Morris tribune., 1885-11-11
OFF THE COAST OF HONDURAS.
Cruising in the Footsteps OF Columbus
A Paradise for Tramps.

Balize, the capital, is guarded by a
large number of these little islands, or
keys; so many are they, that their IN
habitants have been obliged to have
recourse to the numerous points of
the compass to find names for them.
Such names as Half moon, Triangles,
Alacranes, Grover, Hat, Ambergris
and the Euphonious Hog are there,
and a whole host of Northeasts, South
casts, Southwests, &c. This is his
torical water, the grand old Captain
from Genoa, must have sailed over
the same ground on which we are
now cruising as early as the year 1902.
Who knows but what he visited some
of these little keys? May he not have
| taken a copious drink from some of
| the cocoanut trees that must have
lined the beaches at that time? What
must his thoughts have been while
cruising in these waters? People In
those days knew very little of the
new continent, it had just been dis
covered, and the advance of eXplora-
tion was carried on with the utmost
caution and the greatest of difficulty.
History tells us that it took Colunl-
bus from October 18th 1892, when he
first discovered San Salvador, until
August 1st, 149s, nearly SIX years, be-
fore he first set foot on the South
American soil, somewheres in the
Gulf of Paria, the mouth of the Orin-
oca river: The cupldity of the Span
ish discoverer held him enthralled
almost, to the rich islands that lay to
the east of the great continent. In
the winter of 1494 he sent to Spain
four ships loaded with the fruits of
his conquests; gold, metals, fruits
aud five-hundred Indian captives to
be sold us slaves. The compassionate
queen, Isabella, ordered them sent
back at once, which was done; but
their lives on their return was rem
dered full as burdensome as slavery by
their Spanish task-masters. On his
fourth and last voyage, August 18th,
1902, Columbus discovered and land
ed upon Cape Honduras He was
then in search of the strait, which he
supposed existed to the southwest of
Cuba. The extraordinary lapses of
time which existed between the dis
covery of San Salvador and the con-
tiguous coast of America will al
ways be q wonder to historical scho-
lars. 1t was not until 1903, sixteen
years after the discovery of San Sal
vader, that Sebastian de Ocampo dis
covered Cuba to be an island. Col
umbus seems to have died two years
before ignorant of this fact.
| We have often wondered if the
visionary Ponce de Leon accompanied
Columbus on his voyage when he
! discovered Honduras. If so the con-
trast which he met in 1921 when he
landed for the last time, on the coast
of Florida, must have seemed great
indeed. Here all was peace and quiet,
perpetual summer and a peaceful
race to greet the strangers. There he
was met by savages and he received
the wound from which he soon died.
He had at last found that "sprlng OF
| life' for which he had SO bliDdly
sought. Small wonder if one falls to
dreaming both day and night in such
a land as this. One cannot help
dreaming here who has the love OF
| the beautiful in his soul. Constant
verdure exists here in and out OF
season. The coral reefs are green
with rank vegetation. The waters
which impinge the coast are of a
transparent green color, and SO clear
are they, that we haYe often seen the
bottom where the water was ten
| fathoms deep. Myriads of fish dart
around amongst the many colored
sponges that line the sea bottom, and
great conch shells lay half hidden in
beds of branching coral. Growing al
most down to the waters edge are the
cocoanut trees. A little further back
from the beaches, amongst the houses
of the natives, are the banana and
plantain trees, and a short distance
further inland are pine-apples, yam
and sweet-potato. On some of the
larger islands we find the coffee trees
also the coacoa, better known, as the
chocolate. This would be paradise
for tramps and people accustomed to
heavy sitting around. Itcosts so little
to get living here that the people
wear the look of having been born
| tired. Bananas and Yams are their
principal food and we have often
watched, with good many misgiv-
ings as to the results, cadaverous
looking fellows chewing away on a
/ stick of sugarscane fully as long as
themselves. ~ ~
We remember spending Christmas
at Southwest key. In the afternoon
/ wereceived an invitation to come and
take tea with some of the families.
We found quite a number Of families
of English creoles here. A good
many years ago England was in the
habit of sending her convicts to live
in West India islands, and in course
of time the number of "Ticket of
Leave" men got to be,quite numerous.
Many married here and one occa-
| sionally meets with their families.
One this key were a number of houses
built of iron wood. They had thatched
roofs and hard wood floors, which
| were scrubbed scrupulously clean.
In one part of the room were the
family beds, always covered with
mosquito netting, an indispensable
appendage in the tropics. A great
deal of their furniture was made of
mahogony and in some. cases the
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