40 
GUATEMALA. 
The kinds of banana most raised near Livingston are the 
same as those of Aspinwall; but the quality is superior. 
Plantains are grown even more commonly than bananas, 
and the domestic consumption is much greater. Among 
Northern fruit-dealers the banana and plantain are fre¬ 
quently confounded; but they are as different as pears 
and apples. To grow either, simply requires planting of 
suckers, which in nine months should bear a bunch of 
fruit. The stem is now cut down, and from its base 
sprout several suckers, all over three being removed for 
planting elsewhere. It is only necessary to remove the 
finished stem and extra suckers to insure crops for a 
long series of years. No attempt has been made to use 
the valuable fibre, of which there is an average of three 
pounds to a stalk. 
When we turn from what is done here to the consider¬ 
ation of what may be, the interest vastly increases; and 
to this end let the reader join us in an exploration of one 
of the rivers flowing from a valley of great extent and 
unrivalled fertility, but covered with forest, and unknown 
save to the mahogany-cutters and an occasional hunts¬ 
man. The Rio Chocon is almost unnoticed on the maps, 
and its source unknown ; but it probably rises in the 
Santa Cruz mountains. 
In the middle of October, 1883, the “ Progreso ” was 
manned and provisioned, and in the early afternoon we 
were on board waiting for the sea-breeze to help us up the 
river. The light wind served to carry us across the Rio 
Dulce, but no more; and anchoring, we sent three men 
ashore to lay in a supply of plantains, bananas, coconuts, 
and sugar-cane. Travelling in the tropics is usually far 
from luxurious ; and our present outfit was no exception 
