Mountains.— A large proportion of Guatemala may be generally described as mountainous. The main or central chain, which is usually considered a continuation of the Andes, runs in a wavy line from south-east to north-west, keeping on the whole parallel with the Pacific coast at a distance of 40 or 45 miles. Its mean elevation is about 7000 feet, but none of its summits attain to 14,000. Though it forms the main watershed of the country between the Pacific and the Atlantic versant or slope, it is pierced in one or two places by rivers. In the neighbourhood of the capital it bears the name of Sierra de las Nubes; in the north-west it is known as the Sierra Madre; and it enters the Mexican (ex-Guatemalian) state of Chiapas as the mountains of Istatan. A range called the Sierra de Chama, which, however, changes its name frequently from place to place, strikes eastward from the Sierra Madre towards Belize, where it is known as the Cockscomb; another similar range, the Sierra de Santa Cruz, continues east to Cape Cocoli between the Rio Dulce and the Sarstoon; and a third, the Sierra de las Minas or in its eastern portion Sierra del Mico stretches between the Rio Dulce and the Rio Motagua. Between Honduras and Guatemala the frontier is formed by the Sierra de Copan. There are no real plateaus in Guatemala such as give its character to the Mexican region, the so-called plateaus of Quesaltenango, Pacicia, Guatemala, &c., being merely broad valleys amid the mountains; but the general relief of the country is of the most varied description, the mountains descending in all kinds of terraces and underfalls. The number of volcanic summits is very great: Bernouilli gives a list of 14 or 15, and Foledo makes the number no less than 31. The following are those that are decidedly active :—Pacaya, in 14° 21' 30" N. lat. and 90° 44' 34" E. long., on the southern shores of lake Amatitlan, withits cone on the southern slope; Volcan de Fuego, 12,821 feet in height, in 14° 27' 25" N. lat. and 90° 53' 30" E. long., near Old Guatemala; Atitlan, 11,849 feet in height, in 14° 36' N. lat. and 91° 14' E. long.; Quesaltenango, 9358 feet in height, in 14° 53' 30" N. lat. and 91° 53' 30" E. long.; and Tajumulco, in 15° 9' 58" N. lat. and 92° 6' 7" E. long. The last was observed in eruption by Bernouilli on occasion of the great earthquake of 1863. Like Quesaltenango, which is surrounded by an extensive malpais i it furnishes great supplies of sulphur. More famous, however, than any of these is the Volcan de Agua or Water Volcano, so called because in 1541 it destroyed the city of Old Guatemala by a deluge of water. It is situated in 14° 26' 48" N. lat. and 90° 53' 30" E. long. The statement of Humboldt that it rises above the snow-line is a mistake, for that would be a height of about 14,500 feet, whereas the actual height of the mountain, according to Poggendorffs revision of Captain Hall’s trigonometrical measurement, is only 13,108 feet. When Dr Scherzer and Dr Wagner ascended the mountain on August 4, 1854, they found no traces of snow or ice, and though three weeks later a thin coating of snow appeared on the outer slopes of the crater, it was gone again in four days. The source of the great flood of water was probably a crateral lake. Rivers.— Guatemala is richly watered. On the western side of the sierras the versant is short, and the streams, while very numerous, are consequently small and rapid; but on the eastern side a number of the rivers attain a very considerable development. The Motagua, whose principal head stream is called the Rio Grande, has a course of about 250 miles, and is navigable to within 90 miles of the capital, which is situated on one of its confluents the Rio de las Vacas. It forms a delta on the south of the Gulf of Honduras. Of similar importance is the Polochic, which is about 180 miles in length, and navigable about 20 miles above the river-port of Telemân. Before reaching the Golfo Amatico it passes through the Izabal Lake and the Golfete Dulce. A vast number of streams, among which are the Chisoy, the Guadalupe, the Rio de la Pasion, unite to form the Usumacinta, whose noble current passes along the Mexican frontier, and flowing on through Chiapas and Tabasco, falls into the bay of Campeachy. The Chiapas follows a similar course.

Lakes.— There are several extensive lakes in Guatemala. The Lake of Peten or Laguna de Flores, in the centre of the department of Peten, is an irregular basin about 27 miles long, with an extreme breadth of 13. In an island in the western portion stands Flores the capital of the department, well known to American antiquaries for the number of ancient idols which have been recovered from its soil. On the shore of the lake is the stalactite cave of Jobitsinal, of great local celebrity; and in its depths, according to the popular legend, may still be discerned the stone image of a horse that belonged to Cortes. The Lake of Izabal, already mentioned as the terminus of the Polochic river, is about 36 miles long, and would be of considerable value as a harbour if the bar at the mouth of the Rio Dulce did not prevent the upward passage of seafaring vessels. As a contrast the Lake of Atitlan is a land-locked basin encompassed with lofty mountains and possessing no visible outlet for its waters, which are replenished by numerous streams. It is about 18 miles long, with a maximum breadth of 9 or 10 miles, and it lies about 5300 feet above the sea-level. “On its banks,” says Mr Boddam Whetham, “stand eleven villages, whose situations are so varied that their climates and productions are those of the cold, the temperate, and the tropical regions, and whose inhabitants speak different dialects.” About 8 or 9 miles south of the capital lies the Lake of Amatitlan, with the town of the same name at its western extremity. It lies about 3980 feet above the sea, and has a length of 9 miles and a breadth of about 3. On the borders of San Salvador and Guatemala there is the lake of Guija, about 20 miles long and 12 broad, at a height of 2100 feet above the sea. It is connected by the river Ostuma with the Lake of Ayarza which lies about 1000 feet higher at the foot of the Andes. The large lakes, according to Doll fus, are not of crateral origin.

Geology and Mines.— The best and indeed the onlj elaborate account of the geology of the country is given by Dollfus and Montserrat, who were members of the great French expedition for the exploration of the Mexican region. According to these savants, who, however, confess that their studies are only provisional, the basis rock is the granite which, along with trachytes and porphyries of very various character, intermingled with and overlaid by directly volcanic products, constitutes the great band of the Sierra Madre. From the main ridge towards the Atlantic there is a rich development of mica schists and calcareous formations of sedimentary origin and probably Jurassic age, while the versant of the Pacific is almost covered with modern alluvium washed down along the rapid slopes. Mastodont and elephant remains have been discovered in the tuffs. The country as a whole may be said to owe its shape to the porphyries. Though some of the strata are essentially metal liferous, Guatemala possesses few mines of importance. During the Spanish rule about 40 million pesos of silver were obtained at Alotepeque in Chiquimula; and the works are still carried on, though with poorer results. Lead is found extensively in Huehuetenango and Verapaz; beds of excellent coal exist in Izabal; marble is quarried at San Juan in Guatemala, and on the Rio Hondo in Zacapa; and lithographic stone is met with in the last-mentioned department.

Climate.— Except in the marshy lagoons along the Pacific, which are inhabited by groups of fishers and salt-gatherers, the climate of Guatemala is considered a healthy one. The peculiar relief of the country gives rise to a large amount of local differences in the matter of heat and cold; but the whole may be rudely divided into a tropical or low-lying region, a temperate or middle region, and a cold or elevated region. The tropical region, or tierra cal·iente, extends from the level of the sea to an elevation of about 1300 feet; the temperate, or tierra templada, from 1300 to 4900 feet; and the cold, or tierra fria, from 4900 to 8200 feet. Fortunately for the future of Guatemala the templada is by far the most extensive. In the caliente the rainy season lasts four months. During that period the south-west wind prevails, and is often tempestuous like the Cordonazo de San Francisco, or “flagellation of St Francis,” on the coast of Mexico; during the dry season the north wind is the most usual. The rainy season lengthens as we ascend to the templada: the Boca Costa district indeed has a rainy season of seven months, from May to November, and the dry season is not completely dry. Higher still, in the tierra fria, the rain lasts five months, from May to October, and the dry season is quite worthy of the name. At Guatemala, the only place where meteorological observations have been made through a long series of years, the minimum thermometer readings varied from 41° to 45° Fahr, in the five years 1859 to 1863, and the maximum from 84° to 87°.

The hottest months are April and May. In the summer, or rainy season, the morning has usually a clear sky; about 2 or 3 o’clock in the afternoon the clouds begin to gather in great cumulus masses; suddenly the lightning flashes out and the rain crashes down; and by evening the sky is clear and starry. In the middle of the rainy season there is often a pause of two or three weeks. At Guatemala the mean annual rainfall for the five years 1859 to 1863 was 54 inches; at Boca Costa it is upwards of 78 inches. Animals.— The fauna of Guatemala is more closely connected with the fauna of South than with that of North America. As the country is a small one, and its limits are purely conventional, there are comparatively few species that it can claim as peculiarly its own. It is almost entirely free from the presence of animals that are dangerous to man. Of the cat tribe it possesses the jaguar (Felis onza), popularly called the tiger; the cuguar (Felis concolor), popularly called the lion; the tigrillo (Felis tigrina), which is sometimes kept tame; and four other species. Several species of monkeys (Mycetes and Ateles) are sufficiently numerous in the warm coast region. The Mexican deer (Cervus mexicanus) has a wide range both in the lowlands and highlands. Besides the tapir there are two pigs, the marrano de monte (Sus torquatus) and the jabali or javali (Sus labiatus javali). The Edentata are represented by a species of armadillo, the “oso colmenero” or honey-bear (Myrme∙ cophaga tamandus) and the Myrmecophaga didactyla∙, and among the rodents may be mentioned, besides rats, hares, and rabbits, the fruit-eating cotorra and tepescuinte (Hasyprocta aguti and Coelo- genys paca), and the troublesome Gcomys mexicana. The Hydro· choerus capybara is common in all the larger streams. Much annoyance is caused to the agriculturist by the little marsupial called the tacuacine, or the Didelphys carcinora, its allied species. The bats are so numerous that villages have sometimes had to be left to their undisputed occupancy. For the bird collector there is a rich harvest in Guatemala. As the seasons change it is visited by a great variety of birds of passage, and it possesses a great many resident species besides. In the city of Coban there are several families which live by preparing bird-skins for sale and expoιt (Bernouilli). From forty to fifty species of birds of prey are already known; among which it is sufficient to mention Corogyps atratus, the commonest of the vultures, which acts as a universal scavenger, the Cathartes aura, the beautiful Polyborus vulgaris, and the king of the vultures (Sarcorhamphus papa). Neither the condor of the southern continent nor the great eagles of the northern are known in Guatemala. Of the great passerine order there are upwards of 400 species, including 36 species of humming-birds, 13 of woodpeckers, and 8 of the trogons. One of this last genus, the quetzal, quijal, or quesal (Trogon resplendens) is of special note, not only from the fact that its yellow tail-feathers, 2 feet long, were formerly worn as insignia by the Indian princes, but because it has been adopted as the emblematical figure on the national arms of Guatemala. The gallinaceous order is well represented, and comprises several peculiar species, as the pavo de cacho, and the Peten turkey (Meleagris ocellata), which has a bronze sheen on its plumage; and the palmipeds, it is almost needless to add, are unusually numerous in a country so richly furnished with lagoons and rivers and lakes.

There are two species of alligator, one in the Pacific and the other in the Atlantic versant. Snakes are met with in great variety, but only about a fourth of the species are venomous, and even the bite of the rattlesnake is said to be less deadly than in the north. The Crotalus horridus is one of the most common. Five species of salamanders are known, 9 of the frogs, and 5 of the toads. Fourteen species of fish have been found in Lake Peten, 7 in Lake Amatitlan, 13 in the river Motagua, 10 in the Polochic, and 13 in the (Jsumacinta.

The general character of the country induces a rich profusion of insect life. Of the Coleoptera, the Camelicorns, the Longicorns, the Curculionids, and the Chrysomelines are said to be best represented, and of the Lepidoptera the prevalent genera are— Ageronia, Papilio, Heliconia, Sphynx, and Bombyx. There are five species of bees, and the European honey-bee, known as aveja de Castilla or bee of Castile, has been naturalized. Ants are common, and may sometimes be seen marching in a column 3 or 4 miles long. Mosquitoes unfortunately are in several districts equally abundant.

Most of the domestic animals of Guatemala—the horse, the ox, the goat, the sheep, the pig, the dog, the rabbit, the common fowl, the peacock, and the pigeon—are of European origin, and are popularly grouped together as animales de Castilla. Horses are small but excellent. Cattle are largely imported from Soconuseo and Honduras. The favourite swine is the black. Singing-birds are commonly kept in the Guatemalian houses, and the species most sought after are the sensontle, the guarda-barranco (Myiadestes obscurus), the pitureal, and the caraban. The last of these is as good as a watch-dog, as “no stranger can enter the yard without being greeted by its shrill cries.” Industrial Produce.— As may be judged from the description of the configuration of the country and its climate the natural productions of Guatemala are sufficiently varied. Foledo gives a list of upwards of 100 kinds of timber trees. Maize and haricot beans (frijol), which form the main sustenance of the people, are grown in all the departments, and in some places there are two harvests a year. Rice and wheat are less extensively distributed. For the foreign trade the coffee plant is the most important product. While in 1859 the whole export was only 390 cwt., by 1876 it had increased to upwards of 185,200 cwt. Meanwhile the cultivation of indigo (aħil or jiquilite) and cochineal, which were forjnerly the principal sources of wealth, is losing ground. Cocoa is most cultivated in the north-west; the nibs are used as small change throughout the country. Good tobacco is grown, but the quantity is small. Sugar is rising into favour. Vanilla, chile, aloes, agave, rhubarb, ipecacuanha, castor oil, scammony, and colocynth are all obtained in the country. The absence of capitalists is one of the chief hindrances to the development of industry and trade.

Political Divisions.— The following table from Foledo exhibits the 20 departments into which the republic of Guatemala is divided, their estimated areas, their respective capitals, their population, and the population of the capitals. Altogether the republic contains 10 cities, 22 towns, 304 townships, and 1794 hamlets, &c. [table]

Administration.— The constitution of Guatemala is republican and representative. The council of state consists of 24 members elected by the house of representatives, which consists of 52 members elected by the people. The parliamentary period, and the term of office for the president, who is the head of the executive, is four years. The revenue, which in 1874 amounted to 2,601,000 dollars or £520,000, is mainly derived from import duties, domains, and monopolies; a large part of the expenditure, 2,542,600 dollars or £508,520, is occasioned by the army, which has a nominal strength of 3000, besides a militia of 13,000. The public debt, including the English loan of £500,000 raised in 1859, amounted in 1875 to 4,363,227 dollars or £872,645.

Religion and Education.— The national religion is the Roman Catholic, but there is absolute toleration of other creeds. The Government pays a regular subvention to the church. In the 17 vicariates into which the countιy is divided there are 111 parishes. Since the rise of the liberal government great progress has been made in educational matters. In 1871 there were 253 schools, with 6130 male and 1944 female pupils; by 1874 the schools had increased to 541, the male pupils to 14,216, and the female to 6312.

Population.— Out of the total population of 1,200,000 it is calculated that about 720,000 are Indians, 300,000 Ladinos, and 180,000 whites. According to Foledo (1874) the foreigners did not exceed 829,—of whom 191 were Mexicans, 164 Spaniards, 103 Frenchmen, 71 Italians, 64 Germans, and 50 Englishmen. The native population is naturally of a quiet and inoffensive disposition. Crimes of violence are rare. A certain easy fatalism is the prevailing mood; but during political excitement it gives way to fanatical outbursts. “Viva la relijion, y mueran los estranjeros” ⅛ then the cry. Cock fighting and bull baiting are the favourite amusements.

Roads.— The means of communication between one part of the country and another are very poor. In the whole republic it was calculated that in 1874 there were 1365 miles of carriageable roads, and the number of bridges was stated at 432. But a great proportion of the roads, while hardly passable in the dry season, become little better than mitigated swamps in the rainy season; and many of the bridges are of the slightest construction and in a pitiable state of repair. Nearly a week is the time taken by the ordinary waggons to accomplish the journey from San José to Escuintla, a distance of about 90 miles. According to the terms of a contract with the Government, a railroad between San José and Escuintla was begun in 1875, but it is still uncompleted. The...