INVESTIGATIONS IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. n 



FIRST EXCURSION FROM SAN SALVADOR. 



I removed my headquarters to San Salvador, the capital of the republic of the 

 same name; and from this place as a centre made several excursions. My first 

 was to reconnoitre the republic of Honduras. Owing to the indolence of the in- 

 habitants, there is a continual scarcity of food; although two crops are produced 

 in one year. Maize is not raised in sufficient quantity to last from one harvest to 

 the next, and the people are mostly obliged to use the new crop before its maturity. 

 In consequence of the scarcity the price is very high, a medio almml, about a 

 peck, ranges in price from three reals (thirty-seven and a half cents) to eighty cents. 

 This latter price I paid in Tegucigalpa, the first city of importance, in a commer- 

 cial view, in Honduras. A short time before my arrival the price of the same 

 quantity was one dollar and twenty five cents. The same cause produces the great 

 difference in the price of meat. A pound of beef costs but three cents, while a 

 pound of pork costs twenty-five cents; even butter is one third cheaper tlian lard, 

 and the price of a small pig is equal to that of an ox. The reason of this is, that 

 cattle are raised without the slightest labor, wliile hogs have to be fed, and the 

 maize to feed them with has to be raised. On some cattle-estates in the depart- 

 ment of Olancho hundreds of cattle perish every year from want of food in the dry 

 season, nevertheless the proprietors do nothing to prevent this loss. As it does 

 not cost anything to raise the cattle they may not consider their death as an actual 

 loss, but only as the privation of a future gain, which tliey would have realized 

 by their sale. 



Fruit of any kind is very scarce in Honduras; not because the people do not 

 like it; on the contrary, they are, like all other people, fond of it, and wherever 

 any fruit is grown, it has to be Avatched to prevent its being pilfered. This custom 

 the inhabitants of Honduras have in common Avith those of all Central America. 

 For this reason on some estates in Honduras and other parts of tlie country, for 

 the sake of ornament, orange-trees are planted which bear a bitter fruit. 



In the parts of Central and South America Avhich I visited, a superfluity of 

 starving dogs are kept, with the understanding that they are not to be taken care of, 

 but must provide for themselves in the best way they can. On this account every- 

 thing eatable must be kept out of their reach ; and an idea of their starving con- 

 dition can be formed from the f\ict, that on the hacienda Agua Azul, which I visited 

 for the sake of studying the lake of Yojoa, the dogs ate in the night the reins of 

 my bridle. 



These conditions of the country render travelling very tedious. The traveller is 

 obliged to carry with him provisions, as in some places he cannot get anything 

 except a few tortillas, and those only as a great favor; and for his beasts some- 

 times absolutely nothing, as I have experienced on several occasions, when the pas- 

 ture was all dried up and no sugar-cane or maize was to be had. Tlie lowest price 

 I paid for maize was in Denli, giving twenty cents for a medio almnd, which was 

 still too high for a country producing two crops a year. In one village the bananas 

 were so abundant that I paid but three cents for a bunch ; and passing the hacienda 



3 July, 1878. 



