stained current; at sunset the same softened
down to a gentle breeze, increasing about _7_ P.M., and dying away about
3 A.M. Notwithstanding heaps of filth and green-mantled pools,
sufficient to start a pestilence if transported to New York, the city
is usually healthy, due in great part, no doubt, to countless flocks of
buzzards which greedily wait upon decay. These carrion-hawks enjoy the
protection of law, a heavy fine being imposed for wantonly killing
one.[7] It is during the rainy season that this port earns the
reputation of being one of the most pestiferous spots on the globe. The
air is then hot and oppressive, reminding the geologist of the steaming
atmosphere in the carboniferous period; the surrounding plains are
flooded with water, and the roads, even some of the streets of the city,
become impassable; intolerable musquitoes, huge cockroaches, disgusting
centipedes, venomous scorpions, and still more deadly serpents, keep the
human species circumspect, and fevers and dysenteries do the work of
death.

[Footnote 5: The ancient name was _Culenta_.]

[Footnote 6: The continuity of the dry season is broken by a rainy fit
commencing a few days after the autumnal equinox, and called _el
Cordonazo de San Francisco_. "Throughout South America (observes Mr.
Spruce) the periodical alternations of dry and rainy weather are laid to
the account of those saints whose 'days' coincide nearly with the epochs
of change. But if the weather be rainy when it ought to be fair, or if
the rains of winter be heavier than ordinary, the blame is invariably
laid on the moon."]

[Footnote 7: The turkey-buzzard, the "John Crow" of the West Indies, is
not a social bird, though a score are often seen together: each comes
and goes by himself.]

The Guayas is the largest river on the Pacific coast; and Guayaquil
monopolizes the commerce of Ecuador, for it is the only port. Esmeraldas
and Peylon are not to be mentioned. Through its custom-house passes
nearly every import and export. The green banks of the Guayas, covered
with an exuberant growth, are in strong contrast with the sterile coast
of Peru, and the possession of Guayaquil has been a coveted prize since
the days of Pizarro. Few spots between the tropics can vie with this
lowland in richness and vigor of vegetation. Immense quantities of
cacao--second only to that of Caracas--are produced, though but a
fraction is gathered, owing to the scarcity of laborers, so many
Ecuadorians