OVER TRAIL AND THROUGH JUNGLE IN ECUADOR 



water, and sufficient care to prevent death, 

 the offender is left in this position for 

 days, even for a period as long as three 

 weeks. 



For the third offense the punishment is 

 death outright. 



BLOW-GUNS AND POISONED ARROWS ARE) 

 THE NATIVE WEAPONS 



As hunters and woodsmen the Jivaros 

 are unsurpassed. Observers of the keen- 

 est sort, endowed with that natural in- 

 stinct of the savage for knowing direc- 

 tion, they hunt and roam over the vast 

 unbroken stretches of jungle, following 

 the paths made by wild animals or slip- 

 ping through the more open regions re- 

 gardless of trails, calling the monkeys 

 down the green hillsides by wonderful 

 imitations of their calls, and sleeping at 

 night, like the beasts themselves, where 

 darkness overtakes them. 



They hunt largely with the blow-gun, 

 in the use of which they are peculiarly 

 adept. The missiles for these weapons, 

 which are sometimes twelve feet or more 

 in length, are sun-baked balls of clay for 

 the smaller game and poisoned arrows of 

 cane for larger animals. 



The poison is apparently a form of 

 curare and is obtained from traders 

 farther down on Amazonian waters. It 

 is very potent, death resulting in a few 

 minutes after an animal has been struck; 

 but the use of it does not spoil the game 

 for consumption. 



Salt is said to be an antidote, if placed 

 in the mouth of the stricken animal, and 

 monkeys are sometimes taken alive in this 

 manner, the Jivaro hurrying up to ad- 

 minister the panacea when the quarry falls 

 from the limb in a stupor. 



"barbasco" used as poison eor eish 



Another poison which is extensively 

 employed by the Jivaros is barbasco, a 

 jungle vine or creeper, which is put into 

 the rivers to secure fish. A great pile of 

 the plant is beaten up on the rocks until 

 it is a pulp, and after the Indians have 

 stationed themselves down-stream some 

 of their number throw two to three hun- 

 dred pounds of the mash into the river 

 and the fishing begins. The fish are killed 

 and float down, belly up, to be gathered 

 in by the Jivaros, who see them as they 

 pass. 



So potent is this juice that large 

 streams may be poisoned by this rela- 

 tively small amount of barbasco, and 

 under favorable circumstances fish are 

 stricken for a distance of three miles 

 down-stream. 



Needless to say, the Jivaros speak a 

 language of their own, very distinct from 

 the Quichua tongue, and only a few in- 

 dividuals speak Spanish. 



The principal cities of Ecuador are the 

 capital, Quito, and the seaport, Guaya- 

 quil. The latter is the first port of call 

 for many ships sailing south of Panama, 

 and to reach it the vessel must enter the 

 Gulf of Guayas, and then steam up the 

 wide tidal river of the Guayas. 



Guayaquil is a large city, of about 

 90,000 population, and for many years 

 had the unsavory reputation of being the 

 worst pesthole on the Pacific coast. This 

 was due to the virulent yellow fever which 

 was prevalent there and to the sporadic 

 outbursts of the bubonic plague, which 

 kept the city under a perpetual quaran- 

 tine ; and travelers shunned it whenever 

 possible. 



A YANKEE-BUILT RAILROAD EROM GUAYA- 

 QUIL TO LOETY QUITO 



The Rockefeller Foundation took in 

 hand the cleaning up of this city, with the 

 result that now yellow fever has practi- 

 cally disappeared and the bubonic plague 

 is kept well in hand. The quarantine 

 against the port has been lifted, Guayaquil 

 is once more a stop on the maritime itiner- 

 aries, and the Ecuadorean has a reverence 

 and a faith in the "gringo medico" almost 

 as strongly fixed as is his religion. 



Coincident with this improvement in 

 the hygiene of the city, new streets have 

 been built and new buildings erected, so 

 that Guayaquil is rapidly forging ahead. 



Ecuador has in operation a railroad 

 with a terminus at Guayaquil and at 

 Quito, with plans and some of the work 

 completed for extensions to other points. 

 The track climbs up from sea-level to an 

 elevation of nearly 11,500 feet, and over 

 much of its journey to Quito it negotiates 

 very heavy grades and sharp curves. As a 

 piece of mountain railroading it is worthy 

 of much comment, and it is Yankee-built. 



The trains of the Guayaquil and Quito 

 Railway need two days for the climb up 

 to the capital, and at the end of the first 



