The Indianapolis journal., 1898-04-17
Frank G. Carpenters Canoe Ride
Through the Tropics ana Among
the AIIigators and Monkeys.
NATIVES AND HOW THEY LIVE
FARMING METHODS OF A MILLION
ARE ECUADORIAN PLANTER.
Wages and Work of Laborers, with
Something About transportation
and Ecuador's Only Railroad.
Copyright 1898, by frank G. Carpenter

Copyright, 1s9S by Frank C. Carpenter)
BABAHOYO, Ecuador, March 23.-For the
past two days 1 have been sailing along the
Columbia river of Ecuador. The Guyas is
TO this country as the Columbia is TO the
United States. 1t is the biggest river of the
Pacific coast, and just now in the rainy
season, which lasts here from December
til May it has converted the country for
miles and miles into a vast lake. Where
we entered it from the Pacific just opposite
the Island of Puma, where Pizarro landed,
the river is sixty miles wide and as we
sailed up it TO Guayaquil we seemed to be
passing through an inland sea. The waters
were Of the color and thickness of pea soup,
and upon the fast flowing flood were
patches of green, great trees and other
debris which were floating down from the
Andes to the sea. AT Guayaquil the river
is more than a mile wide and twenty-siX
feet deep, furnishing good and safe har-
Dor for the largest of the Pacific ocean
steamers. The river there is filled with
shipping, and there are hundreds of dug
out canoes. great rafts and cargo boats used
by the natives to bring their wares from the
interior for sale.
THE BANGKOK OF ECUADOR.
I left Guayaquil two days ago and in the
an all-night's sail up the Guyas into the in
terror I am now far away from the coast,
almost at the foothills Of the Andes CHM
borazo frowns down upon me, and l can
almost hear the rumbling of the volcano
Cotopaxi. 1 am in the city of Babahoyo, or
Bodegas, a city which, like Bangkok, is al
most all afioat upon the water The whole
land is flooded and many OF the houses are
so built that the people live in the second
stories and go from one place to another
in canoes. The town proper, which con-
tans about eight thousand people, has
streets which are now little more than
rivers, and in coming from the boat l hired
an Indian to carry me to the high lands of
the shore on his back. AS I went my
whisky flask, which I always carry here for
medicinal purposes, fell out Of my pocket
into about five feet of water, and / hired
another peon TO dive for it. He did so,
bringing up first the bottle and then the
drinking cup which had slipped off when 1t
fell made him happy by giving him 10
cents for his trouble. The business part of
Babahoyo is a few feet higher than the rest
of the place and just now the stores are
free from water, though if cross
ing the streets you must hug the
buildings and balance yourself on the logs
and bamboo bridges put across from side
walk to sidewalk. The houses are all OF
two stories, the ground floors being taken
up with the cavelike stores, and the sec
ond stories forming the living quarters.
There are, of course, no pavementS nor
modern improvements. Babahoyo has not
d sewer nor a gutter in it. It's only bath
room is a floating shed upon the wharves
of the river. in which you may dip yourself
.IaHn
ger of losing a leg by the nip of an alligator.
There is not q fireplace nor a chimney in
the whole town. There is not glass win
dow for the houses are ventilated on the
second floors by means Of lattice work run
ming about the ceiling. The whole front
walls Of the stores are thrown back in the
daytime and the ground floors are as open
as those of Japan. The houses now on the
water a few weeks ago were high and dry.
The ground floor was then used for the
chickens, donkeys and cattle. Now these
are either on platforms higher up or are liv-
ing with the family on the second floor,
which is built upon piles so high up that
the floods do not reach 1t.
IN AN ECUADORIAN HOUSE.
There are hundreds of houses here which
can only be reached in canoes. The chill
dren go to school in canoes and the mar
keting is done in boats. The most of these
houses belong to the poorer classes, though
I shall describe farther on my visit to a
millionaire planter who cannot now walk
ten steps from his house without drowning.
The poorer houses consist of little more
than one room, about six feet square, built
upon piles about ten feet above the ground
and reached by q ladder outside. The
houses are thatched with broad, white
leaves, tied to a framework of bamboo
cane. The floor is of cane and the cracks
in it are so many that the women do not
need to sweep the dirt Of the household
falling through upon the ground or into the
water AS TO modern conveniences in the
way of water closets, these are practically
unknown among the natives of Ecuador.
Even in the capital, Quito city of $4,000
or more, the streets are used by the COM
mon people for such purposes, and every
family of responsibility, when travelling,
carries it's own conveniences with it. In
the houses of the common people there is
no privacy whatever, men and women, boys
and girls. wives and maidens, all herd to-
gether sleep:ng in the same clothes they
wear in the daytime, lying indiscriminately
upon the floor or in the hammocks which
form the chief articles of the furniture OF
their houses. The cooking is done in clay
pots on a fire box filled with dirt. The fuel
is largely charcoal, the pots being raised
upon tiles or bricks to allow room for the
Goals beneath. The chief food of the trop-
icaI parts of the country is the potato, or
the yam, known as the yucca and plan
tains or large bananas. Much rice is used,
being cooked with lard, the most of which
comes from the United States. Though
this whole region where now am is filed
with fine cattle, the people do not seem to
know anything of butter. The chief Gus
toners for it are foreigners and the article
most sold is the Italian butter in one and
two-pound tins. 1t sells for 81 a pound in
this money or about so cents in American
gold. ! am told that at this price there is
not a great profit to the Italian butter
makers, for the tariff and the selling
charges are high.
THROUGH THE FOREST IN A CANOE.
Landing at Babahoyo, l was for a time
at loss how to make myself understood bv
the natives. There was no one about who
spoke English, and my pure Castillian
Spanish did not seem to be understood At