352 



THE XAT10XAL GI'.OGRAPIIIC MAGAZIXI- 



The early history of Ecuador is a most 

 interesting and romantic one. Under the 

 Incas, it was a part of the great Empire 

 of Peru, and the northernmost stronghold 

 of Indian power was at Quito. Inasmuch 

 as a great deal has been written of early 

 Peruvian history and the pages of this 

 magazine have set forth considerable of 

 the Inca narrative, the repetition of the 

 general account will not he attempted 

 here.* 



The Spaniards, at the earliest oppor- 

 tunity, spread out and overran Ecuador 

 in their search for treasure, both in its 

 natural state and as it had been gathered 

 by the Incas. 



The first of the discoveries of any im- 

 portance resulted in the establishment of 

 the famous mines at Zaruma, in southern 

 Ecuador. Here, just prior to 1550, the 

 whites found a region so rich in gold that 

 men were set to work to dig it out. 



In the early days the gold was extracted 

 by crude methods and inefficient equip- 

 ment, but today, under an American com- 

 pany's management, the camp is a model 

 of up-to-date methods and a demonstra- 

 tion of what Yankee energy and initiative 

 can accomplish in the tropics. A forty- 

 stamp mill runs day and night, while the 

 ore is treated in vast cyanide tanks, with 

 a capacity of several hundred tons per 

 day. 



A large force of natives, under Ameri- 

 can supervision, brings up the ore from 

 depths as great as 900 feet or from out- 

 lying workings on adjacent hills. Hun- 

 dreds of mules wind in over the two-day 

 trail from Santa Rosa, the port of supply 

 for the Zaruma district, each month, a 

 continuous train of supply being neces- 

 sary to keep the camp going, for every- 

 thing that is consumed must be brought 

 in by pack animal. 



Concrete houses, well screened, shower 

 baths and a swimming pool, tennis courts, 

 distilled water, ice, electric lights, and a 

 hospital — all these combine to make the 

 mining camp of Portovelo an oasis of 

 Yankeeland in a desert of undeveloped 



* See "In the Wonderland of Peru," April, 

 1913; "The Story of Machu Picchu," February, 

 1915, and "Further Explorations in the Land 

 of the Incas," May, 1916, by Col. Hiram Bing- 

 ham, and "Staircase Farms of the Ancients," 

 by O. F. Cook, May, 1916. 



Spanish America, and the generous hos- 

 pitality of the company officials makes a 

 sojourn at this oasis doubly attractive. 



A fabulous sum of gold has been taken 

 from the Zaruma region in the course of 

 the last three and a half centuries, and 

 there are probably upward of fifty miles 

 of workings in the hills thereabout. 



FKW EVIDENCES OF IXCA OCCUPATION 



The evidences of Inca occupation have 

 been for the most part extirpated, evi- 

 dently much more so than in Peru, for 

 only here and there can one see portions 

 of the old highways. Of course, it is not 

 improbable that extensive areas of Inca 

 construction have been so overgrown that 

 they would not be apparent without much 

 expenditure of labor in clearing away and 

 cutting down forest. 



There are said to be Inca ruins not 

 far from Zaruma, on a very steep and 

 heavily wooded mountain, rather inacces- 

 sible and difficult to investigate. The 

 natives say that on top of this mountain 

 there is an enchanted lake, and they give 

 as unmistakable proof that it is enchanted 

 the fact that it always disappears when 

 any one climbs to the summit to see it ! 

 Could any one ask for more irrefutable 

 evidence ? 



AIRPLANES MAY AID ECUADOR 



Ecuador is today one of the least de- 

 veloped of the South American republics, 

 this condition being due in a large meas- 

 ure to the rugged topography of the coun- 

 try, which makes construction of roads 

 and railways an almost prohibitive pro- 

 cedure, and to the fevers and plagues 

 which acted as a deterrent to outsiders 

 who might have wished to develop the 

 region. Now the latter have been mas- 

 tered to such an extent that they should 

 no longer be a vital factor, and the Ecua- 

 dorean Government is wide-awake and 

 anxious to encourage foreign capital to 

 give it help for the development of its 

 abundant natural resources. 



As a mark of the attempt to keep 

 abreast of the times are the flights made 

 across the Andes by airplane, and it is 

 not inconceivable that with the develop- 

 ment of airplane transportation the diffi- 

 culties of terrain will be overcome as well. 



