4o8 dlloa's voyage to south America. 



beams of which they confift, form a breadth of between twenty and twenty-four 

 Paris feet ; and proportional in thofe of feven, or any other number of beams. 



Thefe beams are faftened or lalhed together by bejucos, and fo fecurely, that with 

 the crofs-pieces at each end, which are alfo laflied with all poflible ftrength, they refift 

 the rapidity of the currents in their voyages to the coaft of Tumbez and Paita. The 

 Indians are fo ikilful in fecuring them, that they never loofen, notwithftanding the 

 continual agitation ; though by their negleft in examining the condition of the bejucos, 

 whether they are not rotten or worn, fo as to requure others, there are fome melan- 

 choly inftances of Balzas, which, in bad weather, have feparated, and, by that means, 

 the cargo loft, and the pafTengers drowned. With regard to the Indians, they never 

 fail of getting on one of the beams, which is fufficient for them to make their way to 

 the next port. One or two unfortunate accidents of this kind happened even while 

 we were in the jurifdiftion of Quito, purely from the favage careleffnefs of the 

 Indians. 



The thickeft beam of thofe which compofe the Balza, is placed fo as to project 

 bejond the other in its after-part ; and to this are laflied the firft beams on each fide, 

 and thus, fucceffively, till the whole are fecured ; that in the middle being the prin- 

 cipal piece, and thence the number of beams is always odd. The larger fort of Balzas 

 generally carry between four and five hundred quintals, without being damaged by 

 the proximity of the water ; for the waves of the fea never run over the Balza ; nei- 

 ther does the water fplafli up between the beams, the Balza always following the motion 

 of the water. 



Hitherto we have only mentioned the conftrudion and the ufes they are applied to ; but 

 the greateft Angularity of this floating vehicle is, that it fails, tacks, and works as well in 

 contrary winds, as fliips with a keel, and makes very little lee-way. This advantage 

 it derives from another method of fteering than by a rudder ; namely, by fome boards, 

 three or four yards in length, and half a yard in breadth, called Guaras, which are 

 placed vertically, both in the head and ftern between the main beams, and by thruft- 

 ing fome of thefe deep in the water, and raifmg others, they bear away, luff up, tack, 

 lie to, and perform all the other motions of a regular fliip : an invention hitherto un- 

 known to the moft intelligent nations of Europe, and of which even the Indians knolV 

 only the mechanifm, their uncultivated minds having never examined into the rationale 

 of it. Had this method of fteering been fooner known in Europe, it would have 

 alleviated the diftrefs of many a fliipwreck, by fa ving numbers of lives; as in 1730, 

 the Genovefa, one of His Majefty*s frigates, being loft on the Vibora, the ftiip's com- 

 pany made a raft; but corjimitting themfelves to the waves, without any means of 

 direding their courfe, they only added fome melancholy minutes to the term of their 

 exiftence. Such affe£ling inftances induced me to explain the reafon and foundation 

 of this method of fteering, in order to render it of ufe in fuch calamitous jundures ; 

 and, that I may perform it with the greater accuracy, I fliall make ufe of a fliort 

 memoir, drawn up by Don George Juan. 



The direction, fays he, in which a fliip moves before the wind, is perpendicular to 

 the fail, as Meff. Renau, in the Theorie de Manmuvres, chap. ii. art. i . BernouUi, 

 cap. i. art. 4. Pitot, fe£l. ii. art. 13. have demonftrated. And' re-aftion being contrary 

 and equal to the aftion, the force with which the water oppofes the motion of the 

 veflel, will be applied in a perpendicular direction to the fail, and continued from lee- 

 ward to windward, impelling with more force a greater body than a fmaller, in pro- 

 portion to the fuperficies, and the fquares of the fines of the angle of incidence, fup- 

 pofing their velocities equal. Whence it follows, that a Guara being ftioved down in 



the 



