“As I continued my toilsome passage towards the shore, I heard the loud bellowing of the troubled earth, and felt the water jar me, as if it had been a solid substance. Suddenly a towering volcano, which I took to be Cotopaxi, at above one hundred miles distance, appeared illuminated like an immense light-house; the thundering increased, and shrieks and other fearful noises were borne to me over the water. At last, when nearly exhausted, I was thrown ashore, where I lay to recover breath and strength, but oh, the distress and confusion that then took place! Many of the inhabitants came crowding down to the water’s edge, for safety; houses had been destroyed; the earth was rocking and heaving like an angry ocean; streams of water had gushed out of the ground where no water had ever been seen before; suffocating fumes of sulphur burst up under the feet of the terrified and flying sufferers; and when the morning dawned, the face of the country seemed changed. Still the town itself (Guayaquil) had sustained but little damage, and the inhabitants began to return to their dwellings and their business. They are so much accustomed to earthquakes all over Peru, that it is not surprising they should so soon lose their terrors. “In the general distress, I met with but little compassion or assistance, which I then thought strange, but I had not yet learned that affliction often hardens the heart. No one relieved my hunger; so I ventured to steal a handful of nuts from a heap that had fallen out of a basket which had been thrown down during the night. These I beat between two stones, and mixed with a little water; and this was my food for that day. “As I wandered about among the shipping, looking in vain for a vessel bound to Europe, I recollected that the bay of Guayaquil is famous for a small shell fish, about the size of a nut. It is called _turbine_, and produces a purple dye, reckoned the best in the world. So I boldly seized a small boat that was lying at anchor, and pushing out into the bay, I caught a few of these valuable little fish, and returned to shore again, before the owner of the boat had missed it. I was now sure of a resource against starving, provided any one would buy my turbines. I was soon fortunate enough to find a purchaser, so I pursued the plan for several days, always taking the same boat, which no one appeared to claim. Perhaps the owner, poor fellow, had been destroyed by the earthquake. “I slept every night in a hut close to the sea; and on the fifth morning, I found a French vessel in the harbor, which was proceeding on her voyage to Bonaventura and to Acapulco, in Mexico. I immediately went to the captain, and offered to work my way to the port of Bonaventura, if he would give me my passage. And after telling him my story, he kindly granted my request; and in due time we reached the port, where with feelings of very great gratitude to the captain, I left the vessel.” JOURNEY ACROSS THE ANDES.