Patagonians, with whom he remained a year and a half, before the arrival of another vessel enabled him to bring himself into communication again with the civilized world. It is supposed, however, that he is not influenced in his present excursion by mere curiosity, but by a wish to investigate the mineral treasures of the Indian country, which are thought to be very great.
From Guaymas, the road to the interior of Sonora lies through Pĕtīc, a town of 8,000 inhabitants, situated in a plain near the confluence of the rivers Dolores and Sonora, thirty-six leagues from the Coast. The intervening country is level, and apparently destitute of water; the rivers from the Cordillera losing themselves in the sands between Petic and the Gulf; yet it is covered with herds of cattle and deer, and inhabited at intervals by Indians of the Seres tribe, of whose treacherous character Colonel Bourne's Journal gives some curious details. Pĕtīc is the depôt for the trade of Upper Sonora with the Gulf. Its inhabitants, amongst whom there are a few foreigners, (three Englishmen, two Americans, and eight Biscayans,) are wealthy, and abundantly supplied with all the necessaries of life; the country around being remarkable for its fertility.
Fourteen leagues to the Westward of Pĕtīc is the town of San Miguel de Horcasitas, upon the river Dolores. To the North of this town, the first ramifications of the Sierra Madre appear, abounding in
