304 



ECUADOR. 



since greatly modified this apparatus, notably by the 

 introduction of a band of paper sufficiently long to 

 take a record for twenty-four hours without repeti- 

 tion. The record is written in ink by means of fine 

 siphons. In this Avay the instrument, which is ex- 

 tremely sensitive to change of level, can be made to 

 show not only earthquakes, but the pulsations of long 

 period which have recently occupied so much atten- 

 tion. 



ECUADOR, an independent state in South 

 America. (For details relating to area, popu- 

 lation, and territorial division, see u Annual 

 Cyclopaedia " for 1885.) 



Government. The President of the Republic 

 is Don Jose Maria Placido Caamafio, whose 

 term of office will expire on May 16, 1889. 

 The Vice-President is Don Pedro Jose Ceval- 

 los. The Cabinet was composed as follows : 

 Interior, Foreign Affairs, Public Instruction, 

 and Charity, Sefior J. Modesto Espinosa ; Fi- 

 nance and Public Works, Sefior V. L. Salazar; 

 War and Navy, Gen. J. M. Sarasti. The Min- 

 ister of Ecuador at Washington is Dr. Don 

 Antonio Flores. The Consul-General of Ecua- 

 dor at New York is Sefior Francisco Spier. 

 The American Consul - General at Quito is 

 Owen McGarr, and the Consul at Guayguil H. 

 Beach. 



Army and Navy. The strength of the regular 

 army in 1886 was 5,000 men. The navy con- 

 sists of several sea-going and river steamers. 



Finances. The indebtedness of the republic, 

 on Dec. 31, 1885, was composed of the foreign 

 debt. $11,400,000; the home debt, $3,879,- 

 181 ; and $1,224,825 interest due on that date ; 

 the aggregate national indebtedness was con- 

 sequently $16,504,006. 



The income of the nation during the fiscal 

 year 1885 consisted of a balance in the treas- 

 ury of $191,543, income from revenues and 

 contributions, $2,524,175 ; and money ob- 

 tained from temporary loans, $1,327,486, 

 aggregating $4,043,204. The outlay was as 

 follows: Salaries and commissions, $801,379; 

 public instruction, etc., $235,781 ; postal serv- 

 ice, $82,402; army and navy, $1,052,360; 

 public works, $39,144 ; railroads and tele- 

 graphy $59,201 ; Chones high-road, $10,012 ; 

 advances to banks of Ecuador, Quito, and La 

 Union, $1,264,909 ; indemnities and interest, 

 $156,949; payments for building wharf and 

 to hospitals, $151,992 ; expense of forwarding 

 specie, $75,805 ; constituting a total of $3,929,- 

 934. After deducting the expenditure from 

 the revenue, etc., there remained a surplus of 

 $113,270. In 1884 the income from revenue 

 and contributions had been $2,531,219, or $7,- 

 044 more than in 1885; but, as in 1885 loans 

 had to be made to pay current expenses to the 

 amount of $1,327,485, and salaries and pen- 

 sions remained unpaid to the amount of $420,- 

 472, there resulted for the year in reality a 

 deficiency of $1,747,957. 



In his report to Congress, dated June 10, 

 1886, the Minister of Finance dwells at length 

 on the returns from the six custom-houses. In 

 1884 the joint revenue derived therefrom was 



$1,728,320 ; in 1885 it did not exceed $1,154,- 

 539, showing a decrease of $573,781. 



During years when the country was politi- 

 cally undisturbed, the returns had been as 

 follows: 1877, $994,630; 1878, $909,995; 

 1879, $956,958; 1880, $962,929; and 1881, 

 $1,532,853. The crops of quinine-bark, India- 

 rubber, vegetable ivory, cocoa, and coffee 

 were ample, and sold abroad at high prices; 

 yet in spite of the favorable circumstances then 

 prevailing, remarks Sefior Salazar, and not- 

 withstanding the fact that the war on the 

 Pacific caused capital and merchandise to flow 

 from Peru to our ports, there have not been 

 made as large returns during those prosperous 

 years as there were during the disturbed one 

 of 1885, with the sole exception of 1881. This 

 seems to indicate two things: that the custom- 

 house officers are more honest than they were 

 then, and that smuggling has abated notably. 

 The duty collected on products exported in 

 1885 was in the aggregate $107,832 on $4,- 

 353,959 worth of goods. 



Attempt at Revolution. President Caamafio 

 was attacked on Feb. 6 at Yaguache, and one 

 of his aides was killed. Sefior Caamafio, 

 without being wounded by his assailants, es- 

 caped to Guayaquil. On his arrival there a 

 disturbance occurred with some of his political 

 opponents, and cries of " Viva Alfaro ! " were 

 freely uttered. During the melee, the chief of 

 police and three others were killed, and sev- 

 eral persons wounded. About the middle of 

 April the revolutionists sustained a great de- 

 feat at Quevedo, after which the last vestiges 

 of the rebellion instigated by Eloy Alfaro dis- 

 appeared. The provinces where Alfaro's par- 

 tisans had chiefly fomented disturbance were 

 those bordering on the Pacific, northwest of 

 Guayaquil river. 



The Galapagos. In December, 1885, the 

 Ecuadorian Government sent a colonizing 

 expedition to the Galapagos archipelago, un- 

 der command of a territorial official, and fur- 

 nished with the republic's coat-of-arms, and a 

 flag to be hoisted by way of asserting sover- 

 eignty over that group of islands. Since then 

 a lighthouse has been in course of erection at 

 Chatham island. 



Foreigners. In consequence of the Santos 

 case and the complications it involved in 1885, 

 the Ecuadorian Congress passed in Septem- 

 ber, 1886, a Government bill to the following 

 effect : Foreigners who participate actively in 

 political dissensions within the limits of the re- 

 public are liable to expulsion, while being held 

 responsible for infractions of the laws of the 

 republic, and their rights and duties shall be 

 regulated, while the state of war lasts, by in- 

 ternational law and treaties. During the ex- 

 istence of a foreign war or civil disturbance, 

 they are to remain subject to the laws of pub- 

 lic order, as though they were native-born, 

 except so far as treaties may have provided 

 otherwise ; and they remain furthermore, 

 with this proviso, subject to such extraordi- 





