Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1885-05-24
ECUADOR.
Strange Customs and Legends Of the
People.
Women Still Wearing Mourning for the Last
of the lncas---The Search for Alta
huaIIpa's Buried RANSOM
A Nest of Volcanoes.

QUITo, April l9.-The landlord at the
hotel here requires you to pay your board In
advance, because he has no money to buy
food and no credit with the market men,
the muleteers ask for their fees before start
ing, because their experience teaches them
wisdom; and there is scarcely a building in
the whole republic in process OF construct
ion, or even undergoing repairs. Death
seems to have settled upon everything artif'
cial, but nature is in her grandest glory.
The population Of Ecuador is about mil
lion, and the nation owes twenty gold dol,
lars per capita for every one o. the inhabit,
ants. The President is compelled to live at
Guayaouil so as to see that the customs
duties, the only source of revenue, reach
the Government, and to quell the reyolu'
tons that are constantly arising. Three
hundred thousand of the population are OF
Spanish descent, 100000 are foreigners,
and 100000 native Indians or per.
sons of mixed blood. The commerce is in
the hands of the foreigners entirely, and
thus have a mortgage upon the entire coun'
try. The Indians are the only people who
work. Over the doors Of the residences or
the business houses, and both are usually
under the same roof are signs reading,
This is the property Of an Englishman,"
This is the property Of citizen OF Ger
many" and so on, q necessary warning to
reVolutionists who are thus notified to keep
their hands off.
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 drudg
ery. A cook gets 81 a month in depre
ciated currency, but the employer is ex
pected to board her entire family. A
iaborer gets 81 to Sc month and boards
himself except when he is fortunate enough
to have wife out at service. The Indians
never marry, because they cannot afford to
The law cOmpels him to pay the priest 8
fee of Sc, more money than most of them
can accumulate. When Spaniard marries
the fee is paid by contributions from hi'
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 fore
fathers have sold garden truck for three
centuries. Although travellers on the high
ways meet whole armies Of Indians, bearing
upon their backs heavy burdens OF vege
tables and other supplies, they can purchase
nothing of them, as the native will not sell
his goods until he gets to the place
where her is in the habit Of selling them.
BE will carry then ten miles and dis
pose of them for less than he was offered al
home. An old woman was trudging along
the other day with heavy basket of pine
apples and other fruits, and we tried to re
ieve her OF part of her load, Offering ter
cents for pinespples which can be had for g
uuartillo, or two and half cents, in market
She was polite, but firm, and declined tc
sell anything until she got to town, although
there was a weary, dusty Journey of two
leagues ahead of her. The guide explained
that she was suspicious OF the high price
we Offered, and imagined that pineapples
must be very scarce in market, Or We would
not pay go much on the road; but it is q
common rule for them to refuse to sell ex
cept at their regular stand.
The same rule exists in Guatemala. A
gentleman Who lives some distance from
town said that for the last four years he had
been trying to get the Indians, who passed
every morning with packs of alfalfa (the
tropical clover, to sell him some at his gate,
but they invariably refused to do so; conse
duently he was compelled to 60 into town
to buy what was carried by his own door.
Nor will the natives sell at wholesale.
They will give you a gourd full of potatoes
Tor penny as often as you like, but vii!
not sell their stock in lump. They will
give you dozen eggs for real ten centS)
ont will not sell you FIVE dozen for dollar,
This logged adherence to custom cannot
be accounted for, except on the supposltlon
that their suspicious are excited by an at
tempt to depart from 1t.
In Ecuador there are no smaller coins
than the quartillo change is therefore made
by the use of bread. Or his way to market
the purchaser stops at tho bakery and gets
dozen or twenty breakfast rolls, which
cost about one cent each, and the marke,
women receive them and give them as
change for small purchases. Ifyou buy a
cent worth of anything and offer a q1sr-
tillo in payment you get breakfast roll Tor
the balance due you.
The Indians live in villages and commu'
mites, which are presided over by an Alcslde
" Governor. The native women all wear
lack. One never finds a glimpse OF color
lpon a descendant of the ancient race
r ey are in perpetual morning for Athahu
alma. the last Of the Incas, who was cruelty
murdered BY Pizarro. Their costume Is a
short black skirt and a square robe or man
lie Of black, which they wear over their
heads and hold in place by large pin OF
thorn between the shoulders. They look
like nuns, and walk the streets with burdens
mon the r back or heads in professions
as solemn as funeral. They never laugh
ard scarcely ever smile; they have no
songs and no amusements. Their only
sembIance to music is mourntul chant
which they give in unison at the teasts
which are Intended 10 keep alive the mem
cries OF the Incas. They cling to their ira
ditions and the customs of their ancestors
Thew remember the ancient glory of theil
race and look to Its restoration as the Az
tees of Mexico look for the coming of Mon
tezuma. They have relics which they guarC
with the most sacred care, and two .grea
secrets no amount Of torture at the hands
of the Spaniards has been able to wiring
from them. These are the art of temperlnl
copper SO as to give it as keen and endur
ing an edge as steel, and the burial place o
the Incarial treasures.
1t will be remembered that Pizarro offer
ed to release Atahuallpa if the Indian
would ell with gold the room in which b
was kept prisoner. They did it. Pizsrr'
thought there must be more where this cam'
from, and demanded that the ransom b
doubled Runners were sent over the coun
try to collect the treasure of the kingdom
and were on their way to Caxamarcs, wher
the inca was prisoner, loaded down witt
gold to buy his freedom, when they hear ca,
that Pizarro haa strsngled him. Ihi
treasure was buried somewhere IN the noun
tains of Llangansti, northwest ofQuito' ant
has been searched for ever since.
A c...:o.J nor,a5 Valverde married 81