Ch. i. south AMERICA. 195 



BOOK V. 



Jouniey from Guayaquil to the City of 

 Quito, 



CHAP. I. 



Passage from Guayaquil to the Town of Caracol^ and 

 from thence to Quito. 



ON receiving advice that the mules, provided by 

 the corregidor of Guaranda, were on the road 

 to Caracol, we immediately embarked at Guayaquil, 

 on the 3d of May 1736, on board a large chata: 

 but the usual impediment of the current, and seve- 

 ral unfortunate accidents, rendered the passage so 

 very long, that we did not land at Caracol before 

 the nth. The tortures we received on the river 

 from the moschitos were beyond imagination. We 

 had provided ourselves with guetres, and moschito 

 cloths ; but to very little purpose. The whole 

 day we were in continual motion to keep them oíF; 

 but at night our torments were excessive. Our 

 gloves were indeed some defence to our hands, but 

 our faces were entirely exposed, nor were our clothes 

 a sufficient defence for the rest of our bodies $ for 

 their stings, penetrating through the cloth, caused a 

 very painful and fiery itching. The most dismal 

 night we spent in this passage was when we came to 

 an anchor near a large and handsome house, but un- 

 inhabited ; for we had no sooner seated ourselves in 



O 2 it. 



