SAN SALVADOR. THE CAPITAL OF SAN SALVADOR.
WHOEVER visits the little republic of San Salvador, and lands at La Libertad, its principal seaport, must expect to undergo a novel and alarming experience. There is no harbor in the country, although it has one hundred and fifty-seven miles of sea-coast. The shore of the Pacific is a line of bluffs, with a fringe of beach at the bottom, and upon the sand a mighty surf is always beating. Ships anchor several miles off the coast, to avoid being driven ashore by the winds that sometimes rise very suddenly, and no boat can survive the breakers. An iron pier, or mole, twice as long and twice as high as the famous pier at Coney Island, extends from the bluff for three-quarters of a mile into the sea. A tramway runs from the town of La Libertad, connecting its monster warehouses with the pier, and cars loaded with coffee, sugar, and other products of the country are shoved out by peons or drawn by mules. The freight is piled upon the pier until the steamer arrives, when it is carried out to the anchorage in large lighters rowed by a dozen naked boatmen. The cargo is hoisted and lowered by means of a huge iron crane and derrick, operated by a small steam-engine. Bags and boxes are tumbled into great nets of cordage holding two tons or more, which are jerked up into the air by the derrick, swung around to be clear of the pier, and then dropped into the lighter.
Live cattle are hoisted and lowered by the horns, a lasso being thrown, one end of which is attached to the derrick, and the animal finds himself suddenly jerked into the air, and hangs kicking and struggling until his feet touch the bottom of the lighter, when he shakes himself to see if he is still alive. It is a wicked way to treat beasts, but under the circumstances there seems to be no other method. Sometimes, when the rope is carelessly adjusted, and the animal is young and heavy, his horns are torn out by the roots, and he falls sixty or seventy feet into the lighter, breaking his neck or legs, when one of the boatmen, drawing a knife from his belt, severs the jugular, and hangs his head over the side of the boat to let his life-blood run into the sea.
Horses are lifted and lowered with greater care by means of a strong harness of wide leather, with an iron ring in the saddle to which a rope’s end is hooked.
Humankind are treated with less consideration. When passengers arrive by a vessel they come to the pier on a lighter with freight, which rises and sinks with the heavy swell in a manner that is not only very alarming, but is almost certain to cause sea-sickness. One may have come all the way from New York or Europe to Aspinwall, and then from Panama up the coast, without a symptom of the distressing malady, but he is pretty sure to succumb to the rocking of the lighter at La Libertad, as it rubs and pounds against the iron trestle of the pier, while he is awaiting his turn to land. The officers of the vessels, accustomed to the motion, spring from the gunwales of the boat to the rounds of ladders that hang down the sides of the mole, and climb them as the boatmen do; but ladies and gentlemen unacquainted with this method, and untrained to clamber among the rigging of a ship, are treated to a sensation that is apt to make a timid person apprehensive.
An iron cage, capable of holding six persons, is lowered to the lighter, and you are invited to step in. As soon as it is full a boatman shuts the door and gives a signal to the engineer above. There is a sudden, startling jerk, you shut your eyes, cling to the bars of the cage, and feel your heart in your throat. The cage stops as suddenly as it started, whirls around swiftly for an instant or two, then swings over the pier, and drops with a thump. The door is opened, you step out,
LANDING AT LA LIBERTAD.
uninjured, but trembling like a frightened bird, and register an unuttered vow that you will never land at La Libertad again. But this feeling leaves you when you enjoy a laugh at the demonstrations of alarm made by your fellow-passengers who have to follow you, and when you are assured, as people always are, that thousands have landed and embarked in the same manner without receiving a bruise or having a bone broken. It is not so pleasant, but quite as safe, as scrambling up a gangway from a dock to the deck of a vessel.
EN ROUTE TO THE INTERIOR.
Although San Salvador is the smallest in area of the group of republics, and only a little larger than Connecticut, it is the most prosperous, the most enterprising, and the most densely populated, having even a greater number of inhabitants than the land of wooden nutmegs. The population averages about eighty to the square mile—almost twenty times that of its neighbors. The natives are inclined to civilized pursuits, being engaged not only in agriculture, but quite extensively in manufacture. They are more energetic and industrious than the people in other parts of Central America, work harder, and accomplish more, gain wealth rapidly, and are frugal, but the constantly recurring earthquakes and political disturbances keep the country poor. When the towns are destroyed by volcanic eruptions, they are not allowed to lie in ruins, as those of other countries are, but the inhabitants at once clear away the rubbish and begin to rebuild. The city of San Salvador has been twice rebuilt since Leon of Nicaragua was laid in ruins, but the débris in the latter city has never been disturbed.
San Salvador has always taken the lead in the political affairs of Central America. It was the first to throw off the yoke of Spain, and uttered the first cry of liberty, as Venezuela did among the nations of the southern continent. The patriots of San Salvador received the cordial co-operation of the liberal element in the cities of Grenada, Nicaragua, and San José of Costa Rica, but were suppressed by the Imperial power. Its provisional congress was driven from place to place, but remained intact; it had the sympathy and support of the people, and defied the invaders of the country. Finally, as a last resort, the congress, by a solemn act passed on the 2d of December, 1822, resolved to annex their little province to the United States, and provided for the appointment of commissioners to proceed to Washington and ask its incorporation in the body politic of “La Grande Republica.” Before the commissioners could leave the country the revolution in the other Central American States had become too formidable to suppress, as the example of San Salvador had spread like an epidemic among the people, and its demand for liberty had found an echo from every valley and from every hill, from the Rio Grande to the Chagres. The five States joined in a confederacy one year after the act of annexation to the United States was passed, and the resolution was never officially submitted to our government. This was before the days of the Monroe Doctrine, and if the rise of Liberalism in Central America had not been so rapid, the political divisions of the North American continent might have been different now, and the destiny of several nations changed.
THE PEAK OF SAN SALVADOR.
Some time before the organization of the confederacy the people of San Salvador had adopted a constitution and formed a State government, being always foremost, and their example was followed seven months later by Costa Rica, then by Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua in succession. Salvador was the first of the republics also to throw off the shackles of the Church. Indignant at the interference of the archbishop of Guatemala, who had charge of the Church in Central America, they defied his authority and elected a liberal bishop of their own. The archbishop denounced the act and appealed to the Pope, who threatened to excommunicate the entire population. But the threat was received with indifference, and the example of the Salvadorians was shortly after imitated by the people of Costa Pica, in like disregard of the will of the successor of St. Peter.
The President is elected for four years, the members of the Senate for three, and of the House of Deputies for one, all of them directly by the people. There is a senator for every thirty thousand of the population, and a deputy for every fifteen thousand. The exercise of suffrage is guarded by some wholesome restrictions. All married men can vote, except those who are engaged in domestic service, those who are without stated occupation, those who refuse to pay their legal debts, those who owe money past due to the Government, those who have accepted pay for any service from foreign powers, and those who have been convicted of felony. Unmarried men, to exercise the right of citizens, must be property owners, and be able to read and write. All voters have to show receipts for the payment of taxes the year previous if they are property owners, and bankrupts are entirely disfranchised, the idea being that none but a producer—one who adds to the wealth of the State or pays taxes—shall have a voice in its government. None but property owners are eligible to office.
The President has a cabinet of four ministers. They have in charge the Departments of Finance, War, and Public Works, Internal Affairs and Public Instruction, and Foreign Affairs. The Judiciary are appointed by the Deputies and confirmed by the Senate. Education is free and compulsory. There is a school for every two thousand inhabitants, supported by the general government, and a University at the capital with three hundred and fifty students, studying law, medicine, and the applied sciences, and one hundred and forty pursuing a classical course.
The standing army consists of twelve hundred men, but all able-bodied citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty are organized as a militia, and are subject to be called upon for service at the will of the President.
The capital, San Salvador (“The City of our Saviour”), is
THE PLAZA.
eighteen miles from the sea-coast, and has an elevation of 2800 feet. It is surrounded by a group of volcanoes, two of which are active, one, Yzalco, discharging immense volumes of smoke, ashes, and lava at regular intervals of seven minutes from one year’s end to the other. San Salvador is reached by coaches over a picturesque mountain-road, but the journey is not pleasant in the dry season on account of the dust, nor in the rainy season on account of the mud. The city was founded in 1528 by George Alvarado, a brother of the renowned lieutenant of Cortez, who was the discoverer, conqueror, and the first viceroy of Central America. The situation it occupies is one of the most beautiful that can be imagined, being in the midst of an elevated mesa, or tableland, which overlooks the sea to the southward, and is surrounded by mountains upon its three other sides. As the prevailing winds are from the ocean, the climate is always cool and healthful, and the mountain streams are so abundant that the foliage is fresh during the entire year. Through each street runs an asequia, or irrigating ditch, which is always filled with water. Pipes lead from it into the gardens of the people, and supply hydrants for their use.
SPANISH-AMERICAN COURTSHIP.
There is very little architectural taste shown in the construction of the dwellings or of the public buildings. This is because of the frequency of earthquakes. The walls are of thick adobe, with scarcely any ornamentation, and the streets are dull and unattractive; but within the houses are gardens of wonderful beauty, in which the people spend the greater portion of the time, more often sleeping in a hammock among the trees in the dry season than under the roofs of their houses.
The public buildings are of insignificant appearance, and even the cathedral and the other churches are painfully plain and commonplace compared with those of other cities of its size. All this is owing to the fact, as has been stated, that the danger of their destruction at any moment forbids a lavish expenditure in construction or unnecessary display.
The women of San Salvador are neater in appearance, more careful in their dress, and are therefore more attractive than their sisters in Nicaragua, where, if there is any difference between the sexes, they are less tidy than the men. The girls in the rural districts always bathe in the asequias every morning at daylight, and the traveller who starts out early generally surprises groups of Naiads disporting in the streams. They plunge into the bushes or keep their bodies under the water until the intruder passes by, but do not hesitate to exchange a few words of banter with him, and good-naturedly bid him godspeed.
There is more freedom between the sexes in San Salvador than in the sister republics; and it is not at the cost of morals, for, as a rule, in countries where social restrictions are the most severe there is the greatest amount of licentiousness. The education of the masses has proved to be the greatest safeguard, and the number of illegitimate births is reduced as the standard of intelligence is elevated. The constitutional provision in San Salvador which confers superior advantages upon married men, together with a law limiting the marriage fees of the priests, have proven to be wise and effective policy. The girls marry at fifteen and over, and very few peons reach their majority without taking a lawful wife.
There is a public theatre, subsidized by the Government, at which frequent entertainments are given, and nearly every season an opera company comes from Italy or France. The performances are liberally patronized, at high prices of
A HACIENDA.
admission. But the most popular funcions, as they are called, are by local amateurs, the programmes being made up of vocal and instrumental music, recitations, and original poems and orations. The latter are always the popular features of the occasion, and the funcions are usually arranged to give some young orator an opportunity to show his talents before the foot-lights. There is a great deal of rivalry, too, among the local poets, each aspirant for honors having his clique of admirers, or faccions, who feel it their duty to applaud no one else, however meritorious, and to hiss all others down. When two of these popular idols appear upon the platform on the same evening, as they often do, there are scenes of sensational excitement and sometimes mob violence. The subjects of all the orations and poems are usually patriotic—the praise of San Salvador—for the love of country is a theme of which the people never tire. The programmes of all public entertainments are mostly composed of local compositions, national airs, and patriotic songs. The musicians prefer the scores of their own composers, and everything foreign is to a degree offensive, to be tolerated only as a matter of variety.
INTERIOR OF A SAN SALVADOR HOUSE.
The Salvadorians have a dozen or more “Fourths of July”—memorial days—sometimes two patriotic celebrations occurring in a month, on the anniversary of historical events. All classes of people join in the demonstrations, closing their places of business, decorating the streets, attending high-mass in the morning, engaging in processions and hearing patriotic orations during the day, and in the evening closing the festivities with fireworks, banquets, and balls. But the two great days of the year are Christmas and the Feast of San Miguel (St. Michael), the patron saint of the republic. The latter is celebrated very much like our Independence Day was in ancient times, except that the hours from sunrise to noon are devoted to solemn religious services in all the churches, the bishop himself officiating at the cathedral, and the rest of the time to the next morning to holiday festivities. There is much powder wasted in fire-crackers, or bombas, as they are called, fireworks, and salutes by the artillery.
The annual fair of St. Miguel, which is held in February, is always a notable event, being not only a national anniversary, but the greatest market season of the year, and the occasion of general and prolonged festivities. It lasts about two weeks, and is attended by buyers and sellers from all parts of Central America. The importing houses always have their representatives present on such occasions. The days are occupied with trading, and the nights with balls, concerts, theatrical performances, and gambling. Everybody plays cards, and no one, man or woman, ever sits down to a game without stakes. Women play at their residences with or without their gentlemen friends, and large sums of money often pass across the table. At the fairs, and in fact on all occasions which bring people together, the peons are entertained with cock-fights and bull-fights, although the latter cruel sport is nominally forbidden by law. The bull-rings and cock-pits are invariably crowded every Sunday afternoon, and always on saints’ days, and often the best people are found among the spectators, particularly the young men, who ruin themselves with reckless betting. It is the fashion for the swells to keep gamebirds, and employ professional cock-fighters to train and handle them.
The Christmas festivities commence about midnight, and the explosions of cannon and fireworks always begin as soon as the clock in the cathedral tower strikes twelve. Everybody is up and dressed before daylight to attend early mass, and when the sun rises the streets are full of people saluting each other by exchanging the compliments of the day, and throwing egg-shells filled with perfumed water. From morning till night the air is full of the noise of fireworks, cannonades, the shouts of people, and the music of military bands, while processions are continually passing through the principal streets. In nearly every house preparations have been going on for weeks, not for the exhibition of Christmas-trees or the exchange of gifts, but for the representation of the naciamiento, or birth of Christ. The best room in the house is often fitted up to resemble a manger, asses being brought in from the stable to make the scene more realistic. Several incidents in the life of the Saviour are portrayed in a like manner. In other residences are different representations. Sometimes the parlor is arranged like a bower, filled with tropical plants and flowers, moss-covered stones and sea-shells, and draped with vines. Within the bower are figures of the Virgin and Child, surrounded by the kneeling Magi and the members of the Holy Family.
A TYPICAL TOWN.
It is the ambition of the mistress of the house to surpass all her friends and neighbors in the realism of her representation and in the elegance with which the puppets are dressed. During the day there is a general interchange of calls to see the displays, to criticise them, and make comparisons. The grandest display is always made in the cathedral, the cost often amounting to many thousands of dollars, while the subordinate churches enter into an active and expensive rivalry, raising funds for the purpose by soliciting subscriptions in the parish. The ceremonies usually begin before daylight, and last for a couple of hours, high-mass being sung by the leading vocalists of the country, assisted by orchestras and military bands.
WHAT ALARMS THE CITIZENS.
The favorite incident for portrayal is the Adoration of the Magi, and human figures are usually trained by the priests to play the various characters. The most beautiful woman in the city is selected to act the part of the Virgin, and some young infant is volunteered to represent the baby Christ. The church is always crowded, and illuminated by thousands of candles. At the proper moment the curtain is drawn, and the choir breaks out in a glorious anthem; the bells of the churches ring, and the vast audience, rising to their feet, join in the exultant song, “Jubilate! jubilate! Christ is born!” Processions of priests enter, and at the close of the anthem the bishop sings high-mass to a living representation of the Virgin and Child.
The people are not so priestridden as those of some of the Spanish-American countries, being naturally more self-reliant and independent. They know what liberty is, and insist upon being allowed to enjoy it, both civil and religious. They choose their own priests, and the latter elect their own bishop, without regard to the Pope or the College of Cardinals. The clerical party in politics, or the Serviles, as they were called, because of their slavery to the Church, has long been extinct in San Salvador, and the political struggles are more personal than over abstract issues. There is a considerable degree of superstition among the people, and they believe in all sorts of signs and omens, but the priests do not attempt to humbug them with bogus miracles or wonder-working images.
Much of this superstition relates to the earthquakes and volcanic disturbances to which the country is so subject. Within view of the capital are eleven great volcanoes, two of which are unceasingly active, while the others are subject to occasional eruptions. The nearest is the mountain of San Salvador, about eight thousand feet high, and showing to great advantage because it rises so abruptly from the plain. It is only three miles from the city, to the westward, very steep, and its sides are broken by monstrous gorges, immense rocky declivities, and projecting cliffs. The summit is crowned by a cone of ashes and scoriæ that have been thrown out in centuries past, but since 1856, subsequent to the greatest earthquake the country has known, the crater has been extinct, and is now filled with a bottomless lake. Very few people have ever ascended to the summit, because of the extreme difficulty and peril of making the climb, while even a smaller number have entered the chasm in which the crater lies. Some years ago a couple of venturesome French scientists went down, but became exhausted in their attempts to return. Their companions who remained at the top lowered them food and blankets by lines, and they were finally rescued, after several days of confinement in their rocky prison, by a detachment of soldiers, who hauled them up the precipice by ropes.
The two active volcanoes, or vivos, as the people call them, are San Miguel and Yzalco, and there are none more violent on the face of the globe. They present a magnificent display to the passengers of steamers sailing by the coast, or anchored in the harbor of La Libertad and Acajutla, constantly discharging masses of lava which flow down their sides in blazing torrents, and illuminating the sky with the flames that issue from the craters at regular intervals. Yzalco is as regular as a clock, the eruption occurring like the beating of a mighty pulse every seven minutes.
It is impossible to conceive of a grander spectacle than this monster. It rises seven thousand feet, almost directly from the sea, and an immense volume of smoke, like a plume, is continually pouring out of its summit, broken with such regularity by masses of flame that rise a thousand feet that it has been named El Faro del Salvador—“The Light-house of Salvador.” Around the base of the mountain are fertile plantations, while above them, covering about two-thirds of its surface, is an almost impenetrable forest, whose foliage is perpetual and of the darkest green. Then beyond the forest is a ring of reddish scoriæ, while above it the live ashes and lava that are cast from the crater so regularly are constantly changing from livid yellow, when they are heated, to a silver gray as they cool.
Yzalco is in many respects the most remarkable volcano on earth; first, because its discharges have continued so long and
YZALCO FROM A DISTANCE.
with such great regularity; again, because the tumult in the earth’s bowels is always to be heard, as the rumblings and explosions are constant, being audible for a hundred miles, and sounding like the noises which Rip van Winkle heard when he awakened from his sleep in the Catskills; and, finally, it is the only volcano that has originated on this continent since the discovery by Columbus.
It arose suddenly from the plain in the spring of 1770, in the midst of what had been for nearly a hundred years the profitable estate of Señor Don Balthazar Erazo, who was absent from the country at the time, and was greatly amazed upon his return to discover that his magnificent coffee and indigo plantation had, without his knowledge or consent, been exchanged for a first-class volcano. In December, 1769, the peons on the hacienda were alarmed by terrific rumblings under the ground, constant tremblings of the earth, and frequent earthquakes, which did not extend over the country as usual, but seemed to be confined to that particular locality. They left the place in terror when the tremblings and noises continued, and returning a week or two after, found that all the buildings had been shaken down, trees uprooted, and large craters opened in the fields which had been level earth before. From these craters smoke and steam issued, and occasionally flames were seen to come out of the ground. Some brave vaqueros, or herdsmen, remained near by to watch developments, and on the 23d of February, 1770, they were entertained by a spectacle that no other men have been permitted to witness, for about ten o’clock on the morning of that day the grand upheaval took place, and it seemed to them, as they fled in terror, that the whole universe was being turned upside down.
First there were a series of terrific explosions, which lifted the crust of the earth several hundred feet, and out of the cracks issued flames and lava, and immense volumes of smoke. An hour or two afterwards there was another and a grander convulsion, which shook and startled the country for a hundred miles around. Rocks weighing thousands of tons were hurled into the air, and fell several leagues distant. The surface of the earth was elevated about three thousand feet, and the internal recesses were purged of masses of lava and blistered stone, which fell in a heap around the hole from which they issued. These discharges continued for several days
YZALCO.
at irregular intervals, accompanied by loud explosions and earthquakes, which did much damage throughout the entire republic; the disturbance was perceptible in Nicaragua and Honduras. In this manner was a volcano born, and it has proved to be a healthy and vigorous child. In less than two months from a level field arose a mountain more than four thousand feet high, and the constant discharges from the crater which opened then have accumulated around its edges until its elevation has increased two thousand feet more. Unfortunately, the growth of the monster has not been scientifically observed or accurately measured, but the cone of lava and ashes, which is now twenty-five hundred feet from the foundation of earth upon which it rests, is constantly growing in bulk and height by the incessant discharges of lava, ashes, and other volcanic matter upon it.
The capital of San Salvador has been thrice almost entirely, and eleven times in its history partially, destroyed by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions coming together. These catastrophies occurred in 1575, 1593, 1625, 1656, 1770, 1773, 1798, 1839, 1854, 1873, and 1882. The most serious convulsions took place in 1773 and 1854, when not only the City of Our Saviour, but several other towns were entirely ruined, and nearly every place suffered to a greater or less degree; but the restoration was rapid and complete.
The chief products of the country are coffee, cocoa, sugar, indigo, and other agricultural staples, which are raised by the same process that prevails in other States, with the addition of a balsam that is very valuable, and is grown exclusively on a little strip of land lying along the coast between the two principal seaports, La Libertad and Acajutla. Lying to the seaward of the volcanic range is a forest about six hundred square miles in extent that is composed almost exclusively of balsam-trees, and is known as the “Costa del Balsimo.” It is populated by a remnant of the aboriginal Indian race, who are supported by the product of their forest, and are permitted to remain there undisturbed, and very little altered from their original condition.
The forest is traversed only by foot-paths, so intricate as to baffle the stranger who attempts to enter it; and it is not safe to make such an attempt, as the Indians, peaceful enough when they come out to mingle with the other inhabitants of the country, violently resent any intrusion into their
IN THE INTERIOR.
strong-hold. They live as a community, all their earnings being intrusted to the care of ahuales—old men who exercise both civil and religious offices, and keep the common funds in a treasure-box, to be distributed among the families as their necessities require. There is a prevailing impression that the tribe has an enormous sum of money in its possession, as their earnings are large and their wants are few. The surplus existing at the end of each year is supposed to be buried in a sacred spot with religious ceremonies. Both men and women go entirely naked, except for a breech-clout, but when they come to town they assume the ordinary cotton garments worn by the peons. They are darker in color, larger in stature, more taciturn and morose, than the other Indians of the country, but are temperate, industrious, and adhere to their ancient rites with great tenacity. They are known to history as the Nahuatls, but are commonly spoken of as “Balsimos.”
HAULING SUGAR-CANE.
Agriculture is carried on by them only to an extent sufficient to supply their own wants, and usually by the women, while the men are engaged in gathering the balsam, of which they sell about twenty thousand dollars’ worth each year. They number about two thousand people, and including what they spend at their festivals, which are more like bacchanalian riots than religious ceremonies, and are accompanied by scenes of revolting bestiality, their annual expenses cannot be more than one half of their incomes.
The balsam is obtained by making an incision in the tree, from which the sap exudes, and is absorbed by bunches of raw cotton. These, when thoroughly saturated, are thrown into vats of boiling water and replaced by others. The balsam leaves the cotton, rises to the surface of the water, and at intervals is skimmed off and placed in wooden bowls or gourds, where it hardens, and then is wrapped in the leaves of the tree and sent to market. In commerce it is known as Peruvian balsam, because in early times Callao was the great market for its sale, but the product comes exclusively from San Salvador.
There is one railroad in San Salvador, extending from Acajutla to the city of Sonsonate, the centre of the sugar district, and it is being extended to Santa Ana, the chief town of the Northern Province. It is owned by a native capitalist, and operated under the management of an American engineer. The plan is to extend the track parallel with the sea through the entire republic, in the valley back of the mountain range, with branches through the passes to the principal cities. It now passes two-thirds of the distance around the base of the volcano Yzalco, and from the cars is furnished a most remarkable view of that sublime spectacle. The entire system when completed will not consist of more than two hundred and fifty miles of track, and the work of construction is neither difficult nor expensive.
