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

IN AN ECUADORIAN HOUSE.
A Canoe Ride Through the Tropics
Among the AIIiEators and Mon
dorian Planter Farms-The Ma
tives and How They Live-Their
Wages and WOrk-TranspOrt
ton to Quito and EcuadOr,s Only
Railroad. Which May Be COmpIet-
ed by American Capital.
Copyright, 1898, by Frank G. Carpenter.
BABAHOYO, Ecuador, March %
For the past two days I 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 sea-
son, which lasts here from December
until May, it has converted the coun-
try for miles and miles into vast
lake. Where we entered it from the
Pacific just opposite the Island of Puma.
where PiZarro landed, the river is six
ty miles wide, and as we sailed up it
to Guayaquil we seemed to be pass
ing through an inland sea. The waters
We're 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 Quay
aquil the river is more than a mile
wide, and twenty-siX feet deep, fur
nishing a good and safe harbor for the
largest Of the Pacific steamers. The
river there is filed with Shipping, and
there are hundreds of dugouts, canoes,
great RATS 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 little American-built steamer
Puigmir took an all-nights sail up
into the interior. I am now far away
from the coast, almost at the foothills
of the Andes. Chimborazo frowns
down upon me, and 1 can almost hear
the rumbling of the volcano Cotopaxi.
/ am in the city of Babahoyo, or Bode-
gas. 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 contains about 5000
people. has streets which are now lit
tie more than rivers, and in coming
from the boat 1 hired an Indian to car
ry me to the high lands of the shore
on his back.
AS | went, my whisky flask, which
I always carry here for medical pur-
pooses, fell out of my pocket into about
five feet of water, and 1 hired another
peon to dive for it. He did so, bring
ing up first the bottle and then the
drinking cup, which had slipped off
when it fell. I 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 in crossing the
streets you must balance your
self on the logs and bamboo
bridges put across from side
walk to sidewalk. The houses are all
of two Stories the ground floor being
taken up with the cave-like stores,
and the second stories forming the liv-
Ing quarters. There are, of course, no
pavements nor modern improvements.
Babahoyo has not a sewer nor a gut
ter in it. Its only bath room is a
floating shed upon the wharves of the
river, IN Which you may dip yourself
down into the water with the serious
danger of losing leg by the nip of an
alligator.
There is not fireplace nor chimney
IN the whole town. There is not a
glass window for the houses are vent1-
lated on the second floors by means of
lattice work running 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
lew weeks ago were high and dry
Inc ground floor was then used for
these are either on platforms higher up
or are living with the families on the
second floor, which is built upon piles
so high up that the floods do not reach
It.
In an EcuadOrian Canoe
There are hundreds of houses here
which can only be reached in canoes.
The children go to school in canoes and
the marketing is done in boats The
most Of these houses belong to the
poorer classes, though 1 shall describe
further on my visit to 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 a ladder
outside. The houses are matched with
broad, white leaves. tied to a frame
work 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 common people for such purposes,
and every family of respecta bility,
when travelling, carries it's own con-
veniences 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, sleeping in the same clothes
they wear in the daytime, lying indis-
criminately upon the floor or in the
hammocks which form the chief ar
ticles 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 tropical parts of the country is the
potato, or the yam, known as the
yucca, and plantains 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