188 HONDURAS INTEK-OCEANIC RAILWAY. Book I. 
half, and a width of about one mile and a half, with an 
oval form. Its water is salted, with an almost uniform 
depth of from eighteen to twenty-four feet, and the whole 
could be easily converted into a perfectly protected natural 
dock for vessels drawing from sixteen to twenty feet of 
water. On its northern shore twenty-four feet have been 
found, within thirty yards of the beach. While crossing 
this little basin, our attention was drawn to the incredible 
number of medusae in the water. They were so numerous 
that it was difficult to wet the hand without risking the 
burning effect of their contact, to which they owe the name 
of sea-nettles. At the same time other portions of the 
lagoon were absolutely alive with large shoals of fish. 
The scenery of the neighbouring country is very at- 
tractive, particularly by the contrast of the sea-shore with 
the high mountains that rise on the coast in the direction 
towards Omoa. Daring our visit we were greatly annoyed 
by mosquitoes and sand-flies, which I have scarcely ever 
seen more troublesome than on the beach of Port Cortez. 
This annoyance, however, will disappear as soon as the 
locality becomes cleared of trees and shrubs. 
Amongst the different projects for a highway across the 
Isthmus of Central America, that of a railroad through the 
State of Honduras, from Port Cortez to the Bay of Fonseca, 
is the most promising. The advantages of the excellent 
harbour on the Atlantic side have just been mentioned. 
Those offered by the Bay of Fonseca, on the Pacific side, 
are still greater and of an extraordinary character, as it 
may justly be doubted if there be another point on the 
entire Pacific coast of America that has the natural induce- 
ments which are here afforded for a great commercial esta- 
blishment. A line of railway between these two first-class 
seaports has been surveyed and found to contain no extra- 
