Mr. 0. Salvin on the Sea-birds of British Honduras. 373 
coast, and wherever else I might want to go. We were to be 
away about a fortnight, part of which time was to be spent 
on one of the islands on Glover's Reef, where Sam's father 
lived, owning the cocoa-nuts that grew there. Sam found em¬ 
ployment for his schooner in carrying these nuts to Belize. 
Their value varies: at the time of my visit they were worth 
11 dollars per 1000. They are usually exported in the maho¬ 
gany-vessels, being packed in the vacant spaces between the logs. 
I was fortunate in securing the companionship of an American 
gentleman, Mr. R., then resident in Belize, who joined the ex¬ 
pedition, being desirous of initiation in the mysteries of bird-, 
skinning. We had to lay in a small stock of provisions, as fish 
and cocoa-nuts are all that the Cays produce; this done, we went 
on board on the afternoon of the 7th of May, and set sail. 
Leaving the e Mary Ann' to make her way with a strong 
easterly sea breeze towards English Cay, it would be as well to 
note the positions and forms of the coral-reefs which line the 
coast. The main features of these reefs are as follows. The 
Barrier Reef extends along the shore from Ambergris Cay to 
Ranguana Cay, its most southern point; this last Cay is twenty- 
five miles from the coast, so that the reef, instead of running 
more or less parallel to the shore, forms an angle with it, en¬ 
closing a long lagoon, which, as well as the reef itself, is studded 
with numerous groups of Cays. Nearly due east of Belize, 
outside the Barrier Reef, and separated from it by a deep channel, 
lies the atol Turneff, wfithin the encircling reef of which several 
lagoons are included. Eastward of Turneff, and fifteen miles 
from it, is,another atol—Lighthouse Reef, so called from the 
lighthouse on Half-moon Cay, one of a group of four Cays at 
its southern end, the names of the other three being Hat Cay, 
Long Cay, and Saddle Cay: this last is wfithin the atol. The 
whole group is also called Southern Four Cays, tw T o more Cays 
at its northern extremity being distinguished as Northern Two 
Cays. Half-moon Cay is the pilot-station. 
A third detached atol lies twenty miles to the southward of 
Lighthouse Reef, on the eastern margin of which four Cays 
are situated, viz. Long Cay, Middle Cay, S.W. Cay, and S.W. 
of all Cay. The rest of the reef consists of a line of breakers, 
