216 THE CLIMATIC FACTOR AS ILLUSTRATED IN ARID AMERICA. 



From the point of view of present habitability Guatemala, together with British 

 Honduras, is divided into thi-ee main belts dependent on vegetation — the Atlantic forest, 

 the central dry land, and the Pacific forest. Each of these in turn may be divided into 

 two parts. The plain of British Honduras in the north to a width of 50 miles, and the 

 mountains of the southern part of that country and of eastern Guatemala to a distance of 

 perhaps 30 miles from the coast form the first division of the Atlantic forest. Showers at 

 all seasons, either from the trade winds in winter or from the subequatorial area of low 

 pressure in summer, cause the land to be covered with a dense tropical forest and to be 

 infested with malignant tj^pes of malarial fevers. Only on the coast are there any real 

 towns, and they exist chiefly by grace of the trade winds, which blow freshly from the 

 ocean and drive away the mosquitoes. Strung along the beach, under the cocoanut palms, 

 the low whitewashed houses of these towns make quite a show from the sea, but back of 

 the first row there is often nothing but deadly swamp and mosquitoes. In the interior a 

 few Uttle villages sit in clearings by the brink of the somber rivers, and wait in sun or rain 

 for precious mahogany logs to be hauled or floated out of the interior. Save for these few 

 people no one inhabits the dense forests. If the coast towns and the mahogany-cutters be 

 excluded, the whole region can not boast a population of much more than one person to 

 every 10 square miles, while even if the towns and woodcutters be included, British Hon- 

 duras with an area of 7,500 square miles has only 42,000 people, or less than 6 to the square 

 mile. The forests and fevers now keep mankind away, and apparently much the same 

 was true in the past, for we find here only a few widely scattered ruins. 



Inland from the coast strip there lies another section of the Atlantic forest, occupying 

 most of the almost unexplored and semi-independent Guatemalan province of Peten, and 

 extending south past Quirigua towards Copan. In the north this Peten strip is a plain 

 from which rise a few low ridges nmning east and west and having a height of 1,000 feet 

 more or less. In the south it becomes mountainous. The vegetation is almost as dense as 

 that of the coast strip, except that in Peten considerable areas of grassy savanna prevail, 

 thin pine forests grow in the sandy tracts known as "pine ridges," and on the westward 

 edge and in other favored spots — among which Flores on Lake Peten is the chief — the 

 forest breaks down into jungle. The savannas, as already suggested, are due either to an 

 excess of water, often held near the surface by clayey hardpan, or to sand. The pine 

 ridges, which are not ridges but merely shght swelUngs in the plain, are due to accumulations 

 of sand. Neither in the past nor at present does it ever appear to have been possible to 

 cultivate either the savannas or the pine ridges, but since the introduction of cattle by the 

 Spaniards, they have been utilized somewhat for pasturage. They possess not only the 

 advantage of being fit for cattle-raising, but of being relatively healthful, and of being 

 bordered by narrow strips of jungle wherein primitive agriculture is possible. In the 

 more extensive jungle regions on the borders of the Peten strip a few villages are located, 

 among which Copan is most worthy of mention. Aside from the limited areas of savannas, 

 pine ridges, and jungle, the countrj'- is covered with forest, and is so feverish and so difficult 

 to cultivate that its only inliabitants are mahogany-cutters, gatherers of chicle gum, or 

 raisers of bananas for export. All of these occupations, together with cattle-raising, are 

 due entirely to the influence of modern European civilization, and had no place in the pre- 

 Columbian period. The banana plantations have grown up within a few j^ears and are 

 practically all the work of the United Fruit Company, which employs over 4,000 people 

 in the vallej^ of the Motagua River. Only some powerful stimulus, like the demand of the 

 United States for fruit, could cause such plantations to arise; the strictest supervision is 

 necessary in order that the bushes may be cut every three months, for in a year the native 

 vegetation grows 10 feet or so, and if left to itself would soon choke the banana plants. 

 Still more unremitting vigilance is necessary to keep both the white men and the natives 

 in health. From the wages of every employee, whether he receive 50 cents or 50 dollars 



