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Show View of Lake Atitlan. FAR upon the horizon towered the twin volcanoes of Atitlan, their dark flanks wreathed in white masses of cloudlike sparkling spark-ling fields of snow. The cones, thousands thou-sands of feet above, stood out sharply against the deep blue vault of the tropic skies. For five days we had been riding to them through the enchanted en-chanted highlands of Guatemala, a marvelous land of fragrant pine forests, for-ests, ' flowers, singing birds, broad winding roads, and fertile fields of wheat and corn cultivated by hundreds of thousands of industrious Indians, writes Hamilton M. Wright in the Bulletin of the Ban-American Union. And many pueblos we hud passed, lying ly-ing on the rolling bosom of the cool table-lands with their schools and temples tem-ples to Minerva, goddess of wis,dora, and their white mission buildings and churches from whose thick-walled towers tow-ers the pealing bells summoned the de vout Indians to prayer. Almost without with-out sensing a change of scene we had plunged into the quiet depths of a giant forest, dark after the brilliance of the tropical sun, where mighty trees rose as the stately pillars of a cathedral, cathed-ral, to find upon emerging that a turn of the road brought in view a panorama pano-rama of 200 miles of magnificent mountain moun-tain country, forests, plains, the silver glint of lakes and streams, aud volcanic vol-canic cones two miles high enshrouded In turbans of fog. Such is Guatemala, land of majestic contrasts, of unwonted, almost appalling appall-ing surprises. Here is one of the splendid splen-did show places of the world. Far . from the beaten path of most tourists its wonders are becoming better known. Below lay cities with their public squares and white churches, fields of yellow grain like golden patches of light in the crystal-clear atmosphere of the highlands, huge dark masses of forest, aud beyond, extending their thousands of spurs und flanks, rose the prodigious Cordilleras. To the left the peaks of Atitlan towered to the heavens, majestic, symmetrical, recalling recall-ing in their perfect contour the famed Fujiyama of Japan. Lake Atitlan and Volcanoes. It. was more than a half day's ride from this point before we came to Godines crest and beheld, 3,000 feet below be-low us, the deep blue waters of Lake Atitlan, aud on its opposite shores, rising ris-ing sheer a mile to a mile and one-half one-half above the surface of the lake, seven great volcanoes, of which the two known as Atitlan are the most wonderful. Lake Atitlan, Itself a vast crater lake 27 miles in greatest length and 12 miles wide, is a remarkable body of water. Rev. Father Garcia of Naguala, a graduate of the University of Rome, and one who i'us given enthusiastic, study to the meteorology of the region, informed me that official soundings of this lake give au extreme depth of more than 1,000 feet. Its surface is 5,000 feet above tin; level of the sea. Its waters teem with trout with which it has been stocked and, while walking upon its sandy beach near I'ana-jachel, we saw great schools of smaller fish and not a few -if the larger. Into its shores plunge the volcanic hills, often in precipitous, forested hogbacks, often in steeply sloping wheat fields, or again ending In mile-high dill's of bright red sandstone or perpendicular walls marked fjy tile slate grays and purplish hues ef vulcanic ash. Such are the walls irf Lake Atitlan. often called Lake 1'i.uia jaehel, painted by nature in her jnnst glorious, riotous colors, and riv iling even the famed hues of tin; On ml Canyon of Arizona. Fine Mountain Highways. foiue splendiv roads have been built in the neighborhood of the lake. One of them, broad and sweeping, leads from Panajachel on the southeast shores of Atit.'an to the picturesque pueblo of Solaln, which is perclieu ou mountain bluffs thousands of feet above. The road is blasted from rocky cliffs and its sides und walls are, literally, lit-erally, of granite. It Is a remarkable piece of construction accomplished by one of the generals of President Cabrera's Ca-brera's army. So steep is the road that cascades fall at its very edge and their waters are borne beneath it by culverts. As it skirts the gigantic bluffs, the traveler obtains entrancing visions of the lake and of the many villages upon its shores. All the highland country is densely populated ; at least all that portion which lies between Guatemala City and Quetzaltenango, the second city of the republic. The mountains are intensively cultivated up to a height of almst 10,000 feet. Fine schools have been built in the pueblos and cities under direction of President Estrada Cabrera. The president, who is a patron pa-tron of all thearts, has vigorously pushed the manual training and technical tech-nical schools. They are to be found throughout the settled portions of the republic. Education is compulsory. Electric lights and pure water piping are installed in all communities of any size. The telegraph system is admirable admira-ble ; I sent ten words 180 miles for 7 cents (American currency), a much lower rate than prevails in the United States or most other countries. The telegraph, educational, postal and mining min-ing laws were personally formulated by President Cabrera, who is a jurist of extraordinary attainments. We found that many of the Indians we met upon the road had but a limited limit-ed knowledge of Spanish. Father Gur-cia Gur-cia of Naguala is authority for the statement that there are now 27 different dif-ferent dialects spoken among these people. Rev. Father Rossbuch of To-tonicipan To-tonicipan lias 40,000 Indians In his parish. He did not know, he said, of a more devout or moral race. They are, too, a picturesque people. The men, with -their loose, open-sleeved jackets, plaid skirts, sturdy bare legs and fiat straw huts of home weave, strangely resemble the natives of northern Japan. The women lend a touch of vivid color to every country side. They wear richly hued guipils, home-woven waists of purple cloth, embellished em-bellished with red and gold patterns aud with sashes extending from the waist to below the knees, wound somewhat tightly yet permitting freedom free-dom of the limbs. Two Attractive Cities. Totouicipan, in the northwest part of the republic, which we reached from the Peten region, lies at an altitude of S.300 feet ubove sea level. Arouud it ou all sides but the west rise the wulls of great hills. It is n well-paved city of 18,000 population with attractive shops and fine churches and public buildings. All about are vegetable gardens, grain fields and numerous orchards. or-chards. Were it not for the lofty mountaius nearby, the North Ameri can here might fancy himself in the central part of New York state. From Totouicipan a fine road leads west for 15 miles to Quetzaltenango. the second largest city in Guatemala, distinguished by its imposing public edifices, beautiful plaza and line business busi-ness structures. There are six good hotels in Quetzaltenango and, although the city is 35 miles from the railroad at San Felipe, they enjoy u brisk patronage. pa-tronage. The stage road to San Felipe is one of the scenic highways of the world. In 35 miles it drops more than one mile and skirts the Hanks of Mount Santa Maria, one of the most picturesque of the Central American volcanoes. More than this: in a few brief hours It plunges from the pine-clad temper-ale temper-ale zone Into tropical Jungles of a luxuriance that bailies description. Here is a l'oreworld. Prodigious hardwoods hard-woods with branches rising from clear boles 80 to 100 feet ubove the earth are hung with giant creepers like enormous enor-mous serpents. Clusters of orchids cling to the branches or crevices oC trees or hang suspended from trailing vines. Skeins of gray moss beard (he trees. Tree ferns, giant palms and exotic ex-otic flowers are features of a jungle which, at times, one can only penetrate with a machete. In a few hours by the nuto stage Hie traveler has pluuged Into a different world. |