438 APPENDIX. 



prepared for sea, unless it be in the months in wliich the 

 northerly winds are settled. Should the wind veer to the 

 westward, and a gale from that quarter be apprehended, no 

 time should be lost in slipping and endeavouring to get an 

 offing, as a vessel at anchor is deeply embayed, and the hold- 

 ing ground is very bad. In case of necessity a vessel may cast 

 to the westward, and stand between the Piedro de Tierra and 

 the Fort Bluff, in order to make a tack to the westward of the 

 rock, after which it will not be necessary again to stand to the 

 northward of a line connecting the two Piedros. 



The road of San Bias should not be frequented between the 

 months of May and December, as during that period the 

 coast is visited by storms from the southward and westward, 

 attended by heavy rains, and thunder and lightning. It is 

 besides the sickly season, and the inhabitants having all mi- 

 grated to Tepic, no business whatever is transacted at the port. 



It is high water at San Bias at 9h. 41m., full and change; 

 rise between six and seven feet spring tide. 



MAZATLAN. 



The anchorage at Mazatlan, at the mouth of the Gulf of 

 California, in the event of a gale from the south-westward, is 

 more unsafe than that at San Bias, as it is necessary to anchor 

 so close to the shore, that there is not room to cast and make a 

 tack. Merchant vessels moor here with the determination of 

 riding out the weather, and for this purpose go well into the 

 bay. Very few accidents, however, have occurred, either here 

 or at San Bias, as it scarcely ever blows from the quarter to 

 which these roads are open between May and December. 



There is no danger whatever on the coast between Piedro 

 de Mer and Mazatlan ; the lead is a sure guide. The island 

 of Isabella is steep, and has no danger at die distance of a 

 quarter of a mile. It is a small island, about a mile in length, 

 with two remarkable needle rocks lying near the shore to the 



eastward of it. 



Beating up along the coast of Sonora, some low hills, of 

 which two or three are shaped like cones, will be seen upon 

 the sea-shore. The first of these is about nine leagues south 



