4 
GUATEMALA. 
the earth’s crust bent upwards, and in unelastic places 
broken, and this partly or entirely beneath the ocean. 
The rising land as the ages passed would be acted upon 
not only by the ocean waves and currents, but by the 
torrential rains, which were of a force and frequency 
that even our water-spouts of the present age cannot 
equal. Cracks were widened, gorges were formed; and 
as the earth approached the present geological age, the 
gentler rains only supplied the rivers and lakes which 
now occupied the furrows ploughed deeply by primeval 
torrents. The rough work was done, the statue blocked 
out; and henceforth meteoric influences were merely to 
finish, add expression and polish to the work. 
A traveller crossing this territory from ocean to ocean 
would sometimes follow the river valleys, then climb 
ridges, again traverse a plain, cross a valley, ride along 
another mountain-ridge, compassing a volcano, and finally 
descend abruptly to the Pacific. His direction had not 
changed, but the nature of his path had been wonder¬ 
fully transformed. 
Geologists know well that on one of these lines of 
disturbance, such as has been described, molten and dis¬ 
integrated material is apt to come to the surface as lava 
and ashes; they expect also to find metallic veins, espe¬ 
cially of the precious metals, and hot springs with vari¬ 
ous minerals in solution, and they infer earthquakes. 
All these phenomena are present in Central America in 
full force. Immense cones have arisen along the Pacific 
slope since the general features of the land were made, 
and not only have spread vast deposits around their 
base, but have blocked up valleys, forming lakes as 
Atitlan, built promontories as Coseguina, islands as 
