In contrast to the silence of the northern woods there is no stillness in these jungles so long as the sun is above the horizon. The music may vary from the screeching of the innumerable flocks of parrots—for they never go singly—to the feeble chirp of an insect, but it is there. During the day there are birds that incessantly chatter, whistle, croak, chirrup, coo, warble and utter discordant noises, thus making the air vocal with the varied sounds. At night the pitiful howling of the spider monkey breaks the silence that otherwise might obtain. No country, so naturalists say, offers a greater variety of bright-hued birds. The great macaw is a polychromatic wonder rivalling the proud peacock flaunting his plumage in the sunlight. There are many varieties of parrots and parroquets to be found. The quetzal, which figures in the national emblem, has tail feathers often reaching three feet in length. These feathers are of a peacock green to indigo in colour, the breast is scarlet and the wings dark. This bird will not survive captivity, and for this reason the founders of the republic gave it a place on the nation’s escutcheon. In ancient days, so highly was this bird regarded that none but the royal family dared to wear its plumes. There are some good specimens to be seen in the museum at the capital, but a live quetzal is rarely seen. Then there are pelicans, kingfishers, mot-mots, pavos, curassows, white cranes, doves, swallows, noisy yellow-tails and the curious toucan with its enormous bill and brilliant colour. Vampire bats about the size of an English sparrow are common. They will bite cattle, but are not so large, nor so fierce, as the South American species that will attack even human beings.
Two species of monkeys are found in these forests—the white-faced mono, whose face is nearly devoid of hair and beard, and the long-tailed, howling monkey. These animals are migratory and, as they build no nests, it is difficult to locate them. It is really wonderful—so hunters say—how fast these monkeys can travel through the trees by jumping from one limb to another sixty or eighty feet above ground. They live on fruits and insects, especially beetles and butterflies, and rob the nests of birds for the eggs. Many of them are kept as pets and they are quite intelligent and very mischievous. Some of the natives prize them as food. Among the other animals, more or less common, are peccaries, jaguars (called by the natives tigres), tapirs, ant-bears, wild hogs, and a species of small, red deer. The sloth, that peculiar tree-animal so different from most tree-animals, which are usually very agile, is found in some districts. Snakes are not so plentiful as one would expect, although the “chicken boa,” so called, sometimes reaching a length of a dozen feet, is occasionally encountered. Alligators are not very common, though not a rarity by any means. Turtles are very plentiful, and the edible hawksbill turtle, whose shell is so valuable, because it furnishes the tortoise-shell of commerce, is very abundant on these shores, sometimes weighing as much as one hundred and fifty pounds. The iguana is one of the numerous lizard family and is highly prized for food, its flesh tasting something like chicken, so epicures say. The natives prefer it to good beefsteak. This curious reptile has a mouth like a toad, green, glittering eyes, a ponderous under throat, and lancet shaped spines along the back, and sometimes reaches a length of four feet. It is easily tamed, and it is a very common sight to see them in the coast villages sunning themselves around the cottages and apparently as much at home as the dogs and chickens.[[1]]
Great butterflies, whose outstretched wings spread out eight inches, are a common sight. Collectors flock to these shores each year for butterfly specimens, for in no country is there a greater variety. The natives can seldom be hired to catch them as they think it is unlucky and will injure the eyes. Spiders with legs two inches across can be found. Scorpions and centipedes abound, but both are sluggish and are dreaded very little by the natives—not much more than hornets in our own country.
[1]. “These serpentes are lyke unto crocodiles, saving in bigness; they call them guanas. Unto that day none of owre men durste aduenture to taste of them, by reason of theyre horrible deformitie and lothsomnes. Yet the Adelantado being entysed by the pleasantnes of the king’s sister, Anacaona, determined to taste the serpentes. But when he felte the flesh thereof to be so delycate to his tongue, he fel to amayne without al feare. The which thyng his companions perceiuing, were not behynde hym in greedyness; insomuch that they had now none other talke than of the sweetnesse of these serpentes, which they affirm to be of more pleasant taste than eyther our phesantes or partriches.”—An old writer.
Many kinds of ants have their habitat in the Guatemalan tropics. One species builds nests in the tree tops, which resemble those of hornets. Another kind, called the umbrella ant, is one of the most interesting species in the family of ants. They are so called because, when seen, the worker is always carrying a piece of leaf like a sail, which he holds tightly as if his life or happiness depended on getting that particular leaf to its destination. Several times I took away the piece of leaf and the worker would immediately attack another ant and endeavour to get his leaf, and sometimes a number of ants would become involved in the melee. The ant finally left without a leaf would start back on the trail, for it seemed to be an inviolable rule never to go back to the nest without a section of leaf. These leaves are stored away where they ferment and form one of the foods of these industrious little workers.
When Cortez made his memorable journey from Mexico to the present site of Puerto Cortez, in 1525, passing through Livingston, the coast country of the Kingdom of Quahtemala, as it was then called, was an almost unbroken forest, swampy, and oozy, and subject to heavy overflows in the rainy season. He sailed up the Rio Dulce with eyes wide open in wonder as the beauties of the stream unfolded. Almost two-thirds of the available agricultural land in Guatemala is still uncultivated for want of labourers and the necessary industry. With the advancement of modern science in remedying the fever-producing conditions, these regions can be made most desirable. One noted scientist has recently predicted that tropical lands will in the future be the favourite abode of mankind, as they were in the early history of the human race, because of the ease with which a livelihood can be obtained. In a land of perpetual summer, where fruits grow wild and a small piece of land will produce enough sustenance for a family, there is no need for a man to work hard. Earning one’s bread by the sweat of his brow becomes a jest. It is little wonder that the natives bask in the sun and dream their lives away.
Of all the rich soil so abundant in this republic, there is little systematic cultivation. There is no necessity to plow the land after it has been cleared of the timber and undergrowth. Even corn, of which three crops can be raised in a season, without the aid of fertilizers, is planted in holes made by a stick, and rice is scattered broadcast. Corn will often grow twelve feet in height and produce three generous ears on the stalk. The land laws are liberal in order to encourage settlers from other lands to locate here. The public lands are divided into lots of not more than fifteen caballerias, which are sold for a price ranging from $250 to $300 each by the government. A caballeria comprises one hundred and thirteen and five-eighths acres. Premiums have been offered by the government for the cultivation of India rubber, cacao, sarsaparilla, cotton, and tobacco; and no tax will be levied for ten years on lands devoted to the cultivation of these products. The small farmer, however, cannot make a small farm pay as well as in northern lands, for he could not stand it to work so hard and so regularly. Plantations to be successful should be large enough to justify the establishment of a colony of peon labourers on the premises.
A NATIVE HUT.
One plantation of three thousand acres, and employing from nine hundred to thirteen hundred labourers, produced in one year three hundred thousand pounds of sugar, twenty-two thousand gallons of milk, three million bottles of brandy, two thousand head of cattle and more than a million pounds of coffee. The labour laws require the owner of a plantation to preserve order on his estate; to keep a record of his employees, their wages, etc., in Spanish; to provide suitable dwellings or materials with which to build them (this, however, is simple enough); to furnish medicines and medical assistance in case of sickness; to keep a free school for the children where more than ten families are employed, if there is no public school in the neighbourhood; and to see that all persons are vaccinated.