Notes on Central America 



277 



architecture, customs, character, and in- 

 stitutions. 



Men of the stamp of President Estrada 

 Cabrera, who are engaged in the ma- 

 terial upbuilding and the political prog- 

 ress of the country, may prefer to talk of 

 its agriculture and commerce, its oppor- 

 tvmities for the energetic and resourceful 

 people of the northern regions, rather 

 than to discuss its picturesque ruins and 

 its fascinating history. Yet they would 

 not have these subjects neglected. Hence 

 the traveler and the tourist always are 

 welcome, and whether they be deeply 

 learned scientific investigators or mere 

 birds of passage seeking novelty, every 

 provision is made to aid them in their 

 travels. 



A FAiMOUS SPANISH CAPITAL 



Mr William E. Curtis, in his interest- 

 ing book, "The Capitals of Spanish 

 America," gives the following description 

 of the great city built by the Spaniards : 



"Antigua, as it is now called (properly 

 old Guatemala), was not only the scene 

 of wealth and influence and the commer- 

 cial metropolis of the country, but the 

 home of the most learned men of all 

 Spanish America ; the seat of great 

 schools of theology, science, and art ; for 

 two hundred years the Athens and Rome 

 of the New World ; the residence of the 

 university as well as the inquisition, and 

 the headquarters of those untiring apos- 

 tles of evil, Jesuits. The population is 

 said to have been abovit one hundred and 

 fifty thousand. It is not known that a 

 census was ever taken, and this estimate 

 is based upon the size of the city and the 

 number of inhabitants its ruined walls 

 could have contained. It is situated in 

 the center of a great valley, between the 

 twin volcanoes Agua and Fuego, and, as 

 the old Spanish chroniclers used to say, 

 had Paradise on one side and the Inferno 

 on the other. The beauty of its position 

 and the richness of the adjacent country, 

 the grandeur of the scenery that sur- 

 rounds it, have called forth the most ex- 

 travagant admiration from travelers, and 

 have made the theme of the native poets." 



In 1773 a fearful earthquake destroyed 

 the city, leaving "the most extensive col- 

 lection of ruins that can be found in this 

 hemisphere. From a tower of the cathe- 

 dral one can see on either side the ruins 

 of many churches, monasteries, convents, 

 and miles of public and private resi- 

 dences, large and costly, some with walls 

 still standing, liberally ornamented with 

 stucco or carved stone, but roofless, with- 

 out doors or windows, and trees growing 

 within them. 



"The ruins of forty-five churches can 

 be counted, and nearly every one of them 

 had a convent or monastery attached. 

 Some cover several acres, and have cells 

 for five or six hundred monks or nuns. 

 Several of the churches are as large as 

 the cathedral in New York." 



BRITISH HONDURAS 



In his annual report for 1906, U. S. 

 Consul W. L. Avery, of Belize, writes as 

 follows of conditions in British Hon- 

 duras : 



"The year 1906 has been one of prog- 

 ress, prosperity, and freedom from pesti- 

 lence; sanitation and rigid quarantine 

 having freed the colony from the yellow 

 fever scourge of 1905, and though the 

 actual death list in that year was small, 

 the depression and material loss were de- 

 plorable. The health of Belize and of 

 British Honduras was better in 1906 than 

 for the years preceding 1905. The three 

 great needs of this colony are sanitation, 

 transportation, and cultivation, and the 

 trade conditions will be vastly bettered as 

 these are advanced. Sanitation is nearly 

 perfect in the towns where screening re- 

 ceptacles for water, the filling of swampy 

 lots, and a thorough and continuous 

 cleaning of streets, yards, and drains have 

 resulted in the sound health conditions 

 now enjoyed. Transportation by motor 

 boats on the rivers, new wagon roads to 

 the plantations, and the money voted for 

 a 20-mile tramwa}- from the town of 

 Stann Creek to the Crown lands west- 

 ward show that industrial needs have re- 

 ceived attention. In cultivation and the 

 new acreage devoted thereto the greatest 



