ENGLISH HOMES AT BELIZE.
It has been said that the Englishman always carries his atmosphere with him no matter in what latitude it might be. I have visited several British colonies and have always found that true, and nowhere is it more impressed on you than here at Belize. It is such a contrast from the Spanish-American towns that the change is almost startling. Although there are perhaps not more than two or three hundred Englishmen there, you will see all the characteristic of that race in their native land. There are of course always a few concessions made in order to conform to local conditions but, as a rule, they are not many in number.
As one writer says of his visit: “We were not at all surprised to find that the black native police wore the familiar blue-and-white striped cuff of the London bobby, the district attorney a mortar-board cap and gown, and the colonial bishop gaiters and an apron. It was quite in keeping, also, that the advertisements on the boardings should announce, and give equal prominence to, a Sunday-school treat and boxing match, and that officers of a man-of-war should be playing cricket with a local eleven under a tropical sun, and that the chairs in the Council room and Government House should be of heavy leather stamped V. R. with a crown above the initials. An American official in as hot a climate, being more adaptable, would have had bamboo chairs with large, open-work backs, or would have supplied the council with rocking-chairs.”
The Governor’s House is a large building set in a little grove of royal and cocoanut palms and with a fine view of the blue waters of the bay. The background of blue sea is filled with the dories of the Caribs, which are merely huge logs hollowed out and rigged sloop-fashion with white sails, or sails that had once been white. Several cannon are set up in the yard and a number of dusky-hued natives in the uniform of a British soldier pace back and forth in the hot sun—this giving a semblance of the power of the British lion.
The city of Belize contains a population of about eight thousand souls, and a very cosmopolitan population it is with its negroes, British, Americans, Spaniards, Mexicans, etc., etc. The city itself is generally clean and tidy, but not so picturesque as the Spanish towns. The Belize River divides the town, and over it there is one bridge. Across this bridge passes in review the entire life of the town like the famous Rialto bridge at Venice. The houses are generally three stories in height and painted white. Cistern water is used exclusively for domestic purposes, and immense cisterns twenty to thirty-five feet high and greater in circumference are a common sight. The water is rendered delightfully cool by porous earthen jars which are placed in a draught of air, and the water is thus cooled by the rapid evaporation of this climate. Around the houses are flowers in endless variety, of which the most conspicuous are the oleander trees which frequently reach a height of twelve feet, and whose beautiful white blossoms contrast so strongly with the dark-green foliage of other trees such as the mango.
The market is a most interesting place for an American. The stalls are generally presided over by negro women or Carib men who have brought their produce in a dory. Every kind of tropical fruit can be purchased at a low price, from the delicious mango to a peculiar fruit that very much resembles ice cream in appearance, though not in temperature. Many of these tropical fruits are delicious and would be popular in our northern markets, but they are too delicate for transportation, so that it is very doubtful whether they will ever be found for sale so far from their natural habitat. In the flower department one can find many kinds of beautiful blossoms, and at prices so cheap that it is almost a sin not to buy them. The traveller will find many flowers with which he is familiar mingled with new varieties whose appearance is no less beautiful because of their strangeness. He will find times and seasons much confused in the assortment of carnations, marigolds, sweet peas, poppies, gladioles, dahlias, roses, fuchsias, lilies and mignonettes which meet his astonished gaze. Then there are many beautiful orchids over which many people fairly rave. Pigs of the razor back variety and with a porcupine-like coat of hair are for sale, being held by the owner with a string attached to a hind leg. Here every one comes for their table supplies of vegetables and fruits, and at times it is a very animated place.
A STREET IN BELIZE.
Belize is a delightful place to be during the months from December to March. While people in Northern latitudes are bundling themselves up as a protection against the chilly blasts of old Boreas, the populace of Belize are enjoying pleasant summer weather and wearing their warm-weather clothes. At night the trade winds which nearly always blow across this bay lower the temperature so that refreshing sleep can be obtained. It is healthful and there is no more fever than at our own Gulf ports, and yellow fever very seldom gets any foothold whatever, even though the town is only a few feet above the level of the sea. The most disagreeable occasions are when the “Northers” sweep across the Gulf with indescribable velocity and lash the waves with great fury. Then the inhabitant on shore may congratulate himself that he is not at the mercy of old father Neptune.