Chap. XL PKOSPECTS OF THIS LOCALITY. 187 
hundred paces in width, with an elevation of about two feet 
above the water, we found a European, named Fischer, 
settled with his family. Here he had built his house, sur- 
rounded by cocoa-nut trees planted by himself, and which 
already bore a rich harvest of fruit. With the exception 
of his own efforts towards the cultivation of the place, he 
lived in an absolute wilderness, with no human beings but 
a few Caribs in the neighbourhood. His life, however, had 
not even the comforts of a Carib family. For his own and 
his family's sustenance he was dependent on the game of 
the forest, the fish of the lagoon, and the cocoa-nuts of his 
plantation. When I asked him how he could have resolved 
to live here, and with a family, he answered that he felt 
proud to be the first settler at a place where he was sure a 
large and wealthy city was destined to originate, supplant- 
ing with its palaces the trees of the wilderness ; and that, 
if he was to die before the accomplishment of this expecta- 
tion, he would do so with the satisfaction of knowing that 
civilization would be triumphant over his grave ! I have 
heard with much pleasure that Mr. Fischer had lived to see 
the engineers of the Honduras Inter-oceanic Railway survey 
the locality where he had built his house ; and I trust the 
company, who are acting the part of destiny there, will 
recompense the strong faith of this enthusiastic believer by 
something more consolatory than simply letting him enjoy 
the spectacle of his cocoa-nut trees falling by the axe of 
civilization. 
As to these trees, I must state that on one of them I 
counted more than four hundred cocoa-nuts, and that 
nowhere have I found the liquid of the nuts of a more 
exquisite taste. 
As Mr. Fischer had a canoe on the lagoon, we crossed 
it in several directions. It has a length of two miles and a 
