The Indianapolis journal., 1898-04-17


IS at home. cost me in Guayaquil s. of our
money Chairs which could be bought for
80 cents at home cost here So. They come in
pieces and are put together by the furniture
dealers 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 noun
tains 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 interior plateau be-
tween the great Andean 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 Sava-
meta, days ride by canoe from Bodegas.
and are brought by water to this point AS
l write dozens of canoes are being unloaded
and their freight carried on to 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 fore
heads. They are natives who have carried
their goods on their backs or upon donkeys
down the mountains for sale. They work
more like beasts than men, laboring for the
mere pittance which 1 have mentioned
above. 1t is by such means that all freight
is carried from the seacoast to the capital
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 ordinary packages
of goods put up in bundles boxes of 100
pounds each form load for a mule, and
such load from here to Quito costs from
$6 to 81, or from $50 to SO per ton. The
freight on a small boiler recently sent was
S100, 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
165 miles and you see one of the difficulties
of developing a trade with interior Ecua-
dor. And still it is said that good wagon
road could be made the whole way. The
passes over the mountains into the valley
are nearly three miles in height, and the
roads are mule paths which at this writing
are almost impossible. / had intended to
have made the journey to Quito and bought
a camping outfit at cost of $5s ,o do it.
Here, however, 1 am told that owing to the
recent floods it will take at least ten days
of mule riding through the mud and rain,
come through from Quito, tells me that he
had to wade part of the way through water
up to his waist. The Ecuadorians may
we'll say: "Our roads are for birds, not
men," There is, in fact, only one good
piece of road in all Ecuador. This is about
seventy miles long, and it runs from Am
bata on the plateau to Quito There is an
English stage coach which carries you over
it, and takes you from one point to another
in about day and half. Ecuador has
also about fifty-four miles of railroad. This
is a narrow gauge running from station
ON the River Guyas, opposite Guayaquil to
Chimbo The road has cars and locomo-
tives which wero made in Pennsylvania,
and it was built by an American named
Kelley 1t is now owned by the government,
and an American syndicate has, am told,
a concession to complete it to Quito, though
the requisite capital, $12OOO,0 600, has not yet
been raised. The road now runs to the foot
of the Andes, and it is said by engineers
that its completion is without doubt a me-
chanicaI possibility. AS to whether it
would pay or not is uncertain, as is also the
question as to how far the government
would contribute to it's support.
FRANK G. CtARPENTEIS