lohe PAN AME:RICAN UNION JOHN BARRETT : : Director General FRANCISCO J. YANES : Assistant Director EL SALVADOR OF THE MAGIC TABLE LANDS ^ Reprinted from the January, 1918, issue of the Bulletin of the Pan American Union WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1918 •VV^S EL SALVADOR. OF '/ H EACH of us when he sees a map of the world becomes, as it were, a magician, a con^m-er. India! and we picture in our fancy the mighty River Ganges, or that exquisite archi- tectural monument, the Taj Mahal; Peru! and there arises in our consciousness an impression of the picturesque land of the In- cas; Italy! and perhaps we think of the loveliness of the Bay of Naples in the neighborhood of Sorrento. So, too, El Salvador has its nat- ural phenomena, its beauty spots for tourists that should be double starred in travelers' guide books, its relics of ancient races, its quaint and busy cities with their artistic works of architecture. In the world there is not a more wonderful volcano than Izalco, which, more than four generations ago, ascended from the plains and has since remained active. There is not a more wonderful lake in the world than Ilopongo, distant about 10 miles from San Salvador, the capital, and connected with it by a splendid highway. A fine national road which, at one point, cuts the mountain side 800 feet above the surface of the lake also comes in from San Vicente. . Ilo- pongo is an alluring spot for bathers, for the people of the Republic thoroughly appreciate the charms and advantages of their own country. It is the watering place for San Salvador, with hotels, bath houses, and launches. The surrounding ridges and mountains are beautiful and colorful and dip into the lake steeply. Viewing this superb sheet of water, with the near-by eminences verdure clad or colored by past volcanic eruptions, with drifting clouds casting their fleeting shadows upon its surface, one has a feeling that he is far from the haunts of man, until perchance his eye lights upon a launch far below, sending its ripples over the expanse of waters. There are in the world no finer mountain peaks than those of El Salvador. The volcanoes Santa Ana, San Miguel, San Vicente, Usulutan, Zatecoluca, and San Salvador, rising from Santa Teclas and half a hundred others have all the characteristic beauty of the symmetrical volcanic eminences elsewhere in Central America. In the healthful uplands or mountain basins, where a larger part of the population lives, 2,000 feet or more above sea level, are to be found tree-shaded cities and rich country districts that in charm and interest will repay richly every moment the traveler will spare them. The healthful climate gives rise to a vigorous and enterprising popula- 2 1 By Hamilton M. Wright. 42091—18 D. •! 1»« /^fc Courtesy of Sr. Atilio Peccorini. TWO VIEWS OF THE VOLCANO IZALCO, EL SALVADOR. 'There are in the world no finer mountain peaks than those of El Salvador. The volcanoes Santa Ana, San Miguel, San Vicente, Usulutan, Zatecoluca, and San Salvador, rising from Santa Tecla, and half a hundred- others have all the characteristic beauty of the symmetrical volcanic eminences elsewhere in Central America." ^ s-^ 6 EL SALVADOR, OF THE MAGIC TABLE LANDS, tion. This little country has a record of having produced 75,000,000 pounds of coffee in a single year, 1916, perhaps more in earlier periods. We did not stop long at La Union, but continued from the port up the coast to La Libertad, the nearest seaport to San Salvador. The port of La LTnion has been much improved of recent years. The fine concrete pier, with commodious warehouses and tracks to ship side, is probably the best north of the Panama Canal on the Pacific coast of Central America. The old railway line has been taken over by an American company, the International Railways of Central America. It runs through the important city of San Miguel, having attained a mileage, I was told, of almost 100 miles on its way to San Salvador. Thus the principal cities of the Republic will be connected by a fine system of railroads extending in a general northwest and southeast direction (or, rather, more nearly straight east and west) for almost its entire length. If it had not been for the war, the pro- posed line between Zacapa, Guatemala, and Santa Ana, the second city of Salvador, would even now have been completed, I was in- formed, and there would exist railway communication between New York and the city of San Salvador. The town of La LTnion is also connected by main east and west highways extending to the Guatemalan border, and with roads running into Honduras. It has a population of about 5,000. It is destined to become one of the most important cities of San Salvador. Through it come most of the imports for the whole east portion of the Republic. The rugged coast of El Salvador near La Libertad gives little indication of the glories within, of the fertile uplands, the pleasing- cities, the lakes and river valleys. Giant hogbacks and mountains plunge precipitously to the beach, and the coast appears almost deserted save where a valley opens upon the sea or is discerned paralleling its course. The placid Pacific as it nears the shore gathers itself into mighty breakers which dash upon the beach into a Niagara of foam, sending white plumes of spray high into the air. At La Libertad we anchored out in the open roadstead a mile and one-half from shore and took a coft'ee barge to the pier, where we arranged for a conveyance to San Salvador, 40 miles distant by automobile road but less than 30 for mules. It is a very short trip up to the capital, but the traveler beholds the varied resources and climatic changes of an entire continent within the brief journey to the uplands. This part of the coast is a center for Peruvian balsam, a remedy for pulmonary complaints and so called because in early days it was first shipped from Salvador to Peru before being recon- signed in through packets to Europe. The tree is found over an extended strip up and down the coast. At the present time it would not be necessary to send the product by so circuitous a route. yi H - i ■ 1 - zz:pzz:±^EZLi4:: m\m lasif «• s^laH _^^.J34J ^£ 1 V'i ^< :\ .1 ly IS in ;M^ -;^ ^:~¥rm^ j^ »Mi ,lilW'K#1^ M ti ■M^ , It itf^Mirir^if ifiB^K^BwMHI^BBM ^ , ■-■■r^'"'' ^ 1 ,1!rr lUi^.*.'"*- ■,. -.. ■'^■■■{■r;-. }.^ VIEWS OF LA LIBERTAD, A PORT OF EL SALVADOR. Upper: A general view of the harbor. Lower: The pier which extends out into the Pacific Ocean. La Libertad is the principal port for San Salvador, the capital of the Republic, distant by automobile road about 40 miles. According to Mr. Wright, "It is a very short trip up to the capital, but the trav- eler beholds the varied resources and climatic changes of an entire continent %vithin the brief journey to the uplands." BALSAM TREES OF EL SALVADOR. The valuable product known as Peruvian balsam is really the product ?f a tree that grows in El Salvador. These trees with their fine crowns of spreading branches grow to a height of over oO ^et, and besides tlie medicinal gum they furnish are valuable for their wood from which excellent building material and furniture are m.ade. EL SALVADOR, OP THE MAGIC TABLE LANDS. 9 Indeed, it speaks volumes for the cheapness of transportation and handUng of freight that Salvador is able to send coffee down from the hills, load it aboard ship by barges, and dispatch it to Havre, France, via the Tehuantepec (Mexico) Isthmian railway, in compe- tition with the Panama Canal. Yet considerable cargoes of the 1917 Salvador crop were dispatched to Europe over that route. Whether a cargo went via Tehuantepec or via Panama Canal de- pended on whether the steamer that was to carry it was bound to Panama or up the coast. The journey from La Libertad to San Salvador is a fine one and the road is good. In fact there are 1,800 miles of through national highways in the Republic of Salvador. The roads of San Salvador are a national institution. Great work has been done in grading and bridge building. Some splendid permanent concrete bridges have been constructed. La Libertad, which is also reached by road from San Vicente in the east central part of the Republic, is the seat of the cable station between North and South America, where messages are handled with great dispatch. The roads leading into La Libertad are much traversed by oxcarts, as La Libertad is a great port for San Salvador. It takes an oxteam with load a day and one-half or two days to make the trip from San Salvador. When the railroad is constructed from the capital to La Libertad one will be easily able to make the trip in an hour. The Government has selected the best of several surveys for the route and approved it. When this line is built, when La Union is connected by rail with San Salvador, and, more than all, when Santa Ana is connected with Zacapa, Guatemala, thus enabling travelers to reach Salvador speedily from Puerto Barrios on the Atlantic coast side, the wonder- ful little Republic of Salvador, with its wealth in minerals and agri- culture and its great numbers of intelligent and industrious workers, will blossom out as it never has before. And these developments are sure to come at no very distant date. The mountain scenery on the way to Santa Tecla, 2,650 feet above sea level and but 11 miles from San Salvador, is inspiring. The great coast range of moun- tains sends out giant spurs and hogbacks to the very shores of the Pacific and between these lie numerous watercourses that run to the sea. The region, of which the extinct volcano, Quetzaltepeque is a magnificent feature, is very mountainous and rugged and is intercepted by magnificent and fertile valleys. No doubt from the name, Quetzaltepeque, the reader has already inferred that El Salvador was also a seat of the interesting Indian civilization of Central America which attained its climax centuries before the coming of the Spaniards. So it was, and the peaceable and diligent Indian population here found is characteristic of that elsewhere in the 42091—18 2 Photos by W. V. Alford. SCENES IN SANTA TECLA, REPUBLIC OF SALVADOR. Upper: A business street in Santa Tecla. Lower: View of a portion of the new parlc in Santa Tecla. The town is also known as Neuva San Salvador. It hes at the base of the mighty volcano, SanSal- vador, and is connected by rail and bv fine avenues ^'^^th the near-bv capital. The population is given at 12,000. 12 EL SALVADOR, OF THE MAGIC TABLE LANDS, Central American highlands, and occurring in greatest numbers in Guatemala. In their customs and character these peaceful Indians are very much like the devout mission Indians of California, which have all but disappeared before the white man. It is to the great credit of the civilization established in the New World by Spain that it has not resulted in the extinction of the Indian population but that these have, indeed, become an industrial factor in their communities. Santa Tecla, also known as Neuva San Salvador, lies at the base of the mighty volcano San Salvador. It is connected by railroad and also by a fine avenue with the near-by capital; it will be the most important city between San Salvador and La Libertad when the railroad spur to that port has been constructed. The city is well illuminated at night, has attractive drives, fine public buildings, churches, barracks, hospitals, beautiful residences, viUas, and subur- ban homes and estates, magnificently kept up, with fine lawns and gardens and aU the appurtenances of fashionable country homes. From a social viewpoint it is almost a part of San Salvador. Tlie city has a population of about 12,000; it owes its origin to an earth- quake which overwhelmed the capital about two generations ago. There is nothing of the dolce far niente type about San Salvador, which, with its environs, has a population of 65,000. With the exception of Panama City, San Salvador has more automobiles than any other Central American city. Moving pictures, too, are popular in the capital and throughout the Republic. Tlie city attracts by its beautiful, shaded parks with their fine sculptured monuments, the splendid national palace, the cathedral, the National University, and the Polytechnic Institute. The cathedral presents perhaps more the typical French renais- sance style than the typical cathedral in the capitals of the New World, though it is a most ornate and beautiful work of architecture. Altogether San Salvador has a distinct European note in the air of its shops and stores. The broad streets, fine cement curbs, the ornate, low-lying buildings with their handsomely grilled and lat- ticed windows, the beautiful, semitropical parks with their luxuriant foliage and comfortable seats, where the visitor may watch the parade of fashion and the many cosmopolitan elements of the city, engage in social chat, make new acquaintances, and listen to an excellently rendered concert — ^aU these render a stay in the capital a pleasant event. If one is disposed to look into the admirably conducted national institutions and to study their methods, it is likely that his visit will be prolonged far beyond his original inten- tion. In the Rosales Hospital the Republic of Salvador has the finest Government hospital in Central America. There is a first- class medical school, too, in San Salvador, while a varied curriculum EL SALVADOR, OF THE MAGIC TABLE LANDS. 15 of advanced learning is taught at the National University. The school for the correction of minors, a large institution, includes use- ful vocational training in its instructions, gardening being among the features. Agriculture is fostered by the Government which, in every way, is solicitous for the welfare of its people. Exhibitions of agricultural research, of the work of primary and advanced pupils, and of artistic achievements are frequent. Especial interest is taken in the graphic arts, the children being very proficient in drawing. An advanced art school is devoted to this subject. Working men's beneficiary societies are encouraged. In some of the cities there are night schools for adults. San Salvador has a night school for working women. They are taught how to cook, sew, preserve fruits, and perform other home duties. Education is free and compulsory, and there are more than 900 schools in the Republic. National Flag Day is one of the great patriotic events of El Salvador. Santa Ana, which has fine public squares, holds a tree-planting day each year. Concrete has come to stay in El Salvador, as it has throughout Central America. It is used in a wide variety of construction, in municipal palaces, theaters, churches, private residences, plazas, and city blocks, bridges, reservoirs, street paving, curbs, railway em- bankments, and piers. Ice-making plants are coming into wider vogue. The telephone system is splendidly equipped either for city or cross country caUs and urban districts are closely interconnected, I have never seen anyone lose his temper while telephoning, as is so frequently the case in the United States. The installation of the telegraph lines is part of El Salvador's history. Compared with the United States and most other countries telephone and telegraph tolls are inexpensive and telegrams are speedily delivered. There are almost 2,000 miles of telegraph line. The parcels post, as in other Central American countries I have visited, is first class. I sent a jaguar skin to California by parcels post for 38 cents gold. But we win leave the lovely city of San Salvador perched 2,115 feet above sea level, above which towers the majestic volcano San Salvador, and take the short railroad journey, 40 miles northwest to Santa Ana, second city of the Republic and rightly accounted one of the leading cities of Central America. Santa Ana will be the first important city of Salvador to be reached by rail from the north when the line to connect with the Guatemalan systems is built. The city has a population of between 45,000 and 50,000 and an elevation of 2,100 feet. It is a lively, prosperous, well-ordered community, with an air of assured stability. Its business houses are many. It has a fine barracks and one of the most beautiful churches in Central America. It is, as well, an educational center. Its streets are well-paved and curbed. Some of them are almost DORMITORIES OF THE NEW TUBERCULOSIS SANITARIUM, SAN SALVADOR. The inaugui'ation of these pavilions, one a dormitory and the other for day use, which form part of the new tuberculosis sanitarium, took place in 1914, other structm-es having been completed since that date. Senor Dr. Rafael Zaldivar, Salvadorean minister to the United States, was the prime mover and founder of the institution and is president of the board of directors. Don Salvador Sol , a capitalist and leading citizen of the Republic, donated from his private fortrme the sum of 25,000 pesos for the buildings, and in recognition of his generosity and great personal interest has been given the title of "Protector of the Sanitarium." The A-arious buildings of the institution are constructed principally of reinforced concrete, the walls and roofs being so built that with the scientific ventilation installed the interiors are kept at a cool and equable temperature. It is located near the city of San Salvador, with which it is connected by a well-kept public automobile road. The site was formerly the loca- tion of a fine plantation, or "finca" known as "La Perla" (The Pearl). THE ROSALES HOSPITAL, SAN SALVADOR. Top: The main building of the hospital, the approach to which is ornamented by a fine statue in bronze of the generous benefactor, Jose Kosales, who was the founder of the institution. The marble pedestal of this splendid monument is decorated by the sculptured group depicting a sister of charity ministering to a sulfering woman. Bottom: One of the two annexes of the hospital which flank it on both sides, one being for male and the other for female patients. 18 EL SALVADOR, OF THE MAGIC TABLE LANDS. as steeply inclined as those of San Francisco, Cal. The architecture of its largest theater building illustrates admirably how attractive the exterior of a squarely shaped orthodox structure may be made. The climate is as nearly ideal as any you may find in the world. The citv is well lighted. Moving pictures are popular. Santa Ana is a center for agricultural produce, including coffee and sugar. It is also much visited by mining men, there being iron, copper, and silver deposits in the region. All told there are almost 200 hundred mines in the Republic, Morazan Province being in the lead. A number of Americans who have taken a part in the de- velopment of the mineral resources of Colorado, Nevada, CaUfornia, and Alaska are interested in El Salvador's mineral development. British capital has, too, been engaged. Chief among the Americans to develop the mineral resources of Salvador is Mr. Charles Butters, of Berkeley, Cal. Mr. Butters's fair treatment of his workers, his progressive mining methods, and his scrupulous fidelity to every undertaking has made him a most popular figure in Salvador. Undoubtedly the topography of El Salvador has made it a favored region for the agriculturist. Its large inland basins and valleys have a wonderfully productive soil and a great part of them may truth- fully be described as genuine bottom lands. The great river Lempa, which flows through El Salvador in a circuitous course, for more than 200 miles, enters the Republic from Honduras, winds down toward Santa Ana, from which an effluent drains into it; turns away again, in a V, to the Honduras border, constituting for a part of its length the boundary between the two countries. Then, in a sudden sweep, it turns at right angles to its former course and flows to the Pacific Ocean, into which it debouches through a break in the coast range of mountains, entering the sea from a fertile plain. A thousand streams drain into the Lempa and a thousand valleys and basms open upon it. Though, for a part of its course, it is separated from the Pacific by two ranges of mountains and a high table land, thickly populated, it nevertheless is an asset of the whole Repubhc. Most plant products of the semitropics and subtropics — at least practicaUy all that people consume as food — and many grains and fruits of the Temperate Zone are produced. Coffee is El Salvador's chief crop. But it produces also sugar cane, cotton, cacao, rubber, indigo, peanuts, beans, castor-oil beans, hemp, maize, flax, yams, aU sorts of vegetables, and very exceUent tobacco. Wheat, oats, rye, and barley can be grown in the higlilands. The Government, through the agricultural college, has done a great deal to stimulate cotton growmg, and the production of grains, vegetable oils, etc. There is any amount of fine timber in El Salvador, for the country is by no means entirely cultivated. Although it is the most densely populated nation on the Western Continents — the population EL SALVADOR, OF THE MAGIC TABLE LANDS. 21 has been rated as high as 180 persons to the square mile — there are still great unpopulated or sparsely populated stretches. There are bold mountain sides, rough stretches in the Pacific coast country, extensive forested areas in the Cordilleras and river bottoms, and uplands where few persons are to be found. The population is about 1,300,000. It is certain that the Repubhc can, and some day will, support milhons more in comfort. And yet El Salvador is only 140 miles long and 60 miles in width. How deceptive these dimensions may become is apparent to anyone who travels within the Republic. One could travel in Salvador for months and discover many new and interesting features each day. It would be quite surprising, in virtue of the generous spirit of the people, if it were not a pleasure to travel in El Salvador. It is; and, incidentally, the hotels are usually good and the prices moderate. Meat is cheap, for cattle are plentiful in many parts of the RepubUc; chickens are always to be had and, often, turkeys. Venison is by no means a rarity. Unless one expects to stop at a hotel, he need not expect to pay for his meals, however. It is more than probable that his hosts would be offended if he offered to do so. The Indians are as hospitably inclined as are the Salvadoreans, though they, of course, are not usually able to extend any very extensive hospi- tahty. Yet one of them will go out of his way a mile to show you the right road. The colorful life disclosed by a journey in the interior, the pictur- esque colors in attire favored by the girls and young women, the heavy road traffic in many regions, and the dispatch and certainty with which agriculture and industry is conducted finds its counter- part in interest in the dash of official and army life in the cities, the many social pleasures, excellent Government institutions, and the commercial enterprises. There are more than 85,000 officers and men, including reserve forces, in the army of El Salvador. Undoubt- edly the army training has done much to elevate the standard of citi- zenship. The Polytechnic Institute, a training school for officers in San Salvador, produces a very fine type of young men. As in the case of most of the Central American countries, military training is pat- terned on European lines, and capable instructors have been engaged from Europe. The young men study chemistry, physics, mathe- matics, and applied trades, so that they constitute an intelligent addi- tion to the country's industries. They are also given physical train- ing and training in the handling of men, artillery maneuvers, etc. The commandantes are glad to have visitors shown through the bar- racks, which are kept scrupulously neat and clean, and in which all from the commanding officer to the humblest private take great pride. As in Guatemala, many of the soldiers are Indians who make hardy and willing- soldiers. Uniforms for the army are made in the prisons. Photo by W. V. Alford. LEAF OF THE BANANA PLANT. The banana plants in Salvador are not only noted for their enormous size but for the quality of their fruit as well. 24 EL SALVADOE, OF THE MAGIC TABLE LANE ® ^15 843 626 7 A visit to a military barracks is always a pleasant and interesting experience. Leaving Santa Ana we journey to Sonsonate on the way to Aca- jiitla, the principal seaport of Salvador. Sonsonate has a number of important manufactures, and railroad shops are located there. The great cathedral of Sonsonate is a magnificent specimen of Span- ish ecclesiastical architecture rivaling in symmetry and massiveness the finest of Philippine cathedrals. Sonsonate is the center of an important cattle and agi-iculture district. The climate is much warmer than in the interior higlilands. The city produces cotton cloth, boots and shoes, mats, baskets, and pottery. It has a good hotel with baths where visitors may stop. The railway, which means so much to Sonsonate, and, in fact, to a considerable part of the Republic, was opened up between Sonsonate and Acajutla 35 years ago. There are about 200 miles of railways in Salvador at the present time. A survey of the mileage contemplated includes the following: Salvador frontier to Santa Ana, 50; Santa Ana to Ahuachapan, 27; San Salvador to Zatecoluca, 56; to connect with Honduras, about 20 miles. A line through Honduras to the frontier of Nicaragua would take 88 miles; the line from Zacapa, Guatemala, to the Salvador frontier will require 55 miles of construction. History has cast its early glamor over this admirable country. San Salvador, the capital, was founded in 1528 by Don Jorge de Alvarado at a spot near the present site, to which it was transferred 11 years later. Throughout the country there are many evidences of this long-established civilization — works of art, carvings, mural paintings, furniture, and rare old books. For centuries the sciences, including astronomy, have been diligently pursued in study and a high cultural standard maintained. In earliest Spanish days San Salvador was recognized by world travelers as a center of culture and of civilization in the West. Of later eventful history there are many reminders. In the beautiful Morazan Park, in the capital, is a magnificent equestrian statue to Gen. Morazan, the last presi- dent of the Central American Republic. Here, too, is the beautiful Duenas Park, so named for the famous president, with its monu- ment to liberty, while Barrios Park has another name illustrious in the annals of Central America. And throughout the Republic one w^ill find memorials of those whose efforts helped to found this lasting civilization. But we must leave Salvador, country of magic table-lands, majes- tic mountains, crater lakes, fertile fields, beautiful palm-bordered boulevards, and attractive cities. As we leave the long wharf at Acajutla, with our friends bidding us bon voyage, we envy those who have not seen Salvador and still have an early journey in prospect. ■ih'.^S'^"^ Of" CONGRESS lilliiillililllillil 015 843 626 7