178 CERRO DE GUYAMEL. Book I. 
we proceeded, the mountains in the southern portion of 
the British territory rose conspicuously in sight : first, the 
hills in the vicinity of Manati Lagoon ; then, farther on, 
the serrated outlines of the Coxcomb Mountains, which, in 
boldness of form, bear some similarity to the summit of 
Mount Pilatus in Switzerland. Two Carib villages, called 
North and South Stanncreek, are situated on this section 
of the coast. Towards the east we had a continued line 
of low coral islands, with mangroves and cocoa-nut trees ; 
here and there the sail of some Carib fishing-boat appeared 
between them. It is by this industrious race that the 
market of Belize is chiefly provided with fish. The islands 
are without water, but, if they were to be inhabited, it 
would be easy to provide for the want by cisterns, as is 
done at Belize, where no other drinking-water exists except 
that collected from the rains. The islands, moreover, pro- 
duce such a number of cocoa-nuts that fresh water could 
almost be dispensed with. The end of the chain in the 
direction towards Omoa is formed by the Zapodilla Keys, 
where the course of vessels crosses over to the oppo- 
site side of the Gulf. They are a group of delightful 
little islands, whither the inhabitants of Omoa resort on 
pleasure-trips to inhale the pure sea-breeze and enjoy a 
few days of sport. The surrounding sea abounds in many 
kinds of fish. 
On the morning of the 30th, at daybreak, the coast of 
the State of Honduras extended before our view. A chain 
of very high mountains, called the Cerro de Guyamel, 
rises to the west of Omoa, and contributes to the 
scenery a grand and very interesting character. By one 
of the calms which are of daily occurrence here, we were 
kept immoveable in sight of Omoa for several hours. The 
daily sea-breeze at last drove us in, and at eleven o'clock 
