SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA. 491 
Nye and myself to the old town of San Bias, three quar- 
ters of a mile distant, on the summit of an isolated 
rock from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet 
high. This rock, which rises abruptly from a low, 
swampy, and partly wooded plain, is inaccessible on 
three sides. The northern side, where we ascended, 
has been cut away ; and a winding path, of easy ascent, 
leads to the top. This road is closely lined with a 
dense forest of cocoa, banana, plantain, and other tro- 
pical trees, together with a thick undergrowth of 
flowering plants and vines, which are closely bound 
together, and prevent all ingress. The bold, rocky 
mass presents a most picturesque appearance. Portions 
of it exhibit a bare perpendicular front, while others are 
covered with a most luxuriant vegetation. The sum- 
mit, which is about five hundred yards square, was 
formerly occupied by the town ; but, owing to the 
unhealthiness of the situation, it has been deserted and 
suffered to fall to decay. The business of the town 
has long been transacted at the Play a, or shore, where 
we landed ; but the custom-house has lately been 
removed to the spacious and commodious buildings on 
the rock, and the ruined tenements around seem 
about to become the abodes of men once more. 
On reachiug the summit of the rock, one first 
enters a large and elegant building of stone, with a 
colonnade around its inner side, and stuccoed with a 
snowy -white cement. On the outer side is a redoubt, 
built on the very verge of the rock, which is here per- 
pendicular. Cannon of large calibre are arranged in 
the ports. This building, which seems to have been 
abandoned for a long time, is now undergoing repairs, 
