Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-05-11
being very large and not set in on the bias,
as seems to be the fashion of the Flowery
Kingdom.
NOT EXACTLY BEAUTIFUL.

| Kingdom.
NOT EXACTLY BEAUTIFUL.
The offspring of this polyglot parentage
have not 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 Territory, who have kinky hair
high cheek bones, reddish eyes and fiat
noses
The lower floors of the houses along the
principal streets are used for shops, while
the merchants and their families of what
ever nationality, live above them. During
business hours the entire front of each
house is removed-partly to allow freer cir
culation Of air, the heat being so excessive,
and also to show off the wares to better ad
vantage, for these ground floors have no
windows.
Ecuador's exports bear no proportion to
her real capabilities; and there is no excuse
but laziness for the chronic bankruptcy of
the country. The shipments Of cocoa, coffee,
India rubber, hides chinchona bark, nuts,
vegetable ivory, orchilla weed, sarsaparilla,
cancho, tamarinds, etc., amount to about
Sc, 000, 900 per anHum. The President as
serts that Ecuador imports fully $40, 000, 600
worth year; but as the Government keeps
no statistics of its commerce one may be par
doned for doubling the truth of His Excel
lency's 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 furnishes little but lard; and all the
-four comes from Chilli.
STRAW HATS AND PINEAPPLEs,
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 we'll
known Panama hats" are all made in
Guayaquil and the Indian villages along
the coast, but none outside of Ecuador, and
this name comes from the fact that formerly
Panama merchants controlled the trade.
The best hats are 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 Sl50 But it will last lifetime, can
be rolled up and packed away in a vest
pocket, cleaned as often as required and
worn either side out, as the inner surface is
as smooth and well-fnished as the outer. A
great many hammocks are also made from
pita fiber and dried grass.
An enormous quantity of cocoa is pro-
duced, though but fraction Of 1t is gath.
dred, owing to the scarcity of laborers. The
cocoa OF Ecuador is second in quality only
to that OF Venezuela, the latter being con-
sidered the best in the world. Three or four
kinds are indigenous to this coast, and it is
here called cocoa, to distinguish it from the
ervthorxvlon cocoa. from which cocoaine is
made-tbese all deserving their generic
title of Theobroma, meaning flood lor the
gods"
The cocoa tree resembles our lilac in
shape and size, and yields three crops OF
fruit every year-in March, June and Sep |
tember. Its flowers and fruit do not grow
upon twigs, but directly out of the trunk |
cocoa palm: ga more striking example of |
the expansive power OF life could hardly be |
met with in organic nature" The fruit is |
a cucumber; and the brown seeds inside of |
veloped in a mass of white pulp.
PIPE CLAY IN THE CHOCOLATE.
Strange to say chocolate costs more here
BY half than in the United States at retail;
probably owing to the fact that here it is |
all cocoa, while its importers have learned |
that pipe clay is harmless as 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
as If spelled chalk-o-lat-ah.
The best chocolate 10 prepared by first