36 The Beginning of British Honduras
establish themselves in increased numbers on the Cockscomb
Coast, a region from which they could not be expelled but
by a strong Spanish naval force on account of the coral reefs,
while to attack from the land would have been still costlier.
Small plantations were already established here by Captain
Daniel Elfrith who made the preliminary survey and recom-
mendation. They cultivated the fresh soil which was then
right on the beach and grew an abundance of potatoes and
pumpkins.
 The Calendar of State Papers tells us that in May and July
1633 Captain Sussex Camock was appointed director of a
trade at Cape Gratia de Dios, with Edward Williams and
Nath. Marston agents for such trade "in regard to their
knowledge of those parts," and that Captain Sussex Camock
was also made commander of the passengers on board the
"Golden Falcon," and entrusted with the supplies for Gov-
ernor Bell and his wife. He was further instructed from
Providence to advise of a fit place to establish a colony for
trade, the men, ordnance and ammution requisite, and to
provide needful things for fortification requested by Captain
Axe. No trading post was established at Cape Gracias a Dios
though it then had the best harbour of the whole east coast
surrounded by land and having deep water which was only
made shallow over a hundred years later when the mahogany
cutters dug a canal from the Wanks River so that their logs
could be conveniently moored in this bay which became shal-
lower and shallower from the debris brought in that could
not get out of the narrow entrance. Here they traded from
their ships, as this harbour was too exposed to Spanish attack
and too much out of the way for their best market, the in-
terior of the Kingdom of Guatemala.
 In this work the name "Cape Gracias a Dios" is used only
to designate the cape discovered by Columbus in 1502, but
the name "Cape Gratia de Dios" means an area with a strict-
ly maritime orientation which lies between Bluefields in the
south and Belize in the north, comprising within this range