361 
Letter from Mr. BEnTHoLp SxzwANN, Naturalist of H.M.S. 
HERALD’S Voyage in 1849 and 1850. 
(Continued from p. 182.) 
Of all the States composing the Republic of Mexico, none are less 
known than Sinaloa, Durango, and Chihuahua. Partly through fear of 
savage Indians, partly for want of pecuniary means, they have been 
avoided by almost every traveller; and those authors who have given 
a general description of the country have treated them vaguely, or 
confined themselves to enumerating the obstacles which prevented them 
from investigatiug this interesting portion of the Mexican confederation. 
As to botany, and natural history in general, the north-western states 
are an unexplored field. Few naturalists have ever visited them; and 
the specimens that have been transmitted to Europe by amateurs have 
mostly proved new to science. I was, therefore, extremely anxious to 
visit these regions while the Herald was surveying the southern por- 
tion of the Californian Gulf; and when I arrived, in November 1849, 
at the port of Mazatlan, I lost no time in making preparations for a 
start. 
I left Mazatlan on the 23rd of November, and on the same day 
reached San Sebastian, a small town, distant about fifty miles. The 
road, after traversing, for several miles, tiresome Mangrove-swamps, 
ascended slightly, but became hardly more interesting. It being 
the dry season, most plants were leafless, and all the herbage burnt 
up: here and there, indeed, a few evergreen Fig-trees, some Mimose, 
and arborescent Cacti were seen. Those in flower were still fewer 
in number. I observed two Cassias, an Acacia, and the Ipomea arbo- 
rescens, Don, here termed Palo blanco, from its white bark and flower. 
Nor does it seem that the wet season calls into life a much more varied 
flora. The soil is very poor ;—of which the numerous spiny trees and 
shrubs, their small dimensions, and the absence of large foliage, give 
a mournful, but decisive proof. 
Having visited San Sebastian in 1848, I remained but a day. The 
principal employment of the people of this place is cutting Log-wood 
(Hematoxylon Campechianum, Linn.), and the cultivation of Maize 
and Maguei: the latter is grown for the sake of extracting from it 
the “ Aguardiente de Maguei,” a highly stupifying beverage. The  - 
gardens are full of a tree named Guamuchil (Pithecolobium dulce, | 
Benth.), the red fruit of which is boiled and eaten. Besides the fruit, 
VOL. Il. 2 34 
