The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-03-21
The CITY OF GUAYAQUIL
THE COMMERCIAL METROPO-
LIS
Aud Only Port of a NelghbOrIng Re-
pubIic-A difference in the Morning
Great Place for Earthquakes.


Especial Correspondence of the Journal
and Courier.)
GuaIaquil, Ecuador, Feb. 5, 1908.
Everybody who comes to this South
American metropolis confesses to about
the same mental experiences. Your
steamer arrives after nightfall and
drops her anchor mile out in the river.
Directly in front of you is the principal
street of the city, extending two miles
or more along the shore; backed by
other streets, rising, terrace above ter
race, upon the sloping hillside. Over
every door a lamp is hung; and when
thousands of these lights, along the le-
wee and in the town, are doubled by
their own reflection in the dancing wa
ter the effect is dazzling. AS Guaya-
quill is the commercial emporium of Ec-
uador and its one center of trade, the
shops are numerous and well stocked;
and the street facing the river is its
Broadway, as we'll as its evening prom
enade. In its center rises the three
stored "Palacio" of the government,
lifting a quaint tower with clock in
it, like a warning finger pointing to the
flight of time; and on either side are
long rows of massive buildings, whose
white walls CLEAN like purest marble in
the uncertain light of gas or moon.
Every upper story has balcony, hung
with canvas curtains which are rolled
up when the heat of the day is over;
and the balconies, projecting outward.
form a long series of arches over the
sidewalks, precisely like the Rue de
Rivoli in Paris. The lower floors are
occupied by shops, all gorgeous with
light and color. The whole population,
after remaining all day indoors to es-
cape the heat, turns out en- masse in the
evening. Martial music mingles with
the changing of vesper bells, Even the
dark river round about springs into
sudden life as gaily dressed people
paddle out from shore, their songs ana
happy laughter accompanied by the
tinkle of guitars and mandolins. You
are astonished at the size and apparent
magnificence of this almost unheard of
port, and compare it in your own eX-
cited imagination to Venice, Constan-
tinople or some other gem of the Orient.
But alas! The first peep of dawn
dispells the illusion, even with mile
wide stretch of water between. Those
stately, marble-like casas prove to be
dilapidated, earthquake shaken struc-
lures of whitewashed mud and bam-
boo: the gondolas are mere dug-outs, or
primitive RATS made of logs dashed to-
gether with vines; and the "gaily
dressed populace' are mostly undressed
Indians or dirty half-breeds slouching
along in blankets and red flannel pet
ticoats!
The port regulations of Guayaquil,
always strict as the. strictest, have been
stricter than ever since the recent scare
of .bubonic plague on the western coast
of Mexico All vessels of whatever
tonnage must remain at a given dis
tance from shore and await the conven-
fence of the health and customs officials
for permission to land either passengers
or cargo. Happily, everybody arises
very early in these tropical regions,
where long siestas as midday are the
rule. Before sunrise the officials Of
Guayaquil had made their formal
round of the "Sereno," made sure that
ma eyil-minded passenger was bringing
pestilential or countraband goods to
their peaceful port; and then, accord
ing to custom, invited themselves to
breakfast, with an eye to business in
the line of sampling the ships good
wine and stores. Sophisticated cap
at ~, Act Of
it, for these petty officials, because it
pays to do so in the long run. If the
load to mans heart is through his
stomach" it is also true that the high
way to his conscience may sometimes
be made to look like mo thoroughfare'
under the mental strabismus induced
by bottle of wine.
Long before the figurative blessings
of the port officials had been bestowed
amid popping corks, with gracious per-
mission to remain or depart, the "Sere-
no. was besieged by native boatmen,
who swarmed up the sides from their
canoes, RATS or dug-outs, jabbering and
gesticulating like lunatics, in the hope
of earning some honest pesos by con-
veying feight and passengers ashore.
The aquatic citizens of Ecuador seem
quite as much at home in the water as
out of it, and the boatmen's business
appears to be the most lucrative of any
in sight. So far as clothes are con-
cerned this class of Ecuadorian society
are as nearly in "a state of nature as
any humans we ever saw,-the best
dressed among them wearing little
more than a straw hat, scanty pair
of bathing trunks as much resembling
trousers as the breech-clout of can
nibal, and greasy string to which a
blessed charm is attached-the latter
about three inches square, resting on
the "tummy' like a small porous plas-
ter. Among the Spanish and Indian
rabble we noticed few Cinnamon and
Italians and good many Jamaica ne
groes, who are like no other blacks un-
der the sun. Most of them have picked
up few words of English, which they
flung in our faces regardless of context,
evidently considering that accomplish
ment the most powerful of recommen-
dations. Thus among the jargon of
strange tongues could be plainly distin-
guished the words "All right" me
Americana" How do" yelled trium-
phantly with all the power of healthy
lungs.
Right here a word of advice is very
much in order if you contemplate WISH
ting the ports of South America Don't