488 A NATURALIST IN THE PACIFIC chap. 



Sandy beaches are not common on the mangrove-fronted 

 shores of the south side of the Gulf of Guayaquil. However, on 

 the seaward side of the long low mangrove island of Jambeli, on 

 which the lighthouse is placed off Puerto Bolivar, there is a long 

 stretch of beach of whitish, mainly non-calcareous, sand. The 

 Coco palms behind the beach give the coast quite the aspect of a 

 Pacific island strand. Ipomea pes caprae flourishes on the sand 

 nearest to the sea ; and immediately behind, the beach is more or 

 less occupied by a Cyperus 2 to 3 feet high, and by Canavalia 

 obtusifolia. Further back grows a small Acacia tree, and behind 

 it the yellow-flowered Cordia tree of the district ; and in the rear 

 of all lie extensive mud-flats, partly occupied by stunted bushes of 

 Avicennia tomentosa and by Sesuvium portulacastrum, which 

 in their turn pass into the mangrove-swamps. 



On account of the enormous amount of drift of all descriptions 

 that is carried to the sea by the Guayas or Guayaquil River, 

 floating vegetable materials are abundant in the Gulf of Guayaquil, 

 and are thrown up in quantity on the coasts of Ecuador. One of 

 the most interesting spectacles at Guayaquil is presented by the 

 floating river-drift. Huge tree-trunks and floating islets, the last- 

 named ranging from 3 or 4 to 30 or 40 feet or more across, were, 

 at the time of my visit in February, being carried to and fro 

 unceasingly in front of the city by the tide, gradually making 

 their way down the river, and ultimately reaching the open waters 

 of the gulf Floating plants of Pistia were in abundance ; and 

 their fate when they reached the sea must have been tragical. The 

 islets were exceedingly interesting ; they were evidently formed ot 

 materials lifted up bodily from the shallows at the margin of the 

 river, and then carried off in the stream. They were mainly com- 

 posed of two species of Pontederia and of Polygonum glabrum in 

 the position of growth ; the first often in flower. Pistia and a variety 

 of smaller plants nestled among them, such as Salvinia, portions of 

 Azolla, Lemna, &c. ; and in one islet I noticed, oddly enough, the 

 growing rhizome of a sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica). A great 

 quantity of floating seeds collect amongst the roots and stems of 

 the plants composing the islets, and here I obtained much of 

 the smaller seed-drift. 



Most frequent in the floating drift of the river at Guayaquil 

 were the seeds of Anona paludosa, often in a germinating con- 

 dition. The seeds are liberated by the decay of the floating fruit, 

 which was also common in the drift. Amongst the larger materials 

 were the seeds of Entada scandens and of Mucuna ; the empty 



