268 



ECUADOR. 



who, armed only with spears and shields, rushed 

 in before the advanced guard could fire twice, 

 and the Askari soldiers fled in confusion. Lieut, 

 von Zalewski and most of his officers, with more 

 than half the soldiers, died on the battle-field. 

 Lieut, von Tettenborn, with a small band of Sou- 

 danese, took position on a treeless hill, where he 

 was joined by Lieut, von Heydebreck, who first 

 made a stand in a hut. They remained till the 

 evening of the next day, in order to save any who 

 had escaped from the fight, which took place about 

 two miles from there. Including the wounded, 

 4 Europeans, 2 Arab officers, 62 soldiers, and 74 

 porters were brought away, while 10 Europeans, 

 about 250 soldiers, and 96 porters perished. The 

 chief, Kuava, and about 700 of his warriors, who 

 numbered not fewer than 3,000 altogether, fell in 

 the battle, and the Wahehe, being without a 

 leader, did not attack the remnant of the expe- 

 dition, but during the retreat marched in a par- 

 allel line, keeping at a distance. 



The disaster that overtook the Zalewski column 

 undid the work of months, destroying to a great 

 extent the German influence that had been ob- 

 tained through Emin's mission in the lake region, 

 and rendering the caravan trade impossible, un- 

 less each caravan was accompanied by a strong 

 armed force. Baron von Soden and the German 

 Government were unwilling for the present to 

 undertake the subjugation of the Wahehe and 

 the many other tribes that were encouraged to 

 fight the Germans by the reverse the latter had 

 sustained. The determination of Baron von 

 Soden not to develop military activity in the 

 lake country made a change in the plans of Ma- 

 jor von Wissmann, who was making arrange- 

 ments to float a steamer on Lake Victoria. The 

 steamer had been bought by popular subscrip- 

 tions, and to raise money for transporting it to 

 the Nyanza a lottery was proposed, which failed, 

 however, to obtain the sanction of the Prussian 

 legislature, although the King was in favor of 

 the plan. After the Zalewski disaster, Wissmann 

 proposed to recruit several hundred Soudanese 

 and Zulu soldiers to enable him to carry out his 

 intended operations on the lake. When the co- 

 lonial authorities declined to incur the risk and 

 expense, which the votes obtained from the 

 Reichstag in the late session would not cover, 

 Major von Wissmann asked leave to retire from 

 the colonial service. 



ECUADOR, a republic in South America. 

 The executive power is exercised by a President, 

 elected for four years by 900 electors chosen by the 

 people. The Congress consists of a Senate, in 

 which each of the 16 provinces is represented by 

 2 members, and a House of Representatives, the 

 members of which are elected by the general 

 vote of all Roman Catholic citizens of full age 

 who can read and write, in the proportion of 1 

 to every 80,000 inhabitants. The term in the 

 Senate is four years, and in the lower house two 

 years. Gen. Antonio Flores was elected Presi- 

 dent on June 30, 1888. The President may sum- 

 mon an extraordinary Congress in certain con- 

 tingencies, but has no power to dissolve or pro- 

 rogue the House of Representatives. A bill to 

 which he has Defused assent can be passed over 

 his veto by a simple majority vote. 



Area and Population. The area of Ecuador 

 is in doubt because of boundary disputes be- 



tween Colombia on the north and Peru on the 

 south. A boundary treaty, somewhat reducing 

 the territory formerly claimed, has been signed 

 with Peru and ratified by the Ecuadorian Con- 

 gress, but a section of the Peruvian Congress 

 demanded further concessions. The area is esti- 

 mated at nearly 120,000 square miles. The 

 population is about 1,300,000. There are 100- 

 000 whites, 300,000 of mixed blood, and an In- 

 dian population that is estimated at 900,000, but 

 can not be determined by a census because these 

 people will give no information about them- 

 selves. Quito, the capital, has 50,000 inhabit- 

 ants, and Guayaquil, the chief port, about 45,- 

 000. The republic, though very backward in 

 commerce and communications, lias made prog- 

 ress in education, especially in the two chief 

 cities. In the schools and higher institutions, 

 according to an educational census taken in 

 1891, there are 1,137 teachers and 53,000 pupils. 



Finance. The receipts for 1889 were officially 

 stated to be $9,815,549 in the silver currency of the 

 country, the silver Sucre, or Ecuadorian dollar, 

 being equal in value to the five-franc piece. 

 This sum includes $5,044,163 of loans. The 

 custom-house receipts are more than half of 

 the ordinary revenue, amounting in 1889 to $2,- 

 473,740. The expenditures balance the receipts 

 in the budget for 1889, the chief items being 

 $4,308,339 for the public debt, $2,999,436 for 

 financial and internal administration, and $1,- 

 099,261 for war and marine. The public debt on 

 Jan. 1, 1890, amounted to $18,382,560, of which 

 $5,424,398 represent the internal and $12,958,- 

 162 the foreign debt, which is mainly held in 

 England. 



The Army and Navy. Although a national 

 convention in 1884 fixed the strength of the stand- 

 ing army at 1,200 men, there were reported to 

 be 266 officers and 2,492 soldiers in active serv- 

 ice in 1890. The naval force of the republic 

 consists of a small cruiser, a gunboat, and a 

 transport, with an armament of 6 guns in all. 



Commerce and Communications. The . 

 value of the imports in 1889 was $9,681,456 and 

 that of the exports $7.910,210. The chief ex- 

 ports were cacao, of the value of $5,621.000: 

 vegetable ivory, $530,000; coffee, $511.000; In- 

 dia-rubber, $262,000: hides, $171,000; tobacco, 

 $100,000. The figures given above do not in- 

 clude the export of precious metals, amounting 1 

 in 1889 to $810,000. The export of Peruvian 

 bark, which amounted to over $500.000 in 1882, 

 declined to $40,000 in 1889. The chief imports 

 are dry goods, clothing, hardware, drugs, and 

 wine. In 1889 the number of vessels entered 

 was 669, of 383,346 tons. The only means of 

 internal land communication, except a railroad 

 57 miles in length and an unfinished highway 

 between Guayaquil and the capital, are bridle 

 paths for pack animals, which are impassable 

 during the rainy season, which lasts 7 months. 

 At that time of the year the rivers Guale, Daule, 

 and Vinces, which traverse the low-lying agri- 

 cultural lands west of the Cordillera, are navigable 

 for river steamers, of which there are about a 

 dozen of American construction. The capitals 

 of all the provinces are connected by about 1.000 

 miles of telegraphs. In an extraordinary session 

 called in 1890 the Ecuadorian Congress granted 

 a concession for a railroad, in length about 150 



