Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-05-10


- this Is the commercial center OF
/@v the Republican fact the only
/-v place within its borders worth
mentioning in connection with
Ntrade-its merchants carry con-
siderable stocks Of goods, some claiming half
million dollars worth or more, with an annual
trade of double that amount. Few Of them,
however, are Ecuadorians, the heaviest i'm
porters being Chinese. The latter have
driven so many native dealers to the wall and
continue so persisteutly to extend their monop-
olies that the legislature has lately passed
law prohibiting the further immigration Of
Cinnamon to Ecuador.
The Celestial transplanted in this congenial
soil does by no means confine himself to the
company OF his own countrymen and women,
as In California and elsewhere. but blossoms
out as a leader Of society and delights to share
his wash tub. opium pipe and marital attentions
with representatives OF other nationalities. His
several wives generally low-class Ecuador
ians, in whose veins circuates a regular Ollapo-
drida OF Indian, Spanish, negro and may be
Anglo-Saxon blood, and whose leather-colored
skin is not II bad match for his own saffron
hued complexion, the main difference in
'looks" being in the eyes-those of native
women being very large and not set in on the
bias, as seems to be the fashion Of the fowery
kingdom. The offspring of this polyglot par
entage have not SO much to show in the way OF
beauty, but are hardly more prepossessing than
that strange cross between Creeks and negroes
one sometimes encounters in the Indian terri
tory, who have kinky hair, high cheek bones,
reddish eyes and hat noses.
SHOPS AND TRADE.
The lower floors of the houses along the
principal streets are used for shops, while the
merchants and their families, of whatever
tionality, live above them. During business
hours the entire front OF each house is re-
moyed-party to allow freer circulation Of air,
the heat being SO excessive, and also to show
off the wares to better advantage. for these
ground floors have no windows. Ecuador's
exports bear no proportion to her real capa-
billties, and there is no excuse but laZiness for
the chronic bankruptcy of the country. The
shipments of cocoa, coffee, India rubber, hides,
chincona bark, nuts, vegetable ivory. orchilla
weed, sarsaparilla, cancho, tamarinds, &c,
amount to about S6,0O0,000 per annum. The
president asserts that Ecuador imports fully
$4,000, 900 worth year. but, as the govern
ment keeps no statistics Of its commerce. one
may be pardoned for doubling the truth of his
excellencys statement. which is based merely
on the amount of duties collected. 1t hardly
stands to reason that the most impoverished
and backward country in all South America
could long continue to purchase twice as much
every year as she sells. Most of the imports
come from England. The United States fur
nishes little but lard. and all the flour comes
from Chili.
HATS AND COCOA.
Ecuador is famous for only two things-for
making the best straw hats and raising the
finest pineapples in the world, the credit for
the latter being entirely due to Dame Nature
and for the former to the native women who
weave them. The well-known Panama hats"
are all made in Guayaquil and the Indian vii
lagos along the coast, but none outside Of
Rom dnr and fra fo.a%
that formerly Panama merchants controlled
the trade. The best hats made of toquilla
fiber (carludovica palmettoD-an arborescent
plant, which grows about five feet high and re-
sembles the palm. Its yard-long leaf is plated
like fan and the stalk is three-cornered The
leaf is cut while young, the stiff, parallel veins
removed and then it Is whipped into
shreds and immersed in boiling water
Afterward it is bleached in the sum-
Mocora fiber is also used, from a tree that
grows like a cocoanut, but more rarely because
difficult to work. as it's bark is extremely hard
and thorny. Its leaves so long that the
straws will finish hat without splicing. Pita
fber-a species of cacti-is also much en-
ployed. The best hats woven under water
by women who kneel beside stream and keep
the straws constantly submerged 1t requires
three or four months to make a good hat and
when finished it will bring all the way from
SIS to $3.50. But it will last lifetime can be
rolled up and packed away in a vest pocket,
cleaned as often required and worn either
side out rs the inner surface Is as smooth and
well-finished as the outer.
great many hammocks are also made from
pita fiber and dried grass. An enormous
quantity of cocoa is produced. though but a
fraction of it is gathered. owing to the scarcity
OF laborers. The cocoa of Ecuador is second
In quality only to that of Venezuela. the latter
being considered the best in the world. Three
or four kinds are indigenous to this coast and
1t Is here called cacoa, to distinguish it from
the erythorxylon cocoa, from which cocaine is
made-these all deserving their generic title
OF Tbeobroma. meaning food for the gods"
Perhaps the best grows in the vicinity of
Esmeraldas, as it has the plcasantest flavor and
contains the largest amount of oil; but it rots
SO quickly that little of it is exported The
''cacoa de arriba," from up the Rio Guayas. is
most desirable to export, it keeps two or
three years without damage. Next in order
comes that called ''cacoa de abajo" from near
the rivers mouth-from Santa Rosa. Balao,
Machala and other places below Guayaquil.
still richer nut is the mountain cocoa but that
Is never cultivated. 1t is small. white and al
most pure oil ard from it cocoa butter is
made-used by the natives for burns sores
cuts and cutaneous diseases and by women the
world over for identifying the complexion.
THE COCOA TREE
resembles our lilac in shape and size and Yields
three crops of fruit every year-in March June
and September. Its flowers and fruit do not
grow upon tWlSs, out directly out OF the trunk
and branches. The fruit is yellowsh red in
shape and size not unlike a cucumber and the
brown seeds inside of 1.-THE cocoa beans" of
commerce-are enveloped in a mass of white
pulp.
Strange to say, chocolate costs more here bv
half than in the United States at retail, proba-
bly, owing to the fact that here it is all cocoa.
while its importers have learned that pipe CLAY
is harmless as a beverage and greatly increases
the weight OF their so-called chocolate. Spain
Is by far the largest consumer. The Mexican
word chocolat is the origin of our word for the
beverage, here pronounced as if spelled chalk
o-lat-ah.
The best chocolate is prepared by first bury
ing the fruit until the pulp is decayed and only
the beans are left. These are roasted and their
shells removed. The chocolate is then ground
between stones into soft mass and poured
into molds. The melted chocolate is pressed
In bags, precisely as northern housewives make
jelly, till all the oil is expelled. The sed-
iment is then ground very slowly to prevent
remelting; after being ''bolted" it is ready for
use. That there is SO little pure chocolate in
the market is partly owing to the great medi-
cinal value of its OIL which is expressed in the
grinding. The consumer would better pur-
chase cocoa nibs, if he can, which are the
crushed beans before they have been ground.
Cocoa leaves are also sent from here, but the
quantity has been greatly diminished since,
and India now supplies the world with that
murderous drug.
THE COFFEE OF ECUADOR
is fairly good, though but little Is exported.
1t grows on a tree about eight feet high, with