GUAYAaUIL. 



131 



experiment as this, even in our hurried way, was 

 in the highest degree gratifying and instructive. 

 But the impossibility of examining the whole at 

 leisure ; of watching its progress ; of arranging 

 and connecting the different parts together ; and 

 of separating what was accidental and transient, 

 from that which was general and permanent ; was 

 a source of the greatest mortification. 



As we had now completed our supplies, and 

 finished all our business at Guayaquil, I decided 

 upon sailing ; and at the recommendation of the 

 pilot, agreed to proceed this evening. It would 

 have been satisfactory to have returned in day- 

 light, that we might have seen that part of the 

 country, which we had before passed in the night- 

 time ; but the tides had changed in the interval 

 of our stay, and again perversely served only at 

 night. 



I took a farewell dinner on shore, and in the 

 early part of the evening, just as I was stepping 

 into the boat, was assailed by a large party of la- 

 dies, who were on their way to a ball, at which 

 all the world, they said, was to be present. The 

 temptation to stay one day longer was great, and 



