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NARRATIVE OF A 



tains, with intervening vallies, except in the neighbour- 

 hood of Guatemala, where the table-lands commence, 

 which are vast undulating plains, spreading for many- 

 leagues around. All the physical and natural peculiari- 

 ties of other countries are united in the formation of the 

 general aspect of Central America : delightful valleys 

 teeming with animal and vegetable life, extensive prairies 

 clothed with verdure, gentle rivulets and foaming tor- 

 rents, huge broken rocks, inaccessible mountains and 

 fiery volcanoes, dense gloomy forests, grassy knolls, and 

 shady groves. The same variety is remarkable in the 

 climate, as will be shown anon, and in the vegetable 

 productions of the country. 



That elevated range forming the spine of the whole 

 continent, styled in South America the Andes, and in the 

 United States the Rocky Mountains, may be traced in its 

 regular continuance through Central America, though at 

 a less elevation, dividing this country into two grand sec- 

 tions ; the waters on the north of the ridge falling into 

 the Atlantic, and on the south flowing into the Pacific* 

 This great range approaches to the Atlantic, and recedes 

 from the Pacific, in Central America, in a greater degree 

 than in any other part of the American continent, and is 

 more abrupt in its slope towards the former ocean than 

 towards the latter. It traverses the western part of the 

 State of Guatemala, and constitutes that region called 

 los Altos, or highlands, of Totonicapan and duesaltenan- 

 go. It is interrupted in its course by two transversal val^ 

 lies, in one of which is situated the lake of Nicaragua ; 

 in the other are the plains of Comayagua. Nearly the 

 whole coast of the Pacific is bordered by an alluvial 

 plain, varying in breadth ; and the line where this plain 



* A rivulet is pointed out in the vicinity of Guatemala that may be 

 considered a curiosity. At a little distance from its source it branches 

 off into two streams, one of which can be traced to the Atlantic ; the' 

 other flows into the Pacific. 



