PAYTA, 



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before vessels have turned the pointy the signal 

 hoisted on the farthest flagstaff, is answered by 

 the signal-post nearer. A signal card^ explain- 

 ing the meaning of all the different-coloured flags^ 

 is nailed up in the piazza^ to which I constantly 

 refer^ with the hope of learning the arrival of 

 some ship which may be bound to Panama, 

 Not less than five or six vessels enter Payta 

 every day ; but most of them are whalers. 



Besides spying at the signals through my 

 glass, I have another mode of passing the timers 

 when not reading or asleep in the hammock^ 

 which is to watch some birds called guanos^ 

 common here and along the coast. They re- 

 semble the sea-gull, but their way of fishing 

 resembles nothing I ever saw before. They fly 

 up and gather themselves together in a circle 

 at a great height, and after sundry revolutions 

 in the air, they close their wings, and fall like 

 stones, headlong down into the sea. Having 



