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.
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