BRITISH HONDURAS
IT was with romantic feelings that I sailed along the coast of British
Honduras, past the numerous little coral reefs, called cays, and into
the beautiful harbour of Belize. For many years these shores were the
rendezvous of organized bands of pirates, who practically ruled the
Caribbean seas during a good part of the seventeenth century. Each
wooded island and cay has its legend of buried treasure, but no one has
ever been able to locate a single “caché,” although expeditions in
search of this fabled treasure-trove are still organized and as often
fail. Each new leader feels that he has discovered the true key to this
hidden wealth, and comes to these shores armed with “magnetic needles”
or “divining rods,” which will be sure to point out the exact location
of the buried gold.
The pirates who sailed the Caribbean waters were of many nationalities,
Dutch, French, Spanish and British. An old Scotch buccaneer, named Peter
Wallace, with eighty companions, was the first to enter the port of
Belize, which name was originally given to the whole settlement. These
men immediately erected houses at that place enclosed by rude palisades
for defence. From here they set out on their expeditions after stray
merchantmen. It was not long, however, before the shrewd Scotchman
discovered that there was more and surer money in marketing the native
woods than in the uncertain and dangerous occupation of robbing ships.
Logwood at that time was in such demand for the manufacture of dyes that
it sometimes brought as much as one hundred dollars a ton, and is now
worth not one-tenth of that price because of the cheaper chemical dyes.
So prosperous had this colony become by 1733 that Yucatan sent troops
and attempted to drive away the colonists by force.
[Illustration: A POLICEMAN OF BELIZE.]
England had at one time laid claim to the “mosquito coast,” which is now
a part of the Republics of Honduras and Nicaragua, and which was at that
time nothing but a howling wilderness occupied by a hybrid race of
negroes and Indians, called “Zambos,” who were ruled by a hereditary
king. When difficulties arose with Spain England waived all her rights
to that shore in return for the sovereignty of Belize, which since that
time has been known as British Honduras. Spain afterwards repented of
her bargain and sent a formidable (?) fleet in 1798 to capture the place
which was ignominiously defeated in the “Battle of St. George’s Caye,”
which is much celebrated locally. The United States and Great Britain
entered into the treaty known as the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty in 1850,
which provided that neither country should occupy, fortify, colonize, or
exercise dominion over any portion of Central American territory, except
Belize, or make use of a protectorate in any form.
British Honduras forms a slice of land off the northeast coast of
Guatemala and lying between that country and Yucatan. Its greatest
length is one hundred and seventy-four miles and its greatest width
sixty-eight miles, and, with the adjacent cays, contains an area of
about seven thousand five hundred and sixty-two square miles. On the
coast it is swampy and covered with dense tropical vegetation, but the
interior is composed of ridges which reach the dignity of good-sized
hills. There are a number of little villages along the coast from which
bananas and other tropical fruits are shipped, and in the interior are
the settlements of the logwood and mahogany workers, but none of the
places pass beyond the dignity of villages. The total population is in
the neighbourhood of twenty-five thousand, of which negroes predominate,
and the whites are only a small percentage.
Belize, the principal town, and capital, is the largest and most
important town on the Caribbean coast of Central America. As our steamer
wended its way through the cays and low green islands, the long line of
white buildings setting amidst rows of royal palms, with here and there
a clump of cocoanut trees, made a picturesque and beautiful sight. As we
came to anchor a mile from shore a number of fleet sail-boats manned by
coal-black negroes came out to meet us and take the passengers ashore. I
afterwards learned that this place is the negro’s paradise, for they
have absolute social and political equality. They are the soldiers and
policemen, and fill nearly all the other important positions except
governmental. These places at least are reserved for the members of the
small white colony.
[Illustration: ENGLISH HOMES AT BELIZE.]
It has been said that the Englishman always carries his atmosphere with
him no matter in what latitude it might be. I have visited several
British colonies and have always found that true, and nowhere is it more
impressed on you than here at Belize. It is such a contrast from the
Spanish-American towns that the change is almost startling. Although
there are perhaps not more than two or three hundred Englishmen there,
you will see all the characteristic of that race in their native land.
There are of course always a few concessions made in order to conform to
local conditions but, as a rule, they are not many in number.
As one writer says of his visit: “We were not at all surprised to find
that the black native police wore the familiar blue-and-white striped
cuff of the London bobby, the district attorney a mortar-board cap and
gown, and the colonial bishop gaiters and an apron. It was quite in
keeping, also, that the advertisements on the boardings should announce,
and give equal prominence to, a Sunday-school treat and boxing match,
and that officers of a man-of-war should be playing cricket with a local
eleven under a tropical sun, and that the chairs in the Council room and
Government House should be of heavy leather stamped V. R. with a crown
above the initials. An American official in as hot a climate, being more
adaptable, would have had bamboo chairs with large, open-work backs, or
would have supplied the council with rocking-chairs.”
The Governor’s House is a large building set in a little grove of royal
and cocoanut palms and with a fine view of the blue waters of the bay.
The background of blue sea is filled with the dories of the Caribs,
which are merely huge logs hollowed out and rigged sloop-fashion with
white sails, or sails that had once been white. Several cannon are set
up in the yard and a number of dusky-hued natives in the uniform of a
British soldier pace back and forth in the hot sun—this giving a
semblance of the power of the British lion.
The city of Belize contains a population of about eight thousand souls,
and a very cosmopolitan population it is with its negroes, British,
Americans, Spaniards, Mexicans, etc., etc. The city itself is generally
clean and tidy, but not so picturesque as the Spanish towns. The Belize
River divides the town, and over it there is one bridge. Across this
bridge passes in review the entire life of the town like the famous
Rialto bridge at Venice. The houses are generally three stories in
height and painted white. Cistern water is used exclusively for domestic
purposes, and immense cisterns twenty to thirty-five feet high and
greater in circumference are a common sight. The water is rendered
delightfully cool by porous earthen jars which are placed in a draught
of air, and the water is thus cooled by the rapid evaporation of this
climate. Around the houses are flowers in endless variety, of which the
most conspicuous are the oleander trees which frequently reach a height
of twelve feet, and whose beautiful white blossoms contrast so strongly
with the dark-green foliage of other trees such as the mango.
The market is a most interesting place for an American. The stalls are
generally presided over by negro women or Carib men who have brought
their produce in a dory. Every kind of tropical fruit can be purchased
at a low price, from the delicious mango to a peculiar fruit that very
much resembles ice cream in appearance, though not in temperature. Many
of these tropical fruits are delicious and would be popular in our
northern markets, but they are too delicate for transportation, so that
it is very doubtful whether they will ever be found for sale so far from
their natural habitat. In the flower department one can find many kinds
of beautiful blossoms, and at prices so cheap that it is almost a sin
not to buy them. The traveller will find many flowers with which he is
familiar mingled with new varieties whose appearance is no less
beautiful because of their strangeness. He will find times and seasons
much confused in the assortment of carnations, marigolds, sweet peas,
poppies, gladioles, dahlias, roses, fuchsias, lilies and mignonettes
which meet his astonished gaze. Then there are many beautiful orchids
over which many people fairly rave. Pigs of the razor back variety and
with a porcupine-like coat of hair are for sale, being held by the owner
with a string attached to a hind leg. Here every one comes for their
table supplies of vegetables and fruits, and at times it is a very
animated place.
[Illustration: A STREET IN BELIZE.]
Belize is a delightful place to be during the months from December to
March. While people in Northern latitudes are bundling themselves up as
a protection against the chilly blasts of old Boreas, the populace of
Belize are enjoying pleasant summer weather and wearing their
warm-weather clothes. At night the trade winds which nearly always blow
across this bay lower the temperature so that refreshing sleep can be
obtained. It is healthful and there is no more fever than at our own
Gulf ports, and yellow fever very seldom gets any foothold whatever,
even though the town is only a few feet above the level of the sea. The
most disagreeable occasions are when the “Northers” sweep across the
Gulf with indescribable velocity and lash the waves with great fury.
Then the inhabitant on shore may congratulate himself that he is not at
the mercy of old father Neptune.
British Honduras has few modern improvements. There is not a railway in
the land, and even the cart roads are only passably good. It contains
within its borders possibilities of development that are hardly
believable to one who has not seen these incredibly rich tropical lands.
Although considered small, it is several times as large as our smallest
states, and its agricultural possibilities far exceed those
commonwealths. Its nearness to markets makes it especially attractive,
and its stable government renders investments absolutely safe. At
present its chief distinction is its logwood industry, of which Belize
is in the lead, and the mahogany which is floated here in rafts from its
own borders and the neighbouring forests of Guatemala and the State of
Campeche, Mexico.
The Belize River with its tributary streams leads back into the great
tropical forests of Peten where mahogany is abundant. Much of the
mahogany lands are in the hands of large owners or companies who have
the business thoroughly organized, although large tracts still belong to
public lands, where concessions can be secured for cutting the valuable
export woods. The timber is roughly squared and then floated down the
streams during the rainy season, and most of it finds its way to Belize,
where it is put in shape for the market. The mahogany grows rapidly, and
it is said that in thirty years a tree will grow from a shoot and
furnish logs of large size. This city is also a great market for the
chicle gum, which is obtained in the neighbouring forests and shipped to
the United States to be used in the manufacture of chewing gum, for
which more money is spent by the great family of Uncle Sam than is sent
to all the foreign missions of the world by the same nation.
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