1871.] 263 [Grayson. 



Madre, and has been but recently established for the purpose of 

 cutting and shipping the fine timber there abounding, as well as for 

 the cultivation of cotton and other products. 



" To these Islands I had long contemplated a visit, and at length 

 an opportunity offering, I sailed from the port of Mazatlan, on the 

 third day of January, 1865, with a friend, upon a very small schooner 

 of only fifteen tons. Imagine our discomfiture when we found her 

 decks crowded with thirty persons, all Mexicans, men, women and 

 children, together with the little worthless dogs which always accom- 

 pany the lower class of natives wherever they go. They were 

 bound to San Bias, the vessel only touching at the Islands to dis- 

 charge some provisions for Don Andres. We started with a fair 

 breeze from northwest, which is the usual, or trade, wind of this 

 season. 



"The following morning was delightfully clear and calm, and the 

 sea remarkably tranquil. The Islands appeared in sight in the dis- 

 tance, as if rising from the sea, like phantom clouds, and the scene 

 was enlivened by numerous sea birds sailing lazily over the water, or 

 resting in large flocks upon its glassy bosom. Large turtles lay 

 sleeping upon the calm surface, and upon the back of each, a bird of 

 the gannet species was standing like a sentinel. 



"A turtle was harpooned by one of the crew, as it lay immediately 

 in our track, and soup for all who had an appetite was served from 

 the captured prize. Large flocks of sea plover 1 were flying over and 

 lighting upon the sea, busy feeding upon the animalculae or diminu- 

 tive shells floating on the surface. I regretted that it was out of my 

 power to secure specimens of these birds, as having seen them fre- 

 quently before when the sea was calm and always far from land, I 

 wished to know them better ; but we had not a small boat to go after 

 them if shot. Gannets were quite abundant following a school of 

 porpoises. A few gulls and terns were flying about, also the dusky 

 petrel, which is always common in these latitudes. 



"As the day advanced we gradually neared the Islands, and their 

 magnificent forests were slowly unfolded to view, the ever green foli- 

 age extending to the water's edge and densely covering hill and vale. 

 About sunset, we anchored in calm water, in a crescent shaped nook, 

 a cable's lens;th from the shore, fronting; the small settlement of the 

 timber cutters ; a canoe came out to us and in it we went ashore, 

 happy to be released from the miserable craft and crowd in which 



1 Prof. Baird suggests that these were probably Phalaropes (P.fulicarms.) Ed. 



