HINTS TO SETTLERS. 141 



capital or labour, but a class of trustworthy and capable head- 

 men or foremen to control and teach the ordinary Creole or 

 Indian. The early history of the country has been unfavourable 

 to the development of agricultural pursuits, and hence hardly a 

 man in the colony is acquainted even with the most elementary 

 principles of planting. The European manager or proprietor 

 must therefore be prepared to teach and train his men, and give 

 close and constant attention to every detail of estate work. Hence 

 a man with a good practical knowledge of planting, acquired in 

 other tropical countries, is the more likely to succeed in British 

 Honduras ; and next to him the young, able-bodied cadet, who is 

 content to wait and to pick up his experience little by little 

 under an older man, until he is qualified to embark on his own 

 account. 



The man without capital is evidently not required in British 

 Honduras at present ; in fact, there are no salaried appointments 

 to which he could be appointed, and I would advise such to try 

 the older and more settled colonies. 



To men who have already been in the tropics it is needless 

 to say much as regards the nature of the outfit most suitable 

 for pioneering work in a new country. For cadets, the case is 

 different. As a rule, young men arrive in the tropics with number- 

 less things for which they can have no possible use. Either they 

 bring out an elaborate outfit, composed entirely of fine, well- 

 made clothes and thin boots, which the first day in the jungle 

 will irretrievably spoil ; or they come out booted, and spurred, 

 and armed in such a fashion that they appear like amateur 

 brigands. The chief requisites of a young planter are rather 

 light, well-made boots, capable of keeping out wet, care being 

 taken that they are not too heavy; a good pair of leather 

 leggings, made to strap, not button ; and a knicker-bocker suit 

 with or without a waistcoat of tweed or cheviot. Two or 



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