HONDURAS. 25 



for the shipment which might be obtained from Plantain river alone, 

 but it is quite safe to calculate that a steamship capable of carrying 

 8,000 to 10,000 bunches, could be loaded there every month. By having 

 a little steamboat to tow barges up and down the river, I am satisfied 

 that the cost of cutting the fruit and delivering it alongside of the ship- 

 ping would not exceed twelve and one-half cents a bunch. 



Later, the Consul wrote to a company which proposed to 

 engage in the fibre business in Mosquitia: "Facts and figures 

 will warrant me in saying that, by an expenditure of $3,OCO to 

 $5,000, the banana fields of Plantain river will alone yield the 

 company a net profit of ten per cent, on the amount of its capital 

 stock [$600,000]." Of the quality of this fruit Mr. Burchard 

 wrote last year: " It is larger and better than most of the bananas 

 grown in cultivated fields." 



In relation to these fields of wild fruit Mr. Wm. H. McKee, who 

 examined this region in 1882 in the interest of the company men- 

 tioned, wrote: 



The fruit-growing privileges of Plantain river can be understood 

 only by being seen. The soil is of that quality most desirable for the 

 production of bananas, and the banks subject to that gentle inundation 

 which is considered to be of all things the most beneficial to a banana 

 plantation, and which certainly renders the never-failing fertility of the 

 soil assured . 



From just above the mouth of the river, for the space of a day and 

 a half's journey, the banks of the river for a space of from a few rods 

 to a mile and a half upon either side, are clear of forests, covered only 

 by a rank growth of grass, wild cane and bananas. 



The Mosquito Indians say that in former times the king of the Mos- 

 quitans chose the banks of this river as the site for an immense planta- 

 tion, and each year compelled his subjects to clear and plant a certain 

 area, which course being followed for a long period of years resulted in 

 this extensive clearing, which has never again grown up to forests, but 

 remains to this day a natural plantation, requiring only the proper care 

 to produce fruit enough to freight a fleet. 



Plantains and bananas are found growing wild on the banks 

 of other streams on this grant, especially on the Patuca and the 

 Guineo, so named because guineos (bananas) abound along its 

 borders, as they do to a less extent near other waters here. At 

 moderate cost these uncared-for patches of fruit may be extended 



