bos (Negroes crossed with Indians) and the offspring of whites by Indian, Negro, or Sambo women. They may under primitive conditions have numbered about 5000. They occupied but a small portion of the Mosquito Shore, extending little if at all below the River Mico. In 1687 their head man submitted himself to the governor of Jamaica and in 1720 signed a convention or treaty with that official. In 1740 British forces, in violation of the sovereignty of Spain, occupied the Mosquito Coast, for his protection. In the meantime he had been commissioned king by the governor of Jamaica. British officers were sent to Bluefields,1 the capital of the Mosquito Coast, to look after the interests of the British and give counsel to the Indian Government; in other words, to rule in the name of the so-called king for the benefit of Great Britain.

Spain remonstrated against these usurpations, but to little purpose. Great Britain promised to remedy them, but under one pretext or another managed not to do so. More frequently she denied the right of Spain to any dominion on the coast, on the ground that the Mosquitos constituted an independent nation which had never been subject to the crown of Spain. Spain always insisted that the Mosquito Coast was a part of her lawful possessions in Central America. Thus 1 Spelt also Blewfields.

the dispute continued until it constituted one of the causes of the war between England and Spain about the middle of the eighteenth century (Seven Years' War). By the treaty of peace, concluded in 1763, it was stipulated that Great Britain should abandon the Mosquito Coast, withdrawing her settlers from it. But she did not withdraw them. Her violation of this treaty was a factor in determining Spain to take up arms against her during the American War of Independence. By the Treaty of 1783 it was stipulated that within eighteen months from its ratification, the British settlers should retire to the territory assigned to the settlement of Belize (British Honduras), withdrawing from the Spanish continent and islands.1 But the eighteen months passed away and neither stipulation was carried out.

On the 5th of January, 1785, the king of Spain issued the following declaration:

The Mosquito Indians situated in one of the provinces of Guatemala have been vassals of the crown of Spain since the conquest and subjection of those dominions, and although at times they rebelled with the aid and instigation of various English adventurers who were surreptitiously establishing themselves therein, . . . they

1... tous les Anglais qui pourraient se trouver dispersés partout ailleurs, soit sur le continent espagnol, soit sur les îles quelconques, dépendantes du susdit continent espaanol, et par telle raison quo ce fût, sans exception, se réuniront dans le canton qui vient d'etre circonscrit [Belize] dans le terme de dixhuit mois, à compter de l'échange des ratifications.

have repeatedly petitioned to return to the dominion of Spain and it was finally conceded to them that they be graciously admitted to the reconciliation which they desired.1

But Great Britain would not admit that the Mosquito Coast was included in the definition "Spanish Continent." 2 The consequence was a treaty concluded in 1786, which provided that all British subjects and other settlers who had enjoyed the protection of Great Britain should "evacuate the country of the Mosquitos" and the "Continent in general," beyond the boundary agreed upon for British Honduras, within a period of six months.3 About the middle of 1787 this evacuation was nearly accomplished, but it was never completed. With the assistance of the few Englishmen who remained, the British Government easily contrived to preserve and even strengthen its hold on the country. A Mosquito flag was formed with the British Union Jack in the upper canton, the remainder consisting of alternate blue and white horizontal stripes, with a crown in the lower canton.

One of the foremost authorities on Central America says:

The name (Mosquito Shore) was always purely geo

1 Montúfar, opus cit., IV, 99.

2 Hist. of Cent. Am., II, 606. Bancroft.

3 These treaties, 1763, 1783, 1786 or extracts thereof, are published in Sen. Ex. Doc. 194, 47 Cong., 1 sess. (1882).

graphical and never conveyed or was intended to convey any idea of political separation from the rest of Central America. From the frequent mention of late years, of a personage styled the King of the Mosquitos, some portion of the public may have fallen into the error of supposing that what are called the Mosquito Indians do really recognize and obey some such potentate. Nothing could be farther from the truth. No form of government ever existed among these people, except such as was vested in their local head men, or chiefs, who have often been at variance and in open hostility among themselves. Some of these have assumed the title of governor, others of general, admiral, etc. . . . without however, having the slightest comprehension of the meaning of the terms. When the English superintendent of Belize found it convenient to manufacture a King on the Mosquito Shore, a number of these head men were got together and by liberal appliance of rum, induced to fix their marks to a paper, which was afterward produced as an "act of allegiance" to a Sambo selected for the purpose by the English agents. But the chiefs neither understood what they did nor regarded it afterwards. The fiction, however, answered its purpose.1

The following text may be taken as typical of such acts of allegiance:

Sire:

Whereas by an appointed meeting of the most principal inhabitants commanding the different townships of Southeastern Mosquito Shore, from the confines of Wanks River to Buckatora Lagoon inclusive, commanded by Prince Stephen, King regent of the above shore, held at Woolang on the 14th of November and year of our Lord

1 Notes on Central America, etc., by E. G. Squier, pp. 361, 365.

1815, in behalf of giving our assent, consent, choice and declaration to, for and of, the said hereditary prince Frederic, to be our lawful King and Sovereign, and we whose names are hereunto subscribed do give our assent, consent, choice and declaration to, for and of, the said hereditary Prince Frederic, to be our lawful King and sovereign.

The Mosquito kings were crowned at Belize or Jamaica. British officials annually visited the Mosquito Coast and distributed presents among the Indian inhabitants.

By a treaty of 1814 with Spain, Great Britain was expressly excluded from the country of the Mosquitos, the continent in general, and the islands adjacent without exception. This treaty was in force when Mexico and Guatemala declared their independence from Spain, Mexico on the 24th of February and Guatemala on the 14th of September, 1821. Guatemala consisted at this time of the five provinces of Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, and the former Mexican provinces of Chiapas and Soconusco. She soon lost the province of Salvador, and, thus reduced, united herself with Mexico. On the 1st of July, 1823, she separated from Mexico, in which act she was joined by Salvador. On the 17th of December, 1823, she became a republic.1 On the 22nd of November, 1824, her national assembly

1 Reseña, histórica de Centro-América by Lorenzo Montúfar, Vol. I., Dedication.