Few Americans realize that the United States is involved in a longstanding and friendly but apparently unresolvable controversy with Honduras over three tiny islands ninety-six miles off the coast of that country. This group, known collectively as the Swan Islands, consists of Great Swan Island, one and two-thirds miles long and a half-mile wide; Little Swan Island, a mile and a half long and a half-mile wide; and Booby Cay, a neighboring reef. Great Swan Island rises to a height of sixty feet on the south side and has plantings of the beautiful coconut palms which give such islands a lovely, romantic appearance. The smaller island is closely matted with vegetation.