Mexico and Her People of To-day $3.00 Guatemala and Her People of To-day 3.00   PRESIDENT CABRERA.   The author’s route is printed in red. (Click on the map for a larger version.) For the better understanding of the pronunciation of the names of towns and places in Guatemala and other parts of Spanish-America, the rule for their pronunciation is herewith given:...

The very generous reception accorded “Mexico and Her People of To-day,” by both public and press, has led the author to believe that there is a field for a book upon a part of Central America covered by him in his travels, prepared on the same general lines as that book, and treating of the people and their customs, as well as the country, its resources and present state of development. There is also the belief in the mind of the author that the English-speaking people of America are becoming mo

There is a vast amount of ignorance and wrong conception prevalent concerning the republics of Central America. Mexico has been exploited a great deal in recent years and the whereabouts of Panama on the map is now pretty generally known, but the five republics lying between these two countries have been too much overlooked by recent writers. We are sometimes inclined to appropriate the term republic and the name American to ourselves as though we held a copyright on these words. And yet here at

After a tour of the land of the Aztecs I embarked at Salina Cruz, that new Pacific port of Mexico whose importance in the commercial world is just beginning to be felt, and started on a journey to the land of the Toltecs. Passage was taken on the good ship Menes of the Kosmos Line, and never were passengers in better hands. There were only five first-class passengers and they made rather a cosmopolitan gathering in the cabin each evening. They were an American, a Scotchman, an Englishman, a Span

Guatemala City long ago laid aside its swaddling clothes. While Boston was yet a mere village, the capital of Guatemala was the abode of one hundred thousand people, and was surpassed in importance only by Lima, Peru, and the City of Mexico. It was the home of some of the most learned men in Spanish-America, the site of great schools of theology and science, the seat of the Inquisition and the headquarters of the Jesuits. The present Guatemala City, however, is the third one to bear that name, t

The growth of vegetation in tropical lands is a revelation of what rich soil aided by a hot sun and an abundance of water can do. There are localities in the world where is found the rich soil, but either warmth or water is wanting and they are comparatively barren. In this region where the soil is frequently eight to fourteen feet in depth, where the fall of water is from eighty to one hundred and twenty inches annually, and where the sun furnishes perpetual summer heat, nature reveals herself

There are but two classes of people in Guatemala, Creoles and Indians. The Creoles include all those who are European or in whom the European blood predominates. They are the business and professional men of the country and the land owners. Although numbering not to exceed one-tenth of the population, this class own all but a small fraction of the wealth of the country. They busy themselves with the business and politics of the country, while the Indians do the real work and even the fighting if

Guatemala has more miles of railway than all the other Central American republics together. And yet there are not more than half enough to properly develop the country. There are still a number of important cities and large agricultural districts which have no rail communication with either the coast or the rest of the republic. Nothing will contribute more to the prosperity and peace of the country than an extension of the existing lines into even the most remote sections. The larger cities are

At the time of the conquest the Aztecs, who were then at the height of their power and glory, were the dominant race in what is now Mexico and Central America. And yet the broad plains of Yucatan and Central America were the theatre of a much older civilization compared with which that of the Aztecs was, as one writer says, “as the brightness of the full meridian moon to the splendour of the sun that has already set.” As to whether the Aztec culture was a borrowed culture or not has been the sub

“ Gold ,” said Columbus in a letter to King Ferdinand, “is the most excellent of metals. With gold we not only do whatever we please in this world, but we can employ it to snatch souls from Purgatory and to people Paradise.” This was the keynote to the Spanish character and explains the difference between the civilizations established by Spain and other colonizing nations. Thrifty activity was regarded with disdain by the cavalier and each man sought only enough money to live on the interest of

The ruins still existing throughout Mexico and Central America teach us that the early races occupying that country prior to the coming of the Spaniards were a religious people. It is true that their ideas of religious truth were crude and not of a very high order, but the element of worship of and responsibility to a superior being existed and found expression in various ways. Their theology had not resulted in so many deities as the more imaginative Greeks and Romans had created for themselves

The foreigner in Guatemala is absolutely safe, and travelling in that country is as free from danger as in our own land. Sensational rumours sometimes appear in American newspapers about the imprisonment of American subjects, but, if the reports are true, the persons arrested no doubt deserve punishment, for meddlers and persons seeking to escape punishment for wrong-doing in other lands frequently seek an asylum in the Central American republics. Were they innocent our own officials would be ca

It was with romantic feelings that I sailed along the coast of British Honduras, past the numerous little coral reefs, called cays, and into the beautiful harbour of Belize. For many years these shores were the rendezvous of organized bands of pirates, who practically ruled the Caribbean seas during a good part of the seventeenth century. Each wooded island and cay has its legend of buried treasure, but no one has ever been able to locate a single “caché,” although expeditions in search of this

The Republic of Honduras is situated immediately east of Guatemala and has a frontier line of perhaps two hundred miles next to that republic. On the Caribbean Sea its coast line from Guatemala to Cape Gracias-a-Dios (thanks to God) measures about four hundred miles. The true boundary line between Honduras and Nicaragua has caused much confusion and misunderstanding in the past, and it is hardly well defined yet, although several commissions have been appointed by the two governments and made th

The following table gives the names of the departments in Guatemala, the name of the chief town, or capital, and the number of inhabitants and elevation of that city, the compilation being made from the latest and most reliable statistics available:—...

The Republic of Honduras is composed of sixteen departments, or provinces, and one territorial district. The territory of Mosquitia is situated in the extreme northeastern section of the country and is the second largest political division in the republic, comprising about one-fifth of the entire landed surface and with a population of four thousand, mostly a mixed race of negroes and Indians. This is an average of about one person for every two square miles. The country is covered with a dense

People living in volcanic regions do not seem to fear the presence of these lofty peaks any more than people living in mountainous regions fear their overhanging ridges. One would think that the terrible and destructive eruptions of Vesuvius would leave that region depopulated, but no sooner have the earth’s tremblings ceased than the people flock again to their accustomed haunts, and the fertile fields once more respond to the efforts of the farmer and gardener. And so it is in Central America,

No American has spent so much time in exploring the ruins of this mysterious city of Honduras as Mr. George Byron Gordon. For a number of years he spent the greater part of the year in making excavations, removing debris, and in exploring every nook and corner of this ancient seat of civilization. Through the courtesy of The Century Company I am permitted to give the following description of Copan as written by Mr. Gordon and published in the Century Magazine, which, though greatly abbreviated,

For the benefit of those who may wish to pursue their study of these countries more extensively I append herewith a list of a few of the books which give information about Guatemala and Honduras:— Bard, S. A. : Waikna: Adventures on the Mosquito Shore. London, 1855. Brasseur de Bourbourg : Popul Vuh. Sacred book of the Quiché Indians. Paris, 1861. Bancroft, Hubert Howe : History of Central America. San Francisco, 1886. Bancroft, Hubert Howe : The Native Races of the Pacific Coast of North Americ