The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1896-07-23

rice, fruits galore, and what not of tropi-
cal products. Schooners, ships, briggs,
steamers, tloated the flags of many coun-
tries, most prominent among which were
the British lions, next the tri- colors OF
France and the red, white and black of
the German merchantmen; but only two
solitary samples of Uncle Samuel's Union
| Jack. Crowded around the vessels were
canoes, pitpans, lighters, crafts laden
with mahogany, and great logs of the
latter loaded upon nothing at all but the
water, being propelled to their destination
by swimming negroes. Truly we have ar
rived at the land of mahogany. The gov
eminent dory, which presently boarded
us, was made of solid mahogany, seats,
sides and all, and the stalwart rowers
might have been made of the same ma
terial, judging from the color of their
shining faces Many of the canoes and
pitpans were the trunks of mahogany
trees, rudely followed out, of little value
here, but worth almost their weight in
gold i'll some sections. There being no
wharf at Belize, steamers anchor half a
mile out and send their passengers ashore
in tiny sail boats. The morning breeze
was brisk and the little craft careening
before it threatened to spill us in the
trough OF every billow. The harbor is
infested with sharks, great, ugly, hungry
looking fellows, which followed us as if
expecting a breakfast; while the boatmen
RECALLED one another, land incidentally
their passengers, with tales of people
who have been tipped overheard and
snapped up in the twinkling of an eye.
From the boat we stepped directly into
the grounds of the International Hotel
into the midst of beautiful flowers and
midst of f1eas, spiders, lizards, scor-
pions, centipedes and other Astounding
yermin. The great white hotel, with its
broad piazzas on every floor, looks very
attractive. Its landlord is a Scotchman,
kind and attentive; but his beds are as
hard as the stern creed of his own kirk,
the average sinner Belize is built di-
rectly upon swamp, with mangrove
thickets terminating the vista at either
end. Its one long street, which has sew
eral branches, follows the shore mile or
two, crossing the river midway by a fine
stone bridge, which appears to be the
general rendezvous and meeting place of
the people. AS ''meet me on the Rialto'
is familiar phrase elsewhere, in Belize
you are constantly hearing appointments
made for ''the Bridge,' as if there was
but one bridge instead of half a dozen in
/ the town. All the streets are level, well
paved and carefully kept-thanks partly
the City Council, and ones first impress
sion is of the surprising neatness of the
place, in strong contrast to other ports of
Spanish-America. The houses are all of
wood, uniformly painted white and ele-
waited upon mahogany pillars from 2 to
10 feet above the Doggy level, according
to Their situation and consequent danger
of flooding during the rainy season.
Stories that out rival those of the Johns
town horror are told of sudden inunda-
tons, when people, asleep in their beds,
were washed out of their chamber win
dows and carried off to sea; followed bv
strange and deadly epidemics, when the
receding waters had revivified the swamps
and LETT them fostering in the sun. AS a
rule the climate of Belize, though rather
too moist to be agreeable, is not unheath-
ful, its excessive heat tempered by a live
ly wind blowing nine months out of the
year. During the three dry months
April, May and June, fresh water be-
comes alarmingly scarce all over British
honduras, because there are no springs
ill this section and the rivers are brackish
several miles inland. But when the rainy
season has fairly set in, it is quite as bad
the other way. Then every street becomes
river, difficult to cross; and many of the
citizens whose homes are perched upon
the highest stills, are driven to inhabit
their second stories. The houses of the
we'll todo British subjects are large,
roomy and richly decorated, and equipped
with modern furniture, including costly
pianos and the Omnipresent American
sewing machine. 1t is curious to note
the uses to which mahogany is put, in a
country where the elsewhere costly wood
is cheaper than pine and far more plenti-
full. Besides the lofty foundations above
mentioned, most of the buildings have
their beams, rafters, floors, doors and
window castings of mahogany, beautifully
polished and darkened by age to the rich
tint of old wine; and in the straw -thatched
houses of the poorest negroes we see
benches and tables of the same material.
The population of Belize is officially es-
timated at 5000, and that of all British
Honduras at about 30, 000-mostly black.
In the town there are barely 200 white
people, and throughout the country the
proportion is even smaller. Yet the place
is as distinctly and aggressively English
nc t,,- ~,