The thickest log of the balsa is put so as to project beyond the others in the centre, and the others being lashed in equal number on each side to this, the number of logs is always uneven. A large balsa will carry twenty-five tons, and that as free from wet as possible, for the sea never breaks over them, nor does the water rise between the logs, as the whole machine adapts itself to the motion of the waves. They work and ply to windward like a keeled vessel, and keep their course extremely well before the wind, by means of a contrivance peculiar to them, which consists of some planks erected vertically, three or four yards long, and a foot and a half in breadth at the stern, and forward between the main logs. By pushing down some of these, and raising others up more or less, the float sails large, tacks, bears up, or lies to; and what renders this more astonishing, is that the machine is the contrivance of Indians unversed in the mechanical arts. On many of these rafts, the owners erect little huts for their accommodation, and on some of them in the rivers they have small gardens, with beautiful flowers and vegetables. All the rivers in the vicinity of Guayaquil abound with large alligators, some of which are five yards in length; they destroy vast quantities of the fish, and are usually seen basking on the marshy shores, or employed in catching their food; they feed also on flies, musquitoes, &c., which they catch by keeping their huge mouths open until filled with these insects, which soon happens in a country where the air swarms with them. The female alligator lays her eggs in a hole in the sand; these eggs are quite white and very solid, and she generally deposits a hundred at a time, which occupies a day or two, she then covers them over, and rolls herself about near them to accumulate the sand over her deposit. At the proper season the old one returns to the spot, and tearing up the sand, breaks the eggs to let the young animals out; the female then takes them on her neck and body and puts them into the water; but while doing this, the gallinazo vulture destroys great numbers of them, and the male alligator is said to devour as many as he can, while the female herself eats those which fall off her back, or do not swim, so that only four or five remain alive out of the hundred. The scales of the alligatorʼs back are impenetrable to a musket-ball, and they are only vulnerable in the belly between the fore legs. Vultures and other birds, frequently discover the nests by watching the female till she retires, and then claw up the sand, and devour the eggs; which are also eaten by the mulatto fishermen who frequent these rivers.