GUATLMALA. 161
The shores of the bays of Honduras and Campeachy have been long cele-brated for their immense forests of logwood and mahogany. A great com-merce is carried on in these articles; likewise in cocoa and cochineal, whichare also products of this country. Here likewise grow those trees which pro-duce the balsams copaiva and tolu. But what most distinguishes this countryare its immensely valuable mines of gold, silver, and precious stones.
Its silver mines are the richest in the world, and have for a long time pro-duced annually ten times as much silver as all the mines in Europe . Someof these mines are regarded as curiosities; and one of them is excavated eightmiles in length, and 1640 feet in depth.
In 1521, the Spaniards under Cortez subdued Mexico , which was, at thattime, under the government of the emperor Montezuma; and in 1821, theMexicans declared themselves independent of Spain .
GUATIMALA, or CENTRAL AMERICA .
Guatimala consists of a long isthmus, forming the southernmost part ofNorth America, and lying between the Caribbean sea and the Pacific ocean It was formerly subject to Spain , but was declared independent in 1821; andit has since been named, from its situation, the Republic of Central America .
Volcanoes are extremely numerous, and some of them terrific; no less than20 are in constant activity. The general appearance of the soil is extremelyfertile, and Guatimala produces abundantly corn, cochineal, grapes, honey,wax, cotton, fine wool, and dye-woods. The population has been estimatedat 2,000,000.
Length from north-west to south-east, 1000 miles. The settled parts arechiefly along the Pacific ocean , and average about 100 miles in width. Thewhole of Central America is subdivided into the provinces of Chiapa, VeraPaz, Guatimala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica . The country is exces-sively mountainous, and volcanoes are numerous.
St. Juan is the principal river. The chief towns are Guatimala , the capital;Nicaragua , and Leon. The minerals are gold and silver.
BRITISH AMERICA.
British America is a vast extent of country, comprehending all the north-ern part of the continent, except the Russian possessions in the north-west,and Greenland on the north-east.
It comprises Lower Canada, Upper Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Bruns-wick ; the islands of Newfoundland, St. John’s, and Cape Breton ; and thevast region of New Britain , or Hudsonia.
The government of the whole country is under a governor-general, whoseresidence is at Quebec ; and each of the provinces has a lieutenant-governor.
The established religion is that of the Church of England , and there aretwo bishops, one residing at Quebec, and the other at Halifax ; but most of theinhabitants of Lower Canada are Catholics .