484 GUAYMAS TO ° 
of raising either wheat or maize, the inhabitants are 
obliged to depend upon Sonora almost for subsistence. 
Another circumstance renders the tenure upon which 
they exist very precarious. The hills which surround 
the town are chiefly composed of primitive rock, 
granite, and sandstone intermingled, with scarcely any 
soil upon them. They thus absorb but little mois- 
ture; and during the heavy rains, which happily do 
not occur more than once in five or six years, the rush 
of water through every part of the town, as it comes 
down the ravine, is so great, that instanees have been 
known of some of the houses having been actually 
carried away. 
“To prevent the occurrence of this danger, the 
former Franciscan friars, many years ago, erected a 
stone wall, to break the force of the water, and give 
it a new direction towards the sea. In successive 
years the rains washed this barrier away. Another 
was built, which shared the same fate; and at present 
there is but a slight trace that it ever existed. 
The inhabitants of Loreto are of a dingy, opaque, 
olive green, which shows there is no friendly mixture in 
the blood of the Spaniard and the Indian. They appear 
to be the same squalid, flabby, mixed race, which is 
observed in almost every part of the Mexican coasts. 
The population does not exceed two hundred and fifty 
souls. The annual importation of corn from Sonora, 
is from 800 to 1000 fanegas. The exportations consist 
of soap, preserved fruits, wines, spirits, pearls, tortoise- 
shell and salt; the latter being obtained in a lake on 
the Island of Carmen. 
January 8th. Our hopes of reaching Mazatlan to- 
