2 
GUATEMALA. 
extending between 8° 10' and 19° 20' north latitude, and 
between 82° 25' and 92° 30' west longitude. In length 
it measures between eight and nine hundred miles, while 
its breadth varies from thirty to three hundred miles. 
No competent survey has ever been made of this coun¬ 
try, and even the coast-line is not always correctly 
laid down on the best charts. Maps have been made 
at haphazard in most cases, and very few positions 
have been scientifically determined. Government sur¬ 
veys along the lines of proposed canals or railways 
have not extended beyond a narrow line, usually in 
low regions remote from important centres. Dr. Frant- 
zius 1 has published a very excellent map of Costa Rica; 
but most of the so-called maps published by or under 
the authority of individual republics are of no scien¬ 
tific value, the course of the principal rivers and the 
direction of the main mountain-chains being unknown. 
To illustrate the uncertain geography of Central Amer¬ 
ica, let me give the extent and population as pub¬ 
lished by three authorities, — (I.) Lippincott’s Gazetteer, 
.) Whittaker’s Almanac, 
and (III.) 
the “ Geografia 
Centro-America ” of Dr. 
Gonzalez. 
I 
Square Miles. 
Population. 
Guatemala. 
. 40,777 
1,190,754 
Salvador. 
7,335 
434,520 
Honduras ..... 
. 47,090 
351,700 
Nicaragua. 
. 58,000 
236,000 
Costa Rica. 
. 21,495 
180,000 
174,697 
2,392,974 
1 Petermaim’s Mittheil ungen, 1869, 
