350 PLANTING ENTEBPBISE IN THE WEST INDIES. [March, 



British Honduras contains an area of 7,562 square miles, that is, 



more than four times the size of Trinidad, nearly twice the size of 



Jamaica, and almost equal to that of the whole of the British West 



India Islands proper put together. A large portion of the country is 



practically unknown, but excluding the low swampy ground on the 



cays and some portions of the coast, and allowing a large proportion 



of the interior rocky country as being unfit for cultivation, there 



remain extensive areas of magnificent virgin soils in British 



Honduras, equal, if not superior, to anything else in the West Indies, 



As sliown on the map, British Honduras has a seaboard of about 250 



miles, stretching from the Biver Hondu on the north, abutting on 



Yucatan and IMexico, to the Kiver Sarstoon on the south, bordering 



on the Eepublic of Guatemala. In general, the land rises from the 



sea-coast, in a gentle slope towards the west, intersected by numerous 



deep and navigable rivers, until it meets, on the frontier line, the 



dividing mountain zone of Central America. 



In the south, however, the Cockscomb Mountains and others are 

 within some forty miles of the sea, and hence the country here is 

 greatly diversified with hills and valleys, most of which are practi- 

 cally unexplored. A few years ago (1878), Mr. Fowler, the Colonial 

 Secretary of British Honduras, made a journey through the South- 

 western portion of the Colony, of which an interesting account is 

 given in ' Papers relating to Her Majesty's Colonial Possessions ' 

 presented to Parliament : [c — 2598] of 1880. Mr. Fowler went up 

 the Belize Piiver as far as the western frontier, and then made an 

 oblique cut across the country at the back of the Cockscomb 

 Mountains, eventually reaching the coast at Deep Eiver. The 

 country traversed ' proved to be a succession of valleys and hills 

 from 1,200 to 3,000 feet above the sea level. The westerly portion 

 was an open, undulating, grassy country forming magnificent 

 pasturage lands. Towards the coast, it was all forest, full of valua- 

 ble timber. No inhabitants were seen, but ancient Indian ruins 

 consisting of large stone buildings were discovered. The soil 

 generally was rich, but a few rugged spots were encountered.' 



Without anticipating, in the least degree, the information contained 

 ■ in my ohicial report, I may mention that I travelled some nine 

 hundred to a thousand miles in the Colony, and thanks to the 

 courtesy of the Government and to the kindness and hospitality I 

 everywhere received, I was enabled to accomplish the objects of my 

 visit under very favourable circumstances. My first journey was 

 through the settlements to the south of Belize, in which I had the 

 privilege of being accompanied by Captain Marriner, chief of the local 

 police, who, I greatly regret to find, has since lost his life on the 

 lliver Hondu. 



