The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-04-17

get out. Here. near the coast, poems
get about SO a month. burt in the in
terror they do not receive over half this,
and one-tenth of their earnings goes
to the church.
The planters give their laborers
twelve ounces Of meat, fourteen ounces
of rice or beans, little lard or salt a
day. Each also gets a hat, three
coarse cotton shirts and three pairs
OF cotton pantaloons a year, and a
house, such as I have described above
Their hours of work are from sunrise
until sunset, and, if man slxips a day,
this IS charged to him. The women
and children must work as we'll as the
men, and, If a man runs away, he is
straightway put in prison for debt and
stays there until some other planter
is willing to pay him out and take him
into his service. Even should man
get out Of debt, the conditions are such
that he is soon in again. If there is a
death In his family, he has to borrow
money to bury his dead. If he would
be married, the priests will charge
him Sc for performing the ceremony.
and, If he wants hog or a donkey, it
is only by going into debt that he can
get them.
AS to- marriage, he usually prefers
to live without the ceremony to pay
ing the marriage fees, and today, 1t is
births in Ecuador are illegitimate.
Wages in Guayaquil and along the
coast are much higher than in the in
terror. In the cities common workmen
get rs cents per day; carpenters from
$1.5O to 81; masons, painters and black
smiths about the same, and men serv-
ents, employed by the month, from
$40 to $12, with board. Women re-
ceive from Sc to $40 with board. Tai
lors and shoemakers receive from Sc
to $12 per week, and printers, bakers
and BARRIERS the same.
Living is in some respects very
cheap, but as regards imported articles
very dear. paid 81 a pound for can
ned meats, and camp bed which I
carry with me, which would be worth
perhaps So at home cost me in Guaya-
quill So of our money. Chairs, which
could be bought for so cents at home
cost here So. They come in pieces and
are put together by the furniture deal
ers. All imported articles cost a vast
deal more in the interior, on account
of the excessive freight rates, there
being no means for transportation over
the mountains, except on mules or on
the backs of men.
From BOdeGas to Quito.
This town of Bodegas or BabahoyO
is the halfway station on the road to
Quito Here all goods from the in
terror plateau between the great An
dean ranges are brought and sent down
the river by raft, boat or steamer. Just
now the floods are such that the goods
are brought to the town of Savaneta
days ride by canoe from Bodegas,
and are brought by water to this point
AS 1 write dozens of canoes are being
unlGaded and their freight carried onto
the steamer Picturesque, half naked
poems go along the streets with great
loads of hides, bags of rubber or boxes
of lard on their back, held there by
ropes fastened above their foreheads.
They are natives who have carried
their goods on their backs or upon don
keys down the mountains for sale.
They work more like beasts than men,
laboring fer the mere pittance which
have mentioned above. 1t is by such
means that all freight is carried from
the seacoast to the capitol 1t takes
twenty-fOur Indians to carry piano.
and the cost of the freight is greater
by the time they reach Quito than
the cost of the piano itself. Thus ord
mary packages of goods put up in
bundles or boxes of 100 pounds each
form a load for a mule. and such g.
load from here to Quito costs from Sc
to ST, or from $50 to $40 per ton.
The freight on small boiler recent
ly sent was $100, and the rates for
heavy articles are such as to prohibit
them. The distance of this city from
the coast is 100 miles. and from here
to Quito is 165 miles. Think of paying
$50 for carrying a ton of freight 1865
miles and you see one of the difficulties
of developing a trade with interior
Ecuador. And still it is said that
good wagon road could be made the
whole way. The passes over the NOUN
tains into the valley are nearly three
miles in heieht. and the roads are mule
paths. which at this writing are almost
impossible. I had intended to have
made the journey to Quito and bought
a camping outfit at a cost of $50 to do
it. Here, however. I am told that ow-
ing to the recent floods it will take at