The Mosquito shore, a tract of country which lies along part of the northern and the eastern shore of Honduras, has been claimed by the British. The English held this country for eighty years, and, abandoned it in 1787 and 1788. The Spaniards call it a part of Honduras, which it really is, and claim it as such. It is an unhealthy, hot country, inhabited chiefly by a race of people called the Mosquito Indians, who are excellent marksmen, and of a warlike disposition. They are employed by the British to strike the manati, or sea-cow, for the sake of the oil it affords, and bear an invincible hatred to the Spaniards, being much attached to the English; as they were so cruelly treated on the conquest of this part of the country by the former people, that they have never forgiven it, and they do not acknowledge any allegiance to them. Their ancestors, after long and exterminating contests with the Spaniards, retreated into the mountains, and there remained till the English took possession of the Mosquito shore. When the Duke of Albemarle was governor of Jamaica, they put themselves under his protection, and their king had a commission granted him from Great Britain. It is asserted that since that time the new monarch always goes to Jamaica to receive this document; and that the Mosquito Indians, his subjects, refuse to acknowledge his power till he does so. They trade with, and are frequently in the habit of crossing to Jamaica. The Spaniards are said to have no settlements on the Mosquito Shore; which name has been given to this country, partly from the Indians, and from a bank and cluster of islands which lie near it, in 14° 30ʹ north latitude, and 82° 10ʹ west longitude. The Mosquito Indians were formerly a very powerful and numerous race of people; but the ravages of rum and the small-pox have diminished their numbers very much. They inhabit, however, nearly the whole coast of Honduras; and their most numerous tribe exists near the Cape Gracios á Dios. This tribe has, however, been the subject of many enquiries and disputes, as they differ in their persons from the other natives, and it is confidently said by many authors that they are the descendants of the slaves of a Guinea ship, which was wrecked near this Cape. They are called the Samboc Mosquitoes. Cape Gracias á Dios was the place where the British first established themselves in the Honduras territory, upon the banks of a navigable river, where the country is very fertile, and the harbour, formed by an inlet of the sea, is safe and commodious. This happened in 1730. They also fixed a colony about 78 miles from Cape Honduras, the colony at Cape Gracios á Dios being 162 miles distant. Seeking farther southward, at Bluefields River, 210 miles-from the first colony, they found a fine harbour, an extensive river, and a natural situation for a fort, with spacious, beautiful and fruitful plains.