201 



RAFT 



RIVER OF GUAYAQUIL. 



PLATE LXI1I. 



This drawing- is interesting under a double point 

 of view, as exhibiting a collection of the fruits of 

 the equinoxial zone, and showing the form of 

 those large rafts (balzas), which the Peruvians 

 have used from the most remote times on the 

 coasts of the South Sea, and at the mouth of the 

 river of Guayaquil. The raft, loaded with fruits, 

 is sketched at the moment when it is anchoring 

 in the river. Toward the head are seen pine- 

 apples, the pearshaped fruit of the laurus persea 

 [the alligator pear], the berries of the theophrasta 

 longifolia, bunches of plantains, flowers of the 

 passiflora and lecythis, shaded by leaves of the 

 heliconia and the cocoa tree. The rafts employed 

 either for fishing or the conveyance of merchan- 

 dize are from sixteen to twenty-five metres in 



