212 



MEXICO, CENTRAL AMEEICA, WEiST INDIES. 



Fig. 91. — Pacata Volcano. 



Scilo 1 : 150,(X)r». 



TÎie village of Cerro Redondo, or "Round Hill," which takes its name from one 

 of the cones Farther on another is mentioned by travellers, beyond which the 

 normal igneous chain is cut at right angles by a transverse fissure which extends 

 for over 60 miles towards the north-east. It begins near the coast, where the 

 Moyuta or Moyutla peak rises far to the south of the main axis, and it is con- 

 tinued on the opposite or north side by Amayo, Cuma or Columa, Santa Catarina, 

 or Suchitepec and Ipala, loftiest pe.ik of this transverse range (5,465 feet). 



Ipala terminates in a flooded crater, 

 and on one of its flanks is rooted 

 another igneous cone called Mount 

 Rico. The Guitemalan igneous 

 system terminates near the frontier, 

 where the perfectly symmetrical 

 cone of Chingo rises to a height of 

 over 6,600 feet above the prolonga- 

 tion of the main range. Chingo is 

 said to be extinct, although Dollfus 

 and Mont-Sen at fancied they saw 

 some vapours escaping from its 

 summit. 



North of the Guatemalan plateau 

 the regions carved by the run- 

 ning waters into numerous separate 

 masses present a chaotic appearance 

 in many places, especially towards 

 the diverging sources of the Motagua 

 and Usumacinta rivers. Here the 

 highlands form a central nucleus 

 whence radiate several elevated 

 chains. The loftiest of these sierras 

 is probably the Altos Cuchiiraatanes, 

 which runs north of Huehuetenango 

 towards Tabasco ; it is also known 

 as the Sierra Madre, although it is 

 separated from the other Guatemalan 



— = 3| Miles. ranges by the deep valley of the 



Usumacinta. East of this copious 

 stream the ranges are disposed mostly west and east, and gradually diminish 

 in altitude in the same direction. Taken as a whole, this northern region of 

 Guatemala drainiifg to the Atlantic, and limited southwards by the lofty 

 rampart of the main range, may be compared to a stormy sea breaking into 

 parallel billows. One of these great billows, consisting of mica schists, runs 

 north and parallel to the Motagua under the name of Sierra de las Minas, so desig- 

 nated from its auriferous deposits. Farther east, where it is known as the Sierra 



