26 . PHYSICAL FEATURES ETC. 
HONDURAS. 
The Republic of Honduras is bounded by the Bay of that name and the Caribbean 
Sea on the north, by Guatemala on the west, and Salvador, the Pacific Ocean, and 
Nicaragua on the south; it includes the islands of Ruatan, Bonaca (Guanaja), and 
the islands adjacent. The general aspect of the country is mountainous, and it is 
traversed by ranges and hills radiating from the base of the Cordillera. ‘The main 
chain, which does not approach within 90 or 60 miles of the Pacific, is not an 
unbroken one, as it turns back and forms basins or valleys, within which are collected 
the head-waters of the streams which flow in the direction of the Atlantic Ocean. 
Viewed from the Pacific, the mountains present the appearance of a great natural 
wall, with a lower range bristling with volcanic peaks between it and the Western 
Ocean. The Cordillera proper forms an irregular line from north-west to south-east, 
interrupted, however, by the great transverse depression of Comayagua, which extends 
about 40 miles to the north with a width of from 5 to 15 miles, and contains the 
Humuya River, which discharges its waters into the Atlantic; while to the south it 
forms the valley of the Goascoran River, which flows into the Pacific. The whole 
country has a great diversity of surface and elevation, with fertile valleys and high 
plains, affording every variety of climate. 
Some notes on the aspect of this country were published in ‘ The Ibis’ for 1860 by 
G. Cavendish Taylor. He crossed from the Pacific to the Atlantic Coast, and many 
of the places described have been mentioned in the ‘Aves’ section of this work. 
Arriving in December 1857, from Panama, at La Union, Salvador, he crossed to the island 
of Tigre, and thence to La Brea in the Gulf of Fonseca, which is studded with densely 
wooded volcanic islands. Tigre abounds with scorpions and large hairy spiders, and 
many birds were obtained near an old crater, now a lagoon full of reeds and floating 
grass. Mr. Taylor visited Aremecina, Caridad, San Juan, and Lamani, and so over the 
tolerably level plain mostly covered with forests to Comayagua. In the vicinity of 
the town were cactus bushes on one side, dense jungle intersected by rivers and woods 
on the other, and high mountains bounding the plain. Continuing his journey towards 
the Atlantic, Siquatepeque was reached by a route crossing the top of the mountains 
at an elevation of 5000 feet—here again was open plain, 2600 feet above sea-level, 
and surrounded by mountains; then after passing over undulating ground covered 
with pine trees, giving it a park like appearance, he arrived at Taulevi. Here 
arrangements had to be made for the journey through the dense forests to the Lake 
of Yojoa, some three leagues distant. Men had to be sent forward to clear a path 
and engage boats for the passage down the lake. The route lay at first by open 
