GUATEMALA 289 impossible for weeks together. San Jose is a miserable village of not more than 200 inhabi- tants, mostly Indians, situated at the mouth of the river Michatoya. One or two other ports further northward might be available but for the want of an adequate population. The port of Izabal, on the Atlantic side, situated on the S. shore of the gulf of Dulce, which communicates with the sea by the river Dulce, is a wretched place of about 150 houses, and owes its importance to its proximity to the capital, for all the merchandise in transitu to and from which it is the exclusive port of re- ception on that side of the republic. The shallowness of the water on the bar at the mouth of the river closes the port to large ves- sels. Santo Tomas, on the bay of Honduras, is the principal seaport of Guatemala; it has a picturesque harbor, sheltered by high moun- tains, and always affording safe and commodi- ous anchorage for ships of the deepest draught, hich moor close to the shore in six fathoms water. Almost the whole surface of the blic is composed of an elevated plateau, which is a continuation of the table land of Yucatan, intersected by numberless moun- ins, with deep and extensive valleys, partic- larly in the west and northwest, adjacent to Chiapas ; but no continuous chain traverses the country. The depression of the table land ward the Pacific coast, however, is so rapid d presents so many steep acclivities that, hen viewed from the sea, it looks like an ele- ted mountain range ; the illusion is the more complete as the edge of the plain appears marked by a number of volcanoes, some of which are still active. Eemarkable among the extinct volcanoes is the Volcan de Agua, so named from a torrent of water which burst from its crater in 1541 and overwhelmed the first city of Guatemala, the ruins of which still exist under the name of Oiudad Vieja. It has an ele- vation of about 14,000 ft. above the sea. Near it is the Volcan de Fuego, which vomits forth fire and smoke every day, and which, with the Volcan de Agua, and that of Amilpas (13,200 high), constitutes the principal volcanic earth of Central America. Other volcanoes are Sapotitlan and Atitlan, each nearly 13,000 ft. high. All the volcanoes of Guatemala, whether extinct or active, are in the same line with those of Nicaragua and San Salvador. The shore region consists of a strip of flat low country, not more than 30 m. broad. The slope of the plain eastward to the bay of Honduras is intersected by detached mountain groups, forming parallel ridges, which nowhere attain a greater elevation than 500 or 600 ft. above the plain, and alternate with extensive valleys. Some of these heights reach to the shores of the sea ; but to the W. and N. W. of the gulf of Dulce they are entirely lost in a low plain. The table land attains an elevation of 5,000 ft. in the volcanic zone ; and the maxi- mum height is reached in the vicinity of Que- zaltenango, at the S. border of the department of Vera Paz. Little is known of the geologi- cal structure of the country. Although gold, silver, copper, and iron are sufficiently abun- dant to be worked with profit, the only mining operations are those in the department of To- tonicapan, where lead mines are worked in the vicinity of Chiautla, chiefly by the Indians.- Salt is made from springs near Ixtatan in the same department, and in large quantities on the Paci- fic coast. Sulphur is found in great quantities, and jasper is abundant. The country is water- ed by numerous rivers, the principal of which is the Usumasinta, whose main stream rises in the mountains near San Ger6nimo, flows W. by N. 150 m., receives the waters of the Lacan- dones, and thence, bending N. and afterward N. W., leaves the republic and falls into the gulf of Mexico through the Lago de Terminos in Yu- catan. Throughout the whole course of this river in Guatemala, about 350 m., it is unfavor- able to navigation. Its affluents are numerous. The Motagua, descending from the S. declivi- ties of the same mountains as the Usumasinta, curves around their base, and, after a course of nearly 300 m., falls by several mouths into the bay of Honduras, near the E. boundary of the republic; in the upper portion it is called the Kio Grande; it is only navigable by canoes and barges. The Polochique, which rises in the hills adjacent to Coban, is a large, deep, and beautiful stream, 150 m. long; but owing to the rapidity of its current, and a bar across its mouth with but 4 ft. of water, it can only be navigated by light craft. On the W. side, a host of minor streams hurry down to the Pacific by short precipitous courses, one of them, the Michatoya, passing the port of San Jose. Among the many lakes, a few of which are of considerable size, are Dulce, through which the most of the shipping traffic is car- ried on ; Amatitlan, near the town of the same name, 12 m. long by 3 m. broad, and remark- able for the large pieces of pumice stone lying along its shores and floating on its surface; and Atitlan, 30 m. long by 10 m. broad, in which no soundings have been found with a line of 300 fathoms, and which, though fed by numerous rivers, has no visible outlet. Peten lake, in Vera Paz, is about 70 m. in circuit, and dotted with a number of islands, on the largest of which stands the town of Flores. At Quirigua and other places are remarkable ruins, which attest the high proficiency of the ancient inhabitants in architecture and sculpture. (See AMEEIOAN ANTIQUITIES.) The climate, excessively hot in the low and cool in the elevated regions, is generally salubrious. During the wet season, from May to October, heavy rains fall, though rarely in the forenoon. Snow is seldom seen, but frosts are frequent. The highlanders are much afflicted with goitre and cretinism. Earthquakes are frequent, and at times disastrous. The soil is exceedingly fer- tile ; but agriculture is rudely conducted with the same kind of implements used by the first colonists. Modern machinery, however, has
