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NARRATIVE OF A 



caymito, commonly called in English the star apple, and 

 the well-known bannana. The fruits peculiar to higher 

 latitudes are also produced there, but not in the same per- 

 fection. 



The mineral productions of Central America are also 

 deserving of consideration. The gold mines of Costa- 

 rica, and the silver of Honduras, are rapidly increasing in 

 their products. Those of Aguacate, in the former State, 

 have produced great riches since their discovery. The 

 extreme richness of this mine, and the circumstance of its 

 being situated on the coast of the Caribbean sea, were the 

 cause of this part of the country being called Costa rica, 

 or rich coast. There are other mines in the province of 

 Comayagua, in New Segovia, in Nicaragua, and in the 

 State of St. Salvador ; some of them so productive, that 

 every one hundred pounds of ore extracted yield seventeen 

 marks six ounces of silver, or nearly twelve per cent.* In 

 other parts of the mountainous regions of Central America, 

 there are strong indications of the existence of mines. 

 The ore sometimes is found quite near the surface of the 

 earth. A valuable piece of silver ore was shown me, 

 while I was at Truxillo, by a man who said he had ob- 

 tained it from the mountains in the neighbourhood of that 

 place, just beneath the surface of the earth, and that by 

 searching for ore in places that he was acquainted with, 

 he could any day earn five or six dollars. It was by this 

 kind of industry that he maintained himself. 



The seas of Central America abound in pearls and tor- 

 toise shell. 



In respect of the animals of the country, the most im- 

 portant are those which are not indigenous to the conti- 

 nent, but which have been introduced by the Spaniards, 

 as cattle, horses, sheep, goats, and hogs. The horses are 

 not of a very superior breed, but the mules are exceedingly 



* A mark of silver is eight ounces. 



