GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 183 



woods of the interior, and these only await the systematic efforts 

 of the collector, and the determinations of science, to render 

 them available for the general welfare of the country. 



Another important step which might tend to develop the 

 resources of the colony is a careful survey of its chief geological 

 features. As to what the scope of such survey should be, 

 reference may be made to the Memoirs of the West India 

 Geological Survey, already completed for Jamaica, Trinidad, 

 and British Guiana. In addition to testing for minerals and 

 ores, and in critically examining the nature and characteristics 

 of the rocks, a geological survey would bring scientific know- 

 ledge and research to bear upon the chief economic resources of 

 the soil, and point out their chemical constituents. In fact, a 

 geological survey of the colony is now one of its chief wants, 

 and provided its finances can bear the expense (which, however, 

 might be spread over several years), the results, apart from find- 

 ing gold and silver, cannot fail to prove most valuable and 

 suggestive. 



I brought with me numerous samples of soils from British 

 Honduras, with the intention of having them analysed ; but the 

 permission to incur the expenses did not reach me in time to 

 include the results in this work. The general characters of the 

 soils, however, were of a most promising character. 



The climate of the colony, as well as that of Belize, has been 

 already incidentally discussed in course of the previous pages. 



The general conclusions arrived at will, I believe, point to the 

 fact that, either through ignorance or prejudice, the climate of 

 British Honduras, taking the colony as a whole, has been greatly 

 maligned. 



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 jnedical practitioners, 



