6 
GUATEMALA. 
lands of Central America; and these contain the wash 
of volcanoes, limestone mountains, and ages of vegetable 
growth and decay, forming the richest of soils for agri¬ 
cultural purposes. 
In Guatemala the mean height of the cordillera is 
about seven thousand, and probably the mean height of 
this republic is not less than five thousand, feet. The 
Sierra Madre, or Cuchumatanes, in the Department of 
Huehuetenango, is the highest land (always excepting 
the volcanoes, which will be described later); and of the 
less important ridges are the Sierra de Chama (of lime¬ 
stone, and full of caverns), which extends towards the 
northeast and ends in the Cockscomb Range of British 
Honduras; Sierra de Santa Cruz, also of limestone, ex¬ 
tends nearly eastward, north of the Lago de Izabal and 
the Rio Polochic, and south of the Rio Sarstun ; Sierra 
de las Minas, nearly parallel to the last, and separating 
the valley of the Rio Motagua from that of the Polochic. 
Of this range is the Montana del Mico and the peak of 
San Gil, near Livingston: the material is no longer lime¬ 
stone, but metamorphic rock, containing mines of some 
importance. Last we have the Sierra del Merendon, 
which forms the boundary between Guatemala and Span¬ 
ish Honduras; and with various names it finally ends in 
the Montana de Omoa on the coast, — an important land¬ 
mark several thousand feet high. 
The mountains of Salvador are all volcanic and shore¬ 
ward of the main chain; but in Honduras the lines again 
repeat the general arrangement of Guatemala, while the 
names are many, indicating a more broken system. Be¬ 
tween the ranges are broad and fertile valleys, the Llano 
de Comayagua being forty miles in length, with a breadth 
