THE COAST OF 



Audience o7 



belonging to tlie northern colonies, deflroyed all the logwood they had cut, 

 and put the cutters to the fword. 



Some trees of the logwood grow very tall and ftrait ; though moftly low 

 and crooked. They bear a fmall leaf, and have a prickly underwood like our 

 white thorn In both thefe refpeils. It bloffoms and bears feed ; which, by 

 falling off, fows the ground frorn which it fprlngs up, and its vegetation is 

 much forwarded by the inundations bringing the foil over it. All the rivers 

 and creeks in the bay of Honduras fwarm with aligators, guanos, and feveral 

 forts of fifh. 



Among the little iflands in the bay are great numbers of green turtle, 

 moflly catched in nets. The manatee is alfo frequently met with here ; 

 v/hich the Moskito Indians are employed to ftrike, they being excellent markf- 

 men. The 'Jew fifh, which exceeds all the reft in goodnefs, is fhaped fom«- 

 what like a cod, but thicker in proportion, and much better eating. They 

 have very broad fcales, and fome of rhem weigh Ro Ih. 



As there are in the bay of Honduras^ many iflands, keys, and reefs of rocks, 

 which makes the navigation extremely dangerous, to thofe who are unac- 

 quainted with them, we ftiall defcribe fome of the principal, beginning with. 

 Santa Cat a Una. 



Santa Catalina and Old Providence are two iflands, about feven 

 leagues in circumference, fituated 13". 10'. north latitude, and 79" 30/ weft 

 longitude, 50: leagues to the S. E. of cape Gracios a Dios. Thefe iflands are 

 perhaps the beft in the Weji-Indiesy (in proportion to their bigncfs) both as 

 to their healthful air and richnefs of foil, and capable of producing any thing 

 the Weji-Indies afford^ the fea is well ftored with plenty of turtle and fifli, and 

 abundance of wild hogs are on the largeft ifland. The natural produce of thefe 

 iflands is fuftick, cedars, and feveral forts oiWeJl-India woods: they are furpri- 

 fingly free from thofe infers which are natural to the Weji-Indies^ neither are 

 there any fnakes or poifonous animals to be found in them. In 1665 Manfvelt 

 the pirate, fenfible of the great convenience of thefe iflands, in his defcents 

 on the Spanijh main, took them, and joined them by a bridge, intending to 

 raife provifions on them for his whole fleet, leaving a garrifon and French go- 

 vernor. 



