Section V.-CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES.

LESSON LX.

GENTRAL AMERICA.

1. Three hundred years ago or more the region of Central America was a land of romance. A century later it was still the scene of many a fight for gold and for glory, and almost within the memory of living men its bays and dank river mouths were the lurking places of the pirates and buccaneers who made the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea dreaded by the peaceful mariner. The neck of land connecting North and South America, and dividing the Pacific from the Atlantic, has always occupied a prominent position in the world's history since the day when a Spaniard-Balboa -first crossed it and sighted the "silent sea" beyond.

2. For nearly three centuries this isthmus has witnessed a stream of armed adventurers struggling through the forest, driving before them troops of Indians laden with arms and stores, panting to reach Panama. From Panama they spread southward in search of the gold and silver of the Incas of Peru, and northward to take tithe of the Aztecs of Mexico. From the south and north again came other floods of adventurers, returning homeward laden with ill-gotten wealth, or enfeebled with wounds, disease, and disappointment. To Panama came the "plate ships" from that empire of the Indies which Columbus and his companions had won for their sovereign, and in and about Panama waited the cruisers, the buccaneers, or the pirates-for it is difficult to distinguish them—of all nations, ready to reap that which they had

never sown.

3. Later on again, when the colonists had thrown off the hated yoke of Spain, but were unable themselves to form a stable government, the isthmus saw crowds of excited men rushing after gold. These were the gold

seekers of California and British Columbia. For years millions of treasure were carried over the railway, which now spans the isthmus, just as in days past millions were borne across on their way to Spain. But little of the wealth remained. Over the soil of Central America

wealth passed, but passed away. From their geographical position these States ought to grow rich and powerful, but they do not; even the prosperity which the railway gave it for a time has partly gone, for the traffic to California now crosses the American continent far to the north.

4. Central America is a very natural division. It is the narrow portion of the continent, and forms a connecting link between two great land masses. Properly speaking it should include all the extent of territory from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the Isthmus of Panama. Politically, however, it only comprises the five independent Republics of Guatemala, San Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, with the British colony of Belize, or British Honduras. The Isthmus of Tehuantepec and the peninsula of Yucatan are now included in Mexico, whilst the Isthmus of Panama constitutes a State of the United States of Columbia—the old Republic of Granada-and is therefore politically a part of South America.

5. At the Isthmus of Tehuantepec the Gulf of Mexico approaches the Pacific to within 200 miles. Southwards the isthmus widens out and embraces the high temperate table-lands and mountainous regions of Guatemala on the west and the peninsula of Yucatan on the east. The Gulf of Honduras on the south-east, however, again narrows the continent to less than 200 miles. Here also again the chain of the Cordilleras is interrupted, and its place is taken by a transverse valley, only divided by a slightly elevated ridge dividing the Atlantic and Pacific water slopes. Further south is Nicaragua, with a great basin-like formation, at which lie the well-known lakes which give that portion of the isthmus its chief importance, while, still nearer the equator, is the Isthmus of Panama.

6. It has been observed that Central America possesses in its physical aspects and conformation of surface something belonging to all the world. "High mountain ranges, isolated volcanic peaks, elevated table-lands, deep valleys, broad and fertile plains, and extensive alluvions, relieved by large and beautiful lakes and majestic rivers, the whole teeming with animal and vegetable life, and possessing every variety of climate, from the torrid heats to the cool and bracing temperature of eternal spring.

7. "The great chain of the Cordilleras here, as in South America, runs nearest to the Pacific coast, but in places it is interrupted, 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 rain falls in greater or less abundance for the entire year, vegetation is rank, and the climate is damp and proportionately insalubrious. The trade winds blow from the north-east, and the moisture with which they are saturated, condensed on the elevated parts of the continent, flows down towards the Atlantic. The Pacific slope is, therefore, comparatively dry and healthful, as are also the elevated regions of the interior."

8. This configuration of the surface has had from the remotest time, as it has yet, an influence on the destinies of the race who inhabit this region. On the high tablelands of Honduras and Guatemala lived a people advanced in civilisation, of great intelligence, carvers of sculpture, builders of cities, and artificers of the precious metals. In the wide and fertile savannas or prairies lay lands inviting to agriculture, while the maize-that allpowerful element in American civilisation-was probably indigenous to this part of the country. On the Atlantic shores, on the other hand, there is nothing to cause us to believe that the aboriginal inhabitants have ever been anything but the rudest savages. Here nature is also bountiful, but not in the direction tending to the benefit of man. The damp swampy shores produce a rank vege

tation which even the appliances of civilised man have been unable to cope with, and the steaming soil sends up such pestilential miasmatic vapours that permanent settlement or successful cultivation of the soil is impossible.

9. The area of the five Republics is equal to about twice that of Great Britain. There are numerous harbours and ports on both shores, and a few of the rivers are to some extent navigable. Of these the San Juan, flowing from the large lake of Nicaragua [6,000 square miles] into the Caribbean Sea, is the most important. There are no manufactures of importance, and the commerce is not extensive. The States yield mahogany, cedar, and dyewoods; sarsaparilla, indigo, and indiarubber; coffee, cocoa, rice, sugar, cotton, and tobacco.

10. Guatemala is about the size of Ireland. Most of the surface is mountainous, and some of the peaks are volcanic. "Everywhere, and indeed throughout Central America, there are evident signs of earthquakes having taken place. Long deep perpendicular rents occur at frequent intervals, traversing the plains for several miles in length, and often exceeding 1,500 feet in depth." The ancient city of Guatemala was destroyed by an earthquake in 1773. New Guatemala is the capital.

11. San Salvador, the smallest of the Republics, is intensely volcanic. It has no less than sixteen volcanic peaks. Earthquakes are frequent, and the town of San Salvador has been frequently destroyed. The last time was in 1854, when it contained 30,000 people. The new capital, New San Salvador, was partially destroyed in 1873 by a series of earthquakes. Indigo is the chief export from this state.

12. Honduras is mountainous, and has great resources in its minerals. Mahogany forms its chief article of export.

13. Nicaragua is still in great part a wild forest country. The banks of the San Juan River are fertile, but the climate is very unhealthy. This State is celebrated for its lakes-Nicaragua and Managua. The seat