586 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, wind, which is here prevalent from November to June. Lieutenant 
Belcher, in the cutter, kept in-shore of the ship, and filled in those parts 
Fek of the coast which could not be seen by her ; and we thus completed a 
survey of the coast from Mazatlan to several miles south of San Bias. 
Between these two ports the water shoals so gradually that there is no 
danger whatever. 
In my former visit to this place I found it necessary to proceed to 
Tepic to meet the merchants in consultation, and on that occasion I 
carried with me the necessary instruments for determining its position ; 
by which it appears that it is only twenty-two miles direct from the 
port, though by the road it is fifty-two. It is in latitude 21° 30' 42" N., 
and its height above the sea 2900 feet. By a register kept there during 
our stay, its mean temperature was 8.1 below that of San Bias, and the 
range 2,8 greater. 
Tepic is the second town in importance in Xalisco, now called 
Guadalaxara, and contains 8000 inhabitants ; but this population is 
augmented to about 11,000 in the unhealthy season upon the coast, at 
which time the people resort to Tepic. The town stands in the lowest 
part of a plain nearly surrounded by mountains, and not far from a 
large lake which exhales a malaria fatal to those who attempt to live 
upon its banks. On hot sunny days, of which there are many, the clouds 
as they pass often envelope the town, and strike a chiU which proves 
fatal to hundreds of persons in the course of the year ; and imme- 
diately the sun has set behind the mountains a cold deposit takes 
place, which is so great that it soon wets a person through. Under these 
circumstances Tepic is itself scarcely more healthy than the sea coast, 
and by the records of the church it appears that the deaths exceed 
the births. 
About a league and a half from Tepic, at the foot of Mount San 
Juan, stands Xalisco, near the site of the ancient town of that name. 
This town, though so close to Tepic, is very salubrious. I had the 
curiosity to examine the parish books here, in order to compare them 
with those at Tepic, and found the births to exceed the deaths in the 
proportion of eighty-four to nineteen. In a population of only 3000, 
there were several persons upwards of a hundred years of age, while in 
