edicinal plants,
notably the so-called Peruvian balsam (_Myrospermum salvatorense_); in
Honduras there are immense forests of conifers, resembling those of
the Landes in France; in Nicaragua a characteristic tree is the cortes
(_Tecoma sideroxylori_) yielding timber as hard as ebony, and
noteworthy for the golden blossom with which it is entirely covered
after the leaves have fallen.

_Inhabitants_--In 1905 the population of Central America numbered about
4,750,000, and this total tends to increase, despite the unhealthy
climate of many districts, the terribly high average of infant
mortality, and the slow progress of immigration. Some authorities
estimate it at 5,500,000. The vast majority of the inhabitants are of
mixed Indian and Spanish blood, but the Indian element predominates
everywhere except in Costa Rica, where the whites are exceptionally
numerous. The Indian races have not shown the same power to adapt
themselves to modern civilization as the Mexicans; in some regions there
are tribes remaining in a state of complete savagery although before the
Spanish conquest their ancestors attained a high level of culture (see
below under _Archaeology_). The density of population throughout Central
America is little more than 25 per sq. m.; and it is clear that several
large areas now thinly peopled once maintained a far greater number of
inhabitants. Such are parts of the Nicaraguan lake district, where the
flora consists in great measure of plants that were formerly cultivated
by the Indians. The depopulation of these areas was effected partly by
tribal wars, partly by the harsh rule of the Spaniards. Apart from the
German agricultural settlements in Guatemala and elsewhere, the foreign
population is chiefly confined to the seaports and other centres of
commerce, Great Britain, Germany and the United States being largely
represented among the wealthier classes of residents; while the foreign
labourers are mostly Italians or negroes, with a few Chinese on the
Pacific coast.

_History_.--Central America was discovered by Columbus in August 1502;
and part of the territory which is now Costa Rica was conquered by the
Spaniards under Pedro Arias de Avila after 1513. Between 1522 and 1525,
the authority of Avila was superseded, and his work of conquest
completed by Hernando Cortes, who had already subjugated Mexico. Panama
formed part of a distinct Spanish government, "New Granada"; British
Honduras was coloni