Guatemala Forests. 393 
From 7000 to 3000 feet elevation the country is so thickly inhab- 
ited, cleared and cultivated that the forests are small and unim- 
- portant, except on the Gulf slope of the mountains, where the 
forests are very dense and little known. I have penetrated 
through them for three years, yet can hardly say I have seen them. 
One must hew a path through them with axe and cutlass, and can 
see only the numberless and thickly matted and intertwined vines, 
lianes and briars, ferns, bamboo-grass and knife-grass, will brush 
and bother unending, and the close-standing trunks of the un- 
known trees; but their flowers or foliage never. After three 
years I have not yet seen the leaves of the cedar, mahogany, silk- 
cotton and others whose identity I have otherwise learned. 
But the reason partly is that I had duties that prevented my 
making a special study of such matters. I have gone up moun- 
tains where the underbrush was so densely matted that my cutter 
ahead would open only a tunnel next the ground high enough for 
us to crawl on hands and knees for distances of several hundred 
feet at a time. Such circumstances are not favorable for observa- 
tions of Nature. 
At these middle altitudes fruit trees come forward ; but there are 
very few wild fruits—a wild plum, a wild cherry like ours, the 
large zapate and the manzanilla, are all that occur tome. The 
plum is yellow, and rather sour and astringent. The wild pigs, or 
peccaries, of which there are three species, are very fond of them. 
The monkeys, of which there are two species (the Spider and the 
Howling), live to a great extent on the zapate, whose tree is large 
and lofty. The Indians are also very fond of it; and make distant 
excursions into the woods to hunt for it and for wild honey. 
Sometimes in the depth of the woods one comes to a large zapate 
tree, with a rude ladder of poles fastened to the trunk extending 
up to the top, for gathering its fruit. Some families keep secret 
certain zapate and bee trees, and visit them each year. Of cultivated 
fruits at these altitudes there is the Agnacate (called Palta in 
Peru and Alligator Pear in the West Indies), the apple and the 
peach. There are few Indian villages and hamlets that are not 
rosy with peach blossoms in the season. Rose bushes, too, and gera- 
niums in profusion are about their huts and fences. Apples are 
not so common, and appear to be of late introduction. Coffee 
comes into cultivation at 6000 feet, but thrives best at 3000 to 
4000 feet. ee 
