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 SAN SALVADOR SANSKRIT 611 their worship. In education this republic ex- cels the other states of Central America, and has a very well endowed university in the capital. Duties on imports, stamped paper, and the monopolies of tobacco and rum furnish the revenues. When Pedro de Alvarado, the lieutenant of Cortes, invaded this region in 1524, it had a dense population and large, well built cities. In 1528 the city of San Salvador rose on the site of the ancient Cuscatlan, and under the Spanish rule the province became a flourishing portion of the kingdom of Guate- mala. The independence of this part of the Spanish dominion was accomplished in 1821 almost without bloodshed. The present five republics constituted themselves as the confed- erated republic of Central America. When a violent effort was made to incorporate it with Mexico (under the emperor Iturbide), San Sal- vador decreed its annexation to the United States, but the fall of the Mexican empire rees- tablished the Central American republic (1823), of which the city of San Salvador was made the capital. It became an independent com- monwealth in 1839, and in 1856 assumed the title of republic. In all the revolutions of Central America, San Salvador, owing to its geographical position, has been compelled to take an active part. In 1862 a war broke out with Guatemala, which aimed at a supremacy over all Central America; but the troops of the latter state were repulsed, and a peace was effected in February, 1863. A second attempt at invasion by Guatemala in April, 1863, proved unsuccessful in the beginning, but ended with the capture of San Salvador by Carrera, president of Guatemala, in Octo- ber. Barrios, president of San Salvador, was recalled from Panama in May, 1865, by the revolutionary party ; but he was defeated and shot, after a trial by court martial. Duefias, provisionally elected in 1863, was reflected for four years in 1865, and continued in office till 1869. Under him the government endeav- ored to open the country, to construct and im- prove roads, and to build bridges and wharves. Gonzalez succeeded him as provisional presi- dent, and was reflected for four years in 1872, when a treaty of friendship and alliance was made between this republic and Guatemala. IL A city, capital of the republic, on the Asel- huate, in lat. 13 40' N., Ion. 89 5 ; W.; pop. about 16,000. It is situated in a delightful valley more than 2,000 ft. above the sea, about 3 m. S. E. of the volcano of San Salvador, fa- mous for its numerous and disastrous erup- tions. The streets are regularly laid out, and generally well kept. In the centre is a spa- cious plaza, on which before the late earth- quake stood the cathedral, very large but of little architectural beauty, and three rows of handsome arcades. The other principal public buildings were eight churches, the university, a female seminary, a hospital, and two aqueducts. Fine sugar and indigo plantations abound in the vicinity, and there are numerous hot springs. The chief industry is agriculture, the once extensive hardware and cotton manufactures having dwindled to comparative insignificance. San Salvador was founded in 1528 by Jorge de Alvarado. It has frequently suffered from earthquakes, the most disastrous of which were that of April 16, 1854, when the city was al- most completely destroyed, and a large number of the inhabitants (then numbering some 30,- 000) perished; and that of March 19, 18Y2, by which most of the public edifices and dwelling houses were thrown down, 50 persons killed, and more than 500 seriously injured. It was, however, resolved to rebuild the city on the same site, for the eighth time since its foun- dation. A new university and several public schools have been organized of late. SAN SALVADOR, or Cat Island, an island of the Bahama group, 28 m. E. S. E. of Eleuthera; length nearly 50 m., breadth from 3 to 7 m. ; pop. about 1,000. This island has generally been supposed to be Guanahani, the first land seen by Columbus in the new world (Oct. 12, 1492), and named by him San Salvador. Hum- boldt and Irving have defended this view, but Navarrete combats it and advocates the claims of Grand Turk island ; and Watling island and Mayaguana, of the same group, have been identified with Guanahani respectively by A. B. Becher ("Journal of the Royal Geographi- cal Society," 1856) and F. A. de Varnhagen (La verdadera Guanahani de Colon, 1864). Bech- er's view has been adopted by Daniel, Peter- mann, and other eminent geographers. SAN SALVADOR, a city of Brazil. See BAHIA. SAN SEBASTIAN. See SAINT SEBASTIAN. SANSKRIT, the literary language of the Hin- doos, the Aryan inhabitants of India. Origi- nally a vernacular dialect in Hindostan, it has for nearly or quite 2,000 years past been kept artificially in use, like the Latin in Europe, by the labors of grammarians and lexicographers, and the transmitted usages of an educated caste, to serve as the means of learned intercourse and composition. Its name (saflskrta, com- pleted, perfected) denotes it as " the cultivated, elaborated, or perfected form of speech," in distinction from the uncultivated dialects, called Prakrit (prakrti, nature), which sprang from or were contemporaneous with it. The impor- tance and interest of the Sanskrit is twofold. Considered in its relation to Indian history, it contains an immense literature, laying open from a very remote epoch nearly to the present day the inward and outward life of a numerous and highly endowed branch of the human fam- ily (India still contains a seventh part of our race) ; and it is the most ancient and original of the Indo-European languages, and, by reason of its better conservation of the features of their common parent, throws vastly more light than any other upon the history and relations of all. The latter is the more widely appre- ciated side of its usefulness, and the one which has most contributed to give currency to its study. Its cultivation by Europeans dates less