ifles and muskets, saddles, and a
few pieces of artillery. Their whole force was about eight hundred, more
than half regulars, and had they chosen to stand their ground, we should
have suffered severely, although not perhaps repulsed. Telles and his
troops were posted a league up the road, near the forest of Palos
Prietos, and it was stated that his intention was to assault us; but we
experienced no alarm on that score, feeling assured that, after
relinquishing all their advantages in position, they could have no
further wish to retake them.

The first few days we were occupied making reconnoissances in the
neighborhood. Two positions were selected for fortifications: the one, a
steep hill, overlooking the estero; and the other, a lower eminence,
entirely guarding the main and only approach for cavalry by land to the
port. This was the Garita. Between these two points, in former times, a
line had been marked out, faced by a broad and deep ditch, intended to
connect the western branch of the inlet with the sea, thus cutting the
town entirely off from the main land; but the excavation had only been
completed as far as the Garita road, leaving, however, but a narrow
causeway open.

Heavy ordnance, long twenty-four pounders, with carriages and wheels,
mortars, and lighter guns, were brought ashore from the ships; and as
they were drawn through the streets, by the stout arms and shouts of
hundreds of sailors, the inhabitants fairly looked astounded. In a short
time these heavy monsters were staring, with their dark cavernous
mouths, from the esplanade of the Cuartel. Picks, shovels and barrows
went briskly to work; ditches, walls and parapets were commenced, and
went on unceasingly for many months.

Previous to our coming, a great number of the more respectable residents
had retired to their estates, or the towns in the vicinity; but upon
finding that the North Americans were not such outrageous invaders as
they had been led to believe, gradually these families returned to their
homes in Mazatlan. Meanwhile, a military and civil Governor and
Lieutenant Governor[3] had been appointed, and an _ayuntamiento_ called
from among the citizens, with commissioners on our side, to arrange
preliminaries for the municipal administration of the town. This proved
to be a matter of very difficult adjustment. The _junta_ were averse to
removing the _alcobala_--a tax levied upon provisions and produce
entering the gates--at all times a bu