ECUADOR. 



EGYPT. 



289 



shore are commonly full of disease. Special 

 disorders are due to the lack of sanitary meas- 

 ures. In the western and northwestern parts 

 the abuse of sweets as food results in a curious 

 and frightful intestinal complaint. The coun- 

 try is almost wholly agricultural, the Pacific 

 coast and river valleys of both east and west 

 yielding generous crops of cocoa, cotton, sugar- 

 cane, rice, coffee, tobacco, and tropical fruits, 

 while the inter-Andean plateau produces all 

 the cereals and vegetables incident to a tem- 

 perate and even cold climate, though they are 

 of inferior quality. Cattle do not thrive in the 

 Amazon section, chiefly from the immense 

 number of bats which irritate them. 



Cinchona-bark, which first came from the 

 province of Loja, is being so rapidly cut and 

 sent out of the country, without new planting, 

 that the supply must soon cease. 



Population. The population is estimated at 

 1,000,000 (exclusive of savage tribes), and is 

 distri bu ted as follows : white, 100,000; mixed, 

 300,000 ; pure Indian, 600,000. The evil quali- 

 ties of the mixed races are condemned as the 

 source of the degradation of the country. 



Internal Communications. Internal communi- 

 cations are much needed in Ecuador, and, al- 

 though Col. Church is personally interested 

 in the construction of future railroads, he ex- 

 presses his strong opinion that for the next 

 ten or twenty years a thorough system of first- 

 class mule routes would undoubtedly be best. 



Railroads. The railway from Yaguachi to 

 the river Chimbo is finished; 77 miles are 

 thus in operation. 



Telegraphs. Ecuador has been in communi- 

 cation with the world's cable system since Oct. 

 1, 1882, through the land line from Guayaquil 

 to Ballenita, whence the Central and South 

 American Telegraph Company forwards the 

 messages via Telmantepec, Galveston, etc. 



Commerce. There entered the port of Guaya- 

 quil, in 1882, 212 vessels (112 of which were 

 steamers), of a total tonnage of 125,294, count- 

 ing coasting schooners and sloops. 



Exports amounted in 1882 to $5,469,793, 

 .comprising 21,377,200 pounds of cocoa, worth 

 $3,867,896 ; cinchona or cascarilla bark (qui- 

 nine), $319, 950 ; tagua or vegetable ivory, $418,- 

 600; India-rubber, $1,045,703; straw (Jipi- 

 japa) hats, coffee, hides and skins, etc., mak- 

 ing up the rest. 



Cocoa Production. The production of cocoa 

 has been disastrously affected by the civil 

 war, and, as Ecuador furnishes more of the 

 article than any other country, the price has 

 been enhanced in consequence all over the 

 world. The December (1883) receipts at Guay- 

 aquil were only 10^500 quintals, and the price 

 of Arriba cocoa advanced on Dec. 31, 1883, to 

 $19 per quintal of 100 pounds Spanish (101 

 pounds American). The cocoa crop for five 

 years has been : 



Qiintals. 

 1879 302,490 



1881 207,280 



VOL. XXIII. 19 



Quintal:. 

 196.580 

 146,700 



EGYPT, a principality of Northern Africa, 

 tributary to Turkey. Mehemet AH, the gov- 

 ernor, rebelled against the Porte in 1811 and as- 

 sumed the powers of government. In 1841 he 

 was recognized, under the guarantee of the 

 five great powers of Europe, as Vali, or Vice- 

 roy, and the sovereign authority was made 

 hereditary under the Turkish law of suc- 

 cession. In 1866 Ismail obtained a firman 

 creating him Khedive, or King, and establish- 

 ing direct male succession by primogeniture, 

 in return for which concessions he submitted 

 to the increase of the annual contribution to 

 the Sultan's civil list from $1,880,000 to 

 $3,600,000. By another firman, issued in 

 1873, he obtained the rights of concluding 

 treaties and maintaining an army. In Au- 

 gust, 1879, the Sultan was induced to de- 

 pose Isrnai] I, who was involved in financial 

 difficulties. His son Tewtik was placed on 

 the throne, and the government, was adminis- 

 tered under the supervision of two Control- 

 lers-General, appointed one by the French 

 and one by the British Government, who were 

 given the right of investigation into all de- 

 partments of the public service and an ad- 

 visory voice at the councils of the Cabinet. 

 By a second decree of the Khedive, issued 

 April 5, 1880, an International Commission of 

 Liquidation was appointed to elaborate a finan- 

 cial law to regulate the relations of Egypt 

 with her creditors. The scheme, consolidating 

 the foreign debts, fixing the interest at 4 per 

 cent., and reserving certain revenues to meet 

 it, was sanctioned by the Khedive in 1881. 

 That same year a political movement was set 

 on foot to deprive the Controllers of the ex- 

 traordinary powers they had assumed over 

 legislation and administration, and place the 

 powers of government in native hands. The 

 French and English Governments refused to 

 accede to the demand, in the beginning of 

 1882, for the transfer of legislative powers 

 to a Chamber of Notables. The movement, 

 which was accompanied by military prepara- 

 tions, was treated as a military rebellion. The 

 British Government sent an army to occupy 

 Egypt, the French Government declining to 

 join in the intervention. The Egyptian army 

 under Arabi Pasha resisted the occupation, 

 and was finally subdued in September, 1882. 

 It was then disbanded, and English officers 

 were intrusted with the tasks of organizing 

 a new military establishment and a gen- 

 darmerie, while the Earl of Pufferin, British 

 embassador at Constantinople, was sent to 

 Egypt to work out a scheme for the reform 

 and reorganization of the Government. 



The Government The reigning Khedive" is 

 Mehemet Tewfik, son of Ismail I, who was 

 born in 1852, and succeeded his father Aug. 

 8, 1879. The ministry at the beginning of 

 1883 consisted of the following-named persons: 

 President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sherif 

 Pasha; Minister of the Interior, Riaz Pasha; 

 Minister of War and Marine, Omar Pasha 



