Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-04-09

| SUM W tfe elTtetsr into Wnlcn pumps
are inserted ut the time of fire. The
result is that the city has been burned
again and again. There was a fire In At
year which consumed half Of the
houses. causing loss of more than
$50 100000. This also makes FIRE lnsur-
ance especially high. the current Quay
i aquil rate here today being ! per cent
per annum on all city property. The
American consulate has its offices in n
three-story building which PAYS a
yearly Insurance Of $4,000. and j am
! told there are many other bnIldIngs
which cannot get Insurance even al
J the above rate. for the reason that the
| various companies have already written
| up all the risks they care to take i'm
/ Guayaquil. AT the same time, the tax
on real estate is only $40 OF one per
cent. and the natives would have n
revolution straightway II you offered to
tax them enough to pave the streets
and establish good fire department.
il WIDE-AwAKE POLICE,
Guayaqull has IA wlde-awake police
force ! know this, for during my first
Few nights here | heard the policemen
every fifteen minutes all night long
yelling out that they were awake. II
is n police regulation that every man
on watch shall cry out or whistle every
quarter of an hour The cry Is ''Fl
sentinel es alerto." and the whistle IL
combination more wonderful than
"
aquil frog, whose hi-hi-hi is screamed
out all night long. The Ecuadorian
poiice are soldiers They carry swords
ana guns and both look and act I'm the
iiercest manner. One of them almost
cropped MS gun on my foot the other
day as | ATTEMPTED to pass him. He
said "atrasi" which Suppose means
back. At least 1 backed and walked |
around the other way. l have since |
learned that no one may pass between |
the police and the wall but must 20 |
outside the policeman. | suppose If the |
policeman has to fight he prefers To |
nave the wall at his back. Another
regulation Is that all people out after
! O'Clock p. m. must give an account |
OF themselves. The cry Is, who goes
mere ana the answers must be such
mat viii satisfy the police or they will
take you to Jail. l doubt, in fact,
whether there is a place in the world
where II is so easy to break into fail Ms
mere. People are imprisoned for debt,
ana IL is common thing for q planter
VINO wants hands on his estate TO 20
TO the jail and pay the debts of such
OF the prisoners as will agree to trans
Ter their debts to him and work them
out. He then gives them small wages
and takes out perhaps a dollar a week
from each mans salary until the debt
is paid. In the jail at BodeRas, n town
further up the Guayaquil river. I talked
with Jamaica negro, who told me he
had been in prison for months because
ne mad failed to pay millionaire plant
er VIC which he had borrowed. Said
hei III | were free | could work to get
the money to pay my debt. but they
Keep me here until some one buys me
out and then | must work for him or
he can put me In again"
THE LAND OF THE EQUATOR.
But before l go further let me tell
you something of Ecuador. The name !
means equator, and Ecuador is the
land of the equator. IL lies sand
wiched between Colombia and Brazil
and Peru, on the west coast OF South
America, In the shape of n great fan, |
the handle OF which extends into north
frn Brazil, and the scalloped rim OF
It Is one of the least known countries {
81 the world. Parts of 1t have never !
been surveyed, and today the different
geographical estimates of its size range ,
al the way from the bigness of Cal
ow. ana rich tropical vegetation ex- {
ends from the ocean back for one hun {
ired miles or less to the foothills OF the I
Andes. The Andes cross the country s
rom north to couth in tow great par {
illel ridges, UNFOLDING between them a q
'eries of beautiful valleys, in which ]
lbout nine-tenths of the people live. Z
These valleys are from n mile and n ]
laf to two miles above the sea, and y
ave the interior healthy climate a
which is more like that of New York I
Ivy IMAM OF the equator. quito. the y
'apital, is situated In one of the highest I
u these valleys. 1t Is almost two miles I
hove the altitude OF Washington CITY. c
tere the weather Is that of MAY In $
lhio all the year around. East OF the II
Andes the country Is tropical wilder
less. great branch OF the Amazon.
ne Maranon river, flows along It's
outhern boundaries. and steamers go
Up the Amazon, enter the Maranon and c
ring you within comparatively short II
Instance or quito. In fact. | am told o
ou can come to within four davis rn,ila L.
ravel of Quito by water via these "
.reat rivers and the streams which ii
ow into them. Ecuador thus has al a
most every climate known to man. b
cores OF Its Andean peaks are covered d
y, snow, and It has mighty glaciers. II
'himboraZo. which on clear days is o.
isible here, is 21,200 feet above the OF
ga, ana the great valley of Ecuador m
guarded by twenty-one peaks. ranr- It
y In height from three to four miles, II
mn, me there are seventeen other peaks Il
men are more than two miles In 81
eight. Today in Guayaqui! the air IL 81
.led with ashes They come from one III
Ecuadors ten active volcanoes. and 1t
very week or so an earthquake makes ei
le ground tremble. The houses of ell
uayaquil are built to withstand the pl
lrthquakes. They are of wooden r
mbcrs so Joined and spliced that they y,
IN sway with the trembling of the d,
'rth and not break. The frame work al
then covered with bamboo laths, pi
AIDE by splitting the cane. Upon these
,mboos a coating of plaster Is spread.
his makes the exterior of the houses
ok as though the walls Were backed e
18th brick and stone. when. T., :.rt ca
icy are actually made up of good, oil
zed fishing poles. Just now a vast nj
al of building Is going on bara -, | -,
lie hammer of the carpenter mailing On n,
lese laths is always to he heard Much pr
the lumber used comes from oregon of
ii,