CHAPTER VIII. POLITICAL DIVISIONS-DEPARTMENTS OF COMAYAGUA, GRACIAS, CHOLUTECA, TEGUCIGALPA, OLANCHO, YORO, AND STA. BARBARA. THE political divisions of Honduras are seven, viz. : the Departments of Gracias, Comayagua, Choluteca, Tegucigalpa, Olancho, Yoro, and Sta. Barbara. The subjoined table expresses the capital, area, and population of each, as also the aggregate area and population of the state: HONDURAS-CAPITAL, COMAYAGUA. Each department has a distinct representation in the general Congress of the state, and is governed by an officer appointed by the central government, who bears the title of Jefe Politico, or political chief. Each department is also subdivided into districts, for the convenience of the inhabitants and the better administration of justice. * The population in Yoro and Olancho is calculated exclusive of the Indian tribes; and the area of the unsettled country, comprising nearly the whole of the eastern and politically unorganized half of the state, is divided between these two departments. DEPARTMENT OF COMAYAGUA. Districts.-Comayagua, Lajamini, Yucusapa, Siguatepeque, Miambar, Aguanqueterique, Goascoran. Principal Towns.-Las Piedras, or Villa de la Paz, Villa de San Antonio, Opoteca, Espino, San Antonio del Norte, Goascoran, and Caridad. The Department of Comayagua, lying in the very centre of Honduras, and comprehending its capital, the ancient city of Comayagua, is entitled to the first place in a notice of the various departmental divisions of the state. Its distinguishing geographical feature is the plain of the same name, to which I have elsewhere adverted, and in which a great part of the population of the department is concentrated. The capital itself, the considerable towns of Las Piedras and San Antonio, and the smaller towns of Ajuterique, Lajamini, Yarumela, Cane, Tambla, Lamani, and Lo de Flores, are all found in this plain, embracing a population of not far from 25,000 souls. The city of Comayagua (anciently called Valladolid) is situated on the southern border of the plain. It was founded in 1540 by Alonzo Caceres, in obedience to instructions "to find out an eligible situation for a town midway between the oceans. It now contains between 7000 and 8000 inhabitants. Previous to 1827 it had about 18,000, and was embellished with fountains and monuments. In that year it was taken and burned by the monarchical faction of Guatemala, and has never been able wholly to recover from the shock. In the maps its position has been put too far to the eastward and southward. It is in lat. 14° 28' N., and long. 87° 39′ W., and in a right line, or within a few miles of a right line, drawn between the mouth of the I Ulua and that of the Goascoran. Its distance from the Bay of Fonseca is seventy miles, and it is, within a few miles more or less, midway between the two seas. Comayagua is the seat of a bishopric, and has a large, and, according to Spanish taste, an elegant Cathedral. It has also a University, founded many years ago, but which declined in consequence of the adverse political circumstances of the country, until it was revived in 1849, under the auspices of Dr. Don Juan Lindo, a man of enlightened spirit, then president of the state. The trade of the city is small. Hitherto the difficulty of communication with the coast has prevented it from gaining any commercial eminence. But when the incentives and means for developing the resources of the adjacent country shall be afforded, it must become a place of much importance. The plain, upon its eastern and western borders, is skirted by mountains five or six thousand feet high, and it consequently enjoys a climate cool, equal, and salubrious, comparing in respect of temperature with the Middle States of our Union in the month of June. The hills and mountains adjacent to the plain are covered with pines, and on their summit and slopes, wheat, potatoes, and other products of the temperate zones are cultivated, and may be produced in abundance. The productions of the plain, however, are essentially tropical. Its soil is extremely fertile. In short, the plain of Comayagua offers all the conditions for attracting and sustaining, as there is abundant evidence that it formerly sustained, a large and flourishing population. Indeed, hardly a step can be taken in any direction without encountering evidences of aboriginal occupation, and the names of the principal towns in the valley |