X 



Ch. X. SOUTH AMERICA. 191 



C H A P. X. 



Of the Commerce carried on by means of the City 

 and River of Guayaquil, betwixt the Provinces 

 c/* Peru and Terra Firma, and the Coajl of 

 New-Spain, 



THE commerce of Guayaquil may be divided 

 into two parts ; one reciprocal, being that of the 

 produdls and manufactures of its jurifdidlion ; the 

 other tranfitory, its port being the place where the 

 goods from the provinces of Peru, Terra Firma, and 

 Guatemala, configned to the mountains, are landed ; 

 and on the other hand, thofe from the mountains, de- 

 figned for the above-mentioned provinces, are brought 

 hither and fhipped for their refpe6tive ports. And as 

 thefe two branches are very different, I fliall firft: treat 

 particularly of its reciprocal commerce. 



Th£ cacao, one of its principal produdls, is chiefly 

 exported to Panama, the ports of Sonfonate, el Rea- 

 lejo, and other ports of New Spain •, and alfo to thofe 

 of Peru, though the quantity fent to the latter is but 

 fmall. It is fomething fingular, that in this city and 

 jurifdi6lion, where cacao grows in fuch plenty, little 

 or no ufe fhould be made of it. 



Timber, which may be efteemed the fecond article 

 of its commerce, is chiefly fent to Callao ; though a 

 little is fold to the places between Guayaquil and that 

 port. All the expence of it here is the charge of 

 felling, carrying it to the next creek or river, and 

 floating it down to Guayaquil; where, or at Puna, 

 it is fhipped for the ports it is configned to. 



Though both thele branches of trade are very ad- 

 vantageous to Guayaquil, as may eafily be imagined, 

 from the prodigious quantities exported ; yet the trade 

 of fait is not inferior to either, though the principal 

 markets to which this is fent are only the inland towyis 

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