ANDACOLLO — LlilA PANAMA JAMAICA. 1 49 



position was not pleasant — in fact, quite tlie reverse. 

 We made Payta, a wretched place, and a after fast run 

 we made Guayaquil River early in tlie morning. The 

 passage up the river was one of the most perfect pieces 

 of tropical scenery I ever viewed. At times we would 

 be almost shut in, as I thought, by myriads of islands 

 completely covered with the vegetation of the tropics. 

 It is useless to attempt to describe scenery in the tropics; 

 it is not like anything I have ever read of. All of a 

 sudden, when it appeared we were running right into 

 one of the islands, the view opened, and before us lay the 

 broad breast of the river, with its level banks stretching 

 leagues and leagues away, and the Cordillera in the 

 distance fronting the morning sun. Ah me ! it was sad 

 to think, as a Frenchman said to me, " Yes, it^s a lovely 

 land, and you can^t put your nose out of your house 

 without getting the terciano '^ (fever) . 



Guayaquil itself has rather a romantic position, and 

 presents a picturesque appearance from the sea; but, 

 like Constantinople, all this disappears when you land. 

 I think it is the most dilapidated place I ever saw — I say 

 dilapidated, because everything looked just not going to 

 pieces. It seemed as if a good strong shove would knock 

 a whole street down, like a pack of built-up cards. I 

 visited the cathedral, a wooden building, with an immense 

 amount of carving, &c., about it outside. Inside it had 

 the usual lot of wooden figures of saints. In Chile and 

 Peru some of the figures are rather bad, but those in 

 Guayaquil are the worst I ever did see; the images 

 of some of the female saints or santas were naked, with 

 gauze drawers on, precisely the same as a ballet dancer. 

 I may be slightly fastidious, but it struck me as a trifle 

 out of place in a cathedral. There was rather a curious 



