The Opelousas courier., 1869-07-17
MISCELLANEOUS.
Honduras.

The following extracts from the series
of letters ON this subject, published in
the Canton (Miss.) Mail, will be found
of great interest. because they show that
country in a different light from other
writers, as regards the sobriety Of its
people and the productivcness of its
soil
Now what about the sobriety and Or
der argument? At i O'Clock P. NJ. pre-
cisely, the principle stores Of the town
of Belize are closed; no more business
done for the day. At that hour, the De-
groes having also ceased from their la
bors, begin to congregate in large crowds
in front of the rum shops of the town,
where, until the gun fires at 8 o'clock Z.
NJ, fiery liquid is dealt out to them at
from two and half to five cents drink.
The visitor can, if he wishes, see on
every day Of the week, in front of Jex's
rum shop, no less than twenty or thirty
negroes, in all the stages of intoxication.
A merchant of the place gave me his
opinion that there were more drunken
men there than in any other place of its
size in the world. Here is exhibited to
the traveller the Ethiopian in. might
almost say, his natural Or depraved
state And here, l would again assert,
the rules of deccncy are as much disre
garded as are the laws of virtue. Per-
haps it would he saying too much to sug
gest that the precepts of that law the
majority of the inhabitants of Eden"
arc in total ignorance, and that the law
itself must have been left out when this
innocent and abiding people framed
their moral code. From what I~couid
learn. | would say that it is ef frequent
occurrence, even among the bon tons, for
couples to dispense altogether with the
services of IL minister or priest When
they do conclude to live together as the
rules of decency and the laws of God re-
uuire, Belize is shaken to its shallow
foundation by discharges of artillery
drums are furiously beaten, and the flags
of many nations are displayed from the
house tops. 1t was my good fortune to
witness Il marriage pr ocession. The hap
py couple, attended by large and in
teresting family of groom sons and daugh-
tcrs, took through the principal streets OF
the town, 80 that those not invited to
1he church might have an opportunity
of seeing something nice.
But IL the Land SO rich and productive
rs it is represented to be, and will it pay
to cultivate it, The opinion of several
gentlemen, whom questioned ON that
point, is that the cultivation, or the
plowing of Tie land will not only Kill
Il growing crop, but wiu render the land
totally uDprodnctive- A gentleman OF
the Toledo neighborhood iafOrmed me
Of his corn working with hoe, and
1,.,t v,<~k l,,,t IN,
few days died.
The land Of the COLONY siU sos bea'
cultivation, and yet land should be cult
waited to make it produce, for time, re-
luunerative crops. / noticed that whel
the timber is cut OFF the land, the Latter
is baked or hardened by the sua. Ii
fact, al far Us l am able OF Judging, hav
ing walked over what is said to be th'
richest land iu the colony, it very mucl
resembles the prarie lands of Lowude
and Noxubee counties Of this State. /
has the same tendency to crack open, a.
they do in the summer months, by dircc
exposure to the sun.
Common sense must teach Man
though lecturers affirm to the contrary
that he cauuot expect to gather large
crops from land off Of which every yea
is taken most tremendous and exhaus
tl'e SIe.a oI , eane. tae must snow Ina. ena'
% soou L Is s"e t'anu.e VI sese'aoie nu.
se' 10 eAusssJ ..ao anu As soon M sas 'i'e We 49,
hn;.ans. h,' SaI I;' nss ss'"o .1 80, ~ ,S. as. @
s,orons H. ,."S IN, -. ..vn" ~ +n~,th.r ,I u,
p nod ,.s.n.ne n sn T ha,I 80 a,., a..,n".se. ~,
| .sa.h;s o :" ~ na % ,n;.s,.. .'L .ee. ,'1ev '"''
;mso;na @ fron, r. % .Is % maunsr n wh;,,
t,,a ra';Ss .,',,u v .,,,.;...a - .h.. I'D - az
:r.,l..do ] n.;ah,,orl,ood "nd E f,ona % .hs m ma ~ -
nsr If tSa;r ,,rar;n,,s o;,,t;v.,;nn +hs
.hav d;scorared ~ o NV ~ nar;sn.s % tI,a tr,,t '
"f H. ahove c"myoo NJ nH asnse e Ssdncs;on @ ~ -
The stranssr vis;tin~ ~ ths ss,ionv ;
strucI Will tIa annearaycs If cons;ie,
,hle tracts NJ lard which arc snt;,..l
destitute of larue timI,er. .Whare.n h
NAV well aak. Fare the magnificent fo,
eat trees of the tronica : where the m,
hoganv. the sanodilda. thu cotton WOO
and The cedar - Trey disappesrin,
gava nlaca- veara arn. 10 misarahl
1atch.s Of young coc.ss. nlantaina an
bananas. which In tnrn welded to den,
tb;ckets ~ camoon and az tancled vine
The svstem of cronninU with tbs Ca
in In tn cnt dnwn ani hmrn Aha timber
!, ANAL ne;ce of lana. nIans for \ year ,
two YEAR, and ahandon tha match e