260 



ECUADOR. 



will produce about 60,000 pesos per annum. It will 

 be seen from this that the people of Guayaquil are 

 particularly favored, as the products ot interior 

 points, haciendns, etc., are made to pay for local 

 improvements in that city. Guayaquil itself has no 

 agriculture, it is simply a port ; and one must admire 

 the correct and just views of an Executive who taxes 

 interior industries, which have their own local bur- 

 dens to bear, in the interests of a port whose com- 

 merce should surely afford to pay for its own improve- 

 ments. 



At the commencement of 1877 the national 

 debt * was reported to amount to a total of 

 21, 914, 800 pesos, composed as follows: British 

 loan contracted in 1855 (1,824,000), 11,764,- 

 800 pesos; home debt, 10,150,000 pesos. 



The most recent commercial returns pub- 

 lished are those given in the " Annual Cyclo- 

 paedia "for 1877. Owing to heavy and con- 

 tinuous rains, the cacao crop was far under 

 the average in 1878. The quantity of this 

 commodity received at Guayaquil during the 



COTOPAXI, VIEWED FROM SALTO 



first nine months was but 75,881 quintals (of 

 100 Ibs. each), while in the first eight months 

 of 1877 the quantity received was 182,200 

 quintals. Tagua or vegetable ivory was ex- 

 ported on an unusually extensive scale, which 

 circumstance, together with the enhanced prices 

 received for cacao ($22 to $25 per quintal in 

 October, 1878), served to compensate in a 

 measure for the fall in the production of the 

 latter article. 



The shipping movements at the port of 

 Guayaquil for the year 1876 were as follows : 

 Entered, 166 vessels, with an aggregate of 146,- 

 761 tons; cleared, 166 vessels, with an aggre- 

 gate of 146,558 tons. 



No information concerning railways was 

 published during the year. 



Political affairs in Ecuador would seem to be 



* Interesting details concerning the national debt of Ecuador 

 were given in the " Annual Cyclopaedia " for 1875. 



in a hopeless condition of anarchy and oppres- 

 sion, according to a Colombian newspaper cor- 

 respondent, whose rare communications have 

 for many months been the only tidings received 

 outside the republic of the events passing within 

 its borders. A Constitutional Convention, con- 

 voked in the beginning of the year at Ambato, 

 capital of the province of Tunguragua, contin- 

 ued its sessions until May 31st. The ostensi- 

 ble object of this assembly was to "adopt a 

 constitution which should meet the more lib- 

 eral views of the people, and serve their neces- 

 sities better that that under which Borrero 

 accepted power, and still more so than the 

 celebrated iron-clad constitution of Garcia Mo- 

 reno." To say the least it was an act of con- 

 ciliation which General Veintemilla probably 

 regarded as necessary in order to justify the 

 violent measures by which he had wrested the 

 reins of government from the hands of his 

 former chief. He also probably bore in mind 

 that Borrero's unpopu- 

 larity had been irre- 

 vocably sealed by the 

 omission on his part 

 to call a Constitutional 

 Assembly. A year 

 elapsed, however, be- 

 tween Veintemilla's ac- 

 cession to power and 

 the meeting of the 

 Convention, " during 

 which time, no doubt," 

 suggests the writer al- 

 ready mentioned, " he 

 was consolidating his 

 power and making his 

 preparations to pack 

 the Assembly to suit his 

 views. That he suc- 

 ceeded in doing so is 

 evident. The legisla- 

 tive labor performed in 

 that body has been stu- 

 diously kept from the 

 public, with the excep- 

 tion of one or two measures which are known 

 to have been adopted. Notable among these 

 is the bill denying religious liberty in the coun- 

 try, evidently emanating from Veintemilla, and 

 stamping him as much less of a liberal than he 

 pretends to be. But the crowning farce of the 

 session was reserved for its last day, when a 

 minister rose in his place, and, repeating a 

 series of tales, many of which are of doubtful 

 foundation, moved that the country be consid- 

 ered in a state of war, and that General Vein- 

 temilla be declared dictator for an unlimited 

 period. The resolution also included the extra- 

 ordinary proposition that all the work of the 

 Assembly be considered null and void for the 

 present, and that that body should adjourn. 

 The reasons alleged for such extraordinary ac- 

 tion may be briefly stated : Yepez,* a former 

 revolutionary leader, was said to be on the 

 *~See "Annual Cydopsedia" for 18T7, p. 268. 



