CHAPTER II. 
THE ATLANTIC COAST AND ITS CONNECTIONS. 
A S the steamer anchors far from the shore at the 
port of Livingston, the traveller sees almost ex¬ 
actly what the Spaniards saw, — earth, sky, and sea, — 
so little change have four centuries wrought on the outer 
shores of Guatemala. Northward are the picturesque 
hills of British Honduras, backed by the blue summits 
of the Cockscomb range; southward the majestic San 
Gil, bearing like another Atlas the clouds on his broad 
shoulders; eastward the low Cays, covered with the 
feathery coconuts ; before him the shore, here marked 
by a long limestone cliff crowned by the palm-sheltered 
houses of the Caribs, while farther to the westward 
rise the Santa Cruz mountains. The yellow waters of 
some great river lave the vessel's sides; but no break 
is visible in the landward horizon. 
For a while all is as it was when Hernan Cortez, in 
the year 1525, came to this shore after his terrible 
march from Mexico. There was even then a little vil¬ 
lage on the high bluff; and he found two of his country¬ 
men gathering sapotes (.Lucuma mammosa) to save the 
little colony of Spaniards, a few leagues farther south, 
from starving. Waiting in the early dawn for the land¬ 
ing-boats, I cannot but recall the ancient times ; imagina- 
