamps, floors,

roofs, and aqueducts. Some made of white clay is exceedingly light, and

the patterns are often very tasteful. The _tinajas_ (water-jars) and

_cántaras_ are also light, but very strong, while the _cazuelas_, or flat

pans, and the coffee-pots are quite fire proof. I have seen a house-wall

built of pots not unlike a Yankee bean-pot in shape, the mouths opening

into the house being “pigeon-holes” for the human inhabitants; while

those opening out of doors were the nesting-places of pigeons and hens.

The roof-tiles are not in great variety, usually semicylindrical or

conical, and seldom ornamented; floor-tiles are large, square, and not

very thick. The porous water-jars suspended in a current of air keep

their contents refreshingly cool.

[14] Calabashes are of great importance and of universal use as household

utensils. Some varieties are long and slim, and these, split lengthwise,

make ladles; the very spherical ones make boxes, flat ones form bowls and

platters, while those of the shape illustrated become chocolate-cups.

The black color is permanent, although scarcely penetrating the hard

surface; it is made by a bean that I have not been able to identify.

Calabash-cups, although very light, are strong and durable. I have

one, given me by Don Ramón Viada of Trujillo, which is as delicate as

porcelain.

[15] It is well to explain that the framework used for carrying small

articles on the back is called _kataure_ by the Caribs, and _carcaste_

by the Indios of the interior. Ramón carried in his not only all my

photographic apparatus,—the camera and box of plates being carefully

wrapped in water-proof material,—but also our cooking utensils and his

own luggage. After he left us we found so much trouble in hiring suitable

carcastes that we purchased one for a few reals and fitted it up with

pita cords, which served our purpose very conveniently. When a desirable

view presented, a whistle brought the mozo to our side, and from ten to

fifteen minutes only were required to unpack, set up, expose one or two

plates, repack, and remount our animals. It may be interesting to state

that in all this long journey, where plates were carried in this way, not

one was broken, nor was a piece of the apparatus damaged.

[16] There were many similar organs in the old churches,—some, indeed,

removed to the lumber-rooms; but they were so securely fastened together

that I could not get at the internal mechanism without too much

disturbance, and I concluded that the instruments were imported entire.

No modern organs of any size were seen outside of the metropolitan

cathedrals; and yet even a large organ is very easy to transport. One

little instrument that I tried was not in tune, but the pipe-tones

were good. In the old church at Trujillo Frank found a modern French

cabinet-organ of remarkably sweet tones.

[17] In stumbling over this crooked name, it occurs to me that it would

be fair to my readers, who are perhaps less familiar with Indian names,

to state briefly how they are pronounced. _G_ is always guttural; _ch_

is like _tche_; _h_ is strongly aspirate; _j_ is pronounced like _h_;

_x_ is _sh_; _u_ is the French _ou_; _v_ is equivalent to _w_; and the

vowels have the Italian values. Of the Indian names the signification

is not always known, but there are certain terminations common enough

and well understood; as _tepec_, a mountain or high thing, in Alotepec,

Quezaltepec, Coatepeque, Olintepeque, Jilotepeque. Those who are curious

in these matters will find another note in the Appendix.

[18] It is the duty of every person to whose house strangers come to pass

the night to report to headquarters the name, where from and whither

bound, so that we could be tracked all over the republic from the central

telegraph office in Guatemala City,—often very useful.

[19] There is no little confusion in the nomenclature of the sapotes, or

sapodillas. What is usually called sapote in Guatemala does not belong to

the genus _Sapota_, but to an allied genus _Lucuma_, and is known in the

West Indies as the mammee-apple. The true sapote has several seeds; the

mammee only one. An allied genus contains the star-apple (_Chrysophyllum

cainito_). The sapoton, or big sapote, does not even belong to the

_Sapota_ family, but is a _Pachira_.

[20] Sweet peas and geraniums in abundance, carnations, marigolds,

campanula, yarrow, pinks, sweet-williams, chrysanthemums, iris, scabious,

abutilon, poppy, princess’-feathers, fuchsia, linaria, _Lilium candidum_,

peach, evening-primrose, gilliflowers, amaryllis, gladioli, alyssum,

larkspur, brugmansia, mignonette, sunflower, adenanthera, willow,

balsams, dahlia, spider-lily, canna, hollyhock, eucalyptus, ragged-lady,

roses (4), yellow sweet-clover, asparagus, _Hydrangea hortensis_, blue

African lily, lupine, Boston-pink, wool-pink, cypress, sedum, agave,

chelidonium, euphorbia (long-leaved), and broom.

[21] It was here that the Vice-President, Flores, was torn to pieces by

women in the last days of the Confederacy, when the Church was in power.

[22] The cases of these rockets were of bambu, and usually three were

attached to one stick. As they were fired in daylight, and valued

for their effect upon the ear rather than the eye, the proportion of

explosive powder was increased,—each discharge giving three sharp cracks.

[23] These little apples—about the size of crab-apples—are tasteless

uncooked, but make an excellent _dulce_; the señoras know how to use them

for a sweet pickle.

[24] Palin is the market-garden and orchard of the metropolis, and the

fruit is good, but not cultivated with any care; nor is there here or

elsewhere in Guatemala any attempt to procure new and choice varieties of

either fruits or vegetables.

[25] It was in this garden that the attempt was made to kill President

Barrios, on the evening of Sunday, April 13, 1884. He was walking with

General Barrundia, the Minister of War, when a bomb exploded, severely

wounding both; but to allay public excitement the President bravely

walked twice around the garden, and then home. The would-be assassin

was captured, and proved to be a former conspirator whom Barrios had

generously pardoned. The bomb was loaded with poisoned bullets.

[26] One of these stirrups (seen in the figure), given to me by Don

Enrique Toriello, then Jefe at Livingston, now Chargé d’Affaires and

Consul-General of Guatemala at New York, weighs five and a half pounds,

and is seventeen inches long.

[27] See note on Zompopos in the Appendix.

[28] These acacias not only yield gum-arabic, but the pods contain so

much tannin that they are used to make ink.

[29] Another time when Frank was crossing he had to swim for his life,

and nearly lost his animals.

[30] Although on the stone, and in the photograph as well, this head

has the appearance noted in the text, a more careful examination of

the photographic image magnified shows that the upper portion of the

seemingly human face is in truth that of a tigre, while the flowing beard

is the remaining part of a mutilated human face.

[31] Le mithe de Votan. H. de Charencey, Alençon, 1871.

[32] Pronounced Shibalbay.

[33] Discovered by Spaniards in 1750, but no illustrations were published

until 1834.

[34] Meaning dumb, because they could not pronounce certain letters of

the Cakchiquel alphabet.

[35] Topiltzin Acxitl, the Tultec king of Copantl.

[36] This recalls the _Kahili_, or feather standard, the symbol of

authority in the Hawaiian Islands.

[37] The signification of these names, as given by a distinguished

scholar, is as follows: _Hunahpu_, the one master of supernatural power;

_Vuch_, opossum; _Gucumatz_, decorated with feathers; _Xmucane_, female

vigor; _Xpiyacoc_, membrum virile (_xiphil_, and _ococ_, to enter);

_Huracan_, one very great (_hun_, one, and _racan_, great); _Cabracan_,

second great one; _Chirakan_, ostium vaginæ; _Tepeu_, high.

[38] It is probable that at this time they circumcised their sons,

although we have no direct statement to that effect. The Mayas practised

this sanatory measure, which seems to have had no religious significance.

Stone knives were used, and only once.

[39] I have often had the pleasure of conversing with cannibals, and

they always assured me that the hands were the choicest morsel. It will

be noted that, the Central American Indios always boiled their cannibal

food, while the Pacific Islanders as generally roasted it. In one of the

manuscripts preserved in the Vatican Library is a clear picture of this

process, and the kettle seems large enough to receive the body whole.