Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-04-23


the German explorer. From native
sources | learn that the Indians cure
the heads after they have Ianpved
the bones by filing .heln with hot
pebbles and passing them from hand
to hand, pressing them so carefully
inward that in shrinking tney do lot
lose their shape After this they are
baked in the sand and so treated that
they Will last for ages. The skin OF
the neck of this head Is about one
sixth OF an inch thick. Its pretty ears
are about the size of silver quarter,
and as | push back Its hair and look
at it's closed eyes | almost fear that 1t
Will open them and glare at me.
THE INDIANS OF ECUADOR
The most Of the Indians Of Ecuador
are semi-cvliZed. We have. II Is cs-
timatcd. about 100000 Indians in the
United States. Ecuador has $50 900 In
dlans and total population Of 100000,
the remainder Of the inhabitants being
made up Of 900 whites and about
100000 people OF mixed races, or crosses
of the whites and negroes with the In
dams. The whites are the ruling class
They are the government, the wealth,
the brains. the Ecuador that we know
In business and in trade. The Indians
are the working population. They are
thrlftless and seem to have little spirit
or ambition. Their highest ambition of
pleasure is plenty of liquor, and
the "Ecuadorian smile" is as common
as the drink Of America. They live like
dogs and work almost from birth to
death. They till the soil carry the
freight on their backs up and down the
mountains, aud are. In fact, often treat
ed more like cattle than the animals
themselves. They submit to the whites
and are accustomed to be advised by
them. Only the fewest Of these Indians
can read or write. and very few accu-
mulate property. | don't think the ma
tive Equadoiians Will ever be a large
consuming class Their wants are few.
A suit or two OF cotton clothes, n little
rice and meat. and a cane hut in the
lowlands or one of adobe brick in the
mountains suffice for them. 1t does not
cost much more, / am told to raise n
child to maturity than IL does on the
banks of the Ganges or the Nile
These civilized Indians are the descend
ants of those who We're here when the
Spnniards conquered the country. They
were even then the slaves or the sub
jects OF the 1ncas and they seem to he
one of those races which. like the fell
lahin OF Egypt, are ever destined to be
subject to and work for a stronger race.
These Indians are, with a few eNCep-
lions, Catholics. They are ruled by the
priests. and large part of their earn
ings go to the church. 1t was only
lately that Protestant missionaries have
| been permitted to come into Ecuador.
anu Aht lew mere now are nHNlng a nara
time. j met here at Guayaquil an earn
est young fellow from Denver, who had
recently come out to do missionary
work. He tells me the field is a great
one, but that his reception by the peo-
pie is far from cordial, and that he has
been warned not to go to certain places
TO preach, or his life would be in dan
ger.
OUR TRADE WITH ECUADOR.
have spent some time in looking up
the chances here for American trade.
| There are practically no statistics, and
II Is hard to get at Just what the
trade OF the country amounts to. 1t
probably ranges somewhere between
| ten and fifteen million dollars a year,
the imports being less than the ex-
ports The bulk of the Imports come
! from Europe. and he articles we send
here are those which we can make
more cheaply and of a better quality
than the Europeans. This is especial
! ly the case with hardware. The Amer
| lean hardware has. md. better
standing wherever I have been than
any other. The axes and knives made
at Hartford. Conn, are celebrated
here. and the Germans and other Eu>
ropeans are initiating them almost to
| the trademarks. They make much
poorer and cheaper article, and sell
chiefly by their fraudulent imitation.
The American firearms command the
highest prices, and they are also imi-
tated Smith 81 Wesson revolvers, for
instance, have been copied by the
Spaniards and labeled In large letters.
Smith & Wesson cartridges are to be
used with this revolver. When the
South American customer who cannot
read English is shown the revolver he
is told that It is a Smith & Wesson,
and the above words are shown him.
He buys the gun, to find IL useless, or
bursts
genuine American revolvers, SS-caliber,
sell for S36 in silver, while the imita,
ton Spanish-made revolver sell for
Sl4. The most of the cottons used in
About 81 600, 900 wort of English cot
tons are consumed here every year,
while we do not sell $4,000 worth. II
our cotton factors would study the
market and make the goods these peo-
pie want they could easily get this
than the English. There are practical
ly no iron manufactures in Ecuador
and all ironwork and hardware must
be imported. There are a few water
mills near Quito which weave cotton,
linen and wooden goods. and also
silk hat factory, for the Quito swells
all were plug hats and black kid
gloves.
Here at Guayaquil there are n num-
Der of chocolate factories, which grind
up the cocoa beans and make them into
the chocolate of commerce. As to
lumber, ! doubt II there Ia a modern
saw mill or planning establishment in
the country. Such boards as | have
seen made have been sawed out by
hand from the logs, one man standing
on top OF the log and pulling the saw,
while another below furnishes the force
for the downward strokes. The most
Of the lumber used on the coast and
on this river is brought here from Ore
gon and Puget Sound, and II often sells
as high as 10 cents foot. Georgia
pine is brought around Cape Horn, a
distance. l Judge. Of about 5000 miles.
All imported lumber pays duty OF
about cent for every eight pounds,
and. in addition TO this, one Of 30 per
cent ad valorem. Our chief exports
to Ecuador are lumber, lard, kerosene.
flour and barbed wire for fencing. The
great disadvantage that the United
States has in competing with Europe
is in the high freight rates, and In the
fact that the Americans do not drum
up their trade by means of commercial
travellers. as the Europeans do. France
or England can send goods TO the ports
of Ecuador for 20 shlllings, or about
s625 a ton The freight rate from
New York around the Horn Is 21is
cents a cubic foot, or nearly $i2 in
gold per ton white the rates by the
Isthmus OF Panama are fully one
third more. The exchange on New
York is about . per cent higher than
a. sl......