The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1896-11-19

than play upon words and can be read
| backward and forward, as interest may
| direct. However, it was blindly accept
ed by the United States-and only about
a year later a British man of war sailed
into the harbor of Ruatan, and its COM
mander, Capt. Jolly, proceeded to organ
ize that island as dependency of Belize,
British Honduras And presently the as
tonished people of Ruatan, and the dis
gusted statesmen of the United States,
were made acquainted with the following
| proclamation, issued from Belize:
''Office of the Colonial Secretary, Be-
| lie. This is. to give notice that Her
Most Gracious Majesty, our Queen, has
been pleased to institute and make the is
lands of Ruatan, Guanaja, Utilla, Barbar-
cite, Helena and Morat, to be a Crown
Colony, to be forever known and desig-
mated as The Colony of the Bay Islands.
By command of Her Majesty's Superin-
tendent,'
AUGUSTUS FREDERICK GORE,
Colonial Secretary.
God Save the Queen.'
Desiring to have a glimpse of these cele-
| brated islands, we retraced our steps from
Tegucigalpa to the coast and waited two
days at Truxillo, for a vessel to convey
us to Port Macdonald, the largest settle
ment on Ruatan. The great bay of Hon
duras is as remarkable for its general
placidity as for the extreme purity of its
waters. Besides the great number of
coral Gays and reefs along its borders,
which. stretching far northward, encircle
the peninsula of Yucatan as with a belt,
they also completely girdle the EBAY
the rocky barriers through which vessels
may pass to deep and commodious har-
bors beyond the narrow channels.
Ruatan has II of these hidden harbors,
Port Royal, DiXon's Cove, Coxen Hole
and others, all very large and safe, but
with extremely narrow entrances between
coral reefs The island is singularly
beautiful from a distance, its hills SEEM
ing to rise in gradual slopes to the height
of thousand feet, intersected by valleys,
all luxuriantly wooded, with palms and
cocoanuts fringing the shores. You cease
to wonder why its would-be possessors
held on SO long and wrote of it as the
Garden of the West Indies,' the ''key
of Spanish America and the ''New
Gibraltar Its harbors are natural de-
lenses in themselves and easily fortified,
and the soil is well adapted to the cultiva-
products. Cocoanuts, wild figs and ex-
cellent grapes are among its spontaneous
productions, and in cultivated patches
yams, bananas, pine apples, coffee and
garden vegetables are grown by few
small planters There are between three
and four thousand people on the island,
mostly colored, with here and there a
sturdy Scotch farmer or an English
younger SON trying his needy hand at
coffee raising or cotton planting. A large
portion Of the population are liberated
Jamaica, and among them are many for
mer slave owners, also negroes, and
natives of that island, who We're ruined
at home by emancipation. Here they get
an easy living, fishing, hunting, turtling,
boat building, and sci ling the products of
their small plantations to traders from
Belize and Spanish Honduras and even
New Orleans aud Galveston. Their cot
tages are set in the midst of palm and
! plantain groves, their vessels and fishing
boats moored in sheltered hooks; and al
together it looks like an ideal Arcadia
which some of our harrassed fellow coun-
| trymen in ove1-crowded cities, where life
is hard, would do well to investigate.
They tell us that the country is full of
game, such as deer, wild hogs, Spanish
rabbits and birds of many species, and
that during most of the year the climat e
Der and February great deal of rain
falls, sometimes cooling the atmosphere
| below the point of comfort, and unless
one is careful to keep warm and dry,
IueuuIdtiSuI VI dS que is likely 10 enSue.
Guayana is about Is miles northeast of
Ruatan, but connected Herewith by an
intricate series of reefs and Gays, through
which are deep though narrow channels,
known only to the sophisticated. Moth
ing more charming can be imagined than
an afternoon sail from island to island
with fresh wind and fair sky and bright
waters sparkling in the sunlight. The
pine-clad hills of Guayana rise slowly
and smilingly above the horizon; and as
you approach, the palm trees on low adj
jacent Gays. appear to spring directly
| from the sea and to rise and fall with the
motion of the boat. The Gays them
selves are masses of emerald verdure
within ring of silvery sand. Between
them and the island with its wealth Of
forest is a stretch OF loveliest blue,
! placid as painted ocean," the water
so transparent that marine life below is
distinctly visible. The sea floor is stud
ded with wonderful products of coral
polypus, here spreading out like fans,
| there akinU the form of f1attpned plohaS