Dec. 13, 1858.] EXPLORATIONS IN ECUADOR. 95 



Amazon to Nauta, a place within the limits of Ecuador ; and Mr. 

 Pritchett adds, it would be well were it generally known how little 

 a settler in so mild a climate has to go through before he is in pos- 

 session of all the requisites of a comfortable home. Mr. Pritchett 

 lays much stress on the cotton-producing capabilities of Ecuador, 

 and thinks that this torpid and roadless country, so little known and 

 almost wholly neglected, is fully as capable of a prosperous develop- 

 ment as any other on the Pacific shore of South America. 



Mr. C. R. Markham, f.r.g.s. — It appears to me that the most important 

 fact which is mentioned in this paper is with reference to the position of the 

 city of Quito ; that it is more accessible from the Atlantic, though distant 

 3000 miles, than it is from the Pacific, which is only about 90 miles from it 

 in a direct line. The extraordinary productions of the forests of Ecuador — 

 the gums, resins, wax, sarsaparilla, bark, cotton, cocoa, and numerous other 

 valuable products — may be brought to the Atlantic, by means of the Amazon, 

 with the greatest possible ease. These products are now lying waste in the 

 forests, though so close to the Pacific ; whereas if steamers, which are now 

 navigating the Amazon from its mouth to Nauta in Peru, were allowed to go 

 up the Pastaza or Napo to Ecuador, they might bring all these products down 

 to the Atlantic. I scarcely agree with Mr. Pritchett that Ecuador has more 

 resources than Peru. I believe that Peru has ten times as many resources 

 as Ecuador in every way, especially in its mineral productions, all of which 

 might also be brought down by these rivers. It has abundant supplies of 

 copper and silver ; and, above all, the alpaca wool, which is grown on the 

 punas of the Andes, quite within reach of rivers navigable by steamers to the 

 Atlantic. Nauta, which Mr. Pritchett mentions as being in the republic of 

 Ecuador, is actually in the republic of Peru. Ecuadorians claim it, but pos- 

 session is said to be nine points of the law, and it is actually in the possession 

 of Peru. I know the governor of Nauta, and I hear that there is a war 

 threatened between Ecuador and Peru about this very boundary. I trust that 

 the two governments may act amicably, and that both states will combine 

 to waft their products to the Atlantic by means of that magnificent river — 

 the Amazon. 



Mr. G. J. Pritchett. — The gentleman who has just spoken has alluded 

 with some surprise to the comparison made between the resources of Ecuador 

 and those of Peru, and expressed doubts as to the possibility of the products 

 of the eastern slopes of the Cordillera of those countries being conveyed with 

 greater facility to the Atlantic, a distance of 3000 miles, than to the Pacific, 

 which is less than 100. As the experiment has already been made by a line of 

 Brazilian steamers on the river Amazon, which carry produce from these pro- 

 vinces, and whether in the upward or downward passage are always full, it may 

 be inferred that the facilities referred to already exist. These steamers were 

 expected, when first established by the Brazilian government, to be an annual 

 expense to the country, but experience has shown that a source of revenue 

 has been acquired, and a great benefit to the nation obtained. As Peru gained 

 its independence several years before Ecuador, and has had the advantage of 

 much more intercourse with foreigners, it is not surprising that it is much 

 more known and developed. It has benefited immensely also by the efiect 

 that its different mining districts have had in the formation of roads. Its 

 mines have also been most extensively worked both before and after the inde- 

 pendence. All these things have forwarded and assisted in the development 

 of its resources. Yet enough has been discovered of Ecuador, in spite of the 

 great difficulties attending research and exploration, to induce the inference 



VOL. III. I 



