MONEY IN GUATEMALA.
Persons interested in silver coinage might have a good field for collection here; and one of the Government collectors, who had a fancy for numismatics, showed me a curious lot he had received in payment of taxes. Maximilian coins from Mexico were the rarest; but every country of Central and South America was well represented. Among current coins the dollar of Peru and Chili (sols) are most common; and the smaller change is mainly in Guatemalan and Hondureñan currency. The dollar (peso, piece of eight) contains eight reals, and the real two medios, or four cuartillos. This last is the smallest coin used, although the cent (centavo) has been coined. A real is twelve and a half cents, a medio six and a quarter, and a cuartillo three and an eighth; but in the text I have spoken of these coins as valued in gold, or, approximately, ten, five, and three cents.
CERTAIN HEIGHTS DETERMINED BY THE FRENCH EXPEDITION.
| Tactic | 4,725 |
| Coban | 4,356 |
| San Cristobal | 4,643 |
| San Miguel Uspantán | 6,040 |
| Cunen | 5,942 |
| Sacapulas | 3,826 |
| Santa Cruz del Quiché | 6,621 |
| Quezaltenango | 7,697 |
| Totonicapan | 8,150 |
| Sololà | 7,041 |
| Guatemala City | 5,013 |
| Antigua | 5,072 |
| Ciudad Vieja | 5,151 |
| Escuintla | 1,450 |
| Amatitlan | 3,901 |
| Palin | 3,753 |
| Cuajinicuilapa | 2,848 |
| Cerro Redondo | 3,542 |
| Los Esclavos | 2,394 |
| Agua Blanca | 2,658 |
| Suchitan | 4,108 |
| Santa Catarina (Rio) | 2,251 |
| Santa Catarina (Pueblo) | 2,324 |
| Esquipulas | 2,986 |
| Paso del Rodeo | 2,744 |
| Los Horcones | 3,637 |
| Piedra de Amolar | 2,340 |
| Copan | 1,830 |
| Vado Hondo | 1,237 |
| Chiquimula | 1,244 |
| Zacapa | 449 |
| Pacaya | 8,366 |
| Volcan de Agua (summit) | 12,313 |
| ” ” (S. Maria) | 6,828 |
| ” ” (crater bot.) | 12,087 |
| Volcan de Fuego | 13,127 |
| ” ” (La Meseta) | 12,001 |
| Acatenango | 13,616 |
| Volcan de Atitlan | 11,723 |
| Cerro Quemado | 10,201 |
| Santa Maria | 11,483 |
| Lago de Atitlan | 5,112 |
| Lago de Amatitlan | 3,895 |
| Lago de San Cristobal | 4,643 |
I find it impossible to reconcile some of these measurements of the French Expedition with my own or those of other observers; but usually the difference is not greater than might be expected from observations with the aneroid barometer.
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.
Land is usually bought and sold by caballerias (33.33 acres), hectareas (2.47 acres), manzanas (a square of one hundred yards), or varas (2.78 feet). The most common weights are the quintal (a hundredweight) and the arroba (25 pounds of 16 ounces each). Among the Indios other weights and measures are used, but I could find no trustworthy information about them. They also retain the old cacao currency to some extent, and I have been offered cacao-beans for small change, as the cuartillo is not common away from the large cities.
| 400 | cacao beans | = | contle. | |||
| 8,000 | ” ” | = | jiquipil | = | 20 | contles. |
| 24,000 | ” ” | = | carga | = | 3 | jiquipiles. |