188 Mr. O. Salvin on the Sea-birds and Waders 



the other passengers, besides myself, being an Englishman, Mr. 

 E., who went to inspect the shipping of the cargo, and two 

 Germans, one of whom had purchased produce in the interior; 

 what the other was after, I never could make out. There is no 

 such thing as a harbour anywhere along this part of the coast. 

 Ships, which come to take in and discharge cargo, lie at anchor 

 in an open roadstead, and boats are hauled to and fro through 

 the surf by means of a rope, attached at one end to a buoy, and 

 tightened from the shore. If the sea runs at all high (and this 

 is speaking superlatively, as the heavy roll from the Pacific 

 Ocean is never very slight), considerable risk is run in commu- 

 nicating with vessels, and not unfrequently no boat can pass. 

 All the necessary paraphernalia of boats, buoys, and ropes, 

 had to be taken to Champerico, as only on the occasion of a 

 vessel touching there is the " port " open. 



When a vessel is dependent upon land- and sea-breezes, her 

 progress is often slow. It took the ' Vicuna ^ three days before 

 she dropped anchor off a large thatched rancho on the beach, 

 over which a flag was flying. It was rather a relief to find the 

 place, as nobody on board knew exactly where it was. I had 

 an indifi'erent map, showing the various fisheries along the shore ; 

 and we could make out, by a break in the continuous bank of 

 sand forming the beach, where a large river entered the sea. 

 By thus guessing the way, we at last made out the flag, putting 

 an end to doubt. While it was calm enough to pick them up, 

 I shot a few Sea-Gulls which followed the ship, and succeeded 

 in securing a good specimen of Larus cucullatus, Licht., besides 

 some of the much commoner L, atricilla, the Laughing Gull. In 

 opening a communication with the shore the rope is first taken 

 in a canoe, the " lancha," or boat, remaining outside the 

 breakers. On this occasion the canoe upset in the surf; but 

 the men, accustomed to such mishaps, succeeded in getting the 

 end of the rope on shore. It does not often happen that a sin- 

 gle rancho is distinguished with a name in a map ; but Cham- 

 perico is thus marked, consisting solely of a large store house, or 

 almacen. Here I put up, with Mr. E., amongst the sugar- and 

 cofi'ee-bags. On arriving, I found Enrique Arce (who was then, 

 and is now, collecting birds), and my servant, Crux, who had 



