Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1918 — Marvelous Highlands of Guatemala [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Marvelous Highlands of Guatemala

FAR upon the horizon towered the twin volcanoes of Atltlan, their dark flanks wreathed in white masses of cloudlike sparkling fields of snow. The cones, thousands of feet above, stood out sharply against the deep blue vault of the tropic skies. For five days we had been riding to them through the enchanted highlands of Guatemala, a marvelous land of fragrant pine forests, flowers, singing birds, broad winding roads, and fertile fields of wheat and corn cultivated by hundreds of thousands of industrious Indians, writes Hamilton M. Wright in the Bulletin of the Pan-American Union. And many pueblos we had passed, lying on the rolling bosom of the cool table-lands with their schools and temples to Minerva, goddess of wisdom, and their white mission buildings and churches from whose thick-walled towers the pealing bells summoned the devout Indians to prayer. Almost without sensing a change of scene we had plunged into the quiet depths of a giant forest, dark after the brilliance of the tropical sun, where mighty trees rose as the stately pillars of a cathedral, to find upon emerging that a turn of the road Drought in view a panorama of 200 miles of magnificent mountain country, forests, plains, the silver glint of lakes and streams, and volcanic cones two miles high enshrouded in turbans of fog. Such is Guatemala, land of majestic contrasts, of unwonted, almost appalling surprises. Here is one of the splendid show places of the world. Far from the beaten path of most tourists its wonders are becoming better known. Below lay cities with their public squares and white churches, fields of yellow grain like golden patches of light in the crystal-clear atmosphere of the highlands, huge dark masses of forest, and beyond, extending their thousands of spurs and flanks, rose the prodigious Cordilleras. To the left the peaks of Atltlan towered to the heavens, majestic, symmetrical, recalling in their perfect contour the famed Fujiyama of Japan. Lake Atltlan and Volcanoes. It was more than a half day's ride from this point before we came to Godines crest and beheld, 3,000 feet below us, the deep blue waters of Lake Atltlan, and on its opposite shores, rising sheer a mile to a mile and onehalf above the surface of the lake, seven great volcanoes, of which the two known as Atltlan are the most wonderful. . - * Lake Atltlan, itself a vast crater lake 27 mile/ ip greatest length and 12 miles wide, is a remarkable body of water. Rev. Father Garcia of Naguala, a graduate of the University of Rome, and one who has given enthusiastic study to the meteorology of the region, Informed me that official soundings of this lake give an extreme depth of more than 1,000 feet. Its surface is 5,000 feet above the level of the sea. Its waters teem with trout with which it has been stocked and, while walking upon its sandy beach near Panajachel, we saw great schools of smaller fish and not a few of the larger. Into its shores plunge the volcanic hills, often in precipitous, forested hogbacks, often in steeply sloping wheat fields, or again ending in mile-high cliffs of bright red sandstone or perpendicular walls marked by the slate grays and purplish hues of volcanic ash. Such ire the walls of Lake Atltlan, often called Lake Panajachel, painted by nature in her most glorious, riotous colors, and rivaling even the famed hues of the Grand Canyon of Arizona. Fine Mountain Highways. Some splendid roads h&ve been built tn the neighborhood of the lake. One of them, broad and sweeping, leads from Panajachel on the southeast shores of Atltlan to the picturesque pueblo of Solala, which is perched op mountain bluffs thousands of feet above. The road is blasted from rocky cliffs and its sides and walls are, literally, of granite. It is a remarkable piece of construction accomplished by one of the generals of President Cabrera’s army. So steep is the road that cascades fall at its very edge and their waters are borne beneath It by culverts;- As it skirts the gigantic bluffs, the traveler obtains entrancing visions of the lake and of the many villages upon its shores. All the highland country is densely,, populated; at least all that portion which Iles between Guatemala City and Quetzaltenango, the second city, of the republic. . The mountains are intensively cultivated up to a height of almst 10,000 feet Fine schools have been built la the pueblos and

under direction of President Estrada Cabrera. The president who is a patron of all the arts, has vigorously pushed the manual training and technical schools. They are to be found throughout the settled portions of the republic. ■ Education is compulsory. Electric lights and pure water piping are installed in all communities of any size. The telegraph system is admirable; I sent ten words 180 miles for 7 cents (American currency), a much lower rate than prevails In the United States or most other countries. The telegraph, educational, postal and mining laws were personally formulated by President Cabrera, who is a jurist of extraordinary attainments. The police system is excellent. I have never seen an intoxicated person in the republic. One can travel in any portion of it unarmed. Concrete has worked wonders. JSyery community has its public concrete washing place where the women may wash their clothes and to which water is often piped a great distance. Descendants of the Mayas. The pdople of the highlands, except in the larger towns, are mostly Indians, who are believed to be descended partly or wholly from the ancient Mayas. I had read that the faces upon the existing obelisks and monuments often bore a striking resemblance to the countenances of the Indians of today. The statement I found verified in the monuments at Quirigua. Of all the prehistoric races of the American • hemisphere the Mayas were among ths most advanced. They had progressed so far in mechanics that they were able to move rocks weighing 20 tons or more over great distances. They possessed a considerable amount of written lore, and represented sounds in their hieroglyphics. Their carvings of human beings or animals had been developed beyond the profile stage of the Egyptians. We found that many of the Indians we met upon the road had but a limited knowledge of Spanish. Father Garcia of Naguala is authority for ths statement that there are now 27 different dialects spoken among these people. Rev. Father Rossbach of Totonlclpan has 40,000 Indians in his parish. He did not know, he said, of a more devout or moral race. They are, too, a picturesque people. The men, with their loose, open-sleeved jackets, plaid skirts, sturdy bare legs and flat straw hats of home weave, strangely resemble the natives of northern Japan. The women lend a touch of vivid color to every country side. They wear richly hued guipils, home-woven waists of purple cloth, embellished with red and gold patterns and with sashes extending from the waist to below the knees, wound somewhat tightly yet permitting freedom of the limbs. Two Attractive Cities. Totonicipan, In the northwest part of the republic, which we reached from the Peten region, lies at an altitude of 8,300 feet above sea level. Around iton all sides but the west rise the walls of great hills. It Is a well-paved city of 18,000 population with attractive shops and fine churches and public buildings. All about are vegetable gardens, grain fields and numerous orchards. Were it not for the lofty mountains nearby, the North American here might fancy himself In the central part of New York state. From Totonicipan a fine road leads west for 15 miles to Quetzaltenango, the second largest city in Guatemala, distinguished by its imposing public edifices, beautiful plaza and fine business structures. There are six good hotels in Quetzaltenango and, although the city Is 35 miles from the railroad at San Felipe, they enjoy a brisk patronage. The stage road to San Felipe is ona of the scenic highways of the world. In 35 miles it drops more than one mile and skirts the flanks of Mount Santa Maria, one of the most picturesque of the Central American volcanoes. More than this: In a few brief hours it plunge/ from the pine-dad temperate zone into tropical jungles of* a luxuriance that baffles description. Here is a foreworld. Prodigious hardwoods with branches rising from clear boles 80 to 100 feet above the earth ano hung with giant creepers like enormous serpents. Clusters of orchids ding to the branches or crevices of trees or hang suspended from trailing vines. Skeins of gray moss beard the trees. Tree ferns, giant palms and otic flowers are features of a juggle which, at times, one can only penetrate with a machete. In a few hours by the auto stage the traveler baa plunged into a different world.

View of Lake Atltian.