, 1885-06-02
NIGH G%HIMBoRAzo.
STRANGE CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE
OF ECUADOR.
Women stm wearing Mourning for the
Last Of the Inoas-Ths Search for
AtahuaIipa's hurled Kan
SOMA Popularity.


The population of Ecuador is about
1000. coo. and The nation owes twenty gold
dollars per capita for every one Of the III
habitants Tbs president Is compelled 10
live mt Guayaquil so as to sec hat the
customs duties. the only source OF rcvo-
nue.. reach the government. and TO quell
the revolutions that are constantly arising.
Three hundred thousand of the popula-
ton are Of Spanish descent. 1U0, 900 are
foreigners. and 700. 900 native Indians or
persons Of mixed blood The commerce
Is in the hands OF the foreigners entirely,
and thus ha G a mortgage upon the entire
country. The indian are the only peo-
pic who work Over the doors of the
residences OF tho business houses. and
both are usually undo tho same roof, are
signs reading: This Is the property OF
an Lnglishman. " This is the property
Of a CHI en- OF Germany. " and so on, q
necessary warning to revolutionists. who
are thus not flied 10 keep their hands of.
The Spaniards are the aristocracy, poor
but proud, very proud The mixed race
furnishes the mechanics and artisans,
while the Indians till the soil and do the
drudgery. A laborer gets "a to 50 a
month and boards himself, except when
he Is fortunate enough to AVE a wife out
at service. The Indians never marry. be
cause they cannot afford TO. The law
compels him 10 pay the priest a fee of IS,
more money than most Of them can ever
accumulate. When a Spaniard marries.
the fee is paid by contributions from his
relatives
1t is a popularity of the Indian that he
will sell nothing at wholesale. nor will he
trade with you anywhere but in the
market place. on the spot where he and
his forciathers have sold garden
truck for three centuries Al
though travellers on the highways meet
whole armies of Indians. bearing upon
their backs heavy burdens Of vegetables
and other supplies, they can purchase
nothing OF them, as the native will not
sell his goods until lie gets to the place
where he is in the habit of selling them.
He will carry them leu miles and dispose
of them for less than he was offered at
home. An old woman was trudging along
the other day with a heavy basket of
~pineapples and other fruits, and we tried
TO relieve her of part of her load, offer
ing 10 cents for pineapples which can be
had for q quartillo. or - cents, in market.
She was polite, but firm, and declined to
sell anything until she got TO town. al
though there was a weary, dusty Journey
Of two leagues ahead of her. The guide
explained tina she was suspicious at the
high price We offered. and imagined that
pineapples must be very scarce in market,
or we would not pay so much on the
road; but IL is a common rule for them to
refuse 10 sell except at their regular stand.
The same rule exists in Guatemala. A
gentleman who lives some distance from
town aid that for the last four years he
had been trying 10 get the Indians, who
passed every morning with packs of
alfalfa uhc tropical clover. to sell him
some at his gate but they invariably re-
fused to do so; consequently he was com
PEELED to 90 into town 10 buy what was
carried by his own door. Nor viii the
natives sell at wholesale. They viii give
you a gourd full Of potatoes for a penny
as often as you like. but will not sell
their stock In a lump. They will give
you a dozen eggs for q real 40 cents), but
will not sell you five dozen for 81. This
dogged adherence to custom can not be
accounted for, except on the supposition
that their suspicious are excited by an at.
tempt TO depart from It m
In Ecuador there are no smaller coins
than the quartillo change is therefore
made by the use OF bread On his way TO
market the purchaser stops at the bakery
and gets a dozen or twenty breakfast
rolls. which cost about 1 cent each, and
the market women receive them and give
them as change for small purchases If
you buy a cents worth of anything and
offer a quartillo in payment you get a
breakfast roll for the balance due you.
The Indians live in villages and com
munities. which are presided over by IN
alcalde or governor. The native women
all wear black. One never finds q glimpse
of color Upon a descendant of the ancient
race. They are in perpetual mourning
for Atahuallpa. the last of the Incas who
was cruelty murdered by Pizarro. Their
costume Is a short black skirt and a
square robe or mantle of black. which
they wear over tbeir heads and hold in
place by a large pin or thorn between the
shoulders. They look like nuns, and
walk the streets with burdens upon their
backs or heads in professions as solemn as
a funeral They never laugh. and scarcely
ever smile; they nave no songs and no
amusements- Their only semblanco to
music Is a mournful chant which they
give In unison at the feasts which are in
tended 10 keep live the memories Of the
Incas They cling to their traditions and
the customs Of their ancestors They re-
member the ancient glory Of their race,
and look TO lis res Grafton US the Aztecs Of
Mexico look for the coming of Monte
yuma They have relics which they guard
with the most sacred care, and two great
secrets no amount of torture at the hands
of the Spaniards has been able 10 wiring
from them. These are the art of temper
ing copper so as TO give IL as keen and en-
during an edge as steel, and the burial
place Of the lncariAl treasures
II will be remembered that Pizarro Of.
fered to release Atahuallpa If the Indians
would fill with gold the room in which he
was kept a prisoner. They did It. Pizarro
thought there must be more where this
came from. and demanded that the ran
som be doubled. Lunners were sent over
the country 10 collect the treasure Of the
kingdom. and were on their way TO Cax-
amarch. where the Inca was Il prisoner,
loaded down with gold to huv his free
dom, when they heard that / izarro had
strangled him This t%reasnrc WINS buried
somewhere IN the mountains OF Llanga-
natl. northwest Of Cuito, aud has been
searched for ever since.