102 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Feb. 7, 1903. 
— * — 
Notes from Central America. — V. 
Mosquito Coast of Honduras — The Bay Isla&ds. 
Much has been written concerning the Mosquito 
Coast of Nicaragua, and the lagoons between Cape 
Gracias a Dios and the Bluefields River, have been 
presented to the world through the pages of English 
history as well as through other channels. But the 
Republic of Honduras also has a Mosquito Coast and 
remarkable lagoons — notably those of La Criba, 
Brewer, and Caratasca — included between Cape Cam- 
eron and the Nicaragua border, in the department of 
Mosquitia, Honduras. 
La Criba Lagoon receives the waters of Rio Negro 
and opens to the sea at the town of Black River, just 
east of Tocamacho and Port Burchard. This lagoon 
is very picturesque- — containing numerous islands and 
having a background of high mountains to the south 
the song and bite of countless mosquitoes, for sand 
flies, gnats and even deer flies, for the difficulty of ob- 
taining proper food, for the indolence and avarice of 
the natives, for the prevalence of malaria, etc., the 
locality might, for a time, at least, appear quite en- 
chanting. 
Here in the lagoon region is the home of cassava 
and mishla — the former the chief food of both Caribs 
and Mosquito Indians, the latter the great drink of the 
Mosquito Indians and Sambos. Cassava, bananas, and 
fish, with occasional fresh pork, constitute the daily 
diet of the people of the lagoon region. Mishla, also 
from the cassava, is a vile beverage of most disgust- 
ing manufacture. Washed and grated cassava is 
chewed by the women and spat into a wooden tub or 
small canoe, water is added and the mixture allowed 
to ferment in the sun — the ptyalin of the saliva con- 
verting the starch of the cassava into unstable sugar 
which, rapidly fermenting, produces a mildly alcoholic, 
though none the less intoxicating, beverage. Aging 
bananas and other fruit are sometimes added to the 
mixture. 
A "mishla lay-out" generally calls together the na- 
tives of the entire village, who drink and dance to 
If the harbor of Utilla, owing to the absence of 
mountains on the island, is less picturesque than Coxen 
Hole, Roatan, the town of Utilla certainly appeals to 
the weary mariner as affording a snug retreat for the 
individual as well as a harbor for his ship, since a more 
genial and hospitable community would be hard to find. 
It was our fortune to be in Utilla on Christmas Day — 
for the wind continued to blow from the north, and 
it was evident that the beach at La Ceiba was still 
washed by heavy breakers that rendered impossible 
the launching of lighters and the landing of cargo. 
Christmas afternoon an invitation to visit the home of 
one of the merchants of the town, who are nearly all 
either English or American — was brought us by Mr. 
Morgan himself, and so, late in the afternoon, Colonel 
Don Abelardo Varela, commander of the Tatumbla, 
Lieutenant Hernandez and the writer went ashore and 
were greeted, not only by the family of Mr. Morgan, 
but by most of the foreign residents of the town. The 
ladies played the piano and sang for us in both Eng- 
lish and Spanish, and Commander Varela and Lieu- 
tenant Hei^nandez, who are both expert guitarists, 
added their quota to the entertainment. About eight 
o'clock invitations to attend the ball that had already 
been arranged for the evening, were extended and ac- 
cepted, and after dancing and feasting until — well, un- 
til Christmas had certainly passed — we returned on 
board, and the next morning sailed to La Ceiba, and 
Friday morning were in Puerto Cortes. 
Throughout Honduras Utilla has the truly merited 
reputation of possessing hospitable foreign residents 
and many "maidens fair." 
Dr. J. HoBART Egbert. 
PuERTT C-3RTKS, Honduras, C. A., Dec. 31. 
H.A.RBOR OF COXEN HOLE, ISLAND OF ROATAN, HONDURAS. 
and west. It is the outlet for much produce from the 
interior, natives bringing down the river rubber, sarsa- 
parilla, hides, etc., which are shipped by schooner to 
the United States. The bar at the mouth of the lagoon 
is navigable for craft drawing from four to five feet 
of water, while a good channel runs through the lagoon 
to the river — which latter is navigable for miles. 
Brewer's Lagoon, which receives the waters of 
Toomtoon Creek — an offshoot from the Patuca River — 
and numerous smaller streams — is larger and deeper 
than La Criba Lagoon, but has no deep-water connec- 
tion with the interior. Two very picturesque rocky 
islands — at present occupied by an American — rise pre- 
cipitously from the stretch of waters. This lagoon af- 
fords an excellent harbor, but the bar at its mouth is 
not safe for vessels having a draft of over six feet. 
Like the other lagoons of this region, alligators, croco- 
diles, ducks, sharks, etc., here abound, while quantities 
of wild pigeons are found along the shores of both 
lagoons and rivers, and jack snipe inhabit the marshes. 
Any doubt that might liave formerly been entertained 
by the writer as to the existence of crocodiles in this 
region was dispelled a few weeks ago by his killing, 
in a small lagoon between Brewer's Lagoon and the 
Patuca River, a true crocodile seven and a half feet 
long. These saurians arc very numerous in these 
lagoons. 
Between Brewer's Lagoon and the Wanks River we 
find Honduras' largest lagoon — viz., Caratasca Lagoon 
— a beautiful body of water about thirty-five miles 
long, five miles wide and having a practically navi- 
gable bar and good inside channel, but receiving from 
the interior the waters of no large river. On either 
side of this elegant lake is low, fiat land, populated 
by Mosquito Indians, while behind it — to the south- 
■ward— rise the high peaks of the Colon mountains — in 
and abont which are said to live Toacos Indians, but 
concerning which but little is known, for the country 
for nearly a hundred miles to the south and south- 
west of Caratasca Lagoon remains practically unex- 
plored, and is usually marked on the map of the coun- 
try "desconocido." That this region is rich in mineral 
is shown by the gold found in the streams that flow 
from the foot hills of the mountains into both Cara- 
tasca Lagoon and the Wanks River, but the region is 
difficult of access, wild and rugged, far from law and 
order, and its inhabitants certainly not more than semi- 
civilized, and said to be decidedly treacherous. Per- 
sonally, the writer has as yet visited only the outskirts 
of this region— that is, the Colon mountains — but fond- 
ly hopes to explore them thoroughly in the near future. 
Deer are plentiful in the mountains, as also jaguars, 
tigers and wild bears. Monkeys and snakes— large and 
small — are common along the rivers. The scenery, 
viewed from a pitpan, as one passes up or down the 
rivers, is grand. The curving, flowing stream; the 
dense and varied foliage of the forest; the towering 
mountains — sometimes far in the distance, at others 
rising almost from the banks of the stream; the chat- 
tering of monkeys, parrots and macaws; the call of 
the toucan; the flight of wild fowl and birds of bright 
plumaffe— all attract eye or ear, and were it npt for 
music furnished by revellers, who beat with wrists and 
hands on drums resembling barrels with the wooden 
heads replaced by a single head of tightly stretched hide. 
The orgie continues sometimes for days, according to 
the amount of mishla on hand. It is said that young 
girls chew the cassava in the preparation of mishla for 
the chiefs, but the writer has seen almost toothless old 
women occupied with the preparation of the beverage. 
Leaving the Mosquito Coast, the writer sailed from 
the mouth of the Patuca River to Truxillo, making the 
trip in an open i8-foot sailboat in two days and one 
night. Obviously, the wind was fair. From Truxillo 
The Charm of Furs. 
We wonder what the root of the attraction of furs 
really is. As an article of wear by primitive man, liking 
for these would seem a semi-savage taste, liable to dis- 
appear with the development of civilization. Yet the 
modem man, while regarding the "raw" furs worn by the 
Indian as an evidence of barbarism, displays the same 
skins, dyed and shorn of their long hairs, as a mark of 
the highest cultivation. Moreover, the ancients liked furs 
just as much as the fur-loving Russians and Americans 
do. And in the older civilizations of the Far East love 
of them has so endured that the furriers in their treat- 
ment of them can now fully claim almost to have im- 
proved upon nature. A rich Chinese official may follow 
the custom of his country and eschew jewelry. But in 
summer he will wear silks that can stand alone, and in 
winter fur robes which in tint, lustre and thickness excel 
those of Western kings. 
So tenacious an admiration must have some basis in 
human nature, and it would be interesting to know just 
what it is. In the case of the choice furs it may be that 
the liking partakes of that which many people have for 
gold and precious stones — the attraction of concentrated 
value. They represent so much accumulated wealth, and 
are treasured as standing for the many things they would 
buy. Yet this is only a partial explanation. For the 
wearers of the rarer furs are, after all, comparatively few, 
and to the majority of mankind furs of any kind have a 
charm of their own quite apart from their value, though 
not from excellence of manufacture. Besides, the love 
of gold and gems more nearly approaches to lust than 
that of furs; though, were the latter not perishable, and 
so could be hoarded, the attraction might be much the 
same. Many men like to feel gold, are so drawn by its 
glitter and color that they like to see and handle it as 
they do nothing else. Their admiration is for the metal 
itself, not for its value, or what it will buy. 
ALONG THE SHORE OF UTILLA, ISLAND OF UTILLA, HONDURAS. 
passage for Puerto Cortes was obtained on the Hon- 
duranian gunboat Tatumbla. We left Truxillo Dec. 
21 and would have arrived in Puerto Cortes before 
Christmas, had not a norther set in, which prevented 
the Tatumbla from being able to land cargo on the 
open beach at La Ceiba, and determined her putting 
in at Utilla — one of the bay islands of Honduras — for 
at the town of Utilla, on the southern side of the 
island, is a small harbor affording excellent protection 
from winds from north and northwest. 
Coxen Hole, at the Island of Roatan — to the east 
of Utilla — is also a good harbor during "northers," 
and is very picturesque — having an outer and inner 
basin and a background of rather high mountains. 
As for the attraction of gems, did not the late Shah 
of Persia love to plunge his arms up to the elbows in 
precious stones, a pleasure in which his wealth and pas- 
sion for collecting enabled him to indulge? He liked the 
feel of them against his bare skin, found his dull im- 
agination stirred by their colors and glitter, and his love 
of luxury gratified by this unique hand-bath of sparkling 
jewels. 
The attraction of furs must, however, be of another 
sort. For while the handling of them is a physical 
pleasure, there is no lust for furs as furs as there is for 
gold. Again, the love for gold, though accentuated by 
the knowledge of the security against discomfort and 
poverty it gives, can be trained out of men, as witness 
