THE LAND OF TRAVEL AND HISTORY.
Guatemala is a fascinating country for the traveler and visitor.
Antiquarians, deep delvers in the majestic monuments of the long
forgotten past, seek in the myths, the traditions, the temples and the
ruins the riddles of prehistoric civilization. Modern tourists traveling
as they will be able to do within a short time by railway from New York
or San Francisco to the very heart of Guatemala may lose themselves in
admiration of the sublime scenery, the lovely landscapes of valley and
mountain lake and forest (the Indian name for Guatemala means abounding
in trees), volcanic caps, giant outlines, and cloud-clad craters.
Everywhere they will encounter that diversity which is the chief
attraction of natural scenery. They will find also superimposed on the
prehistoric Indian civilization the charm of Spanish architecture,
customs, character and institutions.
Men of the stamp of President Estrada Cabrera who are engaged in the
material upbuilding and the political progress of the country may prefer
to talk of its agriculture and commerce, its opportunities for the
energetic and resourceful people of the northern regions rather than to
discuss its picturesque ruins audits fascinating history. Yet they would
not have these subjects neglected. Hence the traveler and the tourist
always are welcome, and whether they be deeply learned scientific
investigators or mere birds of passage seeking novelty every provision
is made to aid them in their travels.
NATURE'S BOLD HAND.
In the very accurate and complete physiographic description of Guatemala
contained in the report of the Intercontinental Railway Survey the
following description is given of the great chain of volcanic cones and
peaks which add so greatly to the bold picturesqueness of the country.
"The Pacific coast extends generally from the northwest to the
southeast. From the sea the ground rises with a very gentle slope
inland for almost 25 or 30 miles when the country becomes broken by
the lava foothills of the volcanoes which extend from one end of
the country to the other and which stand like a giant wall between
the coast and the interior. Beginning at the Mexican boundary the
line of volcanoes extends nearly parallel to the coast. Back of
this is a plateau limited on the other side by the Continental
Divide and much broken by spurs which unite the volcanoes with the
Divide and the deep valleys between the spurs. The plateau is
drained by rivers which run to the sea through the deep canyons
between the volcanoes. The Continental Divide begins with the
volcano Tacana and making a semicircular bend to the north and east
rises again in the volcano Tajumulco. From this point its general
direction is easterly as far as the Cerro Tecpam. Tacana and
Tajumulco are the highest points on this are being respectively
13,334 and 13,814 feet above sea level. From Tajumulco to near
Totonicapam the general altitude of the Divide is about 9,000 feet,
the most prominent peaks being the Cerro Cerchil 11,830 feet, and
the Cerro Calel 10,813 feet. From Totonicapam to Cerro Tecpam the
general elevation of the Divide is about 10,500 feet with one peak,
the Cerro Quiche of 11,160 feet. From Cerro Tecpam 10,050 feet, the
Divide turns to the southeast and drops to a general elevation of
about 7,000 feet, crossing the plateau and rising again in the
Cerro Santa Maria Cauque. Following the hills of Mexico, it crosses
the plain near Guatemala City, the suburb of Guarda Viejo, 5,060
feet, being on the Divide."
The heights of other principal volcanoes are given opposite:
Acatenango 13,012
Fuego 12,821
Agua 12,300
Atitlan 11,849
Santa Maria 10,535
Quezaltenango 9,358
Pacaya 7,675
Ipala 6,801
Chingo 6,019
VARIETY IN GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE.
In the geological structure of the country unusual variety of character
is shown. The quarternary formation, aluvium and diluvium, covers the
greater portion of the Pacific coast from the foot of the mountains to
the sea. The same formation is also observed in the neighborhood of
Guatemala City, the valley of the Passion River, Puerto Barrios and
various other localities on the Atlantic Slope.
The tertiary formation and particularly limestone covers the entire
Department of Peten. Furthermore, limestones and dolomites of the upper
cretaceous age are noted from La Libertad toward the Usumacinta River
and toward British Honduras. In the localities of San Luis and Santa
Barbara there are tertiary limestones and sandstones of Eocene and
miocene ages.
The limestones and dolomites of the upper cretaceous age are also found
in various localities mixed with tertiary limestone and sandstone as
well as conglomerates, dolomites, and limestones of the lower cretaceous
age. In other sections they are mixed with limestones and dolomites of
the upper carboniferous age mingled with slate, sandstone and pudding
stone. The latter formation is found in other sections with
precarboniferous limestone and also with crystalline limestone of the
azoic age.
The tertiary formation is followed by an azoic formation of gneiss, mica
slate, and phylada with large intrusions of granite. A kind of
horn-blend slate has been observed in some parts of Izabal.
[Illustration: LANDSCAPE OF GUASTOTOYA RIVER.]
The eruptive formations are composed of porphyry in the north and
northwest; of diorite, obsidian, rhyolite, and dacite and of trachyte,
together with basalt, rhyolite, obsidian and granite in other sections.
The eruptive formations are further composed of basalt in Pacaya and
several other volcanoes; and mostly of ambesite in the rest of the
Cordilleras and the highlands.
For the present-day traveler who is interested in earthquakes and their
effects and in the ruins of Spanish architecture, nothing more
entertaining can be found than a visit to La Antigua, which can be
reached from Guatemala City by a few hours' ride in carriage or on
horseback. Antigua stretches through the beautiful and fertile valley
which in the Indian language means dry lake because the tradition exists
that in prehistoric times there was a fine sheet of water covering the
land. The panorama which delights the eye from any elevated point of
Antigua is glorious. The three volcanoes of Acatenango, Agua (water) and
Fuego (fire) lose their majestic combs in the clouds. In every direction
spread fertile fields with an infinite number of coffee and sugar
plantations in every state of production. The borders of the city are
bathed by two charming rivers, the Pensativo and the Portal. In the
immediate neighborhood are hygienic baths of pure crystalline water.
PREHISTORIC RUINS AND FAMED LAKE ATITLAN.
Many volumes have been written about the prehistoric ruins of Guatemala
and especially of Copan. One of the most recent and most sumptuously
illustrated is that by Anne Cary Maudslay and Alfred Percival Maudslay
entitled "A Glimpse at Guatemala." It was published in London. In this
book Professor Maudslay gives the following description of a visit to
the ruins at Quirigua:
"The ruins, which are completely hidden in a thick tropical forest,
stand about three-quarters of a mile from the left bank of the
river Motagua and about five miles from the miserable little
village of Quirigua, from which they take their name. They consist
of numerous square or oblong mounds and terraces varying from six
to forty feet in height, some standing by themselves, others
clustered in irregular groups. Most of these mounds were faced with
worked stone and were ascended by flights of stone steps.
"The interest centers in the thirteen large carved monoliths which
are arranged irregularly round what were probably the most
important plazas. Six of these monuments are tall stones measuring
three to five feet square and standing fourteen to twenty feet out
of the ground. The other five are oblong or rounded blocks of stone
shaped so as to represent huge turtles or armadilloes or some such
animals. All these monuments are covered with elaborate carving.
Usually on both back and front of the tall monoliths there is
carved a huge human figure standing full face and in a stiff and
conventional attitude. The sides of the monuments are covered with
tables of hieroglyphs, most of them in fairly good preservation. In
addition to these tables of hieroglyphs there are series of square
or cartouches of what appears to be actual picture writing, each
division measuring about eighteen inches square and containing
usually two or three grotesque figures of men and animals. The
design of these picture writings shows considerable variety and
freedom of treatment as compared with that of the large sizes human
figures in the execution of which the artist seems to have been
bound by conventional rules.
"The largest of the stone animals is perhaps the most remarkable of
all the monuments. Its measurement is roughly a cube of eight feet,
it must weigh nearly twenty tons and it rests on three large slabs
of stone. It is shaped like a turtle and is covered with a most
elaborate and curious ornament and with tables of hieroglyphics and
cartouches of picture writing. The greater part of the ornament
throughout these carvings is formed from the grotesque
representations of the human face or the faces of animals, the
features frequently so greatly exaggerated that it is most
difficult to recognize them, but a careful examination enables one
almost invariably to trace back to this facial origin what at
first sight appears to be merely conventional scroll work. Forms
derived from leaves or flowers are altogether absent; occasional
use is made of a plaited ribbon and a very free use of plumes of
feathers which are oftenmost gracefully arranged and beautifully
carved. The fifteen monuments are divided into two groups; in one
the figures are all those of men, in the other of women."
The same authors give the following vivid description of the famed Lake
Atitlan:
"Our tent was pitched so close to the precipice that even from my
bed I had a grand view into the Lake and could watch the black
masses of the volcanoes looming clear-cut and solemn in the
moonlight or changing from black to gray in the early dawn; then a
rosy flush would touch the peak of Atitlan and the light creep down
its side, revealing for a brief half hour every detail of cinder
ridge and chasm on its scarred and wounded slopes until with a
sudden burst of glory the sun rose above the eastern hills to
strike the mirror-like surface of the Lake and flood the world with
warmth and dazzling light. Every peak and mountain ridge now stood
out clear and sharp against the morning sky, and only in the shadow
of the hills would a fleecy mist hang over the surface of the lake
far beneath us; then almost before the sun had power to drink up
these lees of the night from the deep gap between the hills to the
south, a linger of white cloud, borne up from the seaward slope,
would creep around the peak of Atitlan only to be dissipated in the
cooler air; but finger followed finger and the mysterious hand
never lost its grasp until about noon great billowy clouds rolled
up through the gap and the outpost was fairly captured although the
crater itself often stood out clear above the cloudy belt. It was
not, however, until the sun began to lose its power that the real
attack commenced and the second column deployed through the gap on
the southern flank of San Pedro and then from five o'clock until
dark there followed a scene which no pen and no brush could
adequately portray. The clouds seemed to be bewitched; they came
down on us in alternate black and sunlit masses, terrible in their
majesty; then rolled aside to show us all the beauty of a sunset
sky, tints of violet that shaded into pink, and pink that melted
into the clearest blue, whilst far away beyond the mountain seaward
rolled vast billowy masses, first red and yellow and then pink
fading to the softest green. Again and again would the clouds roll
down upon us, the mist at times so thick that we could not see
beyond a hundred yards; then just as quickly it would roll away and
reveal a completely new phase of this ever shifting scene of
beauty. As the sun sank behind San Pedro all turned again to dark
and angry purple with contrasts and reflections like the sheen of a
shot silk. Slowly the mists melted away with the fading daylight,
Venus hung for a while like a splendid jewel in the air and the
mountains turned again to shadowy masses outlined against a crystal
sky."
FASCINATING HISTORY THROUGH THE CENTURIES.
Historically every period of Guatemala is fascinating. Usually the
history of the country is divided into the epochs of the aborigines, the
Spanish Conquest, Independence, and the era of liberal governments.
Across the centuries the path of history can be traced. A book written
in the 16th century by one of the aborigines of the time of the Conquest
and called "Popol-Vuh" or "Book of the People," speaks of the Quiches,
vigorous and hardy natives of the soil, forerunners of the Guatemalan
people as having reached at that time a degree of advance which singled
them out from among the other primitive inhabitants of America. Their
religious system was in essence a kind of animal worship whose gods were
personified by the fox, the coyote, and the wild boar to be soon
reemployed through natural evolution by the forces of nature such as the
heavens, the earth, and the sea. They left as evidences of their worship
the multitude of monuments whose imposing ruins are preserved today.
Pyramids which seem to bear traces of Egypt and characters indicative
of a remote Asiatic origin; temples, such as the Temple of the Sun, of
grand architecture; and the Palace, dwelling of the King, a holy being
and the Supreme Arbiter. The latter is among the most notable of
American antiquities and it causes admiration through the graduated
pyramid, the triangular vault and the arch forming an harmonious whole.
The Quiche civilization was an advanced one and its government was a
theocracy in which the High Priest was both the Supreme Governor and
inherited the name of the primitive god Votan. This theocracy was drawn
from among the warriors while the people in complete servitude tilled
the fields in order to sustain the worship and raise grand monuments and
built numerous cities on the borders of the lakes and rivers.
Agriculture was well advanced. Cacao was cultivated with grand
ceremonies and maize or Indian corn which was guarded with profound
veneration because according to the ancient tradition man was formed
from it. Cotton was also grown and brilliant garments woven from it
which were dyed with cochineal and pigments formed from various plants.
Tobacco was cultivated and yucca, beans, potatoes, etc. Various textiles
were fabricated of the finest quality and many of the palaces and
temples were hung with this tapestry.
Ceramics and various kinds of pottery were manufactured both for use and
for ornament. The sciences and the arts were developed. The fame of the
Quiche calendar exists today. The aborigines also understood painting,
sculpture, and music. They made plumes and cloaks from the feathers of
the birds and they wrote upon a paper prepared from the Amatl. Their
language was liquid and possessed few inflections. It was the most
perfect of the six hundred or more languages which the Spaniards
encountered in the Isthmus of Central America. They had a literature of
their own and from this fragments have been preserved notably the drama
"Rabinal Achi."
SPANISH CONQUEST AND WHAT CAME AFTER.
Guatemala was conquered by the Lieutenant of Cortez, Pedro de Alvarado.
In April, 1524, he crowned his series of victories over the Quiches by
routing them on the plains of Urbina, capturing and condemning to perish
by hanging the two last Kings of the most powerful monarchy of Central
America; Oxib-Queh and Beleheb-Tzy. In July of the same year he founded
the city of Guatemala, although this was not definitely established
until November, 1527.
Within a few years all the regions of Central America had submitted to
the Spanish Crown and formed the Kingdom of Guatemala, to the capital of
which was transferred in 1549 the Royal Audiencia or High Court.
Guatemala was the head of Spanish power in Central America under the
general term of the Spanish Captain Generalcy for two centuries.
During the two hundred and fifty years following the Conquest the
country had three capitals in turn, all named Guatemala City. The first,
founded by Alvarado, was on the very spot where he fought the battle
which made him conqueror. The Indian kings of the South having heard of
the exploits of Cortez in Mexico, sent an embassy to him which he
received with distinction. He sent his favorite Lieutenant Alvarado back
to take possession. Alvarado and his three hundred Spanish soldiers were
nearly a year in making the journey through the forest. When the Indians
opposed him he gave continuous battle and finally conquered. He
destroyed their capital, razed the temple of their idols to the ground,
and built on its site a church.
For seventeen years Alvarado kept the Indians at work building a new
capital on the site of their old one. Then came the earthquake which
destroyed the place and buried nine-tenths of the inhabitants under the
ruins. A new location was found, but again, in 1773, by the eruption of
Santa Maria the capital was destroyed. This is the group of picturesque
ruins now known as La Antigua. With the destruction of this capital a
third and final movement to the splendid situation in the Hermit Valley
was made and the new capital which is the Guatemala City of today was
established.
After years of struggle against the Spanish domination, beginning in
1811, Guatemala secured its independence, which was proclaimed September
15, 1821, when in place of the Kingdom of Guatemala there was
established "A nation free and independent of every other nation." The
history of subsequent years is interwoven with the events of other
Central American countries. After many evolutions and disorders as well
as revolutionary changes of government, the era known as the period of
reform and the re-establishment of the liberties of the country began in
1871.
CHAPTERS OF RECENT HISTORY.
The events which led to the adoption of the liberal Constitution of
1879, which is today in force, do not need to be recounted here. General
Justo Rufino Barrios, who had been the leading spirit in the Liberal
revolution, was a pronounced advocate of the union of all the Central
American States in a single federal republic. He endeavored to
accomplish this against the opposition of Salvador and was killed at the
battle of Chalchuapa in 1885. He was succeeded by General Manuel
Lisandro Barillas, who exercised the government from 1887 to 1892. After
him came General Jose Maria Reyna Barrios, who during the first four
years of his administration gave a good government and worked much for
the prosperity of his country. In the last two years, however, through
the bad counsels of selfish advisers foreign to his government he sought
to extend the term of his authority and was resisted by successive
revolutions. He was assassinated by a personal enemy of European
nationality in February, 1898, and Guatemala was then left in the midst
of a most disastrous condition, both industrial and political.
It was at this period that Manuel Estrada Cabrera, the lawyer, came into
power and began the series of administrative reforms and measures for
the material development of the country which have so vastly improved
the condition of the people, have re-established credit and given
assurance of further progress under continuous peace and tranquillity.
It is these beneficial measures which have caused President Estrada
Cabrera to be signalized as the chief of the modern emancipation of
Guatemala in its policies, in its intellectual and moral advancement,
and as the author of its present progress. Under his government order in
administration has been secured, respect for the rights of all, material
development in countless forms, the general improvement of the people
and the most perfect harmony and equity in international relations have
been obtained. It is the success of these policies, which is now
assured, that makes Guatemala so clearly the country of the future and
entitles Estrada Cabrera to rank with the most distinguished heads of
State of the present day.