[XXVII-13] June 20th, at 3 a. m., was felt a heavy shock in Guat.; no great damage was done. In Comayagua and Tegucigalpa the shocks continued from the 20th to the 25th; the people abandoning their dwellings. Many buildings, both public and private, were much injured. The shocks were also felt in Trujillo.
[XXVII-14] Apr. 23, 1830, Guat. experienced one said to have been the most severe since that of 1773. Feb. and Sept. 1831, a great part of San Salvador was ruined. The authorities and most of the people fled to Cojutepeque. This was the sixth time the city had been more or less damaged by earthquakes. Sept. 2, 1841, Cartago, in Costa R., was nearly levelled to the ground; of 3,000 houses previously existing, not 100 remained entire; of the 8 churches, the smallest and ugliest was the only one escaping uninjured. May 1844, the city of Granada was nearly ruined; the town of Nicaragua was greatly damaged, the lake of this name rising and falling several times, as if having a tide. Amatitlan, Petapa, Palin, and other places near the volcano of Pacaya, hardly had a house left standing in the end of March and in beginning of April 1845. In the repub. of Guat. shocks have been repeatedly experienced, those of 1884 and 1885 causing devastation in Amatitlan. San Salvador experienced heavy ones in 1575, 1593, 1625, 1656, and 1798, and was completely ruined in 1839, 1854, and 1873, and several other towns in the republic fared almost as badly in the latter year. Oct. 2, 1878, there was loss of life. Dec. 27-29, 1879, Ilopango, Candelaria, and other places were demolished. In Costa R. the destruction of Puntarenita occurred Aug. 4, 1854; and in 1882 the towns of Alajuela, San Ramon, Grecia, and Heredia were damaged, with heavy loss of life. In Dec. 1867, a tidal wave swallowed the island of Zapotilla, in Golfo Dulce, drowning all the inhabitants. The earthquake shocks seem to be of two kinds, namely, the perpendicular, which are felt only in the vicinity of volcanoes, and the horizontal, reaching great distances from the places where they originate, being very unequal in their progress, in some parts rocking the ground violently, and in others, in their direct line, nearer their source, being but slightly felt. Dunlop's Cent. Am., 290-3; Squier's Cent. Am., 298, 304-7, 465; Squier's Travels, ii. 85, 120-6; Ponton's Earthquakes, 69, 76-7; Reichardt, Cent. Am., 83-4; Nouv. Annales Voy., clxv. 360-1; lxxxv. 264; lciii. 121; Montúfar, Reseña Hist., iii. 608-9; Wagner, Costa R., Pref. viii.; Costa R., Col. Ley., vii. 101-3; Id., Gaceta, Sept. 10, 1853; July 15, Aug. 5, 26, Sept. 2, 1854; Id., Boletin Ofic., Aug. 31, Dec. 23, 1854; Niles' Reg., lxi. 257; Pim's Gate of the Pac., 26; Mission Scient. au Mex. Geol., 13-16, 511-12; Wells' Hond., 233; Salv., El Siglo, May 28, June 3, 1851, Sept. 3, 1852; Id., Diario Ofic., Oct. 5-27, 1878; Jan. 13, 14, 1880; Id., Gaceta, May 20, 1854; Id., El Rol, Oct. 13, 20, Nov. 10, 17, Dec. 1, 1854; Feb. 9, 1855; Guat., Gaceta, Oct. 21, 1853; May 5, 1854; Nic., Gaceta, March 26, 1864; Feb. 10, 1866; Jan. 18, May 9, Oct. 31, 1868; Jan. 8, June 18, Aug. 20, 1870; La Union de Nic., Jan. 12, 1861; El Porvenir de Nic., Oct. 15, 1871; U. S. Gov. Doc., H. Ex. Doc., Cong. 43, Sess. 1, i. pt 1, 796, 808, 814; Id., Cong. 44, Sess. 1, i. pt 1, 129; Uriarte, Terremotos de Cent. Am., in Mex. Soc. Geog., Boletin, ii. 189-95; Mex., Eco Mercantil, Apr. 24, 1882; Pan. Star and Herald, Jan. 5, 7, 11, 1886. Very full information from 1469 to 1882 in Guat., Revista Observatorio Meteor., i. 24-39.
[XXVII-15] Worthy of mention were the shocks of July 11, 1854, felt throughout the Isthmus, Sept. 11th, the same year, felt in Chiriquí; 1857, 1858, 1868, and Sept. 7, 1882; this last was a heavy one, damaging public and private buildings; also delaying the transmission of passengers and merchandise over the railway. Salv., El Rol, Dec. 1, 1854; Costa R., Gaceta, Oct. 21, 1854; S. F. Alta, Oct. 2, 1857; Sac. Union, Aug. 2, 1858; S. F. Call, June 23, 1868; Sept. 8, 9, 25, 1882; S. F. Chronicle, Sept. 9, 1882; La Estrella de Pan., Sept. 14, 1882; Pan. Star and Herald, Sept. 14, 1882.
[XXVII-16] The most important ones are the Usumasinta, known also under the names of Lacandon, Pasion, etc., in Guat., of about the size of the Garonne or Elbe in Europe, or the Hudson in the U. S., which drains nearly half of the state, and pours its waters through several mouths into the bay of Campeche and the laguna de Términos. The Dulce unites the bay of Hond. with the Dulce Gulf. The Hondo; the Belize, or Old River, famous for the fine mahogany its banks have yielded; the Motagua and the Polochic; the Black or Tinto in the Poyais country; the San Juan del Norte, Coco, also named Telpaneca and Wanks, Grande or Chocoyos, and the Mico or Blewfields; the Tipitapa, uniting lakes Nicaragua and Managua; the Paz, separating Guat. and Salv.; and the deep and rapid Lempa, the largest on the western shore, at its lowest ebb exceeds 140 yards in breadth.
[XXVII-17] The following are the notable ones: Atitlan, in Guat., covering upwards of 250 square miles; declared to be unfathomable, a line of 300 fathoms not reaching the bottom. Though receiving the waters of many rivers, no outlet has been found for its dark and benumbing waters; still, it is probable that a subterraneous outlet exists, as in the lakes of Guijar and Metapa in Salv., which are united by a subterraneous communication. Golfo Dulce, or Izabal Lake, of about 50 miles in circuit, subject to violent agitations, and forming the port of Izabal on the Atlantic coast of Guat. The small Amatitlan, about 20 miles from the city of Guat., which, notwithstanding its hot springs and brackish waters, abounds in a delicate fish called mojarra, in other small fish, and in wild fowl. In Hond. is the Yojos. In Nic., the lake of the same name, whose surplus waters run to the Atlantic by the San Juan del Norte River; an inland sea, 96 miles long, and 40 miles in its greatest breadth, forming an ellipse with its main axis due N. W. to S. E. Its depth in some parts is of 45 fathoms, and its area must be at least 2,000 square miles. It contains a small archipelago. Lake Managua is 38 or 35 miles in length, and 16 in its greatest breadth. It has little depth, and several sand banks render navigation difficult. The laguna de Masaya, 340 ft lower than the city of the same name, which is 750 ft above the sea level. Its area is of about 10 square miles. Lévy, Nic., 86, 95-8.
[XXVII-18] From 8° to 11° 16´ N. lat., and 81° 40´ to 85° 40´ long. W. of Greenwich. Molina, Bosq. Costa R., 25. Between 8° and 17° 30´ N. lat., and 11° 50´ to 22° 32´ W. of Santiago de Chile, which is situate in meridian 70° 38´ 6´´ west of Greenwich. Astaburuaga, Cent. Am., 2. Am. Cyclopædia, v. 393, gives it betw. 8° 11´ and 11° 8´ N. lat., and long. 82° 28´ to 85° 45´ W. of Greenwich. Between about 8° and 11° N. lat., and 82° to 86° W. long. Encyclopædia Britannica, vi. 397.
[XXVII-19] By the law of March 27, 1835, the country was divided into three departments; namely, Cartago, Alajuela, and Guanacaste, with a jefe político at the head of each. Repealed by executive decree of April 28, 1843, after having had several amendments. Costa R., Col. Ley., iv. 180-3.
[XXVII-20] San José has 9 regidores, Cartago and Heredia 7. Each municipality chooses a president and vice-president from among its own members, and a secretary. At each cantonal head town there are alcaldes, and in each barrio a juez de paz. Costa R., Id., iii. 226-40; x. 465-92; xi. 89-138; xvii. 161-98; xix. 168-74; Costa R., Mem. Instruc. Púb., 1884, annexes 12-17; Id., Mem. Gobern., 1852-84; El Costaricense, Nov. 24, 1849; Costa R., Gaceta, Feb. 9, 16, March 2, 1850.
[XXVII-21] San José, the national capital, was founded a little more than 100 years ago, owing its existence to the earthquakes which nearly destroyed Cartago, the old capital. San José is situated on an elevation of about 4,500 ft., upon the table-land formed between the mountains of Dota or Herradura on the south, and those of Barba on the north. On one side flows the river Torres, and on the other the María Aguilar. Its streets are paved, straight, and forming right angles. The dwellings are mostly of a single story, with spacious courts; there are, however, a good many buildings of two stories. The majority are made of adobe, plastered over; but the national palace is of stone, and a fine building. An aqueduct supplies the city with water from the Torres, though a large portion of the fluid consumed is drawn from the wells existing in almost every house. Besides, the government palace, the university, Mora theatre, some of the churches, and a few other buildings, do honor to the city. The electric light was introduced in 1884. Cartago, the oldest town in the state, though it has lost its political importance, and has been shattered by earthquakes, retains some traces of its former magnificence. It is gradually improving. Molina, Bosq. Costa R., 51; Astaburuaga, Cent. Am., 50; Squier's Cent. Am., 463-4; Boyle's Ride Across a Continent, ii. 217; Laferrière, De Paris à Guatém., 47; Wappäus, Mex. und Cent. Am., 364-5; Costa R., Informe Gobern., 1874, 2-3; El Cronista, S. F., Oct. 18, 1884.
[XXVII-22] It is situated between lat. 10° 45´ and 14° 55´, and between long. 83° 15´ and 87° 38´. Am. Cyc., xii. 420. Between 10° 30´ and 15° lat., and from 83° 11´ to 87° long. Encyclop. Brit., xvii. 490. Between 9° 45´ and 15° lat. N., and between 83° 20´ and 87° 30´ long. W. Squier's Cent. Am., 348. Between 10° 50´ and 15° N. lat., and between 83° 13´ and 87° 37´ long. W. of Greenwich. Nic., Gaceta, Jan. 18, 1868.