GUATEMALA 



GUAVA 



443 



\>\ rough iiiulc-tracks. For tlie five yearn ending 

 1894, tin- average iiiuiiiiil iiti]>ortM Hinoiinted to 

 about 7,000,000 dollars, the average annual exports 

 t about 15,000,000 dollars. The import*, of which 

 I'.Miain supplies nearly a third and the United 

 Slates a sixth, are chiefly specie, cotton, woollen, 

 and silk goods, wines and spirits, railway plant, and 

 Hour; the principal exports are cott'ee, sugar, fruits, 

 ami lii.lt--. 



Alnmt a third of the people are said to be of 

 Kuropcaii descent, and the rest aborigines ( Maya- 

 t^uirhcs) ; Inn tliis rough division takes no account 

 <>f the mixed races, which embrace nearly a score 

 of distinct crosses recognised by separate names; 

 i hese Ladir.os greatly outnumber the comparatively 

 few pure descendants of the Spanish invaders or 

 settlers. The Indians of the northern forest-country 

 sire wild and uncivilised. A census taken in 1880 

 icimned the population at 1,224,602; that of 1890 

 recorded a total of 1,460,017. The capital, Guate- 

 mala la Nueva, in 1895 had 85,000 inhabitants, 

 l^uetzaltenango 20,000, Chimaltenango and An- 

 tiuna Guatemala about 14, (XX). The state re- 

 ligion is the Roman Catholic, which is practically 

 the only form in use, although others are allowed 

 by the constitution. But many of the fine old 

 churches of the country are crumbling to ruin ; 

 and it is said that scarcely a tenth of the population 

 ever enter those that remain in use. About a 

 fourth of the births are illegitimate, the larger pro- 

 portion occurring among the whites. Since 1879 

 primary education has been compulsory and gratui- 

 tous. There are now about a thousand primary 

 schools of all kinds, attended by some 50,000 

 pupils ; excellent high schools for boys are found 

 in the capital, Quetzaltenango, and Chiquimula, 

 and for girls in the capital and at Bolen ; and 

 schools of law, medicine, engineering, philosophy, 

 literature, and music are also provided. 



Guatemala is divided into twenty-two depart- 

 ments, under civil governors. The executive is 

 vested in a president, .elected for six years by 

 direct popular vote; he appoints six secretaries 

 of state, who with nine others form the council. 

 The assembly is elected by universal suffrage, to 

 the number of one for every 20,000 of the popula- 

 tion. The standing army consists nominally of 

 about 2500 men, the militia of nearly 65,000. This 

 force is a heavy drain on the resources of the coun- 

 try, whose finances are not in a flourishing condi- 

 tion. Calculated at the average rate of 6 dollars 

 per pound sterling, the revenue is about 1,000,000, 

 but the expenditure generally exceeds the revenue. 

 In 1895 the internal debt was returned (on the same 

 calculation) at 964,000, the floating debt at 

 400,000, and the foreign debt at 890,000 making 

 a total of near 2,500,000, including past interest. 

 To meet the increase in the floating debt, which 

 lias grown up since 1887, large quantities of paper 

 money have been put in circulation. But on the 

 whole it must be said that of late the interest on 

 both the internal and the foreign debt has been 

 punctually paid, and the bonds have risen greatly 

 in value. 



Guatemala was conquered in 1524 by Cortez' 

 lieutenant, Alvarado, with every accompaniment 

 of cruelty and oppression. After three centuries of 

 harsh and greedy rule, under which the viceroyalty 

 of Guatemala embraced all that is now known as 

 Central America, independence was proclaimed, 

 l.')th Septemlwjr 1821. A confederation survived 

 with difficulty from 1824 to 1839 ; it fell before the 

 attacks of Rafael Carrera, an uneducated Indian of 

 low birth, who founded the present republic, and 

 over it until his death in 1865. " From 1871 



. 



until ho was killed in a war with Salvador in 1885, 

 General Barrios was president, and under his iron 

 rule the country made considerable progress ; 



monastic orders were rigorously suppremed, and 

 much of the church property was confiscated and 

 appropriated to the n -- of public education and 

 for other purjxmeH. There are at present only two 

 shoii lines of railway (150 miles) in operation ; a 

 I in-- from Puerto Ban ion, on the Atlantic, to Guate- 

 mala city, to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific, 

 was commenced in 1884, but in the meantime ha* 

 been abandoned. There are in the republic 180 

 post-ofh'ces, and 2500 miles of telegraph. 



The best work on Guatemala is ]'>riliain'n Guatemala, 

 the Land of the Quetzal (18K7). Hee also Stephens, 

 Incident* of Travel in Central America (New York, 

 1841) ; DollfuB and Montserrat, Voiptae gtologique dan* 

 les RfpMique* de Guatemala et dc San Salvador (Paris, 

 1 stis ) ; Bodduin Whetham, Acrou Central America ( Lond. 

 1877); Laferridre, De J'aru a Guatemala (Paris, 1877); 

 a paper by Mr A. P. Maudslay in Proc. Roy. Geoff. Hoc. 

 ( 1883 ) ; Cliarnay, Lei A nrienne* ViUes du Nouveau Monde 

 (Paris, 1885); Stoll, Zur Ethnoyraphie der Repullik 

 (,'iintemala (Zurich, 1884), and Guatemala, Reiten und 

 Schilderungen (Leip. 1886); a very full report by Con- 

 sul-general Hayes Sadler, in No. (XJO of ' Diplomatic and 

 Consular Reports' (1889); for the geography, Lemale, 

 Guia yeograjica (Guatemala. 1881); and for the early 

 history, Milla y Vidaurre, Historia de la America Cen- 

 tral (Guatemala, 2 vols. 1879). 



(Santiago de Guatemala; also 

 Guatemala la Ntteva), capital of the republic of 

 Guatemala, and the largest and most important 

 city of Central America, stands on a wide plateau, 

 nearly 4900 feet above sea-level, and 72 miles by 

 rail rfNE. of its port, San Jose. It is regularly 

 built, with wide, roughly-paved streets running at 

 right angles, and houses nearly all of one story ; 

 the extensive suburbs are inhabited chiefly by 

 Indians. In the plaza the metropolitan cathedral 

 towers above the government buildings, which 

 include the large, one-story residence of the 

 president. There are numerous other churches, 

 several large hospitals, and the archbishop's palace. 

 Education is cared for in the Institute Nacional, 

 with laboratories, a museum, a zoological garden, 

 and a good meteorological observatory ; and in 

 well-appointed schools of arts and design, agri- 

 cultural and business colleges, normal schools, 

 a polytechnic institute, and schools of law and 

 medicine all supported by government. Other 

 public structures are two large general markets, 

 a subsidised theatre, and a bull-ring. Tramways 

 and the electric light have been introduced, and 

 there are a score of public fountains and washing- 

 places ; but the water, brought 6 miles by an aque- 

 duct, is not good. There are some manufactures 

 and a considerable commerce, all the foreign trade 

 of the republic being concentrated here. Pop. 

 ( 1895 ) 85,000. The present city of Guatemala is the 

 third capital of that name. The first, now called 

 Ciudad Viejo, lies on the plain between Fuego and 

 Agua. It was founded by Alvarado in 1524, and 

 destroyed in 1541 (see GUATEMALA). It has a 

 population now of some 3000 Indians. The second 

 capital, Guatemala la Antigua (Old Guatemala), 

 2i miles NE. of the first and 21 miles \VS\V. of the 

 present capital, was one of the finest cities of 

 America, with a hundred churches and 60,000 

 inhabitants ; in 1773 it was for the second time 

 destroyed by an earthquake, but among the noble 

 ruins a new city has arisen, lit also with the 

 electric light, and sheltering a population of at 

 least 14,000. 



Gliava ( Psidium ), a genus of trees and shrubs 

 of the natural order Myrtacejr, mostly natives of 

 tropical America, and some of them yielding fine 

 ana much-valued fruits. They have opposite entire, 

 or almost entire leaves, a 3-5-lobed calyx, 4-5 

 petals, and a 1 .Vcelled Kerry with many-seeded 

 cells. The Common Guava or White Guava (P. 



