Chap. XIX.— B. P.] MOSQUITO INDIANS V. TRADES UNIONS. 309 
quarrelsome, addicted to occasional debauchery, and, 
amongst themselves, litigious and exacting to a greater 
extent than any other people I have ever seen. 
They will not clear away the rubbish from their houses, 
but they will undertake long journeys of more than 
two hundred miles to sell the most trifling produce. 
But the trait above all others which they possess in an 
eminent degree is scrupulous honesty, especially ob¬ 
servable amongst the interior tribes, and the exactness 
with which they fulfil their engagements. If any 
adventurous trader on trades-unions were to appear 
amongst them and propose a strike, I very much ques¬ 
tion if he would escape with life; he would probably be 
clubbed to death, a just punishment, according to their 
lights, for suggesting meanness and absence of good 
faith in carrying out a bargain, neither of which crimes 
according to their ideas of right and wrong would be 
tolerated,—a proof, no doubt, of their savage nature. 
When under an engagement, these Indians will en¬ 
dure discomfort, hunger, and extra work with the 
greatest self-denial, if only treated kindly, rather than 
appear mean, deceitful, or cowardly. 
Such are the Indians whose antecedents follow. 
Early in the sixteenth century, the buccaneers dis¬ 
covered the great importance of the Mosquito Coast 
as a strategical point from which to prey upon the 
commerce of the Spaniards, its commodious harbours 
and lagoons affording them convenient shelter and 
rendezvous. That portion of the coast which extends 
from Cape Gracias a Dios westward to Cape Hondu¬ 
ras dominates the channel leading into the Gulf of 
