Of the industrial and mechanical arts Guatemala has very little to show, apart from the woven fabrics and pottery already alluded to. Tailors and shoemakers abound,—and this in a climate where the former might almost be dispensed with, and where the latter work for not a moiety of the population. On the other hand, there are few cabinet-makers, although the native woods offer the choicest material for the skilled workman. There are no foundries or forges worthy the name, and all machinery is imported, and repairs must be made in San Francisco or New Orleans. Glass, porcelain, and stoneware is all imported, although the materials, of the best quality, are found here in abundance. Fibre-plants and rags are plentiful, and the consumption of paper is large; but every sheet is imported,—that used for stamps being made in France. While coconuts, sesame, cohune, castor-bean, and croton grow abundantly, there is no commercial manufacture of the vegetable oils; and we have seen that more than fourteen thousand dollars’ worth were imported in 1884.
While the general climate of Guatemala is remarkably healthy, the people are exceedingly careless of all sanitary precautions, especially in the matter of drainage and the waste products of the human body, trusting to the intervention of vultures and dogs to remove health-endangering filth. Yellow fever was common through the hot lowlands of the Pacific coast in 1883, and whooping-cough, measles, and small-pox prevailed in many parts of the country. The consumption of patent medicines and empirical preparations, obtained from the apothecary rather than the physician, is enormous in proportion to the population. Vital statistics are not obtained with the greatest accuracy, and only the constant care of the superior officer enables any result worthy of attention to be obtained. The following table is tolerably accurate. The population is, as estimated on December 31:—
| Year. | Population. | Births. | Deaths. | Increase. | Marriages. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Males. | Females. | Total. | Males. | Females. | Total. | ||||
| 1881 | 1,252,497 | 28,146 | 25,708 | 53,854 | 14,019 | 11,940 | 25,959 | 27,895 | 4,611 |
| 1882 | 1,276,961 | 29,362 | 26,697 | 56,059 | 16,728 | 14,867 | 31,595 | 24,464 | 4,864 |
| 1883 | 1,278,311 | 28,488 | 25,934 | 54,422 | 28,431 | 24,641 | 53,072 | 1,350 | 4,287 |
| 1884 | |||||||||
| 1885 | |||||||||
Of the children born in 1883, 41,260 were legitimate, and 13,162 natural; 16,991 were ladinos, and 37,431 Indios. The legitimate children were in the proportion of one to every one hundred and twenty-eight of the ladino population, and one to every forty-one of the Indios. The natural births stand one to each one hundred and eighty-three ladinos, and one to each two hundred and seven Indios,—proportions which speak volumes for the superior morality of the indigenous population.
No less than nine hospitals were supported by the Government in 1883,—one each in Antigua, Amatitlan, Escuintla, Quezaltenango, Retalhuleu, and Chiquimula, and three in Guatemala City. In these 11,998 patients were treated during the year, with the result of one death to every thirteen treated. Of the diseases from which patients died, the following is a list of all numbering over ten victims:—
| Consumption | 75 |
| Fever (perniciosa) | 74 |
| Dysentery | 68 |
| Entero-colitis | 63 |
| Yellow fever | 52 |
| Enteritis | 42 |
| Pneumonia | 33 |
| Alcoholism | 24 |
| Small-pox | 18 |
| Cachexia paludica | 18 |
| Typhoid fever | 11 |
Of the consumptive patients, probably the majority were foreigners seeking safety in the mild climate of Guatemala; and in the others the disease was not of throat origin, but sprang from that unclean state that wise physicians are beginning to recognize as phthisical in its tendency.
I wish I could say more of the remedies of the Indios. In a land abounding in healing plants, it would be supposed that the inhabitants would be expert in their qualities; and so the Indios are, if report may be trusted (they are said to cure even hernia, by applying astringent herbs to the tumor). But they are shy, and unwilling to display their knowledge before strangers; and my stay among them was too short to invite their confidence. The Caribs do not seem to possess much knowledge of the healing art.
From the bodily ills of a people one turns naturally to the moral diseases; and it is interesting to note what are the crimes and misdemeanors to which punishments are most frequently allotted. Of 9,303 persons tried during the course of 1883, 6,125 were accused of misdemeanors (faltas), and 3,178 of crimes (delitos). Of the former class 764 were acquitted, while of those tried for crimes 1,515 were judged not guilty,—leaving only 1,663 criminals out of a population of a million and a quarter. The carefully prepared tables published each year by the Government show that there is hardly one delinquent for each thousand inhabitants; that notwithstanding the greatly inferior numbers of the ladinos, this class claims many more convicts; and that eighty per cent of the criminals have no education.
| Crimes or Delitos. | Males. | Females. | Ladinos. | Indios. | Read. | Write. | Uneducated. | Single. | Married. | Total. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Against authority | 133 | 6 | 111 | 28 | 8 | 48 | 83 | 56 | 83 | 139 |
| Assaults | 56 | 5 | 51 | 10 | 6 | 18 | 37 | 37 | 24 | 61 |
| Wounding | 396 | 21 | 298 | 119 | 19 | 82 | 315 | 215 | 201 | 417 |
| Homicide | 188 | 15 | 117 | 86 | 4 | 46 | 153 | 107 | 96 | 203 |
| Bodily injuries | 312 | 35 | 202 | 145 | 12 | 40 | 295 | 174 | 173 | 347 |
| Adultery | 55 | 55 | 69 | 41 | 7 | 24 | 79 | 25 | 85 | 110 |
| Seduction | 38 | 24 | 14 | 1 | 9 | 28 | 31 | 7 | 38 | |
| Rape | 42 | 41 | 1 | 4 | 20 | 18 | 33 | 9 | 42 | |
| Lewdness | 68 | 50 | 18 | 7 | 18 | 43 | 49 | 19 | 68 | |
| Injurias | 80 | 50 | 106 | 24 | 14 | 29 | 87 | 62 | 68 | 130 |
| Cattle-stealing | 74 | 40 | 34 | 14 | 60 | 26 | 48 | 74 | ||
| Tricks | 39 | 10 | 44 | 5 | 4 | 22 | 23 | 34 | 15 | 49 |
| Robbery | 32 | 5 | 33 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 23 | 31 | 6 | 37 |
| Larceny | 303 | 49 | 264 | 88 | 13 | 80 | 259 | 208 | 144 | 352 |
| Against liquor laws | 276 | 316 | 313 | 279 | 23 | 60 | 509 | 175 | 417 | 592 |
| Smuggling tobacco | 25 | 12 | 25 | 12 | 1 | 8 | 28 | 11 | 26 | 37 |
| Defrauding | 95 | 75 | 71 | 99 | 4 | 16 | 150 | 61 | 109 | 170 |
| Desertion | 49 | 48 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 41 | 28 | 21 | 49 | |
| All other delitos | 227 | 36 | 188 | 75 | 18 | 84 | 161 | 126 | 137 | 236 |
| Totals | 2488 | 690 | 2095 | 1083 | 148 | 639 | 2392 | 1489 | 1688 | 3178 |