CENTRAL AMER/CA. Though on the map Central America appears to be a mere isthmus extending in a southeasterly direction from Mexico to Colombia, between the Carib bean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, it is in fact structurally much more nearly related to the West Indies, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, and to the northern coast of South America, than to the main bodies of the larger continents. It has a distinct geologic formation at right angles to those of North and South America. Probably in the Tertiary Period Central America and the Antilles to gether formed a great island or archipelago lying between North and South America. (Consult Robert T. Hill's and Porto Rico,' etc.). Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, five republics, are characterized in the treaty of peace signed at Corinto, Nicaragua, 20 Jan. 1902, as °the Central American The Isthmus of Panama, at the commencement of its history under the Spanish regime, was associated not less inti mately with the settlements in the region north and west of it than with those of South America; British Honduras (Belize) also, a colony lying between Guatemala and the Carib bean Sea, has been connected about equally with the history of the Central American states and with that of Yucatan. The mountains de scribed as extending directly at right angles to the cordilleras of North and South America are part of a great Antillean system. East and west mountain ranges of this type occur in the Isthmus of Panama, Costa Rica and the east ern parts of Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and the adjoining provinces of Mexico, also along the Colombian and Venezuelan coast of South America, and in Cuba, Haiti and the other islands of the Greater Antilles. Two submarine ridges stretching across the Carib bean Sea, between Honduras and the Sierra Maestra range in Cuba, and from Cape Gracias a Dios to Jamaica, are regarded as being geneti cally a part of the same system. The great banks of the western Caribbean Sea were at one time projections of land probably connect ing Central America with Jamaica and possibly Cuba. Therefore Florida, the Bahamas, the Antilles and at least the eastern part of Central America, totally severed from North and South America, together formed either one great is land, or, more probably, a group of several large islands, with volcanic chains on the east and west, and with characteristic rocks, cal careous and igneous, which have weathered into soils of unsurpassed fertility. A Central Ameri can group of volcanoes, with 31 active craters crossing the western ends of the Antillean folds, occurs on the Pacific side of the republics, from Costa Rica to Guatemala. The central and eastern region is well watered, with com paratively low mountains, very rich soil, and a good climate, except the Caribbean coast which, from Trujillo downward, including the Mos quito territory, is hot and insalubrious. Lack
of communication and means of transporta tion has led to the abandonment of the inter mediate lands, the most attractive and exten sive part of the country, nearly or quite beyond the influence of the volcanic area. The easily approachable volcanic strip (in Nicaragua, for example, between the lakes and the Pacific) has been preferred hitherto as a place of residence. Thus one who visits only the principal cities in the centre of population, seeing nothing of the naturally richer and better districts, re ceives the impresSion that this is the most vol canic region of the globe. The largest volcanoes are, for example in the north, the Acatenango, 14,000 feet elevation, in Guatemala; and In the south, for example, the halal and Turealba, of 12,000 feet, in Costa Rica. In Nicaragua the highest, El Viejo, is only 5,800 feet above sea-level. In Guatemala we find the volcanoes, Fuego, Cerro Quemado and El Chato; in Sal vador, Ilopanga and San Salvador. Earth quake shocks in the republics last mentioned, and also in Costa Rica, have been, as a rule, very severe, while those of Nicaragua are comparatively mild and extend over limited areas. The recorded seismic disturbances that have affected the whole country are those of 1538, 1648, 1651, 1844 and 1865. Central Nica ragua, east of the lakes, Nicaragua and Ma nagua (the largest bodies of fresh water in Central America), is regarded as nearly im mune from such disturbances. Nicaragua's centre of volcanic activity is a ridge, the Sierra de los Morabios, between the Cosiguina (whose outburst on 2 Jan. 1835 was considered the grandest on record before the eruption of Krakato in 1883), and the Momotombo. In this ridge are 10 vents, two of which, the Telica and Momotombo, are active and none can be properly called extinct. Southeast from the Morabios ridge is the isolated active vol cano Masaya. The °rose is in Costa Rican territory. The island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua has two volcanoes, one dormant, the other extinct. Comparatively few members of the Central American chain of volcanoes are Of the type with which fierce eruptions are com monly associated; moreover, the fertility of the soil on their flanks, due to the high percentage of soda and potash contained in volcanic dust, tempts agriculturists to remain in this neigh borhood. The line of the intercontinental rail way keeps near to the Pacific coast, and it is probable, therefore, that for many years to come the best part of Central America, the central districts, will receive only secondary consideration, remaining comparatively unde veloped.