The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1897-05-22
MOSQUITO.
AND SOME THINGS ABOUT5lTS
COASTAND ISLANDS.
Tl1, Ancient Indian Kingdom Which
Occupis Nearly Forty Miles of the
Coast of Ntrnragua-English xsac-
! 'caMeers-Aa Easy Living-IA the
Depths of eiheSea.

ing fashions. like millinery and the fads Of
"n1ateria medica" for hot water or cold, blue
;g.ass or massage, than this zow almost for
gotten territory. .. .s.. ..
Not so many years ago the Mosquito Coast
and it's adjacent islands were in everybody's
mouth, so to speak. For 800 years Spain and
England wrangled over their possession, with
mighty war Of words and marry actual battles,
varying the ~monotoGy Of the long contest
by an occasional bout with the United States
whenever the latter attempted to Interfere.
newspapers on both sides OF the Atlantic
teemed with news OF irrepressible conflict,
and with glowing accounts of the earthly
PARADISE at stake. and pateiotsm both Latin
and AnGlo-Saxon, grew rampant at mention
of the name. But nowadays one seldom hears
q word about it. Doubtless the lovely bits
OF territory are as beautiful and desirable
as ever; but public attention has been turned
in other directions and they are out Of fashion.
said aside with the fads and cid bonnets of
other years.
First let us get our bearings well. in mind.
The ancient Indian kingdom, which figures on
the maps Of lis present owners as Costa del
Mosquito, or "MosQuito Coast" In English
"parlance, occupies nearly the whole Atlantic
coast OF Nicaragua, extending forty miles or
more inland-comprlslng, perhaps, 1000
square miles, with Honduras to the north and
Costa RIGA On the south; while the bay
rislands' lie little farther n0rthward, in clus-
tors parallel with the coast but from thirty
Co 1lffE miles out III the Bay CT Honduras.
The largest isiand-ROatan, Ruatan, or Rat
tan, as it is various.y called, is thirty miles
long by eight or nine wide and the five others
OF importance-Guanaja, tUtilla, Barbarette,
Helena, and Morat, in the order named as to
size. are surrounded by hundreds of coral
'slets and "cays.' AS everybody knows, those
old-time bones Of contention now belong TO
Honduras: but v2riegated history they
have had since Co.rabus sighted them first,
liz 1902.
English Buccaneers.
For many years they formed part Of SPAIN
vice royalty OF Guatemala. The early Spanish
historian boosted not wisely but too well Of
the beauty and value of.these "einerald gems
In the ring Of the wave" and in 1912 thew
were seized by ho-de of En- gish buccane ers,
who maintained their ho.d upon them for half
acentury
The Span:ards regaaed possession about the
year 1920 only to find the once lovely spot
barren waste, for when compelled to retire
the ruthless freebooters destroyed everything
that would burn. In1742 England again seized
the Islands, in attempting to gain possession
of the Whole eastern coast Of Central America.
" By that time Castilian blood was up and
Spain had more ABILITY to command respect
ly on the high seas until fina..y a treaty OF
peace was concluded by the provisions OF
which England was bound to destroy all her
Notifications IN these regions and withdraw
her men. But under the preteXt of secret
reservation England afterward denied that
Ruatan was included in the treaty and kept
that island garrsoned. War again ensued.
during the course Of which Guatemala seized
Ruatan. A new treaty was made in 1888, by
which England surrendered her claims to any
~ f0,o -innr rp} oo6 all TO
dependent islands. But notwithstanding this
solemn agreement she still held fast by some
bubble to little Ruatam and maintained he1
point for several years, with sperseveranc &c
worthy better cause. At length another
treaty was Matched up, which excluded Eng.
land entirely from this side Of the word, blu;
in 1896, while atNwarnwith Spain for other
reasons, she again grabbed Ruatan. Their
another treaty was entered into precisely lik5
that OF twenty eight years before, excep;
that England now resinquished them to Hon
duras, instead of to Spain. The chief bushes:
of the "powers'' in those days seemed K
have been the making of treaties-and ths
breaking of them. In 1S43 Commodore Mac
Donald Of her majesty's navy arrived at th1
islands one fine morning, hauled down tn;
Hondurian flag and run up his own but hard
ly had he turned his back upon Ruatan wher
one Of our passing vessels pulled down thu
British flag and substituted the stars ant
stripes. England. grown wise concerning tn
strength of her rebe. daughter, the United
States, repudiated MacDona,d's conduct a.
unauthorized and degraded him in the service
Thereupon was great rejoicing Throughout
Central America, the citizens naturally in
ferring that Engfand~hsd at last concluded t,
abandon al. pretenst ems, to the ,ong- conteste.
territory. '''.
Simple Licen.e ITO Gut Wood.
Put they were greatly mistaken. To tint
day England Claims some rights over the Isl
in inn hor
BILE rights in Baliae. based upon nothing bu
an ancient treaty with Spain, which simp.,
gave her license to cat wood in Honduras
After the discovery Of ggo:d in California tn
consequent rush across the Isthmus and tn
revival Of talk about an !nteroceanic shi
canal "a project three centuries old), Englan'
set on foot negotiations with the Unite
States for the formation ;of a treaty intende
to restrain our country from appropriatin!
al. the advantages OF such waterway acros
the continent. .....
The result was the :tBulwer-Ciayto
treaty" of 1859 between Hon. Iohn NJ Clay
ton, then our Secretary Of State, and tn
Right Hon. Sir Henry Bulwer, Minister Plen
ipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary O
Great Britain a. Washington. The remark
able document announced to the world tina
disputes were settled for all time to come
as far as the pretensions Of Great Britai
in Central America were connernaIi and tn
welfare Of mankind assured by the graciou
consent CT her majesty (Which, by the way
had not been asked, to the proposed inter
oceanic canal. The only part OF the treat
III which the United States was directly con
cerned-En glish aggression in Central Ameri
sca--is contained in article l, which, Stripe
'oi It's Aigh~sounding phrases amounts to Iii
tie more than play upon words. and ca
he read backward or forward as interes
" may dictate. However, 1t was b1indiy az
copied by the United States, and only ahou
a year later J. British ma n of-war sailed int
the harb1r Of Ruatan, and its commando
Captain Jolly, proceeded to organize tina Isl
and as dependen cy of Balize, British Hor
= curas. And presently the astonished peopl
CT Ruatan and the disguised statesmen {
the United States were made acquainted wit
the following proclamation, issued from Bl
1ize:
''ofhce OF the Colonial Secretary. Ba.z.
July II. 1S52-This is to give notice thu
Her Most Gracious Majesty, our Queen, be
been pleased to institute and make the is
ands OF Ruatan, Guanaja, Utilla. Barbarett
Helena. and Morat, to be crown colony, :
be forever known and designated as tn
colony Of the Bay Islands. By command {
her majesty's superintendent.
t- Colonial Secretary.
God save the Queen!'
Desiring to have a glimpse Of these ce.e
brated is.Ands, We retraced our steps fror
Tegucigalpa to the coastsan walked tw
sl days at Truxillo for vessel to convey us t
Port Macdonald the larges. settlement. G
n 49, \: