Guatemala Forests. 389 
beautiful colors, as bright yellow and rosy red, that would be most 
valuable for cabinet-making were they accessible, but to bring 
them out would be too costly. 
I have mentioned the pine already. There are at least three 
species. One is the Océte, which is very rich in resin, and is 
used all over the country for light. In every hut three stakes, or 
a three-forked stake, is driven into the earth floor ; a flat stone, or 
water-jar, is placed on top about three feet from the ground, and 
on this a few finely-split sticks of Océte are kept burning, and 
a child has the duty of replenishing it from time to time with 
fresh sticks, 
I have seen mule-loads of these split sticks on the way to city 
markets, and in Guatemala city the Ocóte sticks hold their own 
against the electric light. In the low country, in districts where no 
Océte grows, some trunk discovered on a river bank, borne down 
from the mountains by freshets, is a treasure, and supplies the inhabi- 
tants with light until it disappears piecemeal. This pine grows at 
all elevations in the temperate and cold climates, and is the charac- 
teristic tree on the volcanoes, on the ash beds, but here mostly 
cleared away except in barrancos, and in sandstone soil. There are 
also some remarkable pine forests near the sea-level. We thus see 
the pine growing from sea-level to the highest summits, and on the 
volcanoes to over 13,000 feet high, either in exclusive forests or 
mixed with other trees. There is a species of pine that is of rare 
occurrence in the temperate belt. It is called the “ holy pine,” but 
I have not learned the reason. Perhaps because crosses can be 
easily cut from the limbs, from its regular opposite branching. Its 
needles are very long, and bark smooth. 
There is a curious tree belonging to the order of the Composite 
that is confined to a particular elevation in a marked way. It is 
rather gnarled and crooked in shape, but with trunks over a foot 
in diameter, and reaching a height of thirty feet. Its leaves are 
willow-shaped, nearly a foot long, glossy green above and white to- 
mentose beneath, and clustered at the end of the branches. The 
flowers are yellow, sunflower-like, an inch or more across, and - 
arranged in large racemes. This tree is so entirely wanting at 
lower levels, and so regularly makes its appearance at 10,000 feet 
above the sea, that we call it “our 10,000-footer.” It hardly 
extends 1000 feet in vertical range. At these elevations occurs another 
