Travels in the United States, etc.,: during 1849 and 1850./ By the Lady Emmeline Stuart Wortley.

CITY OF GUAYAQUIL.
clouds to be seen, and that was all. Before we reached the river
there suddenly came on thousands of bright, beautiful flashes of
lightning, like winged suns darting about with bewildering rapid
ity-most exquisite meteorological pyrotechnics they were-and
with their dazzling reflections they sometimes almost made the
Pacific one sheet of flame. The southern constellations-and conspicuously beautiful and interesting among them the Cross-looked magnificent when the lightning partially ceased.
At length we arrived at the town of Guayaquil, the chief seaport of Ecuador. There has been a serious rebellion going on
(and that is strange, for one really wonders how they can go on
with their petty revoltings and revolutionizings without laughing),
and the city is actually in the hands of the wrong man, whoever
that may be. I heard his name but forget it, which is as well,
for he may very likely be the right man by this time. There
were no signs of any thing being altered or disordered in any way
by this pronunciamientical state of things.
These outbreaks seem a part of the constitutions of these new
Southern republics generally. "Sweet chasing sweet, joy overtaking joy." I am told that in Peru, the election for the President regularly produces one, or rather is one. Law and order are
entirely set at defiance; rebellions and massacres are then merely
pardonable ebullitions of enthusiasm and patriotism, and are quite
amicably committed, and, as the Frenchman said when he killed
his wife, innocently done in a petit gnoment de vivacite. In short,
revolution seems almost the normal state of things. No wonder
Guayaquil looked so gay and contented.
I know not whether there was any extra lighting of the town
to express their joy at being in such delightful circumstances; but
I must say, I have seldom beheld a more magnificently-illuminated city than Guayaquil. As you ascend the river the town is on
the left-hand side; broad quays of immense length, and splendidly
lit-up at night, adorn the city greatly, besides being eminently
useful to the shipping; for, when moored to the rings upon the
wharf, vessels of very considerable size may remain alongside of
them without touching the ground.
There are said to be immense numbers of very large alligators
some miles above the town. They occasionally overset accidentally the slight and fragile canoes of the Indians, who bring in
these boats to the Guayerquil market fruit and vegetables (among
which are enormous numbers of splendid pine-apples); then woe
to the poor boatman! for the moment the alligator sees him in
363