TRAVELS AMONGST THE GREAT ANDES. chap. i. 



On December 13 we received advice that our animals were 

 ready, and left G-uayaquil the same afternoon on board the 

 river-steamer Quito, with a large and very miscellaneous freight/ 



and arrived about midnight 

 at Bodegas. Opposite to 

 Guayaquil the Guayas is a 

 noble river, more than a 

 mile and a quarter across, 

 with good depth, of water. 

 It is joined just above the 

 town by its principal tribu- 

 tary, the Eiver Daule, and 

 beyond the junction, though 

 remaining fully a mile wide, 

 it becomes shallow. At a 

 distance of about thirteen 

 miles N.N.E. of Guayaquil 

 it receives the waters of an- 

 other important tributary, 

 the River Yaguachi, a stream 

 which is formed by the union of the Chimbo and Chanchan. 

 In their upper courses, these rivers are only mountain torrents — 



A YOUNG PERSON OF GUAYAQUIL. 



lowered into the sea. The box floated away and drifted on to Flamenco I., ofE 

 Panama, where some residents fired through and through it until the snake was 

 killed. Mr. Chambers subsequently received a special request not to ship any 

 more passengers of that class. 



1 The war in Peru caused an exodus of Italian organs from Lima, and thirty 

 refugee instruments landed at Guayaquil just before our arrival. Four of these 

 were on board the Quito, concentrated on the fore part of the upper deck, each 

 playing a different tune. The Ecuadorians enjoyed the babel, but the alligators 

 in the river seemed more sensitive. They came up and stared with open mouths, 

 and plunged down again immediately, out of hearing. 



The Guayas and its tributaries are full of alligators. On a trip up the river in 

 July, 1880, I saw a large sandbank completely covered by a horde of them, lying 

 peaceably alongside each other. The natives do not seem to be troubled by their 

 proximity, though it is admitted they do occasionally chew incautious children. 



