12 BRITISH HONDUKAS. 



numerous settlements are dotted about, the people evidently 

 looking upon it as their natural highway to the coast, as well as 

 their only means of procuring supplies. Below Bakers is a small 

 church, raised, as are most of the houses, on piles or pillars so as 

 to be out of reach of floods. The congregation in this instance, 

 being mostly river people, must come to service from far and 

 near, in boats. Just above Boom, where the mahogany logs are 

 stopped in their passage down the river, and claimed by their 

 several owners, there is a fine specimen of what is called a royal 

 marriage, amongst plants, namely, the stem of a palm invested 

 or embraced by that of a fig. The latter, starting probably as a 

 small seedling, amongst the vegetable matter accumulated at the 

 bases of the fronds of the palm, in process of time grows, by 

 means of its aerial roots, into a large tree, almost entirely covering 

 the stem of the latter. The fig sends out, as it grows, numerous 

 large, widespreading branches, while the palm, whose stem is 

 now completely invested by the fig, continues to grow also, 

 until at last a kind of composite plant is seen, partly a fig, and 

 partly a palm. The latter, however, as a rule, rises above the 

 fig, and is seen spreading its magnificent fronds, quivering and 

 glancing in the bright sunshine. 



Some few miles below the Boom, the river divides into two 

 branches : one goes out directly towards the east to the sea, 

 whereas the other takes a sharp turn to the southward, and 

 passes through the town of Belize. Belize was, no doubt, in the 

 first instance, selected as the headquarters of the settlement, 

 owing to its position at the mouth of the principal river. It 

 certainly could not have possessed any other advantages. 



Belize, the capital of British Honduras, is situated on one of 

 the mouths of the Old River, near Fort George, and occupies a 

 position on both sides of it. The name of Belize is supposed to 

 be a Spanish corruption of Wallace, the name of a Scotchman, a 



