CHAPTER III. 



FROM PANAMA TO LIMA. 



I Mii\RK ON BOARD STEAMER NEW GRENADA. RAIN. BUENAVENTURA. THE ANDES. -CROSS THE EQUATOR. RE- 

 FUSED PERMISSION TO LAND IN ECUADOR. ANCHOR AT PAYTA. POSITION OF THE TOWN AMID STERILITY. MARINE 

 FOSSILS. HOUSES. PEOPLE. NO FRESH WATER. SHIP-BUILDING. A BALSA. VEGETABLE!* AND FRUITS FROM THE 

 VALLEY OF PIURA ; CHER1MOYA; ALLIGATOR PEAR ; GRANADILLA ; PEPINO. WHALERS. LAMBAYEQUE. HUAXCHACO 

 AND TRUJILLO. BALSAS AGAIN. STRIKE ON A ROCK OFF CASMA BAY. OAiLAO. 



September 27, 1849. Embarked on board the iron steamer New Grenada at noon, and left 

 for Callao at 1 p. M. Air nearly calm, with occasional showers of rain and severe thunder and 

 lightning. Passed the Pearl islands about sunset, though at too great a distance to see them 

 distinctly. Many porpoises and flying-fish about the ship during the afternoon. 



September 28. Very heavy rain from midnight until 1 A. M. ; and the early morning being 

 overcast and murky, with very little wind, was rather unpropitious. So smooth was the sea, 

 that of our twenty-three passengers there was only one incommoded by the motion. During 

 the forenoon the S.W. wind gradually grew stronger, and we had a remarkably fine day, our 

 ship running on a S.E. by S. course, about eight miles per hour. 



Two or three land-birds took refuge on board, and were so wearied that they made no effort 

 to escape capture. One, a small crow-shaped species, had a dove-colored head, with white 

 stripes round the eyes, and long mandibles. The rest of the body was dark, and its toes webbed. 

 Innumerable schools of porpoises and bonitas jumping near our track. Latitude at noon 6 26' 

 N., the land distant to the eastward 40 miles. 



September 29. A violent rain-storm, with thunder and lightning, lasted, almost without 

 intermission, from 2 to 8 A. M. At sunset entered the mouth of the river Buenaventura, and 

 at 7$ P. M. dropped anchor off a town of the same name, situated on its left bank. The dis- 

 tance across the mouth of the river is about a mile, and its shores are apparently quite bold. 

 This is the nearest port for passengers and the mail to and from Bogota. Darkness and our 

 distance from the shore prevented anything more than the lights of the town from being seen, 

 as we were not permitted to land. People who reside in countries rarely free from yellow 

 fever, and other similarly harmless tropical infirmities, probably consider themselves favored 

 with climates especially healthy. We, having come from a place where the cholera had pre- 

 vailed some month or two previously, still bore pestilence about us, and passengers, freight, 

 mail, all were declared in quarantine ! So excellent a joke did it appear to the Spanish pas- 

 sengers on board, that the health officers and boatmen who came off were most unmercifully 

 burlesqued and laughed at during the hour we remained at anchor. Maugre the bad character 

 the officials endeavored to fasten on us, it did not prevent several persons coming on board to 

 accompany us down the coast; and by 9 o'clock we were again outside, in a torrent of rain, 

 which never ceased during the remainder of the day. 



September 30. The thermometer fell below 80 during the preceding night, throughout 

 which, and up to 8 A. M., there was incessant rain. At noon we were a mile to the southwest 

 of Gorgona, steering a S.S.W. course, against a head wind and moderate sea. The island is 

 small, though covered with vegetation, and is extremely picturesque and beautiful. It has a 

 good bay on its southwest side, with abundance of water, and is reputed to possess a valuable 

 gold mine, as well as a pearl fishery of great extent in the adjoining waters. Difficulty of 

 access and venomous reptiles prevent the former from being worked, and multitudes of sharks 



