386 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, houses scattered over the plain, the fort, and the shipping in the bay, 
- - announced the speedy termination of their journey. At five o’clock 
^ov. in the evening they alighted in the square at Monterey, and met a kind 
reception from Mr. Hartnell, a merchant belonging to the firm of 
Begg and Co., in Lima, who was residing there, and who pressed them 
to accept the use of his house while they remained in the town — an offer 
of which they thankfully availed themselves. 
Gonzales, the governor to whom the party went to pay their 
respects, was an officer who had been raised by his own merit from the 
ranks to be captain of artillery and governor of Monterey: his family 
were residing with him, and having been educated in Mexico, com- 
plained bitterly of their banishment to this outlandish part of the world, 
where the population, the ladies in particular, were extremely ignorant, 
and wretched companions for the Mexicanas instruidas. Besides, there 
were no balls or bull-fights in Monterey; and for all the news they heard 
of their own country, they might as well have been at Kamschatka. To 
compensate for these dreadful privations, the ladies generally amused 
themselves in the evening by smoking and playing cards, and relating 
the perils they encountered in the land journey from Mexico to the 
shores of the Pacific. Politeness and attention, however, were the cha- 
racteristics of these good people, who offered our party every assistance 
in their power during their stay at Monterey. 
Upon inquiry after the stores and medicines the ship stood in need 
of, the result was highly unfavourable ; as there were no medicines to 
be had, and some stores which were essential to the ship could nowhere 
be procured. The exchange on bills was favourable, but there was no 
specie : Mr. Marsh therefore purchased what stores he could from the 
inhabitants and from the shipping in the roads, and arranged with a 
person who had come out from Ireland for the purpose of salting meat 
for the Lima market, to cure a quantity for the use of the ship, and 
to have it ready on her arrival at Monterey. They then hastened 
their departure, but the same difficulty arose about horses as before, 
and they were much inconvenienced in consequence, being obhged to 
alter a plan they had contemplated of returning by a different route. 
This, very unexpectedly to padre Arroyo, brought them again under 
