Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-03-25
NIGH CIlIMBOR 40.
STRANGE CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE
OF ECUADOR.
Women still Wearing Mourning for the
last nT the InCa>-Th- search for
AtahuaIipa'~ Buried Ran
SOMA Peculiarly.
QUITO cor N~v Npr, sun

'qu,t, cor New N"r, sun
The population OF Ecuador is about
OOO. 900 and the nation owes twent, god
dollars per capita for c.rry one OF the in
habilanIs The president is compelled TO
live NJ GuaNaqml so as 10 SEE that the
'ustum- duties. the only source OF rcve.
nuc reach the government and 10 GurN
the revolutions that are constantly arising.
Three hundred Thousand of the TopuIa
lion are Ol spanish descent O.eOO are
foreigners and 600 90 native Indians OF
persons of mixed blood The commerce
; in the hands OF the foreigners entirely.
and thus ha e mortgage upon the entire
country The Indians are the only pco
pc who work over the doors OF the
residences or the business houses, and
both are usually under the SAME r Of. arc
signs reading This i the pro crIy Ol
an fngishman This is the property
f chi en- OF Germany. and 80 on II
necessary warning To rcvOlutlunlstS, who
are thus not flied to keep their hands OIL.
The Spauiuui> are the arlStCCrHc, poor
but proud. very proud Ih" MIXED race
furnishes the mechanics ami artisans
while the Indians till the soil and d" the
,irudgcrv. \ laburcr gets - to - II
month and boards himself except when
he is fortunate enough 10 have wife 'Ut
At service The Indians never marry b.
cause they cannot atlOrd to The .aw
.ompcIS him to par the priest fee OF s..
more money than most Of them can e .cr
accumulate When Spaniard marrir>.
the fee is paid by contributions from his
relatives
( 1t is a regularity of the Indian that he
will sell nothing al wholesale. nor will he
trade with YOU anywhere but in the
market place on the spot where he and
his forCfathcrs have sold garden
truck for three centuries Al
tn ough travellers on the highways meet
whole armies of indians. bearing upon
their backs heavy burdens If vegetables
and other supplies, they can purchase
nothing of them. a. the native will not
sell his goods until hc gets to the place
/ where he is in the habit OF selling them.
He will carry them ten miles and dispose
of them Tor less than he was offered AT
home An old woman WAS trud%lng along
the other day with heavy basket OF
pineapp.cs and other fruits. and we :rled
to relieve her of part OF her load, offer
ing 10 cents for pincapples which can tie
had for a quariillo or ; cents in market
>he was polite but firm. and declined to
sell ANYTHING until she got 10 town. al
though there was a weary. dusty Journey
of two leagues ahead OF her The %U dc
explained that she was suspicious al the
high price We offered. and imagined that
uincappleS must be very scarce in market.
or We would not lay 50 much on the
road. but II Is "a common rule inI them 10
refuse 10 sell except at their regular stand.
The same rule cNi>lS in Guatrma a \
gentleman who lives some distance from
town SAID that for the last tour years he
had been trying to get the Indians. who
pa>scd every morning with packs OF
alfalfa Uhc tropical clover TO sell him
some at his gate but they invariably re
fused to do 50. consequently he was com
pclled to 20 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 for penny
rs often as you like. but will not sell
their stock in lump They will give
YOU dozen eggs for q real 10 cents. but
will moi sell you five dozen for 81. This
doggcd adherence TO custom can not hc
accounted for. except On the supPO,tiun
/ that their suspicious are excited by an at
tempt 10 depart from 1t
In Ecuador there are no smaller coins
than the quartillo change i 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 l cent each. and
the market women receive them and give
rhem as change for small purchases If
YOU buy a cents worth of anything al Il
offer quartillo in payment you get
break fast roll for the balance due YOU
The Indians live in villages and com
munities which are presided over by an
acade or governor. The native women
all wear black Cne never finds glimpse
of color upon a descendant of the ancient
race They are in perpetual mourning
for Atahuallpa the last of the lnCas who
was cruelty murdered by PiLarro The
costume is short black skirt and a
square robe or mantle of black which
they wear over their heads and hold in
place by 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 have no songs and no
amuSemcnts Their only SemblanCe TO
music is mournful chant which they
give in unison at the feaSts which are in
tended TO 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 its res Grafton as the AItecS of
luma They have relics which they guard
with the most sacred care, and two great
secrets no amount of torture at the hands
of the Spauiards has been able to wiring
from them These are the art of temper
ing copper so as TO give it as keen and en-
during an edge as steel and the burial
place Of the lnCarial treasures
1t will be remembered that PiZarro of
fered TO release AtahualIps if the Indians
would MI with gold the roHm in which he
was kept prisoner They did it Pizarro
hOught there must I've more where this
came FROM and demanded that the ran
som be doubled. lunners were sent over
the country TO collect the treasure of the
kingdom. and were on their way to CaN-
amarCa where the Inca was prisoner.
loaded down with gold to buy his free
dom. when they heard that l'izarro had
strangled him This treasure was buried
somewhere in the mountains Of Ilanga.
natl, northwest of Quito, AMI las been
searched for ever since
Magnetic sitting of Meteorites.