New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-11-30

''Cz,1ateunala the country TO which public at
tention has been attracted through the killing
OF William A Fitzgerald by ". Godfrey Hunter,
II. son of the American Consul General is a
country the world is bound to hear more of in
the future, or I am no judge" said man only
recently returned from Guatemala City where
the tragedy was enacted that is now claiming a
good share of the attention of the State De-
partment officials
1T is singular, isn't It," said the man, that a
country as old as Guatemala, one CT the oldest
on the North American Continent should so
long remain in comparative obscUrity? Why,
Guatemala was one of the first of the countries
10 Fall before Cortez and his invading army. and
right there at the Of its history, so far as
we OF these latter day times are concerned, is
presented q characteristic of the Guatemalan
people.
'.People from other countries going to Guate-
Inala for the first time express surprise at the
number Of descendants from the aborigines they
find there By that I mean full blooded de-
scendants Why, statistics show that even at
The present time these pure blooded descendants
of the original Guatemalans outnumber the full
blooded descendants of the other Central Amer
lean countries twelve TO one.
Why? Well here's the way they explain it:
The original Guatemalans at the time Of the
Spanish conquest We're a peace loving people,
devoting their time chiefly to agriculture, and
they offered little or resistance to the in
vaders So you see that while the more war
like Indians were exterminated the Guate-
rnalans were merely subjected. Their descend
ants. with a slightly larger number of 1adinos'
and 'n7estizos,' as the Indians of mixed blood
are called, make up the bulk of the population
OF the country Then there are between 1000
and 1900 foreigners in the country, and per
haps twice that number Of negroes mulattoes
end 'sarnbos, as they call the negro and Indian
halfbreeds
Just as the people take after their ancestors
in blood characteristics, so they take after them
tn large degree in their pursuits of life. They
can still be called an agricultural people, for it
IS only recently that manufacturing has as
sumed any proportions in the country. The soil
is fertile, and the principal crops are coffee,
which grows between one thousand and six
thousand feet above sea Ievel; sugar cane, grow
ing between sea level and 5000 feet cacao, up TO
three thousand feet, and tobacco, wheat, maize
and beans are also raised in large quantities.
Il have seen statistics giving the coffee ex-
ports in 1899 as S5,373. 223 pounds, valued at
S7.390.477 in gold. The ordinary yield of to-
bacco, according to the best authorities. is
100000 pounds; of sugar. 100000 pounds;
bananas. 100000 lunches and cacao, 100000
pounds.
member, il covers an area Of only As 29O square
miles. It is about $50 miles square, they say.
There is one little portion, however. where the
Mexican State Of Chiapas indents. where IL is
only eighty miles wide.
But the soil is not the only natural resource
OF the country by any MEANS TO my mind. For
instance. there is about 100000 acres of
forest land in n country, and those forests
abound in mahogany Then. too, there is about
10000 acres Of grazing land. Gold mines have
been opened on the south bank of the Montarna
River. and silver mines have also been opena5
near that stream. But the country is not rich
in precious metals. and do not believe it's other
minerals have ever been systematically de-
Neloped- For instance, there are deposits q,
COAL Ignite, manganese. lead. tin, kaolin, opaIs
slate alum. marble, anthony. sulphur and salt
Manufacturing Is as 1 have said, still in
Its infancy. The industries are at present de.
voted largely TO supplying local needs only