The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1923-06-08
TYPICAL ionduranian Family.

prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety, Washington. d. CO
British Honduras, often known as
Belize" from the name of its capital
city, is one of the least known and
n of the most neglected patches Of
The British empire. With its vastly
more important sister country, Can
ada, it shares the distinction of being
the only British territory On the CONT
e of North America.
British Honduras is q part of Cen
trai America, and its real bid to fame
has been that it was 100 per cent
revolutionless. Though in many ways
it is neglected, British law and order
hover over it and it has been, to a
certain extent, like the Dutch West
Indian colony of Curacao, an asylum
for political leaders Of neighboring
lands who were more revolutionary
han successful.
The country's $1,000 inhabitants in
clude probably less than 1000 whites.
The remainder OF the population is
made up Of negroes and mulattos and
Spanish Indians, the latter living
chiefly i'm the back country. But in
the capital, Belize, throughout the
whole coast country, and wherever
governmental machinery has been set
up, the atmosphere, whether ii be
made up of business, government, or
sport, is Enthusiastically British.
Few concessions have been made to
the climate, which may be described
as tropical, tempered by rather steady
sea breeZes. The two and three-st0ry
houses that line the main residence
street of Belize are of accepted Brit
ish architecture. Coal-black police
mel are clothed much like the London
Bobby" and bewigged and begowned
judges sit in the courts. In he open
spaces cricket matches will often be
found in progress, and boxing bouts
are preferred by the broad-pronounc-
ing negroes to the cock-fights and bull
fights Of their Latinized neighbors.
Geographic ame tell of the sudden
transition from the lands of Spanish
culture to this little patch of the Span
ish Main that has been Anglicized.
One leaves Puerto COrtez, Honduras,
or Puerto BarrioS, Guatemala, to SAIL
a few miles farther on past the Cox
comb mountains, All Pines, n Stann
creek. Inland are MiddleSeX ana
Orange Walk. Belize is Il OF the
few exceptions, and even that is said
to be a corruption OF the surname OF
an early Scotch settler, Wallis. Direct
English nomenclature reaches its apex
in Belize where the ferry Is called
"the h%aul-OYer."
British Honduras, a triile larger
than Massachusetts or New Jersey, Is
wedged in between the Mexican states
of the Yucatan peninsula on the north
and Guatemala on the west anu south,
while Honduras, Nicaragua, Salvador
and Costa Rica are near by. IT IS
due west of jamaica, some GOO miles
across the Caribbean, and has always
been, to a certain extent, under the
wing of that British island.
Mahogany Industry Important
Tie mahogany industry is justly
concentrated on the flag of British
Honduras by the representation there
of the tools of the trade. Mahogany
lured early settlers TO the coast put
money in their purses; furnished
something for them and their hacker,
Great Britain, to- fight the Spaniards
ohout. and has always been chiefly
responsible for the lands main indus
try, numbering.
The people of the colony even tell
so,emnly how the lowest portions OF
the city of Belize, once n seemingly
bottomless swamp. have been fpled In
and made disable by the millions or
mahogany chips hacked there from
logs which must be roughly squared
before they are ready for market. AS
sisting the chips in the work OF sta
bilization-they tell with equal solem-
nity-were the thousands OF empty
rum bottles thrown aside by the axe
men.
Ar first the timber industry was a
very casual affair. Ships anchored OIL
the coast, the crew cut the trees near
the beach. loaded them and sailed
AWAY. Later the timber along the rlv-
ers was cut and 1oated down to the
coast. Most Of the easily accessible