The climate of this region on the Atlantic coast is about the same as that of the West Indies, somewhat modified by various causes. The Atlantic coast from Trujillo downward, including the Mosquito region, is low and insalubrious. That of the Pacific coast is better in every respect, the heat not being so oppressive, which is due to a drier and purer atmosphere. The result is, that while the coasts on the Atlantic are nearly uninhabited, those on the Pacific are lined with towns and well settled.
Beginning with Guatemala, and going southward, in Los Altos, the highlands of the republic, the average temperature is lower than anywhere else. Snow falls occasionally near Quezaltenango, but soon disappears. The heat is never excessive.[XXVII-2] In the vicinity of the city of Guatemala, the thermometer ranges from 55° to 80° with an average of 72°. In Vera Paz, the north-eastern department, it is nearly 10° warmer. The whole coast from Belize down to Izabal and Santo Tomás is hot and unhealthy.[XXVII-3] The state of Salvador, lying entirely on the Pacific slope, has probably a higher average temperature than Guatemala or Honduras; but the heat is oppressive only at some points on the coast.[XXVII-4] Honduras has a fine climate, excepting the portion spoken of on the coast of the Atlantic.[XXVII-5] Nicaragua, with the exception of her department of Segovia, which borders on Honduras and has the same surface and temperature, has a topography and climate of her own, with an average temperature in the lake region of about 79° to 80°, due more to favorable causes than to elevation. In Costa Rica there is almost every degree of temperature, from the intensest heat of Puntarenas to the constant spring of San José, or the autumnal temperature of the belt above Cartago. The coast from Chiriquí lagoon to the north is hot, wet, and unhealthy.[XXVII-6] Properly speaking, there is no dry season on the Atlantic coast of Central America. However, from June to September, inclusive, there is less rainfall on the Atlantic side. During these months the Pacific slope has its rainy season, but the rains are brief, occurring in the afternoon and night.[XXVII-7]
At a short distance from the Pacific coast the country is traversed from north-west to south-east by an unbroken chain of mountains,[XXVII-8] at least to Nicaragua Lake, and covered with diversified vegetation. This cordillera is a connecting chain between the Rocky Mountains of the northern, and the Andes of the southern, continent.[XXVII-9] On the slopes and summits are fine table-lands, some of which are quite extensive, and all temperate and surpassingly fertile. It may be asserted that no portion of the earth presents a greater diversity of level on an equal extent of surface than Central America, or a greater variety of climate.
The majority of the highest peaks are volcanoes, and no less than thirty volcanic vents are said to be in activity. Extinct craters, rent rocks, lava beds, scoriæ, vitrified, charred, and pumice stones, hot and sulphurous springs, mark Central America as a most volcanic region.[XXVII-10]
HISTORIC EARTHQUAKES.
In a region abounding with volcanoes, and where great convulsions of nature have taken place, earthquakes—violent ones, at times—frequently occur.[XXVII-11] The great shocks experienced by the city of Guatemala in 1751, 1757, 1765, and the one of 1773, which caused the abandonment of the old site, have been elsewhere mentioned.[XXVII-12] The year 1809 was noted for a succession of violent temblores, causing much distress among the inhabitants of Guatemala and Honduras, and doing much damage, particularly in the latter state.[XXVII-13] Since that time the five republics have constantly had such visitations, causing at times loss of life and damage to property. I give in a note a number of such occurrences.[XXVII-14] The Isthmus of Panamá has likewise repeatedly experienced the effects of earthquakes, some of which have created much alarm and injured property.[XXVII-15]
LAKES AND RIVERS.
From the lofty sierras and volcanic cones descend streams, which, meeting on the plains below, form beautiful lakes, or swell into rivers that roll on to either ocean. They are numerous, and though not of great length, because of the narrowness of the region they traverse, are by no means insignificant.[XXVII-16] The country has several lakes, some of which have occupied the attention of scientists, statesmen, and merchants, and I will have occasion to treat of them in connection with interoceanic communication and commerce farther on.[XXVII-17]
The republic of Costa Rica is that portion of Central America extending between Nicaragua and Panamá, and having on one side the Pacific Ocean, and on the other the Atlantic.[XXVII-18] Costa Rica has the islands of Colon, San Cristóbal, Bastimento, La Popa, and others in Boca del Toro; the Escudo de Veragua in the Atlantic, the Cocos, Caño, San Lúcas, and Chira in the Pacific; these latter two and smaller ones lying within the gulf of Nicoya.
The political division of the republic is in provincias and comarcas;[XXVII-19] namely, provincias of San José, Cartago, Alajuela, Heredia, and Guanacaste, and the comarcas of Puntarenas and Limon. The provincias and comarcas are alike divided into cantones, and the latter subdivided into barrios. At the head of each provincia and comarca is a governor, and of each canton a jefe político, all of executive appointment. The police department is under the governor, unless, in special cases, the supreme government should assume the immediate control over it in certain localities. Each provincial capital has a municipal corporation,[XXVII-20] acting, like the governors and other subordinate authorities, under the general ordinances, made and provided for the government of the whole republic.