ents on the upper story.
Every habitation, likewise, has its upper and lower piazzas, which are
indispensably necessary in hot climates. Balize stands at the edge of a
swamp many miles in extent, which prevents nearly all intercourse with
the interior of the country.

The principal articles at present imported from Europe into Honduras,
are linens, printed cottons, muslins of the most costly manufacture,
negro clothing, broadcloths, hosiery, hats, shoes, boots, earthen and
glass wares, silver and plated goods, hardware, and cutlery: salted
provisions, from Britain or America, are also in continual demand for
the food of the slaves.

Few countries possess greater commercial advantages, in an agricultural
view, than this. The productions of the West Indian islands, might all
unquestionably be cultivated here, as well as most others which are
grown within the tropics. But the cutting of logwood and mahogany is the
chief occupation of the British settlers. The banks of the river Balize
have long been occupied by mahogany-cutters, even to the distance of two
hundred miles from its mouth.

About thirty miles up the Balize, on its banks, are found what are
denominated the Indian hills. These are small eminences, which are
supposed to have been raised by Indians over their dead; human bones,
and fragments of a coarse kind of earthenware, being frequently dug up
from them.

_Nicaragua_ is a Spanish province, between Honduras and the isthmus of
Darien. It is about eighty leagues in length and fifty in breadth; and
consists, for the most part, of high and wooded mountains, some of which
are volcanic. The valleys are watered by many streams, but only one of
these is of any importance. This is the river _Yare_, which runs, from
west to east, through the northern part of the province. The most
important productions of Nicaragua are timber, cotton, sugar, honey,
and wax. The chief town is _Leon de Nicaragua_, a place of considerable
trade, situated near the north-west border of the lake of Nicaragua; and
in a sandy plain, at the foot of a volcanic mountain, several leagues
from the sea.

* * * * *

From New Spain we must return northward, for the purpose of describing
the British dominions of Nova Scotia and Canada.

Twenty-second Day's Instruction.

BRITISH AMERICAN DOMINIONS.

NOVA SCOTIA,

Is a province bounded on the east by the _Gulf of St. Lawrence_, on the
south by the Atlant