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STANFORD'S COMPENDIUM
OF
GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
(NEW ISSUE)
STANFORD'S
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAVEL
(NEW ISSUE)
CENTKAL
AND
SOUTH AMERICA
A r OL II
CENTRAL AMERICA AND WEST INDIES
BY
A. H. KEANE, F.R.G.S, LL.D.
AUTHOR OF 'ASIA' AND 'AFRICA' IN THE SAME SERIES; ' ETHNOLOGY ' ;
'MAN TAST AND TRESENT ' J 'THE GOLD OE OPHIR ' ; 'THE WORLDS PEOPLES'; ETC,
EDITED BY
SIR CLEMENTS MARKHAM, K.C.B., F.K.S.
LATE PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
SECOND EDITION
MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON: EDWARD STANFORD
12, 13, & 14, LONG ACRE, W.C.
1911
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
There has been little scope for geographical research in
the scattered region embraced by this volume since its
first issue ten years ago. Most of the lands here dealt
with are included in the best known and longest estab-
lished sections of the New World, so that actual explora-
tion has been mainly confined to a few outlying districts
in Honduras, Yucatan, and the Mexican Sierras Madres.
In Mexico the most distinguished name is certainly that
of Karl Lumholtz, an indefatigable worker in this field,
to whom anthropologists will be grateful if only for the
discovery of the Huichols, in some respects the most
remarkable of all the Amerinds. Much important
exploration work has been carried out by Mr. T. Fenwick
in British Honduras, where some conspicuous heights
now bear the names of King Edward and Queen Alex-
andra, while M. de Perigny has brought to light the
extensive ruins of Rio Beque in Yucatan, and E. Seler
those of Chaculd in Guatemala. Of actual discoveries
this is about the sum and substance.
viil COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
But, on the other hand, nearly the whole region under
consideration has been subject to an almost uninterrupted
series of overground and underground convulsions of an
exceptionally disastrous character.
The total disappearance in 1902 of the nourishing
city of St. Pierre in Martinique, with all its 35,000
inhabitants, was the beginning of a large number of lesser
but still severe calamities, which culminated with the
devastating hurricane that swept over the island of Cuba
in October 1910.
In the political world this island is also mainly
concerned, its troubled history having at last been
brought to a close by the satisfactory agreement with the
United States, fully described in its place.
A. H. K.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
In the new issue of this series the single volume origin-
ally devoted to Central America, the West Indies, and
South. America is replaced by two, each somew T hat larger
than their predecessor. The very ample additional space
thus secured has been found no more than sufficient to
embody the more important results of the numerous
scientific expeditions made to almost every part of Latin
America during the last three decades by Whymper, Con-
way, Fitzgerald, Crevaux, Thouar, im Thurn, Eodway,
Ehrenreich, von den Steinen, Reiss, Church, Stiibel, Ball,
Brigham, Hill, Romero, Thompson, Seler, McGee, Moreno,
Mercer, Stoll, Uhle, and many other distinguished geo-
graphers, archaeologists, naturalists, and anthropologists.
Many of the discoveries were of a fundamental character,
profoundly modifying the views hitherto prevailing on
such questions as the tectonic constitution, both of Cen-
tral and South America, the West Indian orographic
systems, the distribution of plants and animals over the
whole area, the cradle and primitive migrations of Caribs
and Arawaks ; the ethnical relations of Toltecs, Aztecs,
X COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
and Mayas, of Quichuas (Peruvians) and Aymaras
(Bolivians), the origin of the marvellous Tiahuanaco
monuments, and of other remains of native American
culture. Attention has also been claimed by the recent
political changes in the West Indies, by frontier ques-
tions, as between British Guiana and Venezuela, between
France and Brazil, and between Chili and Argentina, by
inter- oceanic ship -canal projects, by transcontinental
railway schemes, and by the altered economic conditions,
especially in Mexico, Chili, Brazil, and Argentina. All
these transformations called for adequate treatment, if
only to show that in the New World, material and moral
progress is no longer confined to " Anglo-Saxon America,"
and that henceforth the Hispano-Lusitanian common-
wealths enter into the comity of the other cultured
nations on a footing of absolute equality and independ-
ence.
In distributing the subject matter over these two
volumes, it has been found convenient to deviate some-
what from the usual arrangement. Thus the European
colonies in South America — British, Dutch, and French
Guiana — have been reserved for the present volume on
Central America and the West Indies, with which they
have always been popularly associated as well as inti-
mately connected in their history traditions, commercial
and ethnical relations.
The publisher is indebted to Mr. and Mrs. Maudslay
PKEFACE XI
for permission, conveyed through their publisher, Mr.
Murray, to reproduce four of the illustrations from A
Glimpse of Guatemala ; to Mr. Everard im Thurn, C.B.,
C.M.G., for the very interesting series of views in Guiana,
with the exception of the group of Macusi, which is
from a photograph by Mr. Burke, kindly supplied by Dr.
E. D. Eudland of New Amsterdam. The views of Mount
Misery, St. Kitts ; Market Place, Eoseau ; and The
Pitons of St. Lucia, are from negatives by Mr. F. J.
Wootton Isaacson, and that of St. Pierre, Martinique, by
Mr. F. A. A. Simons. Most of the Mexican views are
reproduced by arrangement with Mr. 0. H. Howarth ;
those of Guadalajara and Zacatecas, and the views in
Trinidad and Barbados, were supplied by Mr. N. P.
Edwards ; and the illustrations to the chapter on His-
paniola are reproduced from Where Black rules White, by
permission of the author, Mr. Hesketh Pritchard.
A H. KEANE.
A RAM- G AH
79 Broadhurst Gardens, N.W.
December 1901.
CONTENTS
CHAPTEE I
General Survey — Physical and Biological Relations
Former Distribution of Land and "Water in the Isthmian Region
The Isthmian Archipelago ......
Igneous Agencies in Central America ....
Geological History of the West Indies — Igneous and Marine
Formations .......
The "American Mediterranean" — Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean
Sea— The Gulf Stream .....
Climate of the Antilles and Central America
Flora and Fauna ....
PAGE
1
3
i
8
10
CHAPTER II
Ethnical and Historical Relations
Pre-Columbian Cultured Peoples — The "Toltecs" .
The Xahuas, Aztecs, and Maya-Quiches
Present Ethnical Elements in Central America and the Guiauas
Ethnical Relations in the "West Indies — The Caribs and Arawaks
The "Whites, Blacks, and Asiatics ....
General Characters of the Aborigines
Mexican and Central American Stock Races and Languages
The Native Languages .....
The Conquest — Geographical Exploration .
New Spain .......
The "Kingdom of Guatemala" — General Table of Areas and
Populations ......
12
14
16
17
19
20
22
23
25
28
30
XIV
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
CHAPTER III
Mexico : Physical Features
Extent and Break up of the Spanish Viceroyalty .
Boundaries and Extent of the Mexican Republic .
Areas and Populations . , ' .
Constituent Elements of the Present Mexican Topulatior
Physical Features — The Plateau Formations — Their Geological
History ....
The Western and Eastern Sierra Madres
Scenery of the Western Range
Mineral Wealth
Geological Formation
The Mexican Volcanic System
Popocatepetl — Ixtaccihuatl .
Orizaba
Cofre de. Perote — Jorullo
Earthquakes .
Hot Springs — The Bramidos of Guanajuato
PAGE
32
33
35
36
37
40
42
44
47
48
50
54
55
56
CHAPTER IY
Mexico — Continued
Hydrography — Rio Grande del Norte
Rio Lerma — Rio Mexcala
Rio Panuco ....
The Coast Lagoons — Rio Coatzacoalcos
The Closed Basins of the Anahuac Plateau
Drainage Works
59
60
62
63
64
65
CHAPTER V
Mexico — Continued
Climate— Vertical Zones of Temperature
Flora — Agricultural Resources .....
Fauna ....••
Fauna of the Revillagigedo and other Insular Groups— Domestic
Animals— Stock-breeding .....
73
81
85
CONTEXTS
CHAPTEE VI
Mexico {continued) — Outlying Provinces
Isthmus of Tehuantepec
Chiapas — Tabasco
Yucatan — Cenotes — Caves .
Lower California — General Survey .
Climate— Rainless Zone
Fauna — Fisheries— Mineral Wealth
Orography and Geology
Towns — Lower California!! Scenery
PAGE
87
88
89
92
94
95
96
97
CHAPTER VII
Mexico (continued) — Its Inhabitants
The Aborigines .....
Uncivilised Tribes— The Seri — The Otorui .
The Tarahumaras and Huichols
The Cultured Peoples— Mixtecs and Zapotecs— Mitla
The Tarascans .....
The Aztecs and Chichimecs ....
The Maya-Quiches — Early Records .
Aztec and Maya Contrasts ....
Cholula— The Teocalli
Teotihuacan — Pyramids of the Sun and Moon
Papantla— The Teocalli of Vera Cruz— The Ruined Cities of Maya
land ......
Uxmal — Izamal — Ake — Chichen-ltza
Paleuque — Tulha — Lorillard
Maya Inscriptions — Calendar — Writing System
The Mexican Mestizos ....
The Spaniards .....
Anglo-Americans .....
99
100
101
102
105
106
110
112
113
114
115
116
118
120
122
125
126
CHAPTER VIII
Mexico — Continued
Topography .
Chief Towns of Mexico
127
128
XVI
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
History of the Republic
Material Progress — Railway Enterprise
Trade — Foreign Exchanges .
Government — Religion — Education .
PAGE
151
154
155
157
CHAPTER IX
Guatemala
Extent — Area — Population .
Physical Features — The Sierra Madre — The Altos
Igneous System
Fuego and Agua Volcanoes .
Hydrography — Rivers — Lakes
Climate — Flora — Agricultural Resources
Fauna
Inhabitants .
Maya-Quiches — Pipils
Topography .
Government — Finance — Trade
159
160
161
162
164
16S
170
173
174
178
181
CHAPTER X
Salvador
Extent — Area — Population .
Physical Features — Volcanic System
Eruptions — Earthquakes
Rivers — Lakes
Climate — Flora — Agricultural Resources
Inhabitants — Mestizo Nomenclature
Topography ....
Government — Finance
183
184
1S6
187
189
190
191
193
CHAPTER XI
Honduras and British Honduras
I. Honduras
Extent — Area — Population .
Physical Features — Plains and Uplands
Volcanoes — Fonseca Bay — Mineral Wealth
195
196
199
CONTEXTS
Rivers — Lake Yojoa .
Climate — Flora — Agricultural Resources
Inhabitants— Ladinos — Aborigines .
Topography — Ruins of Copan
History — Government — Finance
XM l
P v. I
200
202
204
206
209
II. British Honduras
Boundaries — Extent — Population
The Cockscomb Mountains — Agricultural Resource
Trades — Railway Projects
Belize — History — Administration
The Mahogany Industry
211
212
213
214
215
CHAPTER XII
NlCAKAGUA
Extent — Area — Population ....
Physical Features — Geological Zones
The Mosquito Coast ....
The Central Zone — Cordillera de los Andes
Amerrique and "America" — Mineral Resources
The Volcanic Zone .....
Table of Nicaraguan Volcanoes — The Coseguina and
Volcanoes .....
The Marabios .....
Lakes Managua and Nicaragua
Rivers and Coast Lagoons
Climate . • .
Flora — Agricultural Resources — Fauna
Inhabitants — -The Nicaraguans
The Aborigines .....
The Caribs and Sambos ....
The Mosquito Indians— History of Mosquitia
The Clayton-Buhver Treaty and the Nicaragua Ship-Canal
Topography .
History — Government — Finance
Masaya
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
227
229
231
233
234
235
236
239'
241
243
CHAPTER XIII
Costa Rica
Extent — Area — Population .
Physical Features — The Volcanic Section .
245
246
XV111
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Table of Costa Rican Volcanoes
The Continental Section
Gulfs and Rivers
Climate — Flora — Agricultural Resources
Mineral Wealth
Fauna ....
Inhabitants — The Costa Ricans
The Guatusos and Talamancans
Topography ....
History — Government — Finance
PAGE
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
256
257
CHAPTER XIV
Panama
Extent — Area — Population .
Physical Features — Ranges and Passes
Rivers — The Rios Chagres and Bayano
Atlantic and Pacific Tidal "Waves .
Climate — Rainfall
Flora — Fauna
Inhabitants — The Veraguas and Chiriquis
Topography — Panama Railway and Ship-Canal
259
260
261
262
263
264
266
268
CHAPTER XV
The West Indies : General Survey
The American Mediterranean ....
The Greater Antilles — Orographic System .
The Bahamas — Coralline Formations
Communications between the Inland and Oceanic Waters .
The Lesser Antilles — Nomenclature — "Windward " and "Leeward
Inner and Outer Insular Chains
Cyclonic Disturbances
Antillean Vegetation
Indigenous Fauna
Mineral Resources
272
273
275
276
277
278
279
2S1
2S'2
2S3
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XVI
The American- Antilles : Cuba and Puerto Rico
A Change of Flags ....
Cuba : Extent — Area — Population .
Physical Features— Fringing Reefs— Upheaved Beaches
The Eastern Uplands— The Sierra Maestra— The "Western Heights
and Central Plains
Cuban Scenery
Rivers
Climate
Flora — Tobacco Plantations .
Sugar and Coffee Culture
Mineral Resources .
Inhabitants — The Aborigines — The Negroes
The Cubans .
Topography .
Puerto Rico : Extent — Population
The Surrounding "Waters — Brownson Deep — Configuration — General
Relief — Flora — Fauna .
Minerals — Climate .
Inhabitants : Aborigines — Negroes — Whites
Material and Social Progress— Topography .
PAGE
285
286
287
288
289
291
292
293
295
296
297
298
299
308
309
311
312
314
CHAPTER XVII
Hispaniola : San Dojiingo and Haiti
Terminology — Extent — Population .
Material and Social Contrasts — A Century of Black Rule
Samana Bay and American Enterprise
General Relief— The Cibao Highlands— Scenery
Monte Cristi Range ....
Lakes and Rivers ....
Climate .....
Flora — Vegetable and Mineral Resources
Inhabitants — The Aborigines
Whites and Blacks of San Domingo and Haiti
Revolt of the Slaves — Civil Strife .
Expulsion of the French
The Period of Independence — Historic Summary
318
321
323
324
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
334
335
XX
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Social Condition of the Blacks — Vaudoux Rites
Topography .....
Administration of San Domingo
Administration of Haiti
PAGE
337
340
349
351
CHAPTER XVIII
Jamaica
Extent — Position — Area — Population
Physical Features — The Blue Mountains
Plateaux and "Cockpits"- .
Rivers — Scenery
Climate
Flora — Fauna
Inhabitants — Historic Survey
The Maroons
Present Elements of the Population
Agricultural Resources
Social Condition of the Freedmen
Topography .
Political Dependencies
Administration
354
355
357
358
359
360
363
365
366
367
368
372
375
376
CHAPTER XIX
The Lesser Antilles
I. The Bahamas
General Survey
Topography .
Administration of the Bahamas
378
384
386
II. The Bermudas
The Bermudas
III. The Virgin Islands and Santa Cruz
The Virgin Islands, etc. .....
IV. The Caribbee Islands
Outer Chain .......
3S7
389
391
CONTEXTS
V. The Caribbee Islands
Inner Chain .
British Leeward Isles
The French Caribbees
Guadeloupe .
Martinique .
The British Windward Isles— St. Lucia
St. Vincent— The Grenadines — Grenada
394
395
399
401
402
405
407
VI. The Outlying British Antilles
Trinidad
Tobago
Barbados
410
417
419
CHAPTER XX
The Guiaxas : Land and People
Nomenclature — The " Island of Guiana "
Present Political Divisions .
Disputed Territories
Physical Features — Coastdands
The Savannas and "Woodlands
Mountain Ranges — Roraima
Sierra Acorai
The Tumucuracpue and Tumucdmniac Ranges
Rivers — The Essequibo — The Kaieteur Falls
The Dernerara and Berbice— The Corentyn— Cataracts and Rock
Carvings
The Nickerie and Coppename
The Surinam, Commewyn, and Cottica
The Maroni and Oyapok
Scenery of the Guiana Rivers
Climate .
Flora .
Fauna .
Inhabitants — The Aborigines
Arawaks and Caribs— The Macusi .
Whites, Negroes, and Coolies
424
426
427
428
429
430
432
433
435
438
439
440
442
443
445
448
452
15.'
457
463
XXII
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
British Guiana
Dutch Guiana
French Guiana
Appendix
Index
CHAPTER XXI
The Gtjianas : Political Divisions
PAGE
464
471
475
479
487
LIST OF MAPS
1. Map to illustrate the Mexican aucl Central Ameri
can Stock Races
2. Mexico, Central America and West Indies, Eth
nical and Historical Relations .
3. Mexico .
4. The West Indies and Central America, Railway
and Telegraph Cables .
5. Havana .
6. Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Jamaica, etc.
7. Jamaica
8. Trinidad .
9. The Guianas
10. West Indies and Central America
To face page 22
30
284
302
352
376
416
462
486
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1. The Culebra Cut, Panama Canal . . . Frontispiece
2. Peaks of Candelaria — Range West of Valley of Mexico 41
3. Falls of Juanacatlan, Outlet of Lake Chajiala . . .43
4. Popocatepetl from the Terrace of the Pyramid of Cholula . 51
5. Amecameca and the Volcano of Ixtaccihuatl . . .52
6. Maguey or Pulque Ranche ..... 53
7. Great Ahuehuete Tree ...... 74
8. Cacao . .... 78
9. Axolotl ..... 82
10. Quetzal ........ 83
11. Tarasco Indians of Patzcuaro, Michoacan . . .103
12. Axayacatl's Calendar Stone ..... 121
13. Making Tortillas .... .124
14. Cathedral of Chihuahua . . . . .129
15. Ancient Rock Inscriptions, Culiacau River, Mexico . . 131
16. Zacatecas .... 134
17. Guanajuato ....... 135
13. Cathedral, Guadalajara ... 137
19. Eastern Apse of Cathedral of Puehla .... 140
20. Mexico City ....... 141
21. Cathedral. City of Mexico (Mother Church of the Republic) . 143
22. The Plaza of Vera Cruz, Mexico . . . .148
23. Gold Mining Camp of Zavalita, State of Oaxaca . .154
24. Volcano and Lake of Atitlan ..... 167
25. Cebus Albifrons . . . . . .171
26. Jaguar .... 172
27. The Great Turtle of Quirigua ..... 177
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAOE
28. City of Guatemala . . . . . .179
29. Quezaltenango .
180
30. Peruvian Balsam
189
31. Plantain.
203
32. Stone at Copan .
206
33. Mahogany
216
34. Puma ....
231
35. Rattlesnake
233
36. Chrysothrix
264
37. Panama ....
269
38. Panama Cathedral
270
39. Yumuri Valley, Cuba .
290
40. Cuban Farmer using Stick Ploi\
?h
294
41. Havana .
300
42. Morro Castle, Cuba
307
43. Adjuntas, Puerto Rico .
311
44. San Juan, Puerto Rico .
316
45. Native Hut on the Way to San
Domingo
320
46. Black Natives .
334
47. A Haitian Regiment on Parade
338
48. Market Place, Port-au-Prince
342
49. Milot
345
50. The Palace of Sans-Souci
347
51. Street Scene in Petit Goave
349
52. The Palace of the President
352
53. Allspice .
360
54. Nutmeg .
. 361
55. Kingston
. 371
56. Port Royal
. 372
57. Newcastle
. 374
58. Redonda and Nevis
. 393
59. Mount Misery, St. Kitts
. 397
60. Market Place, Roseau
398
61. St. Pierre, Martinique .
404
62. The Pitons of St. Lucia .
. 406
63. Bread-Fruit Tree
414
64. Harbour, Port of Spain, Trinidad
415
65. Port of Spain, Trinidad
.
. 416
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
66. Bridgetown, Barbados
67. Bridgetown, Barbados
68. On the Barima River
69. Kaieteur Falls
70. Troolie Palm
71. Gigantic Fig-Tree
72. Cock-of-the-Rock
73. Akawais .
74. Caribs
75. Arawaks playing the " Whip-Game "
76. Macusi Indians
77. Shield Game of Warraus
78. Warraus
79. Alluvial Gold Washing at Arakaka on
80.
Barima River
Government Agency, North-Western District
PAOE
421
422
431
436
444
450
454
'458
459
460
462
465
466
467
469
CENTRAL AMERICA
AND
WEST INDIES
CHAPTEE I
GENERAL SURVEY PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL RELATIONS
Former Distribution of Land and Water in the Isthmian Region — The
Isthmian Archipelago — Igneous Agencies in Central America — Geo-
logical History of the West Indies — Igneous and Marine Formations
— The "American Mediterranean" — Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean
Sea — The Gulf Stream — Climate of the Antilles and Central America
— Flora and Fauna.
Former Distribution of Land and Water in the Isthmian
Region
In the volume of this series devoted to South America
it is shown that, from the geographical stand-point, that
continent terminates northwards at the Atrato-San Juan
depression, through which the Atlantic communicated at
one time with the Pacific. By the establishment of this
fact Humboldt's magnificent but somewhat hasty general-
isation regarding the geological continuity of the con-
tinental axis from Fuegia to Alaska was shaken. Since
then the theory has been completely shattered by the
2 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
discovery that the two oceans were formerly connected,
not by one channel only, but by a considerable number
of straits, of varying width, disposed at irregular intervals
across the now continuous dry land, which extends for
1200 miles from the Atrato to the Valley of Mexico on
the Anahuac tableland. The still flooded basins of this
region are even regarded by some geologists as remnants
of the long winding sound, which flowed between the
two oceans towards the close of the Mesozoic period, that
is to say, before the uplift of the mighty volcanoes which
now tower thousands of feet above the common pedestal,
itself some 7000 or 8000 feet above sea-level.
Nearly all the rich silver lodes lie to the north of
the lacustrine depression, another indication that the
land tapering thence south-eastwards to the Isthmus of
Tehuantepec belonged originally to a different zone from
North America proper. But the circumjacent plains and
ranges have been so long soldered together that all must
now be considered as integral parts of the northern con-
tinent, whose true terminal point is the relatively low-
lying Tehuantepec depression, not more than 120 miles
wide between the two seas. Here also flowed a broad
inter -oceanic passage in the Cretaceous epoch, as still
clearly shown by the chalk beds of marine origin, which
were afterwards upheaved in terrace-like formations, and
then overlain with later Tertiary and Quaternary deposits.
The land is even now rising on the Pacific side, where
the shallow lagoons fringing the coast are slowly drying
up. Thus Central, like South America, would appear to
be moving still westwards, having also, like the Amazon
valley, lost much ground on the east side.
South of Tehuantepec occurred several other marine
straits, such as those of the Chirique - David Bays, of
Guajoca, Nicaragua, Ochomogo, Horqueta, Panama, and
GENERAL SURVEY 6
Darien, all of which have been closed at different times
partly by local movements of upheaval, partly by alluvial
deposits and lava streams discharged from the surround-
ing igneous cones. Some of these cones are much older
than is commonly supposed, and it has been shown that,
for instance, the Costa Eican craters were already active
in early secondary times, when the volcanic chain stood
in mid-ocean, disposed somewhat in the same direction as
that of the Sandwich Islands. Similarly in the Panama
peninsula, both the crystalline Veragua range — mainly
granites, syenites, schists, and gneiss — and the Panama
heights — much weathered dolerites and trachites — are
all very old, nowhere showing any recently erupted cones.
Hence the eruptions of these plutonic rocks must have
taken place while the two oceans still intermingled their
waters. The same inference is pointed at by the lime-
stone beds, which occur at many points, and contain early
Tertiary fossils mostly resembling the forms which still
inhabit the surrounding seas.
The Isthmian Archipelago
From these considerations it follows that the present
Central American mainland, like the southern continent,
formed originally a vast insular region, which was gradu-
ally consolidated in Tertiary and later times. It con-
stituted a great archipelago, which stretched for about
770 miles in a south-easterly direction from Tehuantepec
to Panama, and presented certain analogies to the West
Indian insular world, with w T hich it is in fact connected
by at least tw T o chains of islets, reefs, and partly or
wholly submerged marine banks. One of these may be
traced from Cape Cruz in Cuba through the Little and
Great Caymans and Misterios rocks to the Gulf of
4 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Honduras, while the other runs from Haiti through
Jamaica, the Pedro and Serranilla Banks to Cape Gracias
a Dios, easternmost point of the mainland.
Igneous Agencies in Central America
There can be little doubt that underground agencies
had much to do with the process of rilling up the old
inter-oceanic channels. Such an inference is pointed at
even by a study of the relatively quiescent transverse
volcanic fracture on the Mexican tableland. But it
becomes almost self-evident, when we contemplate the
immense development of the still active igneous forces
throughout the whole of the isthmian region. Here are
volcanoes which may be reckoned by the hundred, either
clustered in groups, or disposed in a long line of mighty
cones and yawning craters, where fumes and vapours, if
not flames, are somewhere always ascending between
Popocatepetl, monarch of the Anahuac plateau and the
extinct Costa Eican Turrialba. Since the discovery over
fifty eruptions and three hundred earthquakes have been
recorded, and even so recently as April 1902a disastrous
earthquake, lasting nearly a minute, affected a wide area
in Guatemala, Chiapas, Salvador, and Honduras. Here
the flourishing cities of Quezaltenango, Solola, San Marcos,
San Pedro, Sacatepequez, Mazatenango, Pietalhuleu, and
Suchitepequez w T ere ruined, and most of the large sugar
and coffee plantations laid waste, with a total loss of
about 900 lives.
It should be noted that in Central America eruptions
are usually of an explosive nature, and that the ejected
ashes and scoriae are often scattered to a great dis-
tance, forming by their decomposition thick layers
of extremely fertile soil. Hence the surface rapidly
GENERAL SUEVEY 5
becomes overgrown with a luxuriant arboreal vegetation,
beneath which all traces are effaced of the former dis-
tribution of land and water. Mr. W. T. Brigham has
tabulated as many as six still active or quiescent
volcanoes in Guatemala ; eight in Salvador ; two in
Honduras ; thirteen in Nicaragua ; and three in Costa
ftica, besides about forty extinct in the whole region. 1
Geological History of the West Indies
The Antilles, however, differ in some important re-
spects from the old Central American Archipelago.
They occupy an area, not of upheaval, but of subsidence,
so much so, that if the northern and southern continents
were formerly separated in the west, where they are
now united, they may well have formed continuous
land in the east where are now nothing but stepping-
stones. But these stepping-stones — the Greater and
Lesser Antilles — which describe a somewhat undulating:
curve of over 1000 miles between Yucatan and Venezuela,
are composed to a large extent of sedimentary rocks
which have been subjected to much folding and disloca-
tion. It is thus obvious that they represent the crests
and summits of two or more continuous mountain chains,
which are now in great measure submerged beneath the
Atlantic waters, but at one time presented an . unbroken,
or almost unbroken, isthmian bridge between Florida
and Venezuela, that is, between the northern and southern
continents. 2
Igneous and Marine Formations
But besides the sedimentary deposits, there also occur
both coralline and igneous rocks, all of which, being
1 Guatemala, p. 382 sq.
2 Kobert T. Hill, Cuba and Porto Rico, etc., 1899.
b COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
either of organic or subterranean origin, have no direct
relation to the continental framework. They have, how-
ever, partly helped to repair the damage caused by sub-
sidence, just as corresponding formations have filled in
and obliterated the former inter -oceanic straits farther
west. The coral-building polyps are still at work over
a wide area, and range even as far as the Bermudas, their
utmost northern limit. Large tracts of the marine bed
consist of coralline mud, while Cuba, Florida, Yucatan,
the Bahamas, and many other islands are encircled by
fringing reefs which grow higher and higher, and then
breaking to pieces become consolidated by the calcareous
cement. On the other hand, while several of the smaller
islands have still active or but recently extinct cones,
scarcely any trace of recent volcanic action can be dis-
covered in the Greater Antilles, where the very craters
have disappeared, although underground disturbances
still occur, especially in Jamaica.
Formerly such disturbances must have been far more
frequent and violent than at present, and probably con-
tributed with the process of subsidence to break into
fragments the ancient isthmian bridge spanning the
inland waters. As shown by the arrangement of the
insular groups, the bridge itself was disposed mainly in
the direction from west to east, or almost at right angles
with the northern and southern continents, whose trend
is from north to south. Marine explorers have had
little difficulty in tracing and mapping the now vanished
links of the chain which in many parts still lie so near
the surface that the uplift of only a few fathoms would
suffice to restore the bridge, and thus convert the inland
waters into a completely closed basin.
GENERAL SURVEY t
The " American Mediterranean " — Gulf of Mexico and
Caribbean Sea
These island-studded and land-encircled waters also
present some remarkable features. Their vast extent is
somewhat disguised by their circular contour lines, as
well as by the small scale on which maps of the West
Indies and Central America are usually drawn. Hence
it is difficult to realise the fact that this "American
Mediterranean," as it is often called, has a circuit from
Cape Sable round to the Bahamas of no less than 12,000
miles, just half the circumference of the globe! A
steamer sailing fro n. Key West, and skirting the sea-
board of the States, Mexico, Central and South America,
and keeping to the inner side of the Antilles, would
take about forty days to get back to the starting-point.
But this vast inland sea is decomposed into two large
and several minor basins, some comparatively shallow,
some, such as the Brownson Deep, north of Puerto Pico
revealing prodigious depths of from 4000 to 4500
fathoms. The minor " deeps," however, which are often
separated by ridges approaching close to the surface, are
of insignificant extent compared with the two great
basins of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico,
which are clearly divided off by the western section of
Cuba and the peninsulas of Florida and Yucatan, pro-
jecting south and north far beyond the normal coast-lines.
The Gulf Stream
A relatively small portion of the great equatorial
current, which flows from the west coast of Africa across
the Atlantic, penetrates through the Lesser Antilles into
the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, whence it
8 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
returns through Florida Strait to the Atlantic. Here
it is lost in the far greater body of tepid water which
skirts the outer side of the Great Antilles and Bahamas,
and is then deflected from the coast of North America
across the Atlantic north-westwards to the British Isles
and Scandinavia, and round by North Cape to the
White Sea. Before it was known that only a mere
fraction of the current came from the Gulf of Mexico,
this enormous volume of warm water received the happy
name of the " Gulf Stream," a name now too firmly
established, and indeed too convenient, to be set aside
for any of the alternative expressions which have been
proposed as substitutes, on the ground that they indicated
the actual relations with more scientific accuracy. In
any case the volume of water rejoining the equatorial
current north of Florida Strait, though relatively small,
forms none the less a liquid mass about 55 miles wide
and 450 fathoms deep, moving at the rate of from 2 to
6 miles an hour, and is thus equivalent to as many as
300,000 rivers as copious as the Mississippi.
Climate of the Antilles and Central America
It might be supposed that such a vast body of tepid
waters, whose influence is ' felt as far east as Nbvaya
Zemlya, must convert the tropical inland seas into
boiling cauldrons, and raise the temperature in this
section of the Torrid Zone so high as to render the islands
and encircling regions uninhabitable. Such doubtless
would be the case, but for the counteracting influences
of the atmospheric currents, of the cooler Pacific waters,
and of altitude, by which the action of the Gulf Stream
is largely neutralised, and most of the surrounding lands
— Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Mexico, and many parts of
PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL RELATIONS 9
the isthmian region — made suitable even for European
settlement. Terrific hurricanes, such as those by which
Guadalupe, Montserrat, Puerto Bico, and several other
islands were wasted early in October 1899, occur especi-
ally from July to November.
These cyclonic disturbances, which are of local origin,
appear to be connected with the cold northern and
eastern trade winds, which rush in to fill the vacuum
caused by the rarefaction of the atmosphere during the
summer months. They thus tend greatly to lower the
normal temperature, which, at sea-level, averages not
more than 80° F. even in the hot season, and falls to
72° or 74° in winter. On the uplands it is, of course,
much lower, and on the mainland from Mexico to Panama
both heat and moisture are chiefly determined by the
elevated plateaux and mountain ranges. Thus in Guate-
mala the mean annual temperature ranges from 80° P.
on the coast to 58° at Quezaltenango, 7700 feet above
the sea, while the Atlantic slopes exposed to the east
and north-east trades have a heavier rainfall than those
of the Pacific. In general the driest and healthiest
regions are those which are sheltered by lofty ranges
from both oceans. Thus the precipitation, which on the
north side of the Central Guatemalan heights approaches
200 inches, falls below 30 inches in some of the low-
lying inland districts.
Throughout Central America thunderstorms are
frequent during the Invierno, that is, the summer rainy
season, which on the Pacific slope is followed by the
Verano, that is, the dry winter period from November
to May. The vertical disposition of the climates and
floras, which finds its greatest development in Mexico,
occurs also in the isthmian region, where, however, the
three superimposed zones — tierra caliente, templada and
10 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
fria — are in few places so sharply defined as in the
northern republic.
Flora and Fauna
But everywhere the distribution of the vegetation is
determined far more by the elevation of the land than
by its greater or less proximity to the equator. Bearing
this consideration in mind, it will be found that the
prevailing vegetable forms throughout the whole of these
intertropical lands is of a far more uniform character
than might otherwise be supposed. Thus the presence
or absence of characteristic plants, such as the cactus or
the agave, has its explanation, not in the higher or
lower latitudes, but rather in the higher or lower eleva-
tions, taken in connection with the varying aspects of
the land. In other words, the vegetation is uniformly
distributed, not so much over horizontal surfaces, as along
the several vertically disposed hot, temperate, and cold
zones, irrespective of their distance from the equator.
Thus it is that palms, ferns, orchids, conifers, mahogany,
logwood, cacao, vanilla, and many other characteristic
plants have an immense meridional range in Mexico and
Central America, some forms extending also to the
archipelagoes and Guiana. In this and some other
respects the last mentioned is a land of transition between
the West Indies and South America. The climate is
distinctly hot and moist, even " steamy " in the alluvial
forest tracts, with a mean temperature of about 80°, but
ranging from 70° to 100° and upwards. This region
is, on the other hand, free from earthquakes, and scarcely
ever visited by hurricanes, though the seaboard from the
Amazon estuary to the Gulf of Darien is occasionally
swept by fierce gales.
In the West Indies wild animals are rare ; but on
PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL RELATIONS 11
the mainland most of the large American fauna — jaguar,
puma, tapir, deer, peccary, ant-eater — still abound in
all the woodlands. Birds also occur in great variety,
and many of these — macaws, toucans, parrots, humming-
birds, quetzal, mocking-birds — are remarkable for their
gorgeous plumage or their melodious notes. Most of
the local fauna have a very wide range, some, such as
the coyote, alligator, and mocking-bird, passing into the
United States, while the axolotl, most remarkable of all
the lower organisms, seems confined to the lacustrine
district of the Mexican tableland.
CHAPTEE II
ETHNICAL AND HISTORICAL RELATIONS
Pre-Columbian Cultured Peoples— The " Toltecs "— The Nahuas, Aztecs,
and Maya-Quiches— Present Ethnical Elements in Central America
and the Guianas— Ethnical Relations in the West Indies— The Caribs
and Arawaks— The "Whites, Blacks, and Asiatics— General Characters
of the Aborigines — Table of Mexican and Central American Stock
Races and Languages — The Native Languages— The Conquest-
Geographical Exploration— New Spain— The "Kingdom of Guate-
mala "—General Table of Areas and Populations.
Pre-Columbian Cultured Peoples— The " Toltecs "
At the time of the discovery the whole region from the
Kio Grande del Norte to the Amazon estuary, with the
adjacent archipelagoes, was occupied by a multitude of
peoples representing every plane of human culture,
almost from the lowest savagery to the highest pha'se of
civilisation anywhere attained by the primitive inhabi-
tants of the New World. A great portion of Mexico
proper, the whole of Yucatan and most of Guatemala,
together with parts of Honduras and Nicaragua, were
inhabited by a large number of civilised nations, who
had from remote times formed political states, some of
considerable magnitude, but all fairly well organised,
with thoroughly constituted forms of government, highly
developed social institutions, polytheistic religious systems,
ETHNICAL AND HISTORICAL RELATIONS 13
still mostly at the sacrificial stage, numerous arts and
industries, conspicuous amongst which was architecture
of a monumental order, and, lastly, a knowledge of letters
showing nearly all the transitions from picture-writing
to phonetic symbols and, as some hold, to a crude
alphabetic system.
Prominent amongst these more advanced nations were
the wide-branching Mexican Ndhuas, in later times
represented chiefly by the Aztecs, Acolhuas, and Tepanecs
of the Anahnac tableland ; the Mixtecs and Zapotecs of
Oajaca and Tehuantepec ; and the Maya - Quiche's of
Yucatan and Guatemala. Two more or less distinct
culture systems, commonly associated with the Aztecs
and Mayas respectively, stand out pre-eminently above
the others, while behind all was that of the prehistoric,
if not fabulous Toltecs, founders or precursors either of
the Xahuan or of the Mayan civilisation. Till recently
the whole question of the inter-relations of the Mayas
and Aztecs, and of both to the Toltecs, seemed involved
in hopeless obscurity. But it is now generally under-
stood that the Toltecs, who became identified in the
national traditions with the builders of the pyramids of
Cholula and Teotihuacan, and in fact of all the monu-
ments of bygone times throughout Mexico and Central
America, were not a historical Nahua people at all. The
name Toltec, supposed to mean " Builders," and wrongly
associated with the imaginary past glories of the
Nahuas, would appear to have no reference to them, but
merely denoted the people of Tollan or Tola (Tula), the
earliest known seat, not of Xahua, but of Maya civilisation
on the Anahuac tableland. 1
Tula still exists or, at least, a modern place of that
name stands on the site of the ancient city, which
1 E. Forstermann, Globus, lxx. p. 37 sq.
14 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
may itself have been a Maya colony from another Tula
in the present province of Tamaulipas, a district which
was formerly, and is even now to some extent, com-
prised within the territory of the Huaxtecas, that is,
the northernmost, and, as would seem, the parent branch
of the Maya-Quiche race. But at some unknown period
subsequent to the ninth century of the new era,
when it had reached the height of its splendour, Tula,
with all its works, was overthrown by the barbaric
Nahua hordes advancing southwards from their original
home in the far north. Coming thus for the first
time in contact with the cultured Maya peoples at
Tula, the rude Nahua tribes naturally called them
" Toltecs," a term which, as is frequent enough in such
cases, was later extended to all the early civilised in-
habitants of Central Mexico.
The Nahuas, Aztecs, and Maya-Quiches
With this simple solution of the " Toltec question,"
an explanation is also afforded of the obscure relations
in which the Mayas stood to the Aztec descendants of
the Nahuas in later times. The theory is that, after
the first Nahua invasion, most of the Tula people fled
southwards by the Pacific route to Guatemala and
Yucatan, where they founded powerful states, which in
their turn became new centres of " Toltec," that is,
Maya-Quiche culture.
The northern Mayas (the Huaxtecs of Tamaulipas
and Vera Cruz on the Atlantic side) thus became
isolated, as they are to this day, from all the other
members of the family, their kinship with which is
shown by the archaic form of Maya speech still current
amongst them. Then the Nahuas, after overrunning
ETHNICAL AND HISTORICAL RELATIONS 1 5
the Central Mexican plateau, here slowly developed a
new culture, which was based upon, and permanently
influenced by that of their Toltec precursors, and at
the advent of the Conquistadores had for two or three
centuries been mainly represented by the Aztec nation
of the Mexican lacustrine district. But some time
before their overthrow by Fernando Cortes these
Aztecs had pushed their conquests southwards, also
by the Pacific route, to Guatemala and Yucatan, where
they subdued most of the civilised Maya-Quiche peoples,
and even penetrated beyond this region into Nicaragua,
everywhere founding settlements amid the surrounding
aborigines.
Thus are at once easily explained: 1. The general
arrest and decline of the Maya-Quiche* political power,
arts, and industries at the advent of the whites ; 2.
The Maya influences which obviously permeate Aztec
culture in its earliest and latest aspects ; 3. The
presence of still surviving isolated Aztec communities
in Guatemala and Salvador (Pipils), and in Nicaragua
(Mquirans), all on the Pacific, none on the Atlantic
side. Pipil, wrongly explained to mean " Infants,"
because they could not speak the Nahuatl language
properly, is, on the contrary, a shortened form of Pipiltin,
" Superiors," in reference to the inferior aborigines
amongst whom these Aztecs were settled. No Aztec
colonies were found in Yucatan, probably because that
region had been reached only a short time before the
discovery, and was, moreover, already somewhat thickly
peopled by the Mayas. All the actual conditions are
thus accounted for by the simple process of reversing
the popular view and making the Mayas the indigenous
element, the Nahuas the intruders, borrowers, there-
fore, and not lenders in the interchange of cultural
16 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
influences. Thus, to give one instance, the supreme
Aztec god, Quetzalcoatl , is shown to proceed from, not
to have begotten the Maya god, Cucv.lan, of which, in
fact, his name is a literal translation. 1
Present Ethnical Elements in Central America and the
Guianas
But the Nahua hordes, arriving in successive bands
from beyond the Eio Grande del Norte, and setting up
a series of unstable " empires," such as that of the so-
called Chichimecs (" Dogs ") on the plains of Central
Mexico, were unable to assimilate the surrounding upland
tribes and weld them together in a single homogeneous
nationality. Hence great numbers of these rude popula-
tions long continued to preserve their social, and, in
some cases, even their political independence. But
while a new ethnical group has been slowly developed
by the fusion of the Spanish intruders with the Aztecs,
Zapotecs, and other semi-civilised peoples, many of the
ruder aborigines have also been brought within the
cultural influences of this dominant Hispano-American
element.
Analogous processes have been at work in the
isthmian region, with the result that, apart from a few
later intrusions of blacks and Caribs, especially on the
east (Mosquito) coast of Nicaragua and in Honduras,
the inhabitants of Mexico and the southern republics
form at present three somewhat distinct ethnical and
social divisions, with a general tendency to be merged
in a single Hispano-American population of Spanish
speech. These are : 1. A small percentage (nowhere
exceeding 19 or 20 per cent) of full blood whites, in
1 Cue— Quetzal = the bird Trocjon resplendcns ; Can = Coatl = snake, i.e.
the "bright- feathered snake."
ETHNICAL AND HISTORICAL RELATIONS 1 7
Mexico called Creoles, mainly of Spanish descent : 2.
A large percentage (in some places 38 or 40 per cent,
or even the majority) of full blood aborigines, some of
Spanish speech, but the great bulk still speaking their
original mother tongues; 3. About 50 per cent of
varying mixtures of whites and aborigines, generally
called Mestizos or Ladinos, politically and socially the
dominant class, and, except in Yucatan, almost exclusively
of Spanish speech. But, owing to the defective returns
and the difficulty of distinguishing between fine transi-
tional types, estimates vary, and for the five isthmian
states Caceres gives the percentages thus : Mestizos, 6 5 ;
aborigines, 25 ; whites, 9 ; Negroes, 1.
In the Guianas there never were any cultured native
peoples, nor have the aborigines — mainly of Carib and
Arawak stocks — to any appreciable extent amalgamated
with the whites. These are nowhere numerous, com-
prising a trifling percentage of British, Dutch, and
French officials, traders, planters, miners, and a few
Portuguese and other settlers in the urban districts.
On the other hand, both the Africans {Bush Negroes and
others descended from the emancipated slaves) and
Asiatics (Indian and Chinese coolies introduced in
recent times) are largely represented and, in fact, form
the immense majority of the inhabitants. As far as
can be ascertained, the whites may be estimated at
about 3, the aborigines at 10, the Asiatics at 37, and
the Negroes at 50 per cent.
Ethnical Relations in the West Indies— The Caribs and
Arawaks
In the Antilles the Negroes are relatively still more
numerous, greatly outnumbering all others taken collec-
tively, and politically as well as socially dominant in
C
18 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Hispaniola, the second largest island, where they have
succeeded in founding the two independent republics
of Haiti and Santo Domingo. Except a few Carib
half-breeds in St. Vincent and Dominica, all the
aborigines have everywhere disappeared, although most
of the islands are stated to have been fairly well
peopled in pre-Colombian times. Some light has been
thrown upon the relations of these islanders to the
inhabitants of the mainland by the researches of Mr.
W. K. Brooks in the Bahamas, where were discovered
the remains of the extinct Lucayans, " a well-marked
type of the North American Indian race which was
at that time distributed over the Bahamas, Haiti, and
the greater part of Cuba." x Skulls of the same type
have also been found both in the neighbouring peninsula
of Florida and in Jamaica, and as the extinct Cibunys
of Cuba appear to have been of Arawak stock, it has
been inferred that this widespread family originally
occupied all the Greater and many of the Lesser
Antilles, thus presenting a continuous chain of kindred
groups from Florida to Venezuela and surrounding lands.
But in the prehistoric period this chain had already
been broken at several points by the more warlike
Caribs, who were also found widely diffused over the
archipelagoes at the time of the discovery. But the
Carib cradle -land has now been located in Central
Brazil, so that their migrations must have been, not
from north to south, as formerly supposed, but in the
opposite direction, from the Amazonian lands to the
Guianas and Venezuela, and thence to the insular world.
The Caribs must therefore be regarded as the intruders
in the Antilles, where the indigenous element was the
Arawak, probably also from South America.
; National Academy of Sciences, 1890.
ETHNICAL AND HISTORICAL RELATIONS 19
The Whites, Blacks, and Asiatics
Hand in hand with the disappearance of all, or most
of these aborigines long before the close of the sixteenth
century, the islands were gradually repeopled, first by
whites — Spanish, British, French, Dutch, and Norse
planters and other settlers — and then by Negro slaves
introduced to replace the natives on the plantations.
But after the emancipation the blacks, generally speaking,
" struck work," and had themselves to be largely replaced
by coolies chiefly from India and China. They, however,
found congenial homes in their new environment — hot,
moist climate and fertile soil — where they have increased
to such an extent that, of the 5,000,000 inhabitants of
the West Indies, quite 3,000,000 are coloured, either
full-blood Negroes or Mulatoes of all shades. A marked
tendency has even been noticed to revert to the pure
Ethiopic type, especially in places where the African has
the field to himself, as in Hispaniola, and even in
Jamaica, where of 612,000 coloured as many as 490,000
were classed by the 1891 census as " blacks " and a little
over 120,000 as Mulatoes, with a total population
estimated in 1909 at 849,000. The same reversion
occurs in the southern States of the Union, where it
is due to the great cleavage that has taken place
between the European and African sections of the com-
munity since the abolition of the plantation slave system.
The two races are now far more segregated than before,
with the natural result that each tends to eliminate the
alien element and hark back to its own primitive type.
From the social point of view the whites have, so to
say, been crowded out by the blacks everywhere except
in the two islands of Cuba and Puerto Kico wrested by
the United States from Spain in 1898. Here they have
20 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
not only held their* own, but greatly outnumber the
Negro in both islands. According to the not quite
trustworthy estimates, they stand in Cuba as nearly 2^-
to 1 (1,110,000 and 480,000 respectively), and in
Puerto Kico are over three-fifths of the whole population
(520,000 to 326,000). The Indian and Chinese coolies
and other Asiatics are a fluctuating quantity, for which
no accurate returns are available, but they probably at
no time exceed 100,000, and do not therefore appreciably
affect the general statement that in the Antilles, taken
as a whole, the Africans and Europeans are in the ratio
of three to two, the former being distributed over the
whole area, while the latter are concentrated mainly in
Cuba and Puerto Eico. Thus an ethnographic map of
the West Indies, coloured black and white according to
the predominant element, will show one very large and
one good -sized white patch, and a multitude of black
patches varying in size from the 28,000 square miles of
Hispaniola to the few score acres of some of the Bahamas.
General Characters of the Aborigines
In Mexico and Central America the same difficulty is
presented as in other parts of the New World in
establishing any natural divisions of the inhabitants
founded on their physical characters. Thus the hair is
uniformly long, lank, and jet black, of the horse-tail
texture ; the skin varies within narrow limits, from a
coppery or reddish brown and light chocolate on the
open elevated plateaux to a lighter brown with a faint
yellowish tinge in the low-lying wooded districts ; the
nose is normally long, narrow, and high -bridged or
aquiline ; the eye small, black, round, and somewhat deep-
set ; and even the head, formerly relied upon as a dis-
ETHNICAL AND HISTOPJCAL RELATIONS 21
tinctive trait, is now found to pass from the round type
of the Mixtecs, Zapotecs, and Maya-Quiches through the
medium form of the Aztecs and Chichemecs to that of
the long-headed Otomis and Caribs, without any marked
relation to geographical areas or vertical zones. The
social differences were doubtless here and there extremely
pronounced, as between the enlightened Mayas, great
architects, astronomers, and artificers, with a knowledge
of letters, and the debased Seri of Sonora, who eat their
food raw, raise no crops, and live entirely on the chase.
But such social differences, being often due to local
conditions, afford unsafe grounds for racial distinctions,
and in their grouping of these populations systematists
are still driven, as in other parts of the New World, to
fall back on the linguistic factor. Unless Otomi forms
an exception, all the known, languages in Mexico and
the isthmian region, as well as in the Guianas, belong
to the same polysynthetic order of speech as those of the
northern and southern continents. They also present
the same astonishing phonetic, lexical, and structural
divergences which constitute many of them stock
languages, that is, radically distinct idioms no longer
reducible to a common mother-tongue, and the number
of these stock languages appears to be as great as in
other parts of America. Subjoined is a tolerably com-
plete table 1 of the Mexican and Isthmian peoples, as
1 Based mainly on the almost exhaustive researches of Buschmann,
Orozco y Berra, and Pimental for Mexico ; and of Squier, Scherzer, Stoll
P. Levy, and Brasseur de Bourbourg for the Isthmian lands. From this
table are excluded both the Moqui, Utah, Comanche, Kizh, Netela,
and other members of the Shoshone (Snake) family before 1846
comprised in Mexican territory, and also the Zambos or Carib half-
breeds commonly called "Moscos" or "Mosquitos," who were re,
moved by the English from St. Vincent to Mosquitia in 1796, and
are to be distinguished from the true Caribs (Caribisi) of Nicaragua
and Honduras.
22
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
determined by their stock languages, with their chief
subdivisions and respective domains : —
Mexican and Central American Stock Races and Languages
huaxtecan
or Maya-
Quiche
n ah can or
Mexican
Guaicuran
Opata-Pima
Ttnne or I
Athapascan I
Seri
Tarascan
Matlalzinca .
Otomi. . -J
ZOQOE-MlXE .
MlXTECO-
Zapotec
HUAVE .
Chorotegan
Main Divisions.
Huaxtec, Totonac (?) . . j
Yucatecan [Maya), Lacandon,^
Itza, Pelen, Chaniabal, Ixil,
Punctunc, Quiche, Mam?, Ca-
chiquel, Sutughil, Pocoman,
Zendal, Choi (Mopan), Zotzil,
Comitec, Jocolobal, Chord,
Coxoh, Cakchi, Poconchi, Achi^
Aztec, Cuitlatec .
Aclmqui (Topia), Sabaibo, Chi-~\
chimec j
Pipit . ...
Xiquiran .....
Segua (extinct) ....
Guaicura, Cochimi Laiman (Edit, \
Didu) j
Opata, Eudeve, Ova, Tarahu-
mara, Cahita, Tepehuano, Ya-
qui, Yuma, Pima, Papagos,
Mayo, Cora, JIuichol, Acaxe,
Tubar
Apache ( Yavipai), Lipan,Llanero,
Yuta, Chemegue, Mxica-Ora'ive,
Faraon
Upanguaima, Gfuaima
Tarasco ....-!
Matlalzinca (Pirinda), Ocuilteco .
Otomiproper (Serrano), Mazahua, ~\
Meco, Pame j
Zoque, Mixe, Tapijulcpa
Mixteco, Tepuzculano, Xaltepec, ""
Haxiaco, Zapoteco, Chocho.
Amusgo, Cuicateco, Popoloco,
Papabuco, Mazateco, Solteco,
Chatino
Huave, Huazonteco, Chiapaneco .
Dirian, Nagrandan, Orolinan, ~\
3 f ungues j
Domain.
Puebla, Vera Cruz, Tani-
aulipas, S. Luis Potosi.
Yucatan, Tabasco, Chiapas,
Guatemala, Honduras.
Mexico, Pueblo, Hidalgo,
Colima, Micboacan, Guer-
rero, Morelos, Puebla.
Duraugo.
Guatemala, Salvador.
Nicaragua.
Pauama.
Lower California.
Sonora, Chihuahua, Duran-
go, Sinaloa, Jalisco, Za-
catecas.
Sonora, Chihuahua, Coa-
huila.
Sonora, Tuberon Island.
Micboacan, Guerrero, Ja-
lisco.
Michoacau, Mexico.
Guauajuato.Hidalgo.Quere-
taro, Mexico
Oajaca, Tabasco, Chiapas.
Oajaca, Puebla, Guerrero.
Oajaca, Chiapas.
Nicaragua.
To /ijLce p.22
ETHNICAL AND HISTORICAL RELATIONS
23
Stocks.
Main Divisions.
Domain.
{
Lencan or !
Chontal 1
f
Talamanca -!
CUNA . . -J
Carib . . -\
Arawak .
Tuca, Wulwa, Rama, Tungla, \
Carca, Paya, Sova, Hicaco \_
(Xicaco), Laman, Melchora 1
Siquia, Guatuso (?) J
Chirripo, Gabecar, Viceita, Tiribie, \
Bribri, Boruca (Brunca), Ter- J-
reba Quaymi J
Durasco, Darien [Paparo), Choco,\
Queve (Cueve), Tule (Ti) J
Caribisi, Zuma, Waikna, Guana-\
hacabibes {extinct) J
Cibunys, Lucayans (all extinct) .
Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa
Rica.
Costa Rica, Panama.
Panama.
Nicaragua, Honduras, Cuba.
Cuba, Bahamas.
(For the Guianas see vol. South America, p. 41.)
The Native Languages
Several of the idioms here bracketed together present
such profound differences in their structure, vocabulary,
and phonesis that they are regarded by some philologists
as stock languages. Such are especially the Opata and
Pima, with one or two of their chief branches, the
Zoque and Mixe, the Mixtec and Zapotec, the Bribri
and others of the Talamanca group, and the Choco classed
with the Cuna family, although showing marked affinities
with the Baudo still surviving in the San Juan valley,
Colombia. On the other hand, a great many radically
distinct idioms have disappeared since the discovery, at
which time as many as two hundred stock languages
were current in Mexico and the Isthmian lands, as far
at least as may be inferred from the imperfect indications
afforded by the statements of the early writers.
Nearly all these languages belonged, as stated, to the
polysynthetic order of speech, the peculiar character of
which is elsewhere described (South America, p. 34).
Some, such as the Aztec, the Mixtec, and the Tarascan,
present these characters even in an exaggerated form, the
24 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL
tendency to clip the words and fuse the parts of speech
in a single composite sentence resulting in terms of pro-
digious length. Massive concretions of sixteen, eighteen,
or even twenty syllables are quite common, as in the
Mixtec yodoyokavuandisasilcandiyosanninahasasan, to
walk with a shambling gait ; the Aztec totanquitlax-
caUillaquelpacolli, a kind of maize cake ; and in the
same language Popocatepetl is contracted from Popocani-
tepetl, the " Smoking Mountain." In the Carib ara-
metdkualuhatibubasubutuiruni, " know that he will con-
ceal thee," two verbs with their relational particles and
pronominal elements are merged in one, and an almost
universal feature is the union of the transitive verb
with its direct nominal object, as in the Tarascan hopo-
cuni, to wash the hands, hopodini, to wash the ears, and
so on. The principle is carried so far that it is im-
possible to speak in an abstract way of the act of washing
independently of the thing to be washed, so that if a
Tarascan is asked to say what is " to wash " in his
language, he will immediately reply wash-what ? wash-
face ? wash-clothes ?
An exception has been claimed for the Otomi, which,
by a native grammarian, has been described as a mono-
syllabic language like Chinese, and on this assumption
some fanciful theories have been advanced on the Asiatic
origin and early relations of the Mexican peoples. But
it has been shown that Otomi also was at first poly-
synthetic, its present apparent monosyllabic state being
due to profound disintegration and phonetic decay, as is
evident from its more archaic Mazahua dialect, which is
" still decidedly polysynthetic " (Charancey).
ETHNICAL AND HISTORICAL RELATIONS 25
The Conquest — Geographical Exploration
As in other parts of Latin America, the work of ex-
ploration and conquest went on at first hand in hand in
the Antilles, in Mexico, and the Isthmian region. Thus,
as soon as the native states and independent tribal
groups were brought under Spanish control — a work
accomplished before the close of the sixteenth century —
the main geographical features of all these lands were
also roughly determined, and nothing remained except
to fill in the details — a work not yet everywhere com-
pleted. The twofold process began on 12th October
1492 at Guanahani, one of the Bahamas, which was the
first land reached by Columbus on his first voyage, and
was by him renamed San Salvador. By a strange fatality
both of these names have long disappeared from the
maps, where they never had a sure " local habitation."
Hence their identification has given rise to much con-
troversy, though the choice certainly lies between the
present Watling, Cat, Mariguana, and Atwood or Samana
Cay, this last having perhaps the best claim to the dis-
tinction. 1
From this point the great navigator reached Cuba
in a few days (28th October), and during his three
subsequent voyages discovered a large number of the
Antilles as far south as Trinidad (1498), besides coasting
the Panama and Nicaraguan seaboard (1502-4), re-
maining all the time firmly convinced, despite all the
protests and arguments of his associates, that he had
arrived at the India of the Old World, and had thus
nearly circumnavigated the globe. Hence, also, his
great disappointment at the failure of his efforts to find
the marine passage, which he naturally supposed must
1 G. V. Fox, United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, Report, 1880.
26 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
somewhere exist in the Isthmian region, and by following
which he would again reach Spain, sailing continually
toward the setting sun. But although the mistake was
discovered long before the globe was proved by the
voyage of Magellan to be very much larger than
Columbus had supposed, it was already too late to
correct his terminology, and to this day the Antilles
remain the " West Indies " to distinguish them from the
" East Indies," while the American aborigines have
everywhere become " Indians." ]
On the mainland the progress of discovery and con-
quest proceeded almost simultaneously in two opposite
directions — from Panama through Costa Eica north-
wards, and from Mexico through the Isthmus of Tehuan-
tepec southwards. Notwithstanding the widespread fame
of the great Aztec empire, Mexico itself was not dis-
covered till 1517, when the Cuban planter, Hernandez
de Cordoba, enlarging the range of his slave-hunting
raids, reached Cape Catoche at the north-east angle of
Yucatan, and thence followed the north and west coasts
of the peninsula as far as Champoton on Campeche Bay.
Here further progress was arrested by a disastrous
collision with the Mayas ; but the exploration of the
seaboard was continued in 1518 by Juan de Grijalva
from this point for 600 miles round the bay to the
present seaport of Tampico.
Thus was prepared the way for the memorable ex-
pedition of Fernando Cortes, who, after reducing the
natives of Tabasco (1519), sailed north to S. Juan de
Ullua, and here founded the settlement of Vera Cruz.
From this point he struck inland through the territory
1 Another curious result of the initial error is that we now avoid
applying their proper name to the true Asiatic Indians, who have become
Aryans in the north, Dravidians in the south, and collectively Hindus.
ETHNICAL AND HISTORICAL RELATIONS 27
of the friendly Tlaxealas, overthrew the Aztecs in the
great battle of Otumba (July 1520), and after many
vicissitudes captured their Emperor, Montezuma, with
his capital, Tenochtitlan, the present city of Mexico
(1521).
Then followed Cortes's almost more astonishing march
from Mexico through North Guatemala to Honduras
(1524-25), which had been seized by a rival adventurer,
Cristoval de Olid, in 1523, while his lieutenant, Pedro
de Alvarado, at the head of a small band, overran the
western parts of Guatemala. Before his rebellious action
in Honduras, Olid, with his associate Sandoval, had
penetrated through the provinces of Michoacan and
Colima to Manzanillo on the Pacific. A few years later
the whole of the west coast with the Gulf of California
was surveyed by Ulloa, Gimenez, Alarcon, Grijalva, and
Cortes (1530-40), Alarcon even ascending the Eio
Buena-Guia, now known as the Colorado, for a distance
of " 85 leagues." This parched, arid region received its
name of California (Calida fornax, " hot furnace ") from
Cortes in 1535, while the Gulf was called the "Ver-
milion Sea," either from the abundance of red sea- weed
floating about, or more probably from the deep-red colour
of its sandy shores. These preliminary coast surveys
were completed by Cabrillo, who in 1542 rounded the
headland of Cape St. Lucas, and coasted the Californian
sea-board far beyond San Francisco Bay to a point
supposed to be the present Cape Mendocino, about 40°
N. lat.
Simultaneously with the maritime surveys the in-
terior of North Mexico was being rapidly opened up by
Nufio de Guzman, who occupied and laid waste the
provinces of Jalisco and Sinaloa in 1530-32 ; by Nunez
Cabeza de Vaca, who, after crossing the Ploridas, was the
28 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL
first to reach Mexico from the north (1536); by Marcos
de Niza (1539) and Coronado (1540-42), who advanced
beyond the present political frontier into the Pueblo
territories of New Mexico and Arizona, the latter also
founding settlements in the rugged uplands of Sonora.
New Spain
Thus in the two decades that followed the overthrow
of the Aztec power, the restless Spanish pioneers had
surveyed the whole of the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards,
had crossed from ocean to ocean at several points, pene-
trated northwards far into regions now forming part of
the United States, and southwards to the utmost limits
of Montezuma's empire. All the provinces of the
empire, as well as all the other civilised States — Mixteca,
Zapoteca, Michioacan, Tarasco, Matlalzinca, Totonac, and
the independent Maya-Quiche territories — were reduced
and grouped together in a single political system, which
received the proud title of New Spain, and was at first
administered by a Governor, later by Audiencias and
Viceroys, with seat of government in the city of
Mexico.
This magnificent colonial empire, which, before the
loss of the northern provinces now forming part of the
American Union, must have had an area of over 2,000,000
square miles, lasted just three centuries, the war of in-
dependence having been brought to a successful close in
1821 after a severe struggle of eleven years. Then, by
an extension of the name of the capital justified on
historic grounds, New Spain became Mexico, and since
1857 the Mexican Kepublic, a federation of self-governing
States, amongst which is included the province of Chiapas,
detached in 1823 from Guatemala.
ETHNICAL AND HISTORICAL RELATIONS 29
With the conquest and exploration of Costa Eica are
associated the names of Espinoza, who surveyed the west
coast in 1514, and Alvaro de Acuna, who, with his
associate Juan Solano, invaded the territory, and founded
some settlements on the plateaux of San Jose and Cartago
about 1520.
.Nicaragua, which had already been coasted on the
Atlantic side by Columbus in 1502, was reached in 1522
from the Gulf of Nicoya by Gil Gonzalez Davila, who
sent his lieutenant, Cordova, to circumnavigate the great
lake. This region takes its name from the powerful
chief Nicaragua (written also Micaragua), who ruled over
most of the land between the Pacific and the lakes, and
gave Davila a friendly welcome. Then the Spaniards,
advancing from this district northwards, and under
Hernando Ponce from Honduras southwards, rapidly
overran a great part of the country ; and after several
conflicts between the rival captains, Granada was founded
in 15 24 as the capital of a separate but short-lived
government.
Honduras was the first part of the mainland visited
by Columbus, who, after occupying the Isle of Pines in
1502, had sighted the hills about Punta Casinas, that
is, the present Cape Honduras. In 1522 Puerto Caballos
was discovered by Davila, and in 1535, ten years after
the foundation of Trujillo, the conquest of the country
was begun by Olid, Pedro Alvarado, Chaves, and Cordova,
and completed by Caceres, about four-fifths of the natives
having perished during the process.
The occupation of Guatemala by Cortes and Alvarado
has already been referred to. From Guatemala the
same Alvarado passed into Salvador, where, after
much bloodshed, he reduced the powerful Pipil nation
about 1524. Four years later the capital, San
30 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Salvador, was founded by his brother Jorge (or
Diego) Alvarado.
The "Kingdom of Guatemala "
During the Spanish regime, which for Central America
was brought to an end in 1821, the whole of the
Isthmian region between Mexico and Panama was com-
prised in a single administrative division — the
" Captain -Generalship of Guatemala," or, as it was
popularly called, the " Kingdom of Guatemala " — under
an administration independent of New Spain, and directly
responsible to the Home Government. To the Spanish
rule succeeded a central provisional Government, which
in 1824 was constituted a Federal Eepublic of the five
States of Guatemala, Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and
Costa Kica — that is, the whole region except the colony
of British Honduras acquired by England in 1797.
This arrangement lasted till 1838, when the partnership
was dissolved, and since then the five federal States have
formed five separate republics. Including British Honduras
the collective area of Central America is estimated at
225,000 square miles, with a population of 3,900,000.
General Table of Areas and Populations
Including the Guianas— British, Dutch, and French —
the Greater and Lesser Antilles and Bahamas, with the
outlying little groups of Trinidad and Tobago, the
Bermudas and Barbados, the various lands which
are dealt with in the present volume have a total
area of over 1,230,000 square miles, with a popula-
tion roughly estimated at 26,000,000, distributed as
under : —
a
e
V.
-
(• I. !•
M /■; .v J C
."'3'/" V'
MEXICO. CENTRAL AMERICA
AND
WEST INDIES
ETHNICAL & HISTORICAL RELATIONS
Scab erf Ritgi-ffcmi--
fr »si.
i
irJi^-fiBfe
^"V"
<■*>.■"'
=
»
ETHNICAL AND HISTORICAL RELATIONS
31
52
Z K
0<j
05
Mexico
/"Guatemala
Honduras
Salvador
Nicaragua
Costa Rica
Panama
L British Honduras
Cuba, with I. of Pines
Hispaniola : —
Haiti
Santo Domingo
3 ■
1 Puerto Rico
Jamaica
f Windward Group
| Leeward Group .
1 Trinidad and Tobago
I Bahamas
Bermudas .
Barbados .
I British Guiana .
<. -! Dutch Guiana
5 French Guiana .
"5 V
Area in sq.
miles.
767,000
48,300
43,000
7,230
49,200
18,400
31,570
7,560
44,000
10,204
18,045
3,600
4,200
584
700
1,868
5,500
20
168
90,000
46,000
34,000
Pop.
1890-1909.
13,605,000
1,990,000
500,000
1,115,000
420,000
360,000
330,000
43,000
2,049,000
2,030,000
610,000
1,100,000
849,000
180,600
127,000
275,000
60,000
17,000
194,000
301,000
84,000
40,000
Total
1,231,149
26,289,600
CHAPTEK III
MEXICO : PHYSICAL FEATUKES
Extent and Break up of the Spanish Viceroyalty — Boundaries and Ex-
tent of the Mexican Republic — Areas and Populations — Constituent
Elements of the present Mexican Population — Physical Features —
The Plateau Formations — Their Geological History — The Western
and Eastern Sierra Madres — Scenery of the Western Range — Mineral
Wealth — Geological Formation — The Mexican Volcanic System —
Popocatepetl — Ixtaccihuatl — Orizaba — Cofre de Perote — Jorullo —
Earthquakes — Hot Springs — The Bramidos of Guanajuato.
Extent and Break up of the Spanish Viceroyalty
In colonial times the frontiers of New Spain might
have been described as boundless, in the strict sense of
the term. No doubt they were then, as now, fairly
well limited towards the south, where Mexico is con-
terminous south-eastwards with Guatemala and British
Honduras, while it is confined east and west by the
Atlantic (Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea) and
Pacific Oceans. But towards the north the viceroyalty
broadened out for unknown distances in almost every
direction, comprising or claiming at one time all the
land about the Gulf and thence westwards to California,
and northwards to the headwaters of the Missouri.
But such a vast area could not be effectively
occupied, and the pretensions of Spain to a great part
MEXICO 33
of the northern continent were challenged at an early
date, especially by the French, both in Florida and,
more successfully, in the Mississippi basin. By this
intrusion of the French in the Gulf region, Florida
became cut off from the rest of the Spanish main, and
had to be ceded in 1820 to the United States, which
had bought the French out of Louisiana in 1801.
But what Louisiana meant nobody quite knew, and
in the opinion of some international jurists the ex-
pression covered everything between the south-eastern
States and the Eio Grande del Xorte. In any case
the political barriers were powerless to prevent the ex-
pansion of the Anglo-American people beyond the Lower
Mississippi, and thus arose those frontier troubles dur-
ing which Texas first set up as an independent republic,
and then joined the Union by the treaty of Washington,
signed on April 25, 1838. Then followed the
disastrous war of 1846-47, resulting in the Guadalupe-
Hidalgo and Gadsden treaties, by which everything
beyond the present northern limits of Mexico was
ceded to the United States. By these various losses
the republic was reduced to considerably less than half
its former size, as shown in the appended table : —
Sq. miles.
Texas and neighbouring tracts, annexed 1838 . . . 362,487
Arizona, New Mexico, California, Colorado, Nevada, Utah,
and part of Wyoming, ceded 1848-53 .... 568,103
Total 930,590
Boundaries and Extent of the Mexican Republic
What remains, some 770,000 square miles, presents
the form of a cornucopia, broadening out northwards
where the boundary towards the L T nited States follows
D
34 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
the Eio Grande from its mouth for 1136 miles beyond
El Paso, Texas, to 31° 47' N. lat. From this point
it runs for 100 miles along the same parallel, and
thence south to 31° 20' N. lat., which is followed west
to 111° W. long., where the line is drawn straight to
the Eio Colorado, 20 miles below its confluence with
the Eio Gila. Thence it ascends the Colorado to the
old line between Upper and Lower California, from
which point it is continued straight to the Pacific
Ocean just below San Diego Bay, a total distance of
674 miles from El Paso, and 1833 from the starting-
point on the Gulf of Mexico. This long and somewhat
irregular frontier line makes Mexico now conterminous
towards the Union with the States of Texas, New
Mexico, Arizona, and California, and as the line is
drawn clear of the " Vermilion Sea," it leaves to the
republic the whole of the Gulf and Peninsula of Lower
California.
Southwards the " cornucopia," with its concave side
sweeping round the Gulf of Mexico, is separated from
Guatemala by another irregular line which, as determined
by the treaties of September 1882 and April 1895,
runs from the Pacific Coast at 14° 24' N. lat. up the
little Eio Zuchiate, and thence north by east to the
Eio Usumacinta, with which it coincides to about 17°
N. From this point the boundary was before 1895
formed by a conventional straight line eastwards to
British Honduras. But since then it follows three
straight lines, east, north, and again east along the
borders of the provinces of Tabasco, Campeche, and
Yucatan to the north-west side of the English colony.
Here the line, as laid down by the treaty of July 1895,
runs from the Bocalarchica inlet between Yucatan and
Ambergris Bay to and up the Eio Hondo south-
MEXICO
35
westwards to the converging point of Yucatan and
Guatemala.
Areas and Populations
As thus finally delimited, Mexico still remains large
enough to comprise as many as twenty-seven federal
States with two territories, and the Federal District, with
areas and populations as under : — ■
Area in sq.
Census.
Census.
Atlantic States —
miles.
Pop. 1895.
Pop. 1900.
Taraaulipas .
32,128
206,502
218,948
Vera Cruz
29,201
866,355
981,030
Tabasco
10,072
134,839
159,834
Carupeche . . .
18,087
88,302
86,542
Yucatan
35,203
298,850
314,087
Total .
124,692
1,594,848
1,760,441
Inland States —
Chihuahua .
87,802
262,771
327,784
Coahuila
63,569
241,026
296,938
Nuevo Leon .
23,592
309,252
327,937
Durango
38,009
286,906
370,294
Zacatecas
24,757
452,578
462,190
San Luis Potosi
25,316
568,449
575,432
Aguas Calientes
2,950
104,615
102,416
Guanajuato .
11,370
1,062,554
1,061,724
Queretaro
3,556
228,551
232,389
Hidalgo
8,917
558,769
605,051
Mexico .
9,247
S41,618
934,463
Federal District
463
476,413
541,516
Morelos
2,773
159,355
160,115
Tlaxcala
1,595
166,803
172,315
Puebla .
12,204
984,413
6,704,073
1,021,133
Total .
316,125
7,191,697
Pacific States —
Lower California (Ter.)
58,328
42,245
47,624
Sonora .
76,900
191,281
221,682
Sinaloa .
33,671
258,865
296,701
Tepic (Ter.) .
11,257
148,776
150,098
Area in sq.
miles.
31.846
2,272
22,874
24,996
35,382
27,222
Census.
Pop. 1895.
1.107,227
55,752
894,763
417,621
884,909
319,599
4,321,038
12, 619', 959
Census.
Pop. 1900.
1,153,891
65,115
930,033
479,205
948,633
360,799
324,768
4,653,781
766,185
13,605,919
36 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Pacific States — continued
Jalisco .
Colima .
Michoacan
Guerrero
Oajaca .
Chiapas
Total
Grand Total
Constituent Elements of the Present Mexican Population
Here an increase of nearly 1,000,000 in the whole
population is recorded between the years 1895-1900, and
if some estimates could be trusted, a much higher figure
would have to be quoted. In any case the increase has
been going on during the whole of the nineteenth century,
or at least since the year 1810, when a more or less
trustworthy enumeration of the inhabitants of New
Spain was prepared by Don Fernando Navarro of
Noriega, and published in Humboldt's Political Essay.
The result for that date was 6,122,000, where a de-
duction of probably over a million must be allowed for
the vast though thinly-peopled northern regions at that
time included in the viceroyalty. This would leave not
more than about 5,000,000 for the provinces now com-
prised in the republic, so that the figure has been
trebled since 1810, if Don Matias Eomero's estimate of
15,000,000 for 1898 can be taken as approximately
correct. 1
But the progress has not been uniform for all
sections of the population, as shown by the subjoined
table of the returns for the three main divisions — full-
1 Coffee and India-rubber Culture in Mexico, New York, 1898.
MEXICO 37
blood Europeans, full-blood Indians and Mestizos in
1810 and 1879: —
1810. Percent. 1879. Percent.
Whites . . 1,107,000 18 1,900,000 20
Aborigines . 3,676,000 60 3,513,000 43
Mixed . . 1,338,000 22 4,083,000 37
For 1900 the respective percentages were stated to be
20, 38, and 42, and it would appear that, while the
proportions have remained about stationary during the
last quarter of a century, the whites have been nearly
doubled, the Mestizos trebled, and the Indians reduced
by 16 per cent on the whole population since 1810.
There is considerable doubt as to the accuracy of some
of these figures, as shown by the fact that in 1882 the
Indians were estimated at no less than 3,765,000, im-
plying an actual increase of some 250,000 in three years
(1879-82). But so great is the difficulty of distinguish-
ing at times between full-blood and half-caste natives,
that such discrepancies are not surprising, and the pre-
vailing impression that the whites are holding their
own, the Mestizos steadily increasing, and the Indians
falling off, or at least merging in the general population
of Mexican nationality, may be regarded as fairly well
established by the statistical returns.
Physical Features — The Plateau Formations — Their
Geological History
From the physiographic stand-point, Mexico is clearly
divided by the low-lying Tehuantepec Isthmus into two
distinct geographical regions. The section south of
the isthmus belongs partly to the Central American
(Guatemalan) mountain system, partly to the Yucatan
limestone plateau formation, which is of coralline
38 . COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
(marine) origin. The section north of the isthmus is
also usually described as a plateau formation, enclosed
by two mountain ranges — the Sierra Madre Oriental and
Sierra Madre Occidental, that is, the " Eastern " and
" Western " Sierra Madres. But, notwithstanding their
great present development and altitude, ranging from
6000 to 9000 feet and upwards, the Mexican plateaux
are not now regarded as tectonic, that is, belonging to
the original framework of the land, but rather as later
formations, slowly built up long after the constitution of
the two very ancient crystalline and archsean Sierra
Madres. The process would appear to be somewhat
analogous to that by which the river valleys of the
Pamir region have been gradually raised to their present
high level, the accumulation of detritus from the en-
closing escarpments proceeding at a more rapid rate
than the scouring action of the running waters. " Much
of this plateau has been formed by a progressive and
long-continued accumulation of detrital material, re-
presenting in part the distributed products resulting
from mountain destruction and in greater part the
discharges from an almost endless number of volcanic
openings. These have, as it were, filled the original
valleys to their lips, and it is thus upon the new surface
that the more recent or existing valleys have been
imposed " (A. Heilprin).
This view is confirmed by the graduated disposition
of the tablelands, as if they had been filled in at
different periods, and now rise in successive terraces from
Tehuantepec through Oajaca and Puebla northwards to
the Anahuac or Mexican plateau. Thus are presented
to the traveller ascending by train from Vera Cruz to
the interior that astonishing succession of terraced
plains, and steep wooded escarpments, rising higher and
MEXICO 39
higher to an altitude of 7000 or 8000 feet. Here is
developed the great central Anahuac} or Mexican, Table-
land, next to those of Tibet and the Bolivian Andes,
the loftiest and most extensive on the globe. From the
lacustrine Valley of Mexico it stretches away at a nearly
uniform elevation of 7500 feet for interminable distances
northwards to the United States frontier about El Paso
on the Bio Grande del Norte. To convey an idea of its
uniform character writers have often remarked on the
possibility of driving in a carriage all the way from the
city of Mexico to El Paso, and even beyond it to Santa
Fe in New Mexico, across some 15° of latitude. In
a total distance of 1225 miles the absolute incline is
only 3632 feet, from 7350 at the capital to 3718 at El
Paso. With this may be compared the fall of 7350 feet
from the capital to Vera Cruz at sea-level, a distance of
only 264 miles by the railway vid Orizaba, or 340
miles by the line through Jalapa, both of which have to
climb the escarpments of the eastern Sierra Madre to
reach the Valley of Mexico.
But this surprising uniformity " is here and there
broken by the so-called barrancas, enormous fissures, or
rugged depressions sinking to depths of many hundreds
and even a thousand feet into the ground, often measur-
ing several miles across, and usually clothed with a rich
arboreal vegetation. No doubt the term " barranca " is
applied in a general way to all deep valleys, ravines, or
gulches with steep sides. But in Mexico it has a special
reference to those yawning chasms which appear to be
1 This term was first applied by the Aztecs to the Valley of Mexico,
where they founded their capital, and was then extended with the growth
of their empire to the central plateau generally. Meaning "Amid the
Waters " in reference originally to the lakelets of the valley, it acquired a
larger significance when applied to the whole region lying between the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
40 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
formed by the slow action of running waters, especially
in soft and gravelly soil. Where the ground is fertile
and the water abundant the steep slopes of the gorges
are covered with luxuriant growths of trees and shrubs
down to the margin of the streams winding between
their leafy banks. Amongst the most remarkable of
these romantic formations are the Barranca de Mochititle
between Guadalajara and Tepic, and that of Beltram,
which descends the western slopes from Guadalajara to
Colima. In the state of Chihuahua Carl Lumholtz
surveyed three very large barrancas, those — -B. de Cobre,
B. de Batopilas, and B. de San Carlos — which traverse
the mighty mass of the sierra " like huge cracks,"
running nearly east and west, and growing rapidly
deeper till they disappear in the Sinaloa lowlands at
depths of from 4000 to 5000 feet. 1
The Western and Eastern Sierra Madres
While the connection formerly supposed to exist
between the Mexican Sierra Madres and the Andean
Cordilleras has been disproved by the geologists of the
French expedition of 1864, the nature of their more
probable relation to the northern Eocky Mountains has
not yet been clearly established. That they form a
southern continuation of that mighty system at least as
far as the transverse igneous chain about 19° N. lat.,
beyond which both ranges gradually converge in the
State of Oajaca is likely enough, but, pending further
research, cannot be regarded as free from doubt.
Both ranges run nearly parallel with the shore-line,
the eastern at distances of 10 to 100 miles from the
Gulf of Mexico, the western approaching much nearer to
1 Geograph. Jour., Feb. 1903.
MEXICO
41
the Pacific Coast, towards which its northern section
also falls more abruptly. The Pacific range is, moreover,
the loftier and more continuous, maintaining with little
interruption a mean altitude of from 10,000 to 12,000
feet for 2000 miles from Oajaca far into Arizona.
Parallel with it is the Sierra de la Giganta, which
traverses the Californian peninsula at a mean height of
PEAKS OF CANDELARIA — RANGE WEST OF VALLEY OF MEXICO.
perhaps 4000 feet, but falling precipitously, not towards
the Pacific, but on its inner side down to the gulf.
Hence the peninsula would appear to have been detached
from the mainland when occurred the general upheaval
which produced the vast chasm now flooded by the Gulf
of California.
The far less elevated and more interrupted eastern
Sierra rises in some places little above the level of the
42 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TPvAVEL
central plateau, and has consequently the aspect more of
an escarpment than of a true mountain range. In the
Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas sections, all called " Sierra
Madres." it is scarcely more than 6000 feet high, and is
crossed at several points by passes less than 5000 feet
high. Such are those on the routes between Tula and
Tampico (4820), and between Saltillo and Monterey
(3400).
North of the Cofre de Perote volcano in Vera Cruz
the eastern Sierra Madre skirts the shores of the Gulf of
Mexico without any break as far as the Bio Panuco on
the frontier of the State of Tamaulipas. In this section
it slopes somewhat gently seawards, and much more
abruptly westwards down to the Anahuac plateau.
Beyond the Panuco the main range, having thrown off
several spurs and ridges towards the central plains, begins
to diverge gradually from the coast-line, taking a normal
north-westerly trend along the eastern edge of the
plateau for the rest of its course to the Eio Grande. In
Guanajuato are developed three separate chains, which
are continued for a long way in nearly parallel lines, the
most easterly being the Sierras de Tamaulipas and
Martinez. Beyond Nuevo Leon the whole system is
continued through Coahuila, where it skirts the Bolson
de Mapimi wilderness on the east, and runs parallel
with the lower course of the Eio Grande until it merges
northwards in the Apache range of Western Texas.
Scenery of the Western Range
When studied in detail the contrasts between the
Pacific and Atlantic systems become still more marked,
the former being generally of a more rugged character,
and presenting a far greater diversity of outline in the
MEXICO 43
varied forms of its peaks, domes, and crests, in its cirques,
upland valleys, and romantic lake scenery. In the
Sonoran highlands especially there is an endless variety
of scenic effects — groups of high dome-topped hills clothed
with long grasses and studded with clumps of mountain
oak or dwarf pine ; huge chasms encircled by tall crags
and steep, water-worn gullies ; long ridges covered with
FALLS OF JUAXACATLAX, OUTLET OF LAKE CHAPALA.
pine and cypress forests, and here and there streaked
with snow ; the so-called llanos, corresponding to the
charming " natural parks " of the Rocky Mountains,
meadow-like level spaces irrigated with sparkling streams
and interspersed with clusters of stately trees — all
following in rapid succession in the course of a day's
journey.
Farther south the scene again changes, and in -the
very heart of the Sierra Madre the traveller comes upon
4:4 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
a lovely lacustrine district scarcely surpassed in the world
for the splendour of its varied beauties. Here are in the
State of Jiscoal the magnificent Lake Chapala, and in
Michoacan, Lakes Cuitzeo and Patzcuaro, the first a sheet
of water 60 miles by 20, the other two about half that
size, but all distinguished by every feature of natural
charm imaginable. On an island in Lake Cuitzeo Mr.
0. H. Howarth visited " a small independent tribe of
peaceable Indians here established from time immemorial,
with customs, language, and physical characteristics
distinct from others in the same State.'' *
In another part of the Sierra, overlooking the plains
of Durango, the same traveller came upon a remarkable
freak of nature locally called La Mtierte, " Death," because
seen from a certain point of view it presents the outlines
of a gigantic human skeleton, one hand on its hip, the
other raised aloft, and one foot lifted, in the attitude of a
grotesque dance. So correctly carried out are all the
details, that it seems difficult to believe the figure has
not been touched up by human agency, though its great
size and position preclude any such possibility.
Mineral Wealth
Such eccentric rock formations occur especially where
pressure has been most severe over a limited area, and in
the Sierras this pressure is found to be in direct relation
with an amazing wealth of metalliferous, and especially
of silver veins. The " mother-veins," as they are called,
are almost invariably disposed in the direction from
north-east to south-west, so much so that those running
in any other direction are disregarded by the more
experienced miners. They have also, as a rule, a nearly
1 Jour. Geograph. Soc. 1895, ii. p. 425.
MEXICO 45
vertical position, the consequence being that the work-
ings carried out on the " rat's plan," that is, following
the vein wherever it leads, have penetrated in some of
the old mines to depths of from 1500 to 2000 feet.
Some of the ores contain very high percentages — 50, 60,
or even 80 — of metal, and solid nuggets of great size are
not unknown. " One mine in Chihuahua produced from
a globular cavity a solid silver ball weighing 445 lbs.,
in which scarcely any foreign matter was present. Many
of the tales of silver production which sound more or less
fabulous are undoubtedly quite correct. A single mine
has been known to produce the value of a hundred
million dollars ; and this being a matter of official record
at a period when the metal was subject to taxation
either by the church or the municipal governments, or
both, the return is far more likely to have been under-
stated than exaggerated" (Howarth, p. 427).
Scarcely any of the horizontal layers appear to be
very rich in ores, which occur mainly in the metamorphic,
palaeozoic, and hypogene rocks of the eastern Sierra, as far
north as Chihuahua, and westwards to the Gulf of
California in Sinaloa and Sonora. These two provinces,
which, owing to their remoteness and rugged character,
had been neglected in colonial and later times, are now
known to contain vast stores both of gold and silver.
But nearly all the historical mines are grouped about the
central plateau at altitudes of from 5500 to 9500 feet.
A line drawn from Guadalupe y Calvo on the east slope
of the eastern Sierra Madre in south Chihuahua through
Guanajuato and the capital southwards to Oajaca, thus
cutting the main axis of upheaval at an angle of 45°,
will intersect perhaps the richest argentiferous region in
the world. Thus, although most of the Mexican highlands
are interspersed with metalliferous ores, the chief deposits
46 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
occur in the Pacific range, and throughout its entire
length of about 1600 miles, with a normal trend from
north-west to south-east between Sonora and Oajaca.
Humboldt's prediction that Mexico would become
" the storehouse of the world " has already been largely
verified so far as regards the " white metal." Yet it is the
opinion of the best authorities that not more than one-
tenth of its mining resources has been discovered, and
even this estimate is believed by Eomero to be well
within the mark. The present output of silver repre-
sents over one-third of the world's produce, although
drawn mainly from the three mineral districts of
Guanajuato, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosi, the last
mentioned being the chief centre of the industry towards
the eastern Sierra Madre. The Veta Madre lode of Guana-
juato alone yielded over £50,000,000 between 1556 and
1803, and the output of all the silver mines exceeded
£8,544,000 in 1909.
Gold, hitherto little mined, is known to abound in the
Californian Gulf States, and an almost untouched
auriferous belt, comparable to those of California,
Klondyke, and Transvaal, has been traced from Sonora
along the west side of the Pacific range all the way to
Oajaca. But the industry has scarcely yet been seriously
developed, and from the sixteenth century to the present
time not more than £25,000,000 of gold coinage has
been issued by the Mexican mints, which during that
period have flooded the world with £680,000,000 of
silver crowns and doubloons. Since 1537 the total
mintage has been £708,000,000, thus distributed: —
Colonial Epoch (1537-1821) .... £430,000,000
Independence (1822-1872) .... 162,000,000
Republic (1873-1908) 116,000,000
£708,000,000
MEXICO 47
In the returns is included a small amount — about
£2,220,000 — of copper, a metal which exists in large
quantities in Lower California, Aguas Calientes, San
Luis Potosi, and other districts. In 1908 the output
exceeded 166.000 metric tons, mostly from the Boleo
mine near Santa Eosalia on the Gulf of California.
Iron ores are widely diffused, and generally contain
high percentages of pure metal. The Gerro del Mercado,
discovered in 1562 in Durango by Gines Vazquez del
Mercado, and named from him, is a hill 640 feet high,
containing over 300,000,000 tons of solid ore down to
the level of the plain, below which the mineral, averaging
about 70 per cent of metal, extends to an unknown
depth. Several mines are already worked in Durango,
Zimapan, Tulacingo, Leon, and other districts, and there
is sufficient to supply the world for centuries to come.
Coal, though less abundant, occurs in the States of
Coahuila, Michoacan, Guadalajara, Oajaca, and especially
Sonora. Here the Carboniferous area contains a bed of
excellent anthracite, 30 miles long and from 5 to 16
feet thick, enough to supply the whole Pacific Coast for
many decades.
Geological Formation
Although the whole land has been traversed and
partly surveyed by many skilled mining engineers and
other experts, its geological history has not yet been
thoroughly elucidated. But in the higher ranges the
prevailing formations are known to be very old plutonic
rocks — granites, syenites, diorites, mineral-bearing por-
phyries, trachytes, basalts — in many places associated
with sedimentary, archsean, and metamorphic masses.
Metamorphic formations, partly perhaps upheaved, partly
interpenetrated and overlaid by shales, greenstones,
48 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL
silicious schists, and especially unfossiliferous limestones,
enter largely into the fabric of the central plateau.
Horizontal and stratified beds, rare in the south,
occupy wide areas in the north, where chalks and sand-
stones prevail in the Eio Grande and Eio Gila valleys.
To these chalks and sandstones may perhaps be due the
vast sandy wastes characteristic of the northern provinces,
as well as of the conterminous States of Texas and New
Mexico in the American Union. Such is especially the
Bolson de Mwpimi, a boundless rocky wilderness covering
some 50,000 square miles in Coahuila and neighbouring
districts.
The Mexican Volcanic System
Owing to a curious misuse of the term " volcan/ r
which is locally applied to almost any lofty cone or
eminence, burning mountains are popularly supposed to
be as plentiful in Mexico as in Ecuador itself. Such is
far from being the case, and in point of fact there appear
to be not more than about a dozen true volcanoes in the
whole republic north of Tehuantepec. Even most of
these are either quiescent or extinct, and one or two
alone can be described as active, using the expression in
a somewhat elastic sense. All belong to a single system,
which is disposed nearly in the direction from east to
west between the two oceans, consequently transversely
to the norma] trend of both Sierra Madres. Like those
of Java or Kamchatka, they seem to indicate a compara-
tively recent line of igneous fracture, which intersects
the two main ranges about 19° N. lat. near the southern
edge of the Anahuac plateau a little south of the city of
Mexico. That they are of late formation, and rose above
the volcanic fault long after the upheaval of the crystal-
line Sierras, is evident from their constituent elements —
MEXICO 49
obsidian, pumice, scoriae, lavas, tufts, and other modern
eruptive matter, with great quantities of almost pure
sulphur, thickly lining the inner sides of some of the not
yet obliterated craters.
Notwithstanding, or because of, their recent birth,
several of the cones tower some thousands of feet above
the highest peaks of the Sierras, and at least two —
Popocatepetl and Orizaba — are overtopped in the northern
continent by the Alaskan Mount St. Elias alone. As
shown in the appended table of altitudes north of Tehuan-
tepec, where the volcanoes are distinguished by an asterisk
( # ), none of the crests of the Sierras reach 14,000 feet ;
hence they all fall below the snow-line, which, although
very variable, scarcely anywhere descends much below
15,000 feet. How inconstant this factor is may be seen
from the fact that during the ascent of Ixtaccihuatl by
Dr. O. C. Farrington in the dry month of February
1896, the snow-line was not met lower than several
hundred feet above La Cruz (14,100 feet), whereas in
the wet season it descends nearly to the Tlamacas farm-
stead (about 12,800 feet). 1 Mr. Howarth contends that
even on Popocatepetl there is no true snow-line, and
that the snow-cap descending some 2000 or 3000 feet
from the crater "is an extremely variable condition.
There are occasions when even at 17,000 feet most of
the snow disappears." 2 In general it may be said that
all the higher cones are snow-clad for at least a great
part of the year, their white mantle becoming very
threadbare during the hot summer months.
Crests and Cones.
* Popocatepetl
* Orizaba (Citlaltepetl) .
Ixtaccihuatl .
Height in feet.
17,540
18,045
17,000 (?)
States.
Mexico.
Vera Cruz and Puebla.
Mexico and Puebla.
1 Jour. Geograph. Soc. 1898, i. p. 553. 2 Ibid. 1896, ii. p. 142.
E
50
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Crests and Cones.
Height in feet.
States.
*Toluca.
15 019
Mexico.
* Colima
14,363
Jalisco.
* Ajusco
13,628
Federal District.
* Malinche
13,560
Tlaxcala.
* Cofre de Perote (Nauhcam-
} 13,415
patepetl)
Vera Cruz.
Zapotlan
12,743
Jalisco.
Tancitaro
12,467
Michoacan.
Zempoal tepee .
11,141
Oajaca.
Pico de Quinceo
10,905
Michoacan.
Guarda ....
9,731
Federal District.
* San Pablo .
9,000
Valley of Mexico
Veta Grande .
9,140
Zacatecas.
*Tuxtla (San Martin) .
4,920
Vera Cruz.
* Jorullo
4,265
Michoacan.
Popocatepetl — Ixtaccinuatl
Popocatepetl, culminating point of the Mexican high-
lands, stands some 14 miles south of the capital, nearly
midway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It
thus occupies the central position in the transcontinental
line of fissure, about 454 miles long, which begins on
the Atlantic side with Tuxtla and Orizaba, and passes
westwards through Ajusco, Toluca, the recently up-
heaved Jorullo, and Colima on the Pacific Coast to the
volcanic Eevillagigedo Islands, 270 miles from the
southern extremity of the Californian peninsula.
Popocatepetl was first ascended by Diego Ordaz in
1522, and soon after at Cortes's command by Francisco
Montano, who was reported by Antonio Herrera, not a
very trustworthy writer, to have been lowered down the
crater to a depth of 500 feet. Since then the ascent
has been made several times, the last in 1896 by Dr.
Farrington, who found fumes escaping from six vents on
the summit. The crater, sometimes described as 3
miles across and from 1000 to 2000 feet deep, has a
MEXICO
Ol
diameter of perhaps not more than 2700 feet, and is of
unknown depth, but filled by great quantities of sulphur
equal to the best obtained from Etna.
Although for some time quiescent, it is evident from
contemporary records that the crater was in full eruption
at the time of the Conquest. Bernal Diaz, one of
POPOCATEPETL FROM THE TERRACE OF THE PYRAMID OF CHOI VLA,
STATE OF PUEBLA.
Cortes's associates, tells us that " a great column of smoke
rose straight into the air to a considerable height, and
then spread out as a large cloud. With this smoke
there was to be seen flame in various directions, red-hot
stones being thrown up in great quantities and with
violent explosions. The people were terrified, not at the
smoke, which was of very common occurrence (and indeed
still persists), but at the flames and red-hot missiles flying
52
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
out of the crater, which they had never seen or heard of
before. They believed that the tyrants who had been
cruel to them were being roasted in that volcano, and
consequently they were terrified when they beheld these
fiery tyrants flying out of the crater and spreading over
the earth." 1 During the ascent by Ordaz also violent
tremors were felt, accompanied by flames and missiles,
AMECAMECA AND THE VOLCANO OF IXTACCIUUATL.
so that his guides sought shelter in the clefts of the
rocks. This statement is verified by the reference to
large icicles which they brought back to Cortes, and
have since been described by Mr. Howarth. Mention is
made by Bernal Diaz of another great eruption in 1539.
Dr. Farrington also ascended the rugged slopes of the
neighbouring Ixtaccihuatl to a height of nearly 15,000
1 Quoted by Sir C. Markham in Jour. Gcograph. Soc. 1896, ii. p. 153.
MEXICO
53
feet. Although connected with Popocatepetl by a pass
or saddle 12,006 feet high, over which Cortes made his
way into the Valley of Mexico, the " White Woman," as
the name is explained, does not helong to the transcon-
tinental rift system ; nor is it, strictly speaking, a volcano
at all. Mr. Howarth, who also ascended Ixtaccihuatl to
the snow-line, describes it as a huge mass of ancient
i .
I V ^ • *■ a. __
MAGUEY OR PULQUE EANCHE, WITH VIEW OF MALINTZI 1 VOLCANO.
porphyritic rock, like that of the western Sierra Madre,
generally without any indications of erupted matter
corresponding to that of the volcanic system. The
external structure is quite distinct, the slopes being
deeply serrated into precipitous canyons separated by
lofty porphyritic ridges. Ixtaccihuatl would, however,
appear to be several hundred feet higher than is gene-
rally supposed — Mr. Howarth thinks fully 17,000 feet
1 Malinche.
54 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL
Colima, one of the most recently active volcanoes, lies
west of Mexico city, 50 miles from the Pacific coast, and
develops two cones 12,000 and 11,820 feet respectively.
The crater of the main cone has a diameter of over half
a mile, and was in eruption in 1903. The second cone
has no crater, but there are eleven in the adjoining
Santiago Valley, varying from 1500 feet to over a mile
in diameter.
Orizaba
From the summit of Malinche, later known as Dona
Marina, from Cortes's faithful companion and interpretress,
a clear view is commanded of Orizaba (Citlaltepetl, the
" Star Mountain "), one of the loveliest and most sym-
metrical cones in the world. Though situated some
70 miles inland its snowy summit is visible to ships for
a distance of nearly 200 miles in clear weather. Orizaba
has been quiescent since 1856 ; but its crater is easily
detected from a long way off, its point being truncated
in a south-easterly direction. Towards the north it
inclines at an angle of 45°, resting on a rocky base,
above which the slopes rise in terraces to its snowy
peak. On the northern slope a narrow ravine winds
through rocks of diorite and phonolite, while west of
the Xamapa barranca rises a sheer wall of basalt, where
the traces of volcanic eruptions begin to be more abun-
dant. Here are everywhere met lava streams, scoriae,
and quantities of obsidian, pumice, and weathered
trachytes. The irregular elliptic crater is said to be
about 8300 feet across its longer axis, the whole circum-
ference measuring some 20,000 feet.
E. Angermann, who scaled Orizaba in 1905, fixed its
height by aneroid at 18,045 feet, which was a little less
MEXICO 55
than some previous estimates (18,079 and 18,312 feet).
His general account of the volcano agrees substantially
with those of former observers, at least in all their main
features. From the crest a superb view is commanded
over the eastern slope. (Geographical Journal, June
1906.)
Cofre de Perote — Jorullo
Like Orizaba the Cofre de Perote is also visible from
the Gulf of Mexico. This is the JVauhcampatepetl, or
" Four -crested Mountain " of the Aztecs, its Spanish
name — " Coffer " or " Chest " — having reference to the
square form of its summit. Both the crater and several
parasitic cones on its flanks are extinct and partly even
obliterated, although the lavas descending towards the
coast show that it was in eruption in relatively recent
times. On the west side is the famous Chinacamote
Cave, said to be 18 or 20 miles long, but of difficult
access, the entrance being encumbered by large blocks
which have fallen from the roof.
In the western section of the volcanic rift the loftiest
member of the system is the above-mentioned Colima,
a conspicuous object near the coast of Jalisco due east
of Manzanillo. But Jorullo, although one of the
smallest is, at least on historic grounds, the most
interesting of all the active or quiescent cones. The
local report that it suddenly rose above a cultivated
plain one night in December 1759 may be dismissed
as fabulous, although long widely credited on the
authority of Humboldt. Apart, however, from this
legend, the aspect of Jorullo is remarkable enough,
the highest crater being flanked by several others on
both sides, all of which have been simultaneously or
56 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
alternately in a state of commotion for about a hundred
years. But since 1860 the central crater has been
almost absolutely quiescent, while the hormitos (" little
furnaces "), as the numerous secondary vents are called,
have, for the most part, ceased even to emit hot vapours.
When visited by Mr. Howarth in 1885 Jorullo was
found to be in a state of complete quiescence, although,
undoubtedly, in full activity in and for many years
subsequent to 1836. But there is no valid reason to
suppose that in its formation it differs from all other
volcanoes, which have been slowly built up with the lavas
and scoriae accumulating at each successive discharge.
Earthquakes
As a rule the area of earth tremors is confined to
the region of the great volcanic fissure. Here the
shocks, which appear to be most frequent in the State
of Jalisco, are propagated in the direction from east to
west along and about the line of the transcontinental
rift. Towards the middle of the nineteenth century,
and somewhat later, the earthquake waves were often
severely felt in the central region of the Valley of
Mexico, which for the last three decades has been
rarely visited by these underground disturbances. Mr.
Howarth remarks that " they have become very much
less frequent and very much less serious ever since
artesian wells were sunk in the valley," apparently
suggesting some relation of cause and effect between
these works of man and the forces of nature. What
seems better established is the coincidence between the
earthquake zone and the volcanic fault in Central
Mexico.
MEXICO 5 7
Hot Springs— The Bramidos of Guanajuato
Associated with the volcanic phenomena of the
central regions are the hot and tepid springs which
well up in many districts. Specially noteworthy are
the Aguas de Comangillas of Chichimequillo near the
rich Guanajuato silver mines, 6400 feet above sea-
level. Some of the springs have a mean temperature
of 205° Fahr., and whenever a hole is dug within a
circuit of 130 yards the water bursts out from many
parts of the spongy soil.
At the southern foot of Mount Cubilete, 6546 feet
above the sea, thermal streams flow from some porphyry
breccia resting on micaceous dolerite. The water has a
mean temperature of 106° Fahr., is tasteless, perfectly
clear, and when cool precipitates a light yellow sediment.
Close to Istapan there are several mineral springs which
rush up with such violence that in one place a volume
of water thick as a man's body rises 2 feet above the
ground. It has a temperature of 80°, and contains
sulphate of soda and carbonate of lime, deposited along-
numerous little rills in such a way as to form hard
incrustations between which the stream flows in a clear
current.
Eemarkable also are the hot sulphur springs of
Atliaca, 7 miles below Mirador in the direction of Vera
Cruz. Others occur at Guadalupe and Pehon de los
Banos, which contain common salt, iron, carbonic acid,
sulphate of soda and calcium chloride (fixed sal
ammonia).
A singular phenomenon is presented by the Bramidos
of Guanajuato on the central plateau some distance from
the still active volcanoes. Here was heard in January
1784 a low rumbling; noise like thunder, which con-
58 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TPtAVEL
tinued for the space of a month, varied with a few short
peals, but unaccompanied by any tremors. This under-
ground thunder, from which the terrified people fled in
alarm, gradually died away, nor has it since been
repeated.
In general the mineral springs, though very numerous,
and possessing valuable medicinal properties, are little
frequented even by the natives. This is due to the
fact that they are for the most part situated in rugged
upland districts of difficult access.
CHAPTEE IV
MEXICO — continued
Hydrography — Rio Grande del Norte — Rio Lerma — Rio Mexcala — Rio
Panuco— The Coast Lagoons — The Closed Basins of the Anahuac
Plateau — Drainage Works of the Valley of Mexico.
Hydrography — Rio Grande del Norte
Few tropical lands are less favoured by nature with navig-
able or even fertilising waters than Mexico. Apart from
the Bio Bravo (Bio Grande del Norte), which forms the
boundary towards the United States for several hundred
miles, and the Colorado, which penetrates for a short
distance into the republic at the head of the Gulf of
California, there is not a single river much over 600
miles long, or accessible to sea-going vessels for 50
miles above its mouth. Even the Bravo has become
quite shallow in the dry season, since its upper course
has been tapped for irrigation purposes by the settlers
in the States of Colorado and New Mexico, and is,
consequently, now little used as a water-way even in the
lower reaches. Higher up it was never available for
any kind of navigation, as might indeed be inferred
from its very name of Bravo, which, in Spanish, has
often, as in this instance, the meaning of " wild," or
" savage." The reference is to the wild gorges and
60 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
swirling rapids over which it forces its way from an
altitude of some 13,000 feet in the Sierra San Juan
for hundreds of miles down to sea-level at Matamoros.
The section of its catchment basin within the
Mexican frontier has, no doubt, a vast area considerably
exceeding 90,000 square miles. But this basin lies
mostly in the arid and almost rainless provinces of
Chihuahua and Coahuila, which are unable to send a
single copious affluent to the right bank of the Eio
Bravo. Few of them are even perennial, running dry
after the rains are over, and the largest — the Eio
Conchos from the western, and the Salado and San Juan
from the eastern Sierra Madre — become sluggish saline
streams as they approach the main artery, to which
they impart a slightly brackish taste.
Rio Lenna — Rio Mexcala
In the rest of the republic the development of large
rivers is prevented, partly by an insufficient rainfall, and
partly by the disposition of the two Sierra Madres, which
transform a great part of the central plateau to a closed
basin with no present seaward outlet, while they run too
near the Atlantic and Pacific shores to leave room for
the formation of any considerable coast streams on the
intervening strips of seaboard. Hence those few rivers
alone acquire any amplitude which have their sources
on the great tableland itself, and force their way thence
through the barriers of the Sierras either westwards to
the Pacific or eastwards to the Gulf of Mexico. Such
are, on the west side, the Lerma and the Mexcala, and
on the east the solitary Eio Panuco. All the rest,
rising on the outer slopes of the two ranges, are mere
coast streams, with short rapid courses, mountain
MEXICO 6 1
torrents in the upper reaches, often flowing lower down
in deep rocky beds, and mostly obstructed by bars at
their mouths, hence of little use either as waterways or
irrigating arteries.
The Lernia, which is so called throughout its upper
course from the marshy lagoon of that name where it
has its source at the foot of the Toluca volcano in the
State of Mexico, traverses the States of Michoacan and
Guanajuato to the already described Lake Chapala in a
north-westerly direction. Crossing the north-eastern
angle of this basin, the Lerma, which now becomes the
Bio Grande de Santiago, 12 miles below its entrance
into the lake carves itself an outlet through a profound
barranca on the north bank, and thus maintains its
north-westerly trend through the State of Jalisco to the
Pacific Coast about 20 miles above San Bias, over against
the little archipelago of Las Tres Marias. Its chief
affluents, all of which reach its right bank from the
central plateau, are the Bios Laja and De Leon above
Lake Chapala, and lower down the Bios Verde and
Bolafws. Of these the most copious appears to be the
Verde, which is formed by the junction of the Bio
d'Aguas Calientes and Bio de Lagos headstreams. Despite
a total length of about 620 miles, the Lerma has such a
swift current above Chapala, is so beset with reefs and
falls below the lake, and lower down so shallow in the
dry season, that it is nowhere available for navigation
throughout the year.
As shown by its alternative name, Bio de las Balsas,
" Eiver of the Eafts " or " Barges," the Mexcala is locally
regarded as, to a modest extent, the one navigable stream
on the west side of the republic. But there are shallow
bars at the mouths of the two channels through which
it enters the Pacific some miles south of Manzanillo. A
62 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL
section of about 225 miles in a total length of 500
miles is also encumbered at frequent intervals by reefs,
rapids, whirlpools, and other hindrances, so that the
reaches open to flat-bottomed craft do not amount to
much. Nevertheless the Mexcala is a large and even
copious stream, ramifying with numerous affluents
through the States of Mexico, Puebla, Oajaca, Queretaro,
and Michoacan, and discharging through its delta a
volume estimated at 2500 cubic feet per second.
Rio Panuco
On the Atlantic side by far the largest fluvial basin
is that of the Bio Panuco, also called the Tampico, from
the seaport where it reaches the Gulf of Mexico about
midway between Matamoros and Vera Cruz. Here it is
now joined from the north by the Tamesi, which formerly
flowed in a separate channel to the gulf. The united
streams drain a great part of Tamaulipas and Vera Cruz,
and even a portion of the State of Mexico, through the
so-called Bio Montezuma, that is, the Tula, which receives
some of the overflow from the lakes in the Valley of
Mexico through the Huehuetica cutting. On its winding-
course to the Panuco, of which it is the chief headstream,
the Tula makes a great bend round to the west, thus
enclosing the Hidalgo heights and collecting numerous
contributions from Queretaro,
On their precipitous course through the rocky
ramparts of the eastern Sierra Madre, some of these
affluents become entangled in the upland gorges, plunging
over foaming cataracts, and often suddenly disappearing
in profound barrancas. Thus are developed in some
places the so-called Puentes de Dios, "God's Bridges,"
such as that of the Eio San Juan in Nuevo Leon, where
MEXICO 6 3
the stream is hurled into a yawning chasm from a height
of 200 feet. Still more romantic are the famous Falls
of Regla in the State of Queretaro, where the mountain
torrent rushes over a breach in a huge mass of bluish
basalt columns draped with festoons of trailing plants,
and topped with tall nopals of eccentric form, which, at
a distance, look like gaunt sentinels keeping guard at
the entrance of the weird mountain gorge.
The Coast Lagoons — Rio Coatzacoalcos
From the Hidalgo and Queretaro uplands the Panuco
washes down great quantities of sedimentary matter,
which has filled in the coast lagoons about the estuary.
These lagoons formerly extended round the Gulf of
Mexico from the Mississippi delta witli few breaks all the
way to Vera Cruz, and presented continuous chains of
brackish water-ways communicating with the gulf through
narrow passages, which, like those fringing the shores of
Upper Guinea, were kept in a constant state of flux by
the winds, rains, and marine currents. At present the
lagoon formations are interrupted at several points by
the alluvial matter brought down and deposited in the
shallow waters by the Tigre, the Marina, the Rio de las
Palmas, and other coast streams between the Rio Bravo
and the Panuco.
Immediately south of the Panuco estuary is developed
the great Laguna de Tamiahua, cpiite a little inland sea
studded with islands, and enclosed by a long cordon of
narrow dunes, which present the peculiarity of being
disposed convexly to the Gulf. Here the strip of sand
projects considerably beyond the concave shore-line ter-
minating at the low but conspicuous headland of Cabo
Rojo, " Eed Cape."
64 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Farther south the lagoon formations disappear, and
the uniformity of the low-lying sea-board is broken only
by the channels of a few insignificant fluvial estuaries.
The Tehuantepec Isthmus, however, which takes its name
from the Mio Tehuantepec, a little Pacific Coast stream
mostly blocked by sands, is traversed on the Gulf side
by the not inconsiderable Rio Coatzacoalcos. But for its
dangerous bar, not more than 12 or 14 feet deep, the
" Snake Eiver," as its Aztec name is interpreted, would
be accessible to large sea-going vessels to Minatitlan, 26
miles from the estuary, and for small craft 35 miles
farther inland. Thus the Coatzacoalcos, which is about
half a mile wide in its lower course, penetrates nearly
half across the isthmus, and has naturally attracted the
attention of engineers occupied with the project of a
ship-canal between the two oceans. In recent years the
Tehuantepec route appears to have lost favour, chiefly
owing to the dangerous nature of the bar, and it is now
replaced by the Tehuantepec railway.
As above seen, there are no surface streams in Yucatan,
while those of Chiapas and Tabasco belong to the Central
American water system, and will best be described in
the section devoted to the republic of Guatemala, where
they take their rise.
The Closed Basins of the Anahuac Plateau
Besides Chapala and the other lakes of the western
Sierra Madre draining to the Pacific, there are others,
mostly of small size, which occupy depressions on the
central plateau, and have no seaward outflow. These
closed basins are numerous, especially in the Bolson de
Mapimi wilderness, but are for the most part merely
shallow saline expanses periodically flooded by rivers
MEXICO 65
which are no longer copious or vigorous enough to reach
the arteries through which they formerly found an out-
let to the Gulf of Mexico. Such are the Guzman lagoon
fed by the Rio Oasas Grandes in Chihuahua, near the
northern frontier ; the Tlahualila lagoon, largest of the
saline depressions in the Bolson de Mapimi ; and in the
State of San Luis a large number of little tarns or ponds
surrounded by thick incrustations of saltpetre or car-
bonate of soda and other efflorescences.
Drainage Works
But none of these lacustrine groups can compare in
historic or hydrographic interest with those of the Valley
of Mexico, which from them takes its Aztec name,
Anahuac, that is, Anal-huatl, " Amid the Waters."
Here is a chain of six small and shallow basins, which
have been the cause of more trouble and expense to the
city of Mexico than perhaps any other body of water
has been to any other city in the world. Yet they
represent the merest residuum of a great inland sea,
which in pre-Aztec times flooded the whole valley, had
an area of some 2220 square miles, was of nearly
circular shape, with a mean diameter of 55 miles, and
sent its overflow by the Acatlan breach in the encircling
hills through the Tula (Montezuma) head-stream of the
Eio Panuco to the Gulf of Mexico.
But with the change of climate in the direction of
greater dryness, a change still going on, the inland sea
gradually subsided far below the level of the outlet, and
thus became, like Titicaca, a completely closed basin, of
which nothing now survives except the six lagoons —
Texcoco, flooding the lowest depression of the valley ;
Xochimilco and Chalco, 3 miles farther south and 6 or 7
F
66 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
feet higher ; Zumpango, Xaltocan, and San Cristobal
extending the chain northwards to an elevation of 13 or
14 feet above Texcoco.
"When the conquering Aztecs penetrated from the
north into the valley, they founded their new capital,
Tenochtitlan, partly on an eminence, partly on floating
islands in the Texcoco lagoon itself. Like all the other
basins, this lagoon was at that time considerably larger
than at present, as shown by the fact that the modern
city of Mexico, which occupies the very site of Tenoch-
titlan, now stands on dry land some distance to the west
of the lagoon. Being at the lowest level, Texcoco also
received the overflow from the other basins, some of
which were kept fresh by the copious torrents from the
surrounding hills, while others were saline and imparted
a brackish taste to Texcoco. To obviate this incon-
venience, the emperor Netzahualcoyotl constructed in
1450 a great dyke to divide the fresh from the saline
lagoons, and other causeways were built by the Aztecs
to dam up the flood waters discharged from the north
and south during the rainy season. Some of these were
vast structures 4 or 5 and even 10 miles long, and were
utilised by Cortes when attacking the Aztec capital.
But not understanding their practical purpose, he had
some of the dykes cut, with the result that the new
Spanish city which replaced the floating islands was
soon found to be below the mean average level of the
lake.
Thus arose the great drainage difficulties which it
has taken nearly four centuries to overcome. The first
serious attempt to prevent the constant inundations, in
one of which as many as 30,000 people are said to have
perished, was made in 1607-8 by the engineer Enrico
Martinez, who intercepted the flood waters by several
MEXICO 6 7
canals and discharged them to the Tula river through a
tunnel over 5 miles long excavated under the Acatlan
breach over which the inland sea found an outlet in
prehistoric times. But the tunnel not being properly
faced with brick or stone soon became choked with the
erosions of the rushing waters, and was also damaged by
an earthquake in 1637. It was, however, to some
extent restored and improved in 1789, and the Tajo de
Nochistongo (Huehuetoca), as the cutting was called,
had at least the result of preventing any serious in-
undations since that time.
But as the waters continued to subside the mias-
matic exhalations from the bed of the lagoon, saturated
with the sewage of many generations, continued to
increase, and Mexico, despite its magnificent climate and
great elevation above the sea, became one of the most
unhealthy places in the world, the mortality averaging
40 per 1000 in recent times. Hence the problem now
was, not so much how to prevent the inflow of the flood
waters, as how to get rid of the town sewage, although
the risk of sudden freshets was still by no means
obviated.
Hence the whole question had to be reconsidered,
and a project having the twofold object of carrying off
the waters of the lagoons and the sewage of the capital
was at last taken in hand in 1885, and practically
completed in 1899 at a total expenditure of £4,000,000.
This great work, which is justly regarded as one of the
triumphs of modern engineering, deals comprehensively
both with the town sewage and with the flood waters of
the valley, all of which are discharged by a canal 43
miles long through a tunnel over 6 miles long to the
Rio Tula. The tunnel is ventilated by as many as
twenty-five shafts, one of which pierces the Acatlan
68 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
saddle to a depth of 302 feet, and this new outlet to the
Tula has a maximum discharge of 636 cubic feet per
second. The canal, which has an average depth of
about 20 feet, receives the flood waters of Texcoco, and
also communicates with the network of city sewers, and
has the same maximum capacity as the tunnel. It runs
at first from the San Lazaro station of the Hidalgo
Railway between the Guadalupe hills and Texcoco, and
then turns north, traversing the San Cristobal, Xaltocan,
and Zumpango lagoons to the mouth of the tunnel at
the village of Tequixquiac, where the outflow is regulated
by a sluice.
CHAPTEE V
MEXICO — continued
Climate — Vertical Zones of Temperature — Flora — Agricultural Resources
— Fauna — Fauna of the Revillagigedo and other Insular Groups —
Domestic Animals — Stock-breeding.
Climate — Vertical Zones of Temperature
Although Mexico is intersected by the Tropic of Cancer..
and stretches across eighteen degrees of latitude, such is
the peculiar conformation of the land that its climatic-
conditions are determined far more by altitude than by
its distance from the Xorth Pole or the Equator. Thus
the city of Mexico, in 19° 31/ N. lat., but standing
7430 feet above sea-level, enjoys a much more genial
climate — cooler in summer and warmer in winter — than
Xew York or Chicago, which lie some 1400 or 1600
miles nearer the Pole, but either at sea-level or little
above it. These contrasts, due to the great elevation of
the central plateau with its lofty flanking Sierras falling
precipitously towards both oceans, are specially marked
in the section of the land which is situated within the
Torrid Zone. This section may be taken as the typical
region of vertically disposed climates, which were here
first studied, and are more sharply outlined than in most
other lands. The conditions prevailing in the three
70 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
superimposed zones, as distinguished by most observers,
although there are really four, may thus be conveniently
tabulated : —
Climatic Zones.
Mean Range of Mean Hange of
Height. Temperature.
Tierra Caliente (Hot Zone) . . to 3000 ft. 77°-82° F.
Tierra Templada (Temperate Zone) . 3000 to 5000 ft. 62°-70° F.
Tierra Fria (Cold Zone) . . . 7000 to 9000 ft. 58°-64° F.
Above the Tierra Fria the uplands penetrate in the
highest peaks to altitudes of from 16,000 to 17,000
feet and upwards, and constitute an Aortic Zone, which,
being mostly uninhabitable, is not taken into account.
Yet its influence is considerable in modifying the rela-
tions lower down, by intercepting the moisture-bearing
clouds from the two oceans, by sheltering the tablelands
from cold winds in winter, and tempering the summer
heats with refreshing breezes from the higher slopes.
From this general exposition, it follows that what is
here called the " Cold Zone " is really a temperate region,
the most thickly peopled and best cultivated in the re-
public, and enjoying one of the most delightful and
healthiest climates in the world. Although for local
reasons the capital has hitherto been a fever den, the
whole region is highly favourable to the European con-
stitution, and Mr. T. U. Brocklehurst speaks of people
rivalling in longevity the centenarians of the Minas
Geraes uplands in South Brazil. 1
If the Tierra Fria is a temperate, the Tierra Templada
may be described as a sub- tropical zone, comparable-
somewhat to that of the Mediterranean lands. As in
Italy and Algeria the orange, fig and olive thrive amid
wheat and maize fields, so in the State of Oajaca these
same cereals are found in close proximity with sugar-cane
1 Mexico To-Day, 1883. He mentions the case of a woman 3 34 years
old, whose age "was attested by church register ! " (p. 16).
MEXICO 7 1
plantations and banana groves. In this Tierra Templada
are comprised all the higher terraces and parts even of
the central plateau itself. Thanks to the slight range
of the temperature, scarcely more than 4° or 5° F.
from season to season, extremes of heat and cold are un-
known, and the climate, if less invigorating, is scarcely
less healthy than that of the upper zone. The escarp-
ments of the Sierras are high enough to capture some of
the moisture rising from the neighbouring seas, and this
moisture is precipitated during the invierno, that is, the
wet summer months, in copious showers. Hence sub-
tropical growths flourish everywhere, and help to retain
the moisture in the ground throughout the verano, that
is, the dry winter season.
From the Tierra Templada down to the sultry and
too often fever-stricken lowlands comprised within the
Tierra Caliente, the transition is in some places almost
instantaneous. Indeed the change is sometimes felt even
in the Temperate Zone, where certain sheltered districts
above 3000 feet are even hotter than the more exposed sea-
board itself. But torrid heats prevail generally on all
the sandy and marshy coast-lands of the Gulf and the
Pacific, and although the mean range of the temperature
is slight, the glass may often rise to 100° or even 104°
in the shade, as in the torrid districts of Vera Cruz on
the east and Acapulco on the west side. Yet even here
the atmosphere is constantly refreshed by the night
breezes, and in summer by the rains, which prevail from
June to November, and fall regularly and at fixed
intervals from about one to three hours daily. After
the showers the atmosphere becomes clear and pleasant,
at least in well-drained districts.
Unfortunately many districts, especially along the
low -lying Vera Cruz and Tabasco sea-board, are not
72 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
drained at all, and here both yellow fever and black
vomit are endemic. These terrible scourges, varied in
the marshy tracts by troublesome intermittent agues,
visit all the shores of the Gulf during the summer months,
and range also to the West Indies, but are unknown on
the Pacific Coast in the same latitudes. They have been
attributed to the putrefaction of innumerable molluscs
and other low organisms on the beach, though the recent
experiences of the Americans in the cities of Cuba leave
little doubt that insanitary conditions have much to do
with the prevalence of yellow fever. But for the fierce
nortes, which constantly sweep the Gulf, dissipate the
pestilential exhalations, and renovate the atmosphere, the
coast-lands from Tainpico to Campeche would scarcely be
habitable.
Even in Yucatan miasmatic vapours hover about the
stagnant waters which still flood the tanks and reservoirs
constructed by the ancient Mayas in the natural de-
pressions of the limestone plateau. Strange to say,
despite the general dryness of the surface, and the exposed
position of the land, the whole of Yucatan is a sickly
region, dreaded by the Mexicans of the uplands almost
more than any other part of the republic. Besides
occasional visits of yellow fever, all kinds of pulmonary
affections are endemic, and even hereditary amongst all
classes of the population.
Pieference has already been made to the increasing
dryness of the climate. Symptoms of this tendency are
perceptible in those regions of the plateau which have
suffered most from the reckless destruction of the forests.
And while the rainfall grows less the cold becomes more
intense. " Mexico is not only suffering from an annual
decrease in rainfall, owing to the continual decrease in
the timber-bearins area, the rainfall being more and
MEXICO
73
more unequal every year during the past twenty years,
but the winters are becoming more and more severe, and
the frosts are reaching farther and farther south each
year. This is undoubtedly due to the wholesale destruction
of timber now going on throughout the republic"
(Eomero, p. 66).
Subjoined is a table of meteorological observations
resulting from the records for five or six years at
various places between the United States' frontier and
Tehuaiitepec : —
Towns.
Monterey
Saltillo
C alia can
Mazatlan
Zacatecas
S. Luis Potosi
Aguas Calientes
Leon .
Guanajuato
Guadalajara.
nueretaro
Pachuca
Mexico
Colima
Puebla
Tlacotalpam
Oajaca
N. Lat.
25° 40'
25° 25'
24° 48'
24° 11'
22° 46'
22° 9'
21° 53'
21° 7'
2i° r
20° 40'
20° 25'
20° 7'
19' 26'
19° 13'
19° 03'
18° 16'
17° 04'
Height.
1640 ft.
5275 ,,
115 ,,
15 „
8120 ,,
6235 ,,
6120 ,,
5925 „
6650 ,,
5184 ,,
6090 ,,
8100 ,,
7430 ,,
1660 ,,
7120 ,,
19 ,,
5110 .,
Temperature
(Mean).
70° Fahr.
63° „
78° „
76' „
58' ,,
62° ,,
66° „
65° ,,
63° „
79.° ..
5o
60'
78°
60°
78'
67'
Rainfall.
138 inches
20 ,,
5 „
40 ,,
20 „
16 „
22 ,,
36 „
34 ,,
34 „
24 ,,
17 ,,
30 ,,
42 ,,
40 „
90 ,,
37 ,,
Flora — Agricultural Resources
Thanks to the vertical arrangement of its climatic
zones, the general fertility of ' its soil, and a fairly
abundant rainfall on all the escarpments of the plateaux,
Mexico possesses an extremely diversified native flora, and
is also capable of growing all the economic plants of the
world almost in juxtaposition. Thus the Southern
74
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL
Railway ascends in a few hours through a series of fertile
terraces, from a tropical land of coco-nut palms and
bananas in Oajaca, 1700 or 1800 feet above the sea, to
the Puebla plateau, 7000 feet high, where the plains are
covered with waving fields of wheat and maize. Such
GREAT AHXTEHUETE TREE (TAXODIUM) AT SANTA MARIA DEL TITLE,
STATE OF OAJACA (INSCRIBED WITH NAME OF HUMBOLDT, AND
STATED BY HTM TO BE SECOND LARGEST IN THE WORLD).
also is the equable character of the climate, that in many
districts field operations are carried on all the year round,
and the traveller is bewildered at the spectacle of corn
just sprouting from the ground, yellowing for the sickle,
and being trodden out by mules on the threshing-floor.
Botanists are still busy classifying this exuberant
vegetable kingdom, in which are intermingled many of
MEXICO 7 5
the forms peculiar to the northern and southern continents.
They have already described as m-any as one hundred and
fourteen species of trees, such as oaks, pines, firs, cedars,
rosewood, and mahogany, valuable for building and
cabinet work ; seventeen of oleaginous plants, including
the olive, sesame, almond, coco, and balsam of Peru ;
about sixty classed as medicinal ; twelve of dyewoods ;
eight gummiferous and resinous, yielding rubber, copal,
camphor, mezquite (a substance like gum-arabic), and
gum-sandarach. Most of these are indigenous forest
growths, needing no special cultivation, while others,
such as the coco-nut palm and banana, are exotics
thoroughly acclimatised, and almost running wild. Of
the banana, whose commercial value is steadily increasing,
native authorities enumerate about twenty species, one
yielding a gigantic pod 1 5 inches long and 9 inches round,
said to be of the very finest flavour. With these may be
classed the mulberry, which has found in Mexico a
congenial home, and promises well for the future develop-
ment of the silk industry.
Amongst the economic plants, alimentary and
industrial, but all needing cultivation, the most important
are coffee, sugar-cane, tobacco, cotton, agave, henequen,
coco, vanilla, rice, yucca, alfalfa, beans, maize, and the
pine-apple.
Coffee, which has a wide range from sea-level to 6000
feet, but thrives best between 1000 and 5000 feet, has
already attained a great development, and is still expand-
ing, especially in the districts of Cordoba, Huatusco,
Oajaca, Tabasco, and Soconusco (Chiapas). In 1909 the
total export exceeded £1,280,000. The soil and
climate are also well suited for the sugar-cane, which
may be profitably cultivated almost anywhere between
3000 and 5000 feet, but succeeds best on the lowlands.
76 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Iii Soconusco and some other districts the cane attains a
height of 12 feet, and lasts from ten to eighteen years,
whereas in Louisiana and the Antilles it needs replanting
every three or four years.
Tobacco, said by some connoisseurs to have a finer
aroma than the choicest Havana, was introduced from
Cuba after the insurrection of 1869, and has since made
some progress. The crop exceeded 18,000 tons in 1907,
when the quantity exported was valued at over £1,000,000.
Cotton also is of the finest quality ; but the yearly pro-
duction is limited to about 36,000 tons. This is scarcely
half the quantity required by the local factories, so that
the other half has to be imported from the United
States.
Of the agave (American aloe) there are several varieties
used for several purposes. The most important is the
mague (Agave mexicana), which grows wild on the
uplands, and is largely cultivated, especially on the
Plains of Apam, an extensive district comprising parts of
the States of Mexico, Puebla, and Hidalgo. From this
plant is obtained the national beverage, pulque} by a
process of fermentation dating from Aztec times. Pulque
contains scarcely more than 7 per cent of alcohol, yet is
highly intoxicating if drunk too freely. But taken in
moderation it appears to be an excellent tonic and even
nutritive ; hence is almost indispensable to miners
working at high pressure in a hot, close atmosphere.
Another variety of the agave, cultivated chiefly in the
State of Jalisco, yields the so-called mescal, a drink said
to possess some remarkable therapeutic properties.
1 This is an Ai'aucauiau word, which has travelled all the way from
Chili to replace the proper Aztec term odli. How the substitution came
about has not been made clear, but may have been made because 'pulque
lent itself better to such Spanish derivatives as pulquero, liulqucria,
pulque-dealer, pulque-tavern, etc.
MEXICO 77
But far more valuable is the henequen variety of the
aloe, from which is obtained a strong cordage largely
exported to the United States and England. The plant
thrives best in a dry, stony soil near sea-level, hence is
cultivated exclusively in Yucatan, of which State it forms
the chief industrial resource. From Sisal, the port where
the fibre is shipped, it is known in the trade as " Sisal
hemp." The price has increased sixfold since the
beginning of the nineteenth century, and as the plant
requires little cultivation, while a single acre will yield
as much as 1000 or 1200 lbs., the industry has been
rapidly developed in recent years. In 1909 the crop
exceeded 600,000 tons, and the quantity . exported was
valued in that year at £2,438,000.
Bice, maize, and wheat are also extensively cultivated.
But few other economic plants are of much present
importance. Even the cactus, on which the cochineal
feeds, has lost much of its value, since the scarlet and
carmine dyes yielded by that insect are now mostly
replaced by the much cheaper aniline products of
modern chemistry. On the other hand the chicle
industry has been greatly developed since the taste for
this chewing-gum has spread throughout the United
States. In the forests where the plant grows wild a
larger area is worked every year, and although the price
has advanced from about fourpence to nearly two
shillings a pound, the quantity exported, entirely to the
Union, rose from £30,000 in 1885 to over £340,000
in 1909.
A great future seems also reserved for cacao, which
nourishes between 300 and 1000 feet, and attains such
perfection in Soconusco that in colonial times the
Court of Madrid was supplied exclusively from this
district. This plant, which is indigenous in Mexico,
78
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
takes its name from the Aztec cacauatl, and is the
Theobroma cacao, from the bean of which chocolate
is prepared. Hence it is not to be confused either with
the coco-nut palm, which is an exotic in the New World,
or with the coca shrub (Erythroxylon coca), which is
MEXICO 7 9
indigenous in South America and yields a tonic much
prized by the Peruvian aborigines. Vanilla, which ranges
over both continents, flourishes especially in the low-
lying districts of the Gulf States. The Vera Cruz
bean, which yields a well-known essence, commands
the highest market price. But vanilla culture has the
drawback that it can be profitably carried on only in
hot, moist regions subject to visitations of yellow fever
and to endemic recurrent agues. Rice has, on the other
hand, the great advantage that it can be cultivated in
Mexico on dry ground, which does not need to be
periodically flooded. "It is generally planted just as
wheat and barley are in the United States, needing no
irrigation and depending entirely on the rainfall"
(Romero, p. 53). In 1909 the rice crop was estimated
at over 60,000 tons, all required for the local con-
sumption. Some attention is now also paid to yucca,
oino-er, alfalfa, and orange culture, for all of which the
country is well suited. Like the cassava (mandioc,
manihot) of South America, the yucca yields by pressure
a nutritious starch or flour, which, when purified, is the
tapioca of commerce. Yucca is originally a Peruvian
(Quichua) word now current in the southern United States,
and in Mexico, where it has formed an important article
of diet from remote times. The quantity of food obtained
from yucca-culture is said to rival that of the banana
itself, the yield, acre for acre, being sixfold that of
wheat. Till lately alfalfa, which grows wild almost
everywhere on the dry plateaux, was entirely neglected
and not even used as fodder for cattle. The very land
suited for its growth was considered worthless, until the
discovery was made a few years ago that in Lower
California American speculators were buying up the
tracts covered with this tall coarse grass at £20 an
80 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
acre. Since then it has acquired a commercial value
in other parts of the republic, and is now exported in
increasing quantities to the paper-mills of the United
States.
But no economic plant can rank in importance with
the haricot bean and maize, which yield the staples of
food, and jointly constitute the universal dish of frijoles
and tortillas. In Mexico maize must be even more
productive than the yucca, for two annual crops are
raised each averaging 60 bushels to the acre. This
cereal being most exhausting to the soil, it might be
supposed that its fecundity must be greatly reduced
after 1200 years of cultivation, for the Aztecs have
a tradition that it was introduced with cotton by the
Toltecs in the seventh century. But there is no sign
of exhaustion on the plateaux, where the volcanic hills
are thickly strewn with potashes and other rich
chemical substances. These fertilisers are continually
washed down to the bottom lands by the gentle summer
rains, and thus the ground is perpetually renewed by
a sort of automatic process. In 1909 the maize crop
was officially estimated at 80,000,000 bushels, raised
by somewhat primitive methods, and limited by the
local demand. With improved appliances and capital
the crop could easily be increased tenfold.
On their march to the plateau the Spaniards found
the pine-apple exposed for sale in all the towns along
the route. It had been traditionally introduced by the
Toltecs, and cultivated in the district of Amatlan,
whence the Aztecs obtained their chief supply. Now
it is extensively grown in the tropical and some of the
temperate lands up to 3000 or 4000 feet, and in many
places a good wine as well as vinegar are prepared from
the juice. But almost more valuable is the leaf, which
MEXICO 81
furnishes a fibre of great strength and fineness, manu-
factured into cables, ropes, twine, mats, hammocks, and
paper. A pine-apple rope 3 or 4 inches thick will lift
a weight of nearly three tons, yet from the same fibre
is woven a textile fabric as fine and beautiful as silk,
and the Zapotec Indians still make a cloth which is a
mixture of pine -apple thread and wild silk.
Fauna
In respect of its fauna, taken as a whole, Mexico is
commonly described as a land of transition between the
northern and southern continents. The statement is
necessarily true of those forms, such as puma, jaguar,
ocelot, wild cat, raccoon, opossum, and cariacus (American
deer), amongst mammals, turtles, alligators, rattlesnake
and some other reptiles, humming-bird and some lower
organisms, all having a range now or formerly co-
incident with the greater part of the New World.
But the presence of bears, wild boars, and even bisons in
the northern provinces, besides beavers, martens, skunks,
squirrels in many places, shows that zoologists are
justified in regarding Mexico as a subdivision of North
America, at least in respect of its mammalian fauna.
But there are numerous overlappings and intrusions
from the south both of mammals, including the tapir
and five varieties of monkeys, and of reptiles, such as the
boa in the southern forests, and the iguana, which is
valued as an article of food by some of the aborigines.
From the south also, no doubt, came the porcupine, the
armadillo, the saltillo, or darting-snake; the cento,/!/,
another ophidian whose skin has the property of shining
in the dark, and a host of small pests, such as the
jigger, rezno (tick), temahuani (a poisonous worm), and
G
82
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
many others, superadded to the ubiquitous ants and
mosquitoes, but mostly confined to the Tierra Caliente.
Highly characteristic is the axolotl (Siredon pisci-
forme), an amphibious lizard which appears to have
been evolved in the lacustrine district of the Valley of
Mexico, and forms a sort of connecting link between gill-
and lung-breathing animals. It is from 10 to 15
inches long, and has on either side of the neck a very
large slit, within which are seen branchial arches, the
gills being attached to the flaps which close the
apertures. The axolotl is edible, and was formerly so
plentiful that Cortes is said to have fed his army on it
for some time.
Mexico almost rivals Amazonia itself in the variety
and splendour of its avifauna, in which are represented
both northern and southern forms, besides a few indi-
genous species. Such, especially, is the lovely little
quetzal (Trogon resjolendens), to which attaches some
historic interest. In Aztec times royalty reserved to
itself the exclusive use of its gorgeous plumage — scarlet,
MEXICO
indigo-blue, and a superb peacock-green, with two magni-
ficent tail-feathers from two
to over three feet in length.
The quetzal, revered if not
worshipped by the Aztecs, has
been chosen as the national
emblem of the republic of
Guatemala, where it is also
indigenous. Less brilliant,
but in some respects more
remarkable, is the zenzontl, or
American mocking - bird, a
member of the widely-distri-
buted thrush family, noted both for the sweet-
ness of its natural song, and still more for its
astonishing mimetic powers. Humming-birds
of several varieties are widely diffused, and
range, as in other parts of the continent, from
sea-level to great elevations. In the low-
lying districts on the Atlantic side they build
daintily-fashioned nests of the golden down
of tree-ferns, and in these they lay not more
than two tiny eggs, often not larger than
marrow - fat peas. The common turkey
(Meleagris gallopavo) is a native of the
northern continent, and is still found in
the wild state in the more inaccessible parts
of the country. Besides
the common variety, in-
troduced into Europe in
the sixteenth century,
and called coq d'Inde in
quetzal. France in reference to
the West Indies, and
84 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
" turkey " in England because supposed to come from the
Levant, there are two other varieties in North and
Central America. These are the Meleagris ocellata of
Yucatan and Honduras, a very fine bird with bright
plumage and eye-like markings on the tail-feathers and
upper wing-coverts, and the M. mexicana, which ranges
from Central America through Mexico to the Rocky
Mountains, and is commonly called the Mexican turkey.
The natives of Mexico appear to have domesticated no
other animals except the huahulotl, a species of duck,
and the tecJiichi, an edible dumb dog, which, having been
taxed by the Colonial Government, ceased to be reared
for the table, and is now extinct.
Of the carnivorous birds — eagles, hawks, vultures,
owls — the most noteworthy is the zopilote (Cathartes or
RhinogripJws aura), which is widely distributed in the
New World, and in the United States is popularly
known as the turkey-buzzard. In the southern States
and in Mexico it serves the useful purpose of a scavenger
in the coast towns, hence in some places is protected by
the municipal authorities.
Fishes, some of excellent flavour, swarm in all the
surrounding waters. In general the marine forms of
the Atlantic and Pacific present the greatest difference,
and are more closely allied to those of the southern
continent than to those of the northern hemisphere.
The red mullet of the Gulf of Mexico was so highly
prized at the court of the Montezumas, that a regular
carrier service had been organised to convey it fresh
from the coast to the capital, a distance of 200 miles.
Many of the fresh-water lakes and streams are also well
stocked, the chief varieties being the trout, bass, eel,
white-fish, and bagre, the last mentioned being largely
consumed, and regarded as a great delicacy. Oysters,
MEXICO 80
clains, and other edible molluscs abound, and the pearl-
oyster fisheries of the Gulf of California are of some
economic importance.
Fauna of the Revillagigedo and other Insular Groups
Like the Galapagos archipelago off the coast of
Ecuador, the little insular groups in the Mexican Pacific
waters have their independent faunas. Thus a distinct
species of humming-bird confines its range to the Tres
Marias, three islets disposed longitudinally some 60
miles from the coast of Jalisco. The island of Guada-
lupe, over 150 miles from Lower California, has no less
than eleven species of land birds, all differing from the
corresponding varieties on the adjacent mainland.
Lastly, the volcanic Revillagigedo Archipelago, which
stands in a line with the igneous rift of Central Mexico
about 420 miles to the seaward of Colima, forms a
separate zoological zone presenting some remarkable
features. The group consists of the relatively large
island of Socorro (San To mas), 25 miles by 12 long, and
3660 feet high, and the three scattered rocks of San
Benedicto, Boca Bartida, and Clarion, with a total area
of 320 square miles. All are uninhabited and take
their name from Count de Revillagigedo, a viceroy of
New Spain who ruled from 1746 to 1755.
Domestic Animals — Stock-hreeding
Finding no domestic animals in the country beyond
the one or two mentioned above, the first thought of the
conquerors was to supply the want from Europe. The
horned cattle, horses, sheep, goats, swine, and poultry,
introduced with the first settlers, all multiplied rapidly,
86 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
and even in some instances reverted to the wild state,
while the breeds generally deteriorated. Even now the
cattle, despite crossings with the Indian zebu, the Philip-
pine carabao, and the English Herefords, are small and
bony, weighing scarcely more than 8 or 9 cwts. Never-
theless stock-breeding has become an important industry,
especially on the dry steppes of the northern provinces
and in the marshy savannas of Vera Cruz and Tabasco.
A few years ago the cattle ranches numbered over
21,000, and were valued at £103,000,000. These
animals are exported exclusively to Texas, where they
are improved by better pasturage, and fattened with oil-
cake for the American and English markets. Many of
the horses have preserved some of the mettle and beauty
of their Arab and Barbary ancestors. But the small
rough breed of mustangs or ladinos are so untamable
that they have to be hunted down and broken in by the
vaqueros, or " cow-boys," a race of full-blood or half-caste
Indians as wild as themselves. Even more degenerate
are the sheep, which yield not much more than 2 or 2\
lbs. of. a coarse, inferior wool exported in 1909 to the
value of £770,000. The mutton is dry and flavourless,
and even less esteemed than " kid," a euphemistic ex-
pression for goat's flesh. On the other hand, poultry
thrive well and abound in all the farmsteads of the
temperate and cold regions. Even in the capital " spring
chickens" can be had for Is. each, lake ducks for 5d. or 6d.,
and turkeys for 3s. to 4s. The indifference of the people
to the sufferings of the lower animals is well illustrated
by the sights constantly witnessed in the open markets
of all the towns, where native women may be seen with
great coops of chickens on their backs, and a number of
live fowls dangling head downwards from their waist-
belts.
CHAPTEB VI
MEXICO {continued) OUTLYING PROVINCES
Isthmus of Tehuantepec — Chiapas — Tabasco — Yucatan : Cheuotes — Caves
— Lower California: General Survey — Climate — Rainless Zone —
Fauna — Fisheries — -Mineral Wealth — Orography and Geology —
Towns — Scenery of Lower California.
Isthmus of Tehuantepec
By the Tehuantepec depression, where they taper nearly
to a point, the Mexican plateau and highland systems
are almost completely severed from the southern parts
of the republic, which, despite political frontiers, belong-
physically to the Central American isthmian region.
This depression is itself an isthmus, and a relatively
narrow one, being nowhere much more than about 120
miles from ocean to ocean. It is also very low, averaging-
little over 400 feet above sea-level, and rising to scarcely
3000 feet even in the ridge which, on the Pacific side,
forms a sort of connecting link between North and
Central America, and is crossed by the Portillo de Tarifa
Pass at a height of about 1000 feet. From this Pacific
ridge the land falls northwards to the Gulf of Mexico
through a series of terraced cretaceous formations, which
were deposited in the shallow sound flowing in secondary
times between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Later,
88 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
when the marine bed had been upraised, the chalk cliffs
became overlaid in several places by Tertiary deposits.
The land appears' to be still rising, especially on the
Pacific side, where recent alluvial formations are ad-
vancing seawards, and filling in the coast lagoons.
Chiapas — Tabasco
So sharp is the curvature of the contour line round
the southern shores of the Gulf of Mexico, that the
section of the republic situated beyond Tehuantepec is
deflected from the normal south-east trend, first east and
then nearly due north, in the direction of the Mississippi
delta. The result is that the terminal peninsula of
Yucatan lies due east of the capital, and from this
circumstance the whole region is collectively spoken of
as " East Mexico." It comprises the four States of
Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, and Yucatan, of which the
first two form part of the Central American orographic
system, while the two others form a little marine lime-
stone world of their own, soldered, as it were, on to the
Central American mainland. Having a total area of
not more than 90,000 square miles, with a population of
less than 900,000, this East Mexican section bears no
kind of proportion to Mexico proper, while its remote-
ness from the seat of government has often been a source
of danger and difficulty to a power possessing no navy
and indifferent land communications.
Chiapas, like North Mexico, has also its "Sierra
Madre," perhaps better known as the Sierra Atravesado,
a Pacific coast range, which forms a northern continua-
tion of the Guatemalan system, and terminates somewhat
abruptly above the Plains of Tehuantepec, It runs at
an altitude of about 5000 feet some 25 or 30 miles from
MEXICO 8 9
the sea, between the maritime district of Soconusco and
the interior, falling precipitously towards the Pacific, and
sloping gently down to the Plains of Yucatan. Above
the prevailing porphyritic formations rise here and there
a few igneous cones, such as Xoconochco (7900 feet), of
which Soconusco is a Spanish corruption, and Tacana
(11,500 feet), culminating point of the range on the
Guatemalan frontier. Although still emitting vapours,
Soconusco has long been quiescent, while Tacana is
frequently in a state of eruption and nearly always
wrapped in smoke.
East of the Sierra Madre Central Chiapas develops a
gently undulating plateau, well wooded and watered, and
dominated here and there by a few crests, of which
Hueitepec (7500 feet?) is the highest.
Yucatan — Cenotes — Caves
Beyond a few scattered hills and spurs projected
northwards by the Chiapas and Guatemalan Sierras, and
a central ridge rising 400 or 500 feet above the plains
in a north-westerly direction, there are no ranges in
Yucatan, which forms a huge limestone mass of blunt
peninsular shape built up by the polypi still at work in
the neighbouring waters. Except on the east side, the
peninsula is continued far seawards, and especially in
the direction of Cuba, by extensive coralline beds, which
are continually growing, and must in course of time
reach the surface. A slight upheaval of about 20
fathoms would then more than double the size of the
States of Campeche and Yucatan, the mean height of ,
the whole region scarcely exceeding 100 feet. The
Great Bank of Yucatan, which has an estimated area of
some 60,000 square miles, is already visible at some
90 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
points, such as the Alacran reef, the Mujeres, Arenas,
and other rocks and islets, some containing deposits of
guano, but all dangerous to the navigation of these
inland waters. The Bank extends over 120 miles in
the direction of the north, and everywhere presents
extremely steep seaward escarpments, where the sound-
ings have revealed depths of 1000 or even 1500 fathoms
in the Yucatan Channel flowing between the peninsula
and Cuba.
Being mostly treeless, and apparently waterless,
Yucatan itself presents a somewhat monotonous aspect,
and at first sight would seem to be scarcely habitable.
Yet at one time it was thickly peopled by the Maya
nation, in some respects the most intelligent of all the
American aborigines, and long before the discovery
Mayapan was one of the chief centres of culture in the
New World. But although there are no surface streams
there is great store of underground water, percolating
through the porous limestone rock and filling the large
cavernous recesses, which were, and still are, reached by
steps hewn in the solid rock, by withe-bound ladders
and long inclined planes. The cenotes, as these natural
reservoirs are called, were supplemented by the haltunes,
natural troughs or potholes sunk in the impervious rock
in some districts, and always replenished during the dry
season. These troughs were very numerous, and some-
times of great size. Mr. E. H. Thompson found one
near the Chuntichmool ruins with a capacity of several
thousand gallons. " Steps had been cut by the pre-
historic water-carriers down the solid rock-side into the
cavity, and as the water gradually lowered, by these
steps they could follow it to the last drop." * The
natives also increased the supply by artificial processes,
1 The Chultunes of Ldbna, Yucatan, Cambridge, Mass. 1897, p. 7.
MEXICO 1
and especially by constructing the so-called chvltwmes,
or underground chambers, in those places where
no natural receptacles existed. Few of these were
of any great size, and the largest met by Mr.
Thompson held less than 10,000 gallons. During
his expedition of 1906-7 to Yucatan Count Maurice de
Perigny ascended the Eio Hondo, which for 60 miles
forms the boundary between British Honduras and
Yucatan. From this river he crossed the forest for over
40 miles to the village of IcaiclU, and in the almost
unknown intervening district discovered several groups
of ruins, including those of the Rio fidque some 20
miles north of Icaiche. Here was found an imposing
structure with facade 120 feet long and flanked at
both ends by round stone towers, from which a narrow
stairway leads to two inner chambers. But all is now
lifeless, and the Uxmal district a hotbed of deadly
fevers.
Of the caverns which abound in Yucatan, as in most
limestone regions, and were formerly inhabited, or at
least served as temporary refuges in troublous times,
perhaps the most remarkable is that of Loltun, about 30
miles south of Merida. It was first explored in 1888-
89 by Mr. Thompson, who tells us that in a region
more accessible to tourists it would be world-famed.
Its long passages, dark and silent as the grave, and
penetrating nearly 100 feet below the surface, open sud-
denly into roofless grottoes, sunlit from above, enframed
by huge tree roots and trailing plants, and heavy with
the perfume of thousands of flowers, which, nourished
by the rich, damp soil below, are quickened into
fragrance and beauty by the hot sun's rays from
above. Several of the grottoes, when tbe rays have
the right inclination, are suffused with tints of pale
92 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
green or rose, rivalling in loveliness the famed Blue
Grotto of Capri. 1
Loltun, " cave of the flowery rocks/' has a historic
interest in connection with the " War of the Paces " in
1847, when, according to native report, it served as an
occasional refuge for the Mayas against the Mexican
invaders of their territory. After the proclamation of
independence in 1821, Yucatan, which had formed a
special division of New Spain, became a province of
Mexico, but in 1840 rose against the oppression of the
Central Government. At first the white population was
successful, and even obtained the full recognition of their
autonomy. But rival factions at Merida and Campeche
then began quarrelling amongst themselves, which gave
the Mexicans the opportunity of returning and reducing
both parties. Meanwhile the Mayas, tempted by these
dissensions, had also revolted, and after many years of
desultory warfare achieved a measure of success in the
southern parts of the peninsula, where they have main-
tained their independence to the present day. It was
during those disorderly times that Loltun and similar
places were used as " rock shelters " by the natives.
Lower California — General Survey
Even more than the Yucatan peninsula, that of
California, disposed in the opposite direction, from north
to south, forms a separate physical region, which is
connected with the rest of the republic only at its neck
between the Pio Colorado and the Pacific Coast. When
the conventional political frontier line was drawn across
this narrow strip of arid and unproductive territory, the
whole peninsula was generally believed to be of much
1 Thompson, Cave of Loltun, Cambridge, Mass. 1S97.
MEXICO 93
the same character, and it was accordingly left to Mexico
by the Guadalupe-Hidalgo treaty of 1848. But since
then further research has considerably modified this view,
and Mr. Gustav Eisen's expedition of 1894-95 has shown
that at least the southern section, from the La Paz oyster-
fishing grounds to Cape St. Lucas, is a much more favoured
land than had hitherto been supposed.
In this region the central Sierra de la Giganta was
found to form a series of sierras, culminating in a peak
about 8000 feet high, and consisting of a huge granite
mass of upheaval, which shows signs of glacial action,
chiefly in the form of enormous moraines, especially on
the side facing the Gulf. Here the sierras are separated
by the San Jose" del Gabo valley from a non-fossiliferous
limestone ridge, beyond which volcanic stratified red
rocks prevail on the shores of the Gulf.
The whole peninsula as far north as All Saints Boy
on the Pacific side (31° 45' N.), and La Paz on the Gulf
side (24° 10' K), is quite free from frost, as is also the
Eio San Jose for some 15 miles from its mouth. Hence
extensive tracts are suitable for pine-apple and coffee
culture. Even the rainfall appears to be more copious
than reported by former observers, ranging generally
from about 12 to 20 inches, at least in the more
favoured districts. In the south there are heavy
summer downpours, from July to November, and still
more bountiful discharges occasionally in January. The
vegetation, which is densest between 1000 and 6000
feet, consists mainly of shrubs and low trees, besides
an unexpected wealth of flowering plants, and at least
two fruits of peculiar excellence — the red -fruited
cactus {Cereus thurberi), and the Girucla (Cryptocurpa
procera). 1
1 Jour. Geograph. Soc. October 1896, pp. 398-99.
94 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Climate — Rainless Zone
On the east side the coast is fringed north of La Paz
Bay with a chain of rocky islets, which form the Lor do
Archipelago, and extend from the Bay of San Luis in
the direction of Cortes Bay. This granitic and porphyry
group lies in an almost rainless zone where the parched
soil is unrefreshed by a single shower for years together.
Yet the islands are the home of countless flocks of sea-
birds, which have here deposited extensive beds of guano.
The same rainless zone extends over the greater part
of the central and northern section of the peninsula,
where the great drawback is undoubtedly an insufficient
supply of moisture either from the skies or from springs
and surface waters. By the thinly scattered natives a
spring or brooklet is valued as the greatest of treasures,
and the pattering of rain as the sweetest music. In
the sultry summer months they gaze wistfully at the
gathering clouds which form on the bosom of the ocean,
but are wafted away beyond the peninsula without
discharging a drop of moisture till they strike the
western Sierra Maclre, where they discharge their contents
in copious showers. Hence in Lower California there
are scarcely any perennial streams, no rivers that would
be considered worthy of the name on the mainland.
Although there are several over 20 feet broad, none of
them are available for navigation, and few even for
irrigation. The San Jose del Cabo is certainly utilised
for this purpose, but in such a primitive way that most
of the precious fluid runs waste. A not uncommon
phenomenon is the total disappearance of a stream in
its bed, which is due partly to excessive evaporation,
and partly to the porous nature of the soil over which
it flows.
MEXICO 95
Owing to this great dearth of humidity it has been
calculated that not a tenth part of the whole peninsula,
which has an area of a little over 58,000 square miles,
will ever be brought under cultivation, or even made
available for cattle or sheep farming. But in estimating
its value as a national asset, account has also to be taken
of its mineral and fishing resources, which are far from
despicable.
Fauna — Fisheries — Mineral Wealth
Along the sea-board, between the Rio San Jose and
San Antonio, the chief pursuits are tillage and stock-
breeding. Wherever the springs and rivulets afford
water for irrigation, the sugar-cane, rice, and brown
beans (frijoles) are grown, while the white houses with
their garden plots bespeak a prosperous population.
Farther south the rocky coast is frequented by large
numbers of waders, who here find abundance of food.
This is the home of the boat-bill, the purple ibis, the
tantalus, and other members of the family of the Grallcc.
In the mountains the black eagle has his eyrie, and near
the shore the fishing eagle hovers over waters teeming
with marine life. At the southern extremity of the
peninsula the sandy beach between Capes Palma and
St. Lucas is frequented by the gigantic turtle, and the
other smaller species which yield the tortoise-shell of
commerce. This coast is also infested by large cuttle-fish,
enormous sharks, and the sword-fish. On the utterly
desolate Pacific Coast bask numerous schools of sea-lions
and other varieties of seals. The sea-otter is here hunted
for his valuable fur, and there is an extraordinary
abundance of rare and excellent shell-fish, including the
pearl-oyster and many other species, for the most part
96 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
still unclassified. The shelving sandy beach, strewn
with sea- cresses, which cling to the clefts of the reefs
everywhere cropping out, affords an ideal breeding- and
feeding-ground for these marine crustaceans.
Some parts of the interior are now known to be richly
mineralised. In the San Antonio district, 80 miles
south of La Paz and 30 miles inland, several of the
spurs branching off from the eastern sierras towards the
Gulf contain extensive gold and silver lodes easily acces-
sible from the coast. Copper has long been mined in
some of the upland valleys, where gold, lead, and other
minerals also occur.
Orography and Geology
In the central parts of the peninsula, lying between
the northern and southern granitic sections, the land
slopes gradually upwards from the Pacific Coast in a
series of terraces to its highest altitude near the east
coast, where are developed steep precipices from 2000 to
3000 feet high facing the Gulf. This singular con-
formation has suggested the idea that the peninsula
forms only the half of a mountain range divided longi-
tudinally, the corresponding eastern half having dis-
appeared in the depression now flooded by the waters of
the Gulf. The narrow strip of sea-board lying between
the high escarpments and the shore is here broken into
ridges and valleys, which correspond to the series of
sierras farther south, and are in places clothed like them
with a rich sub-tropical vegetation. In the direction of
the north the whole system appears to attain its greatest
elevation about the 31st parallel near the head of the
Gulf in the lofty peak of Mount Calamahue, which rises
to a height of 9130 feet, and is the culminating point
MEXICO '.1 7
of the peninsula. Between the bays of MidegS and Los
Angeles on the Pacific side rises another cluster of hills
known as Las Tres Virgenes. Here the formation is
clearly volcanic, the summits presenting the appearance
of breached craters, some of which still contain sulphates,
while the slopes consist of scoriae, lavas, and basalts. At
the southern extremity rises the Sierra de San Lazaro,
which culminates westwards in a peak 6300 feet high.
Towns — Lower Californian Scenery
La, Paz, capital of Lower California, lies at the head
of a fine deep bay, where hundreds of ships might ride
securely at anchor. It is a port of call for steamers
plying between San Francisco, Mazatlan, and G-uaymas,
and for sailing vessels freighted with merchandise for
the various ports of the Pacific. La Paz has a popula-
tion of about 3000, chiefly Spaniards of somewhat pure
descent, and American traders. Its broad, straight
streets are shaded by double rows of leafy ash-trees, and
the low, whitewashed houses, relieved by green Venetian
blinds, are built of solid stone, with tiled roofs.
Some 80 miles south of La Paz lies the little town-
ship of San Antonio, on the eastern slope of the Sierra,
32 miles inland from the Gulf. Since the discovery of
the rich argentiferous veins in this district San Antonio
has become a busy mining centre, and the population
already exceeds that of the capital. Between this place
and the extremity of the peninsula the line of coast is
broken by the estuary of the Rio San Jose del Cabo,
which gives its name to the flourishing agricultural
settlements of San Jose. Orange culture is the chief
pursuit in this delightful valley, which is clothed with
rich sub-tropical growths right up to the foot of the
H
98 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Sierra. Here the village of San Juan del Cabo completes
the panorama of a region everywhere enlivened by the
song of the mocking-bird and the chattering of California]!
magpies noted for their bright, variegated plumage.
On the desolate Pacific sea-board there are no centres
of population beyond a few farmsteads on the bays of
Magdalena, San Quintin, and All Saints. The desert
hilly districts are frequented by the wild sheep, the
prong- horned antelope, the Californian deer, and other
ruminants that browse on the bitter cytisus, and have
their home amid the brambles and precipices of the hill-
slopes.
Near the northern frontier Lies the port of San Diego,
around which cluster the mission of St. Thomas and the
vineyards of Comandu, with an aggregate population of
about 1200. Nearer to the Gulf, between Los Angeles
and Mulege Bays, on the slopes of Mount Giganta, is the
mining town of Loreto. From the peak is named the
central range, and from the town the neighbouring-
archipelago. Opposite Loreto is the large island of
Carmen, whose fiat, sandy shores are flooded at every
tide, the evaporation of the water leaving a constant
supply of dazzling white salt — a natural salina, from
which the local government derives a considerable
income. Altogether Lower California, despite the
prevailing aridity, is a land of much promise, but also
needing much capital and enterprise for its development.
CHAPTER VII
Mexico (continued) — inhabitants
The Aborigines— Uncivilised Tribes— The Seri— The Otomi— The Tara-
humaras — The Cultured Peoples — Mixtecs and Zapotecs — Mitla — The
Tarascans — The Aztecs and Chichimecs — The Maya-Quiches — Early
Records — Aztec and Maya Contrasts — Cholula — The Teocalli —
Teotihuacan : Pyramids of the Sun and Moon — Papantla — The
Teocalli of Vera Cruz — The Ruined Cities of Mayaland — Uxmal —
Izumal — Ake— Chichen Itza — Palenque — Tulha — Lorillard — Maya
Inscriptions — Calendar — Writing System — The Mexican Mestizos —
The Spaniards — Anglo- Americans.
The Aborigines
It has been seen (Chapter II) that the substratum of
the Mexican population is still largely formed by the
full -blood aborigines, who are numerous especially in the
northern provinces — Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Coahuila,
Durango — and in the extreme south — Chiapas, Yucatan.
In all these lands, and even in some of the more central
districts, notably Oajaca, they have hitherto kept more
or less aloof from European influences, either because
civilised and numerous enough to retain the sentiment
and traditions of their former greatness (Mayas), or else
at too low a stage of culture to rise to a higher level
(Seri). Thus the process of fusion with the Hispano-
Americans makes little progress, and until it is completed
100 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
there can be no question of a homogeneous Mexican
nationality.
The above-mentioned Seri and Mayas stand at the
opposite poles of native American culture, the inter-
mediate stages being represented in ascending order
mainly by the Otomi, Opata-Pima, Zoque-Mixe, Mixteco-
Zapotec, Tarasco, and Aztec (see Table, p. 22)*
Uncivilised Tribes — The Seri
Little was known of the primitive Seri people before
their territory was visited in 1895 by Mr. W. J. M'Gee,
at the head of a surveying party from the Washington
Bureau of Ethnology. They occupy the large island of
Tuberon in the Gulf of California, and a considerable
tract on the neighbouring coast of Sonora, much of which
had never before been traversed by white men, but has
now received the name of Seriland. Mr. M'Gee found
them to be " probably more savage than any other tribe
remaining on the North American Continent. Most of
their food is eaten raw ; they have no domestic animals
save dogs ; they are totally without agriculture, and their
industrial arts are few and rude." x
The Otomi
Scarcely more advanced are the numerous Otomi
tribes, who were in prehistoric times driven by the
Nahua intruders from the central plateau to the uplands,
and still have their chief homes on the slopes of the hills
encircling the Valley of Mexico. The Otomi fill a large
place in the oral traditions of the Aztecs, by whom they
have always been despised, and classed with the Chichi-
1 Sixteenth An. Report, Bureau Ethnology, p. Ixiii.
MEXICO 101
niecs as " dogs," that is, vile outcasts like the Indian
pariah tribes. The term " Otomi," however, means
nomads, although they really dwell in fixed settlements,
from which they never wander, except to visit the
market towns of the plains. From the curious practice
of dyeing their flowing tresses red they have also been
called " Bed-haired," whereas the hair is black, coarse, and
long, like that of the other aborigines. From these they
differ chiefly in their deeper brown or chocolate com-
plexion, and in their figures, which are rather under-
sized, heavy, and ungainly.
Those dwelling on the lower slopes are being slowly
absorbed in the neighbouring Mestizo populations ; but
the great bulk of the nation, estimated at over 600,000,
still retain the old language and tribal usages. They
can, however, no longer be called savages, although they
are, next to the Seri, perhaps the best representatives of
the extremely rude social conditions prevailing in Central
Mexico before the spread of a higher culture under
' Toltec " or Maya influences.
The Tarahumaras and Huichols
Of the numerous groups bracketed by Mexican writers
under the Opata-Pima division the real affinities are far
from being clearly established. One of the most interest-
ing, if not the most typical, members of this widely
ramifying family are the Tarahumaras (Tarumaros), who
dwell on both slopes of that section of the Western
Sierra Madre which traverses the States of Sinaloa,
Sonora and Chihuahua. In the seclusion of their upland
valleys they have hitherto displayed an extraordinary
conservative spirit in resisting foreign influences. Al-
though many of the tribes listened to the preaching of
102 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
the Jesuits so far back as the seventeenth century, and
even call themselves " Christians," their Christianity is
strangely associated with old pagan rites, and ceremonies
are still observed at which the padres are not permitted
to assist.
Originally the Tarahumaras were true troglodytes, and
many of the caves which abound in their territory con-
tinue to be used as dwellings by several of the groups.
Although some have in recent years acknowledged the
authority of the local government, and have even settled
amongst the general population, the great majority — some
40,000 or 50,000 — cling to the old tribal institutions.
The Huichols of the state of Jalisco number about
4000, are one of the most primitive peoples in Mexico,
and are noted especially for their peculiar religious rites,
accompanied by singing of quite a remarkable character.
" It sounded different," says Lumholtz, " from anything
I had ever heard among Mexican Indians or elsewhere,
and it was as novel as it was enchanting." They are also
clever medicine men, as indicated by their name, which
means " Healers." But religion is their great speciality,
their whole life being practically one of devotion to their
gods. Besides eighteen temples there are numerous sacred
caves, and amongst their gods are several species of cacti
which are both worshipped and feared.
The Cultured Peoples — Mixtecs and Zapotecs — Mitla
Through the somewhat rude Zoques and Mijes of
Oajaca and Chiapas a gradual transition is effected from
the savage and barbaric to the cultured peoples, of whom
the most important are the Mixtecs and Zapotecs of
Oajaca, the Tarascos of Michoacan, the Aztecs of the
Anahuac plateau, and the Mayas of Yucatan.
MEXICO
103
Mixteca, or Mixtecapan, that is, the land of the
Mixtecs, appears to have been originally confined to the
western parts of Oajaca. But at the time of the con-
TAEASCO INDIANS OF TATZCUARO, MICHOACAN.
quest their political domain was far more extensive, and
after its reduction was divided between the three present
States of Oajaca, Puebla, and Guerrero.
Closely allied to the Mixtecs were the formerly
104 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
powerful Zapotccs of Eastern Oajaca, who ruled over all
the Tehuantepec tribes, from whom the isthmus takes its
name. They were subject to a hereditary monarch, who
waged long wars against the Aztecs until his capital,
Mitla, was taken and destroyed towards the close of the
fifteenth century. The ruins of the palace of Mitla
rank amongst the very finest in the New World, and
sufficiently attest the high level of culture attained by
the Zapotec nation before the arrival of the Spaniards.
Besides their almost classical beauty of outline and
symmetrical proportions, the monuments of Mitla are
remarkable for the extraordinary dimensions of the stones
used in their erection. Professor Bickmore compares
them to those of the temple of Baalbec in Syria, which
is scarcely surprising when we read that in the " Hall of
Monoliths " there are six huge columns disposed at even
distances down the centre, each a solid block 1 1 feet high
and as many in circumference. Enormous blocks of
immense weight and bulk have also been placed as lintels
over the doorways, and one marvels how they could be
raised to elevations where it would require all the
knowledge of modern engineering skill and mechanical
appliances to place them. These structures are generally
coated with stucco painted a Pompeiian brick red, and
amid the ruins are found diminutive clay images like
those we shall meet again at Teotihuacan in the Valley
of Mexico. They seem to point at the route followed
by the Toltecs in their migrations from Anahuac to
Mayaland.
In the government of his people the Zapotec king
was aided by the Weyelao, a high priest so greatly
revered that his feet were never allowed to touch the
ground. He presided over sanguinary rites only less
horrible than those of the Aztecs, the numerous gods of
MEXICO 105
their pantheon having all to be appeased by human
victims.
The Zapotecs are said, like the Lapps, to hoard their
treasures in secret hiding-places for use in the after-life,
and the report seems confirmed by the quantity of gold,
jewellery, copper ornaments, and such like costly objects
frequently brought to light in their territory. They are
a strong, well-built, brave and vigorous race, and although
still using the national speech, at least out of the school-
room, where the rising generation is learning Spanish,
they have begun to take their share in the general course
of events. Juarez, who maintained the independence of
Mexico against the French, and shot Maximilian, was a
full-blood Zapotec.
The Tarascans
Formerly dominant in the kingdom of Michoacan,
which included part of Guanajuato, the Tarascans still
form the great majority of the inhabitants of that region.
Although they had long maintained close social relations
with the Aztecs, they were not members of the Nahua
family, as shown by their speech, which is a stock
language, and continues to be widely spoken throughout
all the rural districts. No doubt they called the Aztecs
" Fathers-in-law," and themselves Tarhascue, that is,
" Sons-in-law." But this had reference, not to any direct
kinship, but to indirect alliances, resulting from the long-
established practice of seeking their wives outside of the
tribe, and by preference amongst their Aztec neighbours.
Like these they had a knowledge of pictorial writing,
and were in other respects equally, if not more civilised.
They surpassed all the surrounding nations in several of
the industrial arts, though not in architecture; their
social institutions appear to have been of a higher order,
106 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
and the national religion was certainly of a milder
character, at least until the rage for human sacrifices
spread amongst them a short time before their overthrow
by the Conquistadors.
The Aztecs and Chichimecs
Eeference has already been made to the probable
relations in which the Nahuas and their Aztec descendants
stood towards the prehistoric Toltecs, their Huaxtec
(Maya) forerunners on the Anahuac tableland. The
overthrow of the Toltec empire, and the destruction of
their capital, Tula, is generally referred to the eleventh
century of the new era, although earlier dates have been
inferred from the confused and mainly fabulous traditions
of the Nahua conquerors.
From these traditions, of which pictorial representa-
tions have been reproduced in Lord Kingsborough's great
work on the Antiquities of Mexico, attempts have been
made to reconstruct the history of the rude Nahua
intruders from the dispersion of the Toltecs to the arrival
of the Spaniards. During the whole of this period,
estimated at some 500 years, the Nahuas, possibly a
branch of the North American Shoshone (Snake) family,
were occupied with the conquest of the aborigines on the
central plateau between the Eio Grande del Norte and
the Valley of Mexico, and with the expansion of their
power by conquest and colonisation from the plateau
southwards to Nicaragua.
Three epochs, or at least sequences, may be roughly
distinguished: (1) spread of the first Nahua invaders
from the fall of Topiltzin, last of the Toltec rulers, to the
temporary eclipse of the Nahua power by an irruption of
savage hordes collectively called Chichimecs, or " Dogs,"
MEXICO 107
200 years; (2) the so-called "Chichimec empire," that
is, the arrest of Nahua culture and reversion to chaos and
barbarism for another 200 years; (3) the expulsion of the
Chichimecs and restoration of Nahua ascendency by the
Aztecs with the allied Acolhuas and Tepanecs, under a
legendary hero, Quetzalcoatl, afterwards deified as the
incarnation of Tonacateatl, the serpent sun, creator of all
things and supreme god of the JSTahua mythology, a
partly historic period of about 100 years, from the
fourteenth century to the Spanish Conquest.
By many authorities the Chichimecs are themselves
regarded as of Nahua stock, and it is possible, even
probable, that some of the multitudinous peoples grouped
under this designation belonged to that connection.
But the great majority appear to have been brought
together from the numerous wild tribes, such as the
Otomi, the Cahitas, the Fames, and others who dwelt in
the upland valleys of the surrounding Sierras, and had
never been completely subjugated by the Nahuas. In
the Aztec traditions they are described as utter savages,
who despised all culture, tilled no land, lived entirely
on the chase, and were omnivorous, eating jaguars, pumas,
snakes, lizards, locusts, even such vermin as rats, moles,
earth-worms, besides man himself. They wore no cloth-
ing except the undressed skins of wild beasts, had no
settled habitations beyond caves and rock - shelters, or
perhaps frail huts of foliage ; no arms except bows and
arrows, slings and clubs ; no occupation save the hunt and
war, that is, plundering and raiding hostile tribes. They
drank the blood and ate the raw flesh of the slain on
the battlefield, like the Prairie Indians carried off their
scalps as trophies of victory, and reserved the captives
for a lingering death by torture.
Such, at least, is the picture of the Chichimec hordes
108 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
presented by the early Spanish writers, and by one or
two native historians, who derived their knowledge from
the Aztec traditions and pictorial records. But it is
difficult to understand how such utter savages, without
cohesion or any kind of political organisation, could have
acquired and maintained the supremacy over more cul-
tured peoples on the Anahuac plateau, and established a
great " empire " such as that described by the Aztec
writer, Ixtlilxochitl. 1 But exaggeration may well be
suspected when we read that Xolotl, founder of this
empire, had under orders 3,202,000 men and women,
and ruled over a vast domain under the title of " Great
King of the Chichimecs."
This chronicler himself, like Garcilaso de la Vega, of
royal lineage, tells us that, after a long series of revolts,
wars, conspiracies, and revolutions, Maxtla, last of the
Chichimec dynasty, was overthrown in 1431 by the
Aztecs and their Acolhua and Tepanec allies. The con-
federacy was speedily dissolved by the Aztecs, who sub-
jugated the allies, and then remained sole masters in the
Valley of Mexico, where they are said to have founded
their lacustrine capital, Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City,
less than a century before its capture by Cortes. But
they must have been dominant in Anahuac long before
the fifteenth century.
Named from the shadowy land of Aztlan away to the
north, where they were fabled to have long dwelt in the
seven legendary caves of Chicomoztoc, the Aztecs had
3 In all this formidable Aztec terminology it should be noted that the
incessantly recurring x does not, or at least did not at first, represent the
Spanish x or j-ch in loch, but was borrowed from the Portuguese
alphabet to indicate the sound sh, as in shock, a sound unknown in
Spanish but very common in Aztec. Hence Mexico should properly be
pronounced Meshico, and not Mejico or Mchico, as it now is by Spanish-
speaking peoples, who afterwards forgot this conventional use of x.
MEXICO 109
established themselves after long migrations in the
Valley of Mexico, probably not long after the overthrow
of the Toltecs. Time must in any case be allowed, not
only for the spread of the Aztec name and fame
throughout the whole region washed by both oceans, but
also for the conquest of several powerful states, such as
those of the Tlascaltecs in the present Vera Cruz, of the
Tarascans, Zapotecs, Quiches, and others between Jalisco
and Nicaragua, and even of the Mayas of Tabasco and
Yucatan. Aztec colonies, such as those of the Pipils and
Niquirans, had been founded in Guatemala and Nicaragua
long enough to develop distinct varieties of the Nahua
mother-tongue, and to give an Aztec complexion to the
geographical terminology of those regions, as well as of
Oajaca, while the very names of the Aztec rulers were
held in such veneration that they became associated with
the geographical features of the land — rivers, valleys,
canyons — from the Montezuma 1 river in Anahuac north-
wards to the Montezuma canyon and valley of the
Pueblo Indians and cliff-dwellers, and even the now
vanished "Aztec Spring" of Colorado. Such proofs of
direct contact and political or social influences diffused
over an area nearly 2,000,000 square miles in extent,
point, not at a few decades, but at many centuries of
Aztec ascendency on the Anahuac plateau and neighbour-
ing lands.
Yet the Aztec empire seems to have lacked cohesion,
and was certainly a far less perfectly developed political
organism than that of the Peruvian Incas. It was
rather in the nature of a loose aggregate of half-subdued
1 Properly Moteuczoma, to which the Spanish Motezuma comes nearer
than the English Montezuma, with an unexplained intruding n. There is
another variant, Moctezuma, which now figures on the maps in place of
Oposura, the old capital of the Opata nation in the State of Sonora.
110 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL
tribes and even nations, each left in the enjoyment of its
own social institutions, language, and religion, but sub-
jected to heavy tribute, including large numbers of slaves
and captives required for the sacrifices on the altars of
the Aztec gods. Hence a universal feeling of discontent,
especially in the outlying provinces, which were held
together by an organised system of terrorism, and were
for the most part in a chronic state of revolt. Thus the
republican Tlascaltecs of Vera Cruz at once joined
Cortes on his march to the capital, after the capture of
which the unwieldy empire fell to pieces, and nothing
remained for the Spaniards except to replace it by a
more effective administration.
Having their towns and agricultural settlements
centred chiefly in the Valley of Mexico and surrounding
plains, the Aztecs were naturally at an early date
brought under European influences. Socially they were
not greatly inferior to the conquerors, and although the
Nahua language is still current in many rural districts,
the two races have already been largely fused in a
general Mestizo population, which constitutes the most
numerous and advanced section of the present Mexican
nationality.
The Maya-Quiches — Early Eecords
Somewhat different in this as in many other respects
has been the political and social evolution of the widely-
diffused Suaxtecan or Maya-QuicM peoples, who constitute
incomparably the most important aboriginal element in
Central America. But while the early history of the
Huaxtecan or northern section is a complete blank, a
glimmer of light is thrown on that of the Mayas,
dominant in Yucatan, Tabasco, and Honduras, and of the
MEXICO 111
Quiches of Guatemala and Chiapas, both by the national
traditions, and even by documentary evidence.
Although the key to the decipherment of the Maya
inscriptions still eludes the grasp of American archaeo-
logists, attempts have been made with the aid of native
scholars to extract a little sense out of the so-called
" Katunes * of Maya History," and the Quiche " Popol-
Vuh," two of the few native documents which escaped
the iconoclastic zeal of the Spanish missionaries at the
general holocaust of Maya-Quiche manuscripts in 1569.
From these sources it appears that many ages ago
Yotan, a messenger from the gods, came over the seas
from some shadowy eastern land, and introduced the first
elements of culture amongst the rude inhabitants of the
Isthmian region. He was the reputed founder of the
great Xibalba confederation, which figures largely in the
Maya traditions, and perhaps for a time united all the
Maya-Quiche peoples under one central power. Reminis-
cences long survived of a vast empire, which had its
capital, Naclian or Colhuacan, the " Snake City," in
the Usumacinta valley, Chiapas, where in 1746 were
discovered some imposing ruins lining the banks of the
river some ten miles south-west of the modern town of
Palenque.
Then after a long series of revolts, dynastic rivalries
and foreign wars, probably with the conquering Nahuas
still advancing southwards, the empire was broken up,
or dissolved into eighteen independent states, such as
those of Coban, Lorillard (the " Phantom City "), and
Quirigua in Guatemala ; Copan in Honduras ; Chichen-
Itza, Ake, Uxmal, Kaba, and Mayapan (the " Banner City
1 From Teat, stone, and tun, to ask, a term applied in Yucatan to in-
scribed stones recording historical events, perhaps in the form of questions
and answers.
112 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
of the Mayas ") in Yucatan ; Labora, Nohbecan, and
Potonchan in Campeche.
Aztec and Maya Contrasts
The mere enumeration of these places points at a
fundamental difference between the Nahua and the
Maya-Quiche political systems. In Anahuac the federal
principle was so weak that it soon disappeared, leaving
the supreme power in the hands of the Aztec intruders
from the north — a sort of military caste holding unstable
rule over a multitude of peoples of different origin, speech,
religion, and social institutions. But in the south the
federal principle persisted, because here the great bulk
of the inhabitants were of one stock and, allowing for
dialetic differences, of one speech ; nor were they intruders,
but the true indigenous element, which had been in
possession of the land from time out of mind, and had
risen to a high level of culture at a remote epoch. Hence
the overthrow of the Aztecs by Cortes was followed, not
only by their political, but even by their social extinction ;
whereas the break up of the Xibalba confederation in
pre-Columbian times left the Isthmian lands covered,
like mediaeval Italy, with a large number of petty inde-
pendent states, still allied for national purposes, as we
see in the protracted struggle against the Spanish
invaders (1522-1550), but each a separate centre of a
locally developed culture.
Thus is explained the striking contrast between the
still extant memorials of the past in Anahuac and Maya-
land. In the north ruined cities are not numerous, and
all the most imposing monuments, such as the pyramids
of Cholula and Teotihuacan, are referred by the Aztecs
themselves to their Toltec precursors, that is, as seen,
MEXICO 113
Lo the Huaxtecan or northern section of the Maya-Quiche
race. In the south, on the contrary, the whole land is
thickly strewn with monumental remains — nearly seventy
" ruined cities " have already been described in Yucatan
and neighbouring States — each stamped with a certain
individuality beneath a generally uniform character, and
all far more imposing than anything that can be traced
directly to the Nahuas on the Anahuan plateau.
Cholula— The Teocalli
Antiquaries generally regard the pyramid of Cholula
as the oldest work of the kind in Mexico, or indeed in
the New World. It rises not far from the city of Puebla
to a vertical height of 1 7 7 feet, and covers a quadrangular
space of no less than 44 acres, being 1423 feet on all
sides at the base. It is solidly built of adobe, or sun-
dried bricks, and in its present state has the aspect of
a huge terraced mound clothed with vegetation and
crowned with a twin-towered church of the usual Spanish
American type.
This church, which is approached by a long winding
track terminating in a flight of steps, replaces an old
teocalli, that is, " God's House," or temple, such as sur-
mounted all the truncated pyramids. The teocalli were
the scenes of frightful butcheries, where, allowing for
exaggeration, hundreds if not thousands of human beings
were on solemn occasioDS immolated to the gods, and the
palpitating bodies flung down the steps and often devoured
by the assembled multitudes. Such ceremonial canni-
balism was a survival of the indiscriminate cannibalism
which, as would seem, prevailed amongst most primitive
peoples in all parts of the world. 1
1 Dr. R. S. Steinmetz, Endocannibalismus, Vienna, 1896, p. 59 sq.
I
114 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Teotihuacan — Pyramids of the Sun and Moon
No date is assigned to Cholula, whereas the twin
pyramids of the " Sun and Moon " at Teotihuacan, about
30 miles north of Mexico City, on the Vera Cruz
railway, are ascribed either to the Totonacs of doubt-
ful Huaxtecan connection, or to the fourth of the nine
somewhat legendary kings of the Toltecs, founder of
the city of Teotihuacan towards the ninth century of
the new era. The pyramid of the Sun has a base of
682 feet square and a height of 180 feet, that of the
Moon being somewhat smaller, while both are connected
by the " Path of the Dead," where the people witnessed
the long procession either of the victims being led to
the sacrificial altars, or else of the departed being borne
to their graves in the numerous mounds or barrows
still thickly strewn over the plain.
Teotihuacan, a chief centre of Toltec or pre-Aztec
culture, was a vast city, 20 miles in circuit, and the
whole of this space was originally and is still largely
overlain with three successive layers of concrete floors,
which are amongst the unsolved puzzles of American
antiquity. Another puzzle is presented by the myriads
of tiny clay heads from one to three inches long, which
may be picked up in numbers by followiug in the wake
of the plough, and, like those of Mitla, represent a great
diversity of human types. There are certainly two or
three American figures, and ethnographists also profess
to recognise Mongol, Negro, and European features
amongst the countless little objects which, to increase
the difficulty, are found in association with chert and
obsidian implements of the Stone Age.
MEXICO 115
Papantla — The Teocalli of Vera Cruz
Fifty miles north of Jalapa, in the State of Vera
Cruz, that is, in the heart of the old Huaxtec domain,
another pyramid of great archaeological interest was
accidentally discovered in 1780 near the village of
Papantla. It is of small size, forming an exact square
82 feet at base and about 60 feet in vertical height,
and, like all Mexican teocalli, is disposed in receding
stages, a great stairway leading to the flat summit.
But it differs from those of Anahuac both in its position
in the forests at a small elevation above sea-level, and
especially in the materials used in its construction.
These are not sun-dried bricks, nor clay mixed with
whinstones, but huge blocks of porphyry, highly
polished, laid with mortar, and many of them inscribed
with hieroglyphics, snakes, alligators, and other carvings.
Nothing like this has elsewhere been brought to light,
although several other teocalli are found scattered over
the northern part of Vera Cruz, notably at Misantla,
Tasapan, Mapilca, and Casones. This district, never hav-
ing been colonised by the Nahuas, all such remains
must be credited to the Huaxtecan section of the Maya-
Quiche" race.
The Ruined Cities of Mayaland
In the Aztec domain there is also a singular lack
of .those sumptuous and often elaborately sculptured
edifices — temples, palaces, citadels, " nunneries " — which
abound on the sites of the ancient cities scattered over
the Maya-Quiche lands, and are numerous especially on
the waterless plains of Yucatan.
Although spread over a great part of Central
116 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
America, the most important of these remains are com-
prised within the triangular space with apex at Merida,
in north-west Yucatan, and base formed by a straight
line running from Palenque in Chiapas to Copan in
Honduras. Merida itself lies on the site of Tihoo, an
old Maya city, the materials of which have been used
up in the building of its successor. The sculptures and
carvings of a bygone age are still to be seen embedded
in the walls of the present houses, and most of the stone
buildings in the province have in the same way drawn
their materials from the nearest ruins of ancient
Indian structures.
Uxmal — Izamal — Ak6 — Chichen-Itza
In Yucatan the best preserved and grandest of these
ruins are these of Uxmal, 40 miles south of Merida.
Other places, such as Izamal and Chichen-Itza, east or
south-east of Merida, and the large island of Cozumel off
the north-east coast, were no doubt important religious
centres, but Uxmal appears to have been a great city,
capital of the Cocomes kings after the destruction of
the old metropolis, Ilayapan. After the conquest of
the country by the Spaniards, Uxmal, lying at some
distance from the new European settlements, was
neglected and forgotten. Hence its magnificent edifices
escaped the builders' hands, and remained for genera-
tions in good preservation, and there is documentary
evidence that till about 1650 the natives continued to
worship in its slowly crumbling temples.
The principal structures cover about a square mile,
and are mostly overgrown with rank tropical vegetation.
The so-called Casa del Gobernador, grandest of all the
buildings, forms a narrow parallelogram 322 feet long,
MEXICO 117
built entirely of dressed stone, and ornamented on
all sides with a deep, richly sculptured frieze, the
lower part of the facade being of smooth stone. In
front are eleven doorways leading into a double series
of chambers, but the wooden doors have disappeared and
the lintels fallen in since 1688, when all was still
perfect.
Without being symmetrical in design, the sculptured
frieze produces an agreeable effect by the richness and
elegance of the details, the most conspicuous of these
being figures of warriors, kings, or priests seated in
thrones over the doorways, and decked with a high
head-dress of large plumes. Above these the carvings
for about five feet all round the building display in
varied detail a continuously repeated grotesque design
somewhat like a hideous human face, with long carved
nose projecting in high relief beyond the facade.
The other chief buildings differ from the " Governor's
House " both in their facades and their general plan,
forming quadrangles which enclose courtyards of im-
posing dimensions. The so-called Gasa de Palomas,
240 feet in length, presents along the centre of the
roof a range of nine pyramidal stone structures, pierced
with small oblong openings, which produce the effect
of a huge row of dovecots. Special interest attaches
to a number of artificial mounds 50 to 80 feet high,
surmounted by a long narrow building, which are
reached by a broad flight of steep steps, and obviously
correspond to the Mexican teocalli. Similar mounds,
generally of the usual truncated pyramidal type, recur at
most of the other ancient cities, the teocalli being replaced
at Merida by a Franciscan convent
The great pyramid at Izamal presents the further
peculiarity of forming two superimposed pyramidal
118 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
piles of masonry, the common base measuring no less
that 820 feet on each side, and the first platform 650
feet. Still more remarkable is the great pyramid of
Ake, 25 miles east of Merida, which is approached by
a gigantic flight of steps, and was topped originally by
thirty-six pillars (twenty-nine still standing), each 4
feet square, and 14 to 16 feet high, the whole arranged
in three parallel rows, 10 feet apart, supporting a
platform 212 by 46 feet.
Round the central pyramid at Chicken- Itza, which
supports a beautiful structure called the " Castle," are
grouped several other piles, such as the " Nunnery,"
the " Tennis-Court," and various temples or palaces, all
profusely adorned with rich friezes, statues, pillars, and
reliefs. Some of these cities had already been deserted
before the advent of the Spaniards, but Chichen-Itza
was still inhabited by the Itzas, one of the most
powerful of the confederate Maya nations. They after-
wards migrated southwards to the Lake Peten district
on the Guatemala frontier, where several groups bearing
the name of Itza still survive.
Palenque — Tulha — Lorillard
Of the extensive group of monuments near Palenque
the largest has been named the " Palace," and, if not a
royal residence, was certainly a dwelling of some kind.
It could not have been a temple, being disposed in a
considerable number of apartments which communicate
by Irells or passages, the whole standing on a raised
terrace, or low truncated pyramid facing the river.
Close to the village of Ococingo, midway between Palenque
and San Cristobal, capital of Chiapas, stands the ruined
city of Tulha, which is supposed by some archaeologists
MEXICO 119
to have been founded by the Toltecs after the destruction
of their northern capital, Tula, by the Nahuas. Here
was found the famous " Greek cross," on which some
wild theories have been based.
The whole of this district, which is inhabited by the
semi-independent Lacandons of Maya stock, abounds in
sepulchral and other remains, and, according to native
reports, even in " ruined cities " buried under a rank
tropical vegetation. One such place has been lately dis-
covered at Menche on the Upper Usumacinta, and named
" Lorillard City," in honour of the American citizen who
defrayed the expenses of M. Charnay's expedition of
1882. Here the very river banks above a long series of
rapids are carved into flights of steps, which give access
to the great temple and other structures, in their main
features recalling those of Palenque. In the temple
court was found perhaps the most remarkable specimen
of the sculptor's art yet brought to light in the New
World — a solemn Buddha-like figure sitting cross-legged,
hands resting on the knees, and brow encircled by a
jewelled diadem decked with large waving plumes.
Unfortunately all these monuments of an extinct
culture are threatened with inevitable destruction by the
exuberant tropical growths, which, while sheltering them
for a time from atmospheric influences, end by weakening
the foundations and rending the walls with their coiling
roots and branches. Stephens, to whom we owe the first
detailed account of Uxmal, tells us that on revisiting the
place after the short interval of a single year, he already
detected the progress of decay in a lofty structure, before
bare and naked, now covered with tall grasses, weeds, and
scrub, and on the top young trees twenty feet high.
The foundations, terraces, and summits of other buildings
were overgrown with rank herbage, and woody creepers
120 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
were rioting and trailing over facades and mounds. A
strong and vigorous nature was struggling for mastery
over the works of man, wrapping their monuments in its
stifling embrace, and burying them out of sight. Since
Stephens' time the ancient cities of Central America
have been visited by many other explorers, notably by
Mr. and Mrs. A. P. Maudslay, who have reproduced
faithful pictures of many of the ruins in a sumptuous
volume issued in the year 1899. 1
Maya Inscriptions — Calendar — Writing System
Many of these monuments are elaborately carved with
human* and animal figures, and symbolic imagery,
enframed in explanatory texts which themselves now
need explanation. Most of the inscriptions are largely
astronomical, a kind of public calendar, which, like the
Soman Fasti, contained lists of all the days and months
of the year, periods and recurrent cycles of time, with
the dates perhaps of great historic events, and indications
of the proper times and seasons for celebrating the public
festivals in honour of the numerous Maya divinities.
Independently of these still undeciphered documents,
it is clear from other sources, such as the Dresden Codex
and King Axayacatl's great Calendar Stone, still preserved
in Mexico, that both the Mayas and the Aztecs had
made considerable progress in astronomy and the related
sciences. Their calendar, declared by Humboldt to be
more perfect than the Julian, included cycles of 52
years divided into periods of 13 years, the year
itself being again divided into 18 months of 20 days
each, with 5 supplemental days, making 365 altogether.
1 A Glimpse at Guatemala, and some Notes on the Ancient Monuments
of Central Atnerica (Murray, 1899).
MEXICO 121
The days and months are clearly indicated by correspond-
ing signs in the codices and on the Calendar Stone, and
the whole system is thus seen to be a local development,
fundamentally different from the Babylonian and other
Old World systems. It gives no support to the argn-
axayacatl's calendar stone.
ments of those who, with Humboldt, have appealed to
the Maya- Aztec calendric documents as convincing proofs
of Asiatic influences in the evolution of America! cultures.
All such influences are arrested at the Stone Age, after
which the civilisation of the New World proceeded on
independent lines of development. 1
1 A. H. Keane, Man, Past and Present, chap. xi.
122 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
That the " Calculiform signs," as the characters of
the Maya inscriptions are called from their resemblance
to calculi, or " pebbles," represent a true writing system
there is no longer any doubt, although all attempts at
their interpretation have hitherto failed. They are not
merely pictorial, like most of the Aztec writings, but, as
shown by the late Dr. Cyrus Thomas, who came nearest to
a solution of the enigma, represent a true script, certainly
not alphabetical, but partly ideographic, like the Chinese
characters, and partly phonetic, if not even syllabic, the
whole combined together as in the modern rebus. A
symbol was selected because the name or word it re-
presented had as its chief phonetic element a given con-
sonant sound or syllable. Thus for the sound b a
symbol would be used where b was the prominent
element of the word to be indicated, without any necessary
reference to its original meaning. The symbol for cab,
''earth," might in this way be used in writing caban, a
day name, or cabil, " honey," because cab is their chief
phonetic element. 1
Clearly the Maya script was in the transitional stage
between the ideographic and the phonetic, and as this
was the nearest approach made in the New World to a
true alphabetic system, it should, even more than their
architectural monuments, entitle the Maya-Quiche race
to rank as the most intellectual and cultural of all the
American aborigines.
The Mexican Mestizos
Amongst the numerous mixed Hispano-American
populations of the republic those of Yucatan also un-
questionably take the foremost position, at least for
1 " Day Symbols of the Maya Year," in 16th An. Eeport, Washington
Bureau of Ethnology, p. 205 sq.
MEXICO 123
general intelligence and industrial habits. In these
respects the contrast is striking between them and, for
instance, the half-breeds known as Vaqueros (" Cow-boys ")
in the northern provinces. Owing to the diverse charac-
ters of the several constituent elements, similar contrasts,
though in a far less pronounced degree, are naturally
presented between all the Mestizo populations of the
various provinces. Hence beneath a general uniformity,
the peoples now being merged in a common Mexican
nationality will continue to offer differences of tempera-
ment analogous to those found persisting amongst the
European and all other nationalities.
The Mexicans, as they call themselves in a pre-
eminent sense, are a stable, vigorous people, as shown
both by their longevity and by their large families, ten
or twelve children being far from rare. All travellers
speak highly of their bright, cheerful disposition, exquisite
courtesy and kindly feeling towards strangers. "A
Mexican," writes Mr. Brocklehurst, " is almost as polite
as a Japanese," and, " if they are a little distant at first,
so much the better. When once you have been admitted
to their acquaintance you will find them charming, and
the oftener you visit them the more they will be pleased,
increasing at each visit the cordiality of their reception "
(p. 198).
The women are very musical, playing anything and
everything — violin piano, concertina, or guitar. The
family will sometimes give itself up to the rehearsal of a
whole opera, vocal and instrumental, a succession of
visitors in no way interfering with the performance.
But the bane of their existence is the tortilla, the pre-
paration of which involves a prodigious amount of down-
right drudgery. The cake, which takes the place of
bread, is made of Indian corn, and, being eaten hot, has to
124
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
be always ready at a moment's notice. The upper classes
keep an expert hand hard at work all day long, and in
the houses of the poor the wife is occupied in the same
way, so that she has no time for any other household
duty. The tortillas are very tough eating, " You tear
them to pieces almost as you would a piece of leather. I
MAKING TORTILLAS.
pronounce them execrable, and until the Mexicans turn
from tortillas to grinding their corn and making bread,
the drudgery of manufacturing tortillas will prevent their
women from rising in the social scale, and keep them in
their present over-worked and degraded condition " (ibid.
p. 200).
An even more degrading custom is bull-righting,
MEXICO 125
which affects both sexes, and is almost as fashionable as
in Spain. Sunday is the great day for these cruel
spectacles, which seem to be a survival of the gladiatorial
exhibitions of imperial Eome. Cock-fighting and lot-
teries are also favourite pastimes, all of which foster the
passion for gambling which pervades all classes, and is
indulged in by men, women, and even children.
Perhaps the greatest defect in the national character
is a certain indolence, or at least lack of enterprise, which
is frankly acknowledged by the people themselves. " It
is difficult to introduce the American push and restless-
ness in business, and to overcome the habits formed in
many centuries of letting the morrow take care of itself.
There must be the mid- day siesta, and the number of
working days is reduced by several feast days, saints'
days and holidays, besides the Sundays. There is no
doubt that the productiveness of nature is an inducement
to very leisurely labour, though it is possible that indus-
try will be stimulated by the inflow of settlers from the
north, and that Mexico will take on new enterprise and
productive vigour " (Romero).
The Spaniards
In all these respects there is little to choose between
the Mexicans of mixed origin and those who claim un-
sullied descent from the early Spanish settlers. On the
other hand, there is a very marked difference between
these full-blood Creoles and the later Spanish immi-
grants, especially from Catalonia. These are beyond
question a hard-working, temperate class, wonderfully
frugal, thrifty, money-making, altogether the very best
section of the community, though perhaps scarcely
numerous enough to materially affect its future pros-
126 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TEAVEL
pects. Speaking of these recent arrivals, Eornero tells
us that, " In Mexico the energy of the Spaniard is re-
markable. He is forcible of word and phrase, immensely
vital, persistent, and enduring. After thirty years
behind a counter he retires, a man of fortune, and is
still a man of force, ready for undertakings demanding
good brain power and courage. The thrifty Spaniard
toils and slaves, and his ambition is to marry the
daughter of a Mexican landowner, and so he lays the
foundation for permanent wealth ; for everywhere the
man who gets the lands and holds on to them is the
wealthy man. Speculators and financiers come and go
like bubbles on a river, but the landed proprietor keeps a
permanent clinch on humanity."
Anglo-Americans
This writer thinks there is not much danger of
Mexico becoming " Americanised," because the self-
indulgent Anglo-American will find it hard to compete
with these self-denying Spaniards. The American is
showy and spends lavishly, as also does the Englishman,
else he would have maintained the commercial supremacy
in Mexico which he lost to the more economic German,
as the German in his turn lost it to the still more
thrifty " Barcelonettes," as the plodding and patient
Catalan immigrants from Barcelona are called. It is
easier for the Americans, also, to fall into Mexican ways
and adopt the Mexican moral standard, than it is to con-
vert the Mexicans to the American view of life. " I do
not doubt that Mexico has a great industrial, agricultural,
and manufacturing future, but I fancy that its power of
absorption, like that of Egypt, is greater than its facility
of adaptation " (Eornero).
CHAPTEE VIII
Mexico — continued
Topography — History of the Republic — Material Progress — Railway Enter-
prise — Trade — Foreign Exchanges — Finance — Government — Religion
— Education.
Topography
Laege municipalities are certainly numerous in Mexico,
probably more so relatively as well as absolutely than in
any other Spanish-American State. There must be over
a hundred towns, or at least townships, with populations
of 10,000 and upwards, while the subjoined table shows
that those of 20,000 and upwards number about fifty-
five. Yet the collective urban population is still small
compared with the rural, at most one-sixth, and possibly
not more than one-eighth — 2,000,000 to 12,000,000,
or 16,000,000 (highest estimate). This low ratio is
due, partly to the large number of full -blood Indians,
who are for the most part scattered in small tribal
groups over the rural districts, and partly to the un-
developed state of the manufacturing industries, and the
consequent absence of a numerous proletariat class in
the Mexican towns.
128
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Chief Towns of Mexico
Towns.
Pop. 1900.
Towns.
Pop. 1900.
Mexico .
344,000
Salamanca
24,000
Puebla .
93,000
Salvatierra .
24,000
Leon
63,000
Tepatitlan
24,000
Vera Cruz
30,000
Sta Maria del Rio .
24,000
Guadalajara .
• 101,000
Ciudad del Maiz .
24,000
S. Luis Potosi
61,000
Santiago
23,000
Monterey
62,000
La Barca
23,000
Pachuca
37,000
Pinos
23,000
Hidalgo
45,000
San Juan
22,000
Lagos .
43,000
Tuxtla Gutierrez .
22,000
Durango
31,000
Matchuala
22,000
Zacatecas
33,000
Abesolo .
22,000
Guanajuato .
41,000
Saltillo .
24,000
Allende .
40,000
La Piedad
20,000
Merida .
44,000
Tejupilco
20,000
Miahuatlan .
35,000
Valladolid .
20,000
Queretara
33,000
Culiacan . .
20,000
Oajaca .
35,000
Colinia .
20,000
Silas
33,000
Huejutla
20,000
Morelia
37,000
Mazatlan
20,000
Aguascalient -
35,000
Jalapa .
18,000
Fresnillo
29,000
Tixkotob
18,000
Irapuato
28,000
Orizaba .
33,000
Celaya .
26,000
Texcoco
16,000
S. Juan Bautista .
27,000
Guadalupe
16,000
Toluca .
26,000
Hermosillo
15,000
Tepic
26,000
Matamoros
15,000
Tehuan tepee .
26,000
Tula .
15,000
Izamal .
25,000
Campeche
15,000
Sayula .
25,000
Acapulco
14,000
Ciudad Garcia
25,000
San Cristobal .
13,000
Rio Verde
25,000
Cbihuahua
31,000
Puruandiro .
25,000
El Paso del Norte .
37,000
The Central Mexican Eailway, traversing the Anahuac
tableland from the capital northwards, leaves the re-
public at the frontier town of El Paso del Norte, now re-
named Ciudad Juarez in honour of the champion of the
national cause in the war against Maximilian and his
MEXICO
129
French allies. El Paso, that is, " The Ford," stands on
the right bank of the Eio Bravo, at a point where it is
fordable, at an altitude of 3718 feet above the sea. It
was originally a missionary station founded in 1585,
then became a busy depot for the transit trade, and is
CATHEDRAL OF CHIHUAHUA (BUILT OUT OF CHURCH TAX OF THREE
CENTS PER FOUND OF SILVER TAKEN FROM SANTA EVLALIA MINE).
now a great centre of railway traffic, four main lines
radiating from this point southwards to Mexico City,
north-eastwards through Denver City to Xew York,
eastwards to New Orleans, and north-westwards to San
Francisco. The transit trade between the two republics
is steadily increasing, and was valued in 1898 at nearly
K
130 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
£5,000,000, while this historic station has more than
trebled its population during the decade ending in
1909.
In the vast but thinly peopled northern State of
Chihuahua there is no other place of equal size except
the capital, Chihuahua, a railway station on the Central
line, 225 miles south of El Paso. Travellers Eire sur-
prised to see quite a splendid cathedral with rich facade,
two flanking towers and dome rising above this now
obscure provincial town, dwarfing its puny habitations,
and dominating the silent wilderness for miles and miles.
But before the exhaustion of the rich lodes in the neigh-
bouring Cerro Grande, Chihuahua was a great mining
centre, with a population estimated at one time at nearly
80,000. The total output of the old mines, which have
lately been reopened by some American capitalists,
approached £30,000,000, and the very slag, built into
the houses and used to enclose fields and gardens, is said
to contain a percentage of silver estimated at the
fabulous sum of £80,000,000. The new mint, estab-
lished a few years ago, already ranks as the third in the
republic.
In the arid and sparsely inhabited State of Sonora
the chief places. are Hermosillo about the headwaters of
the Rio Sonora, and the port of Guaymas, which is one of
the finest havens in Mexico. Guaymas, which has some
rich but still uutouched beds of anthracite, is connected
by rail both with Hermosillo and through Arizona with
the United States lines. Hermosillo grows some ex-
cellent wheat and sugar on lands irrigated by the
Sonora affluents, and here are also some highly pro-
ductive silver lodes.
Culiacan, capital of Sinaloa, is one of the oldest
settlements in the Xew World. This Spanish city, in a
MEXICO
131
fertile district watered by the little coast stream of like
name, dates from the year 1531, ten years after the
Conquest. But long before that time the Xahuas had a
station in the vicinity, which they called Huc-Colhuacan,
ANCIENT ROCK INSCRIPTIONS, Ct'LIACAN RIVER, MEXICO.
" Snake Town," and is mentioned in their traditions as
one of the places lying on the route followed by them
during their migrations southwards to Anahuac. Culi-
acan is now connected by a railway 38 miles long with
the port of Altata, where are shipped most of the gold
132 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
and silver ores extracted from the Sinaloan mines.
Some 70 miles farther south lies the historical port of
Mazatlan, the largest, but by no means the best on the
Pacific Coast of Mexico. The harbour is merely an ex-
posed roadstead, greatly inferior both to Guaymas and
Acapulco, but more conveniently situated than either for
the direct trade with California. Hence it has become
a port of call for the ocean liners plying between Sau
Francisco and Panama, and this traffic has given rise to
several local industries connected with the shipping
business. Like Culiacan, Mazatlan is an old prehistoric
station, and its Indian name, meaning " Place of Deer,"
has reference to numerous fossil antlers found in the
district associated with stone implements and other
remains of primitive man.
The State of Coahuila, being largely occupied by the
Bolson de Mapimi wilderness, contains no large towns
except the capital, Saltillo, with an agricultural population
of about 24,000. This place was founded in 1586 in a
strong position on the slopes of the eastern Sierra Madre,
as a bulwark against the incursions of the fierce predatory
tribes, who then and long after roamed the northern
plains on both sides of the Eio Bravo. These restless
nomads — chiefly Apaches of the Athabascan (Tinn^),
and Comanches of the Shoshone (Snake) family — were
not completely subdued till about the year 1880, and
since that time Mexico, like the neighbouring parts of
the United States, has been free from their depredations.
The whole region is now open for settlement, and
although several attempts to develop the richly mineral-
ised slopes of the western Sierra Madre have hitherto
ended in failure, a flourishing agricultural colony has
already been founded on the banks of the Eio Kazas,
in the southern part of Coahuila, where it runs out in
MEXICO 133
the shallow Tlahualilo lagoon. In this lacustrine district
the alluvial matter washed down from the Durango
uplands by the Nazas and other streams during the
freshets is extremely rich, and in 1890 some 250,000
acres of this land had already been reclaimed, and were
producing most of the cotton grown in Mexico, besides
heavy crops of maize and wheat. Since then the area
under cultivation has been extended, and although the
Negroes introduced in 1896 from Alabama to work the
plantations soon withdrew, disheartened by disease and
other troubles, this region, standing 4000 feet above sea-
level, is found to be quite suited for Indian and even
white labour. Thanks to these undertakings, and to the
suppression of the marauding bands, the population of
Coahuila is increasing, having advanced from 238,000
in 1895 to 297,000 in 1909.
In the conterminous State of Durango on the west
extensive tracts in the more remote upland valleys are
still held by numerous native tribes, mostly members of
the Opata-Pima and ISTahua families. The province
comprised part of the region formerly known as " New
Biscay," which was largely settled by hardy and enter-
prising Basques from Vizcaya. Durango, the oldest
settlement, and still the capital, dates from 1551, and is
finely situated on the Atlantic slope of the western
Sierra Madre over 6000 feet above sea-level. It has
always been a great mining centre, and in the vicinity is
the famous Cerro de Mercado, one of the largest masses
of native iron in the world. Here are also several
meteoric stones weighing from three or four up to
nearly twenty tons. The local mint issues both gold and
silver coins to a yearly value of over £200,000.
South of Durango mining interests are still paramount
in the richly mineralised States of Zacatecas and
134
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Guanajuato, both in the western Sierra Madre, and both
with capitals of like names. Zacatecas, founded in 1540
ZACATECAS.
by Nuno de Guzman on an old Indian settlement amid
the romantic gorges about the head-waters of the Lerma,
continues to mint silver dollar pieces to a yearly value
136 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL
of over £1,000,000. The ores are drawn from the Veto,
Grande, " Great Load," the San Bernab, and many other
mines, which after being worked for more than three
centuries, show little signs of exhaustion.
The same monotonous picture of boundless mineral
resources is presented by Guanajuato, where the main
lode, worked down to 2000 feet, the deepest in Mexico,
yielded £70,000,000 of pure silver, and then became
flooded while still containing -ores valued at over
£300,000,000. It all reads like a fairy tale, but is
supported by authentic documents.
Guadalajara, capital of Jalisco, lying farther south
near the volcanic rift, possesses less stores of the precious
metals, which here begin to thin out. But it has con-
siderable agricultural resources, for which convenient
markets are found both in the capital of the republic
and on the Pacific sea-board. Hence it ranks for popula-
tion amongst the chief cities of Mexico, and its prosperity
is assured by its position at the converging point of
several main routes ascending from the coast and radiating
over the inland provinces. There are also several
flourishing industries, such as glass and metal wares,
paper, and especially weaving. The rebozos and other
cotton fabrics turned out by the local mills are justly
esteemed in all the surrounding provinces.
Valladolid, as the capital of Michoacan was originally
called, is now better known as Morelia, having been so
renamed in honour of Morelos, one of the most renowned
leaders of the revolt against Spain. It stands over 6000
feet above the sea on the plateau, which drains to Lake
Cuitzeo, and is dominated on the west by the con-
spicuous crest of Mount Quinceo, nearly 9000 feet high.
Morelia, which is now connected by a picturesque line
of railway with Mexico, is a well-built and well-kept
MEXICO
137
city, adorned with a fine cathedral and beautiful public
grounds.
On the Pacific Coast, west and south of Morelia,
CATHEDRAL, GUADALAJARA.
stand the historical seaports of San Bias in the State of
Jalisco, Manzanillo in Colima, and Acapnlco in Guerrero.
At present San Bias, near the mouth of the Lerma, with
which it formerly communicated by a now closed lateral
138 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
branch, is the most frequented harbour on the western
sea-board north of Acapulco. The port is sheltered from
the west winds, but is of difficult access, and at low
water has a depth of little over 12 feet.
Manzanillo, which communicates by rail with Colima,
stands at the northern extremity of the Cuyutlan coast
lagoon. This shallow basin is dry in summer, but might
be permanently flooded by cutting a canal through the
narrow neck of land separating it from Manzanillo
harbour. Although of easy access and offering ample
anchorage to large vessels, Manzanillo is avoided by
skippers, who dread its deadly climate and the south-
western gales, from which it affords little shelter.
Acapulco, like Manzanillo, suffers from a bad climate,
and is consequently little frequented by sailing vessels.
But its deep semicircular harbour, approached by the
broad channel of the Boca Grande, affords perfect shelter
to ships of the heaviest draught. Hence Acapulco,
which has also the advantage of railway communication
with the interior, must always remain the chief port of
call for ocean-going steamers plying between San
Francisco and South America. In colonial times
Acapulco enjoyed a monopoly of the foreign trade on the
North Pacific Coast, and here was equipped the great
" silver fleet " which sailed every three years for the
mother country. The route followed was generally
across the Pacific to Manila, and thence round the Cape
to Cadiz and Seville, where nearly the whole of the
colonial trade was centred.
Beyond Cilpantzingo, which, although capital of
Guerrero, is merely a small agricultural station on the
route from Acapulco to Morelos, the chief centre of popu-
lation in the south of Mexico proper is Oajaca, capital of
the State of like name. Antcquera, as it was originally
MEXICO 139
called, dates from the year 1522, and is consequently one
of the very oldest Spanish foundations in the republic.
It stands close to the still older Zapotec stronghold of
Oajaca (Huajiacae), from which it takes its present name,
and is famed for the varied beauties of its picturesque
environment. It was from the lovely valley of Oajaca
that Cortes took the title of "Marques del Yalle," and
some of his descendants are said to be still living in the
district. This was also the birthplace of Juarez, whence
the expression Oajaca cle Juarez now often applied to the
place by Mexican writers. Bich crops of sugar, maize,
and other cereals are raised in the valley, and there are
some thriving local industries, such as the spinning and
weaving of the strong fibre yielded by the pita, a species
of bromelia like the pine-apple.
North of Oajaca the main route, now supplemented
by a trunk line of railway, traverses the State of Puebla,
whose capital of like name is one of the great cities oi
the republic. Although lying close to the ancient Aztec
city of Cholula, Puebla is essentially a Spanish foundation,
dating from the year 1531, and noted for its fine churches
and the magnificent scenery of the surrounding district.
From some of the church towers quite a superb view is
commanded of the city with its plazas, parks, and monu-
ments, of the hill-encircled plains dominated to the east
by Malinche, and westwards by Popocatepetl.
Puebla cle los Angelos, as it was formerly called, is
known as Puebla cle Zaragoza since 1862, in honour of
General Zaragoza, who in that year defeated the French
in the vicinity. The interior of the city produces an
extremely favourable impression on all visitors. Broad
and regular streets lead across spacious squares from one
magnificent church to another. In the centre of these
thoroughfares is a channel, covered with large flagstones,
140
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
which carries off the torrents of rain that fall during the
wet season. The architecture is much finer and more
original than that of the federal capital. The partiality
of the old Aztec people for bright and warm tints still
asserts itself, often with much taste and delicacy.
On the undulating plain are grown great quantities
of maguey, the large fields of which are enclosed by thick
EASTERN APSE OF CATHEDRAL OF PUEBLA.
cactus hedges. The Valley of Puebla, as it is called,
although differing in its main features from the eastern
region, is almost equally attractive, with its waving fields
of maize in every stage of growth, from the green seed-
ling to the matured stalk with its large light and dark
yellow ears of corn. The valley is intersected in every
direction by streams of water, giving life and plenty to
the pretty little hamlets nestling in their fruit-gardens,
MEXICO
141
while extinct volcanoes still rise in the background.
This smiling landscape is lit up by the brightest of suns,
and over it circulate the purest breezes heavy with the
fragrance of aromatic trees and shrubs, nourishing in the
temperate clime and converting the vale of Puebla into a
garden of Eden.
At Puebla the railways from the south and from the
MEXICO CITY.
east coast have already reached a height of 7200 feet,
so that a slight ascent of less than 200 feet brings them
to the capital of the republic (7340 feet). Mexico is
universally recognised as the finest and most brilliant
city in Spanish America. Yet it is not so much its
public buildings and monuments, the regularity of its
broad and interminable streets, or any of the perishable
142 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
works of man, but rather the solemn majesty of the in-
comparable natural scenery by which it is surrounded
that produces such an overpowering and indelible im-
pression on the observer. The effect is something entirely
different from anything of our European experiences.
It is no single or particular object, which may often be
commonplace and repulsive enough, that here rivets the
attention. It is rather the indescribable sublimity and
strangeness of the whole picture that overwhelms the
spectator, filling him with unspeakable rapture and
surprise. From the borders of the renowned Valley of
Mexico the most fascinating view is unfolded of the giant
mountains Popocatepetl and Ixtaceihnetl throned in the
background. Here are broad shimmering lakes, sombre
cypress and pine groves, waving fields of golden corn,
and, as the centre of the whole, the grand old city itself,
its clear, bright atmosphere at last restored to its natural
purity by the completion of the great drainage works.
Mexico lies in the centre of the : Anahuac tableland,
nearly midway between the two oceans, in a zone of
perennial spring. It forms a perfect square, the generally
well-paved streets, with their broad foot-paths, crossing
each other at right angles, and disposed nearly in the
direction of the four points of the compass. The streets
themselves are mostly spacious, perfectly straight, and
so level that in this pellucid atmosphere the eye takes
them in at a glance from end to end. Those who have
visited the Piedmontese city of Turin will be best able to
form a correct idea of the general features and peculiar
aspect of the city of Mexico. Amongst the leading
thoroughfares are Calle de los Plateros, lined with brilliant
jewellers' shops, the fine Calle de Aguila, and the inter-
minable Calle de Tacuba, the old Tlacopan highway. A
splendid sight is presented by the great central Plaza, on
MEXICO
143
which stands the wonderful cathedral, overladen with gold,
silver, and precious stones, the most sumptuous Christian
temple in the New World. It was here that the ill-
starred Emperor Maximilian caused a magnificent foun-
tain to be erected in the midst of splendid sub-tropical
growths.
The surroundings of the city are delightful, notably
CATHEDRAL, CITY OF MEXICO (MOTHER CHURCH OF THE REPUBLIC).
the lakes with their winding canals and floating gardens,
and the pleasant suburb of Tacubaya, with the handsome
villas and country seats of the wealthy Mexicans. Over
the castle of Chapidtepec, situated on a porphyrinic hill
213 feet high, and some four or five miles to the south-
west of the capital, there still seems to linger the
splendour imparted to it by the presence of the unhappy
emperor. Maximilian greatly improved this " Windsor
144 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
of the New World," adorning it with frescoes and statues
after the antique. The famous Ahuehuetes {Taxodinm
distichum) of the magnificent park at Chapultepec are
said to surpass in beauty if not size the noble Welling-
tonias or Sequoias of the primeval Californian woodlands.
Some of the largest have a girth of from 35 to 40
feet, and one bears the name of "Montezuma," the
grove having been planted by the old Aztec monarchs,
on the site of whose palace stands the present Spanish
edifice.
Another historical tree, that of Cortes' " Noche Triste,"
stands near an old church in the village of Popotla, on
the road to Guadalupe. At the foot of this tree, a species
of cedar still 40 feet high, Cortes is said to have passed
a " sad night " bemoaning his misfortunes after the dis-
astrous retreat of the Spaniards during the night of
the evacuation. The famous sanctuary of Guadalupe,
which is still resorted to by thousands of devotees,
commemorates a popular legend about the apparition of
the Madonna to an Indian, ordering him to have a shrine
erected on the spot, and confirming the message by
diverse miraculous incidents.
North of Mexico the first important station on the
main line traversing the central plateau is Querctaro,
capital of the State of like name. Standing 7000 feet
above sea-level on the site of an old Indian settlement,
Queretaro is a prosperous industrial centre, noted
especially for a remarkable aqueduct of seventy -four
arches spanning a neighbouring barranca at a height of
80 feet, and discharging into a reservoir with a capacity
of over 35,000,000 cubic feet. A modest little monu-
ment on the neighbouring Cerro de las Campanas marks
the spot where Maximilian and his generals, Miramon
and Mejia, were executed by Juarez in 1867.
MEXICO 145
Beyond Queretaro the railway passes by the already
described Guanajuato to Aguascalientes, which gives its
name to one of the smallest States in the republic. The
" aguascalientes " or " hot springs " of the place are
sulphurous, with a temperature of from 77° to 95° ¥.,
and are considered efficacious in skin diseases. Some
distance farther east stands the city of San Luis Potosi,
capital of the State of San Luis, and formerly the chief
mining centre in the eastern Sierra Madre. It occupies
a fine position on a fertile plain over 6000 feet above
the sea, and is well laid out in the usual chess-board
fashion. As it enjoys an excellent climate, San Luis is
utilised as a permanent military station, and is now also
an important junction of the Mexican Central Eailway.
In recent years mining operations have been largely
suspended for lack of capital. Near the city is the
famous San Pedro mine, which is not now worked, the
roof having fallen in when the pillars were cut away
some years ago. From this mine was extracted the
largest gold nugget ever found in Mexico. It was sent
to the King of Spain, who in return presented the city
with a remarkable clock, which now adorns the facade
of the cathedral.
On the railway running from San Luis northwards
to the United States frontier the most important station
is Monterey, capital of the State of Nuevo Leon. This
historical place, which is distant about 170 miles from
Nuevo Laredo on the Eio Grande del Norte, was the
centre of much fighting during the war of 1846-47.
Here was fought in 1847 the battle of Monterey, in
which the Mexicans attributed their partial success to
an image of the Virgin on the Puente Nuevo (" New
Bridge"), which was held by them for a long time
against superior forces.
L
146 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Monterey communicates by rail, through a well-known
pass over the eastern Sierra Madre, with Maiamoros,
which lies on the south bank of the Kio Grande opposite
Brownsville in Texas. Although officially called the
port of entry, Matamoros is merely a riverside station,
distant about 30 miles from the port of Bagdad, at the
mouth of the river, in the State of Tamaulipas.
The steamers plying between New Orleans and Vera
Cruz call regularly at Bagdad, and also at the more
important seaport of Tampico, which stands six miles
above the mouth of the Panuco Biver, within the southern
border of Tamaulipas. Below the town the river is so
shallow that vessels drawing over 9 feet have to ride
at anchor outside the bar, where they are exposed to the
full fury of the nortes. But higher up, the Panuco is
navigable for over 30 miles by small steamers nearly as
far as the old Indian station from which it takes its
name, and which in the Huaxtecan language has the
meaning of the " Ford." After a long period of de-
pression caused by the opening of the land routes across
the Bio Grande between the conterminous republics,
Tampico has recovered much of its former commercial
importance since the completion of the railway system
between the coast and the central plateau.
By the branches converging at Tampico considerable
quantities of produce are forwarded to the sea-board from
Aguayo (now Ciudad Victoria}, capital of Tamaulipas, and
from Pachuca, Tula, Tidancigo, and the other industrial
towns of the neighbouring State of Hidalgo. Pachuca,
the capital, was a great mining city even in pre-
Columbian times, and the rich gold and silver mines of
the district, after being half-ruined by inundations, have
again been opened by some English capitalists. Near
Tulancigo stands the famous Cerro de las Naxajas
MEXICO 147
" Mountain of Knives," an extinct volcano, so called
from the great quantities of cutting implements which
in prehistoric times were here manufactured from the
obsidian lying in thick beds round about the Cerro.
The flints, cherts, and other materials used for making
stone objects in Egypt, Europe, and North America were
mostly replaced by obsidian in Mexico, where the quarries
and workshops of the Mountain of Knives were for ages
the chief source of supply for the populations of the
Anahuac tableland.
Jalapa, former capital of the neighbouring State of
Vera Cruz, lies on the flank of the extinct Macuiltepec
volcano, 4335 feet above sea-level. It thus stands well
above the malarious hot zone, and has the reputation of
being one of the most salubrious places in the republic
— a sort of health resort for the inhabitants of the coast-
lands and of the fever-stricken seaport of Vera Cruz.
Despite its pestiferous climate and other drawbacks,
such as the lack of proper accommodation, a dangerous
coral-fringed coast, and a harbour poorly sheltered from
the northern gales, Vera Cruz has held its position as the
chief Mexican emporium on the Atlantic side ever since
the occupation of the adjacent island of San Juan de
Uloa by the Spanish navigator Grijalva in 1518.
Beyond the shelter afforded by this and the opposite
island, De los Sacrificios, there is no harbour at all, nor
can any vessels enter the port during the prevalence of
the nortes, which blow at intervals from October to
March. Even vessels at anchor under the lee of the
wind have often to put to sea to escape shipwreck on
the neighbouring rocks. Yera Cruz should certainly
have been founded at Anton Lizardo, about 15 miles
farther south, which has the only good harbour in the
Gulf, and is now also the terminus of a branch line of
148
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
the Mexican Southern Railway. But Vera Cruz con-
tinues to hold its own, and two-thirds of the Mexican
exchanges still pass through its port. " Little," writes
Prescott, " did the conqueror imagine that the desolate
THE PLAZA OF VERA CRUZ, MEXICO.
beach on which he first planted his foot was one day to
be covered by a flourishing city, the great mart of
European and Oriental trade, the commercial capital of
New Spain." a
1 Conquest of Mexico, i. p. 229.
MEXICO 1-49
There are no monuments or imposing buildings in
the place, and travellers passing through seem attracted
chiefly by the flocks of zopilotes (turkey buzzards) which
here do all the scavengering. These repulsive but useful
creatures are under the protection of the municipality,
which imposes a fine of twenty shillings for killing one
of them.
Orizaba, present capital of the State of Vera Cruz, is
a large station on the main line to Mexico City, about
80 miles from the coast, and 4000 feet above the sea.
It gives an alternative name to the superb Citlaltepetl
volcano, by which it is overshadowed, and a magnificent
view of which is obtained from the eastern suburb of
the city. Notwithstanding its great altitude, Orizaba
still lies almost within the hot zone, and is a chief
centre of the sugar industry. A great part of the fertile
valley of Orizaba is under sugar plantations, and there
are large mills in the district where the cane is crushed.
But the competition with the subsidised beet sugar
industry in Europe grows yearly more severe.
Merida, capital of Yucatan, although a small place
compared with several of the great cities of Mexico
proper, is the largest centre of population in that
southern section of the republic which lies beyond the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Merida is not only surrounded
by a large number of ruined Maya cities, but itself
occupies the site of the ancient Tihoo, the materials of
which have been used up in the building of the Spanish
city. The sculptures and carvings of a bygone age are
still to be seen embedded in the walls of the present
houses. Indeed the same remark applies to most other
modern stone buildings in Yucatan, which have been
largely constructed out of the materials supplied by the
surrounding Indian ruins.
150 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Merida is connected by a railway, 23 miles long,
with the new seaport of Progreso, which was founded
in 1871 on the north coast, a little distance above its
old port of Sisal. Although the change was made
because the roadstead at Sisal was exposed to the full
fury of the nortes, that of Progreso is almost as
dangerous and inaccessible to shipping. Here the
vessels engaged chiefly in the henequen (Sisal hemp)
trade have to ride at anchor four or five miles from the
coast, and often avoid shipwreck only by escaping to
the high sea.
Some distance south of Sisal lies the historical city
of Canvpeclie {Gam-peachy), present capital of the State of
like name, and in colonial times one of the chief centres
of trade on the Atlantic side of the Spanish main north
of the Gulf of Darien. In those days of imperial
monopolies all commercial relations were restricted to
the three seaports of Vera Cruz in the north, San Juan
de Nicaragua in the south, and Campeche between the
two. The last mentioned has served as the only outlet
for the produce of Yucatan, Tabasco, Chiapas, and most
of Guatemala, but was especially associated with the
export trade in the valuable red dyewood known as
logwood, and also commonly called Campeachy wood,
because it was chiefly shipped at this place. Since the
abolition of monopolies, Campeche, possessing only an
exposed roadstead, has lost most of its commercial im-
portance, and its trade is now mainly confined to lumber,
hides, coco-nuts, salt, and a little sugar. The dyewoods,
drugs, and other more valuable commodities are at
present forwarded chiefly through Carmen, the rising
seaport near the Usumacinta delta in the neighbouring-
State of Tabasco. San Juan Bautista, capital of this
State, and formerly known as Villa Hermosa, stands in
MEXICO 151
the midst of the woodlands about the head of the delta,
and has for its outlet the port of Guadalupe (Frontera),
on the right bank of the Grijalva.
San Cristobal, capital of- the neighbouring State of
Chiapas, stands on the plateau amid the ruined cities
of the Chiapanec (Maya-Quiche^ nation. Like Merida,
it occupies the site of one of these places — Hue-Zacatlan
— at an altitude of about 6500 feet, and is consequently
the most elevated city in the southern part of the
republic. Its outlets towards the Pacific are Tonala
and the thriving little seaport of San Benito or Socomisco,
which forwards the cacao and other produce of the fertile
district of Soconusco.
History of the Republic
A rapid survey of the endless revolutions and
political disorders of all sorts which followed the War of
Independence, and were prolonged over the greater part
of the nineteenth century, produces a sense of weariness
accompanied by a feeling of surprise that the Mexican
people could have ever recovered from such a succession
of apparently overwhelming calamities. But it is to be
remembered that such troubles are often for the most
part mere ripples on the surface of the national life.
When the records are concentrated within the compass
of a few pages or chapters, where all due perspective is
lost, they acquire an almost unnatural intensity, with
the result that the reader becomes impressed by an
exaggerated picture of woes and horrors crowded too
closely together. Other countries — France during the
Fronde and the Bevolution, England during the Wars of
the Eoses — have passed through similar and greater
disorders, and have survived, as do all peoples endowed
152 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
by nature with a strong and enduring vitality. That
the Mexican people possess such a vigorous life has
already been shown. Hence it need no longer cause
any surprise that they also, after a long series of
political convulsions, show no symptoms of exhaustion,
but on the contrary seem now to have entered with
renewed vital energies on a period of national stability,
peace, and prosperity.
A brief tabulated summary must here suffice of the
leading events which followed the proclamation of in-
dependence by the " Liberator," Iturbide, in February
1821:—
1821. Surrender of Mexico City by O'Donoju (O'Donohoe), last of the
viceroys.
1822. Iturbide proclaimed emperor. Republican standard raised by
Santa Anna at Vera Cruz.
1823-4. Iturbide abdicates ; exiled ; withdraws to London ; returns ; is
captured and shot.
1824. First Liberal constitution under President Felix Victoria (" Guada-
lupe Victoria").
1828-30. Contested presidencies of Pedraza, Guerrero, and Bustamente.
1835. Reaction of the Church party ; constitution of 1824 abolished ; the
nineteen Confederate States and five territories merged in a con-
solidated republic under Santa Anna as president, but practically
dictator.
1836. Texas refuses to submit ; defeats and captures Santa Anna.
1837. Santa Anna returns and resumes office.
1839-44. Bravo's short presidency followed by much anarchy ; Santa
Anna's first dictatorship, with two others.
1844. Constitution restored with Santa Anna president ; banished and
succeeded by Canalizo.
1845. Herrera president ; war with United States to recover Texas.
1846. Santa Anna again president.
1848. Treaty of Guadalupe ; cession of much territory to United States
(see above).
1S53. Santa Anna's second dictatorship ; Gadsden Treaty (see above) ;
great financial distress; "Plan of Ayutla"; flight of Santa
Anna ; general anarchy.
1S55. Provisional government under President Comonfort.
1856. Rupture with Spain.
mkxico 1 5 3
1S57. Liberal constitution of 11th March, suspended 1st December.
Comonfort dictator ; Conservative reaction opposed at Vera Cruz
by Vice-President Benito Juarez at the head of the "Puros," or
advanced Liberals ; " War of Reform " (1857-60).
1858-59. Comonfort deposed in the capital by Zuloaga, who abdicates in
favour of Miramon, general of the Conservative forces ; but
Miramon declining the presidency, Zuloaga resumes office ;
British legation violated ; in Vera Cruz the United States envoy
Maclean recognises Juarez, who introduces sweeping Liberal
measures.
1860. Capitulation of Guadalajara ; flight of Miramon from the capital ;
triumph of the Liberals.
1861. Juarez introduces further Liberal reforms ; marriage declared a
civil contract ; celibacy and ecclesiastical tribunals suppressed :
confiscation of Church property, valued at £75,000,000, and over
one-third of the land ; final separation of Church and State ;
Spain France, and England urge claims for losses of their
subjects resident in Mexico ; Convention of London ; inter-
vention of the allies, who occupy Vera Cruz in December.
1 862. England and Spain withdraw, their claims having been settled by
negotiations ; war continued by France.
1863-4. The capital occupied by the French; the Imperial crown
accepted by the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, who
arrives June 1864.
1867 After diverse vicissitudes the French withdraw ; Maximilian
captured and shot at Queretaro, 19th June.
1867-69. Various pronunciamientos by Santa Anna and others.
1871-72. Juarez president; dies in office, July 1872, and is succeeded by
Lerdo de Tejada.
1873-74. The Liberal constitution of 1857, which had been suspended in
1858-60, and again in 1863-67, is now largely amended, and
henceforth continues to be the organic law of the republic.
1876. Insurrection by Porfirio Diaz ; enters Mexico and assumes office as
provisional president ; Tejada retires ; Iglesias takes arms as
president.
1877. Diaz defeats Iglesias and is elected president.
1879. Insurrection of Negrete.
1880. Manuel Gonzales president.
1884. Diplomatic relations resumed with Great Britain ; riots with
bloodshed in the capital, caused by financial troubles and the
conversion of the English debt ; Diaz president.
1886. Insurrections at Nuevo Leon and elsewhere suppressed.
1892. Insurrection of Garza suppressed; Diaz re-elected president;
Indian frontier troubles.
154
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
1896. President Diaz re-elected.
1897. Attempted assassination of the president by Joaquin Arroyo, who
is cut down by the police. '
Few of the later insurrections can be regarded as
serious, and Mexico may be said to have entered on a
period of relative peace, with every promise of stability
GOLD MINING CAMP OF ZAVALITA. STATE UF OAXAUA.
and material progress, since the re-election of Porfirio
Diaz to the presidency in 1892.
Material Progress — Railway Enterprise
Progress is indicated especially by the great develop-
ment of railway enterprise, which has proceeded at an
accelerated rate during the last two decades, being for
the most part promoted by foreign investments, which
are themselves strong proof of confidence in the per-
MEXICO
155
Railways.
Mexican ....
Hidalgo ....
♦
Interoceanic (Acapulco\
to Vera Cruz, projected) /
Mexican Central
Mexican National
Length in
Miles.
293
92
manence of a stable government. In the year 1909
over 15,000 miles of railway had been completed, and
of this only about 900 miles had been built by Mexican,
all the rest by foreign — chiefly English and American —
capital. Subjoined is a tabulated statement of the more
important lines now in operation : —
Districts traversed.
/Mexico to Vera Cruz, and
i. Apizaco to Puebla.
/Tepa to Sototlan, Paehuca,
\ and San Augustin.
/-Mexico to Vera Cruz ; Mexico
| to Puente Ixtla by Moreloe,
1 with branches to Libres and
^ S. Nicolas.
Mexico to Paso del Norte ;
Silas to Guanajato ; Irapua-
to to Guadalajara ; Aguas-
calientes to Tampico ; San
Bias to Huaristemba ; and
Guadalajara to Ameca.
Mexico to Laredo ; Acambaro
to Patzcuaro ; Matamoros
to S. Miguel.
Guaymas to Nogales.
Merida to Valladolid, and Pro
greso to Conkal ; Merida to
Campeche and Calkini.
f Piedras Negras to Durango ;
J Sabinas to Hondo ; Mata-
I moros to Zaragoza.
Puebla to Oajaca.
J Monterey to Travino and
\ Tampico.
I Coatzacoalcas to Salina Cruz ;
1
SONORA .
Yucatan .
Mexican International
Southern Mexican .
Monterey-Gulf
Tehuantepec .
490
1877
1056
262
166
658
228
388
192
from Atlantic to Paciiic
opened January 1907.
Trade — Foreign Exchanges
Detailed statements have already been given of the
chief mineral, agricultural, and industrial resources of the
156
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
republic. How immensely the precious metals prepon-
derate over all other sources of national wealth may be
seen in the subjoined table of the exports for the year
1909:—
Value.
Value.
Gold .
. £4,003,000
Other vegetables .
. £3,216,000
Silver .
. 7,537,000
Hides .
920,000
Copper and ore
. 2,082,000
Other animals
503,000
Other minerals
. 1,106,000
Manufactures
260,000
Coffee .
. 1,280,000
Sundries
246,000
Henequen
. 2,438,000
Both the imports and the exports show a general
falling off, but vary considerably from year to year, as
may be seen from the official returns for the four years
between 1905 and 1908, which are here appended: —
Tear.
Imports.
Exports.
1905.
£22,458,000
£27,678,000
1906.
£27,886,000
£25,318,000
1907.
£22,638,000
£24,779,000
1908.
£15,975,000
£23,591,000
The exchanges with the countries which have the
largest dealings with the republic were returned for the
year 1908 as under : —
Imports from
Exports to
United States
. £9,242,000
£17,653,000
Great Britain
. 2,019,000
2,443,000
France .
. 1,261,000
1,124,000
Germany-
. 1,749,000
1,312,000
Spain .
529,000
125,000
Sundries
378,000
595,000
In the year 1907 the vessels engaged in the foreign
trade were returned at 2900 of 3,142,000 tons entered,
and 2845 of 3,098,000 tons cleared.
MEXICO 157
Finance
Of the yearly income about 45 per cent is derived
from internal taxation, 40 from customs, and 15 from
miscellaneous sources. About 46 per cent is absorbed
in the service of the national debt, 44 in the administra-
tion, and nearly 10 in railway subventions. For 1909
the total revenue was £9,936,000, the expenditure
£9,896,000, and the debt (external and internal)
£177,000,000.
A considerable portion of the yearly revenue goes to
the maintenance of the army, which includes 23,600
infantry, 7250 cavalry, and 2300 artillery ; total 32,150.
But with the reserves the total fighting strength is
estimated at 84,000 infantry, 20,000 cavalry, and
8000 artillery. All adults are liable for military
service from their twentieth to their fiftieth year.
Government — Religion — Education
By the Constitution of 5th February 1859, with
modifications down to May 1896, Mexico is declared a
federative republic of 27 states, 3 territories, and the
federal district, each enjoying self-government for local
affairs, but all bound together in one political system.
The legislative functions are invested in a Congress of
two Chambers — House of Bepresentatives and Senate,
the former being elected by universal suffrage for two years,
in the proportion of 1 member for 40,000 inhabitants.
The Senate consists of 56 members, 2 for each State,
elected like the deputies, and, like them, enjoying a
subsidy of £600 a year. The executive is entrusted to
a President, elected for six years by a body of electors
popularly chosen in a general election. He is assisted
158 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
by a Council, and eight Secretaries of State for Foreign
Affairs, Interior, Justice, Public Instruction, Colonisation
and Industry, Communications and Public Works, Finance,
War, and Marine.
Although the great bulk of the civilised inhabitants
are Ptoman Catholics, the Church is absolutely independent
of the State, and all religions enjoy equal rights before
the law. No ecclesiastical body can acquire landed
property, and public processions, though tolerated, are
not encouraged. There are a few Protestant congregations
with about 120 churches in the capital and some other
large towns. But the propaganda organised by some
Protestant bodies has produced no appreciable results.
In nearly all the States education is free and com-
pulsory, although owing to local circumstances the law
is not everywhere enforced. Even in the municipality
of Mexico as many as 176,000 were returned as illiterate
in 1890, while 15,000 others could read only. In 1905
the number of schools supported by the States was nearly
7000, and by the municipalities 2700, the average
attendance being 620,000, and the number of teachers
13,350. There were, moreover, 2280 private and
ecclesiastical schools, with over 136,000 pupils, several
colleges and technical establishments for law, medicine,
engineering, and other professions, including a military
and a naval college, with an attendance of about 21,000.
Thus the total average attendance scarcely exceeds
750,000, or about 1 per 20 in the whole population.
Of the 460 periodicals issued in 1909 about 12 were in
English, 5 in Spanish and English, and nearly all the
rest in Spanish.
To face p 158
Stan/in : ■ Gi . a Estab' London
CHAPTEE IX
GUATEMALA
Extent, Area, Population — Physical Features — The Sierra Madre — The
Altos — Igneous System — Fuego and Agua Volcanoes— Hydrography
— Rivers — Lakes — Climate — Flora — Agricultural Resources — Fauna —
Inhabitants — Maya -Quiches — Pipils — Topography — Government —
Finance — Trade.
Extent — Area — Population
From the table at the end of Chapter II. it will be seen
that Central America, properly so called, that is, the
Isthmian region between Mexico and South America,
comprises five independent States — Guatemala, Honduras,
Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Eica — besides the colony
of British Honduras, and the Isthmus of Panama which
belongs politically to Colombia. These various political
divisions have a collective area of 224,960 square
miles, and a population of nearly 4,000,000.
Of the five independent States, all republics, Guate-
mala is much the largest and most populous, its area
(48,290 square miles) being a little over one-half, and
its population (1,990,000) more than two-thirds of those
of the four other republics taken together. It extends from
the Atlantic south-westwards to the Pacific, a distance
of 280 miles, and from Mexico and Belize, where the
boundaries have already been given, a distance of 320
160
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
miles south-eastwards to Salvador and Honduras. Here
the frontiers follow a somewhat irregular line drawn
from the mouth of the Eio Tinto in Honduras Bay
along the crest of the hills to the Eio Paza, and then
along the course of that river to its mouth on the Pacific.
The republic, which has a somewhat triangular form,
with base on the Pacific, is divided for administrative
purposes into 22 departments, with areas, populations,
and chief towns as under : —
Departments.
Area in
sq. miles.
Pop.
1897.
Chief Towns.
Pop.
Guatemala .
. 1,000
147,585
Guatemala
125,000
Sacatepequez
300
50,852
La Antigua
18,000
Araatitlan .
300
40,626
Amatitlan
9,000
Escuintla
2,000
37,973
Escuintla
6,000
Chimaltenaugo
1,000
69,335
Chimaltenaugo
4,000
Solola .
800
90,804
Solola
14,000
Totonicapan
1,000
160,419
Totonicapan
28,000
Quiche
1,500
90,929
Santa Cruz
7,000
Quetzaltpnango
600
114,800
Quetzaltenango
29,000
Suchitepequez
3,000
46,182
Mezatenango
5,000
Huchuetenango
4,750
150,173
Huchuetenango
6,000
Sau Marcos.
1,000
91,323
San Marcos
4,000
Peten .
15,000
10,480
La Libertad
1,000
Yerapaz
14,000
164,725
Salama
8,000
Chiquimula
2,500
66,733
Chiquimula
5,000
Zacapa
5,000
45,045
Zacapa
4,000
Jalapa
500
35,020
Jalapa
5,000
Jutiapa
2,000
50,461
San Pedro
10,000
Santa Rosa .
1,300
37,499
Santa Rosa
2,000
Retalhuleu .
800
25,431
Retalhuleu
4,000
Izabal .
2,650")
8,105
Izabal
1,000
Livingston .
1,600/
Livingston
1,500
Total .
63,400
1,534,500
Total (est. 1906) .
1,883,000
Physical Features — The Sierra Madre — The Altos
In its main outlines Guatemala may be described as an
elevated plateau, which presents its highest and steepest
GUATEMALA 161
escarpments towards the Pacific, and slopes in long
irregular inclines in the direction of the Atlantic. On
the west side the precipitous edge of the tableland runs
at a distance of about 60 miles from the coast, which
here trends from the Mexican frontier first south-east
and then due east to Salvador. Between these two
conterminous States the escarpments of the plateau
coincide partly with the crest of the Sierra Maclre, which
traverses the territory nearly from west to east, and
partly with the axis of the volcanic system, which
diverges more to the west by south, and thus follows
the coast-line for the greater part of its course.
From the Mexican frontier, where both systems
converge, there is a continuous decrease in elevation in
the direction of Salvador, and with this decrease corre-
sponds a fall in the " Altos " (" Heights "), as the elevated
plateaux are called in the north-western parts of the
republic. Here, in fact, that is, in the departments of
San Marcos, Totonicapan, and Huehuetenango, bordering
on Chiapas, are situated the true highlands, where the
tablelands stand at altitudes of from 6000 to 8000 feet,
but in the great central plain of Guatemala fall to about
5000 feet, and towards the Salvador frontier scarcely
anywhere exceed 3400 feet.
Igneous System
Beyond the still active Tacana volcano on the Mexican
frontier follows along the igneous chain the symmetrical
Tajomulco cone, which attains a height of nearly 11,700
feet, and is still active. At least incandescent vapours
were seen shooting up from the crater in 1863, while
large quantities of sulphur are continually deposited by
the solfataras on its flanks. The system is continued in
M
162 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Quetzaltenango by a triple group, including the superb
Santa Maria (11,480 feet), which was supposed to be
Ions extinct, but was the scene of a destructive outburst
in 1909, when an area of 2000 square miles was strewn
with ashes and pumice-stone, and most of the houses
and plantations wasted, with the loss of many hundred
lives. The neighbouring Cerro Quemado (10,200) has
been dormant since 1783, and the same remark applies
to the wooded Mount Zufiil, which lies farther east
beyond the Eio Samala, and is locally called the
" Volcano " in an emphatic sense, although it appears
to have been quiescent for a very long period. So also
has San Pedro (8125), near the south-west comer of
Lake Atitlan. But here Mount Atitlan (11,723), which
gives its name to the lake, has been several times in a
state of unrest since the Conquest.
Fuego and Agua Volcanoes
In the same north-south direction are disposed the
various members of the two igneous chains which rise
above the central plateau of Guatemala and terminate in
the Fuego (" Fire ") and Agua (" Water ") on either side
of the old and new capitals of the State. The northern
cones, which are all extinct, culminate in Acatcnango
(13,616 feet), which is the highest point, not only in
Guatemala, but in the whole of Central America.
Fuego, which is not much lower (13,130 feet), was
first ascended in 1860 by Schneider and Bescher, who
came upon a yawning abyss, 2000 feet deep and 1400
feet across, developed on its southern flank. Fuego has
been the scene of several tremendous outbreaks since the
Conquest.
GUATEMALA 163
Agua, on the other hand, has long been extinct.
Although less elevated (12,337 feet) than Fuego, it
produces a more imposing effect, and is described by one
observer as " the most lovely sight in the world."
Formerly the crater was .flooded, but in 1541 the upper
rim giving way, the whole contents — some 35,000,000
cubic feet — were discharged down its flanks, burying the
newly founded city of Guatemala in an avalanche of
mud, slush, rocks, and debris of all kinds. The outburst,
which occurred during the night, was accompanied by an
earthquake, and " in the morning the remains of the
city hardly appeared above the trees, rocks, and mud of
the avalanche" (Brigham, op. cit. p. 389). It was then
that the capital was removed to its present position some
distance east of the " Old Town."
Beyond Agua the igneous system is still continued at
a much lower elevation by the Pacaya group, where the
highest cone falls below 8400 feet. It has been
quiescent since 1775, although vapours are still ejected
from the Caldera (" Cauldron "), a neighbouring crater,
which, like those of so many of the Central American
volcanoes, is flooded with a lakelet of pure water. All
the other members of the system, which follow eastwards
from Pacaya, are quite extinct, and the igneous chain
itself is pierced farther east between Lake Amatitlan and
Salvador by a transverse ridge culminating in Mount Ipala
(4470 feet), which also terminates in a flooded crater.
The so-called " Sierras " in the eastern provinces —
Chama, Minos, Santa- Cruz, Copan — are merely low
ridges seldom rising above 2000 or 3000 feet, and
serving chiefly as water-partings between the ramifying
branches of the Usumacinta, Motagua, and other streams,
which traverse the savannas on their northern and
eastern course to the Gulf of Mexico.
164 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
While the geological framework of the land consists
mainly of granites, interspersed with mica schists and
porphyries, a conspicuous feature of the surface formations
is the prodigious quantities of lavas, and especially
pumice, which were ejected and. strewn over vast spaces
in Quaternary times. In some districts these deposits
have a thickness of from 500 to 600 feet, and above
them is a layer of yellowish earth, which in places is
nearly 20 feet thick, and appears to have been formed
by the disintegration of the underlying rocks. In this
upper bed and in the underlying lavas are found the
remains of those post-pliocone animals, such as the
mastodon and El&phas Colombi, by which the age of this
eruptive matter has been determined.
Hydrography — Rivers — Lakes
In Guatemala the main water-parting largely coincides
with the axis of the igneous range, and consequently
approaches so near to the western sea- board that the
rivers flowing to the Pacific — Suchiate, Esclavos, Miclmtoya,
Paza, and others- — are mere coast streams with short,
rapid courses, and quite useless for navigation. But on
the long eastern slope are developed two considerable
fluvial systems — the Usumacinta and the Motagua — the
former draining north to the Gulf of Mexico, the latter
east to Honduras Bay. The Usumacinta is the largest
and most copious river in Central America, but belongs
only in its upper reaches to the republic. Eising with
numerous head-streams on the Altos in the very heart
of the land, it collects the drainage of nearly one-half
of the whole territory, flowing as the Bio Chixoy, or
Lacandon, first north and then north-west to its junction
with the Bio dc la Pasion (Chiesri) from the east. After
GUATEMALA 165
entering the Mexican State of Chiapas, the Usumacinta
is joined on its right bank by the Bios Machaguita and
Chacamas, and farther on winds with a sluggish course
over the low-lying plains of Tabasco. Here the main
stream ramifies into two branches, one of which, the Bio
de la Palizada, discharges into Campeche Bay close to
the large Laguna de Terminos. The other, that is, the
western branch, receives on its left bank the Bio de
Grijaha, which also descends from the Guatemalan
uplands, and a short distance below the confluence the
united stream enters the Gulf of Mexico at the Barret de
Tabasco. Between the two branches is thus developed a
considerable delta, which is completely flooded during
the periodical inundations, when the Usumacinta often
rises in its lower course 30 or 40 feet above low- water
level. For long distances in its lower and middle
reaches it is navigable for canoes and balsas (barges), but,
owing to the low bars and shifting sands of the delta, is
quite inaccessible to sea-going vessels.
The Motagua, which has its sources on the central
plateau near those of the Chixoy, flows entirely through
Guatemalan territory in a normal easterly direction to
Honduras Bay. Here is formed a small shallow delta,
which is also obstructed by a bar, so that the main
stream is inaccessible even to small craft at low water.
But during the floods it becomes a broad, deep stream
navigable for over 100 miles in a total length of about
300 miles.
Between the Motagua and Usumacinta flows the Bio
Potochic, which on its easterly course to the coast at
Amatique Bay traverses the large lake known as the
Golfo JDulce, or Izabal Lagoon. This basin, either a
marine inlet or an old fresh-water lake, has a depth of
nearly 40 feet, and an area of over 250 square miles,
166 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
and would form one of the finest havens in the world
but for the narrow, tortuous channel through which it
communicates with Honduras Bay. Midway between
the lake and the coast this channel expands into another
basin, the Golf etc, or " Little Gulf," beyond which it is
navigable by small sea-going vessels for about 60 miles
above Livingston, the port of entry at its mouth.
In the northern department of Peten the plateau is
strewn with several other lacustrine basins which
have no present seaward outflow, and of which the
largest is Lake Itzal, or Peten. Although now com-
pletely landlocked, Peten, which has a depth of nearly
200 feet, seems to have formerly communicated either
through the Rio Hondo with the coast north of Belize,
or through the Rio clc la Pasion westwards with the
Usumacinta.
Other lakes occur in the south-western parts of the
republic, which appear to be intimately associated with
igneous phenomena. Such are Amatitlan, in the depart-
ment of that name, south of the capital, and the much
larger Atitlan, in the department of Solola, both now
closed basins, but probably at one time draining through
some of the neighbouring coast streams to the Pacific.
The peculiar charms of Atitlan appeal irresistibly to
the imagination of all observers. " We climbed down
to the Lago," writes Mr. Brigham, " by a path about
1200 feet in perpendicular descent. It was a league
and a half from town to shore. We were in another
climate. Oranges, sugar-cane, avocados, limes, jocotes,
and other fruits that cannot bear the cold of the town
above us, flourished here. Walled on every side by
vast cliffs, and overshadowed by high volcanoes, there
were yet fertile valleys opening on the Lago here and
there. Streams of considerable volume pour into it
GUATEMALA
16'
over rocky beds, or dash foaming down the high cliffs.
Ten miles across was the ancient town of Atitlan, famed
in legend and history. We stood in one of those
mysterious places seemingly below the rest of the world,
for we could see the water fall into this valley. But
no human eye sees the outlet, nor are the waters, as in
the valley of the Dead Sea, chiefly evaporated. The
Sh -
S^^fesfe
1
VOLCANO AND LAKE OF ATITLAN.
surface is evidently of nearly the same level at all
seasons. In the opinion of some observers, it is not
improbable that this valley was an ancient crater, in
the midst of which the volcano of Atitlan has risen —
much as Vesuvius has sprung from the ancient Somma ;
but the more probable origin of the lake is that the
rising volcanoes dammed up a valley. In the lava are
many cavities, and possibly through these the surplus
168 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
waters flow, to reappear in the many copious springs of
the southern shore" (p. 152).
Climate — Flora — Agricultural Resources
In Guatemala the same distinctions are observed as
in Mexico between the three vertical zones forming the
hot, temperate, and cold regions. On the plains along
the sea-board, and in the low-lying hilly districts, there
prevails a uniform tropical heat, with a mean annual
temperature of from 90° to 94° F. On the uplands
the dry period from February to April is followed
by a rainy season from July to September, with an
intervening transitional period lasting generally about
two months. The elevated central plateau is deeply
furrowed, like that of Mexico, by steep wooded barrancas
or ravines. But this plateau formation is of relatively
much less extent, and in the north-west is merged in
the region of the Altos, which are comprised in the cold
zone. The soil being largely of volcanic origin, would
appear to be almost everywhere very fertile, while its
products vary greatly according to the elevation of the
land above the sea. On the higher uplands wheat,
barley, and other cereals are grown in the vicinity of
the sombre pine-woods. But the low-lying plains are
clothed, especially on the Atlantic side, by a luxuriant
vegetation, having all the characters of the tropical
American woodlands.
The chief economical products are maize, sugar,
indigo, coffee, cocoa, and cochineal. As in Mexico,
maize is everywhere cultivated, yielding one annual crop
in the temperate and cold zones, and two or even three
in the hot coast districts. The sugar-cane can also be
grown everywhere up to an altitude of about 5000 feet,
GUATEMALA 169
and this is also very nearly the extreme limit of coffee
culture. Wheat, on the other hand, thrives only on the
uplands above 5500 feet, while cacao, properly a tropical
plant, scarcely ranges higher than 1600 feet. In the
same zone, and even a little higher, rice, cotton, bananas,
and indigo are cultivated, though nowhere in large
quantities. Cacao, sugar, wheat, and cotton are mostly,
if not altogether, consumed in the country, coffee and
bananas alone being regularly exported.
The coffee plantations of Guatemala are situated
chiefly on the lower slopes of the volcanic range facing
the Pacific. This long tract of country which, like the
neighbouring Mexican district of Soconusco, is remarkable
alike for the splendour of its scenery, its fertile soil, and
relatively dry and pleasant climate, has been carefully
surveyed in recent years by Wetham, Stoll, Brigham, and
other travellers. Despite the disadvantages presented
by the lack of good communications, many foreigners
have settled in this maritime region, and invested much
capital in the coffee industry. The plantations lie
mainly between 2000 and 4500 feet above sea -level,
and have hitherto escaped the attacks of insect pests,
showing that here all the conditions are highly favourable
for coffee culture. The original stock was introduced
from Arabia by French colonists at the beginning of the
eighteenth century, after first testing its qualities in the
West Indies. Coffee culture when properly managed
gives good returns, and, according to some estimates, a
plantation of 1000 shrubs, costing at the end of five
years £5500, will yield a net profit of over £8000.
Hence the area under cultivation is spreading, and the
quantity exported rose from 31,000 tons in 1896 to
50,000 tons in 1908.
Of other economic plants — vanilla, rubber, henequen,
170 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
guava, ginger, oranges, cacao, coco-nut, banana, and
plantain— perhaps the last two are the most important.
Their cultivation has been greatly stimulated by Govern-
ment bounties and the establishment of regular lines of
steamers between Livingston and New Orleans. Of the
two hundred recorded varieties of the banana two only,
one red the other yellow, are raised for exportation.
The former yields from 200 to 250 pods to the bunch,
weighing unripe from 80 to 90 pounds. The plantain,
which greatly resembles the banana, but is much larger
and more curved, is always yellow, and has seldom more
than 35 fruits to the bunch. But these are often
15 inches long, more palatable and nutritive than the
banana. When dried they will keep from 20 to 30
years, and it has been calculated that 1600 square
feet of rich land will yield 4000 lbs. of nutritive
substance from plantains, which will support fifty persons,
while the same land under wheat will support not more
than two. The industry is very profitable, at least to
the shippers, who buy 100 bunches for £8 at Livingston,
and sell them for £25 at New Orleans.
Conspicuous amongst the forest growths are the
mahogany and palms of the lowlands, and the pines
and oaks of the uplands. Strangers are especially
struck with one species of the oak, which is smaller and
much softer than the European varieties, but bears acorns
as large as the largest turkey eggs. Amongst the more
costly woods prominent are the cedar, a species of pali-
sander, the so-called rosewood, and the palmolatla, a
close-grained yellow wood streaked with grey and brown
veins.
Fauna
Apart from insects — ants, jiggers, fleas, mosquitoes —
and fishes with which many of the rivers are well
GUATEMALA
171
stocked, animal life is on the whole comparatively scarce.
Game is limited to the red-deer, peccary, javia, wild
turkey, and pigeon. Monkeys, however, are fairly well
represented, and amongst them is the attractive little
white -faced' Cehts albifrons. Other members of the
family are the howling-monkey (Mi/cetes stentor), noisiest
of nocturnal animals, and several small species, such as
CEBUS ALBIFRONS.
the Simla apella, S. fatucllus, and S. capucina, which feed
on the wild fig and other fruits of the forest tracts. The
manatee, which formerly frequented the Golfo Dulce, is
now rarely seen on the coast of Guatemala, though still
met with in British Honduras. The jaguar, largest of the
beasts of prey, is not a dangerous animal in Guatemala,
where he avoids man, and will not even attack a herd of
peccaries. Yet he grows to a great size, and travellers
speak of skins 5 to 6 feet long, exclusive of head or tail.
172
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Alligators are not numerous, but iguanas abound, and
are much prized for their flesh. Both fresh-water and
sea turtles are also plentiful, the latter often weighing
over 150 pounds, and supplying large quantities of meat,
white and tender as the best veal.
Snakes are much less common on the Atlantic than
on the Pacific side. All are popularly supposed to be
dangerous, whereas three only — the rattlesnake, the coral,
and the tomagoff — are really venomous, and these are
rarely seen. Amongst the numerous species of fishes
are the saw-fish, with very long and sharp teeth ; the
Jew-fish, weighing several hundred pounds and edible ;
snappers, mullet, bone-fish, king-fish, and many others of
which the local names alone are known. The bird
family is represented by numerous species of humming-
birds, parrots, paroquets, pigeons, tanagers, toucans, and
the already described quetzel. Almost equally gorgeous
is the plumage of the carpenter-bird — fiery red with
silver or gold — and of a ringtail large as a dove with
blue bill, green throat, red wings, and one large white-and-
black feather in the tail.
GUATEMALA 173
Inhabitants
From the ethnical point of view Guatemala might
almost be described as an Indian republic. Of the
whole population about 1,000,000 are believed to be
full-blood aborigines, while the rest — not much more
than half a million — are nearly all Zadinos, as the
Hispano- American Mestizos are here called. A mere
fraction, chiefly settled in the capital and the other
large towns, are of pure Spanish descent, and in 1908
all the other Europeans — planters, traders, and members
of the learned professions — were estimated at rather more
than 12,000. But the official language is Spanish, which
is also spoken almost exclusively by the great majority of
the Ladinos, who in fact generally regard themselves
as representatives of the conquering race, and jointly
with them hold the political power. Socially also they
are the progressive element, and through their influence
Spanish is slowly encroaching in all the more settled
districts on the native languages. Whenever a group of
aborigines are found to have discontinued the use of
their mother tongue, or to have adopted Spanish as the
general medium of intercourse, they are officially returned
as Ladinos. As in so many other Hispano-American
States, these half-castes thus continue to absorb all the
native populations, and their claim to regard themselves
as constituting the Guatemalan nationality in the strict
sense of the term is already fully justified.
All are nominal Christians, who beneath outward
forms retain many of the religious ideas of their pagan
ancestors. In the churches tapers are lit in honour
both of Michael and of the Dragon, while images of the
heathen deities are hidden away under the high altar,
so that they may receive a share of the prayers and
174 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
incense offered to the saints and angels of the Eoman
Calendar. In the rural districts solemn gatherings are
held beneath the widespreading branches of some
gigantic ceiba-tree, which is itself either worshipped or
else held in awe as the abode of some ancient divinity
still potent for good or evil. The spiritual powers are
even divided into two classes, one introduced by the
whites, over whom they still preside, the other compris-
ing the old national pantheon, who concern themselves
exclusively with the interests of the natives.
Maya-Quichds — Pipils
Some of these ideas have been disseminated amongst
the aborigines themselves, the great majority of whom
are members of the widely diffused Maya -Quiche race,
and still speak numerous idioms, all sprung from an
original Maya-Quiche stock language. The Mayas proper
are represented mainly by the Itzas and the Lacandons
of the Peten district, where, although greatly reduced in
number, they still form two independent communities
about the borderlands between Yucatan and Guatemala.
In fact the Itzas, who are pure Mayas, came originally
from the great city of Chichen-Itza in Mayapan, and
settled some three hundred years ago in the district of
Lake Peten, to which they have given the alternative
name of Lake Itzal. Here they have hitherto preserved
their political freedom, while maintaining friendly rela-
tions with the Guatemalan authorities, and with their
Lacandon kinsmen, who dwell farther south in the
wooded district between Lake Peten and the PJo de la
Pasion affluent of the Usumacinta.
At the time of the discovery the most thickly
peopled part of the country lay, as it still does, in the
GUATEMALA 175
south-western region between the present capital and
Lake Atitlan east and west, and from about 15° N. lat.
southwards to the Pacific. This region was divided
between the three rival nations of the Quiches, whose
capital was Utatlan (now Santa Cruz), the Cachiquels
(capital Iximche), and the Sutvghils or Tzutohils (capital
Atitlan). These were undoubtedly the most powerful
and most civilised of all the Quiche peoples. But they
were found occupying hostile camps in 1524 when
Alvarado arrived, and by taking advantage of their
dissensions rapidly reduced most of the land. He how-
ever failed to subdue the Cakchis and Poconchis, two
other powerful Quiche nations who dwelt farther north
about the head-waters of the Eio Potochic. Their
submission was later brought about by the famous
" Apostle of the Indians," Bartholomew de las Casas,
bishop of the neighbouring province of Chiapas, and
Tezuluilan, " Land of War," as their territory was called,
then became the land of Vera Paz, "True Peace," by
which name it has since been known.
Besides the Maya-Quiches a considerable portion of
South Guatemala was, and still is, occupied by the Pipil
nation, who were Aztec or jSTahua intruders from
Anahuac. Xothing is known of the time and circum-
stances attending this Mexican settlement, which, however,
would appear to have been made at least two hundred
years before the Spanish Conquest. The Pipils have lost
all memory of the event, and they speak an Aztec
dialect presenting some marked peculiarities, for the
development of which time must be allowed. Originally
their domain was very extensive, stretching continuously
from the present department of Escuintla round the
Pacific sea-board right into Salvador. But in later times
the Pipils were encroached upon by the Pocomans, another
176 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
numerous Quiche people, wh/)se territory lay about the
sources of the Motagua near that of the Quiches. Thus
it happens that the Pipils now form two isolated groups,
one in Escuintla, the other in the neighbouring republic.
The proper form of the national name appears to be
Pipiltzin, " superior," and their position on the coast-lands
would seem to point at an invasion of the Quiche domain
by these " superior people " arriving from the sea.
But their superiority must be regarded rather as
of a political than of a social or intellectual character.
Preference has already been made to the general culture
of the Maya-Quiche peoples in connection with their
relations to the Toltecs and the Aztecs, and it has been
shown that their civilisation was probably antecedent to
that of the Mexicans, that, in fact, they were the Toltecs,
overthrown and driven south by the Nahua hordes pene-
trating into Anahuac from the north. In Guatemala
are found some of their finest monuments, such as those
brought to light by Mr. Maudslay at the ruined cities of
Quirigua on the Eio Motagua, and of Copan, near the
sources of the Eio Potochic in Alto Vera Paz. In recent
years extensive explorations have also been made amid
the remains of another buried city in Sefior Alvarado's
Pompeii plantation on the slopes of the Yolcan de Agua.
Amongst the remarkable objects here discovered are
some fine glazed ware, several handsome vases engraved
and painted in bright colours, domestic utensils like
those still used by the natives, stone weapons and idols,
and ornaments of turquoise and chal-cliivilli, a deep green
gem formerly worn by Indian chiefs. Some of the clay
statuettes betray a high sense of humour, in striking-
contrast with the tragic masks carved on other heads.
Skeletons also have been found over six feet in length,
some straightened out, some in sitting attitudes, some
GUATEMALA
177
bent up and deposited in hugh vases like those in South
America and India. The skulls have broad high fore-
heads, prominent cheek bones, and projecting chins, and
all have chal-chivilli stones in the shape of tongues
inserted between the teeth. The type thus differs
considerably from that of the present Quiche peoples, who
are rather undersized, with strong, thick-set frames,
THE GREAT TURTLE OF QUIRIGUA.
large nose, and low forehead. The hair is black, lank, and
long, as amongst nearly all the aborigines, and it appears
never to turn grey. Like the well-set white teeth, it
keeps its colour to the end, which, however, is reached
much sooner than amongst other races. The natives, in
fact, age rapidly after their thirtieth year, and those who
arrive at the forties are quite decrepid. This short term
of existence has been attributed to their monotonous
N
178 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
lives, unrelieved by any . incidents of a stimulating
nature. It is noteworthy that few of the aborigines can
be induced to take any part in local " politics," and this
may be one reason why all the attempted revolutions
have failed since 1871. Indeed the era of political
disturbances seems to be drawing to a close, and even the
Ladinos are beginning to appreciate the blessings of a
wise and liberal administration, such as that which has
been established by President Estrada Cabrera.
Topography
Owing to the great preponderance of the aborigines,
who live mostly in small rural communities, large towns
are rare in Guatemala. Even the departmental capitals
are for the most part mere villages, and there are
altogether only five places with populations exceeding
10,000.
The capital, Guatemala la Nueva (pop. 125,000 in
1.906), has shifted its position more than once. Iximchi,
the chief Cachiquel settlement, was chosen by Alvarado in
1524 as the seat of government, but this was soon after
removed to Almolonga, where was founded the first city
of Guatemala — Ciudad Vieja, the " Old Town." After
the tremendous avalanche of 1541 (see above) another
shift was made to a safer position a little farther north,
where Alvarado founded a third capital in 1542. This
was named Santiago de los Caballeros la Nueva, the
"New," but became Antigua, the "Ancient," when it
was destroyed by the disastrous earthquakes of 1773.
A final move was then made to the present capital, which
stands on an elevated plateau 25 miles north-east of
Antigua. The term " Guatemala," a Spanish softening
of the Indian Quauhtemalan, was soon extended to the
GUATEMALA
whole region, which in
early colonial times was
already known as the
" Kingdom of Guate-
mala." The modern
Guatemala, which is
by far the largest city
in Central America,
stands about 5000 feet
above sea-level, but
although well laid out
with broad rectangular
streets and supplied
with good water by
two aqueducts, it is
not a healthy place.
The loose volcanic soil,
which gives immunity
from fever, causes dan-
gerous lung complaints
by the great clouds of
dust blown about by
every puff of wind,
especially during the
dry season.
Guatemala is con-
nected through Es-
cuintla with San Jos6,
on the Pacific, by a
railway 85 miles long,
and by another with
the neighbouring sea-
port of Iztcqm. A line
32 miles long also runs
Wi
i
111
n-
1
gT~j
;
ill
\
\ ;
-vji
ftfl
]S|f|
[
180
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
from Cham/perico, another small seaport on the coast
near the Soconusco frontier, inland to RetalhidcH, capital
of the department of that name, and thence to San Felipe
To the Pacific seaports of Champerico and San Jose
corresponds on the Atlantic side the free port of Living-
ston, which owes its English name to a noted jurist, to
whom the framing of the Guatemalan legal code was
QUEZALTENANGO.
entrusted. Livingston stands at the mouth of the Ilio
Dulce, on Amatique Bay, and although at present a
small place, gives every prospect of future expansion.
Other noted places are Santa Cruz de Quichd, near
the site of the ancient Utatlan ; Totonicapan, and
Quezaltenango,
In the department of Huehuetenango, near the
Mexican frontier, the almost forgotten historical district
GUATEMALA 181
of Chaculct was visited in 19 01 by Professor E. Seler,
who here made some remarkable discoveries both in the
ruined city and in the surrounding limestone caves.
Although now almost uninhabited, the numerous remains
show that at one time the whole territory was densely
peopled by a semi-civilised nation of Maya-Quiche stock.
The sites and ground-plans are described not only of
temples, palaces, and pyramids, but also of several tennis-
courts like those of South Mexico and Mayaland. A
careful study of these remains shows that the rubber
balls were tossed, not with the hands and feet but with
hips and shoulders, as still in some parts of Papuasia.
Government — Finance — Trade
After the War of Independence the Central American
States continued to form part of a single political system,
called the " Confederation of Central America," from
1821 to 1847. On 21st March 1817 Guatemala set
up for itself as an independent republic, but its present
Constitution dates only from December 1879, and has
'since been modified in 1885, 1887, and 1889. It
provides for a legislative National Assembly of one
Chamber, the members of which are elected by universal
suffrage for four years, in the proportion of one for every
20,000 inhabitants. The executive is entrusted to a
President elected for six years, and not eligible for the
next ensuing period. He is assisted by the heads of six
departments — Foreign Affairs, Justice, Public Credit,
Public Instruction, Fomento, and War.
Eoman Catholicism is the prevailing religion, but there
is no State Church, and all creeds enjoy complete freedom
of worship.
Education is also free and compulsory. In 1904
182 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
there were 1064 Government schools, with a total
attendance of 36,000, besides 126 private and secondary
schools, 6 institutes and normal schools.
The yearly budget usually shows a considerable
deficit, as in 1908 when the revenue was £7,400,000,
and the expenditure £9,900,000. In the same year
the external debt (£1,482,000) and other public liabilities
amounted to £2,135,000.
Trade is decreasing, the imports having fallen from
£1,800,000 in 1897^0 £1,162,000 in 1908, and the
exports from £4,000,000 to £1,351,000 in the same
years. The chief imports are cottons, cereals, wine, beer
and spirits, provisions ; exports — coffee, bananas, hides.
The regular army numbers 7000 of all arms, and
there is an effective of 57,000 men and 30,000 reservists.
CHAPTEE X
SALVADOR
Extent — Area — Population — Physical Features — Volcanic System —
Eruptions — Earthquakes — Rivers — Lakes — Climate — Flora — Agri -
cultural Resources — Inhabitants — Mestizo Nomenclature — Topo-
graphy — Government— Finance.
Extent — Area — Population
This State takes its name from its capital, San Salvador,
the San being omitted to avoid confusion between the
two expressions. It is absolutely the smallest, but
relatively the most populous of all the Isthmian
republics. In these respects the contrasts may even be
called surprising, especially when it is considered that
much of the igneous surface is so unstable as scarcely
to be a fitting abode for man. Salvador is also the only
Central American State which is entirely confined to the
Pacific sea-board, without any access to the Atlantic. It
forms an irregular quadrilateral which is completely
enclosed between Guatemala, Honduras, and the ocean,
extending for about 190 miles from the Guatemalan
frontier to Ponseca Bay, with a mean breadth of scarcely
more than 5 miles between Honduras and the Balsam
Coast. Within these narrow limits it has an area of a
little over 7000 square miles, being smaller than the
184
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
principality of Wales by just 200 square miles, and less
than one-third the size of Costa Kica, the next smallest
of the Isthmian States. But for population, officially
estimated in 1906 at over 1,116,000, it ranks immediately
after Guatemala, having twice as many inhabitants as
Nicaragua and Honduras, although the former exceeds
it seven times and the latter six times in superficial area,
For administrative purposes Salvador is divided into
fourteen departments, with areas, populations, and chief
towns as under : —
Departments.
Area in
sq. miles.
Pop.
(est. 1896).
Chief Towns.
Pop. 1900
Ahuachapam
490
40,000
Ahuachapam
12,000
Santa Ana .
600
90,000
Santa Ana
48,000
Sonsonate .
500
50,000
Sonsonate
17,000
La Libertad
490
55,000
Santa Tecla
14,000
San Salvador
460
90,000
San Salvador
60,000
Clialaltenango
750
60,000
Clialaltenango
6,000
Cascatlan .
380
65,000
Suchitoto
14,000
La Paz
490
45,000
Sacatecoluca
5,500
San Vicente
490
45,000
San Vicente
17,800
Cabanas
200
40,000
Sensuntepeque
9,500
Usnlutan .
700
80,000
Usulutan
7,000
San Miguel
720
45,000
San Miguel
25,000
Mor-azan
480
50,000
Gotera
2,500
La Union .
480
7230
al (est. 190
45,000
La Union
1, 116,000.
3,000
Total .
800.000
Tot
6) . . .
Physical Features — Volcanic System
After leaving Guatemalan territory the main range
and the volcanic system continue to diverge, the former
along or near the Salvador-Honduras frontier, the latter
nearly parallel with and at a short distance from the
Pacific shore line. Thus it is that the greater part of
Salvador is essentially of igneous formation, while all
the extinct and active or quiescent cones continue the
SALVADOR
185
Guatemalan system in an almost unbroken line all the
way to Fonseca Bay. Owing to this disposition of the
two ranges, the whole region is also clearly divided into
two physical zones- — -the strip of coast-lands between the
sea and the volcanic chain, and the inland plateau
between this chain and the frontier Sierras towards
Honduras. Seen from the Pacific, the plateau, com-
prising the greater part of the country, presents along
its seaward escarpments the aspect of a huge rocky wall
upheaved by natural forces, but separated from the
western sea-board by a long line of igneous crests. This
peculiar formation would be explained on the assumption
that the ocean waves formerly penetrated to the foot of
the inland mountain barrier, and that the low coast
range, averaging scarcely more than 2000 feet in height,
was subsequently upheaved by underground agencies.
Although generally lower than the Guatemalan
volcanoes, some of those which rise at intervals above
this coast range — the Madre del Volcan, as it is called—
attain considerable altitudes. In the subjoined table all
the Salvador cones are arranged in their order from west
to east, with their heights and present igneous condi-
tion : —
Volcanoes.
Present State.
Height in Feet
Apaneca
Extinct
5826
Santa Ana .
Active
6660
Izalco .
Active
6000
San Salvador )
Active
6182
(Vandegehuchte) J
Ilopango
Active
3400
San Vincente
Quiescent
7600
Tecapa
Extinct
i
Usnlutan
Extinct
i
Chinameca .
Quiescent
5000
San Miguel .
Active
7100
Conchagua .
(Quiescent
3915
186 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Eruptions — Earthquakes
Izalco, like the Mexican Jorullo, is of quite recent
origin, having suddenly made its appearance in 1770,
The ground where it now stands had previously been
studded by some of those curious ausoles or volcanic
vents which occur in many districts, but are numerous
especially near the Guatemalan frontier, and display
every transition between fumaroles, gas jets, hot springs,
and mud volcanoes. Here was also a cattle ranche,
where the people began to be alarmed by underground
rumblings and earthquake shocks, which increased in
loudness and intensity till 23rd February 1770, when
the earth opened near the farmstead, emitting fire,
smoke, and lavas. The display grew daily worse and
worse, the flow of lava being now and then varied by
great showers of sand and stones. Since then the
disturbances have never quite ceased, and the ejecta have
now formed a cone about 6000 feet high, which dis-
charges at intervals of ten or twenty minutes dense
smoke, cinders, and scoriae, accompanied by loud explosions.
At night the clouds of overhanging smoke are lit up by
the molten mass within, while red-hot stones shoot
through this darker mass and seem to ignite the vapours,
which emit coruscations like lightning flashes. From
this incessant display Izalco has been named El Faro de
Salvador, " The Lighthouse of Salvador."
The ruin caused by the eruptions of the active
volcanoes is often increased by tremendous earthquakes,
such as that of 16th April 1854 at San Salvador, when
the earth began to heave with a billowy motion of such
intensity that in ten seconds the whole city was levelled
with the ground. 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
SALVADOR 187
pall of impenetrable darkness. Xot a drop of water
could be had, as all the wells and fountains had run
dry or were filled with debris. 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.
That of San Domingo was buried beneath its belfries,
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. The
public edifices of the Government and of the city shared
the common destruction.
But of all the active volcanoes the largest is San
Miguel, which rises to a height of considerably over
7000 feet near the eastern extremity of the system. It
is specially noted for its symmetrical form and variegated
colours, passing from the deep green of its forest-clad
base through the lighter tints of the grasses on its higher
slopes to the deep red scoriae and greyish white of the
summit. When it was scaled by Gutierrez in 1848,
the large crater, which is of fathomless depth, presented
the aspect of a vast abyss of molten lavas, over which
played a pale, sulphurous flame, reflected again and again
from the charred and blistered rocks of the encircling
walls.
Eivers — Lakes
Salvador belongs entirely to the Pacific slope, and
most of the land is comprised in the basin of the Rio
Leva-pa, its only important fluvial artery. The Lempa
has its farthest sources in Guatemala, and, after receiving
the overflow from the frontier Laguna ale Guija, flows
through the north-western provinces in a normal easterly
direction. Beyond the junction of its largest tributary,
188 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL
the Sumpul, which descends from the Honduras uplands,
and is by some geographers regarded as its true upper
course, the Lempa is joined on its left bank by the Bio
Tonola, another large affluent flowing also from Honduras.
At the confluence the main stream bends round abruptly
southwards, and enters the Pacific through a broad
island -studded estuary between the two large coast
lagoons of Jaltepeque and Jaquilisco. Here it is ob-
structed by a shallow bar with scarcely more than 6
feet of water at any time, and is thus inaccessible to
sea-going vessels. But above the bar there is a depth
of over 20 feet during the periodical floods, and the
lower reaches are navigable by river steamers as far as
the Tonola confluence. The Lempa, which has a total
length of nearly 200 miles, drains an area of about
6000 square miles, and has a mean discharge of 20,000
cubic feet per second.
Besides the Guija lagoon there is another lacustrine
basiu — Lake Eopango — which lies about 6 miles east
of the capital, and is undoubtedly of volcanic origin. It
presents the outlines of a circular crater 25 square miles
in extent, and enclosed by steep rocky walls. Ilopango
is subject to frequent oscillations of, level, sometimes
sending its overflow through a deep gorge to the Jiboa,
a small Pacific Coast stream, sometimes rapidly subsiding
within the encircling cliffs. In 1879 Ilopango was the
scene of violent igneous disturbances, during which
sulphurous vapours and lavas were discharged as from
a real crater, while several volcanic islets appeared above
the surface and after a little while again subsided. One,
however, still remains in the centre of the lake, and
occasionally ejects great volumes of smoke. Earth-
quakes are also of frequent occurrence, and in 1879
over 600 shocks were recorded.
SALVADOR
189
Climate — Flora — Agricultural Resources
In its climatic and biological relations Salvador
forms, in a general way, a natural extension of the
conterminous parts of Guatemala. But there are dif-
s .W. \> c ^£
PERUVIAN BALSAM.
ferences, due to local causes, by which the tropical heats
are modified in each of the physical zones. Thus the
glass, which on the hot, low-lying sea-board ranges
between 75° and 85° F., falls on the outer volcanic
ramparts to 72° or 74°, and again rises to 85° or 90 c
in the deep valley of the Rio Lempa, sheltered both
190 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
from the Atlantic and Pacific breezes by the Hon-
duras uplands and the Madre del Volcan. Hence
the coast and central districts are the least salubrious
parts of the country, and the population, as in Guatemala,
is concentrated chiefly on the dangerous igneous plateau.
The heavy rains, brought by the Vendavales, or southern
marine winds, prevail chiefly between May and September,
and are occasionally accompanied by destructive cyclones.
But downpours occur even in the dry season, from
October to April, when the fierce nortes, here called
terrales, blow across the Isthmian region and are much
dreaded by the fishers on the Pacific Coast.
Characteristic members of the vegetable world are
the numerous resinous and medicinal plants, and especi-
ally the balsam which gives its name to the Salvador
section of the Pacific Coast, and is known as " Peruvian
balsam," because in colonial times it reached Spain by
the Callao route. Indigo, for which Salvador was at
one time famous, is now little grown, the industry having
been ruined by the competition of the cheap aniline dyes
of modern chemistry. Its place is now taken by coffee,
sugar, and tobacco, which, with silver and balsam, form
the chief items in the list of exports. Of imports the
more important are cottons, silks, hardware, and spirits.
In 1907 the imports were valued at £300,000 and the
exports at £1,400,000.
Inhabitants — Mestizo Nomenclature
Except a few semi-independent groups about the
Honduras frontiers, and the Pipils, who are of the same
Aztec stock as those of Guatemala, all the aborigines
are now merged with the early Spanish settlers in a
common Ladino population of Spanish speech and
SALVADOK
191
culture. Pure Europeans of various nationalities number
about 20,000, and there is also a distinct Negro strain.
due to the black slaves imported before the emancipation.
Thus in Salvador, as in most of the other Isthmian lands,
all the transitions are observed between the American.
European, and African types. Eor the various crossings
there is a rich local nomenclature, which is current also
in the neighbouring States, but differs considerably from
that of South America, as may be seen from the
subjoined list : —
Crosses.
Father.
Mother.
Ladino (Mestizo)
Spaniard
Indian.
Castiso .
Spaniard
Ladina.
Espafiolo
Castiso
Spanish
Mulato .
Negro
Spanish
Morisco .
Spaniard
Mulato.
Albino .
Morisco
Spanish
Tornatras
Albino
Spanish
Lobo (Wolf)
Negro
Indian.
Caribujo .
Lobo
Indian.
Barsino .
Coyote (Indian)
Mulato.
Grifo
Lobo
Negress.
Albarazado
Coyote
Indian.
Chaniso .
Coyote
Ladina.
Mechino .
T
Coyote
opography
Loba.
Notwithstanding the relative density of the population
— over 100 to the square mile — urban centres are not
numerous, Salvador being essentially an agricultural
country, in which most of the inhabitants are dispersed
in villages and hamlets over the rural districts. There
are only three places with populations of over 20,000 —
Santa Ana in the extreme west, San Salvador near the
centre, and San Miguel in the east, not far from Fonseca
Bay. Santa Ana, at present the second city in the
192 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
State is the chief agricultural centre, occupying an
important position on the main highway between Guate-
mala and the capital in the extremely fertile department
to which it gives its name. The neighbouring district
of Metapan, north of the Guija lagoon, is rich in minerals,
such as iron, silver, copper, and zinc, which, however, are
little worked. Santa Ana forwards its coffee, sugar, and
other produce through Acajutla, which is the largest
seaport in the republic, and is connected by rail with
Sonsonate, capital of the State of like name.
San Salvador, capital of the republic, was originally
founded in 1525 by Alvarado, brother of the conqueror
of Guatemala, some distance from its present position,
under the shadow of the restless San Salvador volcano.
A more dangerous site could scarcely have been selected,
and although the place was twice destroyed by earth-
quakes during the nineteenth century, its inhabitants
have always returned, and still cling to their beloved city
with a tenacity which to strangers looks like infatuation.
It lies about 2300 feet above the sea, in a fertile district
covered with plantations, and communicates by a good
highway with its port of La Libcrtad, a dangerous road-
stead on the Balsam Coast.
Although a populous place with over 25,000 in-
habitants, San Miguel, capital of the department of like
name, is little more than an overgrown rural settlement,
depending entirely on the agricultural resources of the
district. These, however, are considerable, and here is
held a large fair much frequented by dealers from far
and wide. La Union, the seaport of San Miguel, stands
on a sheltered inlet in Fonseca Bay near the Honduras
frontier.
SALVADOR 193
Government — Finance
On the dissolution of the Central American Federation
in 1853 Salvador became an independent republic,
although its present Constitution dates only from the
year 1864, and has been since modified in 1880, 1883,
and 1886. The legislative power is vested in a Congress
of one Chamber, comprising 70 deputies, 42 of whom must
be owners of real estate. They are returned by universal
suffrage for one year, so that the country is kept in a
constant state of excitement by the parliamentary
elections, which to strangers visiting the country seem to
be continually going on. The executive functions are
vested in a President, whose tenure of office is limited
to four years. He is assisted by four ministers for the
departments of the Exterior, Justice, Worship, and
Instruction. An attempt was made to further modify
these arrangements in September 1896, when an inter-
national treaty was ratified between the three independent
States of Nicaragua, Honduras, and Salvador, constituting
themselves, for the purposes of foreign affairs, a single
State or Confederacy, under the official title of La
Bepuhlica Major de Centro- America. But the agreement,
which had excited the fear and jealousy of the other
Isthmian powers, lasted only a little over two years,
having been dissolved under pressure on November
1898. At the same time a military revolt was brought
about by General Tomas Iieglado, who proclaimed
himself Dictator, and demanded to be recognised as
President. Other risings, often attended by much
bloodshed, had preceded and have followed this event,
so that the period of revolutions has not yet closed for
the otherwise prosperous little republic of Salvador.
Education is both free and compulsory, and in 1908
o
194 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
there were about 600 primary schools, besides several
higher institutions and a national university, with a
collective attendance of over 35,000.
Despite the political disturbances, which seem to
cause little interruption to general business, the finances
are in a satisfactory state. The revenue has advanced
from £2,000,000 in 1896 to £2,533,000 in 1908, and
the expenditure from £1,900,000 to £2,442,000 for
the same period. In 1909 the external debt was only
£1,900,000, and the internal £1,200,000, which com-
pares well with the financial condition of some of the
sister republics.
CHAPTEB XI
HONDURAS AND BKITISH HONDURAS
I. Honduras : — Extent— Area — Population— Physical Features — Plains
and Uplands — Volcanoes — Fonseca Bay — Mineral Wealth— Rivers —
Lake Yojoa — Climate — Flora — Agricultural Resources — Inhabitants
— Ladinos— Aborigines — Topography — Ruins of Copan— History —
Government— Finance.
II. British Honduras :— Boundaries — Extent— Population — The Cocks-
comb Mountains — Agricultural Resources — Trade — Railway Projects
— Belize — History — Administration — The Mahogany Industry.
I. Honduras
Extent — Area — Population
This State, third in size of the Isthmian republics,
is bounded on the west and south-west by Guatemala
and Salvador, and is conterminous eastwards with
Nicaragua. On the Atlantic side it has an extensive
coast-line facing the Gulf of Mexico, and extending from
the Gulf of Honduras on the Guatemalan frontier for
about 400 miles nearly to Cape Gracias-a-Dios. But
the land tapers rapidly southwards in the direction of
the Pacific, and here the coast-line is contracted to about
60 miles, enclosing the greater part of the magnificent
inlet of Fonseca Bay. Honduras thus presents the
outlines of an irregular triangle, with its apex on the
Pacific and its base on the Atlantic Ocean. From the
196
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
imperfect surveys that have hitherto been carried out,
the total area is roughly estimated at about 43,000
square miles, with a collective population (1905) of
500,000, distributed over the fifteen administrative
departments in 1896 as under: —
Departments.
Area in
sq. miles.
Pop.
(1896).
Chief Towns.
Tegucigalpa
2,000
63,000
Tegucigalpa.
El Paraiso
1,000
20,000
Yuscaran.
Choluteca
1,000
47,000
Choluteca.
Valle
3,000
15,000
Nacaome.
La Paz
500
22,000
La Paz.
Comayagua
1,000
19,000
Comayagua.
Yoro
5,000
16,000
Y/oro.
Cortes
3,000
21,000
San Pedro.
Sta Barbara
3,000
35,000
Sta Barbara.
Copan
2,000
39,000
Sta Rosa.
Gracias
2,000
30,000
Gracias.
Intibuca .
400
20,000
La Esperanza
Olancho .
10,000
34,000
Olancho.
Colon
9,000
5,000
Trujillo.
Las Islas .
160
14,000
Roatan.
Total
43,060
400,000
Tot
il (est. 1905)
. . . 500,000.
Physical Features — Plains and Uplands
Although accurate surveys are still wanting, Honduras
has been traversed by explorers, and especially by
naturalists, in all directions, and from their descriptions
its main physical features are fairly well established.
It may be described, broadly speaking, as a somewhat
hilly country of moderate elevation, sloping mainly
towards the Atlantic, and traversed in various directions
by mountain ranges or short ridges, all generally called
sierras, which branch off from their common base in the
central plateaux. But all these elevated heights .are
entirely interrupted by the great plain of Comayagua,
which is a conspicuous feature of the land, both from
HONDURAS AND BRITISH HONDURAS 197
the physical and economic stand-points. It is intersected
by the two fluvial valleys of the Eios Humuya and
Goascoran, the former flowing due north to the Atlantic,
the latter due south to the Pacific, so that the courses
of both rivers jointly present a deep depression, which
extends from ocean to ocean, and clearly indicates the
direction of a marine channel flowing at one time
between the Atlantic and the Pacific. The two streams
take their rise on the same plateau, where their farthest
sources are separated only by a narrow ridge of moderate
elevation, which forms the southern limit of the Coma-
yagua plain itself. In its greatest extent this plain has
a length of about 40 miles, with an average breadth of
from 5 to 15 miles, its longest axis running due north
and south, and thus coinciding with the general trend
of the two fluvial valleys. Northwards Comayagua is
separated by a low line of hills from the Uspino district,
another plain of considerable extent, both together
forming a delightful region which abounds in natural
resources, and comprises about one-third of the country
between Honduras and Fonseca Bays.
Eastwards the Comayagua district is skirted by an
elevated range, the northern section of winch takes the
name of the Sierra de Comayagua, while the southern is
known as the Sierra de Lepaterique. North-east of the
northern section is developed the prominent group of
the Sulaco Hills, which rise nearly in the centre of the
republic and send their running waters to a number of
streams flowing in the most opposite directions. Along
the foot of the hills stretch the grassy upland plains of
Planclio and Yoro, which afford rich pasturage to some
of those magnificent herds of cattle for which the Isthmian
lands are so justly celebrated.
The rivers on the slopes of the central ranges wash
198 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL
down gold ; but the greater part of the extensive tracts
lying between the Sierra Sulaco and the Atlantic Ocean
— that is to say, nearly half of the whole land — is still
almost exclusively inhabited by a number of semi-
independent Indian tribes. In fact, this region is at
present very little known, although explorers describe
it as generally fertile and rich in minerals. A section
of the northern coast lies very low, and is densely
covered with large timber, mahogany especially growing
in large quantities. But farther east the land is more
elevated, and here the sierras approach at some points
quite to the coast. The Omoa range, with its culminat-
ing peak, probably over 10,000 feet high, towers above
Amatique Bay, while the Gongrehoy and Poyas ranges
are almost washed by the Atlantic waves. Their crests,
rising from 6000 to over 8000 feet in altitude, form
conspicuous landmarks far seawards, and were sighted
by the first Spanish settlers in Cuba before the main-
land was reached. But in many places the coast shoals
very gently, and the soundings of the early navigators
revealed such slight depths, especially in the Amatique
and other inlets, that the neighbouring waters were
described as " honduras," that is, shallows, a term after-
wards extended to the mainland itself. Beyond Cape
Cameron the shoaling waters extend all the way to the
Mosquito Bank, which projects for no less than 134 miles
in the direction of Jamaica. It has a mean depth of
scarcely more than 120 feet, while the submarine bed
at Honduras Bay is 300 feet deep, but everywhere
strewn with coraline reefs, banks, and granite islets,
which here and there rise above the surface. These
small insular groups, the largest members of which are
Boatan, Utila, Elena, Bonaca, and Barbareta, are collec-
tively called the Bay Islands. Eoatan is over 30 miles
HONDURAS AND BRITISH HONDURAS 199
long, but only 1 broad and 800 feet high, while
Bonaca or Guanaja, identified with the Ma de Piiws of
Columbus, rises above its pine-clad granite slopes to a
height of 1200 feet.
Volcanoes — Fonseca Bay
Volcanic formations are almost entirely absent on the
Atlantic slope, but reappear on the Pacific side. Here
the Salvador system is continued right into Fonseca Bay,
where Sacate Grande, largest of the igneous islets, rises
to a height of 2000 feet. The neighbouring Tigre islet,
though smaller, is over 600 feet higher. Both of these
cones are extinct, as are also those of the Bay Islands
(1000 feet) on the north coast, while Congrehoy, farther
inland, is described as quiescent. It is by far the most
elevated of all the igneous peaks, having an altitude of
over 8000 feet. Although presenting every appearance
of a marine inlet, Fonseca Bay seems to be little more
than a flooded depression to which the sea gained access
through a subsidence connected with the underground
agencies in this igneous district. It is nowhere more
than about 60 feet deep, but generally so shallow that
it is accessible only to sea-going vessels of light draught.
Mineral Wealth
Pteference has above been made to the auriferous
sands washed down by several of the upland streams,
and there can be no doubt that many parts of the
country are richly mineralised. In this respect Honduras
certainly outstrips all the other Isthmian lands. Silver
ores are exceedingly abundant, especially on the Pacific
slopes, and amongst some of these ores are chlorides of
200 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
remarkable richness. The gold washings of the Olancho
district have already attracted foreign capital, and are
now being worked by several companies. Copper
deposits occur, often in association with silver. Iron in
the form of magnetite is found, often with such a high
percentage of pure metal that it may be worked without
smelting. Mention is also made of tin, zinc, and
antimony, while extensive beds of lignite have been
discovered in the .department of Gracias, where are also
found the gems known as Hondurenan opals.
Rivers — Lake Yojoa
Besides the Humuya and the Goascoran, representing
an old oceanic channel, Honduras is watered by several
other streams, nearly all of which trend northwards to
the Atlantic. One of the most copious is the Chamlico
(Chamelicon), which descends from the Merendon heights,
and for about 170 miles follows a course nearly parallel
with the neighbouring Motagua within the Guatemalan
o o o
frontier. In its lower reaches it communicates during
the periodical inundations with the still more copious
Ulna, which is by far the largest river in the republic.
In its catchment basin, which comprises about 14,000
square miles, or one-third of the whole territory, are
collected all the running waters in the western districts
between the Merendon and Chile ranges. The Humuya
itself belongs to this fluvial system, at least in its lower
reaches, and the main stream also receives the overflow
of the large Lake Yojoa indirectly through the Santiago
or Venta from the west. The Yojoa lacustrine basin,
the chief reservoir of the Eio Ulua, presents some re-
markable features, which are probably of a unique
character. The Lac/o de Taulebe', as it is also called,
HONDURAS AND BRITISH HONDURAS 201
has somewhat the outlines of a crescent-shaped flooded
upland valley, which in the dry season appears to be
completely landlocked, with no visible outlet anywhere.
But during the rains it rises to a great height above
low-water level, and then discharges its flood waters, not
through one emissary, like most lakes, nor through two
in opposite directions, like Dilolo (to the Zambesi and
the Congo) and a few others, but through several, all in
the same direction. The largest of these outlets is the
Jaitique (Rio Blanco), which at high water flows from
the south-eastern extremity of the lake to the Bio Santa
Barbara, which is a tributary of the Santiago branch of
the Ulua. All the other emissaries also join the Santa
Barbara, but through underground channels which they
have excavated in the intervening limestone rocks. As
many as nine of these subterranean streams have been
enumerated, every one of which ultimately reaches the
same upper affluent of the Ulua during the rains, while
at other times the Yojoa is an upland tarn with no
outflow.
Yet with all these contributions the Ulua itself is not
accessible to sea-going vessels, being completely blocked
at its mouth by a bar with a depth of scarcely more
than three or four feet at any time. But inside the bar
the lower reaches are navigable by river steamers of
light draught as far as the confluence of the Sulaco,
which joins the right bank from the east.
In the direction from west to east the Ulua is
followed by the Romano (Aguan), which after a course
of nearly 130 miles reaches the coast through two
mouths between Capes Caxinas (Honduras) and Cameron.
Farther on the eastern districts are traversed by the
long and copious Rio Patuca, which has developed a
small delta between the two coast lagoons of Brm
202 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
{Brewer) and Caratasca (Cartago). Like the Ulua and
all the other Honduras rivers, the Patuca is obstructed
by a shallow bar, above which it is navigable by river
craft as far as the romantic gorge of the Portal del
Infierno (" Hell-Gate "), through which it forces a sea-
ward passage from the Misoco and Chile uplands.
Climate — Flora — Agricultural Resources
Standing at a mean elevation of probably over 3000
feet, Honduras, despite its low latitude, — between 14°
and 16° N., — enjoys a relatively temperate climate
everywhere except on the moist low-lying coast-lands.
The Atlantic sea-board especially, being exposed to the
rain-bearing nortes from the Gulf of Mexico, is hot, humid,
and insalubrious. Here the yearly rainfall certainly
exceeds 100 inches, while the temperature seldom falls
below 70° F.j and often stands at 100° and upwards
in the shade, whereas the mean for the interior of
the country ranges from about 60° to 70°. Hence the
climate of the greater part of the territory is one of the
healthiest and most equable in the world.
On the uplands the prevailing vegetation is herbaceous,
and here the extensive plains of Comayagua and Olancho,
being covered with succulent grasses, supply an abundance
of pasture for the numerous herds of horned cattle already
referred to. But the hot and marshy Atlantic coast-lands
are clothed with magnificent forest growths, including
such valuable timbers as mahogany, rosewood, cedar
(Bursera), logwood, and brazil-wood. Sarsaparilla and
several other medicinal plants also run wild, and continue
to be exported in considerable quantities. But the
indigo industry, killed by the modern aniline dyes, has
declined, and is replaced by fruits, such as bananas,
HONDURAS AND BRITISH HONDURAS 203
plantains, coco-nuts, pine-apples, for which there is a
9
">•,
O
, constant demand in the New Orleans and other markets
of the Gulf States. The cultivation of tobacco, sugar,
204 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
maize, and coffee is also increasing, and there is certainly
a great future especially for the tobacco industry
Although the common cigars made of inferior kinds are
dear at any price, the leaf grown in the Copan district is
of prime quality, rivalling the very best Cuban varieties.
Agricultural interests have long engaged the attention of
the Government, which has still large tracts of the public
domain at its command. These lands are granted on
liberal terms to colonists of all nationalities, the chief
condition required of the immigrants being that they
shall settle down and cultivate their estates. But a
great drawback is the want of good communications.
The extensive forest tracts are almost impassable, and in
1909 there was only one short railway GO miles long
running from Puerto Cortes through San Pedro Sula to
La Pimienta. But contracts have been made for the
extension of the system by a transcontinental line from
La Pimienta to the Pacific, and another from Puerto
Cortes to Trujillo.
Inhabitants— Ladinos — Aborigines
Probably about three-fourths of the entire population
may be classed as Ladinos, that is, Hispano-American
half-castes who are of Spanish speech, and constitute the
Honduras nationality. Their civilisation, like their
Christianity, is little more than a veneer, and on the
Atlantic coast-lands they are largely crossed with Negro
blood. Here the Sambos, that is, African and Indian
half-breeds, are the dominant element in some districts,
especially about the lower Patuca and neighbouring
marine lagoons. The dark strain comes from blacks
either wrecked on the coast or else refugees from the
"West Indies in the seventeenth century. Towards the
HONDURAS AND BRITISH HONDURAS 2 (J 5
close of the eighteenth century most of the Sambos were
driven southwards to the Mosquito territory in Nicaragua
by some 5000 Carib Indians, who in 1796 were removed
by the English from St. Vincent to Boatan, largest of
the Bay Islands. From this point they spread over the
neighbouring islands, while large numbers settled as
gardeners and fishers in the Trujillo district on the
Honduras mainland. These Caribs, who are a prosperous,
well-conducted people, now number about 20,000, and
many have passed into the conterminous parts of British
Honduras. Some of them still speak the old Carib
language, which was at one time widely diffused over
the Antilles, and many are also familiar with Spanish
and English.
The prevalence of a broken form of English along
the Atlantic sea-board is a curious phenomenon, which
may be explained by the persistent efforts of British
adventurers from Jamaica and other parts of the West
Indies to establish themselves in this part of Honduras,
the chief attraction being mahogany. In the eighteenth
century they had even erected a fort on the Eio Poya
(Negro or Tinto), near Trujillo, and although this had to
be surrendered at the Treaty of Versailles (1763), they
returned at the next outbreak of hostilities, seized the Bay
Islands, and tried to convert Buotan to the " Gibraltar "
of the American Mediterranean. Then came Sir Gregor
Macgregor, who in 1819 became the cacique (head chief)
of the Poyas Indians, and founded an ephemeral " king-
dom " comprising a considerable section of Honduras and
Nicaragua. After his death some English speculators
purchased the estate (1839), claimed political rights over
the province of " Victoria," so named in honour of the
young Queen of England, erected Fort William facing
the Bay Islands, and withdrew in 1850, when the
206
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
disputed territory was restored to Honduras on the
intervention of the United States.
About one-fourth of the people of Honduras are
full-blood Indians, and
most of these still oc-
cupy their original lands
in the western districts
near the Guatemalan
frontier. In pre-Co-
lumbian times these
districts formed part
of the Maya -Quiche
domain, and the cul-
tured Maya peoples are
here still represented
by the Chorti, who
speak a language of
Maya stock, and are
closely related to the
Pocomans of the con-
terminous Guatemalan
provinces.
Topography — Ruins
of Copan
In the Chorti terri-
tory, about midway
between the Atlantic
and Pacific, is situated the ruined city of Copan, which
was first explored by Stephens, and has since been
more fully described by Mr. Maudslay. The remains,
which are not nearly so well preserved as those of Uxnial
and other dead cities of Yucatan, have been reduced by
sTnNE AT COPAN.
HONDURAS AND BRITISH HONDURAS 207
time and weathering to little more than fragments of
huge monuments, many of which are still covered with
sculptured figures and undeciphered hieroglyphics of the
same general Maya-Quiche type. Amongst the most
interesting objects are the numerous monoliths scattered
about, some still erect, others overturned, and almost
buried in the ground or overgrown with weeds and
underwood. On one of these blocks, 11 feet long and 3
wide, is represented the figure of a man with strange and
complicated head-dress and breastplate, deeply incised
and surrounded by florid scrollwork. On the reverse
side are sixteen tablets, all carved with emblematic
designs. Each monolith contains a representation of a
similar human figure — probably an idol — but the
emblems and hieroglyphs vary greatly. Eemains of
walls have been traced forming quadrangles in which
the monoliths and portions of sculptured idols are found,
while the parting walls slope up in terrace-like steps to
a height of over 100 feet. In underground chambers
were discovered large numbers of red earthenware jars
which contained human bones buried in lime. Amongst
the remains were also found sacrificial altars, enormous
stone skulls, and sculptured death's heads, which, taken
in connection with the other objects, suggest the con-
clusion that this place was a great centre of priestly
power, used chiefly for sacrificial rites and other religious
ceremonies. The ancient city of Copan stood probably
at some distance from this sacred enclosure, on the site
of the present village of the same name, which stands on
a small plateau overlooking the Eio Copan about a mile
from the centre of the ruins. The whole group of
crumbling monuments extends some miles along the
river bank, and an eminence on the opposite side is also
crowned with extensive remains. Some of the temples
208 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
and palaces appear, like those of Tiahuanaco in Bolivia,
never to have been completed, and in the neighbouring
quarries huge blocks are found lying about, which were
intended for these, if not for fresh structures.
North of Copan the chief place is Santa Barbara,
capital of the fertile department of like name, which
extends all the way to Honduras Bay. Here are the
thriving seaports of Omoa and Puerto Caballos, the latter
originally and even still known as Puerto Cortes from its
founder, Fernando Cortes. The spacious harbour is
certainly the best on the Atlantic side, being easily
accessible to large vessels, and sheltered by a tongue of
land from the nortes. It might also be greatly enlarged
by deepening and widening the short channel through
which it communicates with the neighbouring Alvarado
lagoon. Puerto Caballos is the northern terminus of a
railway which runs 60 miles inland to La Pimienta,
and is ultimately to be continued to the Pacific at
Fonseea Bay.
Farther east follows the port of Trujillo at Cape
Honduras in the territory of the Poyas Indians. Trujillo
was formerly a thriving place, but in recent years it has
lost much of its importance, owing to the transfer of
most of its trade to Ceiba and Puerto Cortes. In the
eastern region between Cape Cameron and Nicaragua,
and stretching inland to the Sierra Misoco, there are
scarcely any towns except Jutigalpa, and the neighbour-
ing Catacamas in the upper Patuca basin. Formerly the
whole of this sparsely inhabited region was comprised in
the single department of Jutigalpa, which has now been
divided into the two administrative divisions of Olancho
in the interior and Colon on the sea-board.
Gomayagua, former capital of Honduras, occupies a
commanding position due east of Copan, over 2000 feet
HONDURAS AND BEITISH HONDURAS 209
above sea-level, near the water-parting between the Eios
Humuya and Goascoran. It was formerly the largest
and most flourishing city in the republic, with a popula-
tion estimated at over 20,000. But it never recovered
the disastrous siege of 1827, which ended in its capture
and destruction by the Guatemalan forces.
Tegucigalpa, the present capital, was chosen as the
seat of government in 1880. But even in the eighteenth
century it was already a rival of Comayagua, being the
chief mining centre of the highly mineralised district
about the head -waters of the Eio Choluteca. After
yielding a total output of about £40,000,000 between
the years 1778 and 1820, the gold and silver mines of
the department of Tegucigalpa were closed and almost
forgotten, owing to the political troubles that followed
the declaration of independence. But in recent years
mining operations have been resumed at the stations of
Santa Lucia and San Juacinto, a little to the east of the
capital. Dr. Karl Sapper, who visited Honduras in 1898,
describes San Juacinto as at present the most prosperous
mining centre in the whole of the Isthmian region.
Tegucigalpa, which is by far the largest city in the
republic, with a population (1909) of about 16,000, is
connected with its suburb of Conception by a stone bridge
of ten arches, which here spans the upper Eio Choluteca.
This river flows through the department of like name
southwards to Fonseca Bay, where Amapata on Tiger
Island is the only seaport of Honduras on the Pacific
side.
History — Government — Finance
During the period of independence Honduras has
been the theatre of constant revolutions and foreign wars,
from which she has suffered almost more than any of
p
210 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
her sister republics. She was the first of the allied States
to withdraw from the Central American Confederation.
But although Honduras was constituted a separate re-
public so early as 11th January 1839, its present Charter
dates only from October 1894. During the last three
decades scarcely a year has passed without some military
revolt, in one of which the capital was seized and held
for some time by General Sanchez (1890). In the same
period wars have been carried on with Salvador (1871-72)
and with Nicaragua (1893-94), and in 1873 the seaport
of Omoa was bombarded by an English man-of-war, to
obtain redress for injuries inflicted on British subjects.
The alliance formed with Salvador and Nicaragua in
1896 for foreign relations has proved inoperative, while
political disturbances have been of constant occurrence
down to 1910. No doubt most of these disorders are
purely local, but they tend to drive away foreign capital,
and they retard the natural development of the land.
Under the present Constitution the legislative functions
are entrusted to a Congress of Deputies elected by
universal suffrage in the proportion of 1 per 10,000
inhabitants. A President, nominated and elected by
popular vote for four years, is charged with the executive
authority, and is assisted by a Council of Ministers for
the Interior, Public Works, War, Finance, Public In-
struction, and Justice.
Eoman Catholicism is the dominant religion, but
receives no support from the State, which guarantees
absolute freedom to all creeds alike.
Education is also free, compulsory, and entirely secu-
lar. In 1903 there were 851 schools, 11 colleges, and
a university, with a collective attendance of over 30,000
pupils.
Despite the immense natural resources of the country,
HONDURAS AND BRITISH HONDURAS 211
its finances have long been in a deplorable state. In
1908 the imports amounted to £566,000, and the
exports to £382,000, while the revenue and expenditure
were officially balanced at £-134,000. In 1909 the
external debt with arrears of interest, unpaid since
1872, amounted to the enormous sum of £22,470,000,
and in 1907 the internal debt was stated to exceed
4,000,000 paper pesos = £330,000. But it is right to
state that a very large portion of the public debt
consists of a loan negotiated by unscrupulous foreign
capitalists for the avowed purpose of constructing the
" Honduras Inter-Oceanic Kailway," from Puerto Cortes
to Fonseca Bay, about 150 miles in length, but of which
only a first section 60 miles long had been finished in
1910. In the same year there were 3250 miles of
telegraph lines, and the capital, Tegucigalpa (population
90,000) is now being connected by rail with the port
of San Lorenzo on the Pacific. There are 100 miles
of telephone lines with 95 stations, but little is done to
keep the highways in repair.
II. British Honduras
Boundaries — Extent — Population
Despite its official designation, the Crown colony of
" British Honduras " is nowhere conterminous with the
republic of Honduras, from which it is completely separ-
ated by the Guatemalan province of Yzabal. Here the
dividing line is the river Sarstoon, which flows east to
Ainaticuie Bay at the head of Honduras Bay. Towards
Mexico the frontiers, as determined by the treaties of
1893 and 1897, have already been described. Within
212 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL
the assigned limits there is a total area of 7562 miles,
with a population of 37,480 at census of 1901, and
estimated for 1909 at about 43,500, all coloured except
about 500 whites.
The Cockscomb Mountains
The southern part of the colony south of the capital,
Belize, is largely occupied by the ' rugged Cockscomb
range, which is disposed in the direction from north-east
to south-west, and merges through a lateral ridge in the
Guatemalan system. The prevailing formations are
granites, hard limestones, and schists, which, owing to
their vertical disposition, are very difficult to scale.
Hence the culmiuating point, Mount Victoria, although
only 3700 feet high, was ascended for the first time so
recently as the year 1888 by some members of the
Goldsworthy Expedition, who performed the feat by
means of ropes made fast to stunted tree-stems. In
1902 Mr. T. Fen wick, with six associates, ascended the
South Stand creek to the Cockscomb range, and scaled
two apparently fresh peaks, which were named Joseph
Chamberlain and Lady Wilson respectively. A hitherto
unknown tract to the south-west was then visited and
named King Edward's Land, and beyond it were seen
two other ranges distinct from the Cockscomb, and one
of these, running west and south into Guatemala, was
named the Queen Alexandra mountains.
Agricultural Resources
Here have been discovered iron and lead ores, with
some indications of gold and silver. But when the
HONDURAS AND BRITISH HONDURAS 213
interior is opened up by the now projected railways these
uplands will . probably be found chiefly valuable for their
fertile valleys and pastures, and for their invigorating
climate. Compared with the insalubrious lowland dis-
tricts, which are quite unsuited for European settlement,
the slopes of the Cockscomb range may be described
almost as health resorts for the few English colonists on
the strip of low-lying coast-lands. " One of the most
remarkable peculiarities of the climate and soil is that
almost all the tropical products of commercial value may
be grown in the same zone. I have frequently seen
maize, rice, bananas, pine-apples, oranges, coffee, cacao,
cotton, cassava, rubber, and coco-nuts all flourishing on
the same piece of land. Cacao of good quality is found
growing wild in the forests ; there is an abundance of
fibre-producing plants, particularly henequen and silk-
grass, varieties of the aloe, and there is a large extent of
land suitable for cattle and mule breeding " (Bellamy,
loc. cit.)
Trade — Railway Projects
But hitherto the chief resources have been mahogany
and logwood, by which the first English settlers, mainly
buccaneers, were attracted to this district. These still
form the chief items in the exports, which, owing to the
lack of good communications, were formerly declining,
but have now advanced from £420,000 in 1893 to
£458,000 in 1909. During the same period the
imports also showed a substantial increase from £290,000
to £557,000, while in 1909 the expenditure exceeded
the revenue by £36,500 (£111,500 and £75,000
respectively). These figures will show the former
neglected state of the colony, which certainly possesses
very considerable agricultural resources only await-
ing the construction of good roads and railways for
214 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
their development. In his report on the projected
British Honduras Railway (August 1899) Mr. F. J.
Newton, Colonial Secretary at Belize, tells us that the
undertaking is still in suspense, although no financial
difficulties stand in the way of its execution. Increased
facilities of transport are indispensable for the prosperity
of the colony, and it is therefore satisfactory to know
that the Crown agents are now (1900) drafting a
scheme for the construction of a line from Belize to the
rich lacustrine district of Peten, in the neighbouring
territory of Guatemala.
Belize
Belize, the capital (estimated pop. 16,000 in 19 10;,
lies at the mouth of the river of like name, which, after a
winding course through a wooded valley between long
pine-clad ridges, enters the Caribbean Sea over against
the Island of Tumeffe. Here the coast is fringed
throughout its entire length from Honduras Bay to
Yucatan by a continuous line of cays and coral reefs,
forming a natural breakwater for an inner channel
navigable by native craft. The Belize washes down
much sedimentary matter, which has formed a long
alluvial peninsula advancing beyond the normal shore
line. But easy access is afforded to the harbour by a
broad passage, which here pierces the fringing coral reefs,
and is navigable by sea-going vessels. The town lies
close to the waterside, where most of its wooden houses
have been built on piles rising only two or three feet
above high- water level.
History — Administration
Belize, a term often extended to the whole settlement,
is the English form of the Spanish Baliza, which is itself
HONDURAS AND BRITISH HONDURAS 215
a corruption of Wallace, that is, the British freebooter
who first gained a footing on this part of the Spanish
main early in the eighteenth century. Although driven
out more than once, the settlers always returned, and at
last secured certain territorial rights by the Treaty of
Paris (1763), which granted them what would now be
called a " concession " to work the surrounding logwood
and mahogany forests, and trade in the natural produce
of the district under the sovereignty of Spain. The
concession, which had been enlarged by the Treaty of
Paris (1783), became British territory by right of con-
quest in 1798, when Belize was permanently occupied
by a British force, and later constituted a Crown colony.
It is administered by a Governor, assisted by an
executive Council of five members and a legislative
Council consisting of three official and five unofficial
members.
The Mahogany Industry
For over three hundred years Belize has been a chief
centre of the mahogany trade, and although the forests
in the vicinity of the original settlement are nearly
exhausted, extensive tracts in the interior still abound in
this valuable timber. It is described as one of the most
majestic and beautiful of trees, rearing its huge crown of
glossy green leaves far above all the other growths of the
forest. Its trunk is often 50 feet in height; and 12 in
diameter, and ramifies higher up into wide-branching
arms overshadowing a vast extent of surface.
The season for cutting the mahogany usually begins
about the month of August. Gangs of from twenty to
fifty labourers are employed under the direction of a
" captain," each gang having also a " huntsman," whose
duty it is to search the trackless forests for suitable trees
216
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
to be felled, and to act as guides to the cutters. The
felled trees of the season are scattered over so wide a space,
that in order to reach them miles of tracks have to be
made, and numerous rude bridges constructed over the
rivers that lie in the way. All the larger logs have to
be " squared " on wheeled trucks before being carted
away to the large river banks, where the logs, all marked
with the owners' initials, are floated down to the coast in
yjjjfcS
■ r ?
T
the rainy season (May and June) when the current is
deep and rapid. At the port of embarkation they are
arrested by a boom placed athwart the stream, and here
each gang separates its own logs from the rest, forms
them into rafts, and tows them to the wharves, where
they undergo a final process of smoothing with the axe
before being shipped for exportation. In Europe the
chief centre of the trade is Liverpool, where the consign-
ments are usually sold by auction, the brokers receiving
a small percentage on the sales.
CHAPTEE XII
NICARAGUA
Extent — Area — Population — Geological Zones — The Mosquito Coast — The
Central Zone — Cordillera de los Ancles — Aruerrique and "America"
— Mineral Resources — The Volcanic Zone — Table of Nicaraguan
Volcanoes — The Coseguina and Masaya Volcanoes — The Marabios —
Lakes Managua and Nicaragua — Rivers and Coast Lagoons — Climate
—Flora — Agricultural Resources — Fauna — Inhabitants — The Nicar-
aguans — The Aborigines — The Mosquito Indians — History of Mos-
quitia — The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and the Nicaragua Ship-Canal —
Topography — History — Government — Finance.
Extent — Area — Population
Of the Isthmian States Nicaragua ranks next in size to
Guatemala, being nearly as large as England without
Wales, but has little more than half the population of
Salvador. It presents the outlines of a somewhat irregular
equilateral triangle wedged in between Honduras on the
north and Costa Eica on the south. The base of the
triangle rests on the Caribbean Sea, where it extends for
about 280 miles, from Cape Gracias a Dios southwards
to the mouth of the Eio San Juan, while the apex is
clearly indicated by the Coseguina volcano at the south
side of Eonseca Bay. Towards Honduras the frontier, as
determined by the Convention of 1870, runs from this
inlet along the crest of the Cordillera de Dipilto north-
westwards to 85° W. long., and thence a little north of
218
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
and nearly parallel with the Eio Coco (Wanks) to a point
on the east coast just above Cape Gracias a Dios.
The boundary towards Costa Rica is still a subject of
dispute, for the settlement of which a commission was
appointed in July 1896, any points of disagreement
being reserved for future arbitration. But pending a final
decision, the line may here be taken as practically co-
inciding with the course of the Eio San Juan and the
south side of Lake Nicaragua to within about 15 miles
of the Pacific, and thence by a conventional line drawn
across the isthmus to the coast at Salinas Bay. Within
these limits, which include the now incorporated
Mosquito Reserve, there is a total area of a little over
49,000 square miles, with a population of 420,000 dis-
tributed in 1895 among the ten administrative depart-
ments as under : —
Departments.
Rivas .
Granada ~k
Managua)
Leon
Chinandega .
Nueva Segovia
Matagalpa
Chontales
S. Juan del Norte
Mosquitia (Zelaya)
Total
Pop.
(1895).
50,000
100,000
70,000
40,000
35,000
40,000
40,000
25,000
20,000
49,200 420,000
Area in
sq. miles.
1,300
2,600
3,200
2,100
13,600
8,400
7,800
2,000
8,200
Chief Towns.
Rivas
c Granada
^Managua
Leon
Pop. (est.
1909).
12,000
17,000
35,000
62,000
Chinandega 11,000
Ocotal 12,000
Matagalpa 16,000
Acoyapa 2,500
S. Juan 2,000
Bluefields 5,000
Total (est. 1909)
600,000.
Physical Features — Geological Zones
In Nicaragua geographers distinguish three physical
zones, which, going westwards, are — (1) The Mosquito
sea-board, partly of coralline (marine), partly of alluvial
formation ; (2) The uplands of the interior with the
NICARAGUA 219
Cordillera de los Andes, forming part of the original
continental framework, and extending from Mosquitia to
the great depression which is now flooded by Lakes
Nicaragua and Managua ; (3) The coast-lands between
the lakes and the Pacific, which are mainly of igneous
origin, and form a southern continuation of the Salvador
volcanic system.
The Mosquito Coast
These zones, however, are not quite so symmetrically
disposed as might be inferred from the above general
statement. Thus the Mosquito tract is completely
interrupted southwards by the Cordillera Yolaina, a
section of the main range which bends round to the east
and reaches the coast at Monkey Point between Bluefields
and the San Juan delta. But from Monkey Point to
Cape Gracias a Dios the Mosquito Coralline and alluvial
shore line is developed without any break, and with
such remarkable regularity that it may be taken as a
typical example of coast formation in warm tropical
waters inhabited by the coral-building polyps. Parallel
with the shore, at distances of from 3 to 6 or 8 miles,
extends a nearly continuous fringe of coral reefs and
islands, the latter seldom more than a few hundred feet
long, and covered with coco-nut palm groves. The reefs
are continually growing and closing up the gaps by
which they are still separated, while new islands are
formed by the accumulations of detritus on the sub-
merged beds, so that in time a new shore line will be
developed enclosing lagoons between it and the present
beach. Thus is being repeated the process by which
was formed the existing coast-line, beyond which, farther
inland, are seen older lagoons and marshy tracts which
were once the open sea.
220 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
The Mosquito coast is thus seen to result from a
series of seaward growths due to the secretion of the
polyps, combined with slow upheaval and the deposits of
sediment washed down by the inland streams. The
whole sea-board is fringed by impenetrable mangrove
swamps, while farther inland the old lagoons and marshes
have been transformed to broad grassy savannas, affording
excellent pasturage for numerous herds of horned cattle.
Still farther inland follow extensive forests of pitch pine,
which also extend in some districts for many miles
between the swampy river banks and the interior
savannas. As the land rises westwards the pine groves
are everywhere succeeded by the typical tropical wood-
lands, which range up to and over the crests of the
intervening ridges into the central regions of Nicaragua.
The Central Zone — Cordillera de los Andes
Here the Mosquito zone is completely lost in the
older formations, whose tectonic character is clearly
indicated by the prevailing rocks — andesites, trachytes,
greenstone, and metalliferous porphyries, succeeded by
crystallised schists, dolerites, and metamorphic beds,
which appear to be continued eastwards beneath the
marine and alluvial deposits of the sea-board. The whole
region is traversed by an irregular mountain system, to
which has been given the collective and somewhat
misleading name of the Cordillera de los Andes, a mere re-
miniscence of the time when Humboldt's great generalisa-
tion was still accepted as a well-established induction.
The Chontales, Matagalpa, and Segovia highlands, locally
called " cordilleras " and " montafias," have no physical
connection with the Andean system of South America,
from which they were formerly separated by broad
NICAEAGUA 221
marine channels. With a maximum height of about 7000
feet, they descend in long terraced inclines towards the
Atlantic, and present more precipitous escarpments
towards the great lacustrine depression. But even here
the main range, which may be regarded as a south-
eastern extension of the Chile mountains in Honduras,
has a mean altitude of considerably less than 1000 feet.
Amerrique and "America"
The Libertad district between Honduras and Costa
Eica is crossed by the low Amerrique ridge, from which
the name America has wrongly been derived. This
word occurs first in Martin Waldseenmller's long -lost
map of 1507, printed at St. Die" in the Vosges mountains,
and rediscovered in 1901 by Professor P. J. Fischer in
Prince Waldburg's library at Wolfegg Castle, in Wurtem-
berg. Here and in the accompanying Cosmographice
Introductio it is plainly stated that the then lately
discovered new world should be called " America, because
Americus [Vespucius] discovered it." Although not true,
the statement lasted long enough to establish the term
America as the name of the fourth continent.
Mineral Resources
In this wooded central zone occur all the mineral
deposits, mainly gold and silver, which are more widely
diffused than is commonly supposed. The district about
the head-waters of the Rio Principulca is known to be
highly mineralised, and auriferous sands are washed down
by all the other rivers, the Bluefields especially being
noted for its profitable washings. Although few quartz
222 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
reefs have hitherto been tapped, the placer diggings have
here and there proved highly remunerative, and large
numbers of miners are now engaged on these workings.
In 1909 operations were being carried on by American
and British companies at over a hundred mines, in most
of which gold is found in association with silver, and
in a few silver with copper. In the same year the
export of gold in the form of bar and dust amounted to
£160,000, while that of silver in various forms exceeded
£60,000.
The Volcanic Zone
The third zone between the lakes and the Pacific is a
typical plutonic region, forming an integral part of the
Central American igneous system, and separated only by
political frontiers from the Salvador and Costa Eica
sections. Here are as many as seventeen cones, ranging
in height from 3000 to 7000 feet, and presenting a
continuous chain in every stage of quiescence and activity
between those of the conterminous republics, as seen in
the subjoined table, where they are disposed in the
direction from north to south. It should be noticed
that towards the south the chain passes right through
Lake Nicaragua itself, where rise Masaya and MomhacJw
on or close to the shore, Zapatera in the water just south
of Alombacho, and the twin-peaked Ometepec (Alta Gratia
and Madera) on the largest island in the basin. The
Hooded depression is thus seen to belong to the volcanic
zone, and the two lakes are in fact as intimately associ-
ated with igneous phenomena as are Atitlan and Ilopango
in Guatemala and Salvador.
NICARAGUA
223
Table of Nicaraguan Volcanoes
Volcanoes.
Coseguina .
Chouco
El Viejo
Santa Clara
Telica
Orota .
Las Pilas .
Axusco (Asososco)
Monotombo
Monotombito
Guanapepe .
Nindiri
Masaya
Mombacho .
Zapatera (Zapetou
Ometepec —
Alta Gracia
Madera .
Present
State.
Quiescent
Quiescent
Quiescent
Quiescent
Active
Quiescent
Quiescent
Extinct
Active
Extinct
Extinct
Quiescent
Active
Extinct
Extinct
Active
Quiescent
Last
Eruption.
1835
1850
18c
1858
1883
Height in
Feet.
3600
5562
4700
3800
4000
4690
7000
3000
5250
5050
5000
The Coseguina and Masaya Volcanoes
In recent times both Coseguina and Masaya have
been the scenes of some of the most tremendous disturb-
ances on record. Coseguina began to assume a threaten-
ing attitude on 20th January 1835, when an inky
cloud of heated vapour hovering over the crater was lit
up by lightning flashes, caused perhaps by the sudden
ejection of hot gases and scoria? into the cool atmosphere.
As the cloud spread the sun was eclipsed, and everything
looked sickly in the murky yellow light. For three
days the explosions grew louder and more frequent, while
the rain of sands continued until a deposit several feet
thick was formed for many leagues round the crater.
At Leon, over a hundred miles away, it was several inches
deep, and it fell in Vera Cruz, Jamaica, Colombia, and
224 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
over an area nearly 2000 miles in diameter. At Belize
the thundering was so loud that the forts were manned,
in the belief that a naval action was being fought in the
roadstead. For 800 miles these noises were heard, and
everybody thought the day of judgment was at hand,
when the earthquakes and explosions ceased at the end
of forty-three days. On Coseguina a crater was opened
a mile in diameter, and vast streams of lava flowed down
into Fonseca Bay and the Pacific, which was covered with
pumice for 150 miles seawards.
The Marabios
In the Masaya district the surface consists entirely of
volcanic tuffs, through which all moisture percolates, so
that the people have to draw their water-supply from a
lakelet 330 feet below the town. This little basin
appears to be itself a flooded crater, steep rocky walls
enclosing; it on all sides, with blackish cliffs at their base,
here and there overgrown with maidenhair ferns. All
the surroundings of the " Hell of Masaya," as the lake is
called, are of igneous origin, and with the central volcano
are connected the Marabios, a group of hills where are
concentrated almost more volcanic vents than in any
other spot on the globe. The best view of the Marabios
is presented from the wide plain of Leon, from which as
many as fourteen cones may be counted within a distance
of about 70 miles. Here are lava fields, locally called
the Malpais, or barren lands, extending in places for
miles in all directions. During the day the observer is
sensible of a glistening vibration of the atmosphere on
the heated surface of these fields, while at night the whole
district is lit up with bluish, alcoholic - like flames,
flashing across the land, or leaping up like columns of
NICARAGUA 225
fire and then mysteriously disappearing. The natives
call these strange coruscations el baile dc los demonios, the
devils' dance.
Lakes Managua and Nicaragua
In the narrow volcanic zone there is no room for the
development of large rivers, so that nothing except a few
insignificant coast streams reach the Pacific. Hence the
whole of the drainage is practically to the Atlantic, to
which even the lacustrine depression sends its overflow
through the Rio San Juan. This remarkable depression,
which stretches for about 300 miles in the direction
from north-west to south-east parallel with the Pacific
Coast, stands at a mean elevation of little more than
140 feet above the sea. At present it is divided by a
narrow ridge 16 miles wide into two basins — Managua,
nearly 50 miles long by 25 broad, with an average
depth of 30 feet, and Cocibolco, commonly called Lake
Nicaragua, which is the largest sheet of fresh water in
the New World between Michigan and the Bolivian
Titicaca, being fully 90 miles long, with a mean breadth
of 40 miles, and a depth in some places of 260 feet,
but shoaling to less than 10 feet towards the head of
the San Juan desaguadero (emissary) at the south-east
corner. Managua stands some 30 feet above the level
of Nicaragua, with which it communicates intermittently
across the intervening ridge through the Tipitapa emissary.
During the rainy season this outlet, which is 16 miles
long, with a fall of 7 or 8 inches per mile, has a
depth of from 6 to 12 feet, but at other times is often
quite dry. Since the Conquest its level appears to have
undergone little change, although some of its former
feeders have probably been displaced by the violent
Q
226 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL
earthquakes of which the Managua district is the chief
centre. Hence the present slight inflow is mainly
carried off by evaporation, except during the floods, when
the Estero discharges its overflow to Cocibolco. On the
other hand the larger basin receives considerable contribu-
tions both through the Rio Frio from Costa Eica, which
reaches the lake just above its outlet, and through
several perennial streams from the steep western slopes
of the Cordillera de los Andes.
Lake Nicaragua, which has a total area of about
3700 square miles, is studded by several islands, some
of volcanic origin (see above), some formed at its south-
eastern extremity by the sedimentary matter washed
down from the Costa Eica uplands by the Eio Frio.
Several of the igneous islets are covered with thick
layers of old eruptive deposits, in which are embedded
freshwater shells of the same species as those still found
on the neighbouring shores. It is thus evident that
the lake stood formerly at a higher level than at present,
and then it formed a continuous sheet of water with
Managua. At that time the outlet was not to the
Atlantic, but to the Pacific at Fonseca Bay, through a
channel now represented by the Estero Real. This
channel, which appears to have been blocked by a lava
stream from the Monotombo volcano, gave access to
several marine forms which still inhabit Lake Nicaragua,
having gradually adapted themselves to their new en-
vironment like the seals and porpoises in the now
freshwater Baikal and Camboja basins. The view
presented by the great lake from its southern shores
may be described as imposing rather than beautiful.
Towards the north-west its waters extend beyond the
horizon, while a little to the left is seen the large twin-
peaked island of Ometepec, towering 5000 feet above
NICARAGUA 227
the surface. Still farther to the left in the hazy
distance, are visible the cloud-capped hills of Costa Rica,
and, somewhat nearer, dark and densely wooded ranges
on the right. Some animation is added to the scene by
the flocks of wild duck and snow-white herons which
hover round the low insular groups in the near distance.
Rivers and Coast Lagoons
At the south-east corner the crumbling ruins of the
old Spanish fort of San Carlos indicate the point where
the lake sends a constant and copious discharge to the
Atlantic through the Rio San Juan. Except at the
Machuca and neighbouring rapids, this emissary flows
with a deep, tranquil current through a broad winding
bed for a distance of nearly 130 miles to the coast at
Greytown (S. Juan del Norte). The rapids, five in
number, present insuperable obstacles to steam naviga-
tion, and are natural, not artificial, obstructions, as has
been asserted, as if they had been formed by the Spaniards
themselves to prevent the English rovers and buccaneers
from penetrating to Lake Nicaragua. They are referred
to by Herrera as the " great rocks and falls " which
prevented Cordova, the first navigator of the lake, from
descending the San Juan in 1522, and are in fact all
that now remains of the main Cordillera, which
has at this point been pierced by the desaguadero on
its seaward course. The main stream enters the sea
through a ramifying delta, one branch of which forms
the harbour at Greytown, which, however, is rapidly
silting up, and so shallow that ocean-going vessels have
to ride at anchor in an open and dangerous roadstead.
North of the San Juan follow a considerable number
of streams, all of which descend from the slopes of the
228 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
central Cordillera, and flow in nearly parallel easterly
valleys to the Carribean Sea. But before reaching the
ocean each of the five main arteries either empties into a
coast lagoon, or else communicates through navigable
channels with these basins, which form spacious land-
locked harbours. All, however, are obstructed by shallow
sand bars, where, with the exception of the Bluefields
bank, the water never exceeds 7 feet even at high
tide. Bluefields is undoubtedly the finest harbour in
Mosquitia, if not on the whole eastern coast of Central
America. Here the lagoon is over 15 miles long and
7 wide, with a depth of 16 feet, which might easily be
increased by dredging-. On the east side is an elevated
bluff or headland, "with 30 feet of water close up to
the shore, admirable for wharfage facilities." 1 The
Bluefields river, in every respect the most important
in Mosquitia, is navigable for 60 miles from its mouth,
and is already utilised by American shippers engaged in
the banana trade, of which the town of Rama, at the
head of the navigation, is at present the chief centre.
Some 30 miles north of Bluefields lies the extensive
Pearl Lagoon {Laguna de las Perlas), which also receives
a large river of the same name descending from the
interior. On its west side is the picturesque little town
of Pearl City, which possesses some historic interest as
a residence of the former "kings" of the Mosquito
Indians. Then follow at intervals of 40 and 30 miles
respectively the Bio Grande, which still sends down
much mahogany and rubber, and the Bio Principulca,
where the rubber industry has been supplanted by
mining operations. Recently some rich auriferous beds
have been discovered about its head-waters, where
Cuicuina has become a busy gold-mining station.
1 Courtney de Kalb, Nicaragua, New York, 1893, p. 17.
NICARAGUA 229
Beyond the large river lVaiva, which in its lower
course forms the northern boundary of the Mosquito
coast proper, the great province of Segovia is traversed
throughout its entire length by Rio Segovia, called also
the Rio Coco, the Rio Wanks, and by other local names.
It is the largest river in North Nicaragua, flowing in its
upper course parallel with the frontier Cordillera de
Dipilto, and lower down diverging slightly from the
neighbouring Eio Patuca in Honduras, thus reaching
the coast at Cape Gracias a Dios. The Segovia, which is
navigable for small river craft from its delta to the
rapids, a distance of over 170 miles, drains an area of
about 12,000 square miles, and has a total length of
400 miles, with an average discharge of 17,000 cubic
feet per second. But all the branches of its delta are
shallow, while the neighbouring coast lagoon, which in
the eighteenth century was a fine harbour, " is silting up
so rapidly that it will soon be nothing but a swamp." x
During the floods there is a rise of 15 feet above the
normal level.
Climate
Thanks to a mean altitude of from 2000 to 3000
feet above" the sea, the central uplands, including the
Atlantic slopes of the Nicaraguan backbone, enjoy a
relatively mild climate, generally healthy and suited for
European settlement. But elsewhere the climate is
distinctly tropical, with a rainy summer season from
May to November, followed by a dry period for the rest
of the year. The mean annual temperature is about
80° F., showing slight deviations from month to month,
but with a range of as much as 20° (70° to 90°) between
noon and midnight. The whole region comes within
1 J. M. Nicoll, Qeocjr. Jour. June 1898, p. 660.
230 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
the track of the moist north-east monsoons, which set
regularly from the Caribbean Sea, and are scarcely
anywhere interrupted until they reach the Central
Cordillera and the lofty cones of the igneous zone. Thus
the heaviest precipitation occurs along the west side of
the lacustrine depression, where the mean annual rain-
fall exceeds 100 inches in the Eivas district. Elsewhere
it falls to about 90 in summer, and to 10 or under in
winter.
The flat, low-lying Mosquito coast-lands, being subject
to the inundations of the numerous streams from the
interior, and to the exhalations of the stagnant waters
of the coast lagoons, seem to combine all the conditions
of a malarious climate, and Mosquitia is commonly
described as a fever-stricken region. Nevertheless we
are assured by Mr. de Kalb, a most careful observer, that
the description is erroneous, and that this sea-board enjoys,
on the contrary, a fairly salubrious climate. This
naturalist fully admits the elementary conditions which
ought to result in endemic agues and marsh fevers, but
points out that their effects are counteracted by the
beneficent sea breezes. " In spite of such extensive areas
of swamp and marsh, the climate has been proved by
experience to be free from that deadly character which
is the bane of so large a part of the American isthmus.
All the conditions productive of malaria are present,
but the ceaseless trade winds from the Atlantic and the
Caribbean sweep away the miasmatic exhalations and
purify the air. It is a land blessed with abundant sun-
shine, but while overhead the sky is clear and blue, the
vapours borne westward by the winds condense upon the
mountains in towers of cloud, which seem to topple over
as night draws on, and roll back upon the coast in furious
showers. To whatever cause it may be due, the Mosquito
NICARAGUA
231
shore is not unhealthy, and no authentic case of yellow
fever has ever been reported throughout its length, an
immunity due, no doubt, in part to the rigid quarantine
regulations which have been maintained for decades"
{op. cit. p. 16).
Flora— Agricultural Resources— Fauna
Each of the three physical zones has its special
vegetable products, which, however, here and there over-
lap and encroach upon their neighbours. Thus while
the pitch pine and mahogany forests are mainly confined
to the marshy Mosquito sea-board, the rubber-yielding
plants of this region range also farther inland, especially
on the Chontales slopes beyond the grassy savannas of
the intermediate zone. For the rubber industry, which
is already carried on chiefly by the aborigines in a
reckless sort of way, there appears to be a great future.
The " Xicaragua scrap," or " sheet," as it is called in the
trade, is chiefly obtained from the Castilloa elastica, a
large handsome tree of the bread-fruit family, quite
different from the euphorbiaceous seringas which yield
the rubber of the Amazonian lands. The native
232 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
gatherers tap the trees too frequently, and to save them
from total destruction, the Government has prohibited
all traffic in rubber for an indefinite period from the
year 1898. In 1906 the quantity exported amounted
to 650,000 pounds.
Another widely diffused economic plant is the banana,
the cultivation of which is also increasing. In 1906
no less than 1,400,000 bunches, valued at over £46,000,
were exported from the Bluefields river alone. But
most of the strictly colonial produce is raised in the
fertile volcanic zone, which yields splendid crops of
cotton, sugar, rice, tobacco, cocoa, maize, and especially
coffee. Here also pine-apples, yams, arrowroot, guava,
citrons,. and many other tropical fruits thrive well, while
the extensive forest tracts of the central provinces abound
in cedars, rosewood, ironwood, vanilla, sarsaparilla, log-
wood, and many other dyewoods, medicinal plants, and
valuable timbers. Specially characteristic plants are
the superb Coyol palm (Cocos butyracea, L.), with feathery
leaves 15 to 20 feet long, yielding the intoxicating vino
de Coyol, and the remarkable Herrania 2?urpurea, a
" chocolate - tree," whose seeds yield a more highly
flavoured chocolate than the cocoa itself. Although
perhaps on the whole inferior to that of corresponding
latitudes in the eastern hemisphere, the tropical flora,
especially of the Mndiri district and some other parts
of the volcanic zone, can scarcely be surpassed for
beauty, exuberance, and variety.
The wild fauna differs in few respects from that of
the neighbouring lands. The wooded districts are still
infested by the jaguar, puma, and ocelot ; alligators
swarm in the lakes and most of the rivers, and a species
of fresh-water shark recalls the time when Lake
Nicaragua still communicated with the Pacific. Vultures,
NICARAGUA 2 3 3
toucans, humming-birds are almost everywhere familiar
sights, and amongst the endless species of reptiles are
the python and black snake, the harmless boba or
" chicken snake," the deadly corali, taboba, and rattle-
snake. Lizards abound, some edible, some said to be
poisonous ; scorpions also are numerous, and the iguana
family is represented by some very large species.
Of economic animals by far the most valuable are the
horned cattle, which graze to the number of about half
a million on the rich savannas of the Atlantic slopes.
RATTLESNAKE.
But here there is ample space and sustenance for many
millions, and the exports of live stock and hides,
collectively valued in 1909 at £26,000, might easily
be increased a hundredfold. At present the largest
item in the list of exports is coffee, amounting in 1909
to 223,000 cwt.
Inhabitants — The Nicaraguans
Of the present inhabitants of Nicaragua 40,000 are
officially classed as " Bravos," that is, semi-independent
wild tribes, scattered in small groups over the little-
234 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
known wooded tracts in the central parts of the provinces
of Chontales, Matagalpa, and Segovia. Between these
extensive unsettled districts the Mosquito coast, with its
eastern and western extensions to the Honduras and
Costa Eica frontiers, is occupied by an extremely
heterogeneous population of about 20,000, commonly
called " Mosquito Indians," who stand at a considerably
higher level of culture than the Bravos, but have been
citizens of Nicaragua only since the year 1894, when
the Mosquito Eeserve was definitely incorporated with
the territory of the republic.
All the rest of the people, about 550,000, all but a
mere fraction Hispauo- American Mestizos, constitute
the Nicaraguan nationality in the strict sense of the
term. A glance at the map will show that they are
mainly confined to the lacustrine region and the volcanic
zone between that depression and the Pacific. Like the
other Hispano- American nationalities, they form more or
less civilised settled communities of Spanish speech,
religion, and general culture. It is noteworthy that the
original Spanish element itself has been almost completely
absorbed in the Ladino population, and in the whole of
Nicaragua there are at present (1909) less than 1800
full-blood Europeans — 1200 of Spanish descent and 600
recent immigrants, chiefly from Germany, Great Britain,
and Italy, with a few Anglo-Americans.
The Aborigines
At the time of the Conquest, when the country was
admittedly far more densely peopled than at present,
there were, according to Herrera, altogether five distinct
ethnical groups, or rather five groups speaking as many
radically distinct languages — what are now called stock
NICARAGUA 235
languages. These were the Caribisi of the Atlantic sea-
board, still spoken by some of the Mosquito Indians and
some other neighbouring tribes ; the Chontal, also still
spoken by the present Chontals, and by many other
aborigines in Central Nicaragua and the contiguous parts
of Honduras and Costa Eica, to whom is now commonly
given the collective name of Lencas (see table, p. 23) ;
the Chorotegan, now extinct, but formerly current
amongst the Dirians (" Hillmen ") between the lakes and
the Pacific, and amongst the Nagrandans of the plain of
Leon ; the Orotinan of the Gulf of Mcoya and thence
to Lake Nicaragua, also extinct, but probably distantly
related to Chorotegan ; lastly, Cholutec, a pure Aztec
idiom still surviving amongst a few scattered groups of
Niquirans, but in pre-Columbian times widely diffused
over the northern parts of the volcanic zone as far as
Fonseca Bay, also in the lacustrine islands, and even
beyond the depression in the western parts of the present
provinces of Segovia, Matagalpa, and Chontales.
The Caribs and Sambos
It should be noticed that the first and last — Caribisi
and Niquirans — were intruders from prehistoric times,
the former on the Atlantic side from the West Indies, the
latter on the Pacific side from Mexico, while all the others
constituted the true indigenous element in Nicaragua.
•Recent research has shown that in pre-Columbian times
the Atlantic coast-lands had been invaded and repeopled
by Carib tribes (Herrera's Caribisi) from the neighbouring
"West Indian islands. These original Caribs still survive
under other names — Melchoras, Eamas, Wulwas, Waiknes.
etc. — now grouped as Lencas, but have mostly been
driven inland in relatively quite recent times by other
236 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
invaders, some also from the Antilles, others from Africa.
The Africans were castaways from a Dutch slaver wrecked
about 1650 on the Costa Eica sea-board, and have always
been known as " Sambos," possibly because they were
shipped at the island of Samba on the coast of Senegambia.
From Costa Eica they made their way north to Cape
Gracias a Dios, and soon merged with the Caribs in a
mixed seafaring population later known as Mosquito
Indians. After the dissolution of the buccaneer " repub-
lic "in 1688, they were joined by several of the European
freebooters, and the ethnical confusion was increased by
the constant accessions of other whites and Negroes from
Jamaica, and again by the Negroid Caribs of St. Vincent
removed to the Bay Islands by the English in 1796.
Such are the components of the extremely mixed Sambo-
Carib section of the Mosquito Indians, nearly all of whom
are familiar both with the original Carib tongue and
with English, which is everywhere current along this
coast. But many show little or no trace of a Negro strain,
and these full-blood Indians now call themselves " Tang-
iveera" that is, " straight-haired," in contradistinction to
the curly-haired half-breeds. All are described by Mr.
C. Napier Bell as a bold seafaring people, frank, friendly
quarrelsome, and although nominal Christians (converted
by the Moravian missionaries), of extremely lax morals. 1
The Mosquito Indians — History of Mosquitia
The prevalence of the English language on this sea-
board is due to political associations, which go back to
early colonial times, and present some features of more
than local interest. Discovered by Columbus in 1502,
the Mosquito Coast attracted no particular attention till
1 Tangwcera, Life and Adventure among Gentle Savages, 1899.
NICARAGUA 237
the rise of the buccaneers in the seventeenth century,
when its spacious lagoons, approached by intricate channels
through the fringing coral reefs, afforded safe retreats
and convenient points from which to harry the Spanish
main and surprise the Carthagena treasure-ships. The
harbour at the mouth of the Wanks river was their chief
rendezvous, and also the chief settlement of the Carib
natives, who now began to be known as the " Mosquito
Indians," possibly through some confusion between the
Moscos, one of their chief tribes, and the mosquitoes which
swarmed in all the lagoons. 1 They became great friends
of the corsairs, who treated them with much kindness,
taught them the use of firearms, and aided them in their
incursions into the neighbouring Spanish settlements.
Most of the freebooters being Englishmen, the English
language and influences began to spread along the coast,
and these influences were strengthened by the British
occupation of Jamaica in 1655.
Later (1688) the Carib chief was taken to Jamaica,
and received from the Governor a document, which became
historical, and was long preserved by the tribe. It con-
ferred on him the title of " King of the Mosquitoes," and
appointed him Governor-General under England, with
instructions to aid and succour all Englishmen visiting
his " dominions," which thus acquired the status of an
informal British protectorate. More definite relations
were established in 1740, when the king was induced to
cede the territory to England, this step being followed by
the appointment of a " Superintendent " and the establish-
ment of British settlements protected by troops from
Jamaica, despite Spanish protests. Although this position
was abandoned at the Treaty of Paris (1763), and again
by the Treaty of Versailles (1783), in which England
1 In Spanish, 7nosco = Ry ; mosquito = little fly, midge, gnat.
238 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TEAYEL
agreed to withdraw from the Spanish continent, she per-
sisted in holding Mosquitia, on the ground that it was no
part of the " Spanish Continent," but belonged to the
" American Continent." But this contention was given
up in 1786, and occupation ceased till the revolt of the
Spanish colonies in 1821, when it was renewed, the
Mosquito chief being again crowned as " King " under the
formal protection of Great Britain. It was from one of
his successors that Sir Gregor Macgregor obtained a grant
of land which he sold for £16,000 to some English
traders, whose efforts at colonisation ended in failure, as
did also Sir Gregor's " Indialand," an ideal republic,
intended as a refuge for the oppressed of all races and
creeds. Meantime the British claims, opposed by the
Nicaraguans as heirs to Spanish rights, were vigorously
pressed, and extended to Greytown, which was occupied
in 1848 in the name of the Mosquito king. At the
same time an attempt was made to seize Tiger Island in
Fonseca Bay, the object being to hold both termini of
the already projected Nicaraguan ship -canal. This
brought the Americans into the field, and led up to the
famous Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850, in which England
and the United States mutually agreed never to claim
any exclusive control over the future canal, nor to occupy
or exercise any dominion over any part of Central America.
But the continued occupation of Greytown, in apparent
contravention of this agreement, led to further troubles,
which were settled in 1860 by the Treaty of Comayagua,
in which England ceded to Honduras her portion of the
Mosquito Coast unreservedly, and by that of Managua
ceding the Nicaraguan portion. Then came the Treaty
of Managua of April 1905 by which Great Britain finally
recognised the absolute sovereignty of Nicaragua over the
former Mosquito Beserve. Certain privileges were now
NICARAGUA 239
also secured to the Mosquito Indians, who are henceforth
exempt from military service and direct taxation for fifty
years after ratification of the treaty.
The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty and the Nicaragua Ship-Canal
Now, however, the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty stood in
the way of the Nicaraguan canal scheme, which till recently
was favoured by the United States in preference to that
of Panama and all other routes, but could not be carried
out so long as America was barred by the treaty from
exercising complete control over the inter-oceanic water-
way. The difficulty would have been removed by the
Hay - Pauncefote Agreement, which was signed at
Washington on 5th February 1900, and guaranteed
the absolute neutrality of the canal for all nations.
But in December 1900 the Senate introduced certain
amendments which seriously affected this principle of
neutrality, and gave the virtual control of the route to
the United States in time of war. Hence the British
Government was unable to accept the Agreement as thus
modified, and the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty still bars the
way. In 1901 Lord Pauncefote and Mr. Hay endeavoured
to arrange a new convention which might be found
acceptable to both contracting parties. 1 A measure pro-
viding for the construction of a canal by the Maritime
Canal Company in six years at an outlay of £23,000,000
had already been passed by the Senate in Jan. 1900, but
has now been set aside in favour of the Panama scheme.
The Nicaraguan project, which may even still be
revived, starts from Greytown and runs towards Lake
Nicaragua and the Divide through three locks, with a
total rise of 106 feet, and a cutting through the Divide
1 Letter of the Marquess of Lansdowne to Lord Pauncefote, 22nd
February 1901, presented to both Houses of Parliament, March 1901.
240 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TKAVEL
3 miles long, which will require the removal of 12,000,000
cubic yards, more than half consisting of solid lavas and
other rocks. Then follow a series of vast basins, for
which a number of gigantic dams will have to be made,
one over the San Juan Valley at Ochoa being no less than
1250 feet long and 70 high. Beyond these works the
San Juan is utilised to the great lake, which, with some
1200 feet of dredging, will afford a waterway of 5 6 miles
to the Eio Grande valley, which will be followed to the
Pacific entrance at Brito. But here also there will be
needed three locks with a total fall of 110 feet, and the
formation of another reservoir by an embankment 1800
feet long and 70 feet high. Some authorities, however,
believe that the Greytown harbour, the Ochoa dam, and
the cutting through the Divide are impossible, and think
a much more practicable route would be found in the
Colorado (Costa Paean) branch of the San Juan delta. A
serious difficulty may also be presented by Lake Nicaragua
itself, the level of which it is feared is not constant.
From a study of the measurements taken at different
times by various hydrographers, Professor A. Heilprin
infers that the surface of the lake has probably fallen
as much as from 15 to 20 feet during the last fifty
years. 1
By the Nicaraguan Canal the distance from New York
to Melbourne and Yokohama would be reduced to 9287
and 8650 miles respectively, their distance from Liver-
pool being 11,350 and 11,765 miles. This scheme, it
is therefore inferred, " might bring about the most serious
rivalry to the commercial supremacy of Great Britain
which she has had yet to encounter." 2
Subjoined is a table of the distances in geographical
1 Nature, 8tli March, 1900, p. 451.
2 A. R. Colquhouu, The Key to the Pacific, 1895.
NICARAGUA
241
miles from the Atlantic entrance of the canal to
seaports in the western and eastern hemispheres :-
Seaports.
New York .
New Orleans
Havana
Puerto Rico
Para
Bahia .
Rio di Janeirc
Buenos Ayres
Cadiz .
Lisbon .
Havre .
London
Liverpool
Glasgow
Hamburg
Miles.
2020
1308
900
1100
2600
4010
4750
6060
4220
4200
4874
5025
4769
4895
5219
Seaports.
Acapulco
Mazatlan
San Francisco
Seattle .
Guayaquil
Callao .
Valparaiso
Sandwich Islands
Yokohama
Hongkong
Manila .
Batavia .
Singapore
Melbourne
Wellington .
various
Miles.
932
1,492
2,578
3,500
912
1,531
2,518
4,198
7,173
8,848
9,130
9,950
10,300
7,810
6,490
Topography
As at present distributed the immense majority of the
people are concentrated in the narrow igneous zone which
lies west and north-west of the lacustrine depression,
and has an area of less than 10,000 square miles. Here
have always been centred the life and activities of the
nation, and here are exclusively situated all the large
centres of population. Here is Managua, the capital of
the republic, which occupies a convenient position at the
converging point of several trade routes on the south-west
margin of the lake to which it gives its name. It is not
a very large place, having scarcely more than half the
population of Leon, which lies on the great plain of the
same name, about midway between Managua and Fonseca
Bay, on the old historic route to Honduras. Close by is
the ancient Indian city of Subtiaba, whose inhabitants
were said to number 100,000 in pre-Columbian times.
R
242 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
It was the . capital of the powerful Nagrandan nation, a
branch of the Chorotegans, who were dominant in the
region between Lake Managua and Fonseca Bay.
Leon is connected by rail with the seaport of Corinto,
which is the outlet for the coffee and other produce of
the surrounding plantations. About two-thirds of the
whole foreign trade of Nicaragua passes through Corinto,
where in 1908 the entries (ocean steamers and coasting
vessels) numbered 235 of 203,000 tons.
South of Managua the main highway passes through
Masaya (pop. 1908, over 13,000) to Granada on the
north side of the great lake. Granada, which was founded
in 1523 by Francisco de Cordoba, was sacked no less than
three times by the buccaneers penetrating inland from the
Atlantic side by the Rio San Juan (1665 and 1670) and
from the Pacific Coast in 1685. It was also captured
and burnt by "Walker and his filibusters in 1856, but
has since been rebuilt, and is at present the most pros-
perous place in the republic next to Leon. The streets,
all disposed at right angles, are laid out in a peculiar
manner, running for distances of fifty paces or so at a
dead level, then suddenly rising by a steep incline to a
second level, and so on. Amongst the local " specialities "
is the preparation of the so-called Panama chains, which
are made of solid or hollow gold wire and strung together
like our hair chains. Some of the specimens are master-
pieces of the goldsmith's art elsewhere unsurpassed.
Population of Granada (1908) 17,000.
On the route from Granada to Costa Rica the only
important place is Bivas, which stands close to the
lake over against the large island of Ometepec. Here
was the residence of the Niquiran chief, from whom the
whole region is supposed to have been called Nicaragua,
and Rivas itself bore this name long after it was raised
NICARAGUA 243
to the rank of a municipality in 1720. Its outlet on
the Pacific is the little port of Brito, the proposed
terminus of the future inter-oceanic canal. But if this
place is selected, its exposed little harbour, not more than
70 acres in extent, will have to be greatly enlarged
and sheltered by costly breakwaters.
History — Government — Finance
Since the year 1823, when Nicaragua joined the
Central American Confederation, the country has known
little respite from internal and external troubles. Even
before the dissolution of the Union in 1833, much blood
was shed in abortive efforts at secession, in wars with
Costa Eica about the disputed territory of Guanacaste
between the great lake and the Gulf of Nicoya, and also
by the rivalries of Leon and Granada, respective head-
quarters of the Liberal and Conservative factions. Then
followed a long series of military and civil revolts, varied
by the filibustering expedition of General Walker, under-
taken on the invitation of the democrats of Leon to
aid them in crushing the aristocrats of Granada. After
seizing the supreme power in 1856, Walker was driven
out by the combined forces of the neighbouring republics,
and on venturing to return was captured and shot at
Trujillo in 1860. Later an outbreak in Granada (1891)
led to a general insurrection in 1892, causing much loss
to foreign settlers, and the refusal of a demand for
£15,500 as reparation for injuries to British subjects
brought about the occupation of Corinto by the English
in 1895, and their withdrawal next year on payment of
the indemnity. In 1897 President Zelaya proclaimed
himself dictator, and has since been engaged in quelling
244 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
revolts at Nargote, San Juau del Sur, Eivas (1898), and
in other districts.
The present Constitution, which almost completely
supersedes that of 1858, dates only from the year 1894.
It vests the legislative power in a Congress of one House
composed of 36 members, who are returned by universal
suffrage for six years. The executive is entrusted to a
President elected for six years, and assisted by a Council
of responsible ministers for the four departments of
Foreign Affairs and Public Instruction ; Finance ; Interior,
Justice, War, and Marine ; and Public Works.
Public instruction is undeveloped and at present
(1909) limited to a nominal attendance of about 20,000
at 356 schools. According to an official report 30 per
cent of the children are enrolled in Granada and Leon,
but it is added that only half of these learn anything,
while of the whole population of school age not more
than 3 per cent receive even a rudimentary education.
Despite the incessant political disorders, the finances of
the republic are in a healthy state. In 1908 the revenue
(£1,101,200) exceeded the expenditure (£860,000)
by £241,200, while the foreign debt, chiefly railway
loans, fell short of £520,000. There is, however, an
internal debt of £1,140,000, making a total liability of
£1,660,000, an insignificant amount compared with that
of Honduras.
CHAPTEE XIII
COSTA EICA
Physical Features — The Volcanic Section — Table of Costa Rican Volcanoes
— The Continental Section— Gulfs and Rivers — Climate— Flora —
Agricultural Resources — Mineral Wealth — Fauna — Inhabitants — The
Costa Ricans — TheGuatusos and Talamancans— Topograph y— History
— Government — Finance.
Extent — Area — Population
Costa Eica, which next to Salvador is the smallest of
the Isthmian States, comprises that narrow section of
Central America which extends from Nicaragua in a
south-easterly direction to the independent State of
Panama. As already stated, the northern frontiers
coincide with the Eio San Juan and the southern shore
of the great lake, while those towards Panama, as laid
down by the declaration and two agreements of March
1905, are indicated by a line running from Point Mona
on the Atlantic side south-westwards to the Sixaola
(Tarire) river to its confluence with the Yoirquin (Zhor-
quin), and thence south to the Divide limiting the Uren
basin on the east, and so on to the main continental
water-parting. Thence it runs south-east to the Cerro
Pando, where it turns east between the Chiriqui Viejo
and Coto del Golfo basins to the source of the Golfito
river, which then becomes the boundary to the mouth of
246
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
the Golfo Dolce. The insular groups between the
Mosquito Coast and Panama— Mangle Grande, Mangle
Chico, Albuquerque, San Andres, Santa Catalina, Provid-
encia, and Esculo de Veragua — together with the Canton
of San Andres, go to Colombia (now Panama), which also
cets the Burica islets and all east of Golfo Dolce. Those
west of the same point are assigned to Costa Eica, which
by this award loses a considerable tract on her southern
frontier. Between Salinas Bay and Golfo Dolce northern-
most and southernmost points on the Pacific side, there
is an extreme length of about 300 miles, but not more
than 150 between the San Juan delta and Cape Mona
on the Caribbean Sea, with an area of over 18,400
square miles, and a population of 360,000 distributed
over the 7 administrative divisions (5 provinces and 2
comarcas) as under : —
Provinces.
Pop.
(est. 1897).
Chief Towns.
Pop.
(190S).
San Jose
94,000
San Jose
26,700
Alajuela .
81,000
Alajuela
6,000
Cartago .
49,000
Cartago
6,000
Heredia .
39,000
Heredia
7,000
Guanacuaste •
18,000
Liberia
3,000
Comarcas.
Puntarenas
10,000
Puntarenas
4,600
Limon
3,000
Limon .
4,900
Total before the avvar
I
of 1900 .
294,000
Total (est.
1908) .
. 360,000.
Physical Features — The Volcanic Section
In early secondary times Costa Ptica formed two
distinct physical regions, traces of which can still be
detected in its present configuration. Between the low-
wooded Atlantic sea-board, and the llanuras or savannas
of the Pacific slope, a rugged tableland with a mean
COSTA RICA
247
elevation of from 3000 to 4000 feet occupies the whole
of the interior, and is traversed throughout its entire
extent by a lofty range running about midway between
the two oceans. This range, which maintains an
average altitude of over 6000 feet, is dominated at
intervals by a long line of lofty cones and peaks rising
from 7000 or 8000 to nearly 12,000 feet above the sea.
But this apparently continuous formation is clearly
divided into a northern and a southern section of about
equal extent at the Ocliomogo Pass near Cartago, which
falls to less than 5000 feet, and forms a scarcely per-
ceptible divide between the sources of the Rio Grande de
Tarcoles flowing west to the Pacific and the Reventazon
descending east to the Atlantic. These two fluvial
valleys, like those of the Eios Humuya and Goascoran
in Honduras, jointly represent a deep depression which
was formerly flooded by a marine channel connecting
the two oceans. The section extending from this de-
pression north to Lake Nicaragua is mainly of igneous
formation, and here all the peaks rising above the main
range are volcanoes, either long extinct, or quiescent, or
even still active as shown in the subjoined table, in
which they follow in the direction from north-west to
south-east : —
Table of Costa Kican Volcanoes
Volcanoes.
Present State.
Height
in feet.
Orosi ....
Quiescent
5,195
Rincon de la Yieja
Quiescent
4,500
Miravalles
Extinct .
4,665
Monte Muerto
Extinct .
8,000
Tenorio ....
Extinct .
6,800
Los Yotos, or Poas
Extinct .
8,675
Barba ....
Extinct .
9,335
Irazu, or Cartago .
Active .
11,480
Turrialba
Extinct
11,000
248 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
In secondary times these cones do not appear to have
been disposed in a continuous chain, as at present, but
formed the summits of a number of islands constituting
an igneous archipelago corresponding in its general trend
with the Hawaii group. The archipelago was after-
wards gradually filled up and soldered into a compact
mass by the lavas, ashes, or other eruptive matter dis-
charged by the burning mountains, and later extended
in the direction of both oceans by the sedimentary
deposits of the running waters. "It is clear," wrote
the late Colonel G. E. Church, " that the Caribbean Sea
once connected with the Pacific Ocean through the valley
of the river Revantazon, up which the Costa Rica Rail-
way now climbs to reach Cartago and San Jose." 1 The
town and district of Cartago suffered from a violent
earthquake on May 4, 1910, when the Peace Palace and
many other structures collapsed, with the loss of about
1000 lives buried in the ruins. The surrounding
district was also laid waste for some miles inland.
The Continental Section
South of the Ochomogo depression the volcanic system
disappears, and here the main range known in its various
sections as the Montana Dota, the Cordillera de Tala-
manca, and farther south as the Cordillera de Chiriqui,
forms part of the continental framework and later sedimen-
tary formations. With the doubtful exception of Herra-
dura (Turubales) at the entrance of the Gulf of Nicoya,
and Chiripo (11,480 feet) south of Turrialba, there are
no volcanoes in the southern section of Costa Rica,
although the igneous system reappears in the Isthmus
of Panama beyond the frontier. In the Dota and
1 "Costa Rica," Geograph. Jour. July 1897, p. 60.
COSTA KICA 249
Talamanca ranges the highest crests, such as Buena
Vista (10,820 feet), Rovalo (7050), Pico Blanco (9560),
and Ujum (9700), show no trace of terminal craters.
The whole region is also mainly free from earthquakes,
which, though seldom very violent, are frequent enough
in the northern section.
Formerly a Pacific Coast range, running parallel with
the continental systems, developed a continuous curve
from the Gulf of Nicoya round to Panama Bay. The
fragmentary sections of this outer chain, which, however,
nowhere attains an altitude of more than 3000 feet, may
still be followed in the ridges traversing the Nicoya,
Dulce, Burica, and Azuero peninsulas. To the same
system, which has a total length of 560 miles, belong
the large island of Goiba south of Burica Point, and the
Pearl Archipelago in Panama Bay.
G-ulfs and Rivers
The two large inlets formed by the Nicoya and
Dulce peninsulas differ considerably in their main
features. Nicoya, a shallow basin studded with wooded
islands, and presenting contour lines resembling those of
the Bay of Naples, is being gradually filled up by the
sedimentary matter deposited by the mountain torrents
from the surrounding uplands. On the other hand the
Golfo Dulce, " Fresh- water Gulf," is a deep inlet (mean
600 feet), which is destitute of islands, and receives but
trifling contributions from the neighbouring uplands.
Except the already mentioned Eios Tarcoles and
Pteventazon, no important streams flow from the Costa
Paean heights either to the Pacific or the Atlantic. But
on the north side Lake Nicaragua receives the relatively
copious Bio Frio, which discharges large quantities of
250 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
sediment, and is thus forming shallow banks and islands
about the head of the San Juan emissary. Lower down
the San Juan itself receives much alluvial matter through
the Bios San Carlos and Sarapiqui from the Costa Eican
highlands. The sands and mud thus washed down have
already filled up Greytown harbour, and will be a source
of constant trouble and expense to the promoters of the
Nicaraguan ship-canal. The difficulty might perhaps be
avoided by selecting for the Atlantic terminus the
Colorado branch, through which the San Juan now dis-
charges most of its liquid contents. But the Colorado
flows entirely through Costa Eican territory, and this
route is consequently for the present excluded on
political grounds. The objection may, however, be
eventually got over by a mutual arrangement between
the United States, Nicaraguan, and Costa Eican Govern-
ments.
Climate — Flora — Agricultural Resources
Owing to its position between the two oceans Costa
Eica enjoys an essentially marine climate, which, how-
ever, is modified in various ways by its general elevation
and other local conditions. Thus the mean annual
temperature falls from about 80° F. on both of the low-
lying sea-boards, to 70° or less at San Jose, and in most
of the other inhabited upland districts. Dry winds pre-
vail on the Pacific, moist on the Atlantic slopes, with the
result that although the temperature is higher on the
west side, it is more oppressive on the Caribbean coast-
lands. But on the whole " Costa Eica is the healthiest
tropical country in the New World " (Church).
A yearly rainfall exceeding 100, and even 130
inches on the eastern slopes, supports a wonderfully
COSTA RICA 251
rich forest vegetation comprising many valuable species,
such as mahogany, brazil wood, cedar, evergreen oak, and
ebony. Grassy savannas, which might afford sustenance
for millions of horned cattle prevail on the Pacific and
northern llanuras, while the rich volcanic soil of the San
Jose" and Cartago uplands is admirably suited for the
cultivation of tropical fruits and economic plants.
At present attention is paid chiefly to coffee and
banana culture, which since the general suspension of
mining operations constitute the staple industries of the
country. In 1908 coffee was exported to the extent of
9000 tons, of which 43 per cent was taken by England,
where this variety has become popular. In the same
year the export of bananas exceeded 10,000,000 bunches,
while all the other items of the export trade — skins,
hides, cedar, gold and silver, and various woods — were
valued at less than £192,000.
Mineral Wealth
In these items the precious metals do not bulk largely,
although mining operations were, till recently, carried on
at several places, and there can be no doubt that many
districts are highly mineralised. At Monte Agnacate, in
the province of Alajuela, are some auriferous quartz veins
of great richness. Most of the ores are of high grade, and
in a few years the Los Castros mine yielded £400,000,
although the operations were carried on in such a
primitive manner that only a small percentage of the
metal was saved. The whole of the south-western slope
of the Guatusos and Miravalles ranges appears to be also
auriferous, and here the surveys report numerous rich
veins miles in length, and from 2 to 40 feet in width.
In the Abengares district several gold-bearing reefs have
been discovered, and at the neighbouring Tres Hermanos
252 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
mine a rich vein 17 feet thick has been followed for a
distance of 3 miles. Some of the reports read like those
of the Witwatersrand in the Transvaal, and it is inferred
that when thoroughly explored Costa Pica will prove to
be one of the richest auriferous regions in the world.
The closing of so many mines seems to be mainly due to
lack of capital and of good communications. In 1908
the exports of bar gold and silver were £144,000.
Fauna
The Costa Pican fauna, in which the tapir and other
South American forms are represented, is amazingly rich
in bird and reptile life. Parrots, toucans, humming-
birds, and members of the gallinaceous family, occur in
immense variety, and ornithologists have already de-
scribed over 400 genera with about 700 species
of birds, which is more than twice the number found in
the whole of Europe. There are also over 130 known
species of reptiles and batrachians, while all the sur-
rounding waters are well stocked with fishes and other
animal forms. Amongst these are the valuable pearl
and mother-of-pearl oysters, and the purple-yielding
murex of the Gulf of Nicoya. Amongst the Simians is a
species of white-faced monkeys, some of which have been
met wearing a red passion flower as a decoration in each ear
(Pittier). Mention is also made of a migratory vampire
bat, which at intervals of five to fifteen years invades
the south-east coast in millions, and causes such ravages
that the people are obliged to emigrate with their live
stock. In a single night the vampires bleed the
strongest ox to death, and also attack dogs, cats, and
even men.
COSTA RICA 253
Inhabitants — The Costa Ricans
Of the present inhabitants the great bulk — probably
300,000 out of a total of 360,000 — have already been
fused in a somewhat homogeneous Ladino population of
Spanish speech and culture, and of Costa Eican nationality.
As shown by the comparatively tranquil course of events
during the independence period, they are certainly a
more peace-loving and steady -going people than most
other Hispano- Americans. But, despite a certain
urbanity of manner and courtesy towards strangers, they
" appear to be of a gloomy, unsocial disposition, and, as a
rule, the women look as if joy and they had long ago
parted company. I missed that buoyancy of character
and genial manner which welcome the traveller in
Mexico and all the States of South America. Why all
this is I know not, for the people are thriving, in-
dustrious, and pacific in disposition, while many of them
are well educated and highly intelligent. There is also
a peasant proprietor class, consisting of hard-working,
sturdy farmers who are owners of little areas of coffee
plantations, or of carts and oxen engaged in internal
trade. This class gives to the country most of its
political stability. Wealth is more generally distributed
than in any other Spanish-American State, and the taxes
are very light. The mental, moral, and material advance-
ment which Costa Eica has made since it emerged from
the baneful shadow- of Spain is remarkable " (Church,
loc. cit. p. 79). As in Salvador and Nicaragua, the
people are concentrated chiefly in the fertile and salu-
brious volcanic districts of San Jose and Corinto almost
under the shadow of Torrealba, Irazo, and the other
giants of the igneous range.
At the 1892 census, when the whole population
254 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TPiAVEL
scarcely exceeded 270,000, the foreign settlers numbered
a little over 6000. As there is a steady stream of
immigration estimated at about 1000 a year, this element
probably numbers at least 25,000 at present (1910).
The majority still come from Spain, the rest chiefly from
Italy, Germany, the United States, and Great Britain.
They are for the most part engineers, planters, traders,
artisans, and members of the learned professions, and
live generally on amicable terms with their Costa Bican
neighbours.
The Guatusos and Talamancans
To these must be added the full-blood aborigines who
still live apart chiefly in the unsettled northern districts,
and in the little known forest tracts of the southern
Atlantic slopes, and may be estimated at about 5000
altogether. In the north the dominant Indian nation
are the semi-independent Guatusos of the Eio Frio Valley,
about whom strange reports have long been prevalent.
They have been described as of almost European type,
with curly hair, blue eyes, and white or florid complexion,
these characters being attributed to some derelict English
buccaneers, who strayed up the Eio Frio from the San
Juan, and were well received by the natives, with whom
they merged in a common " Anglo-American " community.
But recent exploration has dissipated this popular myth,
and the Guatusos, of whom other strange things were
reported, are now known to be a long-haired, coppery-
coloured people, like other American aborigines, and in
fact most probably a branch of the neighbouring
Nicaraguan Chontals.
The scattered tribes of the Atlantic forest zone —
Chirripos, 'Guaymi, Bribri, Cabecars, Bizeitas, Terirs, and
COSTA EICA 255
others — are grouped together in a single family, which
from its most numerous and best known member takes
the name of Talamanca. When they were first visited
by Yasquez de Coronado in 1564, the Talamancas alone
were estimated at 25,000, whereas at present the whole
family are reduced to probably less than 3000. All
maintain the tribal organisation, and keep up the ancestral
speech, usages, and traditions. They dwell, however, in
fixed abodes, within the so-called palenques or stockades,
with thatched roofs projecting beyond the walls down
nearly to the ground. In physical appearance they bear
a striking resemblance to the Mayas of Yucatan, and
like them are a quiet, inoffensive people, who appear to
have been formerly more highly civilised than at present.
Amongst the objects recovered from the old graves in
the Bribri district are some curious little gold statuettes,
the workmanship of which displays considerable skill in
the prehistoric Talamancan craftsmen.
The gold came probably from the neighbouring
Yeragua district in Panama, which earned for this region
the title of Costa Bica, the " Rich Coast." The expression
was applied at first to the whole sea-board, at that time
known as the Gulf of Columbus, but was afterwards
restricted to the auriferous Veragua district, and finally
transferred to Nueva Cartago, that is, the present Costa
Rica, through some confusion in the local nomenclature
which has never been cleared up. 1
1 Colonel Church suggests that it may be a corruption of Costa de Oreja,
a name which was applied to a part of the coast of South America during
the fourth voyage of Columbus, because some of the many Indians "wore
gold earrings, having holes in their ears large enough to admit a hen's
egg" (loc. cit. p. 77).
256 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Topography
As in Nicaragua, all the chief centres of population
are crowded together in the volcanic district on the
Pacific slope. Here is the present capital, San Jos4, by
far the largest place in the republic. It occupies a
convenient position 3750 feet above the sea on the
central plateau, and is the seat of a university, an
observatory, and a national museum. San Jose has been
the capital only since the declaration of independence,
when the administration was removed from the neigh-
bouring city of Cartago, which had been the seat of
government throughout the colonial period. The change
was made because Cartago had been founded in 1564 by
Vasquez de Coronado in dangerous proximity to Irazu,
and had been nearly ruined by an eruption of that
volcano in 1723.
Both cities are now railway stations on the trans-
continental trunk line, which in 1909 had a total
length of nearly 300 miles, and is now extended to
connect the capital with the Atlantic and the Pacific
seaports. There are also various branch lines affording
communication with several inland towns, and the system
is being developed so as to stimulate the banana, coffee,
and other cultures. It already extends both to the port
of Puntarenas on the Pacific and to Puerto Limon on the
Atlantic, and has also been carried from Limon for nearly
200 miles to Alajuela, the " Jewel," west of San Jose,
and from Puntarenas to Psparza {Esparto), leaving only
a small section between these two points to complete
the system. The little headland on which Limon is
situated is fringed by a coral reef, on which at low water
the polyps putrefy and cause typhoid fevers, while the
swamps behind the town are fertile sources of malaria.
COSTA RICA 257
But the health of the place has lately been improved by
harbour works, and it might be made a first-class port
by running a breakwater 3360 feet long to the wooded
islet of Uvita.
History — Government — Finance
As above stated, Costa Pica has enjoyed more peaceful
times during the period of independence than any of the
sister republics. It joined the Central American Con-
federation in 1823 and withdrew in 1840, after which
the chief event was its alliance with the other States for
the expulsion of General Walker and his American
filibusters from Nicaragua. There have also been frontier
disputes which, however, have been either peacefully
settled, or made the subject of arbitration. The chief
internal troubles have been associated with the framing
of various constitutions leading to the deposition of
presidents or the declaration of dictatorships, but gener-
ally with little or no bloodshed. Thus, President
Kodriguez proclaimed himself dictator in 1892, and was
satisfied with the arrest of his opponents. An attempt
was also made in 1894 to assassinate President Iglesias,
which led to the arrest of the anarchist Arava and a
number of his accomplices.
The present Constitution dates only from 1870,
and has since been frequently modified. It vests the
legislative functions in a single Chamber of representa-
tives chosen by electoral bodies in the proportion of one
for every 8000 inhabitants, and returned for four years,
one -half retiring every two years. The executive is
entrusted to a President elected in the same way also for
four years, and aided by four ministers for the departments
of the Interior, Foreign Affairs, Finance, and War.
s
258 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Although Roman Catholicism is still the State religion
all others enjoy absolute freedom. Education is also free
and compulsory, and in 1908 the 358 primary schools
had an average attendance of 21,900 pupils. In the
same year the revenue amounted to £701,000 and the
expenditure to £683,000. But the country is burdened
with a heavy foreign debt, which in 1909 stood at
£2,095,000, with arrears of interest, £1,050,000.
Arrangements, however, have been made for its reduction
and for paying off arrears of interest. It should also be
stated that this debt arises out of loans of £3,400,000
which were contracted in 1871 in London for the purpose
of building the inter-oceanic railway, for which the State
never received more than £1,000,000.
CHAPTEE XIV
THE PANAMA REPUBLIC
Extent — Area — Population — Physical Features — Ranges and Passes —
Rivers — The Rios Chagres and Bayano — Atlantic and Pacific Tidal
Waves — Climate — Rainfall — Flora — Fauna — Inhabitants — Yeraguas
and Chiriquis — Topography — Panama Railway and Ship-Canal.
Extent — Area — Population
This new Central American State, detached in 1903
from Colombia as an independent republic, is the last of
the long line of isthmian formations which form so many
links in the chain by which the northern and southern
Continents have been connected since Tertiary times.
At the Costa Eican frontier it trends round from south-
east to east, and maintains this normal direction through
a series of rhythmical curves for over 400 miles to the
Atrato Valley, which, jointly with that of the San
Juan, forms the true parting line between Central and
South America (see vol. i. South America, ch. i.). By
the Panama - Colombian Treaty of January 1909, the
boundary towards Colombia runs from Cape Tibaron on
the Atlantic to the head of the Eio de la Miel, and then
follows the Cordillera by the Cerro de Gandi to the
Sierras Chugargun and Mali and the Cerros de Nigue to
the Altos de Espave, and thence to the Pacific by a not
yet determined line.
260 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Physical Features — Ranges and Passes
Through the Cordillera de Chiriqui the Costa Eican
orographic system passes into Panama, which it traverses
in its entire length to the Gulf of Darien under various
sectional names, such as the Cordilleras of Veragua and
San Bias. These cordilleras do not form a continuous
mountain range, but rather a number of loosely con-
nected ridges, spurs, and offshoots, which decrease
generally in altitude in the direction of the east, and
are here and there crossed by historical passes which
fall below 300 feet, and are the lowest that occur any-
where in the isthmian lands, or in fact anywhere between
the Atlantic and the Pacific.
It seems obvious that here also the two oceans
formerly communicated through several channels, and
that Panama, like other parts of Central America,
constituted an insular chain, which has since been
merged in continuous land partly by volcanic, partly
by meteoric agencies. This may be even inferred from
the geological constitution of the uplands, which consist
in the west of comparatively recent eruptive rocks, and
elsewhere largely of granites, gneiss, dolerites, trachytes,
and crystalline schists.
In the extreme west, where the Panama highlands
attain their greatest elevation, the Central American
igneous system is continued by three apparently extinct
volcanoes — Pico Blanco (11,740 feet), Bovalo (7020),
and Chiriqui (11,265), which maintain the alignment of
the Costa Eican cones. Even here the range is crossed
by two passes east of Chiriqui, which fall to 3600 and
4000 feet. Beyond them the Cordillera again rises to
a mean height of 8000 feet, and here runs much nearer
to the Atlantic than to the Pacific coast. But in the
PANAMA 261
Veragua section the highest peak — Mount Santiago —
falls to about 6300 feet, while few others exceed 4000
feet. "West of Veragua the system becomes fragmentary,
and, so to say, dislocated, culminating in Mount Cajpira
(5000 feet), on Panama Bay, and then falling to 700 in
the AJioga-Yeguas hills, which are crossed by a pass
only 380 feet high, followed by the still lower Culebra
Pass (290 feet), where the isthmus itself contracts to a
little over 34 miles in a bee line from sea to sea. In
the San Bias section, with a mean altitude of less than
2000 feet, the highest peak scarcely exceeds 3000 feet,
and here the isthmus narrows to about 18 miles between
San Bias Bay on the Atlantic and the head of the tide
waters in the Ptio Bayano on the Pacific side.
Rivers — The Rios Chagres and Bayano
Several of the isthmian streams descending from the
central uplands have a somewhat lengthy course, their
lower valleys being disposed parallel with the coast.
But their basins are too narrow to send down any great
volume except during the floods. Thus none are navi-
gable beyond their estuaries, being too shallow in the dry
season, and too impetuous during the heavy rains, when
they often rise suddenly 20, 30, or even 40 feet above
their normal level, and sweep with tremendous force and
velocity down to the coast.
Such is the regime of the Rio Chagres, which has its
source in the centre of the isthmus, and has hitherto
proved one of the most formidable obstacles that the
constructors of the Panama ship-canal have had to
contend with. After its junction at Matachin with its
chief tributary, the Obispo, descending from the Culebra
uplands, it flows directly to the north coast near Colon
262 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
(Aspinwall), where the entrance is obstructed by a bar
with an average depth of about 10 feet. In ordinary-
years its level ranges from 14 to 40 feet with the
seasons ; but unusually heavy rains may at times cause
an absolute rise of as much as 40 feet, with a discharge
of from 65,000 to 70,000 cubic feet per second. The
difficulty of controlling such a volume rushing at tremend-
ous speed down a narrow valley seemed insurmountable,
until the American contractors of the Panama Canal
took the matter in hand, and in 1909 reduced the wild
Chagres torrent to complete control. Even the railway
bridges of the interoceanic line running from Aspinwall
to Panama were occasionally submerged, and immense
damage done to the works on the Atlantic section of the
canal.
On the Pacific side the Rio Bayano presents fewer
obstacles, because the western slopes are drier. But the
bar at the entrance to its broad estuary is only two or
three feet deep at low water, while the bay itself shoals
so gently that large vessels have to ride at anchor four
or five miles off the coast.
Atlantic and Pacific Tidal Waves
But account has also to be taken of the tides, which
vary considerably with the seasons, and are, moreover,
much higher at Panama than at Aspinwall. In Colon
Bay the difference between ebb and flow seldom exceeds
12 or 14 inches, and is often scarcely perceptible for
days together, whereas in Panama Bay it is as much
as 8 feet in the early summer (May and June), when it
is least felt, and rises to 20 or even 23 feet in winter,
the average for the year being 13 or 14 feet, that is, as
PANAMA 263
many feet as inches on the opposite side. The conse-
quence is that, in an open canal without locks, no
equilibrium could be established, the current constantly
shifting with the alternating tidal currents.
Climate — Rainfall
The Carribean sea- board, swept by the warm waters
of the Gulf Stream, and exposed to the moisture-bearing
Atlantic winds, is both hotter and wetter than the
Pacific slopes. But even here the normal temperature
and rainfall are high enough to justify the evil repute
in which the whole isthmus is held as one of the most
unhealthy regions in tropical America. Throughout the
year the glass seldom falls anywhere much below 70° F.,
but often rises considerably above 100°, the average being
about 84° at Aspinwall and 80° or a little under at
Panama. Id the late summer and autumn months, when
the nortes are replaced by the vendavales, or south-eastern
trade winds, the Atlantic coast-lands are occasionally
visited by terrific cyclones, such as that of October
1865, which wrought destruction amongst the shipping
at Aspinwall, and was felt as far north as Cape Gracias
a Dios. Thanks to these monsoons the annual rainfall
often exceeds 120 inches on the Atlantic side, or about
double the discharge on the Pacific coast. But malarious
affections are everywhere prevalent and yellow fever a
frequent visitor, so that Panama still remains the
Sepultura de Vivos, the " Living Grave " of Europeans,
as it was named by the first Spanish settlers. The
mortality of the hands engaged on the railway and canal
works — mostly mulatoes from Jamaica or Columbian
half-breeds — has often exceeded 100 per 1000, even
according to the official returns, which tend rather to
minimise than exaggerate the risks.
264
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Flora — Fauna
To the high temperature and precipitation corresponds
a tropical vegetation of amazing exuberance and variety,
especially in the southern districts, where the Central
CHRYSOTHRIX.
and South American forms are intermingled. Even the
rocky headlands are clothed with verdure to their
summits, while the running waters disappear beneath
a dense tangle of overhanging branches, trailing or
climbing parasites, stems, snags, and matted foliage.
Soon after leaving the Atlantic terminus, travellers by
PANAMA 265
the interoceanic railway find themselves surrounded by
scenes of tropical splendour, such as can scarcely be
surpassed even in the Brazilian woodlands. Cacao
shrubs, palms, bananas, and bread-fruit trees stretch
their branches and foliage out on both sides, while the
saturated soil is covered by a luxuriant growth of
water-plants of the most varied colours. The air also
is alive with birds of gorgeous plumage, — tanagers,
toucans, humming-birds, and euphonias {Euphonia musica),
the songs of many being varied by the discordant chatter
of the monkeys springing wildly from branch to branch,
and by the screaming of noisy parrots. Amongst the
few indigenous forms is the Chrysothrix, a species of
monkey which is confined to the Chiriqui district and
will not live elsewhere. Most of the other mammals
and other animals — tapirs, peccaries, pumas, jaguars,
alligators, ant-eaters, climbing porcupines, iguanas, deer,
vampires — are common to all the surrounding lands.
On the other hand, the Atlantic and Pacific marine
shells, despite former interoceanic communications,
present specific differences, while all belong to the same
genera. The inference is that the channels must have
been closed in times sufficiently remote to allow for the
development of specific local forms. This remark applies
equally to the marine molluscs throughout the whole of
the oceanic waters as far north as the Gulf of California
and Mexico, so that Central America would appear to
have formed continuous land with the northern and
southern continents probably since the Miocene or
Middle Tertiary period.
As on the neighbouring Sierra de Santa Marta.
butterflies abound, and at times rise on the slopes of the
mountains in dense clouds, darkening the sunshine. To
them the whole region possibly owes its name. Crevaux
266 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AND TEAVEL
tells us that one of the rapids on the Paru river in
French Guiana is called Panama, that is, " butterfly,"
by the Bucuyennes, who are of Carib stock. To the
same family appear to have also belonged the now
extinct Dariens, who formerly dwelt on the north-west
side of the isthmus, about the large inlet from them
named the Gulf of Darien. Other Carib groups, some
still living, had in prehistoric times formed settlements
all along the sea-board as far north as Honduras, so that
an expressive word applied by them to this part of the
coast may very well have obtained currency and been
adopted by the early Spanish explorers.
Inhabitants — The Veraguas and Chiriquis
At present no group of Carib speech is known to
inhabit any part of the isthmus, although there are
traditions that some of the warlike tribes in the central
districts south of San Bias came originally from the
Goajira peninsula, which is still held by a powerful
Carib nation. In recent years they have nearly all
been absorbed in the general population — a mixture of
Indians, whites, and mulatoes, in which the coloured
element is most pronounced. It is due to the large
number of Jamaicans who were attracted to Panama by
the high rate of wages on the railway and canal works,
and many of whom afterwards settled in the country.
The movement, unless arrested, must eventually assimilate
the isthmus to those parts of the Antilles where the
African element predominates. In the eastern districts
most of the aborigines, such as the Dariens or Papaparos,
are extinct. But others, such as the Chocos, Queves,
and Tules, still survive and constitute the Cuna family,
whose affinities appear to be with the Chocos and Baudos
PANAMA 267
of the Atrato and San Juan valleys in Colombia proper
(see Table, Ch. III.)
On the other hand, the Veraguas and Chiriquis,
formerly dominant in the west, where they still form
the bulk of the population, have abandoned the tribal
system, with the associated usages and traditions, and
are scarcely now to be distinguished from other Hispano-
Americans of Spanish speech and culture. Nevertheless
they had in pre-Columbian times a culture of their own,
and thus formed a link in the chain of more or less
civilised nations which extended, with interruptions from
the Pueblos of Arizona, through Mexico and Central
America into Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia.
Like some of the neighbouring Costa Eicans (see
above), the Veraguas of the auriferous district named
from them were specially noted for their taste and
technical skill in the goldsmith's art. Throughout the
western section of the isthmus, between the Chiriqui
inlet and Panama Bay, occur numerous prehistorical
huacas (graves or barrows), which have yielded an
abundance of gold and other artistic objects that had
been deposited with the dead. Similar graves, some of
large size, extend as far as the Gulf of Nicoya, but the
objects found in them — obsidian, greenstone, and finely-
wrought jade tools and ornaments, knives, axes, armlets,
rings, figures of men and gods, etc. — have been ascribed
to Aztec influences, or even to the Aztecs themselves,
who are now known to have ranged from Nicaragua
into the adjacent parts of the present Costa Eica territory.
Some of the barrows visited by Colonel Church in the
district east of Guapiles are 100 feet long, 75 wide, and
1 ."> high. " They appeared to be filled with broken
statues of men, women, animals, and other objects
sculptured from volcanic rock. We cut the weeds and
268 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
exposed an immense statue, which must have been 10
feet high," besides " a fine, life-size specimen of the head
of an alligator and one of a puma" (loc. cit. p. 83).
But no mention is anywhere made of architectural
remains or of any monuments at all comparable to those
of the Mayas and Incas. In this respect the culture of
these Costa Eican and Panama peoples shows more
affinity with that of the Colombian Chibchas, who were
also famous jewellers and goldsmiths.
Topography — Panama Railway and Ship-Canal
In Panama the only important centres of population
are Colon or Aspinwall and the city of Panama, respective
Atlantic and Pacific termini of the long completed inter-
oceanic railway, and of the still unfinished ship-canal.
Neither of them has a harbour at all adequate even to
present requirements, and when the canal is carried
through, the approaches will have to be greatly im-
proved and extended. Although only 47 miles long,
the railway, constructed by an American company and
opened in 1855, already forms an indispensable link in
the intercommunications of the two hemispheres. It
reduces the distance from New York to Hong-Kong by
5000 miles (from 16,965 to 11,965 miles), and, allow-
ing for transhipment of freights, opens a direct route for
general traffic between Europe and the Pacific sea-board
of the New World. Hence the transit trade on this
cosmopolitan line is steadily increasing, and rose from
a little over 200,000 tons in 1894 to nearly 1,903,000
in 1908.
But the necessity of breaking bulk is a great draw-
back, and the railway was built, not as a substitute for
a ship-canal, but rather with the view of furthering that
PANAMA
269
project. It was felt that there will he abundance of
business for both, and that the success of the one must
necessarily re-act favourably on the prospects of the
other.
Nevertheless, owing partly to inherent difficulties, but
much more to gross mismanagement and misappropriation
of vast sums contributed by an over-confiding public, the
prospects of the canal were at first far from bright.
The French company, which was formed in 1881 under
the superintendence of M. de Lesseps, to construct a
navigable canal 46 miles long across the isthmus at its
narrowest part, mainly following the line of the railway,
had raised a capital of £31,000,000 by June 1886.
The works had already been commenced, but although
much money had disappeared comparatively little progress
was made. Hence the attempt made in 1888 to increase
270
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AXD TRAVEL
the capital by £24,000,000 met with little success.
Eeports of bribery aud corruption filled the air, struck
at high names, and became crystallised in the expression
" Panama Scandals." After an unsuccessful effort to
form a new company, the original corporation had to go
into liquidation, suspending both payments and operations
in 1889. In 1893 a further extension of the time
athi:dual.
limit was granted by the Colombian Government, with
a view to the formation of a new company, which came
into being in 1894, when the works were provisionally
resumed.
In November 1903 a treaty between the United
States and Panama provided facilities for the construction
and maintenance of the interoceanic canal, which had
become an American " asset " for the sum of £10,000,000
paid to the Panama Government. In this treaty America
PANAMA 271
acquires for ever the use of a zone 5 miles wide on both
sides of the canal with the exclusive control for police
and all other practical purposes. The cities of Panama
and Colon remain under the authority of the new State,
while the anchorage at Flamence Island and at Balboa
(now called Port Ancon) lies within the zone, as does
also the new port of Cristobal at the entrance of the
canal. Under the new arrangement 45,000 hands are
engaged on the works, which are being prosecuted vigor-
ously, and it is officially announced that this " biggest
job in the world" will be opened on January 1, 1915.
CHAPTEE XV
THE WEST INDIES : GENERAL SURVEY"
The American Mediterranean — The Greater Antilles — Orographic System
— The Bahamas — Coralline Formations — Communications between
the Inland and Oceanic Waters — The Lesser Antilles — Nomenclature
— " Windward " and " Leeward " — Inner and Outer Insular Chains
— Cyclonic Disturbances — Antillean Vegetation — Indigenous Fauna
— Mineral Resources.
The American Mediterranean
Including the secondary bays, bights, and other inlets
round its periphery, the American Mediterranean has a
total area estimated at 1,365,000 square miles, of which
615,000 are comprised in the Gulf of Mexico, and
750,000 in the Caribbean Sea. A careful study of the
marine bed, with its now partially or wholly submerged
mountain ranges, extensive plateaus, slopes, and banks,
here and there still almost flush with the surface,
plainly shows that these inland waters represent an area
of subsidence, parts of which formerly stood at some
considerable elevation above the sea, and probably along
its eastern border formed continuous land with the
northern and southern continents.
But of such a land connection nothing now remains
except a large number of insular masses, clusters, and
chains, which collectively describe a vast curve over
THE WEST INDIES: GENERAL SURVEY 273
1000 miles long from near the Peninsula of Yucatan
south-eastwards to the Gulf of Paria. From this point
the curve bends sharply round to the west along the
Venezuelan sea-board, where it terminates near the Goajira
Peninsula, making a total length of not less than 2000
miles. Including rocks, keys (cays or reefs), and raised
banks, the islands and islets must be reckoned by the
thousand, of which, however, scarcely fifty are inhabited.
These vary in size from five to 45,000 square miles,
and represent a total area of a little over 90,000
square miles, with a population of about 7,250,000
The Greater Antilles
To the whole system are indifferently applied the
terms West Indies and Antilles, and although the
former is erroneous and the latter of doubtful origin, both
are too firmly established to be now set aside. The
Antilles, again, are decomposed into two main sections —
Greater and Lesser Antilles — which are con-
venient expressions fully justified by the actual con-
ditions. The first section is, in fact, about ten times
larger than the second, the respective areas being
80,000 and 7500 square miles, and has nearly
three times the number of inhabitants (6,648,000 and
642,000 respectively). It comprises the four large
islands of Cuba, Jamaica Hispaniola, and Puerto
Eico, which are disposed in the normal direction from
west to east, rest on a common submarine bed, and
belong unquestionably to the same geological and
orographic systems.
Orographic System
In their general features these islands present the
aspect not so much of an insular as of a disrupted
274 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
continental domain, which at one time extended con-
tinuously for 1200 miles from the western extremity of
Cuba to the Virgin Islands, from which they are now
scarcely separated by a shallow, reef- studded passage,
and with which they were formerly connected by dry
land. This extensive and now partly submerged tract
was traversed in its entire length by an unbroken lofty
range, whose roots are embedded in the surrounding
marine waters, and whose crests still tower thousands
of feet above sea -level. Culminating in Hispaniola,
central member of the chain, with peaks nearly 12,000
feet high, the system maintains a considerable elevation
in its western section, where the uplands rise to heights
of 8000 and 7000 feet in Cuba and Jamaica, but fall
rapidly eastwards to less than 4000 feet in Puerto Eico,
and 1500 in St. Thomas, highest of the Virgin group.
In their diversified geological features the Greater
Antilles also reveal their continental character, and
justify the assumption that they were once connected
with the Central American mainland, through two now
submerged ridges, represented in the north by the
Little and Great Caymans and the Misteriosa Bank, and
in the south by the Pedro, Serranilla, Serrana, and other
cays. The uplands consist largely of late secondary
clays and conglomerates, which were later overlain in
shallow waters by calcareous marine sediments, and
then upheaved to constitute the white limestones which
are so widely diffused throughout all the islands.
Through these calcareous masses crop out crystalline
and plutonic rocks of the granite, porphyry, and basalt
types, all much older than the eruptive rocks of the
Lesser Antilles, and nowhere showing traces of craters or
any recent volcanic discharges. They also plunge to
prodigious depths below the surface of the neighbouring
THE WEST INDIES : GENERAL SURVEY 275
waters. Even the slopes of the relatively low Puerto
Eico heights descend on the north side to a depth of
24,000 feet in the Brownson Deep, giving a total
declivity of over five miles. In Hispaniola the absolute
incline approaches 30,000 — 12,000 above and 18,000
below the surface — while the Cuban Sierra, Sierra
Maestra, has a relief of 26,000 feet, measured from the
sea-bed to the highest summits above the sea. In fact,
the configuration of these ranges is the most precipitous
in the world, exceeding that of the Himalayas them-
selves, which would be comparable with them were their
bases rooted in marine waters to a depth of three to
five miles.
The Bahamas — Coralline Formations
North of the Greater Antilles a vast space is covered
by the low -lying Bahaman or Lucayan Archipelago,
which is sometimes grouped with the Lesser Antilles,
but really forms a world apart. As will be seen in a
later chapter, it consists exclusively of low coralline
reefs and islands, whose affinities are, not with any of
the Antilles, but rather with the neighbouring limestone
peninsula of Florida, largely a consolidated coralline
archipelago.
The statement that much of the dry land in other
tropical regions rests on foundations laid by the in-
dustrious polyps is borne out by the extent of the work
accomplished by them in the Bahama and neighbouring
waters. "The coral-builders are at work over a vast
range, which is estimated at one-fourth of the marine
surface of the region. To their incessant toil must be
largely attributed the formation of much of the
calcareous plateaux by which the Yucatan and Florida
straits are contracted on both sides, as well as of those
276 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TEAVEL
rocky ledges which are washed by high tides, and are
revealed only by sandy dunes, such as the Salt Key, or
by their fringe of mangroves, like some of the Florida
keys, and Anegada with its prolongation, the dreaded
Horse-shoe Reef, connecting it with the Virgin Islands.
More than half the Cuban sea-board, the various groups
of the Bahamas, the eastern members of the Lesser
Antilles, and the Bermudas, are largely of coralline
origin." l
Communications between the Inland and Oceanic
Waters
The Greater Antilles are so disposed that at their .
western extremity they nearly convert the Gulf of
Mexico into a closed basin, which is accessible only
through the Florida and Yucatan Channels. At the
same time they enclose the Caribbean Sea on the north
side, where it is accessible from the Atlantic, only
through three openings — Windward Channel between
Cuba and Hispaniola, Mona Channel between Hispaniola
and Puerto Rico, and Anegada Passage in the extreme
east between the Virgin Islands and the Lesser Antilles.
Of all these approaches from the North Atlantic to the
inland waters the three westermost are guarded by Cuba,
and it is to this fact that is due the paramount strate-
gical importance of this island, especially for the United
States, which obtained a lien on the land in 1898.
By the simultaneous acquisition of Puerto Rico the
same power secured the command of the eastern entrances
(Mona and Anegada) ; but these are strategically of less
importance, because on its east side the Caribbean Sea
is accessible from the Atlantic through several easy
1 R. T. Hill, Cuba and Porto Rico, 1898, p. 15.
THE WEST INDIES : GENERAL SURVEY 277
channels flowing between the long chain of the Lesser
Antilles.
The Lesser Antilles — Nomenclature — "Windward" and
" Leeward "
Towards the Atlantic this insular chain presents its
more abrupt escarpments, inclining more gently west-
wards to the inland seas. It is thus seen to stand on
the eastern verge of the old isthmian region, which is
now for the most part submerged beneath the waters of
the American Mediterranean. Here is developed between
Anegada Passage and Grenada a regular crescent, which
has its convex side facing the Atlantic, and is thus
exposed to the full fury of the easterly gales. Hence
all the members of the crescent, which is also comprised
under the designation of the Carihhee Islands, are
properly the Windward Isles, while those skirting the
Venezuelan coast, and sheltered by the outer curve, are
the Leeward. Isles.
But these expressions are not so used by English
writers, who call the northern half of the crescent from
the Virgins to Dominica the " Leeward," and the southern
from Martinique to Grenada the " Windward " Isles,
leaving the Venezuelan without any collective name.
Unfortunately for this misuse of the terms there is now
no remedy, because it is permanently established by
official usage. The great majority of the islands belong
to England, and form two administrative divisions —
the " Leeward " in the north, and the " Windward " in
the south. It may be noticed that the northern division
consists of a double chain, so that in a sense the members
of the inner chain — Santa Cruz, Saba, St. Eustatius,
St. Christopher, Montserrat, Nevis — are leeward in
278 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
respect of those of the outer chain — St. Thomas, St.
John, Anegada, Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Bartholomew,
Barbuda, Antigua, and to this arrangement may be due
a local use of the term " Leeward," which was afterwards
extended to both chains.
Outlying members of the Lesser Antilles, not usually
comprised under either designation, are Barbados to
seaward of St. Vincent, and Trinidad with Tobago,
belonging geologically to the Venezuelan mainland. To
the same formation belongs also the true Leeward
group — Margarita, Tortuga, Orchilla, Birds (Aves), Buen
Ayre, Curagao, and Oruba — for which the reader is
referred to the volume on South America, chap. iv.
Inner and Outer Insular Chains
Of the two chains in the northern division the inner
circle represents the original main range, while the outer
consists chiefly of secondary and dependent features, and
terminates abruptly at Marie Galante near Guadaloupe.
The inner circle, on the contrary, is continued with great
uniformity through the southern division to Grenada, its
true terminal point, and thus describes the segment of
a circle between Anegada and Trinidad as symmetrical
as if drawn with the compass. It constitutes an igneous
range, now mostly submerged, and of considerable age,
though still younger than the plutonic system of the
Great Antilles. The islands, rising precipitously above
the surface, and mostly clad to their summits, represent
the old volcanic cones, which attain a height of 5340
feet in Dominica, culminating point of the system.
Even the little Grenadines, which look like a cluster of
coralline reefs, extending from St. Vincent to Grenada,
are largely of igneous origin, and appear to represent the
THE WEST INDIES : GENERAL SURVEY 2*79
scattered fragments of a great volcano disrupted during
some tremendous outburst in late Tertiary times.
On the other hand, the outer circle represents an area,
not of subsidence, but of upheaval, being raised on the
submerged seaward slope of the inner chain. With the
exception of Antigua, which is partly igneous, all its
members are of marine origin, the work of the polyps,
consisting of coralline reefs below and of the prevailing-
white limestone above, but nowhere attaining a height of
more than 2000 feet. At first sight Barbados, lying to
the east of St. Vincent, might seem to form part of the
coralline outer chain ; but its formation is quite different,
and this easternmost of all the Antilles would appear to
form a seaward continuation through Trinidad and Tobago
of the Venezuelan mainland, with which it may have
been connected perhaps in Secondary times.
Cyclonic Disturbances
But all alike, having the same geographical position
relatively to the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic, have to
bear the brunt of the monsoons, which in these waters
occasionally assume the character of terrific cyclones.
They occur most frequently in August, September, and
October, and are distinguished from ordinary storms by
the wind blowing with the utmost violence successively
from all points of the compass, uprooting the strongest
trees, and at times destroying whole cities. On 2nd August
1837 some houses in St. Thomas were actually turned
completely upside down by one of these destructive hurri-
canes. A large, well-built house was on the same occasion
torn from its foundations and planted upright in the
middle of the street. The fort at the entrance of the
280 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
harbour was utterly demolished and its guns flung headlong
down to the sea. On 25th July 1825 a whirlwind burst
over Guadeloupe with such force that many strongly con-
structed houses were dashed to the ground, and tiles from
the roofs were hurled through thick doors into the ware-
houses.
On such occasions the sea is often lashed to a state of
the wildest frenzy. The waves, upheaved by sudden gusts
of wind from opposite directions, rush madly against each
other, the violence of the collision raising the billows
mountains high, and sending dense volumes of foam far
above the tallest masts ; the sea heaves and tosses as in
a seething cauldron, and the white-crested breakers cover
the bosom of the deep far and wide. The stoutest vessels
run imminent danger in the raging struggle of the
tumultuous waters — now suspended in mid-air on the
crests of the waves, now disappearing in the yawning
trough of the sea.
A sure forerunner of these natural convulsions in the
tropics is the rapid depression of the barometer. Like
the typhoons of the eastern seas, they are caused by the
sudden expansion of the heated and rarefied air. Over
the warm waters of the tropics, where they are bred, a
slight disturbance of the equilibrium of the atmosphere
may easily arise, influencing a vast extent of surface, and
causing the warm air charged with moisture to rise in
broad columns to the higher and cooler regions above.
The vapour thus borne aloft, while condensing into
clouds, imparts its heat to these upper currents, thereby
causing a further upward tendency. Under the ascend-
ing columns the atmospheric pressure is necessarily
diminished, and so arises the rarefied centre or vortex of
the cyclone, the inrushing air rotating with intense
rapidity round this central point, which does not remain
THE WEST INDIES : GENERAL SURVEY 281
stationary, but receives a progressive motion varying
considerably in velocity.
In the West Indies the average speed is from 15 to
over 20, but in higher latitudes from 28 to 34, and
often even 50 miles an hour. But even in the Antilles
the destructive hurricane of 7th August 1899 acquired
a phenomenal velocity of over 100 miles an hour. On
this occasion the island of Montserrat was completely
devastated, all the churches, estates, and villages being
ruined, and hundreds of the inhabitants killed, injured,
or rendered homeless. Great havoc was also caused in
the neighbouring island of Guadeloupe, where Le Mourle,
a place of 10,000 inhabitants, near Pointe a Pitre, was
half- demolished, and much damage done in the more
exposed islet of Marie Galante. On 18th October 1910
the island of Cuba was swept by a terrific cyclone, which
was said to have been the most disastrous in its storm-
tossed history. Property valued at many millions of
pounds was destroyed, the sugar and tobacco crops were
nearly ruined, and thousands of the peasantry were
rendered homeless. The losses at Havana exceeded
£200,000, and here a square mile of the residential
section was submerged, and the harbour strewn with
wreckage.
Antillean Vegetation
But in this exuberant insular world Nature soon
recovers herself. Despite the damage done by such out-
bursts, by the emancipation of the slaves, the clearance
of the forests, the impoverishment of the land, and the
competition of European beet-sugar growers aided by
State bounties, the agricultural resources of the Antilles
282 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TPvAVEL
are still far from exhausted, while they surpass those of
most other tropical regions in variety and excellence.
Here flourish the sugar-cane and coffee-berry of prime
quality, besides the cotton-shrub, cacao, tobacco, and other
plantation produce in endless diversity. Amongst the
more valued minor products, some of which are daily
acquiring greater importance in the markets of the world,
are pimento (Jamaica pepper, or allspice), vanilla, ginger,
cloves, cassia, jalap, arrowroot, ipecacuanha, sarsaparilla,
bananas, pine-apples, yams, batatas (sweet potatoes),
manioc (from which tapioca is prepared), rice, bread-
fruit, and coco-nuts.
Indigenous Fauna
The indigenous fauna is poor compared with that of
the neighbouring mainland, while most of the animals
are of different species, showing that the land connec-
tions have been severed from remote times. Nearly all
the orders most characteristic of South and Central
America are absent. There are no monkeys, no jaguars,
pumas, tiger-cats, wild dogs, or coyotes, and no edentata
(sloths, ant-eaters, and armadillos). A species of agouti
found in St. Vincent, St. Lucia, and Grenada, is the
largest native mammal. Besides these there exist only
bats, two species of insectivora totally unlike any found
in North and South America, and a few species of
rodents.
Of the 203 distinct kinds of birds 177 are peculiar
to the Antilles, but in general character they are allied
to tropical American forms, and comprise humming-birds,
parrots, trogons, tanagers, and chatterers. Snakes are
fairly numerous, while lizards occur everywhere in great
variety and abundance. Amongst the reptiles is the
THE WEST INDIES : GENERAL SURVEY 283
much -dreaded poisonous fer-de-lance, numerous in St.
Lucia and Martinique, and the Cribo (Coluber variabilis),
a large harmless snake which often attacks the fer-de-
lance, and in spite of his venom kills and eats him. The
iguana is found in the Greater Antilles, and, as in South
America, is eaten by the poorer inhabitants. Tree-frogs
are also abundant, but there is no representative of the
newt and salamander tribes (tailed Batrachians), of
which so many kinds occur in the not very distant
southern States of the American Union.
The Antillean waters teem with many varieties of
fish and turtles, while most of the islands are well
stocked with European domestic animals, and even with
rats and mice, and to these may possibly be due the ex-
termination of some of the smaller indigenous quadrupeds.
Deer and guinea-fowl have multiplied in Barbuda, where
they were introduced some years ago, and are now hunted
as wild game.
Mineral Resources
Minerals are absent from most of the smaller groups,
but are found in greater variety, if not in abundance, in
the Greater Antilles, and especially in Cuba, than is
commonly supposed. Here also asphaltum is widely
diffused both on the land and in the neighbouring waters.
"At and near Cardenas the deposits are found in the
bottom of the bay, and the method of securing it is
peculiar. A shaft 80 feet or more in depth below the
surface extends into the sea-bottom, and into this the
asphalt runs or filters. It is supposed that the supply
is brought from the interior through the subterranean
rivers which prevail in this locality — from which indeed
Cardenas gets its water-supply. Over this shaft the
ship is anchored ; from her deck a heavy bar of iron
284 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL
attached to a rope is dropped, and the asphalt is broken
from the sides of the shaft and falls to the bottom, where
it is scooped up into a net and loaded into the vessel.
As this work has been going on for years, and the asphalt
replenishes itself constantly, it is fair to suppose that the
run will go on for ever." l
Of metals strictly so called the most important are
iron, copper, gold, and manganese, all of which occur only
in the Greater Antilles. Coal also is confined mainly to
Puerto Kico and Hispaniola, being absent from Cuba and
Jamaica. This limited supply of mineral treasures may
be explained by the wide diffusion of the non-car-
boniferous white limestones of marine origin. They are
uplifted masses of coralline formation, in which there
could be no intrusion of metallic ores, except at a few
points exposed to volcanic agencies.
For the constituent elements and general relations of
the inhabitants of the Antilles the reader is referred to
Chapter II., and to the Appendix for a tabulated state-
ment of areas, populations, historical and other details of
the various insular groups.
1 R. P. Porter, Industrial Cuba, 1S99.
7ias a Di
C
r
r
CHAPTER XVI
THE AMERICAN ANTILLES : CUBA AND PUERTO RICO
A Change of Flags — ■ Cuba : Extent — Area — Population — Physical
Features — Fringing Reefs — Upheaved Beaches — The Eastern Up-
lands — The Sierra Maestra — The Western Heights and Central
Plains — Cuban Scenery — Rivers — Climate — Flora — Tobacco Planta-
tions — Sugar and Coffee Culture— Mineral Resources — Inhabitants —
The Aborigines — The Negroes — The Cubans— Topography. Puerto
Rico : Extent — Population — The Surrounding Waters— Brownson's
Deep — Configuration — General Relief — Flora — Fauna — Minerals —
Inhabitants — Aborigines — Negroes — Whites — Material and Social
Progress — Topography.
A Change of Flags
After her withdrawal from the mainland of the New
World in the first quarter of the nineteenth century,
Spain still retained possession of two West Indian islands
— Cuba, the largest, and Puerto Eico, the smallest of the
Greater Antilles. But these also had to be relinquished
as perhaps the most important issue of the Spanish-
American War of 1898. By the treaty signed by the
Peace Commissioners at Paris on 11th December of that
year, Puerto Eico was ceded absolutely, and Cuba con-
tingently, to the United States.
The agreement, as affecting the larger island, left
it in a condition of nominal independence, so long as it
was held in military occupation by American forces
pending final arrangements.
286 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Cuba : Extent— Area — Population
A definite understanding with the United States was
brought about by the Conventions of November 1900
and February 1901, when a constitution was adopted,
under which Cuba became a republic, with a President,
a Vice-President, a Senate, and a House of Eepresenta-
tives. Then the President of the United States was
authorised to make over the government of the island
to the Cuban people on their agreeing to make no
treaty with any foreign power endangering its independ-
ence, and grant to the United States the right of in-
tervention and the use of naval stations. The connec-
tion with the United States was made still closer by
the commercial convention of December 1903; and
the provisional government caused by an insurrection
in 1906 came to an end in January 1909, when
the new President assumed office with a Cabinet of
nine ministers.
The title of "Pearl" or "Queen of the Antilles,"
bestowed on Cuba by her former rulers, is in every respect
fully justified. This " fairest land the eye had ever
seen," as she was described by her discoverer Columbus,
presents the outlines of a hugh hammer-headed shark
with its mouth turned towards Hispaniola, and stretch-
ing east by south for a distance of about 730 miles
between the Yucatan and Windward Channels, 130 and
60 miles broad respectively. But the average breadth
scarcely exceeds 50 miles, so that the total area, includ-
ing the adjacent Isle of Pines, falls a little below 45,000
square miles, which, however, is about exactly one-half
of the collective area of the whole of the Antilles
(90,000 to 91,000 square miles). But the population,
THE AMERICAN ANTILLES: CUBA AND PUERTO RICO 287
which should proportionately be about 2,800,000, barely
exceeds 2,000,000 according to the census of 1907, and
is largely concentrated in the western districts. As
under the Spanish rule, Cuba is divided for administrative
purposes into three provinces and six divisions, with
areas and populations in 1907 as under : —
Area
Provinces.
Divisions.
in sq.
miles.
Pop.
Chief Towns.
Pop.
Pinar del Rio .
5,500
240,372
Pinar del Rio .
30,000
Havana .
3,200
538,010
Havana .
297,000
West
Matanzas
3,100
239,812
Matanzas .
36,000
Sta Clara
8,400
457,431
Sta Clara.
24,000
Central .
Puerto Principe
12,300
118,269
Puerto Principe
29,000
East
Santiago .
Total .
13,370
455,086
2,048,980
Santiago .
46,000
45,870
Physical Features— Fringing Reefs— Upheaved Beaches
In its general relief Cuba may be described as hilly,
with moderately elevated ridges, fertile slopes, and valley
in the west; more open, with broad, gently inclined
plains, broken here and there by low forest-clad hills in
the centre; and distinctly mountainous in the east.
On both sides the rock-bound coasts are indented by
numerous deep inlets, which, being usually bottle-shaped
with narrow necks, form excellent harbours. In this
respect Cuba is more favoured by nature than most
other insular regions, and presents a striking contrast
especially to the monotonous sea-board encircling the
Gulf and Caribbean Sea. But the approaches are often
obstructed by long chains and clusters of keys or fringing
coral reefs, which range from one or two acres to 140 square
miles in extent, and of which as many as 570 have
been enumerated' on the north, and 730 on the south
side. Romano, the largest, lies a little west of Puerto
288 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TPvAVEL
Principe, while the opposite coast is skirted for miles by
the so-called Laberinto de doce leguas, the " Twelve
League Maze," which runs from Santa Cruz in the
direction of the Isle of Pines, the only important insular
dependency with an area of 1214 square miles.
The coast, which has a total length of 2000, and
including all the islets and inlets, of nearly 7000 miles,
is extremely rugged and precipitous in the east, where
are developed a series of terraced formations rising to a
height of over 600 feet, and representing so many suc-
cessive stages in the gradual upheaval of the land above
the surrounding waters.
The Eastern Uplands — The Sierra Maestra
Above and between the terraces runs the Sierra
Maestra — that is, the main eastern range, which east of
Santiago is known as the Sierra del Cobre. Here La
Gran Piedra towers to a height of 5200 feet, while the
whole system culminates close to the coast in the pre-
cipitous Pico del Turquino, with an estimated altitude of
8600 feet. All these eastern uplands, consisting of
Secondary and early Tertiary shales and conglomerates,
with intrusive eruptive matter and white limestone
incrustations on the seaward terraces, are thickly wooded
to their summits, plants of the cactus type on the lower
and drier slopes being succeeded in the moist upper
regions by wide bands of graceful tree-ferns.
The "Western Heights and Central Plains
In the extreme west the province of Pinar del Eio
is traversed by the Sierra de los Organos, the " Organ
Eange," which culminates in the Pan de Guajaibo (2530
feet) west of Havana. Here the formations are mainly
THE AMERICAN ANTILLES: CUBA AND PUERTO RICO 280
Triassic, Jurassic, and early Tertiary, their crests clad with
the pine (P. cubensis), while the slopes and flanking
southern valleys are covered with the world-famed Vueiio
Ahajo tobacco plantations.
On the more open central plains, between the eastern
and western mountain systems, sugar takes the place ol
tobacco, while almost all tropical products flourish in
the rich and well -watered northern and southern de-
clivities. Here the water-parting between the streams
flowing north to the Atlantic and south to the Caribbean
Sea is not continuous, but may be traced through a
series of low, disconnected wooded hills — eastern off-
shoots of the Organos range — which traverse the plains
of Havana, Santa Clara, and Puerto Principe, and are
probably the weathered and eroded remains of the
central section of the mountain range which formerly
intersected the island in its entire length.
These low, flat foldings, which approach the north
coast between Havana and Matanzas, combine with the
highly cultivated level plains and running waters to
produce some of the most delightful scenic effects in the
world. They have also served other purposes, and
during the revolts against the Spanish rule often afforded
safe retreats to the insurgents. It was from this base
that they were able so frequently to harass the less mobile
regular forces, and extend their incursions to the outskirts
of the capital and the other large coast towns. The
Tetas de Managua, the Pan de Matanzas, and numerous
other wooded heights of the central plains, have played
the same part in Cuban warfare that the " kopjes " have
in South Africa.
Cuban Scenery-
It is in the provinces of Matanzas and Santa Clara
that Cuba's most charming valleys are encountered
U
290
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
One of the most attractive features, the Mecca of every
tourist, is the peculiar circular basin west of Matanzas,
known as the valley of the Yumuri. This comparatively
level depression is some five or six miles in diameter,
Underwood Photo.
YUMUBI VALLEY, CUBA.
and dotted with picturesque estates and long avenues of
royal palms. Through its centre winds the beautiful
Yumuri river, which finds an outlet at Matanzas through
the vertical walls of a picturesque canyon. It is enclosed
on all sides by steeply sloping walls rising some 500 or
THE AMERICAN ANTILLES: CUBA AND PUERTO RICO 291
600 feet to the level of a plateau, out of which the
valley has been carved. It has been truly said that it
is impossible to describe the charms of this " Happy
Valley," so rich is its vegetation, and so delightfully is
it watered by the Yufnuri and tributary streams ; so
delicious even on the hottest summer days is its
atmosphere, tempered by the Atlantic breezes.
Rivers
Besides the Yumuri, Cuba is watered by numerous
other streams, which generally flow through deep lime-
stone canyons in independent channels to both coasts.
But the catchment basins are narrow, and although some
send down a considerable volume of opalescent water,
scarcely auy are navigable even for small river craft
more than a few miles above their mouths. The largest
is the Cauto, which winds for about 150 miles through
the great plain to which it gives its name, and reaches
the coast at the head of the inlet formed by the Cape
Cruz promontory. It is accessible to boats for a distance
of about 90 miles, but shallow bars have been formed at
its mouth.
Several of the southern rivers fail to reach the sea
directly, but run out in extensive cienagas or morasses,
such as that of Zapata, which has an area of 600 square
miles, and extends for a space of 60 miles between the
Broa and Cochinos inlets. Others disappear in large
limestone caves, and flow for miles in underground
channels, so that, as in Yucatan and other limestone
regions, a great part of the drainage is subterranean.
There are no extensive lacustrine basins, the largest
being Lake Ariguanabo, which has an area of scarcely
six square miles, and is drained by the Rio San Antonio,
292 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
which disappears beneath a large ceiba-tree some 20
miles south of Havana.
Climate
Despite its low latitude (23°-20° K) and the warm
waters of the encircling Gulf Stream, Cuba enjoys a
remarkably salubrious and equable climate, the high
mortality of the large towns before the American occupa-
tion being due, not to the tropical heats, but to their
wretched sanitary condition. The vigorous measures
taken to cleanse these " Augean stables " have already
effected a marked improvement in the general sanitation,
and are rapidly mitigating the virulence of the fevers
hitherto endemic in the capital and other coast towns.
That the island is quite suited for European settlement
is amply proved by the robust constitution and fecundity
of its Creole inhabitants, who are all of pure Spanish
descent.
From the few meteorological observations that have
been taken at Havana and elsewhere it appears that the
normal temperature both on the sea-board, and especially
in the interior, is considerably lower, and is confined to
much narrower extremes than in the higher latitudes of
the North American Union. At Havana the glass
fluctuates in summer between 76° and 82° F., the
highest record for ten years being 100°, or four degrees
less than at Washington. In winter the range lies
between 50° and 78°, the average for the whole year
being about 76° or 77° on the north coast, and 80° at
Santiago on the south side. In the interior it is con-
siderably lower, falling to 73° or 74° even at slight
elevations of 200 or 300 feet above sea-level, and to 70°
or less on the uplands. Altogether the winter climate
THE AMERICAN ANTILLES : CUBA AND PUERTO EICO 293
is delightful — in fact, almost ideal, and the summer
much less oppressive than in most parts of the United
States.
The prevailing winds are the cool nortes (" northers ")
from November to February, and the easterly trades
during the rest of the year. These occasionally acquire
the force of hurricanes, as in 1846, when over 300
vessels were wrecked and nearly 2000 houses levelled in
Havana, and in 1896, when the banana groves were
destroyed in the eastern districts. With the easterly
monsoons also comes most of the moisture, so that in the
wet season from May to October the rainfall exceeds 32
inches at Havana, but is less than 20 during the com-
paratively dry winter months from November to April.
Snow is almost an unknown phenomenon, although on
the uplands thin films of ice are occasionally formed
during the prevalence of the nortes.
Flora — Tobacco Plantations
Characteristic of the Cuban flora is the great variety
and abundance of the palm family. Conspicuous amongst
the twenty-six species is the Guperb royal palm (Oreodoxa
regia), which is met everywhere, and is both ornamental
and of great economic value. Like some of the allied
Brazilian forms, every part of it is turned to some useful
purpose. The roots are medicinal, the close-grained
stem is serviceable for planks and boards, the buds of the
central spires are edible, while the fibrous leaves make
water-tight pails and even cooking vessels. In strange
contrast with the cactus growths of the arid eastern
slopes are the extensive pine forests, which lend a
northern aspect to the western districts, and range into
204
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
the neighbouring insular dependency, from them named
the " Isle of Pines."
When we consider the great quantities of sugar and
tobacco extracted from the soil in peaceful times, it
seems surprising to read that at no period much more
than 4500 square miles, or about one-tenth of the total
CUBAN FARMER USINli STICK PLOUGH.
area, has ever been under cultivation. Upwards of 3000
square miles are still entirely unreclaimed, 2000 are
covered with forests, and many of the upland valleys,
mountain slopes, and swampy coast-lands must always
remain unproductive, while extensive tracts in the
interior have not yet been surveyed.
The " vegas," or tobacco plantations, are grouped
THE AMERICAN ANTILLES : CUBA AND PUERTO RICO 295
chiefly in the Vuelto Abajo, south of the Sierra de los
Organos, where the best qualities are grown on the
extensive level plain watered by the Rio Cuyaguatejo.
The plots are generally of small size, and about half the
space is planted with banana -trees, which give good
returns, and at the same time afford a grateful shade to
the tobacco plant. The upper leaves are always the
most choice, being of a uniform dark brown colour, free
from spots, and burning freely with a brown or whitish
ash, which will adhere to the cigar till it is half
consumed.
The cigar itself is an invention of the Cuban
aborigines, and was by them called tabacos, a term after-
wards extended to the herb itself, the true name of which
is cohiba. Hence the expression " Fabrica de tabacos "
on the Havana cigar boxes really means, not " tobacco
manufactory," but " cigar manufactory." Of these there
are over a hundred in Havana alone, some employing as
many as 600 hands, and turning out from twelve to
sixteen million cigars in a single year. In 1908
203,000,000 cigars, besides 22,000,000 pounds of leaf,
were exported, the leaf being in bales of 110 pounds,
worth on an average about £4 per bale, while the very
finest qualities have brought as much as £80 per bale.
Even in 1896, while civil strife was raging, the exports
were 186,000,000 cigars, 48,000,000 packets of
cigarettes, and 16,823,000 pounds of leaf. But these
figures have now merely an historic interest, and will
probably be dwarfed under a settled and more enlightened
administration.
Sugar and Coffee Culture
In 1897 the sugar industry, by far the most important
in ordinary times, was nearly ruined by incendiarism,
296 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
and the crop, which in 1894 had exceeded 1,000,000
tons, fell to a little over 212,000 tons. In 1907 the
production had again risen to 1,440,000 tons. It is
noteworthy that in normal times the Cuban growers
have been able to compete successfully with the European
bounty-fed beet-sugar, which has paralysed the industry
in so many other West Indian islands. This is due partly
to the excellent quality of the cane, and the more favour-
able properties of the soil, but largely also to the energy
and intelligence of the Cuban planters, who have intro-
duced the very best crushing machinery, and taken other
wise measures to grapple with the problem. The Cuban
Creoles, it must always be remembered, are thoroughly
acclimatised whites, while the immense majority of the
people in most of the other islands are either full-blooded
Negroes or Mulatoes reverting to the Negro type.
The cafetelas, or " coffee plantations," were formerly
the most extensive in the island, but have long been
superseded by sugar culture. On the few that still
remain the owners also raise other produce, such as pisang
(plantains), bananas, rice, cacao, and all manner of fruits,
such as coco-nuts, oranges, citrons, and pine-apples.
Agriculture and stock-breeding have also acquired some
development, and in 1907 the live-stock comprised
2,540,000 horned cattle, 85,000 sheep, 580,000 pigs,
and 436,000 horses and mules.
Mineral Resources — Fauna
Although not comparable to those of the mainland,
the mineral stores of the island are far from inconsider-
able. They occur chiefly in the eastern district of
Santiago, where 296 mining titles were issued in 1891,
including manganese, copper, coal, asphalt, and iron.
About 500,000 tons of rich iron ores were annually
THE AMERICAN ANTILLES: CUBA AND PUERTO RICO 297
shipped to the United States before the occupation, and
the output appears to have since greatly increased.
Very productive manganese beds are worked near Ponupo
in the Sierra Maestra, and have yielded as much as 200
tons per day.
Copper is widely disseminated, and the Cobre mines,
about 30 miles north of Santiago, were at one time the
greatest copper producers in the world. Here mining
operations were carried on from 1524 to 1867, and the
old shafts may still be seen descending to a depth of 700
feet^
Striking features of the local fauna are the absence
of all venomous snakes and the abundance of bats, of
which about twenty genera are represented in the Greater
Antilles.
Inhabitants— The Aborigines— The Negroes
At the time of the discovery Cuba is known to have
been fairly well peopled by thirty distinct tribes, whose
names and territories have been carefully preserved by
the early writers. The Cibunys, as they were collectively
called, were, like the Lucayans of the neighbouring
Bahama Archipelago, a branch of the widely-diffused
Arawak race. They occupied the whole island except a
small tract at its western extremity, which was held by
the fierce Guanahacabibes of Carib stock and speech. But
all alike, estimated at about one million, had disappeared
long before the close of the sixteenth century, victims of
the dire oppression and cruelty of the first European
planters. When all were gone they had to be replaced
by other aborigines brought by the slave raiders from
the surrounding mainlands and islands.
These in their turn were supplanted by West African
298 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TKAVEL
Negroes, who, being of more robust frames, and being
also reinforced by a continued stream of fresh arrivals
during the black period of the inter-continental slave
trade, have persisted, and now constitute a main section
of the population. In 1908 the coloured element —
full -blood Africans, and various transitional shades —
was estimated at 700,000, all the rest (1,300,000) being
whites, with a few Asiatics (Chinese).
The Cubans
Except a small percentage of Spaniards by birth, who
are diminishing since the American occupation, nearly all
the whites are of tolerably pure Spanish descent. As
already stated, they are thoroughly acclimatised, and this
well-established fact is often appealed to as perhaps the
most convincing proof that, under favourable conditions,
Europeans can found families and perpetuate their race
in lands lying well within the tropics. Often spoken of
as " Creoles," a term which gives rise to much misunder-
standing, they call themselves Cubans in a pre-eminent
sense, and rightly consider that they represent the true
Cuban nationality of the future.
They will doubtless have to grapple with the black
problem, the solution of which will apparently not be
found, as in Brazil, in a gradual process of miscegenation.
Since the emancipation, the two elements, for reasons that
have been elsewhere explained (vol. i. South America,
chap, iii.), are no longer convergent, but divergent, each
tending to preserve or revert to its own physical type.
But, on the other hand, the Cuban vitality is too strong
to fear absorption, through political ties, in that of the
Anglo-American Union, especially where racial instincts
are further strengthened by different religions and
' THE AMERICAN ANTILLES : CUBA AND PUERTO RICO 299
languages, and by a somewhat isolated geographical
position. At the same time, the antagonistic relations
would necessarily become less acute were economic
developments to attract a large stream of American
settlers to this pleasant and naturally salubrious Antillean
island.
American observers are as a rule favourably impressed
by the social qualities, the brightness and intelligence of
the Cuban people, and more especially by the unaffected
courtesy and high moral tone of the Cuban women.
" The higher classes," writes Mr. Hill, " are gentlemen of
education and refinement. . . . The Cubans, under the
influence of these surroundings, have developed into a
gentle, industrious, and normally peaceable race, not to
be judged by the combativeness which they have de-
veloped under a tyranny such as has never been imposed
upon any other people. While the local customs, habits,
and religion of these people are entirely different from
ours, they have strong traits of civilised character, in-
cluding honesty, family attachment, hospitality, and
politeness of address. Even the peasantry have a kindli-
ness and courtesy of manner that might put to blush the
boorish manners of some of our own people. The Cuban
woman is a very fascinating creature. She is elegant,
walks gracefully, has pretty features, beautiful eyes and
hair, and fine teeth. Coquettish as a young girl, she is
generally both devoted and blameless as a wife and
mother" (pp. cit. p. 102).
Topography
Havana (Habana, or more fully San Cristobal tie la
Habana) lies on the north-west coast, not far from the
Florida Channel, on a level tongue of land, which
300
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
stretches eastwards from the bay, and leaves open a
navigable entrance 1400 yards long by 330 wide. On
a low hill to the left stand the forts of El Motto and
Cabanos, erected in 1589, and on the point of the tongue
to the right is the battery of La Punta. On the same
side of the magnificent bay the wharves, with their long
Underwood Photo.
lines of shipping, ex-
tend all the way from
the castle of La Fueza,
the oldest fort in the
place, to the Maria,
or Caballeria barracks.
On the opposite side
stands La Cam Blanca,
another fort with white walls, and farther on the
suburb of Rcgla, with its immense sugar warehouses
imposing structures, whose iron -plated roofs glitter
a long way off in the sunshine. The Caballeria,
which fronts the bay, is also provided witli an iron roof
supported by iron pillars running along its entire length,
THE AMERICAN ANTILLES : CUBA AND PUERTO RICO 301
and here the commercial world gathers every morning
for the transaction of general business.
In many respects Havana, with its 297,000 inhabit-
ants, resembles a large European city. It consists of
the old town in the east, and the new town in the west,
the extremely narrow and badly -paved streets of the
former being densely thronged, especially in the forenoon.
Here the Obispo and other leading thoroughfares are
lined with elegant shops, while the " west end " is
pervaded by a profound aristocratic stillness. In this
quarter are situated the most frequented promenades,
the finest private houses, magazines, caf^s, theatres, and
casinos. Here also is the Paseo de Isabel, a sort of
boulevard which crosses the city from end to end, is
flanked by fine mansions, and laid out with a double
row of spacious carriage-ways with magnificent fountains,
statues, and flower-beds. A continuation of this noble
thoroughfare is formed by the Paseo de Tagon, which is
laid out in the same way, and leads to the Botanical
Gardens and other public grounds.
Most of the houses are solidly built, rarely with more
than one storey, and usually with enormous windows,
which, instead of glazed sashes, are provided with bright-
painted open iron gratings. The number of hackney
coaches and private equipages is remarkable, the former
being still estimated at some thousands, despite the
competition of the lately introduced tramways. The
sefioritas generally drove about in their " volantes," open
carriages with wheels of great size but light build, and
immense shafts. The " calesero," or driver, sat like a
postillion on horseback, dressed in a bright red gold-
bespangled livery, while the trappings and silver-
mounted harness glitter gaily in the sun. But these
volantes have now disappeared, and as ladies are never
302 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
seen walking or shopping alone, Havana has been
described as a city without women, all noise and smells.
Since the advent of the Americans a great improvement
has already been effected in the last-mentioned respect,
and the two sexes have also begun to mingle more freely
together in public.
Amongst the public buildings, none of which are
remarkable for their architectural features, the most
notable are the Tacon Theatre, one of the largest in
the world ; the Cathedral of La Merced, where the
remains of Columbus were supposed to have rested
till recently removed to Spain ; the University, and the
large Jesuit College of Belen, now containing an obser-
vatory, museum, and library ; the Casa de Beneficencia,
founded by Las Casas, and several other asylums and
hospitals.
Some sixty miles east of Havana lies the busy sea-
port of Matanzas, which dates from 1693, and has long
been the chief outlet for the sugar plantations of the
fertile central districts. Unfortunately the large and
commodious harbour has been neglected, and is now so
filled with silt that large vessels have to load in the
roadstead. It is a fine, well-built city, said to be
naturally the healthiest in Cuba, and, thanks to the
sanitary measures introduced by the Americans, is now
free from yellow fever. Amongst the local industries are
sugar -refining, rum -distilling, railway works, and the
preparation of guava jelly. Between the years 1892 and
1908 sugar and molasses were shipped at this port to
the value of £49,000,000, chiefly for the United States.
Another important sugar-exporting place is Cardenas,
which is quite a new seaport, formed in 1828 on a spacious
bay under a long sheltering headland, and is connected by
rail with Matanzas, Havana, Santa Clara, and Cienfuegos,
HAVANA
JL
Rcuitvays
Tramways*
~rr
~PixrcUis 3jtb Exjenah
KZZ£
THE AMERICAN ANTILLES : CUBA AND PUERTO RICO 305
and by regular steamers with all the coast towns. But
although well laid out, and boasting of a relatively cool
climate, its only attractions are sugar and molasses.
The same remark applies to Sagua la Grande, which
lies on the river of like name, 25 miles from its mouth,
200 miles east of the capital. Sagua is the present
terminus in this direction of the Havana Coast Railway,
and also of another line which runs from this point
across the island to Cienfuegos on the south coast. Like
Cardenas, Cienfuegos is a new place founded in 1819
by some refugees from Hispaniola on a magnificent
landlocked inlet, six square leagues in extent, and justly
described as one of the finest havens in the world. This
flourishing little city of 30,000 souls is regarded as the
metropolis of Central Cuba, and has long been the chief
outlet for the sugar of the southern districts. In the
vicinity are some of the largest plantations in the world.
Trinidad, farther east, was settled by Diego Velasquez
in 1513, and is one of the earliest fortified towns in the
New World. Here was the scene of many a fierce
combat with the buccaneers, against whose sudden
attacks watch was kept from the crest of a neighbouring-
hill 900 feet high, in those unruly times familiarly
known as La Vigia, the " Lookout."
East of Trinidad follow several large inland towns, such
as Santa Clara, now called Villa Clara, Remedios, JEspt -
ranza, Puerto Principe, and Holguin. Puerto Principe,
locally called Camaguey, claims to be the chief centre of
population in the interior, and also the most patriotic
city in the island. Hence the term " Camagueynos "
has almost become synonymous with the very best and
most valiant of the Creole natives. Camaguey lies on a
plain about midway between the two coasts, and is con-
nected by rail with JVuevitas to the north-east.
x
306 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
On the south coast the only noteworthy places east
of Trinidad are Manzanillo, the outlet of the fertile
Cauto Valley, and Santiago de Cuba, capital of the eastern
section of the island, and second only to Havana in
strategic and political importance. Santiago was the
theatre of some memorable events during the Spanish-
American war of 1898. Hostilities were soon brought
to a close after its capture, following on the destruction
of the Spanish fleet after a desperate attempt to escape
from the harbour where it had been " bottled up " and
entrapped by the United States squadron.
The bay forming the harbour is a magnificent pouch-
shaped inlet six miles long, so completely land-locked
that its narrow neck is scarcely visible from the sea.
Little is seen by passing vessels except the straight
coast-line of lofty mountains forming, apparently, a
continuous rocky wall between Capes Maysi and Cruz.
But by means of a powerful glass a narrow rift may be
detected at a point about 100 miles west of the eastern
extremity of the island, and here is the deep channel,
less than 200 feet wide, that gives access to the bay.
The advantages of this admirable position did not escape
the eye of Diego Velascjuez, who, after founding the first
capital at Baracoa, removed the seat of government to
Santiago . in 1514. Morro Castle, often mentioned
during the siege operations of 1898, stands on the east
point of the entrance, where its ivy-clad ramparts and
crowning battlements present an attractive picture to the
artist, but have no terrors for modern battleships.
On a declivity six miles from the north-east head of
the bay stands the city of Santiago, which also produces
a pleasing effect at a distance, with its cpiaint Moorish
architecture, low red-roofed houses, spacious verandahs,
and gardens gay with a wealth of bright tropical flowers.
THE AMERICAN ANTILLES : CUBA AND PUERTO RICO
107
But in the interior there was more to repel than to
attract before the American occupation, followed by the
sanitary measures which have already effected a great
change for the better. Santiago is the chief centre of
Underwood Photo.
MORRO CASTLE, CUBA.
the mining interests, and also carries on a considerable
export trade in tobacco, cedar, mahogany, hides, wax,
and other raw materials. " In the future development
of Cuba, as in the past, it will always be of more or less
importance owing to its strategic position near the
308
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
Windward Passage. Under a stable government the
adjacent mountains will become the seat of extensive
coffee and fruit production" (Hill, op. cit. p. 130).
Baracoa, on the bay of like name facing the southern
Bahamas, dates from the year 1514, and is consequently
one of the oldest continuous settlements in Spanish
America. It was founded by Diego Columbus, son of
the discoverer, and visitors are still shown the ruins of
his house. Here also began the last revolt against
Spain in 1895, when Antonio Maceo landed at this place
with a handful of followers, and within a year made his
way across the whole length of the island, which was at
that time occupied by over 200,000 Spanish troops.
Puerto Rico : Extent — Population
Puerto Pdco, which was ceded in 1898 to the United
States by Spain without reservation (see above), is the
smallest, but relatively by far the most densely peopled,
of the Greater Antilles. With an area of only 3600
square miles, or scarcely one-twelfth that of Cuba, it had
an estimated population of 1,100,000 in 1906, that is,
proportionately, six times more than that of the larger
island. Under the Spanish rule this population was
distributed, in 1895, over the seven administrative
departments as under : —
Pop.
(1905).
32,000
35,000
20,000
55,000
17,000
20,000
38,000
)epartments.
Pop.
Chief Towns.
Bayamon
. 131,000
San Juan
Arecibo .
. 125,000
Arecibo .
Aguadilla
87,000
Aguadilla
Ponce
. 160,000
Ponce
Guayama
. 100,000
Guayama
Humacao
90,000
Humacao
Mayaguez
. 116,000
Mayaguez
THE AMERICAN ANTILLES: CUBA AND PUERTO. RICO 309
The Surrounding Waters — Brownson Deep
Puerto Eico lies about 1000 miles to the east of the
capital of Cuba, with which island it at one time formed
continuous land through Hispaniola. The partly sub-
merged bank, above which it rises to a mean altitude of
about 1600 feet, plunges on the north side into a
tremendous abyss where the plummet has measured
nearly 30,000 feet in the Brownson Deep. This was
long supposed to be the profoundest oceanic chasm, until
it was exceeded by several soundings in the Pacific, the
deepest of which were those discovered in 1900 by the
United States survey steamer Nero, which revealed
abysses of 5160 and 5200 fathoms — six miles all but
66 feet — both near the island of Guam, largest of the
Ladrones.
Configuration — General Belief
In striking contrast to the diversified contour-lines of
Hispaniola and Cuba, Puerto Pico presents the outlines
of a somewhat regular parallelogram extending 9 6 miles
west and east, with a mean breadth of 3 6 miles. Its four
sides face the four cardinal points, and are almost every-
where low and uniform, with no large inlets or prominent
headlands, and destitute of keys or fringing reefs.
The interior forms a moderately elevated plateau,
pleasantly diversified with an extraordinary number of
perennial streams and rivulets — as many as 1300 have
been enumerated — and traversed by several low wooded
sierras, which culminate, towards the east, in the Yunque
peak of the Sierra Luquillo.
Flora — Fauna
On their higher slopes these sierras are still clad with
remnants of the primeval forests which formerly covered
310 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL
the whole island, but are now mostly replaced by the
coffee shrub, sugar-caue, tobacco, and other plants of
economic value. Conspicuous amongst the forest growths
are a magnificent tillandsia with very large fragrant
flowers and silvery leaves ; the Cocoldba maerophyUa.
with enormous purple spikes over three feet long ;
several species of palms and tree-ferns ; a tall lobelia ;
ebony, cedars, and the non-odorous West Indian sandal-
wood. The indigenous flora also includes about thirty
medicinal plants, and many others yielding resins and
edible fruits, or else useful for dyeing, tanning, cabinet
work, and building purposes. Corresponding with the
character of the soil and the general distribution of
moisture — much more abundant on the uplands and
northern slopes than on the Caribbean sea-board — the
island presents two strongly - marked and contrasting
zones of vegetation. " One includes the whole of the
mountains and north coast, described as a region of great
humidity, high altitudes and stiff clay soils, where the
general growth consists of deciduous trees of many
species ; the other is the foothill country of the south
coast, a region of dry calcareous soils, seasonal aridity,
and low altitude, where the flora is largely of the type of
low, scrubby, thorny, leguminous, and acacia-like trees." *
On the other hand the indigenous fauna is very
poor, especially in mammals, which are represented only
by a solitary species of agouti. The island is also said
to be free from noxious reptiles and even insects, while
it abounds in birds and fresh-water fishes. But the
most characteristic animal is a h 
