ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART IV. 157 



fact that they could ride a cow pony and not have to walk. All of them 

 go armed, although there is no occasion for it, but the custom of the 

 country is to go armed, and it is unusual to see a native without some 

 weapon of defense. A domestic on a ranch is paid $2 a month, silver, and 

 gets her food and lodging, but no clothing. Nearly all hired help go bare- 

 footed the year around. This may appear to you as being very cheap for 

 help, but it is cheap help. Like all tropical countries, the natives, espec- 

 ially the men, have that all-gone, tired feeling, and everything is "man- 

 yana," meaning tomorrow. "Put off until tomorrow what can be done 

 today," is the idea. No matter how hurried you may be or how anxious 

 you are to have something done, it is always "manyana" before it is at- 

 tempted. 



Of all the tropical countries within reach of the United States, Hon- 

 duras is the only one where the United Fruit Company, of Boston, has 

 not secured a monopoly of the fruit business. The government is not 

 friendly to this concern, so that it has to operate through the medium of 

 so-called independent companies in which it has a controlling interest. I 

 was so impressed with the waste of bananas down in this country that I 

 was prompted to look into the matter, as I had a little time to do so. I 

 witnessed the destruction of 2,500 bunches of fine bananas at one of the 

 ports, and was told that this was a common occurrence at other ports as 

 well. The excuse was given that the buyers had overbought the tonnage 

 of the boat, and none of the other boats in port at the time would take 

 them, as their own buyers had contracted for a full cargo. The trust, 

 through their buyers, pay 62% cents in silver for bunches of bananas 

 that consist of eight hands, f. o. b., at any of the stations along the rail- 

 road, 31% cents for seven hands, and 16 cents for six hands. Much trick- 

 ery is said to be practiced in the classifying and counting. Bananas are 

 a continuous crop in this climate. The old stocks are cut down when the 

 fruit is harvested. They grow twenty feet tall. Three new sprouts will 

 come in the place of the old stock. It takes nine months for the new stock 

 to develop marketable fruit. Ground suitable ■ for a banana plantation 

 must be very rich and loose, to enable the roots of the plant to penetrate 

 it. It is the highest-priced land in the country, and hard to secure near 

 a line of transportation. 



The certified ccst of a bunch of bananas shows that it costs 41% cents 

 a bunch, all charges paid, at the dock in New Orleans or Mobile. The 

 lowest price that I ever heard of bananas selling for in this country was 

 75 cents wholesale, and from that up to $1.10. Upon their arrival they 

 are taken from the boat and loaded direct into refrigerator cars standing 

 on the wharves. The boats carry from 30,000 to 35,000 bunches a trip. 



The financial condition of the country is anything but flourishing. The 

 money is on a silver basis, and is rated in exchange for United States 

 money at 37% cents on the dollar, but fluctuates with the price of silver 

 abroad. The Bank of Honduras was established October 1, 1889, with a 

 capital of 1.000.000 pesos, or silver dollars. It has two branches, and is 

 the only bank in the country. Much of the banking business of the coun- 

 try is carried on through the larger mercantile firms that carry accounts 



