Guatimala is a general name for a portion of the territory on the narrow part of the continent, which reaches from Oaxaca and Vera Cruz, southward to Veragua, on the isthmus of Darien. This tract of land is subject to the government of a captain-general, and is called the Capitania General of Guatimala, or as it is sometimes written, Gualtimala. The officer who exercises this command is independent of the viceregal court of Mexico, and is appointed by the king of Spain, consulting the viceroy on important occasions only; in what regards the immediate government of the captain-generalship, he is perfectly independent of any of the viceroys of the New World, acting solely on behalf and in the name of His Catholic Majesty. Of his power and resources, with his emoluments, &c. very little can be said, as this interesting portion of Spanish America has not attracted the serious attention of any contemporary writers. The territory of Guatimala is subdivided into numerous provinces or districts, of which the following names are given as a list: Soconusco, Suchitepec, Sonsonate, St. Salvador, St. Miguel, Tiguesgalpa, Choluteca, or Keses, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Vera Paz and Chiapa. The first seven of these are denominated Guatimala, in the most modern maps, which is however an error. The general appearance of the soil, (excepting the neighbourhoods of the volcanoes,) is fertile in the extreme; and Guatimala abundantly produces corn, cochineal, honey, wax, cotton, the sugar-cane, indigo, maize, pimento and chocolate. There are plenty of cattle and sheep in the farming districts. The climate differs greatly, according to the situation of the provinces on the eastern or western coasts; the western side is in general the best and healthiest, as may be observed, throughout the whole of North America. The whole country is mountainous, of which the particular ridges are very little known. In the Guatimala of the maps, that is to say, on the western shore from Guaxaca to Veragua, the country is dreadfully subject to tremendous convulsions of the earth, which has at times involved whole cities in ruin, exterminated complete tribes of people, and reversed the order of peaceful nature. The volcanoes are extremely numerous, and some of them terrific; no less than twenty are known to exist, which are constantly in action. The captain-general is commander of the troops, and Guatimala, the chief city, is the seat of a royal audience, which governs twenty-five districts. This Audienza Real, or Supreme Court of Justice, was first established in 1554.