Of the industrial and mechanical arts Guatemala has very little to show, apart from the woven fabrics and pottery already alluded to. Tailors and shoemakers abound,—and this in a climate where the former might almost be dispensed with, and where the latter work for not a moiety of the population. On the other hand, there are few cabinet-makers, although the native woods offer the choicest material for the skilled workman. There are no foundries or forges worthy the name, and all machinery is imported, and repairs must be made in San Francisco or New Orleans. Glass, porcelain, and stoneware is all imported, although the materials, of the best quality, are found here in abundance. Fibre-plants and rags are plentiful, and the consumption of paper is large; but every sheet is imported,—that used for stamps being made in France. While coconuts, sesame, cohune, castor-bean, and croton grow abundantly, there is no commercial manufacture of the vegetable oils; and we have seen that more than fourteen thousand dollars’ worth were imported in 1884. While the general climate of Guatemala is remarkably healthy, the people are exceedingly careless of all sanitary precautions, especially in the matter of drainage and the waste products of the human body, trusting to the intervention of vultures and dogs to remove health-endangering filth. Yellow fever was common through the hot lowlands of the Pacific coast in 1883, and whooping-cough, measles, and small-pox prevailed in many parts of the country. The consumption of patent medicines and empirical preparations, obtained from the apothecary rather than the physician, is enormous in proportion to the population. Vital statistics are not obtained with the greatest accuracy, and only the constant care of the superior officer enables any result worthy of attention to be obtained. The following table is tolerably accurate. The population is, as estimated on December 31:— +-----+---------+--------------------+--------------------+------+-----+ | | | Births. | Deaths. |Increase. | | | +------+------+------+------+------+------+ | | |Year.| Popul- |Males.| | |Males.| | | | | | | ation. | Females. | Females. | | | | | | | |Total.| | |Total.| Marriages.| +-----+---------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+-----+ |1881 |1,252,497|28,146|25,708|53,854|14,019|11,940|25,959|27,895|4,611| |1882 |1,276,961|29,362|26,697|56,059|16,728|14,867|31,595|24,464|4,864| |1883 |1,278,311|28,488|25,934|54,422|28,431|24,641|53,072| 1,350|4,287| |1884 | | | | | | | | | | |1885 | | | | | | | | | | +-----+---------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+-----+