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The National Geographic Magazine 



the exception of the Hongkong Club, the 

 best I have ever seen in the tropics. 

 Under the bright hght of the moon, these 

 buildings appear to be constructed of 

 rare marbles. The public squares are 

 beautifully kept and filled with rare speci- 

 mens of the rich vegetation of Ecuador. 



The harbor is always busy with ship- 

 ping. Two steamers each week sail for 

 Panama and two arrive from the Isth- 

 mus. Fleets of tugboats, lighters, 

 canoes, and balsas cover the water. The 

 canoes, laden deep with fruit and country 

 produce, come down river on the swift 

 tide and return on the turn of the tide 

 with scarcely the necessity of moving a 

 paddle. The balsas are used to a great 

 extent. They are a maritime contrivance 

 invented by the ancient Peruvians and 

 made of five, seven, and nine trunks of 

 an exceedingly light tree called balsa, in 

 sizes as required. Large balsas go with 

 safety to sea as far as Paita, in Peru. 

 The logs are lashed together with vines, 

 and are fastened so firmly that they can 

 ride almost any sea. The whole structure 

 adapts itself to the waves, and no water 

 rises between the logs. Houses are gen- 

 erally built upon them and form homes 

 for a literally "floating population." 



The dry season lasts from June to De- 

 cember. The weather is very pleasant 

 and the nights and mornings are often 

 cold. The mean temperature of Guay- 

 aquil is about 78 degrees. 



On clear summer days, Chimborazo 

 may be seen, rising 21,000 feet above the 

 long chain of the Cordillera, covered 

 with ice and snow whose dazzling white- 

 ness is intersected by black lines formed 

 by the sharp edges of frightful rocks 

 upon which the snow cannot gather. 



Guayaquil exports one-third of the 

 world's supply of cocoa. It is raised 

 along the Guayas River and its tribu- 

 taries and is the principal staple of Guay- 

 aquil. Ivory nuts, from which bone but- 

 tons of commerce are made, are exported 

 in enormous quantities. Panama hats, 

 so called because they are distributed to 

 the United States and Europe by way of 

 the Isthmus of Panama, are manufac- 



tured in the Province of Manabi. The 

 lowlands of the coast also produce cin- 

 chona bark, from which we obtain qui- 

 nine (Countess of Chinchon), rice, cof- 

 fee, sugar, tobacco, rubber, copal gum, 

 vanilla, sarsaparilla, salt, petroleum, and 

 cotton. It is interesting to note that dur- 

 ing our civil war England was supplied 

 with cotton from Ecuador. Of course, 

 every variety of tropical fruit is produced 

 and fine timber for house and ship build- 

 ing. 



The daily papers of Guayaquil, The 

 Nacion, Telegrafo, Grito del Pueblo, and 

 Tienipo, are well patronized, well pub- 

 lished, and of much influence. A satis- 

 factory daily telegraphic service is main- 

 tained with the rest of the world. It is 

 to be regretted that our newspapers do 

 not devote an equivalent amount of space 

 to events in South America. 



Across the river from Guayaquil is 

 Duran, the terminus of the Guayaquil 

 and Quito Railroad, a company incor- 

 porated under the laws of the State of 

 New Jersey. This railroad, built by 

 American engineers, is completed for a 

 distance of 140 miles and rises to a 

 height of 12,000 feet, under the shadow 

 of Chimborazo. The road bed is leveled 

 into the city of Quito, 260 miles from the 

 coast, and track is being laid at the pres- 

 ent time at the rate of a mile per day. 



ASCENDING tut ANDES 



Leaving Duran at 7 a. m., the train 

 proceeds over flat and gently rising coun- 

 try to the foothills of the Andes. In the 

 level country are the great sugar estates, 

 stretching for miles on either side of the 

 track and equipped with lines of minia- 

 ture railway for hauling cane and with 

 large sugar factories. Leaving the 

 plains, the ascent is gradual through 

 dense tropical forests plentifully watered 

 by streams and cascades which can sup- 

 ply unlimited water power. 



At an elevation of from 4,000 to 5,000 

 feet there rises a mass of colossal, bald, 

 rounded hills, almost shutting out the 

 sunlight, and it appears impossible that 

 the railroad can proceed further. The 



