260 MEXICO, CEXTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES. 



on tlie north side. Roatan, Elena, Barbareta (Borburata), Bonaca and tbe other 

 members of the group all lie iu deep water, and are disposed in the direction from 

 west-south-west to east-north-east. Roatan, which is by far the largest, is 30 

 miles long, and is continued eastwards by Elena and Barbareta. Although 

 scarcely a mile wide, Roatan has a few hills, culminating westwards in an eminence 

 800 feet high. Bonaca (Guanaja), the Isla de Pinos of Columbus, which lies at 

 the eastern extremity of the group, is still more elevated, its pine-clad granite 

 peak rising to a height of 1,200 feet. 



On the southern slope of Honduras, the two most copious streams are the 

 Goascoran, the lower course of which forms the boundary-line towards Salvador, 

 and the Chokiteca, whose basin is entirely comprised within Honduras territory. 



The Choluteca flows from the Lepaterique hills to the marine inlet, to which, 

 in 1522, Gil Gonzalez de Avila gave the name of Fonseca, in honour of Cortes' 

 relentless enemy, Bishop Fonseca. This vast basin has a superficial area of over 

 800 square miles, with a breadth of 22 miles between the two outer headlands of 

 Coseguina and Amapala. The narrowest of the four navigable passages by which 

 it communicates with the sea is about two miles wide between the Conchagua 

 and Conchaguita volcanoes, with a mean depth of about 40 feet. Within these 

 passages the gulf develops several secondary inlets, such as those of L'Estero Real 

 and La Union, the former penetrating south-eastwards into Nicaragua, the latter 

 north-westwards into Salvador. Above the surface rise several reefs and islands, 

 conspicuous amongst which is the symmetrical cone of Tiger Island. Notwith- 

 standing its great extent, the Gulf of Fonseca is too shallow to be regarded as a 

 marine basin ; it is probably little more than a flooded depression, nowhere more 

 than ten fathoms deep, and navigable only by vessels of moderate draught. 



Climate, Flora, Fauna. 



Owing to its mean elevation of at least 3,000 feet above the sea, Honduras 

 enjoys a comparatively temperate climate, though the low-lying coastlands are 

 oppressively hot and insalubrious. The Atlantic seaboard especially suffers from 

 the excess of moisture brought by the vapour-charged trade winds. Hei'e the 

 mean temperature ranges from 75° to 82° Fahr., whereas it is scarcely more than 

 68° at the capital, Tegucigalpa, which stands at an altitude of 3,320 feet. Accord- 

 ing to Squier, the annual rainfall on the Atlantic slope is about 120 inches. 



The Central American flora and fauna differ in details only at their two 

 extremities, the isthmuses of Tehuantepec and Darien. But here and there sharp 

 transitions occur between the species, and in certain regions the secondary 

 differences between the various organic forms are more numerous than elsewhere. 

 Such is the case in central Honduras, where the Hurauya and Goascoran valleys 

 with the intermediate depression constitute a natural biological parting-line. Here 

 the flora and fauna on either side often present remarkable contrasts. One of the 

 characteristic Honduras trees is the pine, which occurs in all the upland districts, 

 and even on both slopes down to the vicinity of the Pacific coast. But here it 



