54 



EMBARKATION OF TREASURE. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 



SAN BLAS IN MEXICO. 

 Embarkation of Treasure on board the Conway.— Benefi- 

 cial Effectof such Shipments on Commerce.— Intolerable 

 Heat of San Bias, and tormenting Clouds of Insects.— Sick- 

 ness and Death of a Child Pedantry of a Barber Surgeon. 



On the 5th of May I left Tepic for San Bias, 

 in order to be present when the treasure for Eng- 

 land should be put on board the Conway. 



The officers, as well as myself, took leave of the 

 interior without much regret ; for, notwithstand- 

 ing the many kind attentions which we had met 

 : with, it was impossible to disguise from ourselves, 

 ' that we were all, more or less, objects of constant 

 ' suspicion to the inhabitants, roused by circum- 

 I stances into a high degree of political excitement. 

 j In such times, party-spirit is a feeling which must 

 J belong to every individual forming the society ; 

 I an impartial stranger, therefore, who does not, 

 and indeed cannot, enter fully into the enthusiasm 

 of the moment, is a sort of intruder ; his indiffer- 

 ence is always mistaken for ill-will ; and because 

 he does not take part with either, both look upon 

 him as unworthy of confidence. At first, it was 

 not uninteresting to see a whole community so 

 much in earnest upon one topic ; but this became 

 rather irksome, when we could no longer maintain 

 a correspondent degree of animation on the sub- 

 ject. As soon as the novelty had gone by, we 

 were looked upon as sober men in an intoxicated 

 company; spies, as it were, upon the extravagance 

 of those in whose dissipation we did not choose to 

 participate. 



On the 6th of May, more than half a million of 

 dollars were embarked in the Conway ; and on 

 different days during the month, other large sums, 

 all destined for London. Some of the treasure 

 was sent by Spanish merchants, a small quantity 

 by Mexicans, but the whole intended for the pur- 

 chase of British goods. 



When money is shipped, a set of bills of lading 

 are signed for the amount. These bills, which are 

 immediately sent to England by various opportu- 

 nities, become negotiable in the European market, 

 and may be transferred to other hands. The trea- 

 sure is insured in London the instant advices arrive 

 of its being actually shipped ; thus the consignee, 

 or the holder of the bill, in Europe, becomes cer- 

 tain of his money in the course of time, whatever 

 be the fate of the ship. If she arrives safe, he 

 receives the identical hard dollars ; if not, the 

 insurers make up the loss. Thus, it is interesting 

 to remark, the instant accounts are received that 

 gold or silver has been placed on board a ship of 

 war, at ever so great a distance, its representative, 

 the hill of lading, acquires an exchangeable value 

 in the London market. It may, and sometimes 

 does happen, that part of the returns, in the shape 

 of goods, actually reaches South America before 

 the money itself has arrived in England. There is, 

 perhaps, no instance in which the beneficial influ- 

 ence of insurance on commerce is more obvious 

 than in these shipments of treasure. 



We experienced a great difference! between the 

 climate of San Bias and that of Tepic, especially at 



night. At both places it was disagreeably hot 



daring the day, but at Tepic, which stands on an 



elevated plain, the thermometer Eel] 15° or 20° at 



night, whereas at San Bias, which is close to the 

 sea, there was much less variation of temperature. 

 Throughout the day it was generally, in the coolest 

 part of the shade, about 90°, sometimes, for several 

 hours, 95°. The reflection from the walls, and 

 from the ground, made the air in the open streets 

 often much hotter, and I have several times seen 

 it above 100°. The highest temperature, however, 

 in a shaded spot, was 95°. At night the thermo- 

 meterstoodgenerallybetween80°and85°. Between 

 ten and eleven o'clock in the morning, the sea- 

 breeze began to set in. None but those who have 

 felt the bodily and mental exhaustion caused by 

 the hot nights and sultry mornings of low latitudes, 

 can form a just conception of the delicious refresh- 

 ment of this wind. For some time before it actu- 

 ally reaches the spot, its approach is felt, and joy- 

 fully hailed, by people who a few minutes before, 

 appeared quite subdued by the heat ; but who 

 now acquire a sudden animation and revival of 

 their faculties ; a circumstance which strangers, 

 who have not learned to discover the approach of 

 the sea-breeze, are often at a loss to account for. 

 When it has fairly set in, the climate in the shade 

 is delightful ; but in the sun, it is scarcely ever 

 supportable at San Bias. Between three and four 

 o'clock, the sea-breeze generally dies away ; it 

 rarely lasts till five. The oppression during the 

 interval of calm which succeeds between this period 

 and the coming of the land-wind, baffles all de- 

 scription. The flat-roofed houses, from having 

 been all day exposed to the sun, resemble ovens ; 

 and as it is many hours before they part with their 

 heat, the inhabitants are sadly baked before the 

 land wind comes to their relief. 



During the morning, the thorough draught of 

 air, even when the sun is blazing fiercely in the sky, 

 keeps the rooms tolerably cool ; but when the 

 breeze is gone, they become quite suffocating. The 

 evil is heightened most seriously by clouds of mos- 

 quitoes, and, what are still more tormenting, of 

 sand-flies ; insects so diminutive as scarcely to be 

 distinguished, till the eye is directed to the spot 

 they settle upon by the pain of their formidable 

 puncture. San Bias, as mentioned before, is built 

 on the top of a rock, standing in a level, swampy, 

 and wooded plain. During ordinary tides in the 

 dry season, this plain is kept merely in a half-dried, 

 steaming state ; but at spring tides, a considerable 

 portion of it is overflowed. The effect of this in- 

 undation is to dislodge from the swamp myriads 

 of mosquitoes, sand-flies, and other insects, which 

 had been increasing and multiplying on the surface 

 of the mud during the low tides. These animals, 

 on being disturbed fly to the first resting-place 

 they can find ; and the unhappy town of San Bias 

 being the only conspicuous object in the neighbour- 

 hood, is fairly enveloped, at the full and change of 

 the moon, in a cloud of insects, producing a per- 

 fect plague, the extent of which, if properly de- 

 scribed, would scarcely be credited by the inhabit- 

 ants of a cold climate. The most seasoned native 

 fared in this instance no better than ourselves ; 

 and we sometimes derived a perverse sort of satisfac- 

 tion from this companionship in misery; and laughed 

 at seeing them rolling about from chair to chair, 

 panting under the heat, and irritated into a fever, 

 by the severe and un intermitted attacks of their 

 indefatigable tormentors. I cannot say which was 

 worst, the unceasing buzz and fierce sting of the 



