Page:Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala.djvu/442

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422
OFFICIAL VISIT
[CH. XXXI.

The mahogany exported by British settiers may be calculated at about sixty square-rigged vessels at 120,000 feet each, value about £400,000 annually; and the value of Guatemalian produce, such as indigo, cochineal, &c. exported, amounts to three times as much again. It is supposed that the sales of one commercial house at Belize average £15,000 currency per month, which is one twentieth part of what is sold, and would make the sales of British dry goods imported for the supply of that colony and Guatemala at least £2,500,000 currency, or about £1,500,000 sterling. The greatest part of the import and export trade of Guatemala is carried on by the port of Izabal, at the bottom of the Golfo Dulce, and by that of Omoa, on the left of the entrance of that gulf. The goods are conveyed between the English settlement of Belize and those parts in small schooners drawing about seven feet water, from four to seven tons burden, and charging for the freight from 150 to 200 dollars per trip each