Subsequently to the independence, Don José de la Valle, and after him Don Alejandro Marure, devoted some attention to the study of the country under its physical aspects, and to the collection of facts illustrative of its resources and political condition; but, except a memoir on the proposed ship-canal of Nicaragua, and a brief chronological list of events in the history of Central America, we have nothing on these subjects from the pen of Marure, although it is said that, in common with Valle, he wrote largely upon them all. It only remains to mention the name of Don José Maria Cacho to complete the list of natives of Central America who have done any thing worthy of mention in the department here indicated. His brief notes on the Department of Gracias, in Honduras, possess a real value, and might serve as a model of similar researches to his countrymen.

What little illustration Central America has received has therefore been at the hands of foreigners; but their works have been, for the most part, rapid narrations of travel and adventure, shallow in observation, and inaccurate in their statements. Few of them have been written by persons competent by education, or accustomed by habit to close and accurate research. They are chiefly devoted to superficial views of society, and highly-colored accounts of political incidents and commotions, of which their authors failed to ascertain the origin not less than to detect the significance. From this, perhaps, too sweeping condemnation, I may except portions of the works of Thompson, Henderson, Young, Roberts, Dunn, Baily, and Crowe, which certainly contain many and valuable facts and observations.

Upon a review of the whole subject, I have thought that I might render the public a service in subjoining, in the Appendix to this work, a list of the various books and pamphlets bearing directly upon Central America as a whole, or upon its various parts, which have been published since the commencement of this century, and which have fallen under my observation. My object has been to make this list as complete as possible, without regard to the values of the various works themselves. It will be observed that the titles

follow each other in chronological order.

NOTES

ON

CENTRAL AMERICA.

CHAPTER I.

GEOGRAPHICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES OF CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON POPULATION.

ENTRAL AMERICA, in respect of geographic

CEN

al position, almost realizes the ancient idea of the centre of the world. Not only does it connect the two grand divisions of the American continent, the northern and the southern hemispheres, but its ports open to Europe and Africa on the east, and to Polynesia, Asia, and Australia on the west.

Looking at the map, we find, at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the Gulf of Mexico approaching to within two hundred miles of the Western Ocean, the waters of the River Coatzacoalcos, which flows into the former, almost interlocking with those of the Chicapa, flowing into the latter. Below this point the continent widens, embracing the high table-lands of Guateinala upon the west, and the broad plains of Tabasco, Chiapa, and Yucatan upon the north and east. The Gulf or Bay of Honduras, however, closes around this section upon the southeast, and again narrows the continent to less than one hundred and fifty miles. The country intervening between this bay and the Pacific is

B

marked by a complete interruption of the Cordilleras, and is traversed by a great transverse valley, running due north and south, through which the large river Ulua finds its way to the Atlantic, and the smaller river Goascoran flows into the Bay of Fonseca, on the Pacific. Still lower down, and passing the grand transverse basin of Nicaragua, is the well-known narrow Isthmus of Panama or Darien, over which the tide of emigration has twice poured its floods, once upon Peru, and again upon the glittering shores of California.

Nor are the topographical characteristics of Central America less remarkable than its geographical features. In its physical aspect and configuration of surface, it has very justly been observed that it is an epitome of all other countries and climates of the globe. High mountain ranges, isolated volcanic peaks, elevated table-lands, deep valleys, broad and fertile plains, and extensive alluvions, are here found grouped together, relieved by large and beautiful lakes and majestic rivers; the whole teeming with animal and vegetable life, and possessing every variety of climate, from torrid heats to the cool and bracing temperature of eternal spring.

The great chain of the Cordilleras here, as in South America, runs nearest to the Pacific coast, but in places it is interrupted, as I have already said, and assumes the form of detached ranges and isolated elevations, groups or knots of hills, between which the streams from the interior high valleys or elevated plains wind their way to the two oceans. As a consequence, the principal alluvions border on the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Here rains fall, in greater or less abundance, for the entire year; vegetation is rank, and the climate is damp and proportionally insalubrious. The trade winds blow from the northeast; and the

moisture with which they are saturated, condensed on the elevated parts of the continent, flows down toward the Atlantic. The Pacific slope is therefore comparatively dry and healthful, as are also the elevated regions of the interior.

Topographically, Central America presents three marked centres of elevation, which have, to a certain degree, fixed its political divisions. The first is the great plain, or broken table-land, in which is situated the city of Guatemala, and which is upward of four thousand feet above the sea. Here the large rivers Usumasinta and Tabasco, flowing northward through Chiapa and Tabasco into the Gulf of Mexico, take their rise. Their sources interlock with those of the Motagua or Gualan, running eastward into the Gulf of Honduras, and with those of the small streams which send their waters westward into the Pacific.

A group of mountains occupies Honduras, presenting an almost mural front toward the Pacific, but shooting out numerous spurs or subordinate branches, like the fingers of an outspread hand, toward the north and east. Between these ranges, and in some cases almost encircled by hills, are several broad valleys or plains of different elevations, in which are gathered the waters of thousands of rivulets and small streams, forming numerous considerable rivers, which radiate north and east into the Caribbean Sea, and south and west into the Southern Ocean. Among the most remarkable are the Chamelicon, the Ulua, Lean, Roman or Tinto, Patuca, Coco (Wanks or Segovia), upon the eastern slope; the Choluteca, Nacaome, Goascoran, San Miguel, and Lempa, upon the western.

Intervening between this and the third great centre of elevation in Costa Rica is the basin of the Nicara

guan lakes, with its verdant slopes and gently undulating plains. The nucleus of the elevation in Costa Rica is the great volcano of Cartago, which towers in its midst. Here the Cordilleras assume their general character of a great, unbroken mountain barrier, but soon subside again in low ridges on the Isthmus of Panama.

Besides the rivers of Central America, the largest of which I have enumerated, there are a number of large and beautiful lakes, viz.: Nicaragua and Managua, in Nicaragua; Yojoa or Taulebé, in Honduras; Guija and Ilopango, in San Salvador; and Golfo Dulce, Peten or Itza, Atitlan, and Amatitlan, in Guatemala. Of these, the Lakes of Nicaragua and Man agua are much the largest.

I have said that the ports of Central America open to Europe and Africa on one hand, and to Polynesia, Asia, and Australia on the other. On the Atlantic, Guatemala has Belize, Izabal, and Santo Tomas (the last only of much value); Honduras has Omoa, Puerto Caballos, Puerto Sal, Triunfo de la Cruz, Truxillo, and others; Nicaragua has Gracias á Dios, Bluefields, and San Juan. Costa Rica has no good port on the east, but has several on the west, of which Golfo Dulce, Punta Arenas, and Caldera are the principal. Nicaragua has, upon the Pacific, Culebra, Salinas, San Juan del Sur, and Realejo; Honduras, a cluster in the Bay of Fonseca, viz.: Amapala (a free port), San Lorenzo, and La Paz; San Salvador has La Union, also in the Bay of Fonseca, Jiquilisco or Espiritu Santo, Jaltepec or Concordia, La Libertad, and Acajutla or Sonsonate. The last two can hardly be called ports, being, in fact, only roadsteads. Guatemala has but one port or roadstead, Iztapa, lately named San José. The best of all these ports on the Atlantic are