Notes on Central America, particularly the States of Honduras and San Salvador ... and the proposed Honduras inter-oceanic railway. With original maps and illustrations

Front matter

NOTES ON CENTRAL AMERICA PARTICULARLY THE STATES OF HONDURAS AND SAN SALVADOR: THEIR GEOGRAPHY, TOPOGRAPHY, CLIMATE, POPULATION, RESOURCES, PRODUCTIONS, etc., etc., AND THE PROPOSED HONDURAS INTER-OCEANIC RAILWAY BY E. G. SQUIER, FORMERLY CHARGE D'AFFAIRES OF THE CNITED STATES TO THE REP0BLICS OF CENTRAL AMERICA. Witt) Original KBajs ana Ifllustratfons, NEW YORK : HARPER A BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, FBANKLIN SQUARE. 1855. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, by HARPER at BROTHERS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New v"jj TO CARL RITTER, GEOGRAPHER, Æjifo 3&iwat is nspirtfitllij -Dihitnteb BY THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS. Geographical Introduction Page v NOTES ON CENTRAL AMERICA. Chap. I. Geographical and Topographical Features of Central America, and their Influence on Population 17-24 Chap. II.

Observations on the Climate of Central America in general. 25-38 Chap. III. Population — Guatemala, San Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica 39-58 REPUBLIC OF HONDURAS. Chap. IV. Discovery, Boundaries, General Aspect, Topography, etc. . 59-72 Chap. V. Rivers, Lakes, and Lagoons 73-91 Chap. VI. Bays, Ports, and Harbors • 92-106 Chap. VII. Islands of Honduras 107-119 Chap. VIII. Political Divisions — Departments of Comayagua, Gracias, Choluteca, Tegucigalpa, Olancho, Yoro, and Santa Barbara. 120-151 Chap. IX. Aspects of Nature in Honduras 152-159 Chap. X. Mines and Minerals 160-171 Chap. XI Precious Woods — 'Vegetable Productions — Animals — Fishes — Reptiles — Insects 172-202 Chap. XII. Existing aboriginal Inhabitants — the Xicaques, Payas, Sambos, and Caribs 203-218 Chap. XIII. Political Organization — Constitution — Religion — Education—Industry — Revenues — Currency — Future Prospects 219-234 INTER-OCEANIC RAILWAY.

Chap. XIV. Proposed Inter-oceanic Railway through Honduras 235-293 REPUBLIC OF SAN SALVADOR. Chap. XV. San Salvador — Geographical and Topographical Features, Productions, etc 295-327 Chap. XVI. Aboriginal Inhabitants of San Salvador 328-352 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. A. Segovia, Chontales, and the Mosquito Shore 353-367 B. " The Bay Islands" 368-377 C. Aborigines of Honduras 378-385 D. Thermometrical and Barometrical Observations 386-388 E. Bibliography 389-393 Index MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. General Map of Honduras and San Salvador To face Title. Physical Sections of Honduras and San Salvador To face page 69 Chart of BayofFonseca " " 93 Chart of Puerto Caballos %. " " 240 Chart of West Indian Hurricanes Page 278 View of the Island of Tigre To face page 96 View of the City and Plain of Comayagua " " 122 View of the Town and Plateau of Intibucat " " 132 View of the City of Tegucigalpa " " 143 View of the Plaza in Tegucigalpa " " 143 View of Mahogany Works on the River Ulua " " 172 View of Puerto Caballos " " 240 View of the Port of La Union " " 303 View of the Valley of Rio Lempa " " 308 View of the Plain of Jiboa and Volcano of San Vicente " " 313 View of the Mining Town of Depilto Page In the year 1850, while occupying the position of diplomatic representative of the United States in Central America, it hecame requisite for me to visit the Bay of Fonseca, which has a commanding geographical position between the states of Nicaragua and San Salvador, on the Pacific Ocean.

Introduction

. lie mind that, in order to reach California, it would continue to be necessary to follow the tedious and circuitous route by way of the Isthmus of Panama. It was then that the observations which I had made at La Union induced me to inquire if there might not be a feasible railway route across the continent, terminating on the Bay of Fonseca, in reference to which, and on other grounds, I had ventured the prediction that, " from its position and capacity, it must ultimately become the great emporium of trade and the centre of enterprise upon that side of the continent " I soon found that, as early as 1540, the officers of the Spanish crown had discovered a favorable passage between the seas upon this very line, and that they had founded the city of Co mayagua " midway between the oceans" for the purpose of obtain ing " an easy communication between the Atlantic and Pacific," by means of which " much sickness, and waste of human life, and many of the fatigues and privations which were experienced in the journey from Nombre de Dios to Panama would be avoided."

On presenting my views upon the subject to a few personal friends and public-spirited gentlemen, it was determined to incur the ex pense of verifying them by a direct and careful examination of the country in question. I at once proceeded to organize a competent corps of reconnaissance for the purpose, and was fortunate enough to secure the co-operation and assistance of several gentlemen of ac knowledged scientific and practical ability. It will not be invidious to mention the names of Lieutenant "W. N. Jeffers, U. S. N., late Assistant Professor of Mathematics in the United States Naval Acad emy ; Dr. S. W. Woodhouse, whose qualifications in the field had been fully tested in the Government Expedition to the Colorado of California, under command of Captain Sitgreaves ; and Mr. D. C. Hitchcock, who accompanied the party as draughtsman.

The expedition sailed from the United States in the month of February, 1853, and in the month of April following commenced its operations in the field, taking the Bay of Fonseca as its point of departure. The accuracy of my previous inferences was speedily and fully verified, as will appear in the pages which follow. A line of observations and barometrical admeasurements was carried com pletely across the continent by Lieutenant Jeffers. A similar line was carried from Leon de Nicaragua to the city of Comayagua, in Honduras, by Dr. Woodhouse ; and another by myself from Coma yagua to the town of Santa Rosa, in the extreme western border of Honduras, thence to the city of San Salvador, in the state of the same name, and afterward throughout the length of that state, from Sonsonate to the port of La Union, our point of departure.

It is upon the observations made, and the facts collected in the progress of this reconnaissance, and in conducting the negotiations resulting from it, that the hurried memoir herewith presented is principally founded. And here I am free to say, that it was my original intention to confine it to a simple explanation of the Map of Honduras and San Salvador which accompanies this volume ; and I have only been led to give it its present extension and form Irom the conviction that the public interest in these hitherto little known yet prospectively important states would hardly be satisfied with a mere detail of their physical features and characteristics. Yet, in attempting to present even these in an intelligible manner, I have been compelled to depend almost entirely upon my own observations.

Indeed, the whole undertaking has been, I had almost said, a creation, inasmuch as there are no authorities or accredited sources of information upon which to proceed, or which might serve as a nucleus for an aggregation of facts. The former condition of Central America, under the jealous and exclusive colonial system of Spain, and the distracting and deplorable circumstances under which it has suffered since its independence, have been eminently unfavorable for every kind of local research, whether in the depart ments of geography or general statistics. Upon all subjects con nected with the history, the natural features and resources, climate, population, productions, trade, and resources of the country, there exists a profound and almost universal ignorance. Even the per sons supposed to be best informed upon these subjects are seldom able to give any comprehensive series of facts, or of accurate obser vations bearing upon any one of them, and the inquirer is left to a laborious process of accumulation, which is alike difficult and dis couraging.

He looks in vain for printed books or public documents to assist him. Of the few which have made their appearance, there nowhere exists a complete collection ; and it is equally vain to seek for data among the state and local archives, where, to an original total lack of order, gross neglect and wanton destruction have been superadded, to confound and defeat all investigation. It might be supposed that, in respect of the general geography of the country at large, or of its various states, it would be easy to ob tain some kind of clear and positive information ; but, excepting a map of the single state of Guatemala, constructed by Don Alejan dro Marure, and entitled "Atlas Guatemalteco, en ocho Cartas, formadas y grabadas en Guatemala, de ordcn del Gefe del Estado, C. Doctor Mariano Galvez, dho 1832," I am not aware that any map of the whole or of any considerable portion of the country was ever constructed or engraved in all Central America.

The few maps. so called, which exist in the archives of some of the states, are hardly a single remove from the rude tracings which the Indian makes on the sand as a guide to his companions on the war-path. I was nevertheless fortunate enough to find, in the possession of a gentleman resident in the city of San Salvador, an unfinished MS. map of Central America, entitled " Mapa del Reyno de Guate.aia la, aho 1818, por Col. Lacierra, Ingenero Real." This map, so far as it relates to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Guatemala, is very full, and, so far as my personal observation goes, generally quite accurate. It has, however, been of but little service to me in the con struction of the accompanying map, for the reason that the states of Honduras and San Salvador have been left completely blank, with out even an attempt to define their coast-line upon the Pacific.

I have only followed it in respect to some of the geographical features of what is called the " Mosquito Shore," where its general accuracy finds confirmation in the accounts which have reached us of that coast. The map of Marure, as I have said, relates exclusively to Guatemala, so that I have derived no assistance in the construction of my own map from native, or what may perhaps be called indigenous, sources. Humboldt, when attempting to construct a map of New Spain, remarked the entire insufficiency and inaccuracy of all the publish ed maps of that country. Not only were important places wrongly located, but topographical features, chains of mountains, and large rivers were laid down where none existed, while others which really did exist were entirely left out. " Most of the American maps exe cuted in Europe," he observed, " are filled with names which are un known in the country itself.

These errors are perpetuated, and it often becomes exceedingly difficult to conjecture their origin."* Mexico was comparatively much better known than Central Amer ica, and if the early maps of the former country were wrong, those of the latter can only be characterized as geographically absurd. Even in later times, although the coasts have been defined with great accuracy, the interior geography has remained as obscure as it was a hundred years ago. The latest maps, some of which are sufficiently pretentious, are for the most part conjectural, and the * New Spain, vol. i., p. lxxxv., Introduction. geographical features which they indicate are wholly inapplicable to the country which they profess to represent. The mention here of an instance, illustrative of the scanty knowledge which the world has hitherto possessed of Central America, may not be inap propriate.

Notwithstanding the project of opening a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, through Nicaragua, had been discussed for three hundred years, yet, up to the publica tion of my map of that state in 1851, a chain of high mountains was represented in every engraved map which had fallen under my notice as intervening between Lake Managua and the Pacific. The city of Leon was represented either as situated on a mountain or surrounded by mountains ; and in all speculations on the subject of an inter-oceanic canal, a river flowing into the sea at or near the port of Realejo, and called " Rio Tosta," was constantly referred to as probably affording some facilities for the purpose ; yet there are no mountains between the northern extremity of Lake Managua and the ocean ; the city of Leon stands in the centre of a vast plain ; and there is no such stream as the " Rio Tosta" known.

And even in the map of Mr. Baily, published in London in 1851, an uninter rupted chain of mountains is represented as extending from Lake Managua to the Gulf of Fonseca, whereas there is no such chain, nor are there any mountains, except a series of volcanic cones, en tirely detached from each other, rising in the plain. This error is the more surprising, as Mr. Baily was employed by General Mora zan, president of the Old Federation of Central America, to make a reconnaissance of the Isthmus of Nicaragua with reference to the projected ship-canal. Again : the city of Comayagua, the capital of Honduras, which was a large and flourishing town before Hudson discovered the Bay of New York, seldom varies less than a degree from its true latitude and longitude, and in many maps it still bears the name of Valla dolid, which fell into disuse nearly one hundred and fifty years ago !

The city of Tegucigalpa, the first in Honduras in point of popula tion, has a position still more variable than Comayagua. There is another great source of annoyance to travelers in Cen tral America, which is the stereotyped recurrence of the names of places in the maps, which, if they ever existed, are now unknown, or which are mere hamlets, unworthy of a place except in maps of "•reat detail, while really important places do not appear at all. We thus see the town of Tambla, in Honduras, laid down in most maps of the country, while Las Piedras and the Villa de San Anto- X GEOGRAPHICAL

INTRODUCTION.

. nio, which exist in the same plain, do not appear. Yet Tambla is a petty village of some 200 inhabitants, while Las Piedras has up ward of 6000, and San Antonio more than 2500 ! Again : in the Department of Gracias, in the same state, Guancapla, a collection of a few huts, is conspicuously indicated, while the large and flourishing town of Santa Rosa, containing some 6000 inhabitants, is en tirely omitted. These examples might be multiplied indefinitely ; but they are errors consequent on the limited information which the world has hitherto possessed of these countries. Map-makers, destitute of requisite accurate data, have been obliged to copy the works of their predecessors, and thus contribute to the perpetuation of their errors. That they have done this, with little or no care to test the accuracy of what they have copied, can also be excused on the ground that hitherto these countries have not had sufficient interest to make accuracy a matter of any practical importance.

Now, how ever, the case is widely different : not only is the value of Central America, in every point of view, beginning to be appreciated, but the enterprise of our people is setting in that direction in a full and increasing current. Apart from these strictly geographical errors, there are others in the various maps of Central America which are without apology and excuse ; I mean, the servile perpetuation in American maps of the arbitrary political subdivisions of the country, made under En glish authority, to sustain the pretensions of the British government. This servility on the part of American map-makers shows how little pains they use to verify the facts which they undertake to present, and how profoundly ignorant they have continued to keep themselves of the issue of the scrutiny to which, in Central Amer ica, British pretensions have been subjected.

Several maps have been published within a year in the United States which are ob noxious to the severest censure on this score. I have selected, as an illustration of the justice of these censures, and as affording an opportunity of correcting several surprising blun ders, a sheet map, entitled "Johnston's Illustrated and Embel lished Map and Chart of the New World. New York, 1844." And here I may observe that, although this map, so far as Central America is concerned, both geographically and politically, is full of the most egregious errors, yet it is in no degree more open to criti cism than nine tenths of the maps of equal pretensions which have been published in the United States. ' 1. For the first time in any map, we find Yera Paz laid down as a distinct state. It is now, as it has always been, a department of the province and state of Guatemala. 2.

The British establishment of Belize, the bound.iries of which are clearly defined by the treaties between England and Spain as extending only from the Rio Jabon to the Rio Hondo, is represented as including more than four times the amount of terri tory legitimately pertaining to it, and extending from the Rio Hondo down to the Bay of Amatique. No such limits were ever conceded by Spain, nor by the inheritors of her territorial rights in that quar ter of the world, nor have they ever been recognized by the United States or any other civilized country. They are impudent pretensions, which map-makers in England, accessory to the schemes of their own government, have adopted without scruple. The representation of the State of Michigan as a part of Canada West could not be more at variance with truth ; and the acceptance of such pre tensions in respect to Michigan by American map-makers would not be one whit more absurd than this servility to English authorities in the political divisions of Central America. 3.

Honduras, which extends from sea to sea, having a frontage of upward of fifty miles on the Pacific (Gulf of Fonseca), is represented in this map as entirely cut off from that ocean by the states of San Salvador and Nicaragua, which are designated as contiguous ; whereas, as I have said, they are separated by the territories of Honduras. 4. Nearly one third of Central America is assigned to the " Mosquito Shore," which is here represented as a distinct and sovereign state. The term " Mosquito Shore" never had a political sense, but has always been used geographically to designate a portion of the eastern coast of Central America. The Indians known as "Mosquitos" are only a few thousands of miserable savages, who are strictly confined to the coast, and have never had establishments of any kind inland.

Essentially fishers, they find a scanty subsistence in the numerous lagoons and creeks near the sea, their only traffic consisting of a few turtle-shells and a little sarsaparilla. Even if these savages were entitled to rank as a nation, they have not, nor could they ever have, the shadow of a pretense of sovereignty over the fractional part of the wide expanse of territory which this map assigns to them. But they have no title of sovereignty over any portion of the country, however small ; they do not claim it for themselves ; it is only set up on their behalf, by Great Britain for sinister purposes, and, so far from being admitted, is positively denied by the United States and every other nation of the globe. The portion of territory assigned by this map to the fictitious Mosquito nationality above the Rio Wanks or Segovia belongs to Honduras ; the part below pertains to Nicaragua. 5.

The northern boundary of Costa Rica is inaccurate, and not conceded by Nicaragua. But this error may be e.xcused on the ground of conflict of claims between those states. It is, perhaps, not to be expected that a map-maker should have the means of test ing the merits of questions of this kind. The true northern boundary line of Costa Rica, as defined in her own Constitution, extends from the lower mouth of the River San Juan to the Rio Salto de Nicoya or Alvarado, falling into the Gulf of Nicoya. Consequently, the territories of Costa Rica do not touch the River San Juan nor Lake Nicaragua, but fall far to the southward of both. The map in question is therefore erroneous in this respect. In short, so far as Central America is concerned, it has no claim to be regarded as an authority. It can serve no purpose except to confuse and mis lead.

It may be claimed that the map here alluded to is general in its character, and does not pretend to specific accuracy. Such, however, is not the case with a large map recently published in London, which has very generally been accepted as an authority, namely, " Map of Central America, including the States of Guatemala, Honduras, San Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, etc., etc., by John Baily, Esq., R. M. — Trelawney Sounders, London, 1850 We are not surprised to find embodied in this map all the terri torial pretensions and arbitrary political divisions of the country de vised and set up by the British government. A few strokes of the colorist's brush have been sufficient to indicate British sovereignty over two thirds of the Department of Yera Paz in Guatemala, to con vert the islands belonging to Honduras, in the bay of the same name, into British dependencies, and to carry Mosquito jurisdiction over more than half of the respective states of Honduras and Nicaragua.

Nor has it been less potent in settling the question of boundary between Nicaragua and Costa Rica in favor of the latter state, in which, by a singular coincidence, British influence has always pre dominated ! These peculiarities of the map, in view of its orio-in, can hardly be regarded as surprising. Those who constructed it have probably smiled to know with what ignorant servility it has been copied on this side of the Atlantic. It may nevertheless be said of this map that it is the nearest approximation to accuracy which has yet been published. Still, in many important geographical as well as political features it is deficient, and in others totally wrong. Leaving out of view both Gua temala and Costa Rica, we find a number of most important errors in the remaining states, which appear all the more surprising, since Mr. Baily not only resided for many years in Central America, but must have traveled over a great part of its territories.

Thus, in San Salvador, the great river Lempa is represented as constituting the boundary between that state and Honduras, whereas it flows, for the greater part of its length, through the longitudinal centre of the state, and forms its northern boundary for only a few miles of its course. Again : the upper waters of the Rio Santiago, in the Department of Gracias, Honduras, are represented as describing the segment of a circle from east to west before taking their general course, east by north, to the sea, whereas the very reverse is the fact. As one of the consequences of this error, the town and ruins of Copan are thrown within the territory of Guatemala, although, in fact, they fall considerably within the boundaries of Honduras. The Lake of Yojoa is presented with the extraordinary feature of five distinct outlets !

The course of the Rio Humuya is also deflected much too far to the eastward of its course. The rivers Guallambre and Guyape, which, in fact, unite to form the River Patuca or Patook, falling into the Bay of Honduras at Brus or Brewer's Lagoon, are represented as constituting the principal affluents of the great River Wanks or Segovia, entering the Caribbean Sea at Cape Gracias a Dios. This river also, which rises in the Mountains of Chili, around the town of Ocotal or Nueva Segovia, in the Nicaraguan department of the same name, is represented as originating far to the north east of those mountains, while the upper waters of the Rio Escon dido, or Bluefields River, are substituted in place of those of the Rio Wanks. The Rio Goascoran, interlocking its head-waters with those of the Rio Humuya, and flowing southward into the Bay of Fonseca, is entirely omitted.

The errors in the positions of places are not less remarkable, but infinitely more numerous. These, however, are not surprising, since most of the towns have necessarily been laid down from the representations of persons who had very imperfect no tions of distances and directions. The distinguished Prussian geographer Berghaus was the first to indicate, with even approximate accuracy, the great physical feat ures of Central America. Instead of admitting a continuous chain of mountains extending through that country from Tehuantepec to Panama, he divided the mountains of Central America into three distinct systems or groups : first, that of Costa Rica, with the volcano of Cartago for a nucleus ; second, that of Honduras ; and, third, that of Guatemala. Between the first and second intervenes the transverse basin of the Nicaragua lakes, with a minimum altitude of land of one hundred and eighty feet ; and between the second and third the plain of Comayagua, with its dependent valleys, having a maximum altitude of but little more than two thousand feet.

Under this view, and in all general respects, Berghaus's Map of Central America, published in his "Physikalischen Atlas" in 1840, has been, up to within a very recent period, far the best representation of the geography of that country. In explanation of the map of Honduras and San Salvador which I herewith present to the public, it is proper to say that the leading points upon the line of the proposed railway through Honduras were determined by Lieutenant Jeffers from numerous and careful astro nomical observations. They constitute the basis upon which the relations of the places visited by the expedition or its members were calculated. These calculations are entitled to additional confidence from the circumstance that there are, both in Honduras and San Sal vador, a number of elevated and commanding mountain and vol canic peaks, which are almost constantly kept in view by the trav eler, and which always enable him to determine his position with considerable accuracy.

The bearings of these determinate points were never neglected when an opportunity occurred for observing them, and have served a most useful and satisfactory purpose in the construction of this map. It will be remarked that those places, of which the position is regarded as having been fixed with approxi mate accuracy, are indicated by a light line drawn under them. All other places are inserted on the best information that could be ob tained, and in a few instances conjecturally. The course of the Rio Patuca, and the relative positions of the towns situated on its upper waters, are on the authority of a rude map constructed by the ma hogany-cutters who are established on the Patuca River and its tributaries. Much of the information embodied in that portion of the map embraced within the boundaries of the Department of Gracias, Honduras, is drawn from a MS. map of that department, constructed in 1838 by Don Jose Maria Cacho, actual secretary of state of Hon duras, and at that period commissioner of the census then ordered by the Congress of the old republic.

I may here observe that little reliance can be placed upon the "Itinerarios" which are appended to the various " Calendarios" published in Central America in respect of distances. The computations are in leagues, and have been obtained chiefly from the pro fessional arrieros, or muleteers of the country, whose estimates of distances are very loose, depending, as they often naively confess, " upon the qualities of their mules." I have found that the value of a league, in the comparatively level grounds of San Salvador and in the plains of Honduras, seldom exceeds two English miles ; while, in the broken and mountainous districts, it falls below a mile and a half of horizontal distance. What I have said of the geographical data embraced in this me moir and in the accompanying maps is equally true of the general statistics and facts which are here presented.

They have been chiefly obtained from direct observation and laborious personal in quiry, in a detached and often obscure form, and are necessarily im perfect. For instance, the facts relating to population have been collected from an inspection of the parochial registers in some in stances, and from tables published irregularly and without digestion in the " Gacetas Officiales" of the respective states. Few, who have not undertaken a similar task, can adequately comprehend how great an amount of labor is requisite to arrive at results under such ad verse circumstances, and how unsatisfactory these results will often prove to be, even after every effort has been exhausted to render them complete and accurate. No one can be more sensible of the defects of this memoir, and its deficiencies in respect to several im portant subjects of inquiry and interest, than myself.

Still, I flatter myself that it will prove of value, as constituting a point of departure for other investigators, who, by correcting its errors and gradu ally supplying its omissions, shall finally complete the design of presenting to the world a full and accurate view of the character, climate, resources, population, and general physical and political con dition of the various divisions of Central America ; and I am not without the hope that this attempt may have an influence in awak ening the attention of the people and governments of that country to the importance of collecting, digesting, and making public the data bearing upon all these subjects. I am not aware of more than one work which has been printed in Central America that even professed to give a general view of the country, its character, and resources, viz., The History of the King dom of Guatemala, by Juarros.