Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/241

Rh or which contains within itself in a greater degree, the elements of wealth.

“Whether the transportation of the Caribs, now useless in Truxillo, to the shores of the Dulce, and the banks of the Motagua, or whether the division of the land near the coast into small lots, and ceded to Indians on condition of cultivating a certain portion with the fruit of the country, be desirable, is for others to determine. That the establishment of small settlements on the northern coast, as well as on the southern, and the cultivation of cocoa, which from its superior quality might again be transported both to Mexico and Peru, as well as to Europe, would be beneficial, is however certain.”

Such are the published opinions of the Consulado as a body, upon the deplorable catalogue of evils which afflict their country. That the extension of agriculture in Guatimala, is identified with the habilitation of the ports, and the population of its coasts, no reasonable doubt can be entertained; since from its present locality, the expenses of transportation, alone forbid competition with other countries. This inconvenience might however in some degree be lessened by changing the route which goods now take, in order to leave or arrive at the capital.

Up to the year 1796 the importations from the Peninsula were made by the Gulf, and