Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/670

648 648 ECUADOR with what might be expected ; butterflies are so numerous in some parts as even to surprise the veteran collector ; and in certain favoured regions, mosquitoes, sand-flies, and the equally troublesome piums seem nearly as prolific as their ancient congeners in Egypt. The silkworm has been suc cessfully introduced, but bee-keeping is as yet practically unknown. The ichthyology of Ecuador, and more parti cularly that of the rivers of the Amazon system, is very partially ascertained ; but the species of the two versants seem to be quite distinct. According to Wagner s investi gations the distribution is mainly vertical, and to the N. of Chimborazo alpine forms go as high as 13,400 Paris feet; the forms of the lower region (or under 1000 feet), are closely connected with those of Brazil and Guiana; more peculiar genera appear in the middle region, (from 1000 to 7000 feet), and the upper region is exclusively occupied by characteristic and frequently very strangely-shaped genera ; the number of species is comparatively small, and that of individuals great only in the lower parts of the rivers. Produce and Industries. The principal article of foreign export is cocoa, of which two kinds especially are distin guished in the market the fine &quot;up-river&quot; quality and the so-called Machala quality. Spain is the greatest purchaser, then England, Germany, and Peru and Chili. In 1874 the total quantity that left the country was 250,216 quintals, valued at 2,752,381 pesos, or, taking the peso as equal to 4s. 2d., 573,412. The collection of india-rubber is becoming an important trade ; and pupils trained at the Government expense have been sent into the various provinces to superintend the introduction of indigo cultivation. Cotton, not proving a profitable investment, is being somewhat neglected: the export in 1874 was only 440,09 lib, valued at 35,208 pesos. The other articles, arranged in the order of importance, were coffee, 10,652 fts, at 245,014 pesos; Cinchona bark, 981,132, at 196,226 pesos; vegetable ivory, 7,148,192 Ib, at 142,963 pesos; straw hats, 7600 dozen, at 91,200 pesos ; sole-leather, 19,744 pieces, at 88,848 pesos; dried skins to the amount of 43,115 pesos; bamboos to the amount of 23,002; and small quantities of sarsaparilla, algarroba, tamarinds, to bacco, pita, orchilla, rice, mats, and saibo-wool. A bank of issue and deposit, called the Bank of Ecuador, with a capital of a million dollars, was established in 1868. isti- Details of Political and Social Condition. The main basis of the .on. Ecuadorian constitution dates from 1843, but several important modifications have been introduced at various periods. The execu tive power is vested in a responsible president elected by a majority of votes among a body of 900 electors appointed by popular suffrage. He has no right of veto, and cannot interfere in any way wif.h the sitting of the congress. Besides a vice-president, who is elected in the same way as the president, .and, according to the decree of 1869, discharges the functions of home secretary, the cabinet comprises a minister of war and marine, a minister of finance, the president of the supreme court, and a prominent member of the clerical body. The legislative assembly or congress is divided into two houses, the upper consisting of sixteen senators, the lower of thirty deputies jtice. elected by popular suffrage. The judicial system comprises a supreme court at Quito, three upper courts, provincial courts, inunicipal courts presided over by the alcaldes, and parochial courts. Jury trial is employed in criminal cases, but many districts are very evidently too ignorant for the satisfactory working of the method. A governor-general is appointed for Guayaquil and Quito respectively. Slavery was abolished in 1854 : all races and classes are equal in the eyes of the law ; and there are no hereditary dis tinctions of rank or title. The military force numbers only about 1200 men, and the marine consists of three small steamers. The lance, finances have long been in a rotten condition, and trustworthy information is of difficult attainment. The public revenue in 1873 was stated at 3,650,510 dollars or piastres (about 730,102) ; and the expenditure at 3,985,560 dollars (about 787.112). In 1872 the receipts were thus divided .-Customs, 1,707,403 piastres ; duty on tobacco, 19,084 ; duty on alcohol, 111,420 ; salt monopoly, 312,785 ; gunpowder monopoly, 30,477 ; stamped paper, 114,395 ; income-tax, 67,451: duty on sale of land, 216,110; tithes, 371,811 ; mont-de-piete, 1159 ; post-office, 96,280 ; national pro perty, 52866; miscellaneous, 512.297 total, 3,613,536. In 1857 the national debt amounted to 16,370,000 piastres (or 3,274,000), of which 1,824,000 was the English loan contracted in 1855. Artificial means of communication are still for tho most Com mm part in a very primitive condition, though few countries have cation, so little reason to be content with their natural highways by land or water. Many of the roads, even between important centres of population, are mere mule-tracks, altogether impassable in bad weather it may be for weeks or months at a time ; while the violent torrents which have so frequently to be crossed often present nothing better than more or less elaborate bridges of rope, similar to thejhulcr or zampur of the Kashmirians. The simplest of these is the taravita, consisting of a single tight rope, with or without a travelling rope by which the passenger or his luggage may be hauled across ; the most complex is the chimba-chata, a rude pro totype of the regular suspension bridge, constructed of four or five ropes of agave-root fibre, supporting transverse layers of bamboos. The best are hazardous to all except a practised foot, and they go out of repair in a few years. Since the middle of tte century something has been done to improve this state of affairs; and a very great deal more has always been about to be done. According to Moreno s address to congress in 1873, Ecuador had at that time 30 miles of railway, nearly 200 miles of cart-road with sub stantial bridges, and about 250 miles of roads fit for the ordinary mule-traffic of the country. Wheeled conveyances are almost unknown, especially in the inland districts, the transport of goods of every description being effected by porters or mules. The first carriage was introduced into Quito iu 1859, and the owner had to pay a tax for his innovation. With the partial exception of such rude forms of belief as still Religion linger among the semi-civilized Indians, the only religion professed by the Ecuadorian populations is the Roman Catholic. Nowhere in modern times have Jesuits and priests had it more their own way. Even in 1876 Dr Borrero, the &quot;liberal &quot; president, thought it expedient to declare that he would protect the religion of his fathers, which he believed &quot;had not an enemy in all Ecuador. . Two years before, in spite of the extremely depressed state of the finances, ten per cent, of the part of the church revenue belonging to the state was assig:ed to the Pope as an annual offering. The oath of a Protestant has no value in a court of justice ; and it was regarded as an extraordinary stretch of liberality to allow the forma tion of a Protestant burial-ground at Quito in 1867. Monkish orders that lost their influence in Europe centuries ago still flourish in Quito Trinitarians, Dominicans, Augustinians, Brown Franciscans, Black Franciscans, Lazarists, &c. According to Villavicencio, the number of the regular clergy at the time he wrote was 415, of the secular clergy 524, and of nuns 391. Quito is the seat of an arch bishop ; and there are bishoprics for Cuenca, Loja, Ibarra, Rio- bamba, Guayaquil, and Manabi. Education has hitherto been left in the hands of the clergy, and. Educatk primary education is consequently in a very defective condition. There has long been a university at Quito with about a dozen professors and nearly 300 students ; and in 1875 the Ecuador academy was instituted in the city in accordance with the de cree of the Spanish academy of Madrid. There are colleges in several of the larger towns, and nearly 600 schools exist through out the country. The normal school at Guayaquil is open to Indian children. For administrative purposes the country is divided into eleven Province provinces Azuay, with 149,103 of a population in 1871; Chimbo razo, 110,860 ; Pichincha, 102,281 ; Guayas, 87,427 ; Imbabura, 77,379; Leon, 76,140; Tunguragua, 73,143; Los Rios, 61,922; Loja, 60,784; Manabi, 59,098 j Esmeraldas, 8000. Besides the capital, whose inhabitants are variously estimated from 35,000 to 80,000, the largest cities are Guayaquil, from 20,000 to 25,000 ; Tacunga, from 16,000 to 20,000 ; Cuenca, about 25,000 ; Riobamba and Ibarra, both perhaps about 16,000; Ambato, about 10,000; Otavalo, about 8000 ; Guaranda, 8000 ; and Cotacachi, 4000. Antiquities. Tlironghout Ecuador there are still considerable Anti- remains of the architectural and artistic skill of the ante-European quitier. period. At Canar, to the north-east of Cuenca, stands the Inca- pirca, a circular rampart of finely hewn stone, inclosing an open area with a roofless but well-preserved building in the centre ; not far off is the Inca-ehungana, a very much smaller inclosure, probably the remains of a pavilion ; and in the same neighbourhood the image of the sun and a small cabinet are carved on the face of a rock called Inti-huaicu. On one of the hills running from Pichincha to the Esmeraldas there are remains at Paltatamba of a temple and a conical tower, the buttresses of a bridge composed of stone and bitumen, portions of a great causeway, and numerous tombs from which mummies and plates of silver have been obtained. At Han- tuntaqui similar sepulchral mounds, called tolas, may be seen, as well as traces of military structures. On the plain of Callo, near Cotopaxi, at a height of 8658 feet, the ruins of an Incarial palace, Pachusala, are utilized by the hacienda ; and a conical hill at its side is supposed to be of artificial construction. The remains of another fortress and palace are preserved at Pomallacta, and in the