144 SELLING LATIN AMERICA 
only European colony in Central America. 
Its inhabitants are Indians and negroes, with 
a few mixed breeds, and less than a thousand 
whites. It has no railways, although some ef 
fort has been made to get capital interested, 
so far unsuccessfully. The British Govern 
ment seems to have completely neglected this 
possession. Its rivers, navigable for some dis 
tance, serve all its transportation requirements. 
The topography and climate of all these 
countries is much the same. Mountain 
ranges cross and recross them, having peaks 
of considerable altitude, many of which are 
still active volcanoes. As is obvious, these 
mountain systems influence the climate to a 
marked degree, making it always pleasant 
and spring-like in the plateaus extended be 
tween them, as well as in the intermediary 
tablelands. The higher elevations are always 
cool, while the low-lying coast-lands are ex 
tremely warm and, as a rule, unhealthy. The 
watershed which they form deflects the streams 
arising in them toward either the Pacific or 
the Atlantic. If harnessed these streams