254 
chiefly in the west or south.* ‘They consist of a succession of rich 
valleys and forest clad hills from 600 to 4,C00 feet in height. The chief 
industries in British Honduras have hitherto been mahogany and log- 
itti i rri n 
of America, The etai of the opes are, however, practically 
undeveloped. There are grown at present on a comparatively small 
scale numerous plants, whose cultivation might be very largely ex- 
tended. Indi an corn or maize is the staple food of the Indian and 
quantities at present. The Caribs supply the local were with "ue 
apples 
boar nut planations have been largely extended 2o the rich lands of the 
sea board, and on the cays (or small islands) dotted along the coast. 
. The export of in an for the last twelve mesi has shown a re- 
markable development. The total number exported in 1887 was 
1,469,900, averaging from 12 to 30 dollars per 1,000. An experienced 
planter in British Honduras states that :—-** For those who can wait for 
** a return on their money for eight years, I do not think that any more 
* profitable investment of their capital could be made in this colony 
* than by putting it into a cocoa-nut plantation." Cacao is apparently 
found wild in the forests of British Honduras. It flourishes on all 
properly cured is excelient. he Central American India rubber tree 
(Castilloa elastica) is a native of British Sisi and the produce is 
regularly exported. The tree is found on most of the Cohune ridges 
d especially near the banks and in the valleys bordering rei 
River, Sittee River, and the Rio Grande. It is very abundant in som 
localities. The quantity of rubber shipped in 1687 was 23,967 Gothis. 
The vanilla, sarsaparilla, numerous fibre plants, and very valuable 
hard-wood trees are found in € woods of the interior, but they have, 
as yet, scarcely received attentio 
As regards the cultivation of ere ee pe prospects just now are so 
satisfactory consequent upon ve rative priees, that the high 
lands of British Honduras sicud. certainly: aep the attention they 
deserve. nder the guidance of Sir red “Moloney, the present 
" le of the chief indueements which drew me to the Cayo was to 
coffee estate about two miles beyond this place under charge of 
M. Toat In company with the latter, whom I fortunately met at 
the Cayo, and M. Era ai we proceeded up the western b of 
= M River, until we came to a deep, rich, well-sheltered valley 
unded by low osdd hills. 

iy Handbook of British Honduras, complet rom oficial statistical, and general 
101 1 and other reliable 
sources, is published by William Blackwood. an d Sons, London and Edinburgh. A 
