We Sailed From Realejo On The 3d September, Steering To The North-West Along The Coast, Having Tornadoes From The N.W. Accompanied With Much Thunder And Lightning, Which Obliged Us To Keep Out To Sea, So That We Saw No Land Till The 14th, When We Were In Lat.

13 deg.

51' N. We then came in sight of the volcano of Guatimala. This presents a double peak like two sugar-loaves, between which fire and smoke sometimes burst forth, especially before bad weather. The city of Guatimala stands near the foot of this high mountain, eight leagues from the South Sea, and forty or fifty from the gulf of Amatique, at the bottom of the bay of Honduras.[178] This city is reputed to be rich, as the country around abounds in several commodities peculiar to it, especially four noted dyes, indigo, otta or anotto, cochineal, and silvestre.[179] Having in vain endeavoured to land on this part of the coast, we proceeded to the small isle of Tangola. a league from the continent, where we found good anchorage, with plenty of wood and water.

[Footnote 178: This description agrees with the situation of St Jago de Guatemala, in lat. 14 deg. 25' N. long. 31 deg. 18' W., which is about thirty statute miles from the South Sea. The modern city of Guatemala, standing nine miles to the S.E., is only about sixteen miles from the sea at the head of a bay of the same name. - E]

[Footnote 179: This last is an inferior species of cochineal, gathered from the uncultivated opuntia, while the true cochineal is carefully attended to in regular plantations. Both are the bodies of certain insects gathered by the Indians and dried for preservation, constituting the most valuable scarlet dye. - E]

A league from thence is the port of Guataico, in lat. 15 deg. 52' N. long. 36 deg. 20' W. one of the best in Mexico. On the east side of the entrance, and about a mile from it, there is a small isle near the shore, and on the west side a great hollow rock, open at top, through which the waves force a passage with a great noise to a great height even in the calmest weather, which affords an excellent mark for seamen. This port runs into the land about three miles in a N.W. direction, and is about one mile broad. The west side affords the securest anchorage, the other being exposed to S.W. winds, which are frequent on this coast. We landed here to the number of 140 men, of whom I was one, on the 8th September, and marched about fourteen miles to an Indian village, where we found nothing but vanillas drying in the sun. The vanilla grows on a small vine, or bindwood shrub, which winds about the stems of trees, producing a yellow flower, which changes to a pod of four or five inches long, about the the size of a tobacco-pipe stem.

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