lantations about the suburbs. The people were
kind, and particularly hospitable, always welcoming us with the utmost
cordiality. We usually dined at the house of an old Chinaman, who was a
miracle of a cook, and dished us up beneath the shade--plover, curlew,
wild ducks, and olives without stint--with which, and chatting, smoking,
lounging from house to house, and _siesta_, we got through the hours
pleasantly. On one afternoon, having somewhat soiled my outer man, in
leaping into a puddle instead of over it, my newly-discovered sweetheart
washed my trowsers and shirt, whilst I dozed away on a low cot frame,
upon which was tightly drawn a tanned sheet of leather--and a capital,
cool, comfortable apparatus it is in warm weather. We generally returned
to the ships by night, as the unsettled state of the neighboring country
rendered it impossible to remain; so, after rewarding pretty Eugenia
with my handkerchief for her trouble, I turned my steps for the last
time on San Jose.

The expedition that started for Todos Santos on our arrival, and for
which serious uneasiness was beginning to be entertained, got safely
back on the seventh day. They found a dull, barren region to traverse,
and were not repaid by a sight of the guerrillas, who had all decamped
for a rallying point near La Paz.

In consequence of the earnest solicitations made by the simple
inhabitants of San Jose, for a small force to protect them from their
brethren in arms, who were not so favorably disposed towards the North
Americans, it was deemed advisable to comply with the request, and a
detachment of twenty marines, a nine-pounder carronade, with four
officers, under command of Lieut. Charles Heywood, U.S.N., were
detailed for the service, and the next day occupied the town.

CHAPTER XXI.

Mazatlan lies in latitude 23 deg. 12' N. verging on the tropic, flanked by a
broad belt, ten leagues wide, of the _Tierra Caliente_, with the lofty
mountains that support the elevated terraces and grand plateau of the
interior plainly visible in the background. The town is built upon a
triangular space formed by three hills at the angles, the apex a bluff
promontory, extending seaward, and beyond two small islets, barely
divided from the frowning helmet of Creston. These salient points form
together a bold, rocky partition, which with another parallel barrier to
the eastward, breaks off the ocean swell, sufficiently to admit of a
secure anchorage from all but