The Kemper herald. (Scooba, Miss.) 1875-1908, 1907-06-20
IN MAHOGANY LAND.
Elimpses of British Honduras-Pinc
Trees For a Cent Apiece.

"a special correspondent to the
Hartford Courant, in a letter to his
paper, gives an interesting account
of the resources of British Honduras.
Belize is the capital of British
Honduras si%ngularly neat and
tidy city at the mouth of the Belize
River, with swamps for some miles
about it, and beyond those a rich ag-
ricultural tableland to the north and
a little way south, while still further
south the country is terra incognita.
The houses are all white. The water
edge is lined with graceful %cocoanut
palms. In every garden hibicus of
various shades and many other love-
ly flowers are in full bloom; here and
there the royal poinciana is tipped
with flaming blossom, though it is
too early for all the trees to be out;
and in the garden of the Government
house, more ~resplendent than all the
flowers of the town, a great macaw of
brilliant red and yellow and abundant
blue and black, with a tail a foot and
a half long, shone out through the
green foliage, more gaudy. than any
Easter suit of the day Oh gay Fifth
avenue. Belize has a great key
locked hafbor which abounds in fish,
from catfish and shark to red snapper
and tarpon. Ships have to anchor a
mile and a half from shore and
lighter their freight in by sailboats.
1t is a question whether Belize was
settled by shipwrecked Englishmen
or by English shipwreckers. The
weight of tradition has it that bucca-
neers did the settling and then found
that cutting their W mahogany and
logwood trees paid better than cut
ting other peoples Threats and was
less hazardous. For over 200 years
this has been a great deport port for
these valuable woods. Mahogany does
not grow like walnut or pine in
groves. They only find about one
tree to the acre. The logs are hauled
to the river bank and floated down
in foodtime. Of course, far the
greater part of the timber is unavail-
able, as it is too far from the river
to be handled. There is talk now of
a railroad into the interior which will
develop this and other industries.
The whole province of British Hon
duras covers about 1900 square
miles, not half as large as Connec-
ticut, and has, so far as known, 3d.
900 inhabitants. OF these one per
cent, or, 800 people, are whites. All
the rest are colored, and some of the
white folks trace their origin back
to the time the buccaneers came I'M
der the ~subduing influences of the
shade grown beauties of the native
forests.
1t is interesting to come to a part
of the world where demand exceeds
supply, and where philosophers talk
of possible exhaustion, down to this
new old region where everything is
vet to be done. The Government re-
Gently sold 100000 pine trees,
standing in the forest, to an Amer
lean syndicate for, it is said, n cent
a tree! That means a little money,
but it means no end of pine timber,
which we are told, is disappearing.
The Government made the sale OF the
ground that the work of numbering
would bring in people and business.
The serious lack here is laborers;
there is plenty of vineyard. Indeed,
there is talk of importing natives
from India to help in the develop
ment. All laborers now drift to the
mahogany district, where they are
paid not to work as they a by the
month but by the job-so much cut
ting or hauling OF trimming each
day-and often they get their days
work done before 8 in the morning.
We are sailing from Belize to
Porto Barrios, in Guatemala, to go
thence, PARTLY rail and part by road,
to Guatemala City. From Guatemala
we go by rail to the Pacific, said to
be one of the most picturesque rides
to be found, and then back to BarrioS
and the ship for home.