iZz A VOYAGE TO Book IV. 



pf jBalza, the Indians of Darien called Puero ; and, 

 in all appearance, is the ferula of the Latins, men- 

 tioned by Columella ; Pliny takes notice of two fpe- 

 cies of it, the lelTer by the Greeks called Nartechia, 

 and the larger Narthca, which grows to a great height. 

 JSiebrija calh it in Spanilh Canna Beja, or Canna 

 Heja. Don George Juan, who faw it growing ill 

 Malta, found no other difference betwixt it and the 

 Balza or Puero, only the Canna Beja, called ferula by 

 the Maltefc, is much Imaller. The balza is. a whitifh, 

 foft wood, and fo very light, that a boy can eaiily 

 carry a \og oí thiee or four yards in length, and a, 

 foot in diameter. Yet, of this wood are formed the 

 Janjades or Balzas, reprefenled in Plate IV. Over part 

 of it is a fírong tilt, formed of reeds. Inñead of a 

 mafi:, the fail is hoi tied on two poles oy iheers of 

 mangrove wood, and thofe which carry a forefail have 

 two oiher poles eredled in the fame manner. 



Balzas are not only uted on rivers, but fmall voy- 

 ages are made at fea in them, and fometimes they gQ 

 as far as Paita. Their dimenñons being difíerent, 

 they are alio applied to different ufes ; fome of them 

 being fifhing Balzas ; fome carry all kinds of goods 

 from the cuiiom-houfe to Guayaquil, and from thence 

 to Puna, the Salto de Tumbez, and Paita; and 

 others, of a more curious and elegant conflru6\ion, 

 ferve for removing families to their ellates and coun- 

 try- houles, having the fame convenience as on ihore, 

 not being the Jeaft agitated on the river; and that 

 tncy have fufficient room for accommodations, may 

 be inferred from the length of the beams, which are 

 twelve or thirteen toifes, and about two feet or more 

 in diameler : fo that the nine beams of which they 

 coníiíi, forma breadth of i^etween twenty and twenty- 

 four Paris feet ; and proportional in thole of leven, or 

 any other number of beams. 



These beams are (aitened or lafhcd together by 

 bejucos, and fo fecurely, that with the crofs-pieces at 



each 



