CLIMATE.
A well-defined rainy season prevails for the most part throughout the Isthmus, and permits the selection of suitable weather for the operations of the engineer. Rain varies with proximity to the mountains, etc., but the interval from December to May may be regarded as the dry season. The seasons are sometimes reversed, as in Costa Rica. There the dry season prevails upon the Pacific coast from November to April, but on the Atlantic the contrary prevails. Fall of rain in Honduras from May to October is 90.89 inches.
The tierras templadas, or elevated table-lands, are universally healthy, and the climate in those regions possesses a charm which belongs exclusively to the tropics. The unhealthy influences of the marshes and sea-coast is much exaggerated, and may be said to cease during the winter or dry season.
Col. Hughes, who visited the most insalubrious part of the Isthmus, remarks that travelers, “who live like civilized beings,” have little to fear from the climate. The writer spent six months, chiefly near the sea-coast of Columbia, during part of the time compelled to sleep among the swamps of the delta of the Magdelina, and although exposed to the sun during the day, and sleeping in the open air at night, not one case of febrile sickness occurred in the party of which he was a member, nor were more than two cases of fever observed among the natives during the period of residence.
The temperature varies with the elevation above the sea. Thermometric records are of small value without the monthly and daily means of localities.
The following table may give some general notion of their range:
| TEHUANTEPEC. | HONDURAS. | BELIZE. | COSTA RICA. | NICARAGUA. | ATRATO. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May | 90° | 71° | 71° | 57° | 71° | Average |
| June | 88° | during | ||||
| April | 83° | to | to | to | to | February |
| May | 88° | 89° | 84° | 85° | 90° | 75.2 |
| December and January | 74° | |||||
In Guatemala average maximum 88.7°. Minimum 38.9°.
Statistics, governmental and social, of Central America, are very uncertain. The revolutionary condition of a society, in which it is the interest of the chiefs to impose unjust burdens on the people, and of the people to deceive; where, before an enumeration can fairly begin, the government which authorized it may be deposed, and another substituted in its place; the poverty, anarchy, and social demoralization which result, are circumstances very unfavorable to a correct determination of the resources of the country, or the number of its population.
The following figures may not be free from this uncertainty, but give the best approximation that could be obtained:
| SQUARE MILES. | POPULATION. | |
|---|---|---|
| Tehuantepec | ... | 61,000 |
| Costa Rica | 23,000 | 150,000 |
| Nicaragua | 48,000 | 290,000 |
| San Salvador | 9,600 | 294,000 |
| Guatemala | 43,380 | 907,500 |
| Honduras | 42,000 | 350,000 |
| Panama, including Darien | ... | 168,000 |
| 2,220,500 | ||
This population is of a mixed character, composed of Europeans, Mestizoes, Indians, Negroes, and Zambos; the European element being largely in the minority.