t of Huacho the breakers are so dangerous that
an ordinary-sized boat cannot put in. Landing is therefore effected in
the small canoes of the Indians. When we approached the shore we made
signals, and called loudly for canoes, but in vain. The dismayed
Huachanos showed no inclination to assist their supposed enemies. Our
captain, who was with us in the boat, said, that as a fresh wind from
the shore was springing up he could wait no longer, and that he must
take us with him to Panama. This very unpleasant piece of information
prompted us to put into execution a plan which was suggested by despair.
The tall, lank pastor, wrapped in the black ecclesiastical robe, called
the _talar_, was placed at the prow, where he stood up, making signs of
peace and friendship to the natives. This had the desired effect. The
port captain had a good glass, with which he quickly recognized the
marked features of the Cura, and several Indian boats were instantly
despatched to convey us on shore. These Indian canoes consist of long
narrow stumps of trees, hollowed longitudinally. On either side is
nailed a _palo de balzas_, viz., a beam of a very porous kind of wood.
One Indian sits forward, another more backward, each having a short
wooden shovel-shaped oar, with which they strike the water right and
left, and thus scull the boat onward. The passengers must crouch or
kneel down in the middle, and dare not stir, for the least irregularity
in the motion would upset the boat. We landed safely, and amused
ourselves by referring to the mistake of the brave guardians of the
coast. Horses were provided for us, and we rode to the town, which is
situated at about half a league up the gently-rising coast.

My principal occupation, during a six weeks' residence on this part of
the coast, which is very rich in fishes, was to augment my
ichthyological collection, and to make myself well acquainted with the
environs of Huacho. Every morning, at five o'clock, I rode down to the
shore, and waited on the strand to see the boats returning with what had
been caught, during the night, by the fishers, who readily descried me
at a distance, and held up, in their boat, such strange inhabitants of
the deep as had come into their possession. I succeeded in making out,
from several hundred individual specimens, one hundred and twenty
distinct species of sea and river fish. But an unlucky fate hovered over
this fine collection. The fishes were all put into a cask with