Duval, B. R A narrative of life and travels in Mexico and British Honduras. THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL ENDOWED BY THE DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETIES UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL i fe * Jgff I 00016851220 LIFE AND TRAVELS ih -MEXICO IM BB1T1SH HOfsDOR&S. EVi^REV, B. R. DUVAL, Late cftlie Virginia Antiu&t Conference. Present Addre ss — Dispatch, New Keet County^ V». FI1LV5 THIRD. EDITION. ;*d ; iVn ,.- BOSTON: W. F. BROWN & CO., Printers, ai8 Franklin Street, H . .-. - .'18 8.!.' -\''M, •-: " " -. ■ ■*''.' • ■■:.. 1 DEPARTMENT of MIDDLE AMERICAN RESEARCH TTIHE TfULANE UNOVERSDTYof LOUOSDANA NEW OHJQ.IEANS \ NARRATIVE -\ LI FE. AN\D TRAVELS in MEXICO AND BRITISH HONDURAS. BY REV. E. R. D^UVAL, Late of the Virginia Annual Conference. Present Address— Dispatch, New Kent County, Vs. THIRD EDITION. BOSTON: W. F. Bro vf N & Company, Printer s, Xo. :iS Frar.klm Stre-t. PREFACE. It has frequently been suggested to me that I .ought to write an account of my trip to the countries from which I have just returned, as a means of making something for the support of my family, as well as affording useful information concerning those beautiful lands ; and I now undertake to comply with those suggestions. But, as I can spare very little time, I shall simply aim to relate such things as I would tell in a social circle, and in the same style ; hoping that some good may be done, as the readers shall see the great religious privileges they enjoy, compared with the people of Mexico, and their consequent obligations to God for a free Bible in our native tongue. I am sorry that my want of means causes the price to be higher than it otherwise would be. B. R. DUVAL. Baltimore, April, 1879. A NARRATIVE OP LIFE AND TRAVELS MEXICO AND BRITISH HONDURAS. On the first of December, 1864, 1 was living about twenty miles south of Petersburg, Virginia, near Stony Creek Depot, sawing lumber and grinding corn, at a large steam mill ; but before night nearly everything I had was stolen, or burned up, and in a few hours I was reduced from a comfortable inde- pendence to real destitution. But I did not repine, but exerted myself to the utmost, to support my family and pay my debts ; and soon after the Sur- render, I went to work and fixed up the saw mill, and hoped that at current rates, I might yet be able to saw lumber enough to pay out. Bat lumber soon iell to a price. not sufficient to pay expenses; and as soon as I saw this, I went to a most honorable lawyer, and asked him to make a deed of the most equitable character, and sell me. out* for the benefit of my creditors. This was done, and we received only tho allowance made by law to in- solvent debtors. This was in May, 1866, and I was at a loss to know what to do. I could hear of no place where I could be supported, as a preacher, and my presid- ing elder told me that he knew not what to advise. as the times were such that he hardly knew how to advise himself. About this time, I had seen accounts in the papers of a settlement of Southern people in Mexico, under the auspices of such men as Captain Maury, General Price, and others of high character ; and these accounts stated that the whole number amounted to 5,000. From one of these publications I inferred that there was no Methodist ■ preacher among them, and 1 felt that there was the place for me, if I could get there; and it ..certainly seemed providential, when I found a friend who would advance me the necessary amount. My deliberate judgment, formed after much earnest prayer and the cheerful concurrence of my family, then was, that it was my duty to go to Mexico, and my hope was that I could support my family by working as a surveyor, for which I had prepared myself, and preach gratuitously to ray countrymen till I could organize* Accordingly, on the 22nd day of May, I started from Petersburg, with Mrs. Duval and three daughters and a son, for New York, to take passage by steamer Manhattan, for Yera Cruz, by Havana. The weather was very pleasant, and soon after getting in the Gulf stream, we saw a beautiful phenomenon, of which I had never heard. It was late in the afternoon, and the atmosphere was misty, and there appeared over a great part of the sky hundreds of rings just the size of the sun, very bright, and clearly defined. The sight was very novel and beautiful, and the surgeon of the ship told us that he had only seen it a few times, and then only in the Gulf stream. I was very much pleased to see the children so much interested in looking at the flying fish, the nautilus, the beautiful dolphins, with their colors changing like chameleon, the sea birds, and other things seen only on the ocean. There were several very agreeable travelers on board, and one of them was especially kind to us. He was a Spaniard, who had a large wholesale house in New York, and was going to Havana. Having heard opr history, he feared that we should have hard times in Mexico, and having seen that we had four children, corresponding Inage and eei with his four children, that he had j left in great 8 comfort at his country seat near New York, he showed our children the four buttons on his wristbands, which contained the likenesses of his children, and wept bitterly, saying, that he felt very much for us After awhile he told me that before he reached Ha vana he would give me aietter to a friend in Vers Cruz, which he knew would do me good. And indeed it did, for it contained an order for fifty dollars ii gold. As he was about to leave the ship, in Havana he shook hands with me and Mrs. Duval, most eor- dially, and kissed all the children, as affectionately as if they were his own, and was too much affected to speak. This kind-hearted man, and several others of his nation, have satisfied me that there are many who are not protestants whose actions look more like the Christianity of tne New Testament than the actions af many who boast of their evangelical faith. The time of our stay in the beautiful harbor 01 Havana was too short to give us a chance to see much of this famous city, but the church in whicfc the remains of Columbus are deposited was pointed out to us, and awakened peculiar thoughts in oiu minds, What wonderful results have followed froir the enterprise of that great man ! And how differeni would nave been thehistory of theworld,if Colnmbui ^^ nix, wtamggan to think that the reign of 21 Maximilian was very near it3 end; and when he himself arrived, on his way to Europe, as we heard, we could doubt no more. I saw him riding out daily for a week or two, and thought he would get off before we could ; but as all our countrymen were preparing to go away, and our principal friends, particularly General Hindman and his family, urged us to hasten away, and gave all the help they r could afford, we started off also. We stopped in Cordova the first night, and saw General Price and family, and we felt very sorry to leave such noble and kind-hearted friends. The next morning we left Cordova before day, ana a little before sunrise we looked back and saw the snow on the summit of Mount Orizaba as deep crimson as the clouds in the east. As the sun rose the color of the snow faded, just as the clouds faded, till the snow assumed its usual dazzling whiteness. It was a grand sight. Five hundred acres of crim- scn snow more than three miles high ! Soon after breakfast we came to Mr. Fink's coffee plantation, of one hundred acres. I learned from him that the annual yield of coffee is from one thousand to twelve hundred pounds an acre, and that atth« lowest-estimate, allowing three cents a pound for expense of cultivation, packing, husking, &c- and thirteen cenU a pound ibr the caeli^price 22 at his dorr, there is a clear profit of ten ceDt a pound, or one hundred dollars an acre. The coffee berry is very much like the black-heart cherry, but with scarcely any stem, each berry con- taining two grains. The berries are planted whole, in ground well worked up, and a scaffold about three feet high is made over the bed, and covered with large leaves, so as to protect the young plants from the sun until they are two to three feet high, when they are set out in rows eight feet one way snd nine the other, and kept free from bushes, weeds, &c, antil they are three or four feet high. They are then cut down with a sharp knife, about six inches from the ground, and four to five sprouts spring up aiound the little stumps, and are allowed to grow about five feet high, when the tops are cut off to keep the trees from growing too high. The next spring these beautiful bushes will be covered with very fragrant white flowers that per« fume the whole atmosphere, and these are soon fol- lowed by green berries, that soon become pink, and then deep purple, and then they are ready for gathering. They are then dried in the sun, daily, until dry enough to put away without danger of moulding, and in the following march, when the weathe r^fiM erv hot and dry, they are . dried thron^My atid beaten in a trong-h -rmtil tlie grain? 23 are separated from the husk, and after being win- nowed and picked over, they are ready for market. This is the Mexican way of preparing the coffee berries. The Brazilian way is said to be quite different There they strip off the berries from the twigs, the unripe as well as the ripe, and soak and work them up in water until the pulp 3s washed from the grains, and then the grains are dried tillready for the bags, In some places where the heat is very great, the woods are trimmed out, so as to leave only enough trees to shade the coffee bushes, and the coffee planta are set out so as to have the benefit of the shade. This was the case with Mr. Fink's plantation. In other places, suitable trees for shade are planted amongthe coffee bushes, while in other pi aces, where the heat is less, the coffee needs no shade. A coffee plantation will bear a fall crop in four years from the setting out of the scions, and will last twenty or thirty years. I heard an old gentle- man say that he knew one, in southern Mexico, that is forty years old. The chocolate beans are raised from trees, planted rn the shade, like the coffee trees: and the profit of raising them is said to be greater; and well made chocolate is justly considered a great luxt 24 A^out five miles before we reached the railroad, an axle of our wagon broke, and we had to ask help of some French troops, who took my family in then wagons, and, with the ntmost kindness and polite ness, carried them to the hotel, and tlms saved us from spending a night in the mountains, exposed to the Liberals, who were only held in check by theii fear of the French. A three hours' ride on the railroad brought us to Yera Cruz, which is, in November, a very pleasant place. The houses are generally two stories high, and the roofs are flat and covered with a very hard mortar, which turns water perfectly. If the street? were bridged, one conld walk almost all over the city on the tops of the houses. Much work is done on the house tops, and chickens and turkies are raised as in a yard, and in November and the wintei months no place could be so pleasant for sleeping as the housetop. The porters in Yera Cruz are a remarkable set of men. They wear felt hats, with enormous brims that reach over their shoulders, and I have seen them with three or four hats on at a time, so that the brims made a soft padding J gn the shoulder, which had to sustain the weigntSof? four hundred pound Sj^AHJHMemen told me that he knew a por ter to^irry a box ,.of hardware, weighing between 25 eleven and eight hundred pounds, and I have.6een enough to make me believe it. They are more Spanish than Indian. After I had been in "Vera Cruz a few days, the agent at the depot told me that I would have to take away my baggage, as they were clearing out the warehouse, to make room for Maximilian's bag- gage, which was expected the next day. I then felt confident that he would soon leave Mexico, and I was very much surprised to learn that he had yielded to the entreaties of representatives of the priests and property-holders of Mexico, and returned to the capital. While I was truly sorry to learn his subsequent fate, I was not at all surprised. I saw and heard enough to satisfy me that he was one of the most kind hearted rulers in the world, and that he had most fully identified himself with Mexico, and that according to his ability he labored for the good of Mexico. In "Vera Cruz, Cordova and Orizaba, where his authority was supreme, we had better order, better laws, more certain justice and much lighter taxes than I have any hope of seeing again while I live, .tfjjfc. I think thaPihe want of politi c al & ability as a statesman was the one great want of Maximilian. Mirehal Bazaine may have had the abil^jtbut 26 Maximilian would not be advised by him. I thhik that the Empress Carlotta had the ability ,but though she w as the most accomplished princess of Europe, and even beloved by Maximilian's enemies,he would not take her advice. Maximilian was exceedingly fond of horses, and I think that if he had loved them enough to confine himself to them, and to give her the reins of the people, while he held the reins of the horses, it would have been a wise distribution of power, and the very sal vation of Mexico. That the enemies of Maximilian were destitute of principle is evident from their opposing the claims of General Ortega, a white man and a gen- tleman of literary, military and legal merit, and the Chief Justice of Mexico, and, as such, the constitu- tional President of Mexico until a new election should be held. But they trampled on the Mexican constitution, and helped a blood-thirsty half- Indian to usurp the office constitutionally belonging to the honored aud accomplished General Ortega. The mines of Mexico are wonderful for silver and gold. Three thousand mines have been already discovered, but only one hundred rand fifty are worked, a njjjy&yth ese produce about $20,000,000 a year. ST A traveler in Mexico ssys that two poor Indian brothers lived in a little town in northern Mexico, on the borders of a stream, and that one of them tried to buy a quart of Indian corn one morning, but could not get credit for it. That night there was a great rain, and the banks of the stream were over- flowed, 80 that the surface of the earth opposite the town washed off. The next morning the brothers, looking across the swollen stream, saw some pieces of silver on the bank, and swam over and picked *p a good deal, and laid claim, according to Mexican custom, to the mine thus discovered; and Uien they had silver and credit enough. During that year the mine produced $2S0,000 and the poor Indians did not know what to do with it. They made very little change in their living, as to dwelling, clothing or eating, and really had no use for so much money; but one of them filled a bag with dollars on a feast day, and called the people together and scattered the dollars among the crowd. It was a very novel amusement and vastly entertaining to the people, who must have regarded die poor Indian as a most eloquent actor and entitled to hearty applause. The Indian himself was greatly delighted at the performance of th e p eople, and re- peated his original performance -.on. subsequent fes- tivals. , jjtf9 merit of Middle \ 28 It cannot reasonably be expected, that Mexico should flourish, while the Christian Sabbath is so little regarded. On Sunday morning, many of the people go to the cathedrals and churches, for a little while, but nearly all day the stores are open, and in the cities, the afternoons are devoted to chicken fights, bull fights, and gambling. Even the priests are gamblers. One of them frequently passed our door in Cordova, on Sunday at three o'clock, going to the bull fight, with a fighting chicken under his arm, and a bag of dollars in his hand. And yet, it was understood that these same priests would impose severe penance on any who might be known to have read the Bible. While we lived in Cordova, one Sunday a little before dinner, the son of our landlord stopped at our door, and seeing one of our daughters, reading in a New Testament, half English and half Spanish, asked her what book she was reading. She invited him into the room and hanied him the book. After he was seated he opened the book at the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John, "Let not your heart be troubled," &c, and read the Spanish with the most intense interest. He was too much absorbed to notice 1 anjfejdgg around him for pearly an hour, whenjijjis taother^eeing him so deeply interested, a^e& him what, book he was reading, but he did 29 not hear her, till she raised her voice and called out "Francisco, Francisco," when he looked towards her, and answered. She asked him "What hook are you reading?" He said. ; 'It is most beautiful." ♦'What is it?" she asked. He then turned to the title page, and read the name, when she immediately said, "You ought not to read that book, for if the priest should hear of it, he would impose very heavy penance on you." He replied, "I did not know it was wrong to read this book, and you never told me it was wrong." Now, here was a youth of about twenty, who was charmed with the first chapter he had ever read in the New Testament, while many in our own country seem scarcely to value our great privileges. On a trip I once made, I bad an Indian driving the wagon, and I took out my Testament and read the twenty fifth chapter of Matthew to him, in Spanish, and at its close, he said it wes "beautiful, very beautiful." I then talked to him in Spanish, and asked him how the Mexicans felt when they died. .He said they were very sad, but bore it as well as they could. I asked him if he ever knew a Mexicafl||j; r > §9p}e chat the dying person was eiceedingly happy, wiple .all so others in the room were weeping. He was amazed at it, and could not understand how it could be. I asked him if he was sure that he loved God with all his heart, and was sure that God loved him as his child, would he be sorry to go to live with God, if God should call him. He said, "No." I said, if you do not know that God loves you, and feel that you love him with all your heart, you will be afraid to die. But my people, when they felt that they were sinners, and that God was angry with them, prayed till they felt that the Holy Spirit had come into their hearts, to fill them with joy, and make then know that God had pardoned all their sins, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, and then they loved God, so that they were not afraid to do their duty, and were not afraid to die. Miguel was astonished at all this ; and this talk increased my desire to be useful to the Spanish race, winch has sent so many martyrs to the Kingdom of Heaven. I had hoped to preach, in Spanish, to tens ot thousands of the Mexicans, and to see thousands of them converted, and to hear hundreds of happy converts shouting, in old fashioned Methodist style, the highest praises of our glorioM^edeemer ; but these joys Ar e .n ot for me but for some others, who shall bear, the glad tidings of the Gospel to the pie' of Mexico. 31 , The religion of the Bible has never prevailed In Mexico, and I cannot think that this country, so rich in minerals, so delightful in climate, so grand in scenery, with its rich table lands, so elevated and healthy, will much longer suffer a "famine of hear- ing the words of the Lord." Old Spain, as well as New Spain, can now re ceive the Gospel freely, and in both countries the Bible circulates without authorized opposition; and the lands where the Bible and its readers were burned for heresy are now receiving the morning rays of the Sun of Bighteousness. And who knows, but in the coming reign of the Messiah, in Mexico, as it was in Jerusalem, "a great company of the priests may be obediant to the faith." The first steamer that left Yera Cruz for New Orleans, after our arrival, charged more than we could possibly raise, and when a New Orleans steamer unexpectedly came to Yera Cruz, with freight, we were unable to procure passage in her, without pledging our baggage for our fare. At last, the matter was arranged, and we took passage in the Alliance, and after a stormy voyage, we en- tered the Mississippi just as a furious norther set in, and darkened the' heavens over th&^i^L As soon as Tie reached New Orleans, I weni'to the office 01 the Nev? Orleans Christian, Advocate* w^ere I S3 learned that the Louisiana Conference would meet in Baton Rouge in about a week, and I deter- mined to try to get there. I then called on a commission house, to which v ] I had a letter from (general Hindman, but the gen- tleman was absent from the city, and I could get no help towards getting my baggage released. I then asked a very accommodating clerk in the house if there were any Virginia merchants in the city, and I asked to be directed to them if he knew any. He kindly went with me to several whose relations ' I knew, and also to others whom 1 knew nothing of; and they kindly- loaned me about two hundred dollars, and I immediately settled with the captain, and we went on board a river boat, on our way to Baton Rouge. "We had a very pleasant trip, and found a very good home, and experienced great kindness from our people and preachers during the Conference. Bishop Payne presided, and very kindly intro- duced me to the Conference, as one whom he had known for about twenty years. I stated my case to the Conference, and asked to have a circuit assigned me, as 1 wished, abov^|^Lthin^s, to be < engaged nMikft^cthodist Ministry. I wgj|eu*, to" the Delhi circuit, which had not hAjHi preacher for ye^rjyji&ying "been ruined by 33 the war, and repeated overflows of the Mississippi, Our traveling expenses from Baton Rouge came to $70, and after spending a month on the circuit, aad preaching around at the principal appointments, the brethren made an effort to raise something for my necessities ; and after trying out of the church, as well as among the members, they only raised $25.36, less than half the traveling expenses, foe which one of the brethren had bound himsel£ I saw that I could not live there. What should I do ? I thought that I might make something by lecturing on Mexico, up in Missouri, or other places, beginning at Memphis; and I started out, hoping to make enough during the winter to sup- port me on the circuit the rest of the year. When I got to Memphis, I found that no interest was felt in Mexico, and the expenses, such as room-rent, lights, fuel, taxes, &c, would probably be mor-e than the receipts. I then thought I would continue my trip, preach- ing and soliciting help for my circuit as a mission- ary field, as it really was; and leaving some kind friends in Memphis, I did myself the great pleasure of calling on my venerable friend, and first presid- ing elder, Kev. Moses Broek, who gave me my license to preach forty-four years ago This was a memorable visit. I never can forget it. Butthk 34 most remarkable man has, since my visit, beeft taken to Lis reward, and it is with the warmest emotion that I hope to meet him, with the rest at the heroes of the Gospel warfare, in the weary pilgrim's home. In Jackson, Tenn., I met an old friend, Rev. Amos W. Jones, president of the Female College at that place, and had some very happy meetings with the brethren. They were very kind to me there, as also at Brownsville, on the way to St. Louis. The thermometer was below zero when I reached that city, and I soon found my way to the hospitable dwelling of my old friend, Rev. Dr. WV A. Smith, where I was most kindly received by all the family, who were surprised to find me so much out of my latitude. For several weeks I attended meetings at the Centenary church, of which Dr. Smith was pastor,, and enjoyed the services very much. I was in a happy frame of mind while in St. Louis. The re- membrance of former happy times, and of recent dangers and privations, and the considerations of present want, and the glorious prospects of eternal blessedness so wrought upon me, that it was one 01 the happiest seasons of my life. 5 One night I was going to church through one of feihe finest streets of the city, and saw on each side 35 brown stone mansions with marble steps and costly windows, and all the signs 01 wealth, while I was shivering with cold because of the threadbare rai- ment I wore; and I commenced repeating!: to myself : " No foot of land do I possess, No cottage in this wilderness, A poor wayfaring man ; I lodge awhile in tents below, And gladly wander to and fro, Till I ray Canaan gain. Nothing on earth I call my own. A stranger to the world nnknown, I all their goods despise ; trample on their whole delight. And seek a city out of sight, A city in the skies. There is my honse and portion fair, My treasure and my heart are there, And my abiding home; For me my elder brethren stay. And angels beckon me away, And Jesus bids me coma. 1 come, thy servant, Lord, replies, I come to meet thef , in the skies, And claim my heavenly rest; Now, let the pilgrim's journey end. Now, O my Saviour, brother, friend, Receive me to thy breast." My heart was so transported with joy; at the con templation of these heavenly views, that I envied ■sot the owners of these fin© houses, bat felt titat I 36 would not give my interest in that "house not made with hands eternal in the heavens," for all the things of this earth. I continued my trip up the river to Jefferson City sad Glasgow, and preached Jn both places, and was very kindly received by the brethren. In Glasgow I found Bome of my old acquaintances, and felt more like I was in Old Virginia than anywhere else, and was very liberally assisted. ,When I returned to St. Louis I found that I eould not get enough to support me on my circuit, and I tried to get a circuit where I might make out the rest of the year, though it might be one thousand miles from my family ; but I could find none. The brethren in St. Louis, and the other places named, have my heartfelt thanks for their kindness, and but for their goodness we must have suffered very much. Having spent about a month in Missouri, I went down to New Orleans, and, at the suggestion of Dr. Keener, I went to the dedication of the new Methodist church in Houston, Texas, and on my -.return I was delayed by high water, so as to roiss the boat to Delhi. This gave me most unexpectedly a spare week in New Orleans ; and as there was a great deal of 93c<^tement on the subject of emigration to Brazil Venezuela,, and* British Honduras, I went around and made enquiries about all these places. Two persons offered to pay my fare to British Honduras, and one of them offered me great assistance, if I should like the country and determine to settle there. When I considered that in a few months the supplies I had received 'during my trips would be exhausted, and that the flat lands on the Missis- sippi were all under water, and that there was a very poor chance of support from a circuit now more like a lake than a cotton-field, I thought it was my duty to accept the offers of my friends, and make a trip to British Honduras to look at the country. Accordingly, I went up to see my family, and found the country, with very few exceptions, navi- gable for large boats, and after a few days' prepaid ation I started to the Mississippi in a little skiff made of plank, and after two days' paddling over the public road, which we could scarcely touch with our paddles, I reached the great river, a distance of forty miles, and took a boat for New Orleans. After a few more days I started, in the steamer Trade Wmd, for British Honduras, about nine hundred miles from Kew Orleans. About, twenty emigrants were on board, and we had a pleasan' trip of about six days, ending in the harbor of Belize, the capital of the colony. Belize is a pleasant town of about seven thousand inhabitants, of whom about three hundred are Eng- lish, Scotch, Americans and other white people, and the rest are of African, Spanish and Indian raees. The African race is much the most numerous, and nearly all the common laborers are of that class. Some of the houses are very handsome, especially the governor's house, which is built of mahogony, and the Wesleyan chapel, which is built of brick and Mahogany, with pine floors. This was built mostly by funds sent from England for the use of the Wesleyan missionaries, who have a flourishing society and mission school, nearly all of the African race. There are two churches served by ministers of the Church of England, a Scotch Presbyterian church, a Baptist church, and a Roman Catholic church, all very well attended. Sundays are more rigidly kept in Belize than in any other town I ever knew. Nothing but medi- cine is sold on Sunday. Even milk is not allowed to be sold. ^sim&p There are several very large wholesale stores, and as the import duty is only about ten percent, goods are cheap, especially linen, woolen, arid very light summer goods. There is no license charged for 89 selling anything, except a license of $200 a year for selling intoxicating drinks. There is a revenue or excise tax of one cent a pound on sugar made and usedrin the colony, and a similar tax of forty-seven- and-a half cents a gallon on all rum made and used in the colony. These are all the taxes I ever heard of in Belize. Those who consider a national debt a blessing, and heavy .taxes a luxury, would have great complaints against British Honduras." The houses of Belize look odd for want of chim- neys, a3 the weather is so warm that no fires are needed, except in the kitchens. The markets are very well supplied with fish, turtles, lobsters, clams, conchs, &c, of good quality, and very cheap. The vegetables and fruits of the tropics are very plentiful, though much dearer than in ' Mexico, and the butchers' meats cannot be praised for quality nor price. Soon after reaching Belize, I joined a party of Southerners, and made a trip up the Belize river, at the mouth of which Belize is situated, in a large boat, called a pitpan, with an awning or cover, sufficient to shelter six persons from the sun and rain. The pitpan is dug ont of a large tree, of mahogany or Spanish cedar, about forty-eight feet long,, abou 40 forty inches wide, and nearly flat on the bottom, and about eighteen inches deep in the middle, but get- ting more shallow toward each end, where the depth k only about, four inches and the width about two feet. The timber is trimmed off the bottom to cor- respond to the depth of the boat, and thus for about four feet from, each end it is out of the water. This style of boat is the best for dragging over the shoals and for steering rapidly, so as to shun the rocks and trees, where the descent is rapid ; for the steeriDg is done with paddles at both ends, which is the only practicable way in a narrow and swift current, and especially a crooked one. < vThe first seven miles we had no banks, but swamps, and then low banks, liable to overfl.ow ? and only good for cocoanuts and mangoes, until we had gone twenty miles, when the banks became higher and good for pasturage. For the next sixty miles the lands improved, till they became suitable for corn, sugar, and all tropical fruits. After getting about eighty miles above Belize, all the lands are very rich, and especially suited to sugar, and all tropical products of rich limestone soil, and on the hills and mountains eoffee can be raised, a In all this region the pasturage is very superior, and any amount of cattle and hogs could be raised 41 J Abont one hundred and forty miles above Belize! the northern and southern branches unite, and about- three miles above the fork, on the northern branch, is the place which I selected for my home. All the lands in the regipn, until you go off from the rivers to the pine ridges, are exceedingly rich, and suited to sugar cane and coffee; the hills and mountains to sugar cane. These lands also are well suited to indigo, smoking tobacco, rice corn, and all tropical fruits and vegetables ; and cotton grows very well, but the worms might destroy it- % Nearly all this country is covered with small mountains and valleys, and well supplied with good water by the rivers and creeks. The low grounds, where vegetation is very luxu- riant, are very much annoyed by mosquitoes and other flies, but if the space of twenty or thirty acres, on some high land or hill, is well cleared and kept free of everything except fruit trees and short grass, the wind will keep all such annoyances away, and make your home very pleasant. From sunset to sunrise the climate is most delight- ful, and towards day cool enough for a blanket, and always cool enough, for thin covering, and for a hearty appetite as soon as you get up in the morning. 43 From all I conld see and hear, I was satisfied that this region was very healthy, and it wouid be a very pleasant home for me if we could have enongh society; and with this view I returned to Belize, and made arrangements with Governor Austin and other parties to furnish land oh long credit and at low rates to me' and as many of my countrymen as might settle about me. By the next steamer I returned to New Orleans, and wrote a piece for the New Orleans Crescent, detailing the observations I had made and offering to answer such questions as might be propounded by persons feeling an interest in British Honduras. [ immediately wrote to my family to prepare to come down to New Orleans, that we might-go out to Honduras as soon as we could make the necessary arrangements. The interest in Honduras became so great that it was called the "Honduras fever," and "Honduras on the brain." About two hundred letters were written to me and duly answered, and many of the writers said most positively that they would go to Honduras as soon as they conld sell their cotton and wind up their affairs, and several asked me to select their places near my own. Under) these circum- Btanees, L fully expected to have plenty of neighbors for th> suptjort of a school and for religious and 43 eocial privileges, and by the terms of my contract with the proprietors of the land I should have been remunerated for all the" land I should have settled up for them, but not at the expense of my country- men. When my family arri ved in New Orleans, I waa negotiating for passage on a sailing vessel, as being much cheaper than the fare on the steamer, and wfi were detained two weeks, during which we enjoyed the hospitality of a kind friend. The first vessel I had engaged disappointed us, after taking some of our freight on board ; and it .was well for us, as she had a terrible trip of it. The next one was a very small schooner, of only 2i| tons, and after we had put our freight and bag- gage on board, and she was ready to sail, the custom house officers prohibited the captain from carrying passengers, as the vessel was too small. But we had already put our things on board, and paid a part of the fare. After some consultation, the captain told me to take my family ten miles down the river, and have a light on the bank, till he should drop down the river and take us on, about nine o'clock at night. According!' to-" this arrangement, we left New Orleans in.' an omnibus, at about four -o'clock, on our way to British Honduras, and stopped: on the MA. bank of the river, and at dark made a light and waited for the schooner. About nine o'clock we saw her coming, and soon she came to the shore with a pretty hard thump, which, however, did no harm to the schooner, but stirred up a mighty quarrel between the captain and the owner — the latter having given the order which produced the confusion. The owner had hired the captain, and had come only as a common sailor, and had no right to give an order. Both were drinky, and the quar- rel soon came to blows, and the powerful fist of the owner soon bruised the eyes of the captain and knocked out one of his teeth, which he never could find. The captain then took the vessel's papers and jumped on shore, swearing that he would return to New Orleans that night. The owner then cooled down, and begged the captain to go on to Honduras, but he vowed that he would not, and soon he was lost in tin' darkness. We wondered how this matter would end, and the cook and some others went to look for the captain, but having failed to find him, we returned to the schooner and fought mosquitoes till day, when the captain appeared; and told the owner,. that on our account he would go on. The owner made many acknowledgments and promises of «ood behaviour, and we started along down the river. 45 The captain still feared that we might be stopped at the forts at the mouth of the river, and taken back to New Orleans. But we passed out into the Gulf safely, but passed into the midst of a great storm, which treated our little schooner as a mere plaything — like a cork upon the waters. It was a serious time, and our vessel was in bad trim, having a deck load of plank, piled up so high as to be very much in the way. The captain 6aid this plank must be thrown overboard, and the beautiful flood- ing plank was soon floating in the Gulf, 'ill there was a string of it a mile long, I suppose. But the storm still continued, the waves pouring down the hatches, at times — for we could not keep them closed all the time, and the pumps going. My wife, though she had been a great deal at sea, and once had been for fifty days out of sight of land, said she thought we would never see land again. But we were all calm, and I expressed the hope that our prayers would be answered, and that we should escape this danger. I felt no fear myself except for my family. I enjoyed the presence of my Saviour, and felt that heaven iB as near the Gulf of Mexico as any other place. The noise of the roaring winds, and the plashing of the waves, would have drowned the words' 0/ prayer, if we ,oould have assembled in one place. So we had to 46 pray in our hearts, and hold on to^ anything suitable to keep from rolling about. After about two days, the storm subsided; and now we had another trouble. There was no quad- rant, sextant, nor chronometer on board, and how could we navigate, with nothing but the compass ? None on board but myself ha.d ever-been to Belize, and seen the headlands on the way, and the cap- tain thought the only safe chance was to guess at the direction of Cuba, whose western headlands several of us had seen, and to keep far enough north to avoid getting on shoals in the night, and when^we could see the mountains of Cuba, to steer south, keeping the island to +he east of us. When the day dawned, the mountains were in fell view, and we steered south, about six miles from the land, till to. our astonishment we found that we were sailing over rocks, not four feet from our keel. And the knowledge that the owner of the vessel was a desperate pirate (and probably another one on board also), did not increase the comfort of our reflections. But our captain immediately took the helm, and bore off from the land; and after about half an hour we were relieved of the painful sight of rocks ne&cthe keel of our vessel.- 4? About nine o'clock at night, we passed the light of Cape San Antonio, and knew we were in the Garribean Sea. The sea ran high, but the wind was steady, and sometimes for an hour at a time all hands went to sleep, having fastened the tiPer with a rope ; and thus our little vessel navigated herself. The current from the Garribean Sea into the Gulf of Mexico is always strong, and sometimes more so than at others, according to the strength of the trade winds. "We found it very strong, and made but little headway against it ; but after a voyage of eleven days, we started to go through the Keys into Belize, without a pilot, and got aground on some soft mud 5 but as our vessel was so small, we pushed off witk poles, and soon came up with some fishermen, who were nearly done fishing, and for a bucket of ship biscuit took us into the harbor. The next day I rented a house and moved into it, and commenced fixing up a little steamboat, with the assistance of 1he governor and merchants of Belize, and some of o»r countrymen ; but not having the means necessary to make it a success, though I took it nearly one hundred miles up the river twice, it did inot answer the purpose, and I took my family up to the place I had. chosen in a pitpan, with a cover. lifcv The current was so strong that it took us twelve days to make the trip, and we had rain every day bat one. We fonDd plenty of honses, such as they were, at enr new home : it having been settled by an enter- prising Spaniard, who traded with the Indians, and made ram, until his conduct excited the suspicions ©f the government ; and he then fled to Guatemala, where he was detected in a conspiracy to rob and murder, and, to prevent being executed, hung himself. ■The houses, like all others in that wilderness- eountry, are made of posts, or forks, supporting a frame of poles, well tied together with vines (found abundantly in the woods), and covered with a very thick roof of bay leaves (like the palmetto leaves, but a great deal larger and affording perfect protec- tion against the sun and rain). The walls are made of poles, two or three inches in diameter, tied to horizontal poles, which are tied to the posts, and the spaces of about three-fourth of an inch left between the poles for the tie-vines, give light enough, without windows. The floors are of good solid earth, and suit very well for fire, in rainy weather, wherever you choose to make it. ■z But floors of this sort afford a nursery and dwell- ing place &r countless numbers of fleas, as we 49 j found to our great annoyance. Neither cold nor hot water would destroy them, nor anything else we tried ; bnt after we had had four sheep staying in the house, every night for a week, we found that these nimble insects had more than their match, when they got tangled in the greasy wool ; and our regard for sheep has greatly increased. Ihose who have dogs and hogs in warm climates, ought to have sheep, as an antidote for fleas. ' Another singular insect annoyance, in Honduras as well as Mexico, is the negua, which is very much like a small flea. It burrows under the toe-naila and finger nails, causing great itching; and in about twenty -four hours a little sack is formed, fall of eggs, and if then picked out with a needle the itch- ing soon ceases and the little sore is soon cured; but if neglected for several days, it makes a very disa- greeable sore, especially in young children, who are very restless while you are picking out the sack; and little children are more troubled than grown people, because their feet are more tender and generally more exposed. *~ ^ Another annoyance is the beef worm, which ©omes from an egg deposited in the flesh by a kind of fly, and which sometimes grows to be nearly an inch long, and is much larger at the bottom than at the top. The remedy is to put some fig juice or 50 other mucilage, on a small piece of leaf tobacco, and stick it on the place for some half hour, to deaden the worm, and then squeeze till the worm pops out. It is very hard to squeeze it out other- wise, and if it is allowed to grow large it is very painful. Another annoyance is the army ant. These little insects are not like the fire ants, stinging like fire, but formidable for their prodigious numbers. They seem to have engineers among them, who lay off the track for their march generally about twenty feet wide, and within which they keep. Their numbers are such that they completely cover the ground and everything else in their track. They will pass through one room and frequently there will.b.e none in the other room, nor in the other corner of the same room. They go up on every- thing on their track, all over the top of the house, and among the leaves that cover it, and then the Bound is exactly like the sound of snowballing on leaves; and every lizard and other living thing 4n the roof hurries away. They go down into every rat hole and snake hole, and every snake and rat and mouse that is old enough to escape dashes off 1 . The very young ones ave stung to death. And the natives say, therefore the snakes are so,: scarce. 51 In about four hours the whole army has passed by, and done no harm, but has been a great "terror to the evil doers" that live in holes; and has set an example of honesty that is not often followed by so called Christian armies. There is another hind of ant, very large and numerous, that live on leaves, and have large cities under ground, the excavations from which are piled up into a large mound overhead, about four feet high and twenty feet across. The tracks to and from the mound are about four inches wide, and beaten down hard and smooth; and in the tracks near the mound the ant eater (something like the raccoon) makes a hole, and, as the ants tumble in, helps himself with great apparent relish. The spotted tiger and the brown tiger are seen in the country, and frequently kill oxen and hog-, but very rarely attack men. Foxes sometimes, and opossums frequently, destroy fowls, if they are not properly secured. Alligators are found in all the rivers, but rai ely do any harm. Game is very abundant. Deer, antelopes, wild hogs, and various other quadrupeds, are frequently shot by good hunters. There is a very large bird, called currasOw,. about the size of a, turkey, that i3 equal to the turkey in flavor and far more beauitful, and when domesticated is very tame, and is at the 52 head of the feathered tribe. I had a beautiful pair of them, that I brought as far as New Orleans, but I was afraid I would lose them if I attempted to bring them to Virginia in the winter. There are also wild turkeys, and some other large birds; and parrots in flocks of one hundred or more; maccaws, or parrot hawk?, as some call them, mostly red, but partly blue, and under the body yellow, and all three colors of the very brightest hue. Their tails are about two feet long, and they are the most brilliant birds I ever saw, but their voices are as harsh as their plumage is showy. They are taught to speak like parrots, but are not as safely handled. The most remarkable animal I saw in Honduras is the tapir, or mountain cow. It is about as much like a hog as a cow, and weighs, generally, about four hundred pounds, and the meat is very good. It spends a good deal of time in the water, with only its head sticking out. It has a very tough skin, and makes it way through thorny bamboo thickets without regarding them, and goes down the 6teepest banks of the river. Its upper lip, like the proboscis of the elephant, can be extended so as t© take hold of a tree, or a dog; arid the hoofs of its forefeet n re very formidable, when it is protecting its call if it. iiiids a carhp lire in the woods, they 58 Bay it -will scatter it with its forefeet and put it out, while all the rest of the animals are afraid of fire. We frequently heard the cries of baboons near our house, though 1 did not often see them. I saw one that the natives had killed to eat, and they said it was very good; but it looked too much like a child for my use. But I never refused to eat the iguana, a very large kind of lizard, living entirely on leaves, especially sweet potato leaves, and about four feet long. Oue is equal to a hen in quantity and quality. Soon after reaching our homes we employed some Indians to clear away the bushes around the house, and to cat down the woods for a cornfield, and to fix up our houses, as several had requested me to do, and I went down to Belize to meet those whom 1 expected. But I found none of them. And this I did four times, when I heard- that soou atter I left JSTew Orleans the army worm had been more destructive than ever before, and that some large fields did not produce a single bale of cotton. '■. 61 juice spurta" out as white as milk, but soon turns black. It is collected from the tree while standing, but frequently the tree is cut down, and ail the juice is collected in a few days, from the different cuts made along the body. The juice is then poured into a trough, and a strong solution of alum mixed with it, to curdle it, and the next day it is poured. on boards, slightly inclined, that the whey may run off. The curd is then beaten, and trampled, and formed into large cakes, and dried on a scaffold for several days, until quite hard, when it is ready for market. There is not much of it in the region where I was, but it is found in great abundance farther south, on the coast of the Spanish Honduras, and still farther south to the river Amazon. The trade in India rubber turns out as much money, and as much sickness and death, as any trade I have heard o£ The mahogany business was formerly very exten- sive on the Belize river ; but nearly all the works there have been abandoned, as also to a great extent in other parts of- the colony, and sugar-making is taking the place of it. There are several reasons «nr this*. It is much more expensive to get the »«maiuing mahogany, which is distant from the iiTers, than it was to get that which was near the water ; and there are places in Mexico and Spanish Honduras where it is much more accessible than in British Honduras ; and then the price of it is much less than formerly. Cabinet-makers have substituted other kinds of wood in its place to a great extent ; and the British government, which formerly used it very extensively for boarding u,p its ships of war, because it does not splinter as other kinds of wood and kill men when balls are shot through it, has a great deal of it on hand, and has no use for it in iron ships, which are now the fashion. It was a great business once, and employed a very great capital, and thousands of laborers. -At all suitable places on the rivers, where the banks were high, houses were hv ilt, a large ox pen was con- structed, and all around the houses a large clearing was made for pasturage. Wide, good roads were made, and very powerful trucks, with solid wooden wheels, about two and a half feet in diameter and nearly a foot thick, were furnished with seven pairs of large oxen to each truck. - Large quantities of fat pine wcsd were collected for torches, as it was too hot for ."the i oxen to haul in the heat of the day. The hunters, found the trees, and the -cutters.. opened.- the way for the trucks ; thb *rse& wer&^ent dowii and squared, some of them . . - . ' 63 four or five feet square;' and, as suon as the dry weather had hardened the roads, all was excite- ment. The grass cutters, two to each team, climbed the bread-nut trees, and broke off the twigs, full of very thick mucilaginous leaves, and sometimes gathered one hundred and fifty bundles of thii superior fodder from a single tree, and brought them generally in boats up or down the river. The oxen devoured their fodder, which is sufficient to keep horses or oxen fat while at work without any- thing else. The oxen, preceded by the torch- bearers, hauled the great timbers to the bank, to be tumbled into the river for passage to Belize by the / next flood. The experienced captains and their associates kept everything busy among the seventy men who composed the gang, until the first heavy rain wound up the hauling business for the year by :, turning the roads into mud. Each log was branded, and when the flood carried them down the river they were caught by an enor- mous chain stretched across the river, twenty miles '■■.,' above Belize, which is about the head of tide water, and when they were let through this boom, as it is t> called, they were rafted together, ano! floated down to Belize, where they were drawn up on the yards and nicely hewn over, and then floated to the ship and stored in the hold, all the vacant places being 64 filled up with cocoanuts in the husk.* Very large profits were formerly made by this trade, but very little is made now. r & Logwood and fustic, for dyeing purposes, are ale© exported, and I think a factory for preparing extract Df logwood would be one of the most profitable in- vestments that could be made in the colony. ' Cocoanuts are raised on the sandy beaches, all along the coast, and about two hundred nuts are obtained annually from each tree. You see them of all sizes on the trees at the same time, from the bloom to the fu.il grown nut, and they fall when they are ripe. They are used for feeding hogs and Cowls, and for making oil, as well as for eating. As no settlers came to our neighborhood, and the surveying had ceased, our circumstances became 9-ery straitened, and we suffered much for want of men fare as was required, especially for want of flour and butcher's meat. We had not the means to buy a cow, and we had to live mostly on hog meat and corn bread, and' the vegetables and fruits of the country. But we needed variety of food, and we could not have our health and strength, for want of suitable diet. We had chilis and fevers, and frequently we had no quinine or other medicines. But I am>satisfied that our sickness was owing much more to the diet and ^exposure and fatigue, _ ■ ; ~ _ _ 65 than to the climate, and that if we had had tho means and suitable society we should have been healthy and happy, and in five years, when coffee trees were bearing, we should have been vory prosperous. ■-.•"-- But after having been two years in the wilder- ness, fifty miles from the nearest white family, with no prospect of society, I began to think about trying to return to Virginia. My brother had written to me from Richmond, urging me to return, and quoting some kind messages of my friends; and I wrote to him that if I could get the means I should like to return and enter the Conference, at its pession in Richmond, November 10th, 1S69. After writing this letter, I reviewed our life in Honduras, with feelings of lively gratitude for the deliverancies from danger, and especially for the preservation of our little son, when he was lost and spent the night in the thick forest, and again when he was washed out of a boat in the river, by the violence of the current, which washed the ; boat under water, and under some limb3 and logs that held it out of sight, so firmly that about ten Indians were required to get it out, and kept under till hft was nearly drowucd. We had not as much as ft dollar to pay our way down to Belize, and the boat- man chatged us $15, but consented to take ou* old 66 chairs, tables, and 8ome other things for mir fiiro 1 concluded- to go to Belize, and trust to tho Provi- dence of God for our' return to Virginia. '.When we got to Belize, a kind gentleman loaned ue the use of a new house, which was very convenient ; and I sold a piece of India rubber belt and a few fowls, and got a few dollars to keep house on. But no letter had come trom Richmond, because the steamer Trade- Wind had been lost in tho Gulf, with all ttie mails, soon after leaving New Orleans; and we had to wait about six weeks, till a new 6teamer was put on tho line; and on the 1 lth of November I received a letter, in which a kind friend authorized me to draw on him in Richmond for $100, to pay my way to Richmond, while my family conld remain in Belize, two thousand miles off, till I could get assistance to send for them. By return steamer I came to New Orleans, and sent my family a little money, but a kind merchant in Belize learn- ing how little it Was, gave them fifty dollars in silver, which is the currency of the country. As soon as I g^t to Wythe ville, in Virginia, I found the stationed preacher, whom 1 had baptized in his infancy, thirty years ago, and spent a very pleasant time with him and the brethren, and I preachud at night and received material aid very liberally. - 67 In Lynchburg, Richmond, Petersburg, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Suffolk I met many old acquaint- ances and friends, who kindly helped me,'60 that I Bent on the means to pay the fare of my family from Belize to New Orleans, where they kept house as economically as possible at a place I had provided for them. But then it was necessary to provide for their living in New Orleans, and to procuro their thick winter clothing, without which it would be danger- ous to come to Yirginia in tho winter, after so long a residence in a hot climate; and the fare by. 6teamer from New Orleans to Baltimore, tho cheapest and most pleasant route, was another considerable item. I went to Baltimore to see about the matter, and' there and in Alexandria received some help; and then I went to Mecklen- burg, Virginia, among my old friends, to whom .1 preached in '3S and '39, and" where, but for their poverty, I could hnve obtained all 1 needed in a low days. The agent of the. steamer in New Orleans was so kind as to wait for the faro till I should be able to send it ; and my family, escorted by an American friend, came on the steamship Cuba, in February; and I met them in Baltimore and took them to Charlottesville, to the house of a friend, whose (8 kindness has furnished more than half the expense of our return to Virginia ; and may this friend, and the other who paid my passage, and all others who have helped us, be abundantly rewarded by the Father ot mercies. ......' After nearly two weeks spent in the very pleasant family of our friend, we came to Petersburg, whero we thought it best to live on account of the schools for the children and the cheapness of house rent After a search of some days 1 found a suitable house and rented it ; but we had no furniture, and only three dollars to start on. But the kindness of friends again appeared, for one loaned us a bed ; and another, a bedstead ; and another, another bed ; and another, a bedstead ; another, chairs ; another, tables; another gave us a cooking 6to/e; another a load of wood ; — so we commenced housekeeping, and before the three dollars had quite gone, a friend whom I had not seen for thirty years came to see us, and gave me $o in gold. Before my family arrived I had tried to get some ministerial work, and had made enquiries in four presiding elders' districts, but 1 could hear of none ; and my friends Hummer and Laurens, general agents of the St. Louis* Mutual Life Insurance Co., had given^me work with them, and promised me some assistance in advance. Belore I had used this last $5, this 69 help came; and I started on a trip to Gatesville, Edenton, Elizabeth City and other places, where the people were generally too hard run to insure their lives, until the next crop shall come in. As soon as I discovered this, I determined to operate as an evangelist or missionary, preaching among my friends as much as my circumstances will allow, and depending upon their help, until I can find some ministerial work that will be suitable to my condition. When that will be I cannot now see. I am in debt for advances I have received from several friends ,- for some house rent, and several months' schooling of my children. I have no furniture worth naming ; our supply of clothing is very limited, and what I wear is not worth giving away, having done good service before it was given to me. I have no horse, no watch, nor even the means of moving our things to another part of the town, much less to a circuit. But on the other hand, we have reason to be thankful to our Heavenly Father, that we- have had a iull average of the world's comforts, and no deaths, and but a little sickness in my immediate family, for twenty years ; and considering the benefits of our observa- tions and experiences in foreign lands, especially to the children, we do not regret our course for the last four years. 1 have never had a thought of regret all this time. I have prayerfully tried to find out what was my duty. 1 preached wherever I could, in Belize as well as Mexico; I distributed tracts, where I could find men who could read them, and exhorted them to serve their God, and to meet me in Heaven, which some of them, with tears, promised me they would do. The most pleasing employment I could have on earth, would bo laboring on a circuit with twenty- four appointments in four weeks, as Mecklenburg circuit was in 1838,- and seeing such times as we had that year. In conclusion, T earnestly pray that the wiiter of this little book, and all its readers, may so live that we all may have "an abundant entrance ad- ministered unto us into the even asting kingdo'm of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen." This book is due at the WALTER R. DAVIS LIBRARY on the last date stamped under "Date Due." If not on hold, it may be renewed by bringing it to the library. DATE DUE HQVfr* 20Jif Form No 513. Rev. 1/84 DATE DUE