Page:Narrative of a Voyage around the World - 1843.djvu/400

342 directed that no charges whatever should be levied; and it is but due also to the administrador to state, that he took upon himself the responsibility of acting up to the spirit of this order before its arrival.

Mazatlan, since our visit in 1827, has increased from a village to a town, and, of course, has also its increase of bad characters. It is dangerous to be out at night, unarmed or alone.

The only notices I have from Mr. Barclay are: "The ficus tribe are amongst the leading features of the forest. Ficus obtusifolia, when wounded, yields a yellowish fluid of an adhesive nature, which the natives apply, in the form of a plaster, to broken limbs, (quebro duro.) The fruit of cathartocarpus fistuloides is used as a purgative; and a shrubby species of verbena, abundant on the hills, is considered a sovereign remedy for asthma."

We were again fortunate in our breeze, having returned to San Blas in twenty-four hours. Quitting the ship, accompanied by Lieut. Kellett, and our surgeon Mr. Hinds, we reached Tepic the following morning, having slept at the half-way house of Dona Manuela, of Navarete. The traces of the rains were yet fresh, and the roads considerably worse than at my last visit in 1837. Tepic, too, seemed to be rapidly declining; the wealth of former days, as well as the lively youthful faces, were fast waning. It was a melancholy feeling to recall the year 1828.

My kind friend Mr. Barron received us with all