Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-02-16
PERlLoUSLXs NARROW
a.sssAff-rf
Description of,a Trip Taken by 9
United st.t Mini.ter-Iuci-
dents BY the Way.

Mr.. A. ]. Sampson United States minis
| ter to Ecuador writes from Quito to Capt
p H. McNuty in this city, describing his
| tourney from NewsTark to his post of duty,
| at the conclusion : of his leave Of absence
| last November. The letter is dated Janu-
airy TO- 1901, and Is in part as follows:
| 1--WE left New York November 81, ate
| good Thanksgiving dinner on the steamer
! Advance and arrived in Colon December g.
| In that town and all across the isthmus
| We saw few persons other than negroes.
| These were numerous. If the French Ca
| nal Company never did any other good it
| has furnished homes for thousands of these
people, who occupy the houses built by the
company years ago | presume without
! rent They do not look as if they could
pay rent All across the isthmus were the
! evidences of wrecked fortunes and failure
| In abandoned machinery, dredges, cars, To-
| comotiyeS, tools, shops, houses, etc, rep
resenting perhaps. a hundred million dol
| lars. On approaching the Panama end we
| found work progressing.
During our stay in Panama the weather
was oppresSively hot and we were rejoiced
to once more find ourselves on board the
| fine steamer Chile, bound for Guayaqul,
where we arrived December 10. Here we
| had very pleasant welcome from the
| American coIony-quite reception, indeed.
! Soon as notice of my arrival reached Quito
| received kilograms from President AL
| faro, Minister of Foreign Relations Peral-
| ta Minister of the Interior Moncayo, and
| the charge d'affaires of Great Britain each
| in flattering terms expressing his pleasure
at return to Ecuador, etc. etc.
| AT Guayaqui the general manager, Mai
| Hartman. and Superintendent Hancock Of
the G. and Q. railroad notified me that a
! special ferry to Duran and train from there
to Chmbo would be at my disposal any
! day and hour | might name. The 18th OF
| December / found myself seated in Maj.
| Harmans private car with Superintendent
| Hancock and the treasurer of the road,
| Mr.. Merely, with a baggage car only at
tached
1--WE had a delightful run to Chimbo
| through sugar, rice and cacao lands, where
all kinds OF tropical fruits grow, for sixty
miles over the only line of completed rail-
road in this republic. We were met here
by what is called Aspinwall's mule train
| and by 1t taken on push cars three miles
| farther to Victoria, most beautiful pla-
| teau, surrounded by mountains and dense
| ly covered with tropical vegetation, where
1 was the guest of Maj. Hartman.
THE next morning he QUILTED me with
| five cargo mules and one to ride, and after
| breakfast at IL m. were off, accom-
panied by Maj. Hartman for two days, to the
end of where work is now being prosecuted
on the extension of the road to Quito. All
this distance up the Chan Chan river.
For the two nights We slept in the
gineerS' CAMPS.
The Chan Chan river is a succession of
cascades or rushing, seething water fair
| ly wedged in between two precipitOus walls,
in places thousands of feet high-a chasm
through which no man-no. not even an
| Indan-ever passed until the engineer corps
directed the construction of. trail over
which they could pass.
AT times this trail was high upon the
sides OF the mountain. at others close by
the side of the raging waters which we had
to cross more than u dozen times. The
bridges are about four feet wide and sus-
pended by strong cables in the solid rock
on each side A few days before when Mr.
Ash nf he
ing over one of these bridges, his mule fell
with him. Fortunately he freed himself
from the mule and stad the bridge, but
the mule went down forty feet and was
killed. Not much fun, in travelling such a
road.
AT one point ii single blast blew off a
quantity of rock which fell in the river
bed and damned the water up to a depth
| OF nearly forty feet. Along the line of the
work We found three or four thousand ne
| groes at work, brought there from Jamaica,
| and two thousand more coming The
! natives can't he induced to do that work.
| When the road reaches the Andean plateau
it is expected they will do good work. and
| the negroes will then be returned to ia
maica, as the contract of the railroad con-
tractor with the government requires. An
official came with them to see their rights
secured. 1t Is hoped the road will be COM
pleted to Quito in two years. -.-
| After leaving the last engineers camp
we commenced the climb of the nose of the
mountain Backward and forward, zig
tagging. up We went on trail so narrow
| that, by careful measurement of the eye,
in many places there were not more than
six inches and in many more not more than
twelve inches between the path on which
the mule trOd and abyss hundreds and.
at times. thousands of feet below. No Won
der the head grew dizzy and the legs tin
gied with peculiar sensation-of course CD
not fear. but a something incident to the
high altitude. Ii was relief, at least, to
get above the clouds and have them hide
from view the yawning gulf, but they could
not bar the kissing, warning sound of the
l fretting. dashing waters below.
: We We're rejoced when the nose of the
mountain was passed, for our pleasure IN
2 crossing over it was not that of a fly on the
} nose of a sleeper in church, under a dry
, sermon. on hot summers day. Inc bal-
l ance of the road to Quito was comparative
t | ly-notice, [ say comparatively-good. We
felt like congratuating ourselves when we
: ! left the nose, but congra tulationS dldn
r last long for we soon found ourselves on
: the Palmira pass / assure you this Is not
the place described by Longfellow when he
} wrote Winds We're soft and woods We're
| green" for no green woods were there to
l be seen; all nature was bleak and bare. Far
2 and near huge piles of black sand, in places
as much as ten feet deep, filled the would
: be road, requiring many detours, to Which
/ we would not have objected so much had II
$ not been for the winds whirling, eddyina
L around and throwing bushels of the pesky
/. sand over us. And then again they would
come galloping over the plains to meet us
S at the rate of sixty miles an hour, in nc
! | slight degree retarding our forward move
1 ment.
Each succeeding day escort was Sent
with us, at times much to my inconveni'
| ence. AT last Ambato was reached, and we
felt as if our journeys end, one day
i in a coach seventy-flve miles, eight changes
t of horses. Here l was met by the English
d governments representative, who came al
1 this distance for the purpose OF meeting anc
going back with me. We rested here two
l. days and had a very comfortable ride tt
: Quito. arriving at pm. having left Am
e | bato at am.
n Suspected Something.
q | From the Chicago Tribune.
h The postman had brought a letter ad
: dressed in a singularly cramped hand t.
George Ferguson, esq"
: Il wonder" unused Mrs. Ferguson, close
v ly inspecting the pen,nanship, who tina
h !