38 NOTES OF A NATURALIST. 



Cabo Santa Elena. This forms the north-western 

 headland of the Gulf of Guayaquil, a wide bay that 

 extends fully a hundred miles eastward from the coast- 

 line. 



At daybreak, April ii, we were inside the large 

 island of Puna, and soon after entered the mouth of 

 the river Guayas. Although it drains but a small 

 district, this has a deep channel, as wide as the 

 Thames at Gravesend, making the town of Guayaquil, 

 which is about thirty miles from its mouth, the natural 

 port for Western Equatorial America. As we steamed 

 northward up the stream, every eye was turned east- 

 ward with the hope of descrying some part of the 

 chain of the Andes. It was, indeed, obvious that a 

 great mountain barrier lay in that direction, and 

 beneath the eastern sun dark masses from time to 

 time stood out to view ; but along the crest of the 

 range heavy banks of cloud constantly rested, and 

 the summits remained concealed. We knew that the 

 peak of Chimborazo is scarcely more than seventy 

 miles distant from Guayaquil, and is easily seen from 

 the town in clear weather ; but we did not know that 

 clear weather is a phenomenon that recurs only on 

 about half a dozen days in the course of the year, and 

 it is needless to say that we did not draw one of these 

 prizes in the lottery. I had been conscious of a dis- 

 tinct change of climate during the preceding night, 

 and this was still more marked after we entered the 

 river. The increase of temperature was but trifling. 

 The thermometer at sea during the two preceding 

 days had ranged from yy^ to 79°, and here at nine a.m. 

 it marked only 80° ; nor did it ever rise above 84'^ 



