CLIMATE, FLORA, AND FAUNA. Lying wholly within the tropics. Guatemala would have a uni formly warm, moist climate if it were not for the great diversity of its surface in the central and southern parts. Here the differences in topog raphy reach their maximum, with important effect upon climate, while the comparatively level areas of northern Guatemala and the Pacific coastal plain are under uniform tropical weather conditions. The lower-lying districts, up to 2000 feet above the sea, are called the hot lands (Tierra caliente). The mean temperature is from 77° to 82° F. The population here is very small. Fevers are prevalent, and most of the hot lands are unsuitable for settlement by the white races. These are the regions of cacao cul ture, of the cocoa palm, and of rubber and ma hogany forests. The healthful temperate regions (Tierra templada), forming the central and southern plateaus and plains among the moun tains, are from 2000 to 6000 feet above sea-level. The zone between 2000 and 4000 feet, with a mean temperature of 68° to about 73° F., is the chief region of coffee culture. Less coffee is grown in the higher parts of the temperate lands, where the temperature has been known to fall to the freezing-point. The cold lands (Tierra fria), above 6000 feet, where the mean temperature is 50° to 63°, are adapted to the cultivation of wheat, the potato, and apple; and in particular ly favored spots, well exposed to the sun, even oranges and bananas, which, with sugar-cane and cotton, are characteristic products of the lower altitudes, are successfully grown. Above 10,600 feet, among the highest mountains, where the mean annual temperature is under 50° F., there is no agriculture. Here are found Alpine coni fers, and there is more or less mountain grazing. The tops of the highest mountains are treeless, and are sometimes covered with a little snow.
The Atlantic slope, swept to a considerable ex tent by eastern or northeast trade winds, has a larger rainfall than the Pacific slope, where the heaviest precipitation is on the southern slopes of the mountains. The driest regions are the plains among the mountains. These plains are partly screened by the elevations around them from rain coming from either ocean. Thus the inland district of central Guatemala has only about 27 inches of rain in a year, which is suffi cient for agriculture, while the city of Guatemala, on the coast of the southern Cordillera, has 57 inches, and Tual, high on the Atlantic slope, 195 inches. The temperate lands, covering a large col lective area in central Guatemala, are the great source of the country's agricultural wealth. Among the wild plants, the bamboo grows in thickets on the low-lying Pacific seaboard, and the dense forests of the northern hot land are famous for their magnificent orchids. Animal life is more abundant in the moist than in the dry regions. A number of mammals, including the tapir and peccary, inhabit the forests. The alligator, and thirty species of fish previously unknown, were found in Lake 1'et6n. Some of the most danger ous snakes find a home in the forest under growth. There are very many species of birds, the most notable of which is the quezal or long tailed trogon, "with an emerald-green silky plu mage, dashed with a golden lustre above, with a lovely purple hue below, and a tail three feet long." This bird has been chosen as the national emblem of the Republic. Horses, mules, cattle, sheep, swine, and goats are important factors in the industrial life of the drier and cooler agri cultural districts.