Volume 3 — CHAPTER XXXII. INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS. 1800-1887.

Early Agriculture—Protection of the Industry—Great Progress Attained—Communal Lands—Agricultural Wealth—Decay of Cochineal—Development of Other Staples—Indigo, Coffee, Sugar, Cacao, and Tobacco—Food and Other Products—Precious Woods and Medicinal Plants—Live-stock—Value of Annual Production in Each State—Natural Products of Panamá—Neglect of Agriculture—Mineral Wealth—Yield of Precious Metals—Mining in Honduras, Salvador, and Nicaragua—Deposits of Guatemala and Costa Rica—Mints—Former Yield of Panamá—Mining Neglected on the Isthmus—Incipiency of Manufactures—Products for Domestic Use.

In the early part of the present century cattle were the mainstay of the large estates in Central America; but the great staple was indigo.[XXXII-1] Sugar and raspadura were also important crops, but the most valuable was that of Indian corn. Some tobacco was also grown. The cacao plantations had ceased to exist. The cultivation of jiquilite, cochineal, and vanilla had also declined.[XXXII-2]

GUATEMALA PLANTATIONS.

Guatemala passed, from time to time, laws for the protection and development of agriculture,[XXXII-3] and yet it made no notable progress down to the end of the seventh decade.[XXXII-4] But with the establishment of a more liberal system, a great change soon became manifest. The cultivation of cochineal having become unproductive,[XXXII-5] the government turned its attention to the development of coffee,[XXXII-6] until it became the first source of wealth of the country. In Antigua Guatemala coffee, and in Amatitlan sugar, have taken the place of cochineal.[XXXII-7] Every possible encouragement has been given to other products, such as sugar, wheat, tobacco, cinchona, jiquilite, spices, and grapes, with good results in some of them, and prospects of the same in others.[XXXII-8] I give in note statistical data on the country's productions.[XXXII-9]

Honduras produces all the great staples of the tropics. The land on both coasts is adapted for cotton.[XXXII-10] A soft, slender, and juicy sugar-cane is indigenous; two and even three crops are taken annually. This cane requires replanting only once in ten or twelve years. Excellent coffee may be had in abundance if cultivated. Cochineal and grapes were obtained in former years.[XXXII-11] The nopal is indigenous and abundant in Comayagua. The tobacco of Honduras has a well-deserved reputation. Indigo is produced in quantities for commercial purposes. Food staples are varied and abundant. The country has also a wealth of precious woods, and indeed, of every variety common to the tropics. Of fruit-trees, there are many indigenous. Sarsaparilla, of which there is none superior, is found in abundance, particularly on the northern and eastern coasts. Vanilla grows in the same districts.[XXXII-12] Agriculture is progressing. The cultivation of fruit-trees on the northern coast has drawn the attention of capitalists. Coffee, indigo, sugar-cane, and tobacco are the chief staples. Neat cattle were the most obvious source of wealth, the interior country being favorable for their increase.[XXXII-13]

Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica enjoy the same advantages as the other two states already described, and have within the last thirty years developed agriculture in a remarkable degree. The great products of the first named are indigo, coffee, maize, sugar, and rice. A variety of other articles contribute to increase the country's wealth.[XXXII-14] The old system of communal lands prevails throughout Central America.

The chief staples of Nicaragua are cacao, sugar, indigo, tobacco, cotton, coffee, wheat, and other cereals, and plantains and fruits in great profusion.[XXXII-15] The departments of Rivas, Granada, Leon, and Chinandega supply trade with the most valuable staples. The government has endeavored to promote agriculture, particularly the cultivation of coffee and tobacco.[XXXII-16] Among other productions mention must be made of the inexhaustible quantities of medicinal plants, and valuable cabinet and dye woods.[XXXII-17] Cattle are another source of wealth, but cattle-raising has its drawbacks.[XXXII-18]

COSTA RICA AND PANAMÁ.

Costa Rica produces indigo and sugar of excellent quality, and some of the best cacao in the Matina Valley.[XXXII-19] Wheat, potatoes, and other vegetables, apples, and other fruits of the temperate zone are also found; but the republic's chief staple and source of wealth is coffee.[XXXII-20] The plantations are small and looked to with the utmost care. The largest one of Costa Rica would be considered small in Guatemala; but on the other hand, men and women find occupation, and there is no actual poverty. The production of coffee has steadily increased, except when rains have been scanty or excessive, or locusts have caused devastation in the fields.[XXXII-21]

Fiscal monopolies have kept back, in a great measure, the development of the cultivation of sugar and tobacco.[XXXII-22] The country is well supplied with livestock of all kinds, and is also rich in valuable cabinet and dye woods as well as in medicinal plants.

The soil of the Isthmus of Panamá is well adapted for all tropical productions. The country only needs an industrious population and peace to develop its immense natural wealth. The chief productions are Indian corn, sugar-cane, rice, a great variety of fruits, vegetables, and nutritious roots, such as yam, yucca, etc. Agriculture has been limited to the supply of edibles, and of late years to the shipment of some fruit to the United States. The cultivation of sugar and coffee might be made profitable, though requiring a large outlay, but for being dependent on an uncertain supply of labor. In 1862 and 1863, cotton culture was undertaken in the interior with fair success, and in 1864 had spread all over the country.[XXXII-23] The plant is perennial, and yet, with this and other advantages, the natives have not become awake to the importance of it. Cacao is another article that might be grown to advantage. The government has tried to promote the culture of coffee and cacao.[XXXII-24]

Coffee and sugar are cultivated, but not in sufficient quantity to meet even the home demand. I append in a note an official account of agricultural production for 1882, though not giving it much value.[XXXII-25]

VERAGUA AND CHIRIQUÍ.

Veragua and Chiriquí have good plains for raising neat cattle, goats, pigs, horses, asses, and mules.[XXXII-26] Poultry, and a great variety of wild animals exist in abundance. The seas on the two coasts are well stocked with fish.

The Isthmus has plenty of timber of the best kinds and of enormous size, found in South Darien, and in all the mountains on both coasts, and in the islands; also cabinet and dye woods, and medicinal plants.[XXXII-27]

Of the five states of Central America, Honduras appears to be the most plentifully supplied with mineral wealth. Mount Merendon was long celebrated for its silver and gold mines. Until about thirty or forty years ago, mining was the most prominent interest in the state, but wars and political disturbances caused the abandonment of the mines, and the works fell into decay, after which there was neither enterprise, capital, nor skill to restore them. The owners of the property afterward became owners of immense grazing estates. Some mines were continued in operation, however, on a small scale, and in a rude manner.[XXXII-28] In 1860 and for some preceding years the bullion export of Honduras amounted to about $400,000 annually, most of it being gold collected by the Indians from shallow washings.

MINERALS AND METALS.

The development of the mining wealth of Honduras is engaging the attention of foreign capitalists.[XXXII-29] Several companies have been organized in the United States, France, and elsewhere to work the mines in the departments of Tegucigalpa, Santa Bárbara, Yuscaran, and Jutigalpa.[XXXII-30]

Guatemala has not been noted for mines. However, the district in the Alotepec mountains was rich toward the latter part of the eighteenth century, yielding large quantities of silver.[XXXII-31] The river sands of the department of Chiquimula are auriferous, and the Indians wash them for gold.[XXXII-32] Recently several deposits have been reported to the government, of lead, silver, gold, cinnabar, coal, kaoline, marble, etc.[XXXII-33]

Nicaragua possesses an immense wealth in minerals, which has not been developed as yet, except on a small scale, and generally, without any intelligence. Gold and silver and several useful metals are found in great abundance.[XXXII-34] There are also deposits of gypsum, marble, alabaster, lime, saltpetre, etc. Sulphur is sometimes found pure. The mining laws favor the industry by either natives or foreigners. A mint has existed in the republic for several years.[XXXII-35]

In Salvador there can be no mines of precious metals out of that portion of the state which is geologically dependent on the mountain system of Honduras. The silver mines of Tabanco, Encuentros, Sociedad, Loma Larga, Divisaderos, Capetilla, Santa Rosalía, etc., in the department of San Miguel, on the north-eastern part, and bordering on Honduras, have had a wide celebrity. Some of them were extensively worked, and with great profit. The group called Minas de Tabanco, holding the ore in combination with galena and sulphuret of zinc, are easily worked.[XXXII-36]

Salvador has rich mines of iron near Santa Ana, and of brown coal throughout the valley of the Lempa, and in the valleys of some of its tributaries, over a region of 100 miles long by 20 miles broad.[XXXII-37]

Costa Rica has been less favored than the other states in mining wealth. Rich gold mines are supposed to exist near the border of Panamá.[XXXII-38] In the Aguiate Mountains and at cuesta del Jocote gold mines were worked by foreigners with a moderate profit. It is stated that the country also possesses mines of silver, copper, nickel, zinc, iron, lead, and coal.[XXXII-39] The republic keeps a well-organized mint, the improvements having been first introduced by Chief Mora; since then none of his successors has neglected that establishment.

YIELD OF PRECIOUS METALS.

The yield of gold and silver of the five states of Central America for the years 1804-1868 is estimated at $13,800,000 of the former, and $7,400,000 of the latter, making a total of $21,200,000.[XXXII-40] The yearly supply since has been roughly calculated at $300,000 in gold, and $200,000 in silver.[XXXII-41]

The Isthmus is reputed to have a great mineral wealth. The mines of Darien have been renowned from the earliest times after the conquest. Vasco Nuñez de Balboa speaks enthusiastically of them.[XXXII-42] They were not worked till the second half of the seventeenth century. The richest of them were those of Santa Cruz de Cana, where of the Espíritu Santo was the chief.[XXXII-43] In 1708 the king's fifths were equivalent to $216,500. The mines had attained a high state of prosperity, when an end was put thereto by the Indian revolt in 1726 and 1727.[XXXII-44] Since then, though the mines have been granted from time to time to several parties, nothing has been done worth mentioning.[XXXII-45] It is believed that the yield of these mines had reached 18,000 to 20,000 pounds of gold yearly.[XXXII-46]

According to a report addressed to the Colombian secretary of the treasury, and published in the Diario Oficial at Bogotá, the whole production of gold and silver in New Granada or Colombia, from 1537 to 1800 was $414,000,000, and from 1801 to 1882, it was $216,000,000; total, $630,000,000,[XXXII-47] of which amount $74,000,000 is credited to the Isthmus of Panamá, four millions of them being the yield of the present century. Cinnabar and manganese are reported to exist on the Isthmus, and coal in Chiriquí, Bocas del Toro, and the bottom of Colon harbor.[XXXII-48]

MANUFACTURES.

Manufacturers are as yet in their infancy in Central America.[XXXII-49] Since the separation from Spain, every inducement has been offered to develop them, and more especially after the change of governmental régime of 1871.[XXXII-50] In later times we find in Quezaltenango good factories for spinning and weaving textiles. In Chiquimula they manufacture palm-leaf hats, mats, and maguey-fibre baskets. In Vera Paz the natives make excellent hammocks, bags, rope, etc. But the fact stands officially acknowledged that Guatemala has not made a sufficient advancement to enable her to export any manufactures, or even to compete in her own markets with the better and cheaper productions of other countries.[XXXII-51]

In Honduras manufactures are at a low ebb, owing to the condition of affairs before and after her independence, not less than to the composition of her people.

There are in Salvador several factories at which cotton and silk rebozos are made, which meet with easy sale in all the Central American markets.[XXXII-52] Hammocks, earthen-ware, straw hats, cigarettes, sweetmeats, etc., are manufactured. Rum is made, as in Guatemala, from sugar-cane.

In Nicaragua mechanics are scarce. Manufacturing is yet in the incipient state.[XXXII-53] However, the Indians make excellent pottery and other articles for home consumption.[XXXII-54]

In Costa Rica there is hardly any domestic manufacturing.[XXXII-55] Efforts are made by the government to develop the industry.[XXXII-56]

As regards Panamá, it may be said that manufactures are almost unknown, save such as are imported.[XXXII-57]