In 1839, curious as to the rumours of general anarchy prevailing throughout most of the Central American countries, the United States Government sent a young Foreign Office official--Mr. John Lloyd Stephens--to find out the truth of the matter. At first glance there seems nothing specially alarming or hazardous about such a mission, nor would there be nowadays; but, at the date of which we are speaking, there were no means of rapid communication between the towns, and many of the roads, rivers, and forest or mountain tracks were in the hands of strong parties of Carib and Mosquito Indians, Zambos, and Mestizos (white and Indian half-bloods), who would have no more respect for an agent of the American Government than for the colonists of their own country, against whom many of them were uniting their forces. Under the circumstances, Mr. Stephens thought it wisest to land at Belize, and learn from the English officials there the best plan to pursue. British Honduras at that time was not strictly a Crown Colony, but was governed by the executive in Jamaica. The commanding officer of the garrison, Colonel McDonald, received him with great geniality, and entertained him for a couple of days. But he could promise him no material help, he said, when once he was off British soil; he had no authority even to lend him a boat or launch, and dared not take upon himself to send an armed escort beyond the frontier. "There is a Guatemala steamer starting up the Belize river to-morrow night," he said. "I will send down and book you a passage. After you land you must not rely on us"--the Colonel laughed--"in our official capacity, that is to say. Of course, some of the staff are often up country after game, and if we should happen to find you in a tight corner on somebody else's ground, we couldn't, as private individuals, leave you in the lurch. You've got a nasty job; Guatemala and Honduras are both more or less in rebellion; so's Mexico for that matter; and the Indians are plundering Government and revolutionaries alike. We've had a little trouble of our own with the Caribs; you'll probably meet some of our firing-parties, any of whom will guarantee you protection as long as you're our side of the boundary." The next evening, Mr. Stephens, accompanied by his secretary, Mr. Catherwood, went on board the little steamer--a boat which an American or English owner would send round the world with a ship's company of six, but which, here, was manned by no less than twenty Mestizos, an English engineer, and a Spanish skipper. The only other passenger was a young Irish Franciscan, who proved very jovial company, and who professed to regard the Indian risings as a mere idle scare. He, too, was going into the first native territory through which the travellers must pass, and offered himself as their guide thus far.