is the promenade street as well
as the Broadway of commerce, crowds of Ecuadorians, who never do
business in the evening, leisurely paced the magnificent arcade; hatless
ladies sparkling with fire-flies[4] instead of diamonds, and far more
brilliant than koh-i-noors, swept the pavement with their long trains;
martial music floated on the gentle breeze from the barracks or some
festive hall, and a thousand gas-lights along the levee and in the city,
doubling their number by reflection from the river, betokened wealth and
civilization.

[Footnote 4: The _Pyrophorus noctilucus_, or "cucujo," found also in
Mexico and the West Indies. It resembles our large spring-beetle. The
light proceeds from two eye-like spots on the thorax and from the
segments underneath. It feeds on the sugar-cane. On the Upper Amazon we
found the _P. clarus_, _P. pellucens_, and _P. tuberculatus_.
At Bahia, on the opposite coast, Darwin found _P. luminosus_, the most common
luminous insect.]

We landed in the morning to find our vision a dissolving view in the
light of the rising sun. The princely mansions turned out to be hollow
squares of wood-work, plastered within and without, and roofed with red
tiles. Even the "squares" were only distant approximations; not a right
angle could we find in our hotel. All the edifices are built (very
properly in this climate) to admit air instead of excluding it, and the
architects have wonderfully succeeded; but with the air is wafted many
an odor not so pleasing as the spicy breezes from Ceylon's isle. The
cathedral is of elegant design. Its photograph is more imposing than
Notre Dame, and a Latin inscription tells us that it is the Gate of
Heaven. But a near approach reveals a shabby structure, and the pewless
interior is made hideous by paintings and images which certainly must be
caricatures. A few genuine works of art imported from Italy alone
relieve the mind of the visitor. Excepting a few houses on the Malecon,
and not excepting the cathedral, the majority of the buildings have a
tumble-down appearance, which is not altogether due to the frequent
earthquakes which have troubled this city; while the habitations in the
outskirts are exceedingly primitive, floored and walled with split cane
and thatched with leaves, the first story occupied by domestic animals
and the second by their owners. The city is quite regularly laid out,
the main streets running parallel to the river. A few streets are
rudely pave