The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-04-19
FROM o. E. RElMER
Interesting Letter From Honduras,
Central America


land of Utilla, Spanish Honduras. The
letter in part is as follows:
My dear Ed am marooned on
this little island by miles" writ
ing in a little frame cottage which ]
rent for 40 cents gold, or 81 Hondur-
as money a day. Before me is the
little bay with its greenwaters. Be
yond the dark blue Caribbean Sea,
and, in the distant haze, the lofty
peaks of the Spanish Main and the
Republics of Honduras and Guate-
mala Around me are waving coco
anut trees, beyond banana and
plantain grove. In the woods beyond
this struggling little village are tall
and stately mango trees, mahogany
and cedars, pineapple fields and q
tropical scene of wonderful beauty.
As you know ! left New York on
March 4th, in snow and ice and the
snow lasted as far as Atlanta. In
New Orleans | spent twenty-four
hours Made and met some pleasant
friends and had an automobile ride
all over the surrounding country. On
the 9TH, left New Orleans on the
Nicaragua Steamer ellis" It was a
wonderfully interesting trip down the
Mississippi Riyer-100 miles; remind
ed me of Holland with the land lower
than the river beyond the levees. On
Sunday morning we sighted Belize
British Honduras, a town OF some
1000 or 5000 inhabitants-16 Ameri.
cans and abou1 100 pure whites, the
rest negroes, Mulattoes and Indians.
1t is somewhat of an immoral town
AZ per cent of the births being illegi-
innate children.
had letters to f. Robert Boatman
from some very intimate friends of
mine This gentleman is an Ameri-
can with a very charming American
wife | dined at his home and enjoy
ed his hospitality played round Of
Golf at the Country Club, saw fine
Polo game, and enjoyed myself gen
orally. | made a trip up the Belize
river 1t is navigabe for small
crafts nearly 100 miles and certainly
at its mouth is a glorious stream.I
saw cocoanut plantations galore Saw
them float Mahogany and, Cedar logs
down the river Enjoyed the won
derful tropical vegetation. | was
very busy at Belize getting things in
shape for the business | am sent here
to open up When had finished
there ! made ready for my trip to
these, the Bay Islands. lila, Rua-
tan. and Bonacca. where the cocoa
nuts grow. engaged passage on a
trading schooner which brings cattle
to Belize and takes Carib Indians
and such like away from Belize. The
schooner's name was. "Roncador, %
the captains name was. Jim Bush. a
Creole by courtesy. Creole means
anything here that has an ancestry
composed Of negro, Carib Indian or
others. white, etc, etc
The schooner was OF as tons bur
den The cabin. half of which was
supposed TO be mine, contained three
old Carb Indian women. one young
one, three children, four negroes and
several Carib Indian men There
had been a gale blowing and when
we left the protection of the islands
OF Keys, as they call them here. We
had TO put back and anchor for the
night had to sleep on deck, for
tunately | had brought a pillow. but
! never realized planks could be so
hard The next morning | went a
shore in dug-out canoe Their
canoes are a single tree shaped and
followed out; there is one which /
have seen seven feet widel An In
dian rowed me to a reef where there
was shallow water and had a glori.
GUS sea.bath keeping my eyes peeled
for sharks which abound here
went TO the Island where the light
house keeper lived and from him
bought the biggest snake skin ! have
ever seen 1t is nine feet long and
measures nearly two feet wide at its
thickest We will put it in Gokay s
window when ] get back.
On the schooner one of the old In
dian women. evidently with an eye
to business. asked me in Spanish. il
! were married ] said, yes; ther
she asked Indignantly why | did moi
bring my wife? A COY young maid
on. who smoked cigarettes, was chat
ting in Spanish with one of the men
overheard the conversation Loti
OF funny things YOU hear when YOU
| speak the language.
Have you ever seen a Conch Shell
Such as We used to have for parlo
ornaments in the good old days
Well We had a mess of the insides o
some for dinner just as We starte,
of on our trip across the open sea
There was an awful sea running. th
boat logy and stumpy, and she eel
tainly did jump. toss and pitch !
was hard work to hold on. We'll
whether % was the Conch or the sea
don't even now care which, but
was about as sick as thought
could ever be- II took us forty.elgh
hours TO get here and these forty
eight hours ! spent on deck of thi
miserable sloop My face was a sigh
from sunburn and although this !
Friday and We landed on Sunday,
have not yet stopped peeling an
my eyes were so puned up and swo
len that could hardly see.
was successful in my bushes
here and am waiting for a schoone
to take me back to Belize, when
will mail this letter
In the short time I have been her
knowing the language and saying u
tie. ! have learned a good deal. on
thing Is cetrain. u Is safer to trav'
I'm these countries without an Amer
nnn nnuaunrf thnn with nnn nh