El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-11-09

the mountains has been through cOf-
/ fee plantations, which are growing
/ equal to that Of Arabia and Java.
Guatemala In 1912.
But before go further let me give
I you an idea Of the country. You can
| get the size from any book OF sta
/ ustics. Guatemala contains over 49,
goo square miles. 1t is as big as New
DIX OF about equal to the states of
Ohio and AIassa chusetts com bined. 1t
IS bigger than any other Central
! American republic and it contains, in
fact, about One-fOurth Of all the land
between Panama and Mexico. 1t is
three times the size of Salvador and
twice as big as Costa Rica.
Guatemala has more people than any
other Central American state. It has
I over 10000 00 but six out Of every ten
Of these are indians and the country
I is run by the descendants of Spaniards
and half breeds, who make the indians
90 the work Altogether there are more
indians here than the population of
Philadelphia, and there are a little
more than half as many who are half
breeds or LadinOs. The indians and
Ladlnes are very interesting, and 1
snail write more OF them in future.
The Worlds biggest Relief Map.
As to Guatemala itself we can see it
best at the race track here in the capt.
tai This track is known as the Hip
podrOme, and it inclOses q mile ring
education inside it. Just opposite the
grandStOne is a stone temple, put up
Dy the president in the interest Of
education, to the goddess Minerva, and
/ on one side Of this is the biggest re-
lief map of the world
This relief map covers several acres.
and by climbing the platform at the
side of 1t we can see Guatemala in
miniature The map is made Of ce-
ment plaster and other materials
which the weather has turned to stone
1t is connected with the water works
and as we look the man in charge
turns a crank and real mountain
water begins 10 flow through the mini
AZURE rivers and fill the lakes. On one
side we can see the waves of the Garth
Dean sea, now a great eXpanse Of sill
yer, and on the other the waters of a
little Pacific ocean dash uUOn the
shores. All OF the ports are marked
by landing piers and strips of steel
WIND their way over the country rep
resentlng the railroads. Along the Pa
chic slope you can see the Pan-Ameri-
can railway, which is fast approaching
completion, and which, as soon a IS Mex
leo IS quiet viii give us an iron track
from here to New York. You can see
the new lines building down toward
salvador and those which cross the
mountains from coast to coast
A Tropical Switzerland.
rms map shows US the exact nature
or the country With the exception Of
I've SLlApS OF lOWlanQS inning the At
lantic and Pacific oceans, it IS all
mountains and valleys. Tt has scenery
which is equal to that Of Switzerland,
and the beauty about it is that it is
green all the year round. It is largely
volcanic. Guatemala has IS volcanoes. /
ranging in height from the mountains
Of the A1leghenies to those of the
Rockies and some Of these volcanoes
are still in eruption. Right here in
guatemala City, which is almost as
nigh as Denver 7 can see vapor rising
from the Volcano de Aqua, and last
night there was fire all along its south
slope. Many of the strangers here /
thought the mountain was in eruption,
but we afterWard discovered it was
only forest fires which had sprung up {
in the woods The most Of the vol (
canoes of Guatemala are perfect. cones, I
and many of them are the equals of /
I uJiyama in their symmetrical out /
lines
Looking at the map below US. we I
see that one Of the mountains is half /
blown away. This is the Volcano of [
Santa Maria, which burst forth about 4
10 years ago and destroyed many vii 1
lagos, covering the country with vol /
canic ashes. Farther over you may |