Vol. XXXV, No. 3 WASHINGTON 



Septeaiber, 1919 



SHATTERED CAPITALS OF CENTRAL 



AMERICA 



By Herbert J. Spinden 



DOMINGO JUARROS, the his- 

 torian, begins his account of the 

 earthquakes that overwhelmed 

 the first two capitals of Guatemala with 

 this pious generalization : 



"From the time the first transgressors 

 were expelled from Paradise, miseries, 

 misfortunes, and calamities have formed 

 a prominent part in every history." 



The man-made cataclysms of the 

 Great War have held the attention of 

 the world to such an extent that titanic 

 disturbances due to blind forces of na- 

 ture have been all but overlooked. Even 

 now the destruction wrought by re- 

 peated earthquakes in Central Amer- 

 ica — destruction as grim and heartbreak- 

 ing as that made by steel and flames along 

 the battle line in France — takes its chief 

 sentimental interest from the fact that 

 the Republic of Guatemala has been a 

 sincere associate of the United States in 

 the Great War. 



The city of San Salvador, capital of 

 the Republic of Salvador, was destroyed 

 on June 7, 1917; but it was rapidly re- 

 built, and early in 1919 showed few in- 

 dications of the terrible shaking it had 

 received. On April 28, 191 9, however, a 

 still greater catastrophe overwhelmed the 

 city, and practically all houses that had 

 been restored were again leveled and 

 many more deaths resulted. 



In December, 191 7, and January, 1918, 

 the total destruction of Guatemala City 



occurred, the heaviest shock coming on 

 January 24, 1918. In October and No- 

 vember of 1918 and as late as 1919 in- 

 tense vibrations were still being felt. 



At the present time the volcano of 

 Irazu, in Costa Rica, is in a state of erup- 

 tion, possibly due to the seismic disturb- 

 ances farther north. 



WHERE THE MOUNTAINS OFTEN TREMBLE 



The recent catastrophes in Central 

 America are but the latest of a long list 

 recorded since the coming of the Span- 

 iards. Scarcely a city between the fron- 

 tiers of Mexico and Panama but has suf- 

 fered from the dreadful instability of 

 Mother Earth. Many have been de- 

 stroyed and rebuilt at other sites only to 

 be again destroyed. The coats of arms 

 and other insignia of the Central Amer- 

 ican republics commonly show volcanoes. 

 A certain volcanic quality seems to have 

 entered into their political history. 



The circumstances of the recent earth- 

 quakes in Salvador and Guatemala were 

 strikingly different. The first was asso- 

 ciated with a tremendous eruption of 

 lava, but in connection with the other 

 there was no eruption of any sort ; only 

 tremendous shakings, as though a giant 

 with mountains heaped about his shoul- 

 ders were struggling to free himself. 



Both these earthquakes were probably 

 caused by a slipping or faulting of the 

 earth crust, although there are no surface 



