GUATEMALA, nominally a republic, but really an oligarchic state of Central America, terminates this division of the new continent towards then.w., being washed at once by the Caribbean sea and the Pacific ocean. It stretches in n. lat. from about 14° to 17°, and in w. long. from 88° to 93°, containing 40.620 sq.m., and 1,190,750 inhabitants. The surface presents great variety, mountains and valleys. plains and table-lands. The different levels, ranging from the sea-shore to an elevation of 5,000 ft., have each its own climate and temperature. The country is subject to earthquakes, and abounds in active volcanoes. Being nearly as populous as all the other states of Central America put together, Guatemala popularly gave name, in the early days of independence, to the confederation which they temporarily formed; and, from the same pre-eminence, it had given name, under the Spanish domination, to a still more extensive region. The government is in the hands of a president elected for four years, with a council of state and a house of representatives. Formerly the president was elected for life, and under Rafael Carrera (1854-05) the government was carried on in the interest of a dissolute aristocracy and a debased priesthood. The banished Jesuits were recalled, the convents
re-established, etc. Now a different order of things prevails. A new code of laws has been drawn up; the monastic order has been wholly suppressed; and, though the Roman Catholic is the established religion, others arc tolerated. In 1874 the imports and the exports respectively amounted to .€610.801 and £657,744, the trade with Great Britain, partly direct and partly through Balize, comprising two-thirds of the former, and nearly three fourths of the latter. The chief articles imported were cottons, silks, woolens, hardware, ironmongery, linens, and jewelry; and the chief articles ex ported were cochineal, indigo, sugar, hides, country manufactures, sarsaparilla, and mahogany. Formerly, cochineal was the principal export, in worth more than doubling all the others put together; but of late years, owing to a disease among the cochineal insect, coffee has been the staple.