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.

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.

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.

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.