244 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I02 



701. This city and its neighborhood have a hot climate and many 

 groves and v^oods with healthful waters, excellent to drink because 

 flowing over gold ore and sarsaparilla roots ; they raise much sarsa- 

 parilla in this city and region, of the best quality to be found in the 

 Indies ; every year they load quantities of it on the ships for Spain. 

 It has many ranches in its district with innumerable cattle, from 

 which they export quantities of hides every year to Spain on these 

 ships. Coconut palms abound here, bananas and other indigenous 

 varieties of fruit, and other medicinal roots and extracts. The city 

 does a large business and has much commerce on account of the port 

 and the ships running from Spain to Guatemala, which stop here 

 going and coming, and ships and frigates ordinarily come here for 

 cargoes of native products, of which there is great abundance. They 

 get much wax and honey in the woods. Opposite this city, and 

 almost within sight, at 8 leagues out to sea, are the islands of Guanajas 

 and Ruatan, inhabited by Christian Indians and under the jurisdic- 

 tion of this city. They are very fertile and prolific, producing 

 quantities of cassava and fish, poultry, etc. ; they are of great service 

 for the provisioning of the ships. The district of this city is bounded 

 by large provinces of heathen Indians, wearing clothes, viz, those 

 of the Provinces of Tegucigalpa and others to the E. of them. 



Chapter XXIII 



Continuing the Description of the District of the Diocese of 

 Honduras, and in Particular, of the Mines of Tegucigalpa. 



702. The rich silver-mining town of Tegucigalpa lies i6 leagues 

 to the E. of the city of Comayagua. It is built in the midst of great 

 pine forests ; its climate is springlike the whole year. It has abundance 

 of wheat, corn, chickpeas, kidney beans, and other kinds of cereals 

 and fruit, both native and Spanish. The city is bountifully supplied 

 with cheap and delicious provisions. In its district there are many 

 farms and ranches of cattle, sheep, hogs, mules, and horses. The 

 city has over loo Spanish residents and some Negroes, mulattoes, 

 and Indians of the service class and those who come to work in the 

 mines. It has a parish church, a Franciscan convent, a hospital and 

 other churches and shrines. 



703. His Majesty, in consultation with the Supreme Council of 

 the Indies, appoints an Alcalde Mayor for the city ; he has under 

 his jurisdiction 36 Indian villages, small to be sure ; 24 are in this 

 Diocese of Honduras and 12 in the Choluteca district of the Diocese 

 of Guatemala. These were all organized under Capt. Don Juan de 



