SALT MINES SEALS WHALES CLIMATE PORTS. 303 



island of Carmen, in the Gulf of California, near Loreto, are capable 

 of supplying the whole coast of Mexico and California. The surface 

 of the lake producing this valuable mineral is covered with a solid 

 crust several feet in thickness, which is cut in blocks, like ice, and 

 conveyed to the beach by convicts under the order of the Governor 

 of Lower California, who has hitherto enjoyed a monopoly of the 

 trade with Mazatlan and San Bias. 



The country about La Paz, situated on the east coast, south of 

 the bay of La Paz, and near the Pichilingue cove, is represented to 

 be valuable for grazing. Some of the silver mines near San Anto- 

 nio, about forty miles south, are productively wrought. Gold dust 

 and virgin gold are brought to La Paz, and about one hundred 

 thousand dollars of platapina, are exported from it yearly. The whole 

 coast abounds, with fish, clams and oysters. Among the islands of 

 the gulf immense number of seal are constantly found, and the 

 whaling gr6unds on the Pacific coast are of great value. Magda- 

 lena bay alone has, at one time, contained as many as twenty-eight 

 sail,' all engaged in this fishery. 



The coasts of Lower California are flat, sandy, irregular, and 

 frequently indented by coves, inlets and bays, while many islands 

 lie near and border them in the gulf. The climate is regarded as 

 healthful ; the winter is short, and frost and ice are unknown. A 

 pure air and a deep blue sky surround and span the region ; but the 

 heat of summer is intense, parching the thin soil, and rendering life 

 almost insupportable in the more exposed regions, or in the narrow 

 and confined glens. 



The principal ports visited by merchantmen or whalers on the 

 west or Pacific coast, are : 1st. That of San Quentin, in latitude 30° 

 23', which is said to afford a secure anchorage for vessels of 

 every description, and to be sufficient for the accommodation of a 

 numerous fleet; and 2dly, the bay of Magdalena, which has ac- 

 quired notoriety from being resorted to every winter by numbers of 

 whalers. It is protected by the two large islands of San Lazaro and 

 Margareta, and possesses many of the characteristics of an inland 

 sea, being navigable for the distance of more than a hundred miles. 

 It has several commodious anchorages. The bay of San Jose, near 

 Cape San Lucas, is ordinarily frequented by coasters, and is some- 

 times visited by whalers and men-of-war, being the outlet of a val- 

 ley, unusually fertile for Lower California, which extends upwards 

 of forty miles inland, and affords probably the best watering and 

 provisioning place on the peninsula, though it is a mere roadstead 

 yielding no protection in the season of south-easters. 

 2m 



