Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/856

 500 ECUADOR

100,000, mixed 300,000, Indians 870,000. Included in the above statement are the Galapagos or Tortoise Islands, with an area of 2,400 square miles, and a population of about 200. A Boundary Treaty which was concluded be- tween Peru and Ecuador on the 2nd of May, 1890, and sanctioned by the Ecuadorian Congress, was subjected to amendment by Peru in 1893, and in 1894 was revoked by the Ecuadorian Congress. Ecuador is also involved in a dispute with the Republic of Colombia respecting certain territories on the left bank of the river Napo.

The population of the Republic is distributed as follows : —

Provinces

Pop.

Provinces

Pop.

Provinces

Pop.

Carchi

36,000

Canar.

64,014

Guayas

. 98,042

Imbabura

67,940

Azuay.

. 132,400

Manabi

. 64,123

Pichincha

205,000

Loja

66,456

Esmeraldas

. 14,553

Leon

109,600

Bolivar.

43,000

Oriente

. 80,000

Tungurahua.

103,033

Rios

. 32,800

Chimborazo.

122,300

Oro

. 32,600

1,271,861

The chief towns are the capital, Quito (80,000), Guayaquil (50,000), Cuenca (25,000), Riobamba (12,000), Ambato, Loja, and Lataeunga (each about 10,000).

Religion and Instruction.

The religion of the Republic, according to the Constitution, is the Roman Catholic, to the exclusion of every other. Its income, in substitution for tithes, is annually provided for in the estimates. Primary education is gratui- tous and obligatory. There is a University in Quito with 32 professors and 216 students, and University bodies in Cuenca and Guayaquil. There are 9 schools for higher education, 35 secondary, and 1,088 primary schools; the total number of teachers is 1,498, and of pupils 68,380.

There are commercial and technical schools in Quito and Guayaquil.

Justice and Crime.

The appellate courts are the Supreme Court in Quito, and six superior courts at different centres. The inferior courts deal with criminal, civil, and commercial cases. In the Republic there are 33 cantonal and 359 parochial justices, and 85 solicitors admitted to practice. There are consular courts in Quito, in Guayaquil, and Cuenca.

In the one penitentiary of the Republic, which is in Quito, there were on October 9, 1893, 140 men and 18 women convicted of serious crimes.

Finance.

Of the total revenue about 70 per cent, is derived from customs duties ; 15 per cent, from taxes on cocoa, real estate, white rum, and tobacco ; 6 percent, from salt and gunpowder monopolies, and the remainder mostly from excise, rents of State property, and the postal department. For the period from June 19, 1895, to July 31, 1896, the ordinary revenue amounted to 5,128,620 sucres, and the extraordinary revenue (mostly loans from banks) to 3,730,740 sucres; total revenue, 8,859,360 sucres ; expenditure, 8,779,520 sucres. For each of the years 1897 and 1898 the revenue is estimated at 9,093,551 sucres, and the expenditure at 11,005,141 sucres.

The foreign liabilities of the Republic are made up of a debt of 1,824,000/., which amount formed the part of the debt assigned to Ecuador on its secession from Colombia in 1830. In 1854 an arrangement was made with the bond- holders, under which this debt was recognised by Ecuador, but in 1867 service of this debt ceased. The arrears of interest amounted in 1891 to 428,640/. In July, 1892, the capital of the foreign debt was reduced to 750,000/., and,