S. W. COAST OF MEXICO. 



41 



stretch well out, pass to the southward of Cocos 

 Island, and then run with the southerly winds as far 

 west as 96° before hauling up for San Bias, so as to 

 make a fair wind of the westerly breezes which be-« 

 long to the coast. An experienced old pilot, how- 

 ever, whom I met at Panama, disapproved of this, 

 and said, the best distance was fifteen or twenty 

 leagues all the way. In the winter months, these 

 passages are very unpleasant, and it is indispensable 

 that the whole navigation be much further off shore, 

 excepting only between Acapulco and San Bias, 

 when a distance from ten to twelve leagues will be 

 sufficient. 



The return passages from the west are always 

 much easier. In the period called here the summer, 

 from December to May, a distance of thirty to fifty 

 leagues ensures a fair wind all the way. In winter, 

 it is advisable to keep still further off, say a hundred 

 leagues, to avoid the calms, and the incessant rains, 

 squalls, and lightnings, which everywhere prevail on 

 the coast at this season. Don Manuel Luzurragui 

 advises, during winter, that all ports on this coast 

 should be made to the southward and eastward, as 

 the currents in this time of the year set from that 

 quarter. 



