BRITISH HONDUEAS. 195 



that part of Yucatan which is still held by the independent Indians. Both the 

 Nuevo and Hondo traverse low-l^dng districts studded with shallow lakes which 

 communicate with the shifting- fluvial channels. 



The Seaboard. 



For a aistauce of 155 miles, between the Amatique and Chetumal inlets, the 

 whole seaboard is fringed by an outer coastline formed by coral reefs, which here 

 and there develop wooded cays, islands, and inlets, the lines of mangroves grow- 

 ing even on the still submerged banks. The space between the two coasts, which 

 is no less than eighteen miles wide, is fur the most part occupied by shoals covered 

 by only a few yards of water. Nevertheless winding channels sheltered from the 

 surf run parallel with the seaboard between the coral beds, and thus form a valuable 

 line of inland navigation available for the coasting trade. 



Seen from the high sea, the chain of breakers separating the inner lagoons 

 from the outer waters seems impassable, nor can they be crossed without a pilot 

 even by skippers provided with the best charts. Nevertheless some of the passages 

 are very deep, that of Belize, amongst others, ranging from 50 to 150 feet and 

 upwards. Others, again, are so shallow that the local fishermen are able to wade 

 across them. The opening between the Yucatan mainland and Ambergris, largest 

 of the cays, is accessible only to small craft drawing less than 30 inches. 



Chetumal Bay, which is separated from the sea by Ambergris Island, presents 

 the same general features as the two more northerly bays of Espiritu Santo and 

 Asencion in Yucatan, but it is far larger, having a superficial area of some 400 

 square miles. The whole basin teems with coralline life, and the reefs in process 

 of formation, covered with a mean depth of from 10 to 16 feet of water, are highest 

 at the entrance of the passage, growing more slowly towards the head of the 

 inlets, wherobdepths of 24 to 26 feet are met. The inland basin itself is navi- 

 gated only by flat-bottomed craft, which are engaged in shipping timber and dye- 

 woods about the mouths of the rivers. It is noteworthy that both shore-lines, the 

 already consolidated beach on the mainland and the outer chain of cays, run nearly 

 parallel to each other, and that the latter forms the direct southern continuation 

 of the east Yucatan seaboard. Moreover, the valley traversed by the Belize river 

 above its great bend round to the east is continued northwards by a series of 

 lagoons and by another fluvial valley, that of the Eio Nuevo (New River), all of 

 which are disposed in the same direction, forming with, the west side of Chetumal 

 Bay a third line parallel with that of both shores. 



The Rio Hondo also flows in the same direction along the foot of a clifE which 

 may likewise have been an old shore-line. Lastly, still farther inland, the parallel- 

 ism is maintained in tbe interior of Yucatan by the twin Mariscal and Bacalar 

 lagoons, and if the maps of this part of British Honduras can be trusted, other 

 lagoons, such as Aguada San Pedro, Aguada Concepcion and Aguada Carolina, 

 all follow the same general direction, which would appear to be that of succesi^ively 

 developed coastlines. But this hypothesis still awaits confirmation from the 



