El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-02-14

" UAYAQUIL Ecuador. Feb. IA
The Guayas river is to South
America what the Columbia and
the Yukon are to our continent. Il
is the biggest stream which flows into
the Pacific; and in the rainy season
it turns the Iowlands from here to
the Andes into q great swamp or lake.
where the ships come in from the
ocean the river is 60 miles wide and
as you sail up 20 GuayaQuil you seem
TO be passing through a great inland
sea The water is as thick as pea
soup and of much the same color. The
Andean floods bring down patches Of
green, and great trees may be seen
floating out to the sea In coming in
you pass the island Of Puma, where
Pizarro first landed; and about so miles
further up you find yourself in front
OF this port.
Town Is Imposing sight.
From the ships deck Guayaquil is
imposing. It is a town Of about 1O0,
600 people. and as the most of its
houses are OF only one or two stories
it covers a great deal of ground. It
has wide streets and buildings that at
first sight seem to be of stone or Of
brick covered with stucco. They are
really of wood plastered over and
Of bamboo cane upon which mud has
been spread and smoOthed down with
a trOweL
The city has some improvements It
has an electric street car line and
electric lights It has public squares
which are beautifully kept and its
hospitals are as good as can be found
in South America It has a half dozen
newspapers, several high priced hotels
and it does an export and import bust
ness amounting to eighteen or twenty
million dollars a year. 1t is, in fact,
the New York Of Ecuador, and II IL
could be made as healthy as Panama
IL might be great resort for tourists
and trade
VIII BE Made NeighbOr by Canal.
But before go further, let me tell
you something of this South American
republic, which is to be brought to our
door by the Panama canal Hereto
fore the steamships from our Atlantic
coast have had to go more than 10000
miles around by the strait of Magellan
to reach it. When the canal is open
New York viii be nearer by ship to
this port than it is now to Great Brit
ian Boston viii be only a little over
q week from any part of Ecuador, and
our gulf ports viii be still nearer.
As it is now, Guayaquil is less than
500 miles from Balboa, and the rail-
road that is building from the Bay Of
Caraquez to Quito viii bring the cap.
itaI of Ecuador to within three days Of
Panama The contract for that road
has been let to a French company.
Il ne Trains were ia operation last year
over about 40 miles Of track, and the
road should be completed by the time
Of the opening Of the great ditch al
Panama.
Next TO Colombia, Ecuador is the nearest
republic to Us. and still it is one Of the least
known. Parts Of it have never been s1lr-
veyed and today the estimates Of its size
range from the bigmess Of California to that
Of Texas The most authentic figures now
place It at 10000 square miles, an area
equal to that Of Ohio, Virginia and Indiana
combined
Valleys High Above Sea-
The most Of the country is taken up by
the Andes. The coast line is low and a trop-
ical vegetation extends from the ocean back
to the foothills The Andes cross the coun-
try from north TO south in two great ranges,