In and out of Central America, and other sketches and studies of travel

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I. — In and out of Central America 1

Introductory 1

I. In And Out Of Central America

INTRODUCTORY.

There are many lines of steamers by which Central America may be reached from the United States, though some of the routes are roundabout and tedious. To say nothing of several lines of fruiting steamers which go from New York and from New Orleans to various ports on the Caribbean (the Atlantic) coast, we have, of course, the comfortable large steamers of the Pacific Mail Company, which sail three times a month from New York to Aspinwall, and connect, via the Panama Railroad, with others that go from Panama to San Francisco. These call at about one half of the Pacific Central American ports, while three other steamers of the same line touch each month at all of them. A Spanish line has two steamers per month from Panama to San Francisco, calling at all ports. An American company sends one steamer a month from Guatemala to San Francisco, touching at ports all along the coasts of Mexico and Lower California; and a Mexican steamer runs once a

I.

IN AND OUT OF CENTRAL AMERICA.

INTRODUCTOEY.

There are many lines of steamers by which Central America may be reached from the United States, though some of the routes are roundabout and tedious. To say nothing of several lines of fruiting steamers which go from New York and from New Orleans to various ports on the Caribbean (the Atlantic) coast, we have, of course, the comfortable large steamers of the Pacific Mail Company, which sail three times a month from New York to Aspinwall, and connect, via the Panama Railroad, with others that go from Panama to San Francisco. These call at about one half of the Pacific Central American ports, while three other steamers of the same line touch each month at all of them. A Spanish line has two steamers per month from Panama to San Francisco, calling at all ports. An American company sends one steamer a month from Guatemala to San Francisco, touching at ports all along the coasts of Mexico and Lower California; and a Mexican steamer runs once a month from Guatemala to Guaymas, in the Gulf of California, whence the Mexican Sonora Eailway connects, by a road three hundred and fifty miles long, with our Southern Pacific and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroads. The steamers, therefore, are numerous enough^ but they carry you such winding ways that while by the shortest route it would take at least ten days to reach a capital of one of the republics, by the longest you would need one whole month.

First, let m.e correct some popular impressions about Central America as to size and population. Its entire area is a little less than that of our State of California, or,, including Balize (the colony of British Honduras, which may very properly be reckoned with it), its area is a little less than that of France, while its total population is but. that of the city of Paris ! Of course it lies wholly within the tropics, though it is the belts adjoining each ocean which have torrid climates. The high lands of the interior, five and six thousand feet above the sea, could have been no more effectively situated in a temperate zone. Central America extends in a general northwest and southeast direction, between ten degrees each of latitude and longitude (namely, the parallels of 8° and 18° north and 82° and 92° west), a total length of nearly one thousand miles ; while the greatest breadth, that along the northern boundary of Nicaragua, is but three hundred miles, and the least, in Costa Eica, not one hundred. In fact, in the central axis of Costa Eica stands a not very conspicuous mountain, from whose summit, in clear weather, both oceans may easily be seen. Nicaragua and Costa Eica have nearly as much sea-coast upon one ocean as upon the other. Honduras has by far the greater portion on the Atlantic, and Guatemala on the Pacific, each having but one good seaport on its lesser extent of coast. Salvador looks only upon the Pacific, and Balize upon the Atlantic. In fact, Balize stands in about the same relation, in size and shaj^e, to Guatemala as does Salvador to Honduras, remembering, of course, that they are upon opposite sides of the vast isthmus.

The usually accurate Humboldt mistakes in saying that the chain of the Andes extends unbroken from Colombia to Mexico. There are a great many short irregular ranges, and their general trend is east and west. Honduras is so broken and hillocky as to have reminded me of the West India island of Dominica, whose surface Columbus aptly compared to the appearance of a lot of stiff paper after being rumpled in the hand. The volcanoes — of which there are some fifty in Central America, most of them being extinct — though more or less isolated, appear to be in irregular lines not far distant from the Pacific. The general superficial appearance of Central America may be said to be — save on the Caribbean coasts, where it is low and level — that of a region of forest-clad hills, fertile valleys, large lakes, and small rivers. All the capitals are in the interior, and are situated generally at an altitude of from three to five thousand feet, where the climate is cool and salubrious; the seaports connecting with the capitals are small, hot, and unhealthy.

The history of Central America is perhaps too well known to necessitate more than a reference to the fact that the five republics now found there formed originally a colony or province of Spain (called, by the way, Gruatemala), under the viceroyalty of a captain-general. In 1823 they established their independence, and constituted a federation styled the " United States of Central America," with a President and a Federal Congress modeled upon our own. This union lasted only sixteen years, when the different members of the confederation became sovereign and independent. Several attempts have since been made to unite these republics — that of Barrios being fresh in the minds of all. The states of Central America are no less active in revolution and in warring with each other than those of South America. However, in February, 1889, the Central American republics agreed upon a treaty, which it is hoped will help to bring about a lasting union. It provides that if any difficulty shall arise between these states, it shall be settled without war by the arbitration of some one of the following nations: the United States, Argentine Eepublic, Chili, Mexico, Switzerland, or of any of the great European powers; that none of the five republics shall form alliances with outside nations without the consent of all ; and that delegates from the five republics shall meet annually to consider matters of mutual interest.

Naturally it is impossible to travel to advantage in Central America without a thorough knowledge of the Spanish language. Through the help of foreign residents you may possibly succeed in getting to the capitals, but such a yisit will lose half its flavor and value. The sole dependence for interior travel is the mule. The roads are generally mere trails, and all but impassable during the rainy season — nearly one half the year. There are less than four hundred miles of railway in all Central America, and trains are generally run at about the speed of ordinary glaciers. Hence, though Costa Eica has more than one hundred miles of railway, the mail is carried on mule-back, while in ^^arts of Salvador and Honduras it is actually borne afoot. The train that pierces the most populous districts of Costa Rica until quite recently ran only when there were sufficient freight and passengers to " pay," and even now its trips are but tri- weekly. There are several fair cart-roads, but you seldom find lines of stages running upon them. Such conveniences as "through routes" are non-existent. No train was ever known to connect with a steamer, no stage with a train, scarcely any mule with a stage. Your only dependence, as I have just said, is upon the stout and patient mule — a generally, though wrongfully, abused animal which has carried me safely for many thousands of miles. When about to undertake a journey, you must engage mules not only for yourself, baggage, and servant, but often for tents and provisions also. The hotels in the seaports are mere sheds or warehouses, dirty, full of fleas, mosquitoes, and, even worse, with wretched food, badly cooked. In some of the capitals approximations to comfortable hotels are found ; but they are pretty sure to be managed by foreigners — either Frenchmen, Italians, or Germans. Travel is generally undertaken at night, to avoid the heat and glare of day, and twelve hours at a stretch in the saddle are not thought an excessive ride. The traveler, therefore, who sees very much of the interior may expect to encounter many petty inconveniences, annoyances, and hardships. Though peril is not always added, yet it will be well to wear conspicuously a revolver, since its possessor will thus receive proper attention and be free from insult — not that there will probably be any actual necessity for its use. For traveling expenses. United States gold coin may be taken, or Chilian and Peruvian silver dollars, the latter being the more bulky, but freely circulating at their full value in all the republics. Several of these have paper money also, which, though easier to carry, is usually so much depreciated in value that the country people are suspicious of it. 'No passport to enter is at present required, though sometimes permits to leave, as in Guatemala and Costa Rica, are necessary.

Among the 2,500,000 inhabitants of Central America you find, besides pure Indians and negroes, a great number of curiously crossed races. A Spaniard is here, of course, as much of a foreigner as a Japanese would be. Perhaps a quarter of the population are Creoles, or people of European parentage. Among the mixed races you notice especially the mestizoes, or descendants of a white father and Indian mother; mulattoes, the offspring of whites and Africans ; and the zamboes, half-breed negroes and Indians. All tints are to be seen, from the chalky white of the hill-dwellers of Costa Eica — the purest native blood — shading almost imperceptibly down, through octoroons and quadroons, to reddish-colored Indians and, finally, coal-black negroes. Negroes are found in any number only on the Caribbean side and chiefly in the British province of Balize. In Guatemala are a great many Indians — aborigines, or their direct descendants. You notice them especially in the streets and markets of the capital, and they always prove interesting. They belong to the great Quiche family, of which as many as fifty tribes are scattered through Central America. In Guatemala there are sixteen aboriginal idioms. About one thousand foreigners — Germans, English, French, Italians, and Americans — live there. The members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the five states make their headquarters in Guatemala, going, as business may require, to the other capitals. They all have the rank of ministerresident. Only seven foreign powers are at present represented — England, France, Spain, Austria, Germany, Italy, and the United States. In each of the other republics a few foreigners reside on their coffee or sugar estates, or engage in mercantile affairs.

The real wealth of Central America is in its vegetable productions, though minerals are fast becoming an important industry. In Honduras and Salvador several (North) American mining companies do business. Honduras is altogether the richest country in mineral resources, gold, silver, copper, zinc, lead, platina, quicksilver, iron, coal, opals, asbestos, and marble having been found there. At present, gold and silver are about the only ores mined. The chief export of Central America is coffee, and next in order would probably follow cabinet woods and dye woods, gold and silver bullion, sugar, and fruits. The greater part of the export trade is with Great Britain and the United States, while the imports are chiefly from G-ermany, France, and Great Britain. In addition to the duties on imports and exports, the revenues are largely derived from monopolies of spirits and tobacco. These countries have, too, the same simple and high-principled manner of getting rid of their just debts, or large portions of them, as have Turkey, Spain, and Peru. Sometimes the process is known as " consolidating," again as " converting," rarely as " refunding," most often as "scaling." The method might at least with great propriety be designated as very " scaly." Aggregates are reduced from fifty to seventy-five per cent merely by a stroke of the pen and a notice in the official gazette. Honduras, altogether the poorest and most backward of these republics, has the large debt of $31,000,- 000, interest mostly unpaid. Nicaragua and Salvador have relatively small debts, but both these states are poor and inert. It can not be that any of the Central American republics are, like the effete monarchies of Europe, impoverished by their war establishments, for the sum total of their armies gives but six thousand men, and navies there are none. An ordinary revolution in these countries — such as occurs every few months — will not have engaged on both sides more than one hundred men, and you generally notice among the lists of killed and wounded about as many major-generals as high-privates.

The government of each of these republics is vested in a president, who is generally elected for four years, one or two vice-presidents, and four or six ministers. The legislative power is intrusted to a congress of senators and deputies. Suffrage is universal. The Roman Catholic is, of course, the state religion, and is generally duly recognized as such, though other religions are protected. In Guatemala, however, the clerical government was overthrown in 1871, and many of the old convents and churches have been turned into Government offices, schools, and hotels. Thus, in the capital, the Bureau of Liquors and Tobacco now occupies the building where once the Dominican Friars held undisputed sway. The Eevenue and Customs Bureau occupies the Franciscan convent, and the Post- Office is in the building which once sheltered the members of the First Order of St. Francis. The Government Palace was once church property. The Grand Hotel was formerly the private residence of a wealthy Catholic family who, for using the Church power politically, were banished by Barrios, and had their property confiscated. Education, though not general in Central America, is yet becoming prominent in at least two of the states — Guatemala and Salvador. Guatemala has naturally the largest number of educational institutions, and their general excellence and cheapness serve to draw pupils from the other and smaller republics. Besides those of the varying grades and the professional schools (military, engineering, medical, etc.), evening schools are provided for mechanics and workingmen, and special schools are opened for girls.

By the way, Salvador, and not San Salvador (as we were tanght at school), is the official title of the smallest of the five republics. San Salvador is the name of the capital. Salvador has a great number of volcanoes, and so has Nicaragua. One day, at Leon, the largest city in Nicaragua, I counted fourteen volcanoes in sight from the cathedral roof. Several of these are continuously active, their steep and smooth purple cones, with spirals of fleecy smoke curling lazily upward, giving always a unique and pleasing character to the landscape. But just at present Nicaragua is chiefly interesting from its proposed interoceanic canal, while Salvador provokes most attention because of its frequent and severe earthquake shocks. Guatemala, however, is the most prosperous and important, contains more than half the population of all Central America, and has a revenue greater than that of all the other republics combined. Its capital has upward of sixty thousand inhabitants, and is a sort of miniature city of Mexico — as Brussels is a diminutive Paris — in fact, its citizens are very fond of styling it the " Paris of Central America." There you find paved and clean streets, the electric light, horse cars, telephones, fine Government buildings, a large and imposing opera-house, pretty parks, good hackney carriages, and you observe that the city is admirably policed by men wearing the

CENTRAL AMERICA. H

identical uniform of the New York "guardians of the peace." There are daily newspapers, clubs, and, near at hand, open-air swimming baths and a race-course. In short, in both capital and country, Guatemala is especially interesting.

Having now given a somewhat general and hasty view of Central America, I shall next proceed in detail to the narrative of my visit to its five little republics.

1. COSTA RICA.

In September, 1887, I left New York in the Pacific Mail steamer Newport for Aspinwall, where, after a remarkably pleasant voyage of nine days, I safely arrived, crossing the Isthmus of Panama the same day. Two days afterward I sailed in the steamer Clyde, of the Central American and Mexican Line, for Punta Arenas, the Pacific seaport of Costa Rica, four hundred and fiftyfour miles distant. On the morning of October 2d we passed the peninsula of Burica, one half of which belongs to Costa Rica and the other to the Republic of Colombia, the boundary line between South and Central America running hence in a northeasterly direction to the Caribbean Sea. Next we crossed the mouth of the Gulf of Dolce, from which a canal route to the Chiriqui Lagoon was once surveyed. The coast of Costa Rica from here to the Gulf of Nicoya is hilly, descending generally abruptly to the ocean, and densely covered with forest. As we neared Punta Arenas great patches of grassland, here and there, were visible. !N"o evidence of human habitation was apparent until we entered the gulf, which is a great expanse of water with ample depth for the largest vessels. Its shores are quite diversified with little wooded islands and cone-shaped hills, though none of the latter reach a greater altitude than two thousand feet. But little of the town of Punta Arenas appears from the Gulf of Nicoya. A long way off you see an iron wharf, covered with a great iron-roofed building, and back of it the two or three houses of the Customs Department and Post-Ofl&ce.

The gently sloping beach is very broad and smooth, and of dark, almost black, sand. On either side are immense stretches of cocoanut-palms. Beyond the town rise cloud-capped, forest-clad hills, extending north and south. No vessels of any sort were in port, though a few lighters were anchored near the wharf. There were no lighthouses, but an old locomotive headlight, on the end of the wharf, served the necessary purpose. Only two passengers were bound for Costa Rica — my traveling companion, a Brazilian by birth and parentage and an American by choice and naturalization, and myself. After a visit from the port and custom ofiicers, we took boat for the shore. From one building floated the flag of Costa Rica, an oblong banner with vertical stripes — two of blue, two of white, and one of red in the center, representing the five provinces of the republic. As we neared the wharf, I noticed a railway car at the edge of the jungle, to the right, and upon a lighter just before us, a dozen great uncouth pelicans sitting in a row. At the end of the wharf was a steam-crane, which is used to raise freight from the lighters, and also passengers when the sea is very rough, as it frequently is. The machinery stood on a foundation that made a complete circuit, thus loading directly into hand-cars which ran through the custom-house building to the railroad that extends a portion of the way toward the capital of San Jose. The custom-house examination was long, minute and exasperating, nearly everything being taken from our trunks and every small package being opened.

Duties are high, and there is besides a wharfage for every pound of baggage or freight received upon the pier. No other landing is in use. The town takes its name, Punta Arenas, from the sandy point or peninsula upon which it is built, a low, narrow, and level expanse of sand, which extends a long distance into the gulf. Near its eastern juncture with the mainland a large river enters the gulf, thus making a protected harbor, though one of not very deep water. The town is laid out at right angles, with wide streets, along the centers of which at frequent intervals extend posts supporting kerosene lamps. The sidewalks are narrow and formed of rough stones, and sometimes of bricks or tiles. The streets are much overgrown with grass. Orange, lime, and magnolia trees shade the sidewalks, and cocoanut-palms, papayas, tamarinds, mangoes, bananas, and almonds—their foliage growing in horizontal strata— abound in the gardens. The dwellings are half concealed by these trees and by flowers, besides having large orchards of fruit trees adjoining. In this way you do not realize the size of the town until after a walk over it, though its population may not be more than five thousand. A popular style of fence is formed of growing cacti eight feet or more in height. The dwellings are usually of but one story, with boarded sides and a tiled roof. The solitary hotel of the place is also in this style, while its partitions reach only to a point that is on a level with the eaves. This gives more air but less privacy.

Meals, at which beans, rice, and bananas always figure, are given at 10 A. m. and 4 p. m. These are equivalent to two full dinners per day, and in addition coffee and bread and butter are served from 6 to 8 A. M. In this climate the windows are glassless and all the houses have piazzas. Hammocks or canvas cots are used for sleeping purposes. The stores contain multifarious stocks. There are many drinking shops, where the native rum — aguardiente — and imported beers are retailed. The market consists of a large quadrangle of sheds, with limited varieties of produce exposed for sale. The poorer class of dwellings are mere huts, with bamboo sides and grass roofs. The natives are of a light-brown, mahogany color, of good height, and well formed. They are mestizoes, or crosses between whites and Indians of varying strains. All bear amiable, smiling faces. The men have very scant beard but generally heavy shocks of hair, while the women have very long and thick black, glossy hair which they generally wear braided and coiled upon the back of the head or in two long braids hanging down the back. The men content themselves with straw hat and calico shirt and trousers, or more often merely a merino undershirt in place of the cotton shirt. The women wear very low-cut chemises and gay-colored skirts, and, loosely placed upon the shoulders or sometimes lifted upon the head, a light shawl or mantilla of some dark color. Most of the men and women go barefooted. The women have the attractive habit of wearing flowers in their hair, a small bouquet being often secured with a large tortoiseshell comb in a very piquant fashion. The men do not seem to be such inveterate smokers as those of the South American states, but, curiously enough, the women are rarely seen without cigarette or cigar.

Though Punta Arenas is the largest seaport of Costa Eica and on the direct road to the capital, I was not, on this account, the less sure of finding a primitive condition of affairs. One of the first indications of this was that there was but one mail a day to the capital, the post-office being only open one hour ere its departure. Stamps were obtainable, not at the office, but of a merchant a long distance off, who alone had the right of sale. The universal presence of the sewing-machine was the sole suggestion of progress. Nearly every house contained one. I observed, loitering around the custom-house wharf, some dirty, miserable-looking creatures, clad only in shirt and trousers and bearing rusty sword bayonets and cartridge boxes. These were soldiers of the regular army of Costa Eica ! The entire force consists of nine hundred men.

Eailway tracks lead through several of the streets of Punta Arenas to huge coffee warehouses, which during the season are full to repletion. The town is in exactly the same latitude as Puerto Limon, and San Jose, the capital, is but four or five miles south of a straight line drawn through these seaports. A railway has been surveyed from port to port, but from neither end has the work been pushed toward completion. From Punta Arenas it extends but thirteen miles to a town named Esparta. Only three trains weekly run between these two places. The schedule time for leaving Punta Arenas is 3 P. M., but it was 4 when we started. The projectors saw no necessity for building a station. A whistle several times repeated gives notice that in twenty minutes the locomotive will start. Our train consisted of one passenger car and two freight cars. The engine was made at Eodger's factory, Trenton, N. J. ; the cars were from Wilmington, Del. Only one engine being employed on this section of the road, the risk of collision was infinitely minimized. It would have been averse to Costa Eican policy had not the ticket office been several blocks from the point of departure. The fare was thrice, and the speed one third as great as in the United States for the same distance. The engine burned wood. Our conductor was dressed in jacket and trousers of dark-blue cloth, and a revolver bristled menacingly from his right hip-pocket. We stopped but twice— once to get water and once to make steanu At first the road led through a tropically rich forest, peopled with birds of brilliant plumage, but presently it turned inland, and whisked us from this leafy environment until we reached the terminus.

Esparta, half hidden by dense vegetation, lies seven hundred feet above sea-level. It was nearing the end of the rainy season, and the vegetation was at its rankest and at its deepest green. Upon one side of the everpresent plaza was a good hotel kept by an old Frenchman ; upon another side stood the " church " — a miserable old shed enshrined in a pretty flower garden. From Esparta you may go by horse or mule to Alajuela, and thence by railway to San Jose, a distance of thirty-nine miles. "We hired mules for our baggage and horses for ourselves and guide. The steeds of Costa Rica are very small, but tough and sure-footed. The road was wide, in part macadamized, in part badly paved. Coffee and the general produce of the country were carried chiefly in ox-carts. These are simply small oblong boxes, resting upon wooden block-wheels three feet in diameter. Each yoke of oxen pulls by means of a cross-bar lashed to the horns and forehead in such a manner that neither of the beasts can turn his head without the other, and even then only slightly. This cruel custom is practiced all over Central and South America. The drivers guide the oxen with iron^pointed poles, but the guiding is goading as well.

We left Esparta at daybreak, The road dipped into little valleys and out of them again, and leaped small streams upon firm stone bridges approached by long causeways. The country was but thinly settled and sparsely cultivated ; in fact, but a twentieth part is thus redeemed. The bamboo houses were palmetto-thatched. Often at one end of a little veranda I saw a mud and stone oven, shaped like a bee-hive, and, like those in savage Africa, furnished with mortar and pestle for pounding corn. Sometimes that staple was piled high, but no vegetable patch was seen. The rainy season not being quite over, few travelers and little merchandise were in transit We breakfasted at San Mateo, a hamlet a few hundred feet higher than Esparta. Here the rain fell in torrents during the rest of the day and most of the night, but, donning rubber leggings and ponchos, we crossed the Aguacate hills and reached the town of Atenas at 8 p. m. During the last hour we journeyed in total darkness. We passed the night in the public room of the hotel in company with eight other persons. Next morning we pushed on to Alajuela, reaching it by noon. The vegetation we passed was rich in mango, bamboo, papaya, bread-fruit, orange, guava, gourd (the calabash), palm (the royal variety), and tamarind. A handsome stone bridge took us across the Rio Grande, one of the larger rivers, whose upper waters were enriched by mines of copper, gold, and coal. A few miles north of Atenas are the gold mines of Aguacate. The chief cities of Costa Rica are situated on the highlands of the interior, and are comparatively near together.

They begin with Alajuela, about three thousand feet, and continue with Heredia, San Jose, and Cartago, in a direction nearly due east. Cartago is about five thousand feet above the sea. Fifteen miles north of Alajuela is the twin volcano Poas, about nine thousand feet in altitude. Alajuela is a large town, laid out at right angles, with narrow macadamized streets and one-story houses. The country between it and Atenas is half forest and half pasture land. The classical names that abounded, such as Sparta, Athens, and Carthage, sounded strange to me, accustomed as I had lately been to towns and saints of Spanish nomenclature. In the center of the plaza of Alajuela was a handsome bronze fountain. On one side stood the cathedral, on another the cuartel, or barracks, and on a third the town hall. The railway from this town is a narrow gauge, with cars and locomotives of American make. At that date it extended only to Cartago, twenty -six miles off, whence a break of twenty-seven miles could be covered only by mule or horse. That distance traversed, the railway again appeared, and continued for seventy-one miles until it reached Puerto Limon, on the Caribbean Sea. All baggage is paid for extra in Costa Pica. From Alajuela to San Jose we passed through an almost continuous coffee field, this being the center of the best plantations. Our train accommodated many ladies in black gowns and shawls, though quite bonnetless, and men in jackets and trousers of dark cloth, wearing Panama hats. "We alighted in an insignificant station where one-horse cabs were in waiting. I passed a square with a pretty fountain in its center, and caught sight of a marble monument, consisting of a bust of the late President Fernandez, supported on a pyramidal base. Clean macadamized streets ran between single-story houses with mud walls and tile roofs. The shops that abounded resembled wooden boxes. The two-story hotel that I reached was set off with the omnipresent bar-room and billiard-room, to say nothing of the New York piano in the ladies' parlor.