338 
GUATEMALA. 
have now been so completely superseded by other dyes, 
the product of the laboratory, that they no longer need 
be considered of importance, although enough indigo is 
still made to supply native dyers, the Indios especially 
prizing the true indigo blue. Both dye-stuffs were chiefly 
cultivated on the Pacific slopes, and I have seen half- 
neglected nopaleras in the vicinity of Antigua and Ama- 
titlan, the nopal or opuntia generally yielding place to 
sugar-cane and retiring to the roadside and neglected 
corners, while the cochineal insect, unfed and uncared- 
for, is gradually disappearing. In 1883 there were ex¬ 
ported 135.02 cwt. of indigo, valued at $16,881.25; while 
in 1884 only 62.67 cwt., of a value of $7,833.75. A 
more decided decrease is seen in the exportation of cochi¬ 
neal in those years, the amounts being 184.01 cwt., of a 
value of $9,200.50, in 1883, against 8.12 cwt., valued at 
$406, in 1884. 
It has been my fortune to visit many of the tropical 
regions of the world, and I have visited them not from 
idle curiosity, but with a genuine interest in their inhabi¬ 
tants and productions. I have looked upon the human, 
animal, and vegetable population of these places as closely 
as my limited knowledge and the time allowed me would 
permit. It is an agreeable study to place the physical 
capabilities of a region, the richness of the soil, the 
climatic influences, the geographical and commercial 
situation, side by side with the people, their industry, 
strength, and intelligence, and from these premises draw 
the conclusion of the might-be. 
Once in travelling alone on horseback over the desert 
lands which lie betw r een the mountains of the Island of 
Maui, of the Hawaiian group, I was impressed with the 
