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that, if a channel were dredged through the bar at the mouth of the Hondo 
and in British waters, the village might develop and flourish. Jf this 
dredging is carried out and Consejo is put in a position to develop, it is 
very essential that the town should be properly laid out and planned, and 
that the water should be strictly controlled by a proper screening ordinance 
at the outset. 
Punta Gouda. 
Punta Gorda is the port of entry to British territory at the extreme 
south of the Colony, and is some seventeen miles distant from the Port of 
Livingstone in Guatemala. It contains between 600 and 700 inhabitants, 
and the trade is chiefly a coasting one with other ports in British Honduras 
and with Spanish Honduras and Guatemala. 1 'here is some mahogany 
cutting, and there is a small settlement seven miles distant, of Americans, 
engaged in sugar planting. 
As at Corosal the medical officer in charge acts as District Commissioner. 
The town is straggling and very much weed-grown. 'There are numerous 
pools and small courses, and the drinking water chiefly consists of rain water 
collected in vats and barrels. Some spring water is, however, used, and 
there are also wells, but the latter are not used for drinking purposes. 
The various water storage receptacles are, as at Corosal, totally un- 
protected, and I found both the larvae of Stegomyia and a few adult 
Stegomyia fasciata sheltering in the barrels. The Stegomyia is, as in other 
towns in the Colony, the common cistern mosquito. I found Anopheles 
larva;, species undetermined, in one small stream. 
There is no hospital at Punta Gorda ; at one time there was, but the 
building intended for it has been rented out for other purposes. There is 
no infectious diseases isolation hospital. There is a shed at one end of the 
town used for quarantine purposes, but it is not screened. The following 
example demonstrates the want of suitable quarantine accommodation in 
Punta Gorda. Very recently a sloop arrived from Livingstone in Guatemala, 
an infected port, with 25 souls on board, chiefly Jamaican labourers. They 
could not be brought on shore for want of suitable accommodation, and the 
boat was placed in quarantine. During the night the craft was struck by 
lightning and sunk, one man was drowned, the others were rescued and taken 
to a hut in the village. 
As Punta Gorda is the first port of entry into this Colony from ports 
in Guatemala and Honduras, it is necessary that it should be properly 
guarded. It is essential that there should always be a medical man stationed 
there, yet for some years it was left unprotected, the nearest medical officer 
being at Belize, go miles distant. 
The water receptacles should be screened ; a simple properly screened 
quarantine shed should also be provided as well as a small properly screened 
isolation hospital. As I recommended in the case of Corosal, so in Punta 
Gorda, the Medical Officer should be regularly furnished with the health 
reports of the surrounding Republics, and he in return should furnish weekly 
health returns to Belize. The quarantine inspection should be more systematic, 
and the clinical thermometer should be used as a matter of routine. 
