Travels in the Interior of Mexico: In 1825, 1826, 1827, & 1828 |
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afterwards Alamos alcalde anchor appearance Arispe arrived Bandéras bank Bruja California called cañada Capitan captain carronades Céres chief Clarence Island coast colour Congress consequence danger distance divers dollars effect eight Escabosa eyes fathoms fear feeling fishery five four Fuerte gave gold Gomez Guanaxuato Guaymas gulf hacienda hills hundred HYDROPHOBIA imagination Indians inhabitants island Jesuits journey La Paz lady Lindon Loréto maize Mazatlán meson Mexican Mexico mineral mines Molexe Montagu Island morning mountains mouth mules native never night noon obliged observed Opata Oposura padre party passed pearls person Pitic population present presidio proceeded province rancho ravine reader Rio Colorado river road round Santa scarcely Señor shore side Sinaloa situation Sonora soon Spaniards supercargo supposed Tepic thought three leagues Tiburow tion told took town traveller vessel wind Yaqui Yáquis yards
Popular passages
Page 259 - He had already been under water so considerable a time, that he found it impossible any longer to retain his breath, and was on the point of giving himself up for lost with as much philosophy as he possessed. But what is dearer than life ? The invention of man is seldom at a loss to find expedients for its preservation in cases of great extremity. On a sudden he recollected that on one side of the rock he had observed a sandy spot, and to this he swam with all imaginable speed ; his attentive friend...
Page 539 - Charge d'Affaires in that country. Second Edition, revised. Comprising an account of the Mining Companies, and of the Political Events in that Republic, to the present time.
Page 256 - This stick is about nine inches long, and is pointed at both ends. The diver grasps it in the middle, and when attacked by a shark, he thrusts it into the monster's expanded jaws, in such a position, that, in attempting to seize his victim, the jaws close, upon the two sharp points ; thus secured, he can do no mischief, but swims away with his martyrdom ; the diver rises, and seeks a new weapon of defence.
Page 258 - ... water. The rock is not above one hundred and fifty or two hundred yards in circumference, and our adventurer swam round and examined it in all directions, but •without meeting any inducement to prolong his stay. Accordingly, being satisfied that there were no oysters, he thought of ascending to the surface of the water ; but first he cast a look upwards as all divers are obliged to do, who hope to avoid the hungry jaws of a monster. If the coast is clear, they may rise without apprehension....
Page 115 - ... services were accepted. She poured a powder into half a glass of water, mixed it well, and in the intervals between the paroxysms she forced the mixture down his throat. The effects were exactly such as she had predicted : namely, that he would almost instantly lose all power over his bodily and mental faculties, and that a death-like stupor would prevail, without any symptoms of animation, for either twentyfour or forty-eight hours, according to the strength of his constitution ; that at the...
Page 250 - I had been assured that as soon as the ears should burst, as it is technically called by the divers, there would be no difficulty in descending to any depth, and wishing to become an accomplished diver, I determined to brave the excessive pain, till the bursting should, as it were, liberate me from a kind of cord, which limited...
Page 258 - A double-pointed stick was a useless weapon against such a tinterero, as its mouth was of such enormous dimensions that both man and stick would be swallowed together. He therefore felt himself rather nervous, as his retreat was now completely intercepted. But under water, time is too great an object to be spent in reflection, and therefore he swam round to another part of the rock, hoping by this means to avoid the vigilance of his persecutor.
Page 251 - ... and keeping myself steadily in the inverse order of nature, namely, with my feet perpendicularly upwards, the impetus carried me down about four fathoms, when it became necessary to assist the descent by means of the hands and legs ; but, alas ! who can count upon the firmness of his resolution ? The change of temperature from warm to cold is most sensibly felt. Every fathom fills the imagination with some new idea of the dangerous folly of penetrating...
Page 123 - At the town of Babidcora our traveller met with one of the revolutionary half-pay colonels in the Mexican army, of the name of Vicente Gomez, a monster, on a smaller scale, fully equal to Robespierre. One extract will suffice as a specimen of this savage. ' He once took a prisoner whom he ordered to be sewed up in a wet hide, and exposed to the sun, by the heat of which it soon dried and shrunk, and the wretched victim died in an agony which cannot be described. Another he ordered to be buried in...
Page 252 - I voluntarily changed the position of my body, and in the next instant found myself once more on the surface. How did my bosom inflate with the rapid inspirations of my natural atmosphere, and a sensation of indescribable pleasure spread over every part of the body, as though the spirit was rejoicing...