of Bluefields is Pearl Cay Lagoon, affording a toler able harbor for small vessels. A considerable river, the Wawashaan, falls into this lagoon. Still thirty miles to the northward, a large stream, the Rio Grande, flows into the sea. Its mouth is obstructed by a dangerous bar, but, when this is passed, it is said the river may be navigated for a distance of a hundred miles inland. Further to the northward are the Prinzapulka, Tongla, Brackma, Wava, Duckwara, and other considerable streams. Next in order is the Rio Wanks, the longest, if not the largest river in Central America, which reaches the sea at Cape Gracias á Dios. Toward their sources, among the mountains of Honduras and Nicaragua, all these streams are rough and rapid, but as they approach the ocean they lose their turbulent character and flow majestically into the sea. During the seasons of the rains they usually overflow their banks, and, with the numerous creeks and lagoons, constitute a net-work of temporary lakes parallel to the sea-coast, which permit interior navigation all the way from Bluefield's Lagoon to Cape Gracias. The climate of the coast is moist, hotter than the interior, and not as salubrious, although, in the latter respect, probably entitled to rank equally high with the West India islands generally. The greater part of the soil

dence of the king, and his English tutor or guardian, over which floats the British flag. At some distance from this is the House of Justice, which is under the Mosquitia flag. Says Macgregor, 'An ensign and standard for the Mosquito nation was sent to the country from England.' In October, 1847, Bluefields and its dependencies contained 599 inhabitants, of all ages, of which 111 were whites and 488 blacks. These occupied two villages, the largest of which is Bluefields proper, containing 78 houses; the lesser, 'Carlsruhe,' the Prussian colony, consisting of 92 souls, occupying 16 houses. Very few of these houses are built of boards; but one of this kind is the residence of Mr. Walker, diplomatic agent and consul general of England, with whom his Mosquito majesty resides. There is neither church nor priest in the place; but Mr. Green, an English doctor, reads some passages from the Bible on Sundays in the House of Justice.”

is fertile, and capable of producing in abundance cotton, sugar, rice, indigo, and the other tropical staples. There are some extensive tracts of open or savanna land covered with grass, well adapted for the raising of cattle. There are also certain broad, sandy plains, not fitted for cultivation, but covered with fine pines, some of them large enough for the masts of ships; and the banks of the rivers generally are covered with forests of mahogany, rosewood, caoutchouc, and other valuable trees.* Altogether, the Coast has many natural elements of wealth; but it may be doubted if its settlement by a civilized race will be effected until the equally fertile, but more elevated, cooler, and more salubrious regions of the interior and on the Pacific coast have become filled by an active and enterprising population. Their greater advantages will claim for them the first attention of emigrants, and to these alone can we look for the political and social regeneration of Central America, and for the ultimate rescue of the Mosquito Shore from its present condition of desolation and barbarism.

* The following passage is from a Memorial on the Mosquito Shore, prepared by the Council of State of Jamaica, and transmitted to the Board of Trade and Plantations in 1773:

"The climate of the Mosquito Shore is milder than any in the West India islands, and the air is more salubrious; the lands are every where well watered, and every where fertile. The soil is rich in an uncommon degree. The necessaries, and even the luxuries of life present themselves on all sides. The rivers, lagoons, and sea abound in excellent fish, and the coasts afford the greatest number of excellent turtle, both for food and the shell, of any country of equal extent in the world. The cotton-tree, cocoa, and vanilla flourish spontaneously all over the country. Indigo, too, is a native, and seems to be the same with that of Guatemala, which is accounted the best of any. The sugar-cane here arrives at as great perfection as in any of the islands; and of mahogany and sarsaparilla the quantity exported annually is so great as to render the settlement already an object of no small importance to the commerce of Great Britain-no less than 800,000 feet of the former, and 200,000 pounds of the latter, exclusive of 10,000 pounds of tortoise-shell, having been shipped to England in 1769. The banks of the rivers and lagoons are equally well adapted to the growth of logwood as any part of Honduras; and we have reason to think that there is here enough to supply all Europe."