170 TRAVELS AM0NGS2' THE GREAT ANDES, chap. ix. 



I feel it unnecessary to say much respecting the manners 

 and customs of the Ecuadorians. They are a proniising people. 

 Mr. Hassaurek (who was for several years United States Minister- 

 Resident at Quito) says ^ : — 



The '"custom of making high-sounding promises is universal among 

 Ecuadorians. . . If you make the acquaintance of one of them, he will 

 overwhelm you with ofiEers of his services. He will beseech you to ' count 

 him as one of the number of your friends " ; he will place his house, his 

 haciendas, his horses at your disposal ; he will ask you to treat him con- 

 fidentially, and to speak to him frankly, whenever you should need anything 

 that he can supply ; he will protest his ardent desire to be your friend 

 and to serve you in every possible manner. . . Should you really apply 

 to them for any of the services so pompously proffered, you must expect, 

 as a general rule, that they will find a well-sounding excuse for refusing." 



Mr. Hassaurek seems inclined to consider these protestations 

 as of no greater value than the words '^ your very humble and 

 obedient servant" at the end of a letter, and as regards the 

 majority of them his view is possibly correct. No one except an 

 idiot would be disposed to treat them literally. The difficulty 

 experienced by strangers is to discriminate between expressions 

 which are simply flowery, and those which are meant to be sub- 

 stantial. On various occasions, houses, haciendas, and horses, were 

 actually placed at my disposal, and gentlemen went out of their 

 way to render valuable services and unexpected courtesies ; ' and 

 it would be exceedingly ungracious to ignore these disinterested 

 actions, even though there were a large number of unredeemed 

 pledges, and flowers which did not blossom into fruit. As regards 

 these it is charitable to think with Mr. Church that ''the enthusi- 

 astic kindness of their hearts frequently causes Ecuadorians to 



1 See Four Yeari< among Spanls/i- Americans, by F. Hassaurek, New York, 1867. 

 The descriptious in this work of the natives and their ways are generally accurate. 

 In other matters, this author is often unreliable. At p. 119, he says, "For leagues 

 round Quito scorpions have never been heard of. . . Flies, even, are very rare. . . 

 The7'e are no lizards, or even bugs or beetles in the grass or on trees.'' ^ These sta,te- 

 ments are untrue. 



