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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



HEAD-HUNTERS HAVE MARKED HIM EOR 

 THEIR OWN 



This is Martin, one of the most influential of 

 the Jivaros. He was rather better versed in 

 Spanish than any of his fellows, and appeared 

 to be quite intelligent. After the American 

 party left Zamora the author learned that there 

 was afoot a plot to kill this native, which 

 was causing grave concern among his friends. 

 A raiding party was expected from an adjacent 

 river. The author left while the issue was still 

 in doubt. 



day all the passengers alight at Riobamba 

 and stop overnight at the hotels there. 



Riobamba is a medium-sized town, 

 with several hotels and a fair number of 

 shops. It lies in a very rich and fertile 

 valley, and because of its strategic posi- 

 tion with regard to the railroad, being a 

 junction point, it is rather an important 

 place. 



UNUSUAE MARKET METHODS IN ECUADOR 



The most interesting feature of the 

 city is its public market, in an open square. 

 Scattered over the ground are groups of 

 Quichuas and a few Spaniards, with a 

 great variety of things for sale. 



In one corner oi the market are the 

 butchers, with beef or pork on display^ 

 the beef haggled and chopped Up with a 

 complete disregard of joint or bone, the 



pork not infrequently sold as a whole 

 roast pig. Xext to them may be the 

 millers — women seated on the ground 

 with a row of opened sacks before them, 

 in which may be seen flour made of wheat, 

 barley, corn, or peas, the dealer measuring 

 out the flour in a tiny cup or perhaps 

 weighing it with a crude balance. 



The common trade balance of Ecuador 

 is a short stick carrying a suspended pan 

 at each end and held up by a cord about 

 the center. The weight is a rock about 

 the size of a man's fist, and, while no two 

 of them are ever the same size, the mer- 

 chant is always prepared to pledge his 

 honor that the stone weighs a full and 

 exact pound. 



The price for a commodity is almost 

 never fixed, and as the Ecuadorean is 

 always prepared and expects to come 

 down somewhat from his first price, it 

 speaks worlds for his optimism that he 

 invariably tries to get more. The bar- 

 gaining does not actually begin until you 

 have disregarded the first figure and 

 asked, "What is the last price?" ("el 

 ultimo precio?") In fact, I have been 

 told voluntarily, when pricing ponchos, 

 that the price was twenty-five sucres, but 

 "I can come down a little." 



QUITO, ON THE EQUATOR, HAS AN IN- 

 VIGORATING CEIMATE 



Quito is almost as large as Guayaquil, 

 but because of its invigorating climate it 

 has a far more healthy environment, and 

 the city itself seems to disclose more vigor 

 among its citizens. 



It is situated on a plain, at the foot of 

 Mount Pichincha, and, when the air is 

 sufficiently free from clouds, I am told 

 that it is possible to see eleven snow-clad 

 peaks from the city. Because of the ele- 

 vation of Quito, some 9,375 feet above 

 sea-level, some of these peaks do not ap- 

 pear to tower very high; nevertheless 

 they are a beautiful sight, seen across the 

 rolling green hills of the Paramo. 



The streets are paved with stone, for 

 the most part, and are rather better kept 

 than those of the average Spanish Amer- 

 ican city. Quichuas throng the city, do- 



