TEPIC IN NEW GALICIA. 



is, it is lulled asleep, and comes no more till the 

 next morning. 



" Land-breezes are as remarkable as any winds 

 that I have yet treated of ; they are quite contrary 

 to the sea-breezes ; for those blow right from the 

 shore, but the sea-breeze right in upon the shore : 

 and as the sea-breezes do blow in the day and rest 

 in the night ; so, on the contrary, these do blow in 

 the night and rest in the day, and so they do alter- 

 nately succeed each other. For when the sea- 

 breezes have performed their offices of the day, by 

 breathing on their respective coasts, they, in the 

 evening, do either withdraw from the coast, or lie 

 down to rest. Then the land-winds, whose office 

 it is to breathe in the night, moved by the same 

 order of Divine impulse, do rouse out of their pri- 

 vate recesses, and gently fan the air till the next 

 morning, and then their task ends, and they leave 

 the stage. 



" There can be no proper time set when they 

 do begin in the evening, or when they retire in the 

 morning, for they do not keep to an hour, but they 

 commonly spring up between six and twelve in the 

 evening, and last till six, eight, or ten in the morn- 

 ing. They both come and go away again earlier 

 or later, according to the weather, the season of 

 the year, or some accidental cause from the land. 

 For, on some coasts, they do rise earlier, blow 

 fresher, and remain later than on other coasts, as 

 I shall show hereafter. 



" These winds blow off to sea, a greater or less 

 distance, according as the coast lies more or less 

 exposed to the sea-winds ; for, in some places, we 

 find them brisk three or four leagues off shore ; in 

 | other places, not so many miles, and, in some 

 places, they scarce peep without the rocks ; or if 

 they do sometimes, in very fair weather, make a 

 sally out a mile or two, they are not lasting, but 

 suddenly vanish away, though yet there are every 

 night as fresh land-winds ashore, at these places, 

 as in any other part of the world."* 



Being always near the land, we found a constant 

 source of interest in the sight of the Andes, and 

 sometimes, also, of the lower lands, close to the 

 sea, which we approached so near as to see the 

 huts, and even the inhabitants themselves ; but, 

 though very desirous of landing to examine things 

 more closely, we were obliged, for want of time, 

 to deny ourselves this gratification. As it was sel- 

 dom that a day passed without our seeing some 

 remarkable peak, or range of mountains, the sketch- 

 ers and surveyors were never idle. We kept sight 

 of one grand peak, the Volcano of Colima, for no 

 less than five days, during which it was drawn in 

 every point of view, and its true geographical place 

 ascertained within very small limits, by means of 

 cross bearings and astronomical observations. But 

 in the whole range we had not the satisfaction of 

 discovering one volcano in" action, nor even one 

 emitting smoke, which was a considerable disap- 

 pointment. At night we frequently saw brilliant 

 fires on remote and very elevated spots, and some- 

 times bright reflections from the sky, of great 

 illuminations beneath, which were invisible to us ; 

 but we were always incredulous as to their origi- 

 nating in volcanoes. 



* Dam pier's Discourse f the Trade Winds, Breezes, 

 Storms, Seasons of the Year, Tides and Currents of the 

 Torrid Zone, throughout the World. Published at London 

 in W.f.i. Vol. II. pages 27 et soq. of his Voyages. 



The only distinct snow we saw was on the top 

 of Colima. The temperature of the air, for the first 

 ten days after leaving Acapulco, was always con- 

 siderably above 80° even at night. It afterwards 

 fell to 72°, a diminution in temperature which was 

 sensibly felt by every one. 



On the 28th of March, at three o'clock in the 

 afternoon, we anchored at San Bias, having com- 

 pleted a coasting voyage from the Island of Mocho, 

 on the south coast of Chili, nearly to California, a 

 distance of four thousand six hundred miles ; during 

 the whole of which, with the exception of about 

 two hundred leagues between Guayaquil and 

 Panama, the land was constantly in sight. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 



NEW GALICIA IN MEXICO. 



Journey to the City of Tepic.— Rencontre in the Forest 

 with old Friends. — Opinion of a Peasant as to the Na- 

 ture of Free Trade. — Discussions with the Merchants 

 respecting the Shipment of Treasure. 



As no English man-of-war had ever before 

 anchored in the port of San Bias, the arrival of 

 the Conway excited considerable interest : and 

 we had scarcely secured the ship before boats 

 were seen bustling on board, from all quarters, to 

 inquire for and to give news. We had little to 

 communicate, as we had been so long on our 

 passage ; but from some ships lately arrived from 

 Lima, North America, and India, we learned 

 many interesting particulars. This port had been 

 so recently thrown open to a free trade with all 

 the world, that we had not expected to find so 

 many ships ; nor was this the only instance in 

 which we had miscalculated the activity of com- 

 mercial enterprise, wherever it is happily unre- 

 stricted and unprotected. 



After a few minutes' ride from the landing- 

 place, we found ourselves in the town of San 

 Bias, which is perched, like an eagle's nest, on 

 the top of a rock a hundred and fifty feet high, 

 absolutely precipitous on three sides, and very 

 steep on the fourth, rising out of a low swampy 

 plain, which, in the rainy season, is laid completely 

 under water. 



As I found that the merchants, both English 

 and Spanish, lived in the interior, some at the 

 neighbouring town of Tepic, others at the. provin- 

 cial capital, Guadalaxara, I determined to proceed 

 to the former place to learn the state of the com- 

 mercial intercourse with England, and whether I 

 could in any way contribute to advance the interests 

 of the British trade in that quarter. 



A revolution, I found, had taken place not long 

 before our arrival on the coast, by which the coun- 

 try of Mexico was declared independent of Spain ; 

 but there had been no further quarrel between the 

 countries ; on the contrary, the union of Mexicans 

 and Spaniards formed an essential part of the new 

 constitution. The Spanish merchants, therefore the 

 great and almost the only capitalists, were allowed 

 to remain in the country. Trade was declared to 

 be free to all persons, and with all countries ; yet 

 this invitation of competition did not at first 

 much affect the resident Spaniards, since they 

 were already sole possessors of the market, by 

 holding in their hands the greater part of the active 



