Guatemala Forests. 387 
I have one comment more to make on the face of the country to 
complete the view, as the matter is usually misunderstood. The 
twelve or more volcanoes of Guatemala, of which only two show 
a slight activity, do not form the culminating points of its moun- 
tain masses, but are seated on the southern slopes, facing the 
Pacific, shooting up in beautiful symmetrical cones, with straight 
slopes almost from the sea-level to the point, looming up, viewed 
from the Pacific, in solitary grandeur, 3000 feet above the lofty 
sierras behind them. It is one of the great and inspiring sights of 
the world to thus see close together the three cones of Agua, 
Fuego and Acatenango, and the Spaniards could not help but place 
them on the escutcheon of Guatemala as the symbol of this beautiful 
land. 
Let us begin at the top of one of these towering, awe-inspiring 
volcanoes, 14,000 feet above the sea, as Agna, or Tajumulco or 
Tacaná, and take a general view of the vegetation on our way 
down to the sea-level. On Tajumulco I spent two days and on 
Tacan4 eight, to make observations. It was bitterly cold, day and 
night, reaching 8° F. above zero. The piercing winds blew at 
times so one could hardly stand up. Large lava stones were piled 
against the tripod to keep the theodolite from falling over. Hail 
storms, with terrific lightning and crashing thunder enveloped us. 
Owing to rarity of air some of the people became sick and had to 
be sent down. The volcano was extinct (Tajumulco), but several 
acres of calcined and crumbling rock, and fissures and holes lined 
with sulphur crystals and incrustations show that not many years 
ago it burned. On a part of the crater rim were stuck many 
_€rosses and notched sticks where the Indians come to perform 
‘their ancient religious rites. On Tacaná two Chinams (priests) 
came up and performed a sacrificial rite with a turkey in my 
presence after I convinced them that I was from another country 
and would not betray them, for such rites are forbidden. The 
view extended over the coast plain and many miles over the Pacific 
to an indistinguishable horizon, where sea and sky blended ; but 
at sunset one could see where it came, apparently up in the sky. 
Round about the crater was only sterile desolation, but on 
descending one soon sees dry grasses, low weedy herbs and stunted 
Pines and cedars. From 500 to 1000 feet below begin pine 
forests that extend down to 9090 feet above sea-level. There are 
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