442 



GUARNIERI 



GUATEMALA 



1388 to learn Greek under Chrysoloras. After his 

 return, he taught in Verona, Padua, and Bologna, 

 was tutor to Prince Lionella of Ferrara, acted as 

 interpreter at the Council of Ferrara, and died in 

 1460. He performed great services for the revival 

 of classical studies ; wrote Greek and Latin grain- 

 mars ; translated parts of Strabo and Plutarch ; 

 and helped to establish the text of Livy, Plautus, 

 Catullus, and Pliny. See monographs by Rosmini 

 (1806) and Sabbadini (1885). 



Guarnieri, or GUARNERI, the name of one 

 of the three celebrated families of violin-makers 

 who flourished at Cremona in the 17th and 18th 

 centuries. The most notable of the family were 

 ANDREA (fl. 1650-95), a pupil of Niccolo Amati; 

 his sons GIUSEPPE (fl. 1690-1730) and PIETRO (fl. 

 1690-1725); and his nephew GIUSEPPE, commonly 

 called Giuseppe del Gesu, who flourished 1725- 

 45, and whose violins were not inferior to those of 

 the Stradivari. 



Guastalla, a small town of Italy, on the Po, 

 19 miles by rail NE. of Parma. The seat of a 

 bishop (since 1828), it has an old castle, and a 

 school of music. Guastalla gave name in 1406 to 

 a countship, in 1621 to a duchy. Pop. 2648. 



Guatemala, a republic of Central America, 

 lying between 13 46' and 17 44' N. lat., and 

 bounded on the W. and N. by Mexico ; on the E. 

 by Belize, the Gulf of Honduras, and the republic 

 of Honduras ; on the S. and W. by San Salvador 

 and the Pacific. Part of the frontier, however, is 

 not yet fixed, the boundary line towards Yucatan 

 in particular being still undetermined. In the 

 absence of government surveys the area is estimated 

 at some 46,600 sq. m., much of which is wholly 

 unexplored, so that the course of even the larger 

 rivers and the direction of the main mountain- 

 chains, as laid down in the maps of the country, 

 are to a considerable extent hypothetical. The 

 greater part of Guatemala is mountainous, the high- 

 lands having a mean elevation of about 7000 feet 

 above the sea ; but the surface presents great 

 variety, with extensive plateaus, terraces, and up- 

 land valleys the last notable for their beauty, fer- 

 tility, and favourable climate. The main chain runs 

 generally parallel with the Pacific coast, which it 

 approaches within fifty miles ; on this side the 

 elope is steep and broken by many volcanoes, while 

 towards the Atlantic it sinks in gentle incline, 

 with subsidiary ranges extending to the water's 

 edge. Of the volcanoes several are active ; the 

 most noted is Fuego ( 12,075 feet ), which lays 

 claim to nearly half of the recorded eruptions in 

 Central America. Agua, from whose crater-lake a 

 deluge of water destroyed the first capital in 1541, 

 has been extinct for centuries. Earthquakes are 

 frequent, and occasionally ( as in 1863 and 1874) very 

 severe ; sulphur and other hot springs are numer- 

 ous. Guatemala is well watered, the principal 

 rivers being the Usumacinta, which flows into 

 Campeachy Bay, and the Polochic and Motagua 

 (about 280 miles), which fall into the Gulf of 

 Honduras ; yet, owing to the configuration of the 

 country, water in many parts is scarce in the dry 

 season. Those of the streams, moreover, that 

 are navigable possess the ever-present bar common 

 to Central American rivers. The lakes include the 

 Lago de Izabal (36 miles long), below which the 

 Polochic becomes the Rio Dulce ; the Laguna del 

 Peten ( 27 miles by 15 ); and the Lagos de Atitlan 

 (17 by 8) and Amatitlan (9 by 3). 



The climate, except in the low-lying districts, may 

 be described as perpetual spring, and is generally 

 healthy, but the people are for the most part utterly 

 regardless of all sanitary laws. The hot coast-lands 

 on the Pacific are especially liable to visitations of 

 yellow fever. At the capital the temperature ranges 



from 40 to 87 F., and the annual rainfall is about 

 53 inches ; in the lowlands the mean range is from 

 70 to 90 ; in the uplands ice appears in the dry 

 winters. The rainy season extends generally from 

 April to October, April and May being the hottest 

 months. 



Guatemala is as yet of little importance as a 

 mining country, but chiefly because its resources 

 are almost wholly undeveloped. Gold, which is 

 found in most of the river beds, is worked to some 

 extent in the department of Izabal ; some silver- 

 mines are also worked, and a mint was established 

 in 1888 ; and salt and saltpetre are mined, though 

 not in large quantities. Other minerals are lead, 

 iron, copper, coal, quicksilver, marble, porphyry, 

 sulphur, zinc, gypsum, &c. But the wealth of the 

 country consists in its rich soil, which, according 

 to the altitude, yields the products of every zone. 

 The shores are lined with mangroves, the rivers 

 with bamboos, beyond which rise the forests, where 

 the mahogany, the cocoa-nut, cohune, and other 

 palms tower above the wild bananas, ferns, and 

 gingers that scantily cover the bare soil below, 

 whilst the exuberance of orchids and trailing para- 

 sites confuses the identity of the trees. In the 

 uplands are forests of huge pines and spruces and 

 oaks, agaves and cherimoyas appear on the hillside, 

 and thick grass clothes the ground ; even in the 

 dry lava plains a coarse grass springs up between 

 the lava blocks, and acacias and calabash trees are 

 met with. The forests contain over a hundred 

 kinds of timber trees, including many of the most 

 valuable ; yet, owing to the absence of roads and 

 means of transport, Guatemala is obliged to 

 import a large quantity of Calif ornian red -wood 

 and other timber. In 1888 the appointment of 

 keepers of the national forests was ordered. Maize 

 and haricot beans (frijoles) grow freely everywhere, 

 peas and potatoes in sufficient quantity for con- 

 sumption, wheat in the uplands, and rice in the 

 bottom-lands. Other products are coffee ( the chief 

 export), sugar, cacao, india-rubber, tobacco, cotton, 

 pita and sisal hemp, sarsaparilla, and many medici- 

 nal plants, bananas, and a number of other fruits, 

 mostly of the finest quality. The export of cochi- 

 neal, formerly of chief importance, has almost 

 ceased. Cattle are raised sufficient for the needs 

 of the country, though not, as in Honduras, 

 for exportation. The fauna of Guatemala includes 

 the jaguar, puma, ocelot, coyote, red-deer, tapir, 

 peccary, armadillo, and several monkeys ; iguanas 

 and turtles are numerous, whereas the alligators 

 are small and not frequent, and boas and venomous 

 snakes, though the number of species is consider- 

 able, are seldom met with. The birds are of great 

 variety and beauty, comprising several hundred 

 species ; the national emblem is the superbly 

 coloured Quetzal ( q. v. ). Insects abound, the most 

 notable being the brilliant butterflies, immense 

 beetles, locusts, many kinds of ants, scorpions, 

 tarantulas, grasshoppers, mosquitoes, flies, and 

 jiggers. 



The industries of Guatemala are chiefly confined 

 to the manufacture of woven fabrics, pottery, and 

 saddlery ; there are several chocolate factories, and 

 flour and saw mills in the country, and numerous 

 distilleries of the fiery aguardiente, the sale of which 

 is a government monopoly, yielding about a fourth 

 of the annual revenue. San Jose, the chief port, 

 Champerico, and Ocos, all on the Pacific, are 

 merely open roadsteads, provided with iron piers ; 

 but Santo Tomas, on the Atlantic side, has a good 

 harbour ; and in 1883 Livingston, at the mouth of 

 the Rio Dulce, was proclaimed a free port for ten 

 years, since when the trade has considerably in- 

 creased. The development of the country, how- 

 ever, is greatly hampered by the absence of service- 

 able roads, which are for the most part represented 



