THE SOCIETY OF GUAYAQUIL DESCRIBED. 



21 



thus learned to appreciate the value of scenery, 

 that I became sensible of the matchless beauty and 

 grandeur of the landscape round the spot where I 

 passed my early life, totally unconscious that the 

 world possessed nothing more varied, or more 

 worthy of being admired. 



The river was in general broad and deep, though 

 at some places there were abrupt turnings, and 

 many shoals, which sometimes obliged us to keep 

 so close to the banks, that it seemed, in the dark, 

 as if our yard-arms must get entangled with the 

 branches of the trees, which grew down to v the very 

 water's edge. The wind was gentle, but steady, 

 and just enough, in such perfectly smooth water, 

 to keep the sails asleep, as seamen express it, when 

 in light winds they do not flap against the mast. 



By means of this faint air, and the tide together, 

 we shot rapidly up the river, threading our way, as 

 it were, through the woods, which stood dark and 

 still, like two vast black walls along the banks of 

 the stream. Men were placed by the anchor, and 

 all hands were at their station, ready at an instant's 

 warning to perform any evolution : not a word was 

 spoken, except when the pilot addressed the helms- 

 man, and received his reply ; not the least noise 

 was heard but the plash of the sounding-lead, and 

 the dripping of the dew from the rigging and sails 

 on the decks. The flood- tide, which we had caught 

 just at the turn on entering the river, served to 

 carry us quite up to the town, a distance of forty 

 miles ; and at four o'clock, after passing the whole 

 night in this wild and solemn sort of navigation, 

 we anchored amongst the shipping off the city. As 

 the day broke, the houses gradually became visible, 

 presenting to the eye forms and proportions which 

 varied at every moment, as fresh light came in to 

 dissipate the previous illusions. At length the old 

 city of Guayaquil stood before us, in fine pictu- 

 resque confusion. 



I had a letter of introduction to a gentleman, 

 who received me in the easy style of the country, 

 and at once undertook to put us in the way of 

 procuring fresh provisions and other supplies ; 

 carried me to the governor's to pay the usual visit 

 of ceremony, and afterwards offered to introduce 

 my officers and myself to some families of his ac- 

 quaintance. We were somewhat surprised on 

 entering the first house, to observe the ladies in 

 immense hammocks made of net-work of strong 

 grass, dyed of various colours, and suspended from 

 the roof, which was twenty feet high. Some of 

 them were sitting, others reclining in their ham- 

 mocks : with their feet, or, at least, one foot left 

 hanging out, and so nearly touching the floor, that 

 when they pleased, they could reach it with the 

 toe, and by a gentle push, give motion to the ham- 

 mock. This family consisted of no less than three 

 generations : the grandmother lying at full length 

 in a hammock suspended across one corner of the 

 room ; the mother seated in another, swinging 

 from side to side ; and three young ladies, her 

 daughters, lounging in one hammock attached to 

 hooks along the length of the room. The whole 

 party were swinging away at such a furious rate, 

 that at first we were confounded and made giddy 

 by the variety of motions in different directions. 

 We succeeded, however, in making good our pas- 

 sage to a sofa at the further end of the room, 

 though not without apprehension of being knocked 

 over by the way. The ladies, seeing us embar- 



rassed, ceased their vibrations until the introduc- 

 tions had taken place, and then touching the floor 

 with their feet, swung off again without any inter- 

 ruption to the conversation. 



We had often heard before of the fair complexion 

 of the Guayaquilenas, but had fancied it was 

 merely comparative. To our surprise, therefore, 

 we found these ladies quite as fair and clear in 

 complexion as any Europeans : unlike the Spaniards 

 also, their eyes were blue, and their hair of a light 

 colour. The whole party maintained the character 

 for pre-eminence in beauty, for which Guayaquil 

 is celebrated in all parts of South America : even 

 the venerable grandmother preserved her looks 

 in a degree rarely met with between the tropics. 

 This is the more remarkable, as Guayaquil lies 

 within little more than two degrees south of the 

 Equator : and being on a level with the sea, is 

 during the whole year excessively hot. Some 

 people ascribe the fairness of the women, and the 

 wonderful permanence of their good looks, to the 

 moisture of the air ; and the city having on one 

 side a great marsh, and on the other a large river ; 

 while the country, for nearly a hundred miles, is a 

 continued level swamp, thickly covered with trees. 

 But how this can act to invert the usual order of 

 things I have never heard any one attempt to 

 explain ; certain it is, that all the women we saw 

 were fair, and perfectly resembled, in this respect, 

 the inhabitants of cold climates. 



At the next house, the most conspicuous person- 

 age we encountered was a tall, gentlemanlike, ra- 

 ther pompous sort of person ; dressed in a spotted 

 linen wrapper, and green slippers, with his hair 

 cropped and frizzled after a very strange fashion. 

 His wife, a tall handsome woman, and his daughter, 

 a grave pretty little freckled girl, as we thought of 

 sixteen years of age, but actually only thirteen, 

 were seated in a hammock ; which, by the united 

 efforts of their feet, was made to swing to a great 

 height. In another very large hammock sat a 

 beautiful little girl of five years of age, waiting 

 impatiently for some one to swing it about. On a 

 sofa, which was more than twenty feet long, sat 

 two or three young ladies, daughters of the lady 

 in the hammock, and several others, visitors ; be- 

 sides five or six gentlemen, several of whom were 

 dressed, like the master of the house, in slippers 

 and various coloured night-gowns of the lightest 

 materials. 



On first entering the room, we were astounded 

 by the amazing clatter of tongues speaking in tones 

 so loud and shrill, and accompanied by such ani- 

 mated stampings and violent gesticulations, that 

 we imagined there must be a battle royal amongst 

 the ladies. This, however, we were glad to find 

 was a mistake ; it being the fashion of the country 

 to scream or bawl, rather than to speak, in familiar 

 conversation. 



Not long after we were seated, and just as the 

 war of words and attitudes was recommencing after 

 the pause occasioned by the ceremony of present- 

 ing us ; another daughter, a young married lady, 

 came tripping into the room, and with a pretty and 

 mirthful expression of countenance, and much ele- 

 gance of manner, went round the company, and 

 begged to be allowed to let fall a few drops of 

 lavender water on their handkerchiefs. To each 

 person she addressed something appropriate in a 

 neat graceful way, beginning with the strangers, to 



