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THE BERMUDEZ, OR SOMERS' ISLANDS.

The number of islands and cayos, composing the Bermudez group, is said to be more than 360 in all. When viewed from the ocean, they present a very picturesque appearance. Their elevation is trifling, the highest land scarcely attaining to the height of 500 feet above the level. In aspect they are similar to the West Indian groups, except that they remind the voyager, from their proximity and the sea flowing between them, of the lake scenery of North America and European climates.

They are geographically situated, centrally, in latitude 32° 20′ north, and longitude 64° 50' west; 600 miles east from the coast of South Carolina. They are estimated to contain 47 square miles, and a population, equally of blacks and Europeans, of about 12 or 14,000.

St. George's and St. David's, with other islands of minor importance, form several bays; and the harbor of St. George's is large enough to contain the whole British navy, but is difficult of ingress and egress, in consequence of the smallness of its entrance. The principal island or main land as it is called, is about 20 miles in length, but it rarely exceeds one and a half in width. In the centre of the island, and on the north side of a beautiful bay, is the town of Hamilton, now the seat of government. The only places fortified are Ireland and St. George's Islands, where forts have been lately built, which render the islands almost impregnable. At the former of these is the naval dock-yard, off which there is good anchorage and moorings laid down for 15 or 20 ships of war, though the breakwater is extensive enough to contain a large fleet of the line. There are two other moorings for the navy, viz. Murray's anchorage, near the ferry, and Five Fathom's Hole, off the mouth of St. George's harbor. With the exception of two or three small detachments, the chief military force is stationed at St. George's.

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The legislature of the Bermudez consists of a council of eight members and an assembly of thirty-six members, each parish electing four of the latter. The executive is vested in a governor, who, with the council, is appointed by the crown. The parliaments are septennial, but are always newly elected on the accession of a new sovereign. The church establishment is under the surveillance of the Bishop of Nova Scotia. Churches and sunday-schools are well endowed, and the attendance of the congregations and scholars respectable. The school system, adopted by late enactments, is expected to work beneficially on the educational interests of the people, but at present few of the inhabitants can read or write, and a general ignorance and superstition prevail. The condition of the people has been much improved, however, by the establishment of friendly societies, which have greatly sustained the welfare of the blacks since their emancipation.

The principal exports from the Bermudez' (the 'produce and manufactures of the islands) are arrowroot, potatoes, onions, and palmetto and straw hats, in producing which the people excel. They possess some 100 vessels of from 120 to 159 tons, which are chiefly employed in the trade between the northern colonies and the West Indies. The whale fishery off the islands employs some of the people, and might be profitably carried on by suitable capital: at present it yields little more than 1,000 or 1,200 barrels of oil a year. The waters about the islands and reefs abound in a great variety of fish, but none are cured for exportation. Cattle and sheep are plentiful, and large quantities of poultry are fed for supplying the shipping that call at these islands. All the ordinary products of tropical climates,

boch animal and vegetable, are produced in abundance: the fruits are vandas and excellent The arrow root of Bermudez has a world-wide celebrity, and as fuy equal to that brought from the East Indies.

We are no lite returns of the commerce of these islands, but in 1837 the s ca vale of ports amounted to £79,811, and of exports £25,275, Sips inward, 122, toas 11,651 ; outward, 126, tons 11,001. The revenue for the same year was £17,273, and the expenditures 219,374. The mails for Engins and the United States are received via Halifax and New-York modity, by the Royal West India Mail Steamships.

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hase of the Bermuda's is delightful during the summer, neither from the rigors of the north nor the fervid heat of more tropical Ne in the winter is much cold experienced; but the north-west Bows with rage in those latitudes in that season are awful, and lay waste the farms, and strew the shores with wrecks. The soil is deep, and much fer zed by the near proximity of the ocean and heavy dews, never sufferau chiaght, so common in the West Indies.

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The veganatures of these islands and Antigua, were the only colonial legis have bodies that abolished slavery without the intervention of apprenticeThe proportion of the £20,000,000 voted by parliament for compensate was 250,554 for 4,203 slaves, valued at £27 4s. 11d. each.

HONDURAS.

Thus sentement, on the east coast of Central America, lies between the part, es of 17- and 1 nrth latitude, and the meridians of 8 and 90° west jingitude: and is bounded north by Yucatan; west by Vera Paz, a por10% of the terra ey of Gantemala: south by Guatemala, and east by the Bat of Honduras. The area is 62,740 square miles, but the population is very sparse, and numbers only about 4.900, of which about 300 are Europeans. The coast is a low ft, and surrounded by an abundance of reefs and verdant islands, ca ed caves or keys. The approach to the shore is very dangerous, especialy during north, wards, and the different cayos resemble each other so much, as to mize the n ̈vigation of the channels between them extremely difficut except to experienced pilots. Proceeding inland, the surface rises gradus 11 an elevated region, covered with primeval forThe rivers are amper as, and some of them large; the principal, the Baire, is navigable 20 miles.

The climate is hot and humid, but is reported to be more healthy than the Jow ands of Mexion. The best, however, is much moderated by sea breezes, whort blow at regnat intervals, and his an average temperature of 80°. The rains are so heavy that the Sitan River sometimes rises 50 feet in a few hours, and are frequently ane mpanied by violent thunder-storms.

Volcanic products and marble, and other limestone formations, are found in various parts. The shores and banks of the rivers are covered with a deep and rich alluvial sol. The forests abound with the finest timbers, mahogany, logwood, &c, which are the stiple products of the colony, and their cutting the chief employment of the sett ers. Every settlement at Honduras has a plantain walk. Cassava, yams, arrowroot, maize, & c., are grown, but only for home comsumption; the sugar-cane, coffee and cotton succeed

well, but are little cultivated; cocoa, and an inferior kind of indigo, are indigenous.

The animal kingdom is composed of a large catalogue. European cattle, and other domestic animals, thrive exceedingly well. The American tiger, the tapir, armadillo, raccoons, grey fox, deer of various kinds, and a vast number of monkies, inhabit the country; birds and fish are in great variety, and testacea particularly plentiful. Many turtles are taken by the inhabitants upon the keys and islands of the coast, and some of those animals, so interesting to aldermen and civic bodies generally, are exported to England and the United States of America.

There are about 20,000 tons of shipping employed in the Honduras trade. The chief exports are mahogany, logwood, cochineal, hides, cocoa-nuts, cedar, &c., which are exchanged for British manufactures, and other European and colonial produce.

Honduras is governed by a superintendent, nominated by the crown, and seven magistrates, elected annually by the people. Trial by jury is in force, and the common laws of England generally; from the decisions of the courts, appeal lies to the superintendent and sovereign in council.

The amount of compensation received by the proprietors of slaves, at their emancipation, was £101,959; the average value of a slave being £120 4s. 7d., a larger sum than in any other colony.

Balize is the only town in the settlement, and is situated at the mouth of the river of the same name, in latitude 17° 29′ north, and 88° 8' west longitude. It consists of about 500 houses, chiefly of wood; the streets are regular, and the whole town shaded by cocoa-nut and tamarind trees. Its chief edifices are the government house, a church, and several chapels; it has a public and several private schools.

The coast of Honduras was discovered by Columbus in 1502, but the date of its first settlement is uncertain. It was transferred by Spain to England by treaty in 1670, but its occupation was long contested by the Spaniards, who committed great havoc among the logwood cutters until the year 1793, since which time the sovereignty of the country has remained quietly in the hands of the British.

The government of Guatemala, in 1834, gave a charter to an English company, called "The Eastern Coast of Central America Commercial and Agricultural Company," for the whole of the department of Vera Paz, lying directly west of the Balize; and, subsequently, a further grant of the district of Santo Thomas, on the Bay of Honduras. This company is said to have established settlements, and made many improvements upon their grants; but it does not appear that any transfer of political authority accompanied these patents.

Further south and east of the British Possessions, in Central America, is a Kingdom of Native Indians, under the protection of the British crown, and which, from its proximity and the political connection it maintains with Great Britain, claims a next place to the colonies of that country

THE KINGDOM OF MOSQUITIA,

To which the above note alludes, has its existence only from the weakness of the surrounding nations, and is properly, as it was under the authority of Spain, a portion of the states of Honduras and Nicaragua. Its present po

sition and the claims, which the government of Great Britain, in its behalf. have put forth, have concentrated the eyes of the whole world on the concerns of this soi disant kingdom, and rendered all intelligence, in reference to it, interesting and important. Little, however, is known respecting it, and until lately few persons were acquainted with its existence. The statements published by interested parties, every now and then, are not wholly reliable, and must be read with caution.

The country of Mosquitia forms the north-eastern projection of Central America, which lies between 11° and 16 north latitude and 83 and 86° west longitude, and extends itself from the mouth of the Roman River (exactly 15 5′ 5′′ north latitude and 85° 40′ west longitude, 19 miles eastward of Cape Honduras) along the Caribbean Sea to Punta Gorda, (exactly 110 47' west longitude.)

The King of Mosquitia lays claim, besides these, to the territory between Punta Gorda and Chiriqui Lagoon, and also to the Corn Islands.

The Mosquitian territory is divided from the Central American Republics by a chain of mountains, which extends from the confines of Veragua, almost in the centre of the isthmus, north-westwardly to the vicinity of Lake Nicaragua, then northerly from the Great Falls of Saint Quan to the springs of the Blewfields River, and from these north-westwardly to the neighborhood of Comalapa and Matagalpa, towns belonging to the State of Nicaragua, passing these to the Segovia River, and from this point north-westerly to the Guayapa River, from which latter point the boundary runs towards Honduras, in a direction from north-east, to the embrochures of the Roman River.

Those territories which lie between the Punta Gorda and the Chiriqui Lagoon, and also the Corn Islands, have been hitherto contested by the States of Costa Rica and Nicaragua and the King of Mosquitia. The settling of these differences and the arrangement of the claims of the Mosquitian king, had, by the mediation of England, been attempted in 1841, for which purpose the late deceased king, Robert Charles Frederick, (!!!) accompanied by the then governor of Balize, Col. McDonald, went into the contested country, on board the English frigate the Tweed, where the negotiations were carried on with Don Quijano, the then commander of Quan Del Norte. It appears, however, that no determination was had, and the affair was transferred to the charge of the late Patrick Walker, appointed in May, 1842, British Consul-general and Political Agent, and accredited as such in the Kingdom of Mosquitia.

Setting aside these contested parts, if we take the southern boundary at Punta Gorda, the Mosquitian Territory contains a surface of 26,000 square miles; but if the contested parts are included, the superficial contents would amount to about 34,000 square miles.

It would be tiresome to wade through the labyrinth of diplomacy which has entangled the history of this territory. As a last resort, the British have determined on supporting the claims of this kingdom against the neighboring repablics, and have already taken possession of the Port of San Juan de Nicaragua and secured its cession to his Mosquitian majesty. How this matter will end it is impossible to say; but it is probable that if no other nations interfere in behalf of the co-claimants, the Kingdom of Mosquitia be consolidated within the utmost limits claimed.

ultimate object of the British, it is reasonable to suppose, is to the exclusive use of the Rio San Juan and Lake of Nicaragua, in o communicate there-through with the Pacific Ocean, and eventually

form a junction between the Atlantic and Pacific, by cutting a ship-canal through the narrow strip of land between the lake and the ocean. This has long been projected, and would be the cheapest means of effecting an object so desirable to the commercial world. The means taken to effect this are exceptionable, and will be condemned by persons of all parties as an act unworthy the magnanimity of the British nation.

The country is one of the richest in tropical America. It produces all the staples of the West Indies, and large quantities of mahogany, logwood and other cabinet materials, besides cochineal, dye-woods and medicinal drugs in abundance. The climate, however, is unhealthy, and unfit for the residence of Europeans.

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* Connects the Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers. Connects Lakes Ontario and Erie. Overcomes Sault St. Louis. 20 miles from the mouth of the Ottawa.

RAILROADS IN THE BRITISH POSSESSIONS.

There are as yet but few railroads in the British possessions: those in a finished state and in working order, are the " Niagara and Queenston," 7 miles long; the "Lachine and Montreal," 9 miles long, connecting the two places, and the "Champlain and St. Lawrence," 15 miles, from La Prairie to St. John's; from which place it will be continued to the NewYork State line. There are, however, several extensive lines, either progressing to completion, or projected and definitively settled upon; some intended to connect with lines from the United States, and others with those of the interior. The principal of these are:

1. The "St. Andrew's, Woodstock and Quebec Railroad."

2. A line of railroad from Halifax, through Nova Scotia and New-Brunswick, to unite with the above at Great Falls, on the St. John's River.

3. The "St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad," now constructing, and which will join the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad on the province line. By these, the connection between Montreal and Portland will be completed. There are also several lines in New-Hampshire and Vermont, which will ultimately be extended to Montreal.

4. A line from Quebec, via Toronto, to Hamilton, to connect with the "Great Western Railway" at that place.

5. The "Great Western Railway," which will extend from Hamilton to a terminus opposite Detroit, Michigan.

6. A line from London to Goderich.

7. A line in a south-western direction from Quebec, to connect with the "St. Lawrence and Atlantic" line, which will thus connect Quebec with Portland and the whole system of New-England lines.

There are other important lines projected, but the uncertainty of some and the non-plausibility of others, renders it unnecessary to enlarge upon our catalogue.

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