Central America; or, The land of the Quiches and Chontales

Book I L 5 T s CENTIUL AMERICA; ^

Tl fl

U U

-AND-

CHONTALES

BY-

FOREIGN EDITOR, TIMES-DEMOCRAT,'

Author of " Yzabelita, or a Trip to the Land of the Maya.

(COPYRIGHT SECUHEU.)

NEW ORLEANS: E. A. BRANDAO & CO., PUBLISHERS, 34 MxiGAZINE STREET.

1885,

CENTRAL AMERICA;

Li

-AND-

CHONTALES

-BY-

OOXj. E.' .A-. I-iE^EIE^,

FOREIGN EDITOR, TIMES-DEMOCRAT,

Author of " Yzabelita, or a Trip to the Land of the Maya. '

(COPTKIGHT BECUBBD.)

NEW OELEANS: E. A. BKANDAO & CO., PUBLISHERS, 34 MAGAZINE STREET.

J' V ll

CO

It-

1/7

TO THE SURVIVING FOLLOWERS OF THE IMMORTAL MOEOZAN,

AND THEIR POLITICAL DISCIPLES,

the sincere Uuiouists of Central America, this volume is cordially inscribed by

THE AUTHOR.

Preface

A generation has passed away since Stephens informed the scientific world that, in the hidden depths of the primeval forests of Central America, he had discovered the ruins of numerous aboriginal cities, whose crumbling temple walls and fallen towers imparted the sad story of their decline and fall. More than thirty years ago Squiers published an interesting work which advocated the building by Americans of an inter-oceanic railroad across the Eepublic of Honduras, from Puerto Cortez to Amapala. About the same time an American mineralogist, named Wells, gave to the public a detailed account of the mineral resources of the famous Honduranean departments of Olancho and Yoro.

Since the above mentioned writers published their works on Central America no other American author has occupied his pen with this important subject. "Meanwhile a momentous revolution in Gruatemala placed the reins of power in the hands of the Liberals, and that republic has entered upon an era of regeneration, of political freedom, and of material progress.

The Liberals of Guatemala were no sooner triumphant than they lent a helping hand to their struggling brethern of Honduras and San Salvador. Thus those governments also enjoy an enlightened and liberal form of government. The people of Nicaragua and of Costa Rica have unassisted worked out their political and material reform. In the former, the enlightened statesmen. Quadra, Zavala and Cardenas, led the progressive movement, while Costa Rica's regeneration was accomplished by two patriotic citizens, Guadia and Fernandez.

At present the five Central American re{)ublics are prosperous and happy. The era of revolutions, of anarchy and of bloodshed has passed away, and an indusfcrious, intelligent and contented people have earnestly bent their energies to the prosecution of the different branches of industry. Public

PREFACE.

schools are found in every village, mining and agriculture have been revived, while the iron horse has become a familiar sight to the descendants of those aborigines who so bravely but vainly defended their native land against the mail-clad Spanish conquistadores.

The foreign traffic of this naturally rich country has for many years attracted the serious attention of the principal commercial nations of Europe. France, England and Germany have earnestly competed for its acquisition. Within the past decade IsTew York city has striven to possess it, and in conjunction with the commercial metropolis of the Pacific coast, has succeeded in wresting no small portion of this trade from the transatlantic competitors.

IN'or have the merchants of the Crescent City looked on supinely while their northern and European rivals were struggling for this i^romising traffic. The Macheca Bros., Oteri, 0. A. Fish & Co., and Miller & Henderson, have captured the greater portion of the tropic fruit trade, while Schmidt & Zeigler, Smith Bro. & Co., H. Dudley Coleman, Eice, Born & Co., Woodward, Wight & Co., John Adams, and others, have acquired a fair share of the provision, coffee, hardware and lumber traffic.

But if the merchants of New Orleans have accomplished a great deal in this direction, they should not rest until the greater portion of Central American traffic is in their hands. This city is advantageously situated for the requirements of this trade; thus, if it does not eventually flow hither, the blame can only rest upon our Crescent City merchants.

The intention of the writer of this work is to furnish the people and merchants of this section with a brief description of the forest, agricultural and mineral resources of the land of the Quiches and the Chontales, together with a short historical account of these erstwhile Spanish colonial possessions from the epoch of the conquest down to the present day.

The author has several times visited each of the Central American republics. Last year he crossed Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, from ocean to ocean, and traveled through San Salvador. He writes, therefore, from

PREFACE,

personal experience and observation. He has likewise made the history and geography of Central America a special study. Conscious of its many imperfections, it is with serious misgivings the writer submits this unpretentious work to the public. If, however, the information it imparts should in any way influence the movement of southern capital and southern enterprise into the localities it treats of, his object will be attained and his earnest hopes realized.

InTew ORLEANS; March 8, 1885.

BRITISH HONDURAS.

Chapter I

Works relating to the Colonj-. Mr. Wilson's Admirable Almanac. Progress of the country under the Barlee administration. Death of that Statesman. Discovery of the Spanish main by Columbus. Settlement of the colony by the pirate, Wallice.

Within the past two decades several Eugiisli tourists have visited the iiDiqiie and to them almo.st hitherto uukuowu British Colony of Belize, Central America. Upon their return to the mother country, they published narratives of their tour. These works are both interesting and valuable, notwithstanding the writers occasionally permitted themselves to be swayed by the insular and clannish prejudices for which the English are so celebrated. Mr. A. li. Cibbs, in 1883, published in London, a fair sized volume, entitled "British Honduras, an historical and descriptive account of the Colony from its settlement, in 1670." This work is quite popular in England, but is almost unknown in the United States. A Mr. Morris, not long since, devoted several months' time to visiting the different localities of the province. His book " The Colony of British Honduras, its Resources and Prospects," is probably the best work of the kind that has, as yet, issued from the E]]giish press. The local government purchased a number of volumes which are retailed to tourists at a price less than cost.

During the Barlee regime, tbe private secretary of that functionary, Mr. Wm. Grey Wilson, published a so-styled Almanac, which contains more statistical and other information than all the rest of the works oh British Honduras published by English authors. But, being an Officeholder, Mr, Wilson's work was deemed, by the sturdy colonists, to favor the Crown's interests overmuch ; for that reason the Almanac has never been poi)ular in the country it treats of.

2 BRITISH HONDUEAS.

Notwithstauding' the amount of matter printed regarding this ont-of-the-way British possession, the statesmen and oiBfioials of England, until very lately, knew more of the interior of Africa than they did of their Central American province. One of them, in a public document, speaks of " British Honduras and other islands," while it would doubtless puzzle the great premier himself, to furnish, on the spur of the moment, a fair estimate of the actual imi)ortance and value of the Colony.

A southern journal, the Times-Democrat^ was the first American periodical which published to the world a plain and unvarnished statement of facts regarding this colonial possession of the British crown. Major E. A. Burke, the enterprising and indefatigable owner and editor of that paper, three years ago perceived the importance of attracting the traf&c of the Colony toll^ew Orleans. This undertaking could only be carried out by making the merchants of both places better acquainted with each other and with their mutual traffic possibilities and facilities. New York and Europe had hitherto enjoyed a monopoly of the Colony's trade. He determined to wrest a portion of it at least, from the commercial rivals of New Orleans. The means he employed to accomplish this desideratum, was to educate the merchants of this section regarding the value and importance of the growing traffic of the Colony. To that end a member of the editorial staff of the Times-Democrat was sent to British Honduras, with instructions to examine thoroughly into its trade resources and possibilities.

The results of this mission, which were made known to the world through a series of letters published in the above mentioned journal, proved highly satisfactory. The merchants, and residents of the Colony were gratified by the attention bestowed upon their province, by the great newspaper of the Southwest, while the business men of New Orleans had their attention drawn to this hitherto neglected locality, by these authentic accounts of its traffic resources. The letters were extensively reproduced by English periodicals. The result of this latter action proved very favorable, and gave an impetus to the material progress of the Colony. Capital began to

BRITISH HONDURAS.

seek investment in that hitherto ignored locality. Emigration flowed thither, and in three years, British Honduras has, if we may believe the assertions of local statisticians, nearly doubled its foreign trade, while the fruit planting industry has augmented in value and importance more than twenty fold.

Notwithstanding that newspaper enterprise, in this case, proved so influential and beneficial to the material advancement of the Colony, there was another factor which exerted a j)aramount influence toward bringing about its regeneration. A wise and honest man, the Hon. F. P. Barlee, was appointed by the British government to rule the province. During an entire decade, the commerce of Belize had dwindled to alinost absolute insignificance. A few logs of mahogany, a limited quantity of log wood, and some bundles of skins and hides, constituted its entire export traffic. Its import trade consisted of small annual cargoes of general merchandise from New York, and the mother country, and limited shipments of western produce from New Orleans, in schooners, which also carried on a fair fruit traffic with the Spanish American settlements to the south.

An American writer has observed, that : " if a colony of Anglo Saxons should suddenly, while clogged with all their human attributes, be transported to heaven, they would soon find fauh with, and protest against the celestial system of government." It is needless to say that many of the sturdy British colonists of Belize soon became dissatisfied with Gov. Barlee's administration. He was denounced as a despot. His acts were stigmatized as arbitrary, and it was not long before the well-intentioned functionary became extremely unpopular.

But Governor Barlee was neither arbitrary nor despotic. He had the welfare of the Colony near at heart, and determined to bring about its regeneration, despite the murmurs of the discontented and reckless opposition faction which constantly strove to thwart his measures. The Home Government, which entertained the highest opinion of his ability and patriotism, resolutely sustained him, and in the end, he succeeded in carrying out his numerous measures of reform.

BRITISH HONDURAS.

After a thorough exaiiiiiiatiou of the situation he concluded that the future welfare of the Colonj^ depended upon its close commercial connection witli this country. To bring about this disideratum, he established a line of steamers between Belize and !New Orleans, and granted the enterprise a heavy mail subsidy. This measure, which at the time was very unpopular, proved the salvation cf the Colony. Through it, the fruit plantiug industry was promoted and fostered; commercial intercourse between the province and New Orleans was established, traffic revived and the little colony entered upon a new era of commercial and material progress.

The passage of time and the course of events have vindicated the policy pursued during Governor Barlee's administration, ]Srot long since this good and wise man died at the island of Trinidad, to which government he had been i^romoted. The news of his demise proved a shock to Belize society. Even his old political enemies, while deploring this sad event, have been heard to acknowledge that he was entitled to be styled the savior of the Colony.

The English residents of British Honduras who number perhaps but 450, in a population of 30,000, are a fair type of the Anglo Saxon race. As merchants and traders, they are active, intelligent;, and energetic. Politically, the highest title they aspire to, is to be recognized as British subjects, and they demand the same status they would hold in their native country. The Crown colonial system of government which obtains in the province, and in which an American, at least, can see but little to recommend, is very unpopular with the people. In their colonial ignorance and simplicity, they cannot imagine why men, who leave their country, their homes, and their friends ; who spend the better part of their lives in assisting to build up England's commercial prosperity and supremancy abroad ; who, through the medium of their energy, business spirit, and natural courage, after braving innumerable dangers and risks, have wrested from the tiopic wilds of Central America a rich jewel for the British crown, should be disfranchised, as it were, by a system of government which reduces them almost to the level of a conquered people; a

BRITISH HONDURAS.

system of government in which the crown officials have the preponderance, and which levies taxes without adequate representation of the people.

U nder the administration of an executive of arbitrary disposition, the crown government system degenerates inro pure absolutism. The people of British Honduras, as also their fellow countrymen of Jamaica, deprecate the form of government under which they live, and will never rest contented uutil they recover all the rights and privileges to which they are entitled as free born, true blue British subjects.

The present Governor of Belize, Mr. G-oldworthy, is deservedly very popular with the people. He seems to possess many of the same characteristics as his illustrious predecessor, Mr. Bariee,'aud appears desirous of leaving behind him, when he retires from the scene of his present labors, the same universal opinion that the material progress of the province was the unwearied object of his administrative aim.

The territory of British Honduras, so its residents claim, was discovered by the immortal Oristoval Colon (Columbus) on his third voyage to the west.

Tradition hath it that he landed on the little island that faces the present city of Belize in the year 1502.

The Colony is at present kuowu as British Honduras ; the name of Belize being confined to the pretty tropic city, which is the captial of the British possessions on the main land. Together with the numerous cays that nestle lovingly close to the coast, British Honduras comprises about 6400 square miles, or 4,096,000 acres of laud, English measurement.

According to tradition, the Colony received its name from a celebrated Scotch buccaneer named " Wallice." As there is no " W" in the Spanish alphabet, the name of the famous pirate chief was pronounced "Baliz" by his Spanish enemies. In the course of time it was corrupted into " Belize." Thus a buccaneer chieftain gave his name to one of the fairest and most valuable colonial possessions of the British crown.

As near as can be ascertained, the pirate Wallice, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, established his headquarters on the site now occupied by the city of Belize. From here he sallied on his buccaneering expeditions to the Spanish main ; nor was it long before he became a terror to the whole coast, from the port of Vera Cruz, in Mexico, southward along the Mexican gulf, and the Caribbean sea, to the isthmus of Darien.

From the year 1630, nothing more is heard of him. Whether he died a natural death and was buried on the Spanish main or at his little settlement in Belize, or was killed on one of his piratical incursions into Spanish America, is unknown, but about the date given above his headquarters at Belize were abandoned and the territory was claimed by the Spanish crown.

The first purely English settlement founded at Belize was composed of a few seamen who were wrecked on the coast in the year 1638. By the year 1670 the Colony was in a prosperous condition, much more so, in fact, than any other of the British possessions in America. Its enterprising citizens exported log wood and mahogany to the mother country.

But Spain never relinquished her assumed rights to the territory for more than two centuries, although from the year 1798, the British government '' exercised both territorial and imperial rights openly and unrestrictedly."

On the ninth of September, 1798, a Spanish fleet, composed of fifteen sail, was utterly defeated by a small British force, assisted by the gallant colonists at St. George's Cay. JFrom the date of that event the British have held undisputed sway over this possession on the main, as well as over about 100 square miles of cays that lie along the coast.

In the year 1861, by consequence of a memorial signed by the greater part of the inhabitants of the city of Belize, the Territory of British Honduras was raised to the dignity of a crown colony, the Spanish claims to the country were quietly ignored by consequence of the defeat of their fleet at St. George's Cay and in 1798, it was declared an English conquest, and a governor was appointed to rule the settlement, in the name of the British sovereign, by the home government.

The absorption of this strip of Central American territory, that was so hotly contested by Spain, and whose own right to which was so often tacitly relinquished by the British govern-

BRITISH HONDURAS.

merit, was simply a preliminary step looking toward the conquest of the entire Caribbean coast, from the mouth of the Hondo river, southwest, to the confines of Costa Eica. In the chapters of this work devoted to Mcaragua the writer will enter more at length into the discussion of this subject, will endeavor to point out the steps taken by the British government toward the acquirement of this vast territorj^, and will explain how, when the success of the movement seemed certain, it suddenly and unexpectedly failed of accomplishment.

The people of the go-ahead and prosperous little Latin American republic of Guatemala as yet regard British Honduras with wistful eyes, and would, doubtless, if the opportunity presented itself, endeavor to annex the coveted territory to their own country.

Hitherto British Honduras had been a dependency of the Colony of Jamaica, and its executive ranked only as Lieutenant Governor. Two months since, the happy colonists received the pleasant news that their adopted country had been created an independent government by Her Gracious Majesty, Queen Victoria, and its executive elevated to the rank of full Governor and Commander-in-chief of the Colony. The joy of the gratified colonists was intense, and, notwithstanding the fact that their Governor already received more salary than the chief Magistrate of the great State of Kew York; they at once voted him a large increase of annual pay lo enable him to sustain, with dignitv, the honors of his new rank.

CHAPTER IL

Description of British Hondurae. Its present population. The import aud export traffic. Approach to the City of Belize, from the north : view from the harbor. The cleanest aud neatest city on the Continent.

The writer has gleaned the following interesting facts, codcerning the Colony from the Almanac pnblished by Mr. Grrey Wilson :

"For the most part British Honduras is flat, with vast swamp and lagoons, having a depth of about three feet. It is to be remarked that nearly all these latter run parallel with the coast, indicating a probable old sea coast of which the present one formed the outer reef.

" The principal ones are : New River (twenty miles long), Crab Catchers, Revenge, ISTorthern, Southern and Mexico. Apart from mahogany and log wood. the forests of the Colony display a great wealth of tropical vegetation, including the cedar, rosewood, bullet tree, fustic, lignum vitai, sapodilla, Santa Maria, iron wood, red and white pine and India rubber trees, and the sarsaparilla, cochineal cactus, agave, pita, silk grass, istle, Yucatan hemp, indigo, and numerous other useful plants and shrubs, many of which possess medicinal properties. The cocoanut abounds, as does the cahoon palm and the groundnut, locally known by the name of pindas (carachis hypogaea), so exteusivelj- grown in and exported from Western Africa, which produces an oil equal to olive oil for domestic purposes, and is also excellent for fodder for horses and cattle.

" The only mountains are the ' Coxcomb' range, with an extreme elevation above the level of the sea of 4000 feet ; behind which there lay an unknown country until last year, when this portion of the Colony was, more or less, explored by Mr. Fowler; — the colonial secretary — two Europeans and ten Indians, Starting from Garbutt's Falls, on the Old River, a southeast course was struck to the seacoast at Deep river.

The country crossed was a series of hills and valleys at an elevation of from 1200 to 3000 feet. The westerly portion was slightly undulating prairie, affording a magnilicent pasture. No inhabitants were met, but several stone ruins, evidently of great antiquity, were discov^ered. The soil was as a rule rich, but interspersed with barren and rugged spots.

" A serviceable and direct road is now opened between Belize and the Grautemala frontier, leading to Paten.

"Traveling is almost all done by water in light-draft boats, ordorys,' the rivers are tortuous in their course, and in the dry season are almost unserviceable. The Hondo, the northern boundary dividing Honduras from Yucatan, is navigable for about sixty miles ; the ISTew river, sixty miles ; the Belize or Old river, which rises in Guatemala, for about 120 miles; the Sibuu, the former southern limit of the Colony, thirty miles; the Manitee, sixteen miles; Mullino and Sittee, sixteen miles; North Sturm creek, eighteen miles; the Monkey, Deep, Hope creek and Golden Stream, Maho, and the Tomagh, are all navigable for a few miles. The Sarstoon, forming the southern boundary, is a wide and deep stream, navigable by tolerable-sized vessels for ten miles from its mouth.

" The country along the banks of all these rivers is fertile, and affords good pasture land.

"A sea breeze is prevalent during eight or nine months of the year, rendering the climate, which is damp and enervating, fairly healthy. Ej)idemics are of rare occurrence."

The population of British Honduras, in 1871, in round numbers, was 25,000, but on account of the extreme difficulty of taking the census this number cannot be relied on. The population in 1880, according to the figures given by the late Oapt. George Marriner, chief of police, is about 28,000.

In 1870, the statement of the public receijjts and expenditures was :

The same for 1880 was :

From the year 3 871 to 1876, inclusive, the imports and exports ag-gregated about $1,900,000, but in 1877 thej^ fell off^— why, it is impossible to ascertain — to about $1,450,000.

There is no export duty on the produce of the province, while the import duty is, with very few exceptions, but ten per cent ad valorem.

Her Majesty's Colony of British Honduras is protected by a volunteer force composed of some twenty officers and about 350 non-commissioned officers and privates.

The commerce of the settlement has within the last six years gradually increased. In 1880 the number o± its registered vessels — which averaged twenty-five tons each — was sixty-five ; the number of unregistered vessels was. fifteen, making' a total of eighty vessels then belonging to the Colony.

Taxation, in all different phases and tints, will amount to about $5 per head upon a population of 30,000.

The land tax on the annual valuation of property in the towns is three per cent. If unoccupied or unused, one-and-a half per cent. Mahogany and log wood works, at the rate of $24 per mile base.

A plantation under ten acres, $100 ; lands on cays, per square mile, $100; house on caj'-s whether used or not, three per cent, all other lands, per square mile, $200 ; spirits manufactured in the Colony, per proof gallon 75c ; a still license, $500.

Other taxation, wheels of carts, carriage in Belize, each, $200 ; horses and mules used in Belize, Corozal or Orange Walk, S500; dogs in Belize, Corozal or Orange Walk, $200.

Although there are many other taxable articles, etc., from which the colonial government derives its support, the above mentioned are the principal sources from which the revenue is obtained."

As the steamer from N"ew Orleans approaches Belize from the north, it passes between a large cay named Nanger island, and the main land. Thisisletis thirty-six nautical miles distant from the town of Belize. From this point to the port, on the left hand, as the vessel steams onward it passes a succession of cays and islets, covered with cocoanut and mango groves.

They are under the domiuiou of the British crowu and belong- to the colony of Belize. They are private property, most of them being possessed by the Belize Estate and Produce Company, whose agents gather from the thousands of trees many myriads of eocoanuts annually, which are generally shipped to the United States per the Macheca steamers and American schooners. On one or two of these little islets small vegetable gardens h'ave been established.

If the steamer approaches in the night, the lights of the little seaport gradually begins to dawn on the western horizon. They grow brighter and brighter, until the city appears in sight, and soon afterwards the anchor drops off the cay fronting the city, where m years gone by a small fort, armed with several cannons and manned by the sturdy English colonists, protected the settlement from sack and destruction at the hands of the buccaneers who then infested the coasts and made their headquarters in the numerous islands that are bosomed on the blue Caribbean sea.,

The harbor of Belize is very spacious, and is remarkably well protected. It is almost entirely land-locked by the numerous islets which in reality form it. Large ships entering steer a generally northwest course to the middle buoy, but are compelled to anchor at least a mile and a half or even two miles off the city front. From this buoy the water gradually shoals. To the left of Fort Island, the mud brought down by the Belize river forms a bar which seldom carries more than three and a half to four feet of water. Inside this bar the soundings average ten feet up to the landing place fronting the customhouse.

The charming little city of Belize, the capital of British Hon - duras, presents a very picturesque view from the anchorage, directly opposite the deserted islet which fronts the mouth of the river.

Far off to the right, situated on a low point, are several longbuildings, which are the barracks of the volunteer forces. In their immediate front is a wide level parade, while to the left various neat and comely looking houses comprise the quarters of the officers. Cocoanut trees, laden with their precious burden of both meat and drink, rear their tall heads high above the houses, while along the barracks to the Point a row of young mango trees, many of them bearing fruit, thrive luxuriantly, in this climate so congeuial to their production, a climate of perennial spring and of perpetual vegetation.

From the entrance of the military reservation the sea runs a few hundred feet into the land, which soon again stretches outward and forms a little cape called Cox's point. At its extremity is an old schooner, which lies high and dry, having been stranded for some time back. From Oox's point the land along the city front curves inward, its greatest concavity being at that point where the signal station is situated. Then the curve gradually lessens until, at the governor's residence, it flushes with Cox's point.

The whole city front, from the extreme end of the military reservation to a little beyond the governor's residence is about one and a half miles.

A few hundred yards from Cox's point is situated a beautiful residence, deeply embowered in fruit trees and shadowed over by tall cocoanut trees, the nearest of which lean grace fully over the roof of the house. This edifice is owned by a Mr. J. H. Phillips, a rich merchant of the place This gentleman is one of the colonial commissioners to the ]S"ew Orleans Exposition.

A small space further to the left is the mouth of the Belize river. This latter discharges its waters inio the harbor immediately o]>posite the inner edge of Fort island, and is navigable for small boats ior 120 miles. It is the longest river in British Honduras, and has its source in the interior of Gautemala. It possesses a second mouth about four miles to the north of the one above-mentioned.

The cay which lies a few hundred feet from the mouth of the river has long been deserted.

Between this islet and the shore the water is very shoal, while much of the space is filled by a luxuriant growth of mangroves. Many of them attain the height of at least ten feet. Beneath their branches, which spread downward into the water, shoals of diiferent kinds of fish seek the cool shade and

Sport among their roots, whicli, in some cases, curve upwards and protrude above tbe water and then agaiu strike downward into the muddj^ bottom.

Still further to the left a tall flag-staff, painted white, stands fronting the wharf. This is the sigual station, upon which are hoisted the flags that apprise the colonists of the approach of a vessel, of her class and of her nationality.

In the vicinity of this station are situated the court-house, the police barracks, the council chamber and several other public offices. Immediately over the oiSce of the chief of police, stands the Belize light-house. A few yards more to the left is the Presbyterian church, while near it is the Wesleyau church, which is one of the largest in the city. The rectory, occupied by the pastor of the Church of England, is a pretty but modest and unassuming building. Again, further to the left is, the residence of the colonial secretary. This is one of the finest buildings in the Colony. It is surrounded by numerous cocoauut trees, some of which are very tall, while all bend under their load of fruit. At the end of the curve, or arc, as seen from the entrance, of the harbor, stands the house of his excellency the governor of the Colony. It is a very fine building, is airy and well ventilated, and also is shaded by a number of fine cocoanut trees. From this point the shore agaiu seems to recede and curve inward to th<^. left. A few hundred yards from the governor's residence stands a lone, solitary house, which may be considered as the last or most suburban building of the city.