Chap. XYI.—B.P.] ASPECT OF COUNTRY. 
259 
canoe to attempt to run the breakers while the trade- 
wind is blowing. With the land-wind, however, there 
is no danger. When we passed, the trade-wind was 
blowing strongly, otherwise I should have anchored 
and had a run on shore, especially as there is shooting 
of all sorts to he had there, from tigers to humming¬ 
birds. 
Inland, the surface is broken up into a succession 
of hills and valleys; one of the former, some ten 
miles from the sea, and about halfway to Pirn’s Bay, 
attaining the considerable elevation of 2800 feet. The 
whole country is covered with primeval forest, which 
is all hut impenetrable near the shore, but much 
more open inland. The most remarkable landmark 
between Grey town and the Rama river is Round Hill, 
upwards of 600 feet high, and quite isolated, so that it 
looks like an island instead of part of the mainland, 
and is thus a first-rate beacon for coasters. 
Another remarkable feature of the coast I am trying 
to describe, is the extensive coral reef, or edge of the 
soundings, which, from a breadth of about seven miles 
off Greytown, gradually widens as it stretches away 
to the northward to twenty-eight miles off Pirn’s Bay, 
and nearly one hundred miles off Cape Gracias a Dios. 
On its sea edge it is unfathomable, but it gradually 
shallows as the land is approached, so that, off Grey¬ 
town, a depth of twenty fathoms could not be obtained 
until within three or four miles from the shore, while 
near Pirn’s Bay the same soundings would indicate 
nearly three times that distance off shore. 
Off the Rama river, due east about four miles, lies 
s 2 
