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[[circled]] 24 [[/circled]]  Reached Payta at daylight & dropped anchor in the bay about 300 yds from the wharf.  The country is a dry barren desolate waste almost absolute without sign of vegetation except at the port.  A mesquite like bush could be seen near the beach in a few places.  There is perhaps no other place in the world where so sharp a transition occurs between heavy tropical forest like that at Guayaquil Bay and the absolute desert country at Payta only 100 miles south.  There is no physical barrier such as a mountain range, the change being due no doubt to the Southeast trades which drive away the moist laden breezes from the north which supply Ecuador with rain.  The whole region of the Peruvian coast is under the influence of the Peruvian current & its accompanying [[strikethrough]] bo [[/strikethrough]] breezes.  A white gull with black wings was the commonest bird in the harbour & different from the large gull of Guayaquil.  The small tern like gull was also seen & a few frigate birds.  Inland from the 

Transcription Notes:
I changed "on the post" to "at the port"--thomas