Besides This, There Are Three Other Churches, St
Augustin, St Francis, And St Dominic; Before Which Last Is Another
Parade, And A Half-Moon Battery Fitted For Mounting Six Guns, But There
Were None While We Were There.
There is also a chapel, and there had
been a church dedicated to St Ignatius, belonging to the jesuits, but it
was burnt down in the great fire.
These were all decently adorned with
altars, carved work, and pictures, and that dedicated to St Augustin had
an organ, but all their plate had been carried away by the priests and
students, who fled into the woods. Some of the houses were of brick,
particularly about the parades, and the rest of timber or split bamboos,
and some of them were decently furnished. Some of the inhabitants had
calashes, but I know not what use they could be of, all the
neighbourhood being so boggy that there was not road for them.
The boggy ground about Guayaquil was full of the largest toads I ever
saw, some being as big as an English two-penny loaf. The town was said
to contain 2000 inhabitants of all sorts, including Indians, Negroes,
and Mulattoes. An Englishman who joined us here, told us that, in the
preceding December, on occasion of a public rejoicing for the birth of
the prince of the Asturias, which lasted for three weeks, they had
mustered 1100 foot and 500 horse, all armed, which came from the
surrounding country, besides a much greater number unarmed, the greater
part of whom must have been Indians. Guayaquil is well situated for
trade and ship-building, being fourteen leagues from Point Arena and
seven from Puna, up a large river, into which fall several smaller ones,
and on which there are many villages and farms. The water of this river
is fresh for four leagues below the city, and all along its banks grow
great quantities of mangroves and sarsaparillas, and on account of
this last the water is thought salutary against the lues. But during
floods, when it brings down many poisonous plants from the mountains,
among which is the manchinilla apple, it is not reckoned wholesome.
All birds that eat of this apple are sure to die, and we saw hundreds of
them dead, floating on the water.
The seasons here are very improperly denominated summer and winter. The
winter is reckoned from the beginning of December to the end of May, in
all which season it is sultry, hot, wet, and unhealthy. From the end of
May to the beginning of December, which they call summer, the weather is
serene, dry, and healthy, and not so violently hot as in what they
denominate winter. The cacao is ripe and mostly gathered between June
and August. Of the other fruits of this country, some are ripe and
others green during the whole course of the year. Guayaquil is the chief
city of a province of that name in the kingdom of Peru, governed by a
president with five or six orders of judges, forming a royal
audiencia, or chief court of judicature, and accountable only to the
viceroy in military affairs,[223] and every province has a government of
the same nature. The governors are appointed, or more properly purchase
their offices, at the court of Old Spain, and are for life or good
behaviour. If any one die or misbehave, the viceroy may name another
during his time, which ought only to be for five years; but he sometimes
gets those of his own placing confirmed by an order from Spain, by which
means he derives a considerable portion of his unknown profits. The late
viceroy of Peru continued in office fourteen years, several intended
successors having died on the way. Scarcely does the king of Spain live
in greater splendour than the viceroy does at Lima, where the chief
courts of judicature are held, to which appeals are brought from all the
courts and provinces of this extensive kingdom. I was told on good
authority that the last viceroy, who died about four years ago, left at
least eight millions of dollars to his widow and family, besides vast
sums given in charity during his life, and building many churches,
friaries, and nunneries. He left a better character than any viceroy had
done for an age past.
[Footnote 223: This province is now in the kingdom or viceroyalty of New
Granada, and audiencia of Quito. - E.]
The province of Guayaquil abounds in excellent timber of several kinds,
so that it is the chief place in all Peru for building and repairing
ships, of which there are seldom less than seven or eight on the stocks
here at one time. Its chief commodity is cacao, with which it supplies
most parts on the South Sea, and we were told it never exported less
than 30,000 carguas yearly, and sometimes double that quantity, a
cargua being eighty-one pounds weight, which only costs here two
dollars and a half. They have also a considerable trade in salt and
salt-fish, from Cape St Helena, which is mostly sent to Quito and other
places of the inland country. It exports also a vast quantity of timber
to Truxilo, Chana, Lima, and other places, where it is scarce. They
export also from hence rice and cotton, with some dried or jerked beef.
This province has no mines of gold or silver, but abounds in all sorts
of cattle, which are very cheap, especially on the island of Puna, where
we amply supplied ourselves. Their only grain is maiz, so that all their
wheat flour is brought from Truxilo, Cherisse, and other places to
windward, or to the south, as the wind blows here always from the south.
They procure several kinds of woollen cloth, among which, are very
strong and good bags, from Quito. Their wines, brandy, olives, oil, and
sugar, come from Piscola, Nasca, and other places to windward. All kinds
of European goods are brought from Panama, being brought there overland
from Portobello on the Gulf of Mexico; and the trade of this port is so
considerable as to employ forty sail every year, besides coasters.
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