44 NOTES OF A NATURALIST. 



parts of the American coast that better deserve careful 

 examination by a scientific naturaHst. 



During the night of the 1 2th we passed Cape 

 Parinas, the westernmost headland of South America, 

 and before sunrise were in the roads of Payta. Being 

 aware that the so-called rainless zone of Peru extends 

 northward to this place, I was especially anxious to 

 see as much of it as possible. During the night the 

 temperature had fallen, especially after rounding Cape 

 Parinas, and at sunrise stood at 74°. In the cooler 

 air, and under the excitement of pleasant anticipa- 

 tion, the lassitude of the two preceding days utterly 

 disappeared ; and as day dawned I stood on deck, 

 with my tin box slung to my back, ready to go ashore 

 long before there was any possibility of doing so. 

 The officers told me, indeed, that there was no use in 

 taking a botanical box, as the country about Payta was 

 absolutely without vegetation. I have many times 

 had the same assurance given me, but the time had not 

 yet come when I was to find it correct, and I felt that 

 Payta was not one of such rare spots on the earth. 



The appearance of the place and of its surround- 

 ings is unquestionably very strange, and the contrast 

 between it and the shores of the neighbouring Gulf of 

 Guayaquil is simply marvellous. Saving the presence 

 of a mean little modern church, with two shabby 

 wooden towers coated with plaster, the aspect of the 

 little town reminded me of Suez, with the difference 

 that the surrounding desert is here raised about a 

 hundred feet above the sea-level. The place, I pre- 

 sume, is improved since it was visited and described 

 by Squiers, and I found that on the slope between 



