to a. point on, the old track to the Cayo. This road 
was thought of, and actually commenced, some 40 
years ago, and was given up on account of the diffi¬ 
culty of crossing certain swamps. This difficulty 
has been got over by constructing the road, by means 
of a grab dredger, which cut its way from the Sibun 
river to the sea. It has cut a canal about 20 ft. wide 
and 5 ft. 6 in. deep for a length of about a mile and 
a-half. With the spoil from the canal a hard firm 
road bed has been formed. While this canal was made 
for the purpose of constructing the road, it has had 
two other results. Firstly, it has acted as a drain to 
the country at the back, much of which is low lying. 
Land which before was useless is now available for 
grazing and other purposes, and other land has been 
improved. Secondly, the canal offers a means by 
which doreys and similar craft can enter the Sibun 
river without having to pass a dangerous bar. I he 
sea end of the canal is liable to silting, so that it may 
be necessary to haul the doreys from the seashore 
to the canal, but provision is made in the current 
estimates for remedying this. The north Manatee 
lagoon comes very close to the Sibun river, and a 
small experimental canal has been dug between the 
river and the lagoon. This canal will be enlarged. 
There is a natural connection between the northern 
and southern lagoons, so that when the work is 
finished there will be a fair extent of inland naviga¬ 
tion available for small vessels, which are not safe 
in either the Sibun or Manatefe bars. As soon as we 
get south of the Sibun river we come to undulating 
country, suitable for growing almost anything, bruit 
is regularly exported from Manatee, and very fine rice 
is grown there for home consumption. The Govern¬ 
ment still has land there available for settlement. 
The Manatee lands will have a great advantage 111 
their proximity to the capital. Good streams of 
water falls into the lagoons. The place is frequently 
