ECUADOR. 



EDWARDS, HENRI M. 



303 



teen feet long, and fine ones are very expen- 

 sive, A woman often takes two to three 

 weeks to braid a single hat, which sells for five 

 or atx dollars. A hat is shown at Guayaquil 

 worth $350 ; it is made of a single straw or 

 fiber, as fine as thread and as soft as silk, 

 and the woman that made it was engaged four 

 months in the work. 



Sugar-planting is being undertaken more 

 and more extensively in the republic ; but so 

 far the amount produced does not suffice to 

 cover the requirements of domestic consump- 

 tion, although from 40,000 quintals in 1884 it 

 increased to 70,000 in 1885. 



A great impulse was given in 1885 to gold- 

 mining at the mines of Zaruma, at Zingata in 

 the Nabon gold-mining district, and rich pla- 

 cers have been discovered between Chordeley 

 and Gualaceo, as well as at Gualaqniza. 



Cocoa is the most important product and ex- 

 port article of Ecuador. The total receipts in 

 1885 at Guayaquil up to Aug. 31 amounted to 

 155,298 quintals of 100 pounds Spanish, equal 

 to lOli pounds English, against 144,878 in 

 1884. The whole crop in 1884 was 173,000 

 quintals. 



fillMil EddMtfM. The seventy-sixth anni- 

 versary of the independence of Ecuador is to 

 be celebrated in 1886 by an exhibition to be 

 held at Quito, opening on Aug. 10. The show 

 is to embrace agricultural products, manufact- 

 ures, and the fine arts. Prizes will be distrib- 

 uted in the shape of gold, silver, and copper 

 medals, and diplomas. 



f CttqpxL Before daybreak, on 



July 23, the volcano of Cotopaxi began an 

 eruption of the severest kind. Torrents of lava 

 mixed with ashes and rocks overflowed a por- 

 tion of the city of Chimbo, at the foot of the 

 volcano, destroying a hundred houses. At one 

 o^clock in the morning a rumbling noise was 

 , heard, accompanied by peals of thunder sonnd- 

 | ing like heavy artillery, heard as far away as 

 I Guayaquil, 130 miles, where the earth trembled 

 and windows and doors were shaken. The ris- 

 ing sun was obscured at Quito, and a thin 

 powder-like dust rained on the city! Before 

 the darkening, the spectacle of the volcano 

 ; projecting flames and fiery stones to an im- 

 { inense height was magnificent. The darkness 

 lasted at Quito till eight o'clock in the morn- 



tf RfWs. The brutality shown to- 

 ward prisoners by the Ecuadorian Government 

 early in the year it was feared would lead to 

 horrible reprisals. Col. Infante, who was capt- 

 ured at Palenqne, was shot a few hours after- 

 ward. Other executions took place, recalling 

 the worst days of Flores and Garcia Moreno. 

 One at Manabi was of a most cold-blooded 

 nature. A Chilian officer, named Sepulveda, 

 bad been serving with Gen. Eloy Alfaro; in 

 one of the combats in the department he was 

 -ly wounded and taken prisoner. A mock 

 trial was held, and a few hours afterward he 

 was taken out and shot A strong protest re- 



specting these political assassinations was pub- 

 lished at Guayaquil in January, signed by over 

 2,000 of the best-known citizens. 



Ike Suits $* This case attracted consider- 

 able attention, not only on its own merits, but 

 on account of its bearings on the treaty stipu- 

 lation as regards American citizenship and its 

 forfeiture through longer residence of the 

 adopted citizen in the country of his birth 

 than the stipulations of the treaty allow. Ju- 

 lio Romano Santos was imprisoned in Ecuador 

 in Kovember, 1884, for conspiring with others 

 to overthrow the Government. He was born 

 in that country, and after being naturalized in 

 the United States he returned there to engage. 

 in business, staying in his native country five 

 years. He denied the charges made by the 

 authorities of Ecuador. Article HI of the 

 treaty with Ecuador, made in 1872, declares : 

 44 A residence of more than two years in the 

 native country of a naturalized citizen shall be 

 construed as an intention on his part to stay 

 there without returning to that where he was 

 naturalized. This presumption, however, may 

 be rebutted by evidence to the contrary.' 1 

 Santos having passed the prescribed limit, it 

 became necessary, before the Secretary of 

 State, Mr. Bayard, could interfere in his be- 

 half, to show that he intended to return to the 

 United States. After a careful investigation, 

 giving Santos the benefit of some doubt, Mr. 

 Bayard became satisfied on this point, and de- 

 manded the release. The American Govern- 

 ment had moved in the matter as early as the 

 month of February, the man-of-war Waehu- 

 sett dropping anchor in the harbor of Guaya- 

 quil on the 9th, and thence proceeding to Man- 

 ta, a port of Ecuador, two miles from the 

 town of Montecristo, where several brothers 

 of Santos were at the time, and where the 

 commander of the vessel procured information. 

 Toward the close of July the American steamer 

 Iroquois arrived at Guayaquil, and three days 

 after her arrival .Santos was liberated by virtue 

 of a decree of general amnesty which the Ecua- 

 dorian Government issued perhaps in order to 

 save its dignity after having hesitated about re- 

 leasing Santos so long, not feeling fully con- 

 vinced, it appears, that it was clearly wrong. 

 This terminated the case, so far as the Wash- 

 ington authorities had taken an active in- 

 terest in it. Santos returned to the United 

 States. 



EDWARDS, HE\M MILNE, a French zoolo- 

 gist, born in Bruges, Belgium, Oct. 23, 1800 ; 

 died in Paris, July 29, 1885. His family were 

 of English origin, and had come from Jamaica 

 to Bruges, whence they removed to Paris in 

 1814. He studied medicine under the direc- 

 tion of his brother, William Edwards, author 

 of a work on the influence of physical agents 

 upon life, and afterward a member of the 

 Institute, and took his degree in medicine 

 at Paris in 1823. Receiving as a present a 

 copy of Buffon's " History of Animals," when 

 ten or eleven years old, he read it through, 



