6 CAPTAIN ZACHARY G. LAMSON 



Porto Rico and some of the smaller West 

 India islands, and all Central America ex- 

 cept British Honduras. Though she no 

 longer dominated the Spanish Main, still, 

 with the exception of English, French and 

 Dutch Guiana,and Brazil,all South America 

 was hers, and the trade of this vast section 

 of country reserved for her own subjects. 



Portugal, once powerful, was now so 

 weak and inoffensive that there was no pre- 

 text to disturb her possessions, which were 

 still vast, comprising Brazil in South Amer- 

 ica, Goa and Macao in Asia, and Madeira, 

 the Azores, and Cape Verde Islands. Hol- 

 land, which once contested the sea with 

 England on equal terms, had sunk to the 

 rank of a third-rate power, and had been 

 absorbed by France, but she still held 

 Guiana, Cura9oa, Demerara, Essequibo, 

 the Cape of Good Hope, Java, Borneo and 

 some stations in India. 



The richest islands of the West Indies, 

 Guadeloupe and Martinique, belonged to 

 France. Hayti was still hers, with French 



