168 MANATI LAGOON. Book I. 
interrupt the navigation. Canoes can ascend higher, but 
must be dragged overland at these rapids. 
As far as I examined the Belize river, I received a very 
favourable impression of it, and the country higher up, I 
was told, is still in a state of general improvement. Nothing 
but the political history of the British settlement can explain 
the manner in which the natural advantages of this fine 
region have been neglected. 
A few days later we made an excursion to the Manati 
Lagoon, the inlet to which is situated on the coast about 
twenty miles south from Belize. Mr. Dieseldorff, a German 
merchant established here, obliged us by offering his fine 
little sloop, drawing 3i feet of water, which would just 
allow entrance into the lagoon. She was manned with two 
herculean negroes — experienced sailors as well as woods- 
men — such as may be found in the mahogany works of 
this region. Provisions were laid in for a few days, and on 
the morning of the 10th we passed over the bar of the Belize 
river and took our course along the coast to the southward. 
We kept close enough to the land to see the huts of the 
village of Sherboon, at the mouth of the river of that name. 
Inside the bar I was told a second village exists, composed 
of the habitations of mahogany-cutters, to whom the banks 
of this river afford an active occupation. The cuttings of 
the house of Young, Toledo, and Co. are as high up in 
the interior as the head waters of its southern branch. By- 
and-bye, as we proceeded, the hills and mountains of the 
southern part of the British territory rose higher, until, as 
we came close to the shore, they were again concealed by 
the trees of the forest which extends along the beach. 
After a navigation of four or five hours, we anchored before 
the inlet to what appeared to be a narrow river, lined with 
mangroves, but which was, in fact, the connecting channel 
