160 VISIT TO HONDURAS. Book I. 
CHAPTEK X. 
A Visit to Honduras — Belize — An Excursion on the River — Sites and 
Scenery — Information in reference to the Remnants of the Belgian Colony 
of St. Thomas — The Boom — Ruins in British Honduras — Manati Lagoon 
— Negro Settlement — Types of the Black Race under favourable Circum- 
stances — Manati Cave — Subterraneous Rivers — Geological Remarks. 
Before proceeding to the general remarks on Central 
America which are to fill the closing chapter of this Book, 
I have to give a short account of a visit paid to the British 
settlement of Belize and the coast of the State of Hon- 
duras during the early part of 1 857- 
I made this little trip accompanied by my family and 
by a friend who had come with us from New Orleans, 
and my movements were restricted within the boundaries 
of what we could accomplish under such circumstances. 
Nevertheless, and though in some cases we intended little 
more than the satisfaction of curiosity, I may not be quite 
hopeless of contributing to the reader's information and 
entertainment by my descriptions. 
It was the 8th of February when we left the mouth of 
the Mississippi. The sea was very rough, and our brig, 
called the Creole, rather an elderly lady, and much 
afflicted with dropsy, supplied accommodation of a very 
dubious character ; but the northerly gale by which the 
waves were raised drove us in little more than five days 
into the harbour of Belize. The communication between 
the latter place and New Orleans is carried on by a few 
schooners and brigs, of which, generally, one sails every 
fortnight. They are all of a very inferior class of vessels. 
