Most of the other hotel guests were businessmen. An occasional visitor boated to a caye to fish but few even knew Mayan ruins existed in the area. Eco- tourism hadn't been invented. Since we had come to do historic research we walked to town to find the government archives.

Just after we crossed the swing bridge over Haulover Creek we watched the Crown-appointed governor get into a black English limousine. He nodded to a salute from his black driver standing at attention in immaculate whites with red trim.

Officials then told us that in spite of our academic letters of introduction we could not use the archives without the governor's written permission. They would send it to us!

When the governor's courier arrived at the Fort George with a personal message for us, he opened doors to more than the government documents of the national archives and the historic holdings of the Baron Bliss Jubilee Library. First, Hotel Manager Dan Powell invited us for after-dinner drinks.

"I can't offer you a true Fort George Special," he apologized. "The English dock strike's made the boat late and we're out of lemon volley water."

He explained how vital British shipping was to the colony because all imported goods must originate in or pass through England.

"Our potatoes come in big crates from the Netherlands, not Maine. There's good Mexican beer just across the border but we can only sell beer that's English, Danish, Dutch or German. Even our butter comes in huge cans from England."

After closing-time we were still sampling various concoctions as Mr. Powell and his bartender experimented with substitutes for lemon volley water, whatever that is.

Next day the assistant secretary of the colony invited us to a party where Londoners displaced to this town of Creole and Spanish chattered about "bawk home." In the sultry heat the dean of the Anglican Church removed his coat and conversed genially in his white dickey while sipping gin and ginger.

The deputy crown surveyor and his wife drove us south on a black-top road that was not on any recent map. He told us there was no reason for British Honduras to expose its development to its neighboring enemy that constantly threatened invasion.

"Guatemala claims our colony. That's why we have so many soldiers here. And why the border's closed."

Although no road then reached Guatemala, TACA's flight from New Orleans to Guatemala City stopped in Belize three times a week. This made our leaving British Honduras 40 years ago much less complicated than getting there.

Jane B. Hanrahan now lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

THE MULE CART AND THE LIGHTER

By NEIL L. FRASER

If ever a classic symbiotic relationship existed between a creature of land and one of water, it was that of the mule cart and the lighter in Belize.

Motorized vehicles and vessels did exist in Belize during the 1930s and 40s, but they were expensive and never plentiful. Besides, this was a poor country. During WWII, there was the added shortage of fuel.

Yet Belize did not lack for the transportation needed to supply its businesses and homes, or to carry goods to the numerous settlements on the cayes or up and down the long coastline. The gap was filled by a curious and primitive combination: the mule-drawn cart, known to Belizeans simply as 'mule cy-ahts,' and large sailing barges called 'lighters.'

The mule cart is a basic device that would have been as much at home in Europe in the Middle Ages as it was in Belize in the 20th century. A shallow wooden box straddled a wooden frame that held an axle in place. On each side was a large wooden spoked wheel with a greased hub and a metal rim; the kind of wheel that carried prairie schooners across the Great Plains of the United States West. Two long wooden spokes protruded from the front to hold a harness that straddled an always solemn-looking mule. The driver sat on a narrow plank across the front of the box where his load was carried, his feet resting on another plank attached to the harness poles.

Mule carts abounded in Belize. They were the city's basic form of drayage, carrying anything from loads of sand and rock to precious furniture and pianos. The carts assembled daily in front of the courthouse at a place known as 'The Battlefield.'

The area is now a park, but in those days it was just a grassy field between the courthouse, Brodies and The Royal Bank of Canada. Anyone needing the services of a cart could go there and secure one.

One of the most frequent assignments given to the carts was to load supplies from shops or warehouses for shipment to the cayes or villages along the coast. They would carry these loads to the concrete wharf along the river behind the courthouse called, appropriately, 'The Courthouse Wharf.' There, assembled along the wharf, were the carts' sea-going companions, the sailing lighters.

The lighter, another relic of a European past, is abroad-beamed, shallow-draft wooden sailing vessel ranging from 20 to 40 feet in length. It has very little deck space, with most of its area devoted to a capacious 'hold' for carrying cargo. Belize lighters usually had one large sail and a jib, and were steered by a helmsman holding a long tiller.

Lighters had no motor power, just sails to move them slowly through the choppy seas while laying low in the water from the weights of their cargoes.

When arriving back in Belize from one of their supply trips, frequently carrying passengers and livestock, they would sail as far up the mouth of the river as the wind would safely carry them, drop their sails and be propelled to the wharf behind the courthouse by the crew using long poles. The same procedure in reverse applied to departures. The lighters would be 'poled' far enough out into the river mouth for their sails to catch the wind and start them moving.

Both lighters and mule carts had their own unique charm. The mules pulling the carts, for example, seemed to have individual personalities that reflected those of their drivers. The mules were solemn, hard- working beasts resigned to lives in harness, but they could sometimes rebel and be seen struggling to rear up or go backward while being cursed by a frustrated driver.

The lighters too, gave off the appearance of hard work. Their sails were ragged and patched in many places, and they always appeared to need painting. Their crews were a hardened lot, although sometimes no more than children. There was no shelter on a lighter caught in a storm or hit by a squall, no protection from the boiling heat of the sun. If the seas were too rough, all the crew could do was to seek the leeward side of a caye and wait until the waves subsided. But lighters were lifelines to many places along the Belize coast, delivering the precious supplies loaded from the mule carts at the courthouse wharf, and always bringing something back to Belize on their return journeys, even if no more than a load of white sand dug from a beach with hand shovels.

Neil L. Fraser was born in Belize and now lives in Atlanta. He has contributed other articles to BELIZE FIRST on the days of British Honduras, including a history of Pan Am and TACA airlines in Belize, in Volume II, No. 3.

ROAD WATCH: UPDATE ON DRIVING CONDITIONS IN BELIZE

By LAN SLUDER

In June, on my annual drive-about in Belize, I rented a Suzuki Samurai in Belize City, traveling all of the major roads in the country and many of the back roads. I did 1,200 bouncing, fish-tailing, bottom-bruising miles. Is there a chiropractor in the house?

Despite the bumps, the high cost of auto rentals and gas, and the fact that only moments before I was due to return my Avis car to the airport, it gave up the ghost in the parking lot of the Save-U supermarket in Belize City, not to start again until Avis mechanic paid a house call, I find a rental car is the best way to see mainland Belize. It provides the chance to visit out-of-the-way spots not possible by bus, and it gives you the freedom to stop and go as you please, perhaps taking a private tour of a just-discovered Mayan ruin, stopping to investigate jaguar scat, or lazing by the Macal River with a picnic basket and a Belikin.

Are the roads in Belize as bad as you've heard they are? Naw. They're in better condition than you might expect, given the low population density of the country and the lack of funds for building and maintaining highways. A few roads, such as the Northern Highway and the new sections of the Hummingbird, are very good indeed, among the best in all of Central America. But back roads can be terrible, especially after rains. Some of these gravel and rubble roads are scraped and graded rarely if at all Ñ they quickly become nightmares of washboards, ruts and tire-eating limestone rocks.

Signage is fair, better than in the rest of Central America. Most critical turns and junctions are marked. Still, you'll be miles ahead with a good map such as the Traveller's Reference Map of Belize from ITMB and the invaluable Emory King's Driver's Guide to Beautiful Belize. For seat-of-the-pants road work, the Driver's Guide is more useful than the map.

Here, for those planning to drive in Belize, is an update on road conditions throughout the country.

Main Roads

NORTHERN HIGHWAY
This 85-mile route is a very good two-lane black-topped from Belize City to Corozal and then a few miles to the border with Mexico at Chetumal. The only thing that will slow you down are a few Òsleeping policemenÓ in villages, the main drag through Orange Walk Town, slow-moving trucks when the sugar cane harvest is going on in late spring and early summer, and a toll-booth at the bridge over New River (BZ 75 cents). Your first glimpse of the azure waters of Corozal Bay are a highlight of this route.

Overall Road Condition: Very Good
Paved: 100%
Gas Availability: Very Good

OLD NORTHERN HIGHWAY
If you want to see Altun Ha ruins, you'll have to drive at least part of this 41- mile arc to the east of the New Northern Highway. Under the British, this highway was paved, but little maintenance has been done on it in recent years. The blacktop is badly potted and, for part of the way, non-existent. The section south of Maskall village is better than the section north. The 2-mile access road to Altun Ha is not paved.

Overall Road Condition: Fair to Poor
Paved: 70%
Gas Availability: Poor

WESTERN HIGHWAY
The 78-mile road takes you from Belize City quickly past Hattieville, the Belize Zoo, the capital of Belmopan, the Òtwin citiesÓ of San Ignacio and Santa Elena, and then on the Benque Viejo road to the Guatemala border. Just past San Ignacio, you hit 'cottage country,' where a number of excellent lodges including Chaa Creek and duPlooys offer cold beer and a soft bed under quiet Central American skies. The Western Highway is still in pretty good condition, but it will soon need resurfacing.

Overall Road Condition: Good to Very Good
Paved: 100%
Gas Availability: Good (although a couple of Shell stations have closed)

HUMMINGBIRD HIGHWAY
This 56-mile highway stretches from the Western Highway at Belmopan to Dangriga. The Hummingbird dips and swoops through some of the most- beautiful territory in Belize. This was once a very bad road. Now all but about 20 miles of it is in superb condition, thanks to foreign loans to Belize. The 19-mile section from Belmopan to the Sibun River is a combination of old pavement and rubble. Take a break from the rough part of the drive at the Blue Hole, where a swim in the truly blue water is refreshing (a guard will watch your car, so don't worry.) The section into Dangriga town is now fully paved.

Overall Road Condition: Mostly Excellent with one long section Fair
Paved: 65%
Gas Availability: Fair

MANATEE HIGHWAY
This 36-mile gravel road, also known as the New Coastal Highway, for a time was considered a short cut from Belize City to Dangriga and points south. However, with the improvement to the Hummingbird/Stann Creek Valley Road and the deterioration of the Manatee, it's arguable whether this route saves any time or not. Certainly, the Hummingbird is more scenic. The Manatee is badly washboarded in places and is extremely dusty in dry weather. During heavy rains, bridges can wash out.

Overall Road Condition: Fair to Poor
Paved: 0%
Gas Availability: Poor

SOUTHERN HIGHWAY
This is a highway in name only. The 100-mile road from 6 miles west of Dangriga to Punta Gorda is a desolate stretch of gravel and dirt road, a journey broken only by the dust of the occasional farm truck or 18-wheeler. The scenery, except for views of the Maya Mountains at about the halfway point, is unexceptional. The Southern Highway is truly one of the most unpleasant roads in Belize. This is supposed to change, however, as Kuwait has loaned funds for paving part of the highway. Contrary to some reports, none of the highway is yet paved, although surveying work and some grading has been done.

Overall Road Condition: Fair to Poor
Paved: 2% (near P.G.)

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