CONTRIBUTIONS TO WESTERN BOTANY NO. 15 85 



l>oat and struck out for the Palacio hotel, without first barganing with the 

 owner for my passage. After half a mile of rowing we came opposite the 

 hotel and landed and the men .shouldered my baggage and struck off for 

 the hotel. Arriving, the landlady, Mrs, Meyer, a widow, who was edu- 

 cated in Los Angeles, but a native Mexican, cordially received mc and 

 spoke good English. The boatman stuck me for 5 pesos for carrying my 

 baggage to the hotel, which was more than two prices for the work. La 

 Paz is an ideal town, like Mazatlan, for a honeymoon, so dreamy and 

 calm and quiet along the water front Here all day long the pelicans 

 sweep along the surface and plunk dowTi sharply into the sea when they 

 ^e a fish, going down with a splash, struggling a moment with the fish 

 and then elevating their heads and letting it slump dowTi their fnroats. 

 Then a swallow and another flight, hour after hour. Once in a while 

 a gull will shoot down on the pelican and rob it of its prey. Occasion- 

 ally \ve see porposises slipping in and out of the water like greased pigs, 

 in single file, apparently just doing it for the fun of it. TMany fishing 

 boats lie Iicre, a.s vrell as pearl fishers, for this is the center of the pearl 

 traffic. This is a regular port of call for the largest ocean steamer?. 

 Almost every day sail boats come in loaded down to the water's edge witli 

 sacks of tanbark, Ly£:iloma Candida, for the great tannery "here. Just now 

 this is the only business except pearl fishing that keeps this city of 

 10,000 alive. There is no water or streams anywhere in this region. All 

 die^ water is raised by wells and by wind mills imported from (he U. S. 

 It is very hot and dry here. Cocpanuts and palms adorn the town and 

 the beach. The houses are all the usual Mexican style and the streets are 

 unpaved except in the main business part, where there is some brick pav- 

 ing, and along the wharf. There are two roads going out from here. One 

 pes 125 miles to Cape St. Lucas to the south, and i^e other goes to 

 Todos Santos and Pesquidero, 60 miles to the westward, on the Pacific 

 Hide, This road also branches and goes to Santa Magdalena Bay, about 

 125 miles off. The road is an ordinary country road for wheeled vehicles, 

 and safe at 10 miles an hour with autos. 



I was much interested in the flora here, all so different from what I 

 had seen before. I spent a week or two, getting most everything that wa:* 

 available. Then a steamer happened along, the Washington, a Mexican 

 Lines boat, bound for Mazatlan. This was a very unusual occurrence for 

 a boat to go to Mazatlan instead of the Cape. But as I was getting to 

 the end of my purse I decided to take It and spend a few days there and 

 then strike out for home. La Paz lies on bench land adjoining the sea, 

 but to the south and east hills arise a thousand feet or more high, having 

 quite an interesting flora. Beyond the city there is a succession of higher 

 hills that at last become quite high mountains, but I did not get to them. 

 "Ihe shore to the east was a very fertile region for me. 



Mazatlan is the most beautiful city in western Mexico and also the 

 largest It has a natural harbor of some size but is all silted up by a 

 big river which comes in from the east, and no attempt has been made to 

 dredge it out. There is a ramblinsj wharf and custom house where 



drawn ud. Tliere 



