18 AXEL A. OLSSON 



Esmeraldas for export. At this place, car travel in a southerly direction 

 again becomes possible, partly along the beach to Jama and from there 

 inland to Bahia. The road from Jama to Bahia is exceedingly rough and 

 can be travelled only during the dry season. The shore can be followed on 

 foot with some difficulty from Jama southward to Cabo Pasado, past 

 Punta Borracho composed of fossilferous Pliocene beds which are subject 

 in wet weather to much slumping, covering the narrow beach with a 

 thick mass of impassable mud. Cabo Pasados, so named because of its 

 position just below the equator, is a small settlement and port offering 

 some shelter and anchorage for small boats. South of the Cabo, the shore 

 is precipitous and impassable on foot. 



Bahia de Caraques, the third most important city along the west coast 

 of Ecuador, lies at the head of the poorly defined Bahia de Manta, at the 

 mouth of the Rio Chones and the gateway to a rich agricultural hinder- 

 land. At Bahia, and for a considerable distance to the west, there are 

 alternating stretches of sand beach and shelving flats of soft rock flanked 

 by high cliffs of Tertiary formations. As seen so frequently along the coast 

 of Ecuador, the soft rocks at water level are riddled with the borings of 

 pholads and worms so thick that a fresh sample of the rock cannot be 

 secured, the hammer or pick sinking to the hilt in the soft mass when 

 struck. From Bahia the coastal trend is almost due south to Charapoto 

 near the mouth of the small Rio Puertoviejo and then more westerly on to 

 Jaramijo and Manta. This long stretch of beach is usually passable by 

 car or truck but the trip must be well timed so as to pass the mouth of 

 Rio Puertoviejo at the lowest stage of the tide, there being no bridge. 

 The beach route is sometimes closed by slides near the Bahia end; then 

 the much longer inland road to Montecristi, Puertoviejo, and Rocafuerte 

 must be taken. 



Manta is the largest city on the coast of Ecuador and, until lately, 

 its most important port. (Esmeraldas, because of the banana trade, now 

 ranks first in Ecuadorian export). At Manta and along the coast east 

 to Jaramijo and west to San Mateo are some of the best collecting grounds 

 met with in Ecuador but subject to great seasonal variation. The environs 

 of Manta are semiarid, since this section of the coast is affected by the 

 cooling influence of winds from the Humboldt Current far out to sea, 

 hence the ravages of the "aguaje" is felt here as strongly as at Santa Elena. 

 At such times, the region is deluged with torrential rains, the waters of 

 the bay become rough and stormy, the waves lashing the shore with 

 destructive effects both to the life in the shallows and to nearby objects 

 on land. At normal times shells are plentiful at Manta, and a large number 

 of species have been recorded from here. Rock borers are plentiful, amongst 

 which is the interesting Litharca lithodomus, first taken here by Cuming. 



Travel by car from Manta south towards Guayaquil or Jijijapa is over 

 inland roads, first to Montecristi, and then forking towards the various 

 destinations. A collector or naturalist wishing to follow along the coast 

 must do so either on foot or in the saddle. West of San Mateo the 



