A Yankee on the Xapo. 195 



eggs, plantains, yucas, and fuel. His excellency would al- 

 ways come, silver-headed cane in hand, though the justices 

 had only six eggs or a single fowl to bring us. The alcalde 

 also paid us his respects. He is an old bianco (as the 

 whites are called), doing a little traffic in gold dust, lienzo, 

 and pita, but is the highest representative of Ecuador in 

 the l^apo country. Here, too, we met, to our great delight, 

 Mr. George Edwards, a native of Coimecticut, who has set- 

 tled himself, probably for life, in the depths of this wilder- 

 ness. He was equally rejoiced to see the face and hear 

 the speech of a countryman. His industry and upright 

 character have w^on for him the respect and good-will of 

 the Indians, and he is favorably known in Quito. The gov- 

 ernment has given him a tract of land on the Yusupino, 

 two miles west of JS'apo village. Here he is cultivating 

 vanilla, of which he has now three thousand plants, and 

 also his patience, for six years elapse after transplanting 

 before a pod appears. He has been so long in the countiy 

 (thirteen years) his English would now and then run off 

 into Spanish or Quichua. 



]S"apo is prettily situated on the left bank of the Rio 

 Kapo, a dense forest inclosing it on every side. The max- 

 imum number of inhabitants is eighty families ; but many 

 of these are in town only in festival seasons. It was well 

 for us that we reached the Xapo during the feasts ; other- 

 wise we might not have found men enough to man our 

 canoes down the river. There are three or four blancos, 

 petty merchants, who follow the old Spanish practice of 

 compulsory sales, forcing the Indians to take lienzo, knives, 

 beads, etc., at exorbitant prices, and making them pay in 

 gold dust and pita. This kind of commerce is known un- 

 der the name of rejxvrtos. It is hard to find an Indian 

 whose gold or whose labor is not claimed by the blancos. 

 The present and possible productions of this region are : 



