Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1885-06-09
ROMANCE OF ECUADOR

THE WONDERS OF A STRANGE LAND.
The landlord at the hotel here says
letter from Quito, the capital of Ecuador.
to the New York Sun, requires you to
pay your board in advance. because he
has no money tc buy food and no credit
with the market men; the muleteers ask
for their fees before starting, because
their experience teaches them wisdom;
and there is scarcely building in the
whole republic i'll process of construc-
ton, or even undergoing repairs Death
seems TO have settled upon everything
artificial, but nature is in her grandest
glory.
The population of Ecuador is about a
million, and the nation owes twenty gold
dollars per capita for every one Of the
inhabitants The president is compelled
to live at GuayaQuil so as to see that the
customs duties, the only source of reve-
nue., reach the government, and to quell
the revolutions that are constantly aris-
ing. Three hundred thousand BE the
population are of Spanish descent. 1O0,-
600 are foreigners, and 600, 600 native
Indians or persons of mixed hood. The
commerce is in the hands of the
foreigners entirely, and they have q
mortgage upon the entire country. 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 Englishnan,
''This is the property OF citizen Of
Germany and SO on, necessary warn
ing to FcvolutiOnists. who are thus
uotiIied to keep their hands off.
The Spaniards are the aristocracy, poor
but proud, very proud. Tie mixed race
furnishes the mechanics and artisans,
while tho Indians till the soil and do the
drudgery. A cook gets two dollars q
month in deprecated currency, but the
employer is expected to board her entire
family. A laborer gets four or six dol
lars month and boards himself, except
when he is fortunate enough to have q
wife out at service. The Indians never
marry, because they cannot afford to-
The law compels him to pay the priest a
fee Of six dollars, more money than most
of them can ever accumulate. When q
Spaniard marries, the fee is paid by con-
tributions from his relatives.
It Is q 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 forefathers have sold garden truck
for three centuries. Although travellers
on the highways meet whole armies Of In.
dians, bearing upon their backs heavy
burdens Of vegetables and other sup
plies, they can purchase nothing Of
them. as the native will not sell his
goods until he gets to the place where
he is in the habit of selling them. he
will carry them ten miles and dispose
Of them for less than he was offered for
them at home.
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 10 get the Indians, who
passed every morning with packs Of
alfalfa (the tropical clover, 10 sell him
some at his gate, but they invariably
refused to do SO; consequently he was
compelled to 60 into town to buy
what was carried BY his own door.
Nor viii the natives sell at wholesale.
They viii give you gourd fun Of pota-
toes for penny as often as You like.
but viii not sell their stock il 4 lump.
They viii give you dozen eggs for
real (len cents). but will not sell you
Eve dozen for . dollar. This doQQed
adherence % custom cannot be &c
counted for. except on the snppositi0n
that their suspicious are excited 81 al
attempt % depart from ii.
In Ecuador there ara no smaller coins
than lie Quartillo. change IS therefore
made N&4* A3ss Ssasn rs# tsrn@1 IA. 1ssA ~4n.s
80 market the purchaser stops st the
kAkerg and gets d dozaa b. twenty
p ealIast E<lls. which c6st about ono
cent each sind She market women RS
eelRe them sad give them as change Eof
small purchases II You bay cents
worth s. al1Ain1 and oIIef Qnarll
g 81 uent yo4 gus bf<fas f roI
11k M balance due yoa
THE En1iaps Iixe Is .''a an6 con-
mNnstIN which aF6 presided over hN