ECUADOR. 



281 



Mr. H. Beach, and the Ecuadorian Consul at 

 New York Mr. H. Kiesewetter. 



Army and Navy. The regular army does not 

 exceed 5,000 men, and the navy has but two 

 steamers. 



Events of 1884. By the earthquake that took 

 place in Guayaquil on March 25, two of the 

 churches suffered severely; the walls of one of 

 them were badly cracked. Two months pre- 

 viously Cotopaxi had given signs of activity. 

 At noon, on Dec. 13, 1883, ashes began to fall 

 from the crater of the volcano, and by eight 

 o'clock in the evening the shower of ashes was 

 heavy enough to cover people's clothes at Quito 

 like snow-flakes. On the morning of the pre- 

 ceding day a peculiar purple color of the sky 

 toward the south of the capital extended along 

 the horizon 90, reaching upward about 45. 



Early in the year the Constituent Assembly 

 embodied the following fundamental law in the 

 new Constitution : u The religion of the re- 

 public shall be the Catholic Apostolic Roman, 

 to the exclusion of every other. The political 

 powers of the country must cause it to be re- 

 spected, and protect its rights and liberty." 



When, early in December, 1884, the British 

 steamer northward bound approached Ecua- 

 dorian ports, it was signaled from shore that 

 communication with any of them was prohib- 

 ited. President Caamafio was at Guayaquil, 

 and it was then believed that he had no in- 

 tention of attempting to regain authority in 

 the northern coast towns, where the friends 

 of Gen. Eloy Alfaro were in full possession. 

 Trouble had been brewing since Dec. 24, 1883, 

 the cause being a bitter discussion in the Na- 

 tional Convention on the previous day over 

 some feature of the Church question, when 

 Don Timoleon Flores, brother of the Ecuado- 

 rian minister at Washington, shot Julio Roman 

 through the arm with a revolver. 



On Dec. 16, 1884, news was received from 

 Guayaquil that a general rising against the 

 Government had been arranged, and that in an- 

 ticipation of it Gen. Alfaro had left the Bay 

 of Panama, on November 6, in the Alajuela, 

 with 200 Ecuadorian exiles for Esmeraldas. 

 Scattered bands had taken possession of several 

 towns, and in some instances fighting occurred, 

 attended with loss of life. In one of these 

 fights on the slope of the Cotopaxi volcano, 

 twenty or thirty men were killed, and the Gov- 

 ernment force was compelled to retreat. The 

 rebels on the coast were more unfortunate. 

 After a fight at Tumaco between the Alajuela 

 and the Nueve de Julio, Alfaro effected a land- 

 ing on the Ecuadorian coast. On November 

 30 he endeavored to capture Puertoviejo, but 

 was defeated by the Government forces and 

 compelled to seek safety in flight. Gen. Alfaro 

 then returned to the Alajuela, leaving his men 

 to join the parties in revolt in the interior. 

 On December 8 he moved toward Bahia, and 

 when off Las Cruzitas fell in with the Govern- 

 ment steamer Huacho. He steamed alongside 

 of her, and, after a heavy fire, carried her by 



boarding. She was full of troops, to whom her 

 bare hull offered no protection, and it is said 

 that at least 400 men were killed or wounded. 

 These belonged to the Government party. 



While the victors were examining their prize, 

 the Nueve de Julio, another Government ves- 

 sel, put in an appearance. The Huacho waa 

 useless for fighting, and the Alajuela was dam- 

 aged and her captain dead. It was then deter- 

 mined to run her ashore, take out what could 

 be removed in a hurry, and burn her. This 

 plan was followed, and the Nueve de Julio 

 proceeded to Bahia with her crippled consort. 



A letter from Quito, dated end of December, 

 says : " This capital is a veritable Babylon. No 

 one appears to comprehend the political senti- 

 ments of his neighbor, and the panic in the 

 Government files is increasing daily. Gen. 

 Victor Proafio and other notables have been 

 arrested on suspicion of sympathizing with the 

 revolutionists. The prisons of Guayaquil are 

 full of suspects, among them Settor Pastor In- 

 triago and a number of his workmen, who are 

 accused of having given a canoe to Marcos Al- 

 faro to enable him to go up the river Guayas. 

 Vice-President Guerrero, who is in power in 

 this city, issued a proclamation on Nov. 19, 

 calling upon the people to support him." 



Gen. Alfaro is the leader of the Liberal party, 

 and it is asserted by those in favor of his acces- 

 sion to power that if he succeeds in the revolu- 

 tion he has undertaken the church and state 

 will be separated, and religious toleration es- 

 tablished for the first time in the republic. 



National Indebtedness. The foreign debt 

 amounts to 1,824,000, contracted in England 

 in 1855, and the internal debt to 3,200,000. 

 The annual income of the Government is $4,- 

 000,000 in silver, and the outlay $3,360,000. 



The amount of revenue collected from cus- 

 toms at Guayaquil in 1883 was $1,497,210, of 

 which $1,383,250 was on imports and $113,960 

 on exports. 



Railroads. The railway from Yuaguachi to 

 the river Chimbo, 77 miles, is completed and 

 in operation. 



Telegraphs. Since Oct. 1, 1882, the republic 

 has been in direct communication with the rest 

 of the world by means of a land line of tele- 

 graph from Guayaquil to Ballenita, and cable 

 from the latter to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, 

 whence there is communication with New 

 York. The company owning the line is the 

 Central and South American. 



Mall Steamship Communication. Since Jan. 1, 

 1884, the Pacific coast steamers south of Pana- 

 ma are running on a time-table without refer- 

 ence to the steamers plying between Aspinwall 

 and New York, sometimes making connec- 

 tions, at other times not. 



Commerce. The exportation of merchandise 

 in 1883 amounted to $4,923,300, the chief 

 articles being cocoa, 168,600 quintals, of 10 

 pounds American, worth $3,372,200; casca- 

 rilla (quinine) bark, $137,000; India-rubber, 

 $428,800 ; furthermore tagua (vegetable ivory), 



