EASTMAN, OKNAN. 



273 



each relay, through the artificial lino composed of 



.i*tnoe ooili and oondenier, and thmu^li curt d 



I distant station, where it passes through tho 



iiiinT ooilsot'tliu ruluy.and records tho signala. The 



]..irt;,-ulnr advantage of this last uyntt-m i. that any 



in-ti un.i-i!,, however delicate, may be worked by it. 



It may be here remarked that a number of small con- 

 densers are better than one large one, as small 

 electro-magnetic coils may be Inserted bitwc. 

 plates, providi-il with movable centres, br which 

 thu magnetic retardation may be increased or Ics- 

 MOfd. 



E 



KASTMAN, Rev. ORXAX, A. M., a Presby- 

 t< ri:m clergyman, for forty-nine years an offl- 

 tvr, and for forty-two years Secretary of tho 

 American Tract Society, born at Arab erst, 

 Mass., March 27, 1796; died in New York 

 City, April 24, 1874. He pursued his prelim- 

 inary studies at Amherst Academy, afterward 

 Amherst College, and entered Yale College, 

 whence he graduated in 1821 with honor. 

 After completing his theological studies at An- 

 dover in 1824, he was for a year an efficient 

 agent of the American Board of Commission- 

 ers of Foreign Missions ; he entered the service 

 of the American Tract Society in Boston, 

 where ho remained from 1825 to 1828, when 

 he was transferred to the New York Society, 

 first as General Agent for the Mississippi Val- 

 ley, and from 1832 as Finance Secretary. In 

 1870 he withdrew from his more laborious du- 

 ties, but was continued as Honorary Secreta- 

 ry till his death. Mr. Eastman was a man of 

 wide and thorough culture, of an exceedingly 

 retentive memory, of remarkable financial 

 ability, of a simple but effective eloquence, and 

 of great skill in the presentation of his cause. 

 Few men in this country were more widely 

 known ; he had traversed almost every State 

 and Territory of the Union, not only once but 

 many times, and so genial were his manners, 

 and so winning his address, that where he 

 came oftenest he was most heartily welcome. 

 Ho died, after only five or six days' illness, his 

 health all through life having been remarkably 

 good. 



ECUADOR (REpf-BLicA DEL EOTTADOB), a 

 country of South America, comprised between 

 latitude 1 5' north and 5 30' south, and be- 

 tween longitude 59 52' and 80 35'; and 

 bounded north by Colombia and Brazil, east 

 by the empire just mentioned, south by Peru, 

 and west by the Pacific Ocean. According to 

 a new estimate, published in 1873, the area is 

 277,885 square miles, including 29,509 square 

 miles of the insular province of Galapagos; 

 and the population 1,808,082, of whom 200,- 

 000 are uncivilized Indians in the province of 

 Oriente. The population of the capital, Quito, 

 is now set down at 76,000. The President of 

 the Republic is Sefior Garcia Moreno, and tho 

 ministry is the same as that noted in the AN- 

 NUAL CYCLOPAEDIA for 1878. 



The army is reported to comprise 1,500 men, 

 notwithstanding that, in 1868, when it was 

 but 1,200 strong, the Government announced 

 the intention of taking into consideration plans 

 for its reduction, and perhaps even its ultimate 

 VOL. xiv. 18 A 



extinction. That the only measure hitherto 

 taken in reference to tho armed force of the 

 country has been to increase its numbers will 

 not bo a matter of surprise to any who are 

 aware that Seflor Moreno's government is es- 

 sentially a military one. 



The financial situation of Ecuador is one of 

 the least promising among all the South Ameri- 

 can states, save, perhaps, that of Uruguay and 

 Paraguay ; this last, however, owes its poverty 

 to a disastrous war, which drained its life-blood 

 almost to the last dregs ; but the strenuous 

 efforts of a wise government are directed to 

 improve the condition of the country and re- 

 establish the national credit abroad, and meet 

 the hearty cooperation of the people. Not so 

 in Ecuador, where the public revenue scarcely 

 ever exceeds $1,500,000, while the expenditure 

 is seldom below $2,000,000, though but a small 

 fraction is devoted to the development of that 

 very branch which is the main source of in- 

 come to the nation, namely, foreign commerce, 

 or more directly the customs. 



It may not be out of place to give. here a 

 statement of the yield of this latter department 

 during the six years 1868-'73 : 



Yeari. Receipt*. 



1868 $502,788 61 



1869 688,729 Hi 



1870 908,792 69 



1871 978,79869 



1872 1.180,128 80 



1873 1,187,586 47 



Total in United States gold $5,285,812 92 



By comparing the figure* of this table with 

 those stated above for the revenue, it will be 

 seen that considerably more than two- thirds 

 of the latter are derived from that source. 



The progressive annual increase indicated in 

 the table is attributable to the energy of the 

 merchants of Guayaquil, through which port 

 nearly all the foreign commerce is carried on, 

 and whose mercantile community enjoys, and 

 has ever enjoyed, an enviable reputation 

 abroad. 



At the commencement of 1870 the national 

 liabilities were stated to be $16,870,000, made 

 up as follows : British loan, contracted in 1855, 

 $9,120,000, and a home debt of $7,250,000. 



Nothing has been done for several years 

 toward the liquidation of this debt, nor have 

 any payments been made on account of inter- 

 est since 1867, a chronic insolvency which led 

 to the insertion of tho name of Ecuador in a 

 list of defaulting republics, published in Lon- 

 don last summer, under tho title " black- 

 sheep." 



