ULLOa's voyage to south AMERICA. 647 



deal of lee-way, when It is often a twelvemonth's talk. They relate here a ftory to 

 this purpofe, that the mafter of a merchant fhip, who had been lately married at Paita, 

 took his wife on board with him, in order to carry her to Callao. In the veffel fhe 

 was delivered of a fon, and before the (hip reached Callao, the boy could read dif- 

 tinftly. For after turning to windward, two or three months, provifions growing 

 (hort, the mafter put into fome port, where feveral months were fpent in procuring a 

 frelh fupply ; and after another courfe of tacking, the fame ill- fortune flill purfued 

 him ; and thus four or five years were fpent in tacking and vidualling, to the ruin of 

 the owner, before the fhip reached Callao. This misfortune was in a great meafure 

 owing to the ill-conftru6lion of the (hip ; and every other circumftance tending to ob- 

 ftruft her paffage, the tranfa<5lion has nothing very wonderful in it. 



According to obfervations made by Don George Juan at Paita, in the year 1737, its 

 latitude is 5" 5' fouth. It is a fmall place, having only one ftreet, and about one 

 hundred and feventy two houfes ; and thefe only of quinchas and canes covered with 

 leaves ; the only houfe built of ftone being that of the governor. It has a parifti 

 church and a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Mercy, and ferved by a religious of 

 that order. A little to the fouthward of the town is a mountain, called from its figure 

 Silla de Paita, or the faddle of Paita. The foil round Paita is wholly of fand, and 

 extremely barren ; for befides the total want of rain, it has not a fmgle river for the 

 conveyance of water ; fo that it is entirely deftitute of that neceflary fluid, unlefs what 

 is daily brought with great fatigue from Colan, a town on the fame bay, four leagues 

 north of Paita, and near which runs the river Chera, the fame ftream v^^hich waters 

 Amotape. The Indians of the town of Colan are under an obligation of daily fending 

 to Paita, one or two baizes loaded with water, which is diftributed among the inha- 

 bitants by ftated proportions. From the fame town Paita has alfo the greateft part of 

 its provifions. The nature of the foil, and the fituation of the place, render it ex- 

 tremely hot. Its inhabitants, who are about thirty-five or forty families, and confift of 

 Spaniards, Mulattoes, and Meftizos, live chiefly by paflengers going or returning 

 from Panama to Lima. So that the town owes its whole fupport to the harbour, 

 which, as I have before obferved, is the place where the cargoes of goods fent from 

 Panama are landed, together with thofe coming from Callao to the jurifdiftions of 

 Piura and Loja. 



In the bay of Paita, and that of Sechura, which lies a little farther to the fouthern, 

 fuch large quantities of tollo are taken as to anfv^^er the demands of the provinces of 

 the mountains, and part of thofe of Quito and Lima. The feafon for this fifhery 

 begins in Odober, when great numbers of barks go from Callao, returning when 

 the feafon is over. Fiftiing is alfo the conftant employment of the Indians of Colan, 

 Sechura, and the fmall hamlets near the coaft ; thefe feas abounding in feveral kinds 

 of fifli, befides the tollo, all palatable, and fome delicious. 



CHAP. II. — Account of the Tranfadions at Quito: unhappy Occafton ofourfudden Re- 

 turn to Guayaquil, 



ON our arrival at Quito, we made it our firft bufinefs to join the French company, 

 who were pleafed to exprefs a great deal of joy at our return. Mr. Godin, during 

 our abfence, had finiftied the allronomical obfervations to the northward, and though 

 Meflfrs. Bouguer and De la Condamine had alfo gone through them, yet they ftill 

 purpofed to repeat them; for thefe able academicians, who had always Ihewn an 



indefatigable 



