1884.] PLANTING ENTEBPBISE IN THE WEST INDIES. 353 



is equal, if not superior, to most tropical countries. Visitations of 

 fever appear to be of rare occurrence, and owing to the level character 

 of the country, the cool sea-breezes — especially those from the north- 

 east — sweep uninterruptedly over it, entirely preventing the accumu- 

 lation of miasmatic influences, so prevalent in other countries similarly 

 situated. 



That the legislature of British Honduras has a firm belief in the 

 healthiness of the Colony is shown by the fact that a local ordinance, 

 referring to the registration of medical practitioners, has u preamble 

 somewhat as follows : " Whereas, owing to the salubriousness of the 

 climate of British Honduras, there are few inducements for medical 

 men to settle therein, it is hereby enacted,' &c., &c. 



For experienced planters, who have already lived in tropical 

 countries, and especially in the East, British Honduras offers induce- 

 ments superior, I believe, to those of most British Colonies. There 

 are thousands of acres of magnificent land offered by Government at 

 an upset price of a dollar an acre, capable of growing nearly every 

 tropical product. Some of these lands are either near the banks of 

 rivers, with easy communication with the coast, or on the coast itself. 

 There is an abundant market for bananas, plantains, cocoa-nuts, oranges, 

 pine-apples, and all tropical fruits in demand in America, and regular 

 direct communication, by means of mail and other steamers, with both 

 England and the States. For the cultivation of sugar-cane, coffee, tea, 

 cacao, spices, tobacco, vanilla, and rice, British Honduras offers special 

 advantages. The chief drawbacks to the advancement of the Colony 

 are : (1) The scarcity and somewhat precarious nature of the labour 

 supply, and (2) the want of cheap and effective communication with 

 the rich backlands of the interior. The first of these drawbacks may in 

 a great measure be overcome by the establishment of an effectivesystem 

 of coolie immigration, similar to that in force in Demefara, Trinidad, 

 Jamaica, and more recently in Grenada. Coolies might be obtained 

 from India at the rate of £15 per head, the repayment of which would 

 be spread over the five years during which the engagement lasts. 

 During this time the wages would be fixed at the rate of Is. per diem, 

 all things included. For light field work in the tropics the coolie is an 

 invaluable worker. Demerara and Trinidad, without coolies, would never 

 have attained to their present prosperous condition ; and what has 

 been done in these Colonies with coolies may likewise be done in 

 British Honduras, which, from the richness of its natural resources, 

 would eventually become one of the most prosperous British posses- 

 sions in the West Indies. 



For reaching the fine rich virgin lands on the upper portions of the 

 Sibun and Belize rivers, as well as those previously described in the 

 South, a system of cheap and li^ht railways might be constructed at 

 a cost not exceeding £100,000. 



