El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-08-31
FROM ECUADOR

nOHI
An Interesting Account by General
A. J. Sampson. Formerly Consul
at Juarez and Now Minister to
Ecuador.
The following letter has been re-
ceived by an Ell Paso friend from Gen.
A. j. Sampson, formerly consul at
JuareZ and cow minister to Ecuador.
The letter is of great interest, more
especially so, owing to the fact that
General and Mrs. Sampson have many
warm friends in this community who
will be pleased to hear of the country
in which they are making their tenn
porary home.
UNITED STATES LEGATION,
QUITo, ECUADOR, July 20, IVY.
NV Dear Friend.-Because, perhaps,
of the beauty, the grandeur OF noun
tain and plain, of the charm OF country
life and the buzz and hustle of the city:
the beautiful, productive farms and the
palaces for the rich and the extensive
buildings for housing mechanical estab.
lishnents: the stately churches and
elegant opera house; the comfortable
carriages and the jam OF the rapid
transit cars; the life of all, as to clean
illness. dress, habits, ETC., whether
rich or poor, learned or unlearn-
ed; the removal OF human
labor 60 far from the plane of brute
force by employment OF animal, vehicle,
mech anicsl. steam and electrical force;
the seclusion from the public view OF
the squalor Of the city, where it exists
the harmony existing between Protes-
tant and Catholic churches and the
intimate friendship OF persons belong
ing to these different churches; trans
portation In elegant carriages, COM
modious steam boats or ocean palaces,
and elegant lightning express trains,
whether long or short the journey, see
ing on every hand evidences of enter
prise, thrift, education, comfort, pro-
gress and Advancement in all lines OF
action aud life, because you see all,
all of these, we have been wont to
write so much of the extremes today
found in this country that you may
have imagined that there Is nothing
but .he grandeur in nature to be found
here, nothing of the beautiful In homes,
the highly improved in farms, the har-
monious with the 18th century advance
ment and progress, but, if SO, you are
mistaken.
Let me give you then a report of my
visit last Friday snd Saturday to the
'Santa Rosa" ranch or farm, which,
no doubt, will prove q revelation to
you as to what we can see in this coun-
try, where so much seems not to be in
harmony with this age of advance
ment. Receiving an invitation from
Senior Palacios to visit them at their
distant, we did so. The Chillo valley
will average Is miles wide and is 100
miles long. From the Andean SHOWS
the mountain streams, the creeks and
the rivers of the valley are fed. To
the east the numerous snow peaks
pierce the sky, chief among which is
she active volcano Cotopaxi. During
the great eruption of 1898 the entire
valley of the Rio Pita, q tributary of
part of the Chillo valley, was sub
merged in water. Homes, mills and
manufacturing establishments were
swept away as II but chat.
Twenty miles below, near Tumbaco,
the San Pedro passes thrO q canon
four or five hundred yards wide.
Here the water rose to height OF one
hundred feet. Before reaching this
point the Rio Pita united with the San
Pedro. The great deposit OF silt
from the mountains really changed the
character of the soil of the whole Rio
Pita valley. It greatly enriched it.
In the west is the beautiful green
mountain ridge which separates the
Chillo and Pichincha valleys. Stand
ing on the summit of 1t the view, for
ward or backward, takes in q country
of which Moses might well have said,
''Behold the promised land" The
view of the two valleys is '1inda."
Valleys as beautiful as any the sun
shines upon, alternately dotted with
golden grain ready for the sickle or
for ho OF in
the field adjoining, just shooting out of
The ground: with the corn being
gathered or that by its side only a few
inches high: with various other grains,
vegetables or grasses of all shades and
,olors: with individual homes indicat-
ng hundreds of haciendas, or villages
Ind cities where dwell as happy and
people as eau anywhere be
ound.
Contented if they have only home
hat would be an insult to a good horse
20 put him 10 it, in the United States.
md as conteuted as if they lived in
palace.
On arrival at Senior Palacios, about
en- O'Clock we found q royal good
breakfast l-eady, after. .partaking of
which we started for the Santa Rosa
anch, for q horseback ride, seven of
We found the proprietor, Sr. Jijon
.srrea, one of the most courtly and po
lite of men, educated and refined.
from him we obtained the following |
ala: His hacienda contains about |
wo thousands acres, one part being |
seq for the cultivation of wheat, corn, |
tc another for cattle, horses, etc (,
md the third for manufacturing. The |
agricultural part produces about TWEEN
y thousand bushels corn for annum,
hou-and of barley and other grains. |
the part devoted to stock he has
bout one thousand COWS aud three |
,und red bulls, many of them improved |