Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 2.djvu/63

Rh well-inhabited district. The land also is exceedingly unproductive, insomuch that the few residents are indebted to inland natives for their meanest articles of consumption. It is said that a fair was formerly held here, on the arrival of certain vessels from China; but this is now abolished. Its chief commercial intercourse, at this time, is with Manilla. There is an island on the south coast, with canals on either side many fathoms deep, which form the two mouths of the harbour. The castle and fort of San Diego, mounted with artillery, is situated on a promontory jutting far out upon the sea, within the distance of a musket-shot.

San Blas and Mazatlan are the remaining of principal harbours and the accommodation at both is of a very inferior description. Mazatlan is the chief calling-point on voyages from China and the Sandwich Islands to Europe and America. It is further distinguished by two different characteristics; first, that its coasts abound with particularly fine oysters and shell-fish, which the natives roast and pickle; and secondly, that its inhabitants, though their number is only five thousand, are composed of an