_Climate._--The climate is healthy, except on the coasts, where malarial fever is prevalent. The rainy season in the interior lasts from May to October, but on the coast sometimes continues till December. The coldest month is January, and the warmest is May. The average temperatures for these months at places of different altitudes, as given by Dr Karl Sapper, are shown on the following page. The average rainfall is very heavy, especially on the Atlantic slope, where the prevailing winds are charged with moisture from the Gulf of Mexico or the Caribbean Sea; at Tual, a high station on the Atlantic slope, it reaches 195 in.; in central Guatemala it is only 27 in. Towards the Atlantic rain often occurs in the dry season, and there is a local saying near the Golfo Dulce that "it rains thirteen months in the year." Fogs are not rare. In Guatemala, as in other parts of Central America (q.v.), each of the three climatic zones, cold, temperate and hot (_tierra fria_, _tierra templada_, _tierra caliente_) has its special characteristics, and it is not easy to generalize about the climate of the country as a whole. +----------------+----------+--------------------+ | | Altitude | Fahrenheit Degrees.| | Locality. | (Feet). +--------------------+ | | | January. | May. | +----------------+----------+-----------+--------+ | Puerto Barrios | 6 | 74 | 81 | | Salama | 3020 | 68 | 77 | | Campur | 3050 | 64 | 73 | | Chimax | 4280 | 61 | 68 | | Guatemala | 4870 | 60 | 67 | | Quezaltenango | 7710 | 50 | 62 | +----------------+----------+-----------+--------+ _Natural Products._--The minerals discovered in Guatemala include gold, silver, lead, tin, copper, mercury, antimony, coal, salt and sulphur; but it is uncertain if many of these exist in quantities sufficient to repay exploitation. Gold is obtained at Las Quebradas near Izabal, silver in the departments of Santa Rosa and Chiquimula, salt in those of Santa Rosa and Alta Vera Paz. During the 17th century gold-washing was carried on by English miners in the Motagua valley, and is said to have yielded rich profits; hence the name of "Gold Coast" was not infrequently given to the Atlantic littoral near the mouth of the Motagua.