GUIAQUIL, also denominated by some GUAIQUIL, a city, bay, harbour, and river, in Peru, South America. The city is the second of Spanish origin, being as old as the year 1534. It lies on the west side of the river of the same name, in 1° 11' S. Lat. and 79° 17' W. Long. It is divided into the old and new towns, between which there is a communication by means of a wooden bridge. It is two miles in extent, and defended by two forts. The churches, convents, and houses, are of wood, and it contains about 20,000 inhabitants. The women are celebrated for their personal charms, polite manners, and elegant dress. This place is most of all noted for a shell-fish no larger than a nut, which produces the most beautiful purple dye in the world. It is the blood of the fish, pressed out by a particular process. The commerce here is very considerable, the productions of the country alone forming the greatest part of it, which consist of timber, salt, horned cattle, mules, and colts, pepper, drugs, and a kind of wool much finer than cotton, made use of for mattresses and beds.