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:

Fahrenheit.
TEHUANTEPEC. HONDURAS. BELIZE. COSTA RICA. NICARAGUA. ATRATO.
May90°71°71°57°71°Average
June88° during
April83°totototoFebruary
May88°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:

Population of the States of Central America.
SQUARE MILES. POPULATION.
Tehuantepec...61,000
Costa Rica23,000150,000
Nicaragua48,000290,000
San Salvador 9,600294,000
Guatemala43,380907,500
Honduras42,000350,000
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.

INDIANS.

Explorers in every part of the Isthmus, with the exception of Darien, give favorable accounts of the temper of the natives. Trautwine, who crossed the divide at several points in the province of Chócó, regarded a bundle of cigars as the best passport. General Michler depended on the natives for provisions during a part of his survey, and was never disappointed.