GUAYAQUIL. 



105 



ever since we left Coquimbo, a distance of six- 

 teen hundred miles. 



We weighed as soon as the land wind began to 

 steal off to us, and steered along shore, with the 

 sea as smooth as glass, and the faint sound of the 

 surf on the beach just audible. On the evening 

 of the 22d of December, we anchored oW the en- 

 trance of the Bay of Guayaquil ; but, owing to the 

 light winds and the ebb tide, it was not till the 

 evening of the next day, the 24th of December, 

 that we reached the entrance of the river. The 

 weather, in the day-time, was sultry and hot to 

 an intolerable degree : at night, the land breeze, 

 which resembled the air of an oven, was heavy 

 and damp, and smelled strongly of wet leaves 

 and other decaying vegetables. We anchored 

 near a small village on the great Island of Puna, 

 which lies opposite to the mouth of the river, and 

 presently afterwards a pilot came off, who, to our 

 surprise, undertook to carry the ship up the river, 

 as far as the town, in the course of the night. It 

 was very dark, for there was no moon : not a soul 

 in the ship had ever been here before : the pilot, 

 however, appeared to understand his business per- 



