Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/572

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ECUADOR.

duties on imports. At the commencement of 1870 the liabilities of the republic amounted, according to unofficial returns, to 3,274,000/., the total made up of a foreign debt of 1,824,000/., and internal liabilities amounting to 1,450,000/.

The standing army numbered 1,200 men in 1868, but plans were entertained for its reduction, with a view to ultimate extinction. The navy at the same date consisted of three small steamers.

There is nothing known accurately regarding the extent and population of the republic, the limits of which towards the north are in dispute. According to the best estimates of native writers, the area amounts to 218,984 English square miles, with a popula- tion of about 1,300,000 inhabitants, including 200,000 aborigines, or Indians. The country is divided into three departments, the most populous of which, Quito, contains the capital of the same name, seat of the government, with 76,000 inhabitants.

The foreign commerce of Ecuador is carried on mainly through the port of Guayaquil, the imports of which, in the years 1863-67, averaged 610,000/. per annum, while the exports amounted to nearly 700,000/. The total value of the exports of Ecuador to Great Britain, and of the imports of British produce and manu- factures to Ecuador, was as follows in the five years 1865-69 : —

Tears

Exports from Ecuador to Great Britain

Imports of British

Home Produce into

Ecuador

1865 1866 1867 1868 1869

£ 40,715 120,889 107,424 102,101 200,064

£ 28,685 43,833 44,672 28,840 55,152

The chief articles of export from Ecuador to Great Britain con- sist in cocoa, to the value of 92,701/. ; caoutchouc, to the value of 35,782/. ; and tobacco to the value of 6,476/. in the year 1869. Of the imports of British produce into Ecuador cotton goods, to the value of 27,499/-, in 1869, form the chief article.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The chief coin is the dcllar, also called the piaster, of the approxi- mate value of 4s. ; but the money in circulation is largely that of France, Great Britain, and the United States. By a law of December 6, 1856, coming into effect the 1st of January, 1858, the French metrical system of weights and measures was made the legal standard of the republic.