H O N 



106 



H O N 



Logwood. 



Animals. 



Honduras. c d, and to cut it down about twelve feet from the 

 JTTJT' ground. When felled, the logs are, with much labour, 

 1 ' dragged to the banks of the streams, and being formed 

 into ratls sometimes of 200 united, are floated as many 

 miles, to places where the rivers are crossed by strong 

 cables, and then the owners separate their respective 

 shares. It is said that the boughs and limbs afford the 

 finest wood, but in Britain mahogany is more valued 

 on account of size ; and none is allowed to be exported 

 to the United States of America exceeding 20 inches in 

 diameter. The logwood, on the other hand, affects low 

 swampy grounds, growing contiguous to fresh water 

 crci-ks and lakes, on the edges of which the roots, the 

 most valuable parts of the wood, extend. It is sought 

 in the dry season, and the wood-cutters having built a 

 hut in the vicinity of a number of trees in the same spot, 

 collect the logs in heaps ; and afterwards float up small 

 canoes in the wet season, when the ground is laid under 

 water, to carry them off. This is considered a very un- 

 healthy employment. 



Many wild animals inhabit the province, among 

 which are two kinds of tiger as generally described ; 

 but they are more probably of the leopard species, the 

 Brasilian and black tiger. Both of them are fierce; they 

 are said sometimes to attack man ; but their depredations 

 are chiefly confined to cattle. The tapir, which is near- 

 ly the size of a small cow, is reputed to inhabit the 

 thickest parts of the forests in the neighbourhood of 

 creeks and rivers, and is very rarely to be seen by day. 

 There are different kinds of wild hogs, three species of 

 the armadillo, and numerous monkeys. Of birds may 

 be named the turkey, concerning whose native coun- 

 try naturalists have expressed doubts, but here it lives 

 in pairs in the most sequestered recesses of the woods, 

 and cannot easily be taken alive. It never survives in 

 captivity, and the young hatched from eggs, gene- 

 rally wander away to the original haunts of the mo- 

 thers. The toucan, oriole, macaw, and pelican, are 

 common. A great quantity of honey and wax are ob- 

 tained from the bees of this country, which construct 

 their combs in holes of the earth. The rivers abound 

 in fish ; and the manati and turtle are the constant ob- 

 jects of pursuit on the shores. 



Inhabitant?. In regard to the inhabitants of Honduras ; the total 

 population of the province, consisting of natives, Ame- 

 ricans, Spaniards, and English, with African slaves, is 

 said to have diminished. We are quite ignorant of any 

 calculations as to its amount ; but that of the British 

 settlement in the Bay of Honduras, is computed at 

 about 3700 or somewhat more, of which there are 200 

 white inhabitants, rather more than 500 people of co- 

 lour and free blacks, and 3000 negro slaves. Neither 

 are we acquainted with the precise geographical limits 

 of the settlement, or the number, extent and position 

 of the towns belonging to the Spaniards. Formerly 

 the principal English establishment was at St George's 

 Key, which is a healthful and agreeable situation, still 

 containing a number of good houses, but now it is at 

 Balize, a town at the mouth of a river of the same 

 name, called Wallix by the Spaniards. It consists of 

 about 200 houses, many of which are spacious and well 

 finished ; all are built of wood, and for the most part 

 raised 8 or 10 feet from the ground on mahogany 

 pillars. An agreeable and picturesque effect is pro- 

 duced by groups of lofty cocoa trees, and the foliage 

 of the tamarind thickly interspersed, while they afford 

 to the inhabitants a grateful shelter from the fervour of 

 the sun. This town is accessible to an enemy only 

 from the sea ; for it is totally environed behind by a 

 morass, extending many miles into the country, which, 



during the rainy season, is nearly covered with water. Honduras, 

 A strong fort lately erected in a commanding situation Honey. ^ 

 guards the channel of approach; and the inhabitants s ~V"~ 1P/ 

 have formed a militia as a farther means of defence. 



The principal trade of the British settlement con- Trade, 

 sists in the export of mahogany, logwood, and tortoise 

 shell ; while the articles ot'import are chiefly for the con- 

 sumption of the settlers, being those of British manufac- 

 ture, and salted provisions for the slaves. They also 

 obtain cattle from the Spaniards, who, besides, carry on 

 considerable traffic in cotton bed-covers, which are 

 much esteemed in that province. The Bay of Hondu- 

 ras is reckoned a very favourable situation for trade ; 

 and the preservation of the settlement occasions no 

 expenee to government, as the revenue somewhat ex- 

 ceeds the expenditure. 



During the last and preceding century, the coast and History, 

 islands of Honduras were a great resort of pirates, who 

 found sufficient subsistence and concealment to ena- 

 ble them to commit their ravages against defenceles 

 vessels. On the largest island, called Ruatan or Rat- 

 tan, about 30 miles long, rich and fertile, there is a 

 small Spanish outpost; but, according to Philip Ashton's 

 Memorial, it was uninhabited in 1723. Previous to 

 the year 1763, English mercantile adventurers had esta- 

 blished themselves on the coast, at which time the 

 court of Spain admitted them to remain on condi- 

 tion that their fortifications should be demolished. 

 However, all were taken prisoners or dispersed in 1782; 

 and having been enabled to return in 178i, under a 

 treaty with the Spanish government, they finally settled 

 at Balize. Here they remained undisturbed until the 

 year 1798, when the Spaniards having fitted out an ar- 

 mament, made an attempt to capture the town. They 

 were speedily repulsed, and the colony has never since 

 had to dread any enemy. See Alcedo Diccionario ; 

 Uring's Voyages and Travels; Ashton's Memorial; and 

 Henderson's Account of the Settlement of Honduras, (e) 



HONEY is a saccharine vegetable secretion, most 

 abundant in the nectarium of flowers. Some authors 

 consider it an elementary principle of all vegetables 

 without exception : They suppose that it exists in every 

 part of plants, and that their life is dependent on its 

 presence. We do not know, however, that the saccha- 

 rine matter of plants is universally convertible into ho- 

 ney. It is much more copiously diffused in certain 

 flowers than in others, both of the same and of dif- 

 ferent species : in some it cannot be recognised, and 

 the weather has always a powerful influence on its se- 

 cretion. A hot and sultry atmosphere, charged with 

 electricity, is considered most favourable to the produc- 

 tion of honey. Honey seems to be of various quality, 

 sometimes of a grateful taste and odour, sometimes 

 pungent and bitter, or even of a deleterious nature, 

 which probably originates from the flowers. 



This substance appears in its sensible shape when 

 collected by bees, a tribe of insects which may almost 

 be considered as reduced under the dominion of man. 

 But naturalists are not agreed whether honey under- 

 goes a particular elaboration in their bodies, thence de- 

 riving its flavour and consistence, or whether it is 

 merely collected and is still seen in its pristine state. 

 A bee having entered a flower, apparently absorbs 

 the liquid nectar by its proboscis, whence it is con- 

 ducted loan intestinal sac exclusively appropriated for 

 its reception, commonly called the honey bag. The 

 animal is then plump and cylindrical, and returning to 

 the hive, disgorges the contents into cells selected for 

 that purpose. By repeated accumulations the cell is 

 filled, and then sealed by concentric circles of the thin- 





