There is a beach of sand which extends eighteen leagues from the harbour of Acapulco to the westward, against which the sea breaks with such violence that it is impossible to land in any part of it; but yet the ground is so clean; that ships, in the fair season, may anchor in great safety at the distance of a mile or two from the shore.  The land adjacent to this beach is generally low, full of villages, and planted with a great number of trees; and on the tops of some small eminencies there are several look-out towers, so that the face of the country affords a very agreeable prospect:  For the cultivated part, which is the part here described, extends some leagues back from the shore, and there appears to be bounded by the chain of mountains, which stretch to a considerable distance on either side of Acapulco.  It is a most remarkable particularity, that in this whole extent, being, as hath been mentioned, eighteen leagues, and containing, in appearance, the most populous and best planted district of the whole coast, there should be neither canoes, boats, nor any other embarkations either for fishing, coasting, or for pleasure.

The beach here described is the surest guide for finding the harbour of Chequetan; for five miles to the westward of the extremity of this beach there appears a hummock, which at first makes like an island, and is in shape not very unlike the hill of Petaplan, hereafter mentioned, though much smaller.  Three miles to the westward of this hummock is a white rock lying near the shore, which cannot easily be passed by unobserved; it is about two cables length from the land, and lies in a large bay about nine leagues over.  The westward point of this bay is the hill of Petaplan.  This hill, like the forementioned hummock, may be at first mistaken for an island, though it be, in reality, a peninsula, which is joined to the continent by a low and narrow isthmus, covered over with shrubs and small trees.  The bay of Seguataneo extends from this hill a great way to the westward; and at a small distance from the hill, and opposite to the entrance of the bay, there is an assemblage of rocks, which are white, from the excrements of boobies and tropical birds.  Four of these rocks are high and large, and, together with several other smaller ones, are, by the help of a little imagination, pretended to resemble the form of a cross, and are called the White Friars.  These rocks bear W. by N. from Petaplan, and about seven miles to the westward of them lies the harbour of Chequetan, which is still more minutely distinguished by a large and single rock, that rises out of the water a mile and a half distant from its entrance, and bears S. 1/2 W. from the middle of it.[1]

[Footnote 1:  In the original are references to some plates, which cannot be given in this work.—­E.]