328 



ECUADOR. 



EGYPT. 



SOURCES. Amounts in Ecuadorian pesos. 



Custom-house 1,700.000 



Tobacco tax 19,000 



Spirit tax 112,000 



Salt monopoly 810,000 



Gunpowder monopoly 30,000 



Stamped paper 115,000 



Income tax 65,000 



Tax on sales of lands 215,000 



Tithes : 870,000 



Pawn-Office 1,000 



Post-Office 95,000 



Government lands 52,000 



Sundries 510,000 



Total 8,594,000 



The total national debt, interesting details 

 concerning which may be found in the " An- 

 nual Cyclopedia " for 1874 and 1875, amount- 

 ed in January, 1877, to 22,938,000 Ecuadorian 

 pesos, viz. : home debt, 10,150,000 ; foreign 

 debt (accruing from British loan of 1855 = 

 1,824,000), 12,788,000 pesos. 



The foreign trade being for the most part 

 carried on through Guayaquil, by far the larg- 

 er portion of the customs are collected at that 

 port, as may be seen by the annexed table for 

 the seven years 1870-'76 inclusive: 



YEARS. Receipts In Ecuadorian pesos. 



1870 1,360,000 



1871 1,871,440 



1872 1,591,730 



1373 1,672,650 



1874 1,442,000 



1875. 1,047,986 



1876 1,174,058 



The total valne of the imports through Guay- 

 aquil for 1878 was reported at 4,734,055 pesos ; 

 and that of the exports, inclusive of precious 

 metals, at 4,183,612 pesos. The commodities 

 shipped in largest quantities were cacao, tagua 

 or vegetable ivory, India-rubber, jipijapa (or 

 so-called Panama hats), etc. 



The new cacao crop (1879) was unusually 

 abundant, and commanded an advanced price ; 

 the average price per quintal (of 100 pounds) 

 of the crop immediately preceding having been 

 3 free on board. The shipments of ivory- 

 nuts amounted in 1878 to 10,000 tons, which 

 is a marked increase as compared with pre- 

 vious years. This article was sold in March 

 at 17 10s. free on board. 



The following extract from a correspondence 

 dated Guayaquil, August, 1879, will serve at 

 once to show the sentiments inspired by Presi- 

 dent Veintemilla's "great capacity to rule a 

 free people," and make known the terms of 

 recent railway contracts : 



Elevated by treason and the accident of circum- 

 stance to the chief magistracy of the country, a posi- 

 tion which he [General Veintemilla] has sustained by 

 practices worthy of the middle ages, he does not pay 

 the country he misgoverns even the small compli- 

 ment of endeavoring to save appearances. His patri- 

 otism is self-interest, as will be understood when the 

 fact is known that his willing tools at the convention 

 of Ambato donated him a large increase of salary, and 

 other substantial rewards for services which in a well- 

 organized country would have gained for him impris- 

 onment or banishment. His manner of granting con- 

 cessions and celebrating contracts is, even in these 

 lands of surprises, unique and striking. A case re- 

 cited in the issue of the " Nacion" of the 7th inst., a 

 newspaper of Guayaquil, is to the point. In Quito, 



in January of the present year, Mr. Herman Gohring 

 effected a contract with the Government of Ecuador, 

 represented at that time by Don Luis Salvador, as the 

 illustrious commander-in-chief of the armies and na- 

 vies of Ecuador was at that time sojourning tempora- 

 rily in Guayaquil, for the construction of a railroad 

 from Yaguachi to Quito. The terms of the first con- 

 tract, which occasioned considerable unfavorable com- 

 ment in the country at the time, may be briefly stated. 

 The contractor guaranteed within three years and a 

 half from the date of signing the contract to finish the 

 road, binding himself to begin the work within nine 

 months. In return for this service the Government 

 agreed to grant the following favors : the ownership 

 and use ot thirty miles of railroad, now existing over 

 the new route to Quito, without any remuneration 

 whatever to the Government ; the cession of alternate 

 sections of the public lands through which the road 

 should pass ; a subsidy of $150,000 per annum for four 

 years, and of $100,000 for six years following ; on the 

 opening of the line for traffic a bonus of $200,000 ; for 

 the space of fifty years the contractor should enjoy 

 not only the use of the railroadj but no other should 

 be constructed to compete with it ; the fifty years ex- 

 pired, the contractor should still enjoy the profits of 

 the road for twenty years longer, but any others 

 might build a road in opposition to the enterprise. 

 This contract was duly ratified, and published in the 

 official paper on the 7th of February. The common 

 sense of the country condemned the contract as soon 

 as its terms were made known, on the ground that 

 the conditions were too favorable to the contractor. 

 Veintemilla's method of placating public opinion was 

 characteristic. He ignored the contract and eifocted 

 another under terms more favorable still for the con- 

 tractor. He increased the total subsidy by $600,000, 

 doubled the bonus to be paid at the completion or the 

 work, extended the time allowed by the first contract 

 for that purpose, undertook for account of the Gov- 

 ernment the construction of certain station buildings, 

 etc., and doubled the number of years in which the 

 contractor was to enjoy the usufruct of the enterprise, 

 after the expiration of the exclusive privilege. 



EGYPT, a tributary of Turkey in Northeast- 

 ern Africa. The ruler of Egypt, who has the 

 title of Khedive, is Mohammed Tevfik, born in 

 1852, the eldest son of Ismail Pasha, who re- 

 signed June 26, 1879. The eldest son of the 

 Khedive is Prince Abbas Bey, born July 14, 

 1874. 



The area and population of Egypt were as 

 follows in 1879 : 



For an account of the finances, public debt, 

 and commerce, see "Annual Cyclopaedia" for 

 1878. 



In the latter part of 1878 Mr. Eivers Wilson 

 made a tour of inspection through the Delta, 

 visiting the chief towns of every province ; and 

 wherever he went he held a kind of small 



