Chap. X. RUINS IN BRITISH HONDURAS. 167 
far superior in aspect to the pine-regions of the Carolinas ; 
but nevertheless the visitor might imagine himself to have 
been suddenly removed to some district in the " Palmetto 
State." 
I had no opportunity of examining or inquiring into the 
agricultural qualifications of the pine regions which comprise 
so great a portion of eastern Central America. Some parts 
are said to have very fine pastures, and numerous ponds or 
little lakes form natural reservoirs of good drinking water, 
never failing even in the dry season. The soil, however, 
appears to be poor, though it may be quite fit for the cul- 
tivation of some particular kinds of vegetable produce ; but 
one thing is certain, the pine regions of this country supply 
an inexhaustible source of turpentine. The quantity of 
resinous matter contained in the wood is so great, that when 
a torch is wanted here a piece is split from the side of the 
first trunk met with, and it will burn as freely as any torch 
artificially manufactured. 
In the higher regions of the interior, the pine districts, I 
was told, present a better aspect. In the State of Hon- 
duras they are the richest grazing districts, nourishing 
millions of cattle, which an intelligent Swiss gentleman 
just from the interior of that State, whom I met at Omoa, 
told me are fully equal to the best breed in Switzerland. 
A few miles from Baker's is a sugar plantation, owned 
by a resident of Belize, and called New Boston. I was 
greatly mortified when, after my return to Belize, I learned 
from a young Frenchman that on this plantation are Indian 
ruins of the same character as those of Yucatan, and that 
idols and other antiquities have often been found there. 
The following day we returned. Had we extended our 
trip higher up the river, some hours would have brought 
us to the lower rapids — the first of a series of falls which 
