REVIEWS — NOTES ON CENTRAL AMERICA. 3G1 



of the maps of equal pretensions which have been published in the Uni;ed States. 



1. For the first time in any map, we find Vera Paz laid down as a distinct state. It 

 is now, as it has always been, a department of the province and state of Guatemala. 



2. The British establishment of Belize, the boundaries of which are clearly defined 

 by the treaties between England and Spain as extending only from the Rio Jabon 

 to the Rio Hondo, is represented as including more than four times the amount of 

 territory legitimately pertaining to it, and extending from the Rio Hondo down 

 to the Bay of Amatique. No such Tunics were ever conceded by Spain, nor by the 

 inheritors of her territorial rights in that quarter of the world, nor have they ever 

 been recognised by the United States or any other civilised country. They are im- 

 pudent pretensions, which map-makers in England, accessory to the schemes of their 

 own government, have adopted without scruple. The representation of the State 

 of Michigan as a part of Canada "West could not be more at variance with truth ; 

 and the acceptance of such pretensions in respect to Michigan by American map- 

 makers would not be one whit more absurd than this servility to English authorities 

 in the political divisions of Central America. 3. Honduras, which extends from 

 sea to sea, having a frontage of upward of fifty miles on the Pacific (Gulf of Fonseca). 

 is represented in this map as entirely cut off from that ocean by the states of San 

 Salvador and Nicaragua, which are designated as contiguous ; whereas, as I have 

 said, they are separated by the territorities of Honduras. 4. Nearly one-third of 

 Central America is assigned to the " Mosquito Shore,"' which is here represented 

 as a distinct and sovereign state. The term " Mosquito Shore'' never had a politi- 

 cal sense, but has always been vned geograpically to designate a portion of the 

 eastern coast of Central America. The Indians known as " Mosquitos" are only a 

 few thousands of miserable savages, who are strictly confined to the coast, and never 

 had establishments of any kind inland. Essentially fishers, they find a scanty 

 subsistenee in the numerous lagoons and creeks near the sea. their only traffic con- 

 sisting of a few turtle-shells and a little sarsaparilla. Even if these savages were en- 

 titled to rank as a nation, they have not, nor could they ever have, the shadow of a 

 pretense of sovereignty over the fractional part of the wide expanse of territory which 

 this map assigns to them. But they have no title of sovereignty over any portion 

 of the country, however small; they do not claim it for themselves; it is only set 

 up on their behalf by Great Britain for sinister purposes, uud, so for from being 

 admitted, is positively denied by the United States arid every other nation of the 

 globe. The portion of territory assigned by this map to the fictitious Mosquito na- 

 tionality above the Rio Wanks or Segovia belongs to Honduras ; the part below 

 pertains to Nicaragua. 5. The northern boundary of Costa Rica is inaccurate, and 

 not conceded by Nicaragua. But this error may be excused on the ground of 

 conflict of claims between those states. It is, perhaps, not to be expected that a 

 map-maker should have the means of testing the merits of questions of this kind. 

 The true northern boundary line of Costa Rica, as defined in her own Constitution, 

 extends from the lower mouth of the River San Juan to the Rio Salto de Nicoya or 

 Alvarada, falling into the Gulf of Nicoya. Consequently, the territories of Costa 

 Rica do not touch the River San Juan nor Lake Nicaragua, but fall far to the south- 

 ward of both. The map in question is therefore erroneous in this respect. In 

 ehort, so far as Central America is concerned, it has no claim to be regarded as an 

 authority. It can serve no purpose except to confuse and mislead. 



• It may be claimed that the map here alluded to is general in its character, and 



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