Bay of Honduras

“ But the track from Panama to Jamaica is subject to what sailors call a soldier's wind; even working to St. Thomas, and thereby getting a stronger slant of the trade winds against them, our mail steamers can make eight or nine miles an hour.
As regards our trade to Chili and Peru, it is clear that Honduras is altogether out of our way; and as regards our coming trade to Frazer River and Vancouver's Island, though the absolute distance, via Honduras, would be something shorter, that benefit would be neutralized by the disadvantageous position of the Bay of Honduras as above explained. ”

“ Ruatan, as you are aware, is the principal one of the celebrated Bay Islands, the sovereignty of which has been so long in dispute. Nor can I settle the question as to whether the British claim is just or not; I can only give it to you as I get it.
In the first place you must know there is what may be called two Honduras. That is, the State of Honduras, and these Bay Islands with a portion{143} of the Musquito coast, constituting British Honduras, of which Balize is the capital. This will relieve a great many blunders people have perpetually fallen into. ”

“ History.—"His Majesty's Settlement in the Bay of Honduras," as the territory was formerly styled in official documents, owes, its origin, in 1638, to log-wood cutters who had formerly been buccaneers. These were afterwards joined by agents of the Chartered Company which exploited the pearl fisheries of the Mosquito coast. Although thus industriously occupied, the settlers so far retained their old habits as to make frequent descents on the logwood establishments of the Spaniards, whose attempts to expel them were generally successfully resisted. ”

“ The Captain of the Portuguese Ship cutting away the Bag of Moidores.
After this bloody action, the miscreants steered northward, and in their course seized several vessels, one of which they burned, and plundering the rest, allowed them to proceed. Having cleaned in one of the islands, they then sailed for the bay of Honduras. They met a Spaniard coming out of the bay, which had captured five Englishmen and a pink, plundered them, and brought away the masters prisoners. ”

“ The Indians again waged war with civilized man, and the priests fled for their lives. Many years after the Spaniards were the conquerors, and succeeded in planting their standard in Yucatan, in the year 1537. It is now inhabited by Spaniards and Indians: there is an appearance of civilization surrounding many of these desolated places. Villages and towns have been formed, and lands cultivated in every direction."
EMMA. "Through the Bay of Honduras we enter the Caribbean Sea, and it is the last sea on this side of the equator." ”

“ Upon an examination of this convention between Great Britain and Honduras of the 27th August, 1856, it was found that whilst declaring the Bay Islands to be "a free territory under the sovereignty of the Republic of Honduras" it deprived that Republic of rights without which its sovereignty over them could scarcely be said to exist. It divided them from the remainder of Honduras and gave to their inhabitants a separate government of their own, with legislative, executive, and judicial officers elected by themselves. ”

“ CHAPTER I. The port of La Union, our point of departure, is in the little Republic of San Salvador, which, in common with Nicaragua and Honduras, touches on the Bay of Fonseca. It is built near the head of a subordinate bay, of the same name with itself, at the foot of the volcano of Conchagua, which rises between it and the sea, cutting it off from the ocean-breezes, and rendering it, in consequence, comparatively hot and unhealthy. It is a small town, with a population scarcely exceeding fifteen hundred souls; but it is, nevertheless, the most important port of San Salvador. ”

“ Honduras possesses in the gulf of Fonseca the islands Tigre, Zacate Grande, and Gueguensi; and in the Caribbean Sea the group known as Bay Islands; namely, Roatan, Guanaja, or Bonaca, Utila, Helena, Barbaretta, Morat, and other smaller isles. ”

“ Guardiola delays to receive the Islands because of the presence of a few men whom he has injured; and thus, for party purposes, not only defeats the territorial interests of Honduras, but thwarts, for the moment, a cardinal object of Central American policy. The people of the Bay Islands can be ingrafted on your Republic only by wise concessions properly made. The existing authorities of Honduras have, by their past acts, given proof that they would not make the requisite concessions. ”

“ As there was nothing worthy of notice in that part of the country, the admiral would not lose time in examining a large bay which is in that place, but held on his course eastwards, along that coast which reaches to Cape Garcias a Dios, which is all very low and open. The people nearest to Cape Casinas, or Honduras, wear those painted shirts or jackets before mentioned, and clouts before their nudities; and likewise use certain coats of mail made of cotton, strong enough to defend them against their native weapons, and even to ward off the stroke of some of ours. ”

“ The mails for Honduras will be most conveniently forwarded from Montego Bay, Jamaica. With the mails for the western parts of that island they could be landed at Savannah la Mar, and thence carried by land with the others, about twenty-five miles, to Montego Bay. From thence a good schooner would proceed (p. 031) with those for Honduras and Trinidad de Cuba; and having readied Honduras, return to Montego Bay by Trinidad de Cuba. By this arrangement, Honduras rather gains more than by the plan first proposed, to go from Batavano ”

“ In ancient times the population must have been very dense.
It is as difficult and as long a journey to reach the capital of Honduras from New York as the capital of Siam or Siberia. One must go by steamer to Truxillo, the chief Atlantic port, or to Amapala, on the Bay of Fonseca, on the Pacific side—a voyage of from fifteen to twenty days by either route—and then ride for twelve days on mule-back over the mountains, without any of the accommodations or comforts known to modern travel, and not even one clean or comfortable inn. ”

“ He also asked that a boundary line between Guatemala and Honduras be established, and that a road be opened between the two seas, from Puerto de Caballos to the bay of Fonseca, stating that it would serve as well for the trade of San Salvador and Nicaragua, the distance being only fifty leagues, and the ground favorable, requiring only that the trees be cut away and the earth levelled in places. ”

“ British Honduras.
THE ISLAND OF RUATAN—THE SAILOR’S LOVE STORY—THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE BAY ISLANDS—ENGLISH VS. AMERICAN VIEW OF CENTRAL AMERICAN AFFAIRS.
Off Ruatan the New “Gibralter,” Flower of the
Bay Islands, and “Key to Spanish America."
T certainly takes the impatience out of one to travel very much on a sail vessel. The dead certainty of your getting becalmed annihilates even contrary anticipation. ”

“ They were happy as two children building forts of sand on the sea-shore. They had rescinded taxes, altered the tariffs, reorganized the law-courts, taken over the custom-houses by telegraph, and every five minutes were receiving addresses from delegations of prominent Honduranians. Nicaragua and Salvador had both recognized their government, and concession hunters were already cooling their heels in the ante-room. In every town and seaport the adherents of Garcia had swung over to Laguerre and our government, and our flag was now flying in every part of Honduras. ”

“ The Spanish-speaking people live in the table-lands, where the climate is healthful. The coast-plain of the Atlantic is forest-covered and practically uninhabited save by Indians. Guatemala is the most important state. A railway from Puerto Barrios, its Atlantic port, through its capital, Guatemala, to its Pacific port, San José, is nearly completed. British Honduras is a British territory acquired mainly for the mahogany product, which is shipped from Belize. Honduras has great resources in mines, cultivable lands, and forests, but these are undeveloped. ”

“ In Honduras there are many Caribs, still a strong race of Indians, having a strict and severe criminal law of their own. They are employed mostly as mahogany cutters, and are energetic, intelligent and thoroughly reliable workmen. Puerto Cortez in Honduras has the finest harbour on the whole Atlantic coast of Central America. ”

“ The rivers of the Atlantic slope of Honduras are numerous and some of them of large size and navigable. The largest is the Ulua, with its tributary the Humuya. It rises in the plain of Comayagua and flows north to the Atlantic; it drains a wide expanse of territory, comprehending nearly one-third of the entire state, and probably discharges a greater amount of water into the sea than any other river of Central America, the Segovia excepted. It may be navigated by steamers of light draught for the greater part of its course. ”

“ Nowhere on earth are there more fertile valleys, more genial suns, softer breezes, or fairer skies. And yet with all these natural advantages, and with all this inducement to labour and development, there is no place on this great globe where nature’s gifts are so poorly utilized or so little appreciated, and to-day Honduras is the least advanced of all the Central American republics. ”

“ Provision will be made later as to the natives of the lands discovered. Men and goods may pass freely from Puerto de Caballos (conquered by Alvarado) to Guatemala, and orders are to be given by the king that the governor of Honduras shall place no obstacles in the way of such passage; and meanwhile Alvarado's claims to the above port are to be investigated. The governor of Honduras will be required to furnish Indians as porters, for whose services the current price must be paid, as well as for all carts and other equipment used, but as much as possible must be carried by waterways. ”

“ By daylight the fantastic ranges of the interior had disappeared and the last low foothill soon left us to plod on straight across a dust-dry sandy plain with brown withered grass and mesquite bushes, among which panted scores of cattle. Honduras runs so nearly down to a point on its Pacific side that the mountains of both Salvador and Nicaragua stood out plainly to the right and left. ”

“ For one, I generally preferred stopping in them to passing the night in the little villages, where the cabildos are often dirty and infested with fleas, and where a horrible concert is kept up by the lean and mangy curs which throughout Central America disgrace the respectable name of dog. In fact, a large part of the romance and many of the pleasantest recollections of our adventures in Honduras are connected with these rude shelters, and with the long nights which we passed in them, far away in dark valleys, or on mountain-crests, but always amongst Nature's deepest solitudes. ”

“ During the day several large boats arrived at Brus from Limas and Roman, both of which are mahogany stations. They all carried the Honduras flag at the topmast, and bore down on the shore with their utmost speed, only striking their sails when on the edge of the breakers, when the occupants would all leap overboard, and thus float their boats to the shore. Here, under the shade of the trees, all the inhabitants of the village were gathered. They shouted and beat drums, and fired muskets, by way of welcome to their friends, who responded with the whole power of their lungs. ”

“ Not the least painful of road experiences in Honduras is to reach the summit of such a range after hours of heavy labor, to take perhaps a dozen steps along the top of the ridge, and then find the trail pitching headlong down again into a bottomless gorge, from which comes up the joyous sound of a mountain stream that draws the thirsty traveler on at double speed, only to bring him at last to a rude bridge over a precipitous, rock-sided river impossible to reach before attacking the next slope staring him in the face. ”

“ Seven different States or entities to-day comprise this zone of territory of Central America, washed on the one hand by the Caribbean and on the other by the Pacific, whose people dwell in one of the most beautiful and interesting part of the earth's surface—Guatemala, with its coffee plantations and lavish fruits, Honduras of the rugged surface, and British Honduras, Nicaragua with its great lake, Costa Rica, the one-time "Rich Coast," Salvador, most populous and advanced of all, Panama, the land of the famous Canal. ”

“ Passing to the south the most important river of Guatemala is the Motagua, which has cut a fine valley through a region of lofty mountains. In Honduras there are several large rivers, including the Uloa, Patuca, and Segovia. The lake region of Nicaragua is drained by the San Juan River that flows into the Caribbean Sea. Nearly all the streams of Central America that flow into the Pacific are short and steep torrents. An important exception is the Lempa River that forms part of the interior boundary of Salvador. ”

“ The interior of the country is beyond the reach of markets, because of the absence of transportation facilities. In this respect the people are no further advanced than they were two hundred years ago. The only wagon-roads in the country are{124} one built by a party of Americans near San Pedro, in the west, and a few miles of a national highway that a century ago was begun for the purpose of connecting Amapala, the Pacific port, with Tegucigalpa.
THE FLOATING POPULATION.
Honduras has the finest fluvial system in Central America. ”