HONDURAS. 53 



who has for years held the position of government geologist. He 

 says: 



The government has just concluded a contract with Mr. E. W. Perry, 

 of Chicago, under which he gets a tract of lands in the department of 

 Colon, on condition that he shall open up" in that department lumber, 

 stock-growing and agricultural enterprises on a large scale. This is a 

 wise step in that direction, as it will make that hitherto unprofitable eec- 

 tion one of the richest farming regions in this or any other country. It 

 is a section susceptible of the very highest culture. Bananas, plantains 

 and other fruits grow spontaneously, showing that they only need a little 

 care of man to turn th'em into rich sources of wealth. Apart from this, 

 the land is abundantly watered with healthful streams, and covered the 

 year round with native, succulent grasses, making it a very paradise for 

 cattle and horses, and with no freezes or storms of winter to disturb them. 

 Besides much of the land is fertile and capable of producing the maxi- 

 mum amount of all kinds of agricultural products. Bordering on the 

 ocean, there is no necessity for a railroad, which circumstance undoubt- 

 edly gives it a further advantage, as railroads too often take to them- 

 selves the best profits of enterprises, leaving the producers on?yjust 

 enough to encourage them to work on. But this needs no railroads to 

 connect it with the highest markets of the world. The broad Atlantic 

 touches it and invites to its shores the competing demands of the whole 

 of Europe and America. 



These advantages assure the early and complete success of this new 

 enterprise ; and this success means much for Honduras. It will con- 

 vince the world that there are other resources than mines here, most 

 richly deserving the cultivation of outsiders. It will draw to us the 

 attention of a substantial class of capitalists. It will bring about a 

 diversity of industries, pursuits, and interests, without which this coun- 

 try can never prosper as it should. And in this respect it will be worth 

 far more to Honduras than any price that could have been paid for the 

 land. It is a building up of waste places a planting of a garden in a 

 wilderness, not to be shipped away to enrich other lands, but to remain 

 forever as a part and parcel of Honduras. 



Agriculture is the basis and supporter of all other pursuits. It is 

 well known that the building up of the agricultural wealth of a country 

 insures its most lasting good. California was a howling, dreary wilder- 

 ness, but the gold-hunters of '49 discovered to the world its varied 

 resources, and now we see it not broken and torn all over by the relent- 

 less tools of the miner, but dressed and smiling with richest fruits and 

 sweet-scented fields a veritable garden upon the face of the earth. So 

 mote it be with Honduras, and God speed the day. 



In its issue of April 7, La Republica, the ministerial paper, 



