The chief product of the country is mahogany, of which some 20,000 tons were exported annually, but the demand for it lately has decreased. Its logwood is much valued, and about 15,000 tons are yearly exported. Besides these staples, the country produces other woods of value, and the cahoon or coyal palm in abundance, from the nuts of which is extracted a valuable oil. Sarsaparilla and vanilla are found in the interior. Of domestic animals there are enough for the needs of the people. The colony during the last fifteen or twenty years has been on the downward course. In former times the port of Belize was an entrepôt for the neighboring states of Yucatan, Guatemala, and Honduras,[XV-31] but after the opening of direct trade between those states and the United States and Europe, and the diversion of trade on the Pacific to Panamá, that source of prosperity ceased. Total tonnage entered and cleared in 1877, exclusive of coasting trade, 73,974, of which 46,168 were British. Value of imports, in ten years ending in 1877, £1,781,175; for that year, £165,756, of which £84,540 were from Great Britain. Value of exports for 1877, £124,503, of which £94,548 went to Great Britain.[XV-32] The average rate of duties on imports is ten per cent ad valorem; machinery, coal, and books entering free. The gross amount of revenue for 1863, £27,398; for 1877, £41,488. Public expenditure for the latter year, £39,939. * * * * * [Sidenote: ENGLISH COERCION.] The relations of Honduras with Great Britain were during many years in an unsatisfactory state, due in a great measure to the schemes of certain officials of the latter government, who pushed ungrounded claims against the former in the furtherance of their plans to gain control of a large extent of the Central American coast. On the 3d of October, 1849, a British war ship at Trujillo demanded the sum of $111,061, alleged to be due to subjects of her nation. The demand not being complied with, an armed force was landed from her the next day, which occupied the fort and town. The British commander finally accepted on account $1,200—all that the Honduran comandante could procure—and on reëmbarking fired a volley.[XV-33] On the southern coast the British steamship _Gorgon_, on the 16th of November, seized the island of Tiger, hoisting the British flag at Amapala.[XV-34] The authorities of Honduras, after protesting against the act, called the attention of the United States representative to the British proceeding, for this island had been ceded to his government in September previous.[XV-35] It is presumed that Chatfield's purpose, among other things, was to prevent the construction of a canal across Nicaragua by Americans. But Admiral Hornby, commanding the British naval forces in the Pacific, disapproved of the proceeding, removing his men and restoring the Honduran flag under a salute of twenty-one guns.[XV-36]