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PORTER S JOURNAL. 



sibility of my crew, made me sometimes blush for my guests'* 

 I had, on my first arrival, despatched the Spaniards found on 

 board captain Randall's ship to Guyaquil, with a view of get- 

 ting them out of the way, and to prevent them from interrupt- 

 ing, by their information, the friendly intercourse I was de- 

 sirous of establishing, as well as to endeavour to procure 

 purchasers for my prizes, which I had been informed could 

 be readily obtained there. The collector, however, find- 

 ing we had nothing to smuggle, and giving up all hopes of 

 making a little money in that way, offered to go to Guya- 

 quil, and bring down purchasers for the ships, provided I 

 would give him two hundred dollars for each ship he should 

 be the means of selling. To this bargain I agreed ; and 

 the prospect of gaining eight or nine hundred dollars, kept 

 the poor man restless the whole time he was on board, and 

 he promised to start from Tumbez as soon as he could get 

 a conveyance from thence to Guyaquil. To the governor 

 and his suite, I gave presents to the amount of about one 

 hundred dollars, before their departure, with strong expec- 

 tations of more, and they left me with assurances of the 

 most friendly disposition on their part, and the most press- 

 ing invitation for me to go to Tumbez, which I promised to 

 do in the course of a day or two. The next day I visited the 

 town or hamlet. It is situated about six miles from the 

 river's mouth, on the left bank of the first rising ground you 

 meet with. From thence to the mouth of the river the 

 land is all low, similar to that of the Mississippi, covered 

 with rushes, reeds, and mangroves, and here and there, on 

 the most elevated parts, are to be found the huts where the 

 natives have settled themselves, for the purpose of cultiva- 

 ting the soil, which produces, in great abundance, cocoa, 

 corn, plantains, melons, oranges, pumpkins, sugar-cane, 

 sweet potatoes, fcc. &:c. Their houses are formed of reeds, 

 covered with rushes, open at all sides, and having the floor 

 elevated about four feet from the earth, to protect them 

 from the alligators, which are here numerous and of an 

 enormous size. One of them I killed with a musket ball, 

 fifteen feet in length, and of the most hideous appearance. 

 The ball entered below the joint of his fore-leg, near the 

 shoulder, and penetrated his heart, every other part being 

 so well guarded by the thick scales as to render it invulne- 

 rable. We saw here vast numbers of wild turkeys, whicli 



