9sS THE AGRiOULTURlST. [October i, 1891. 
Guayaquil, 23rcl June, 1891, 
My dear — - — , — Guayaquil, from which I now 
write, is the chief oommercial city of Ecuador— so 
called, of course, because it is on the Equator. 
The oity, which is on the west bank of the river 
of the same name (properly, the Guay), ig sixty 
miles up from the sea, so that we have had 
an opportunity of seeing a good deal of this 
very beautiful and interesting country, The Guay 
is a noble river about four miles broad up to 
this point, by far the largest river falling into 
the Paoifie from South America. It rises at the 
base of Ohimborazo (21,420 feet high), which 
mountain, being only about fifty miles from horo, 
is seen clearly when there is no mist. This_, I 
am sorry to say, hangs thickly over its conical 
top to-day. A. grand sight it must be to see a 
snow-topped mountain in the tropics. The town 
looks exceedingly well from the river, the houses 
being exactly like the better style o£ buildings in 
Oolombo, only rather higher and brighter and either 
white or marble coloured. Trams ply constantly 
along the streets, and hundreds of telephone wires 
indicate that it is no mean place of business. 
We no sooner landed, however, than my friend 
and I were sadly disenchanted, the buildings being, 
as a rule, mere "wattle and dab," plastered and 
painted according to taste. The streets are too 
horrible to describe. The manure of half a cen- 
tury seems to have accumulated on them. No 
macadamising, the rails being simply laid amongst 
muck and weeds. No other vehicle can be used. 
The public wells are in the middle of the street, 
on a level with the gutter, and this in one of 
the hottest places in the world ! How the people 
live at all is a mystery to me. 
The population may be about 50,000, and though 
they do not look a very noble or healthy race 
I am bound to say I have seen much worse, 
and rarely seen quieter people. No one spoke 
to us as we dawdled leisurely along the sooalled 
streets ; not a single beggar asked for alms, nor a 
newspaper boy peptered us with the " latest edition." 
The country around is very luxuriant ; every 
acre on every hill as far as the eye can reach 
is clothed in dense forests. From the top of a 
conical little hill at the upper end of the town 
there is a charming view of the river and sur- 
rounding country. We met with one cacao plan- 
ter, who has estates eight miles up the river. 
His returns are, he says, 15 ewts. per 1000 
trees — says 5 cwts, per acre. He seems well 
satisfied with this result. The language is al- 
together Spanish, and we already feel somewhat 
at a loss for an interpreter. 
The chief exports from here appear to be cacao, 
coffee, sugar, rubber, plantains, cattle, hides, cfee. 
The chief officer tells me they take on the ship 
an average of 7000 bags cacao (210 lb. each) 
every fortnight, and about 2000 bags of coffee. 
My interpreter made one curious slip in speak- 
ing to the hnrdy looking piauter before alluded 
to. T was anxious to obtnin some information 
regarding their eyetem or mode of planting, " The 
donkeyx plant nearly aU the coffee and cacao in 
this country!" he said. He evidently thought I 
looked somewhat scr pt^cal— and it was unfeigned. 
" Yes, yes," ho corit.aucd, " thoee human-boin;?- 
like beasts you call donkeys, they eat the fruit, 
drop the seeds, and nu-ra they grow." " Ah, 1 
see : monkeys he means !" We took the address 
ot this prosporouB propriofor, niid ni-au to visit 
him anti his estates on our return. He has 
just had a trip homo to Europe after a spftU 
of forty years' work here, and he looks quite 
good for other thirty. 
The more I look at this land the more for- 
cibly does it strike me that, as regards the 
tropics, the Biiion has by no means got the 
best of it. Apart from India proper, what are 
all our Sierra Leones, Guianas,* West India Islands 
or North Australia compared with this magnificent 
and salubrious, though sadly-mismanag )d country ? 
We saw some very excellent coff»e in the 
market— a lino, long, clcse bean, fairly well cured. 
Just before leaving, Chimbor/izo very obligingly 
showed his eugar loaf-like head. It was onlv for 
a few minutes, and we left duly grateful. But a 
greater joy awaited us. While sailing down the 
river just before sunset the clouds cleared away 
from the snow-capped crown of the Andes, and 
lo ! mountains piled upon mountains to the skies; 
my first peep of Peru, before which I fall dumb f 
Any mere words of mine xvould be shfer mockery. 
I can only ejaculate with Carlyle when he looked 
on the starry heavens, "It's a sair siohtl't or 
with the Turk, "God is great!" 
— Aberdeen Free Press. Arthur Sinclair. 
- - - 
THE WORLD'S INDEBTEDNESS TO 
CHRISTOPHER COLOIBUS. 
The great international exposition which is to 
open at Obieago in the spring of 1893, in 
commemoration of the discovery of America, will 
undoubtedly be the greatest exposition of the 
achievements of genius and inductry the world 
has yet seen. Within its extensive area will be 
found an epitome of the industrial progress of 
four centuries. In its catalogues and other records, 
in its reports and in the learned dissertations of 
the science congresses which will be held during 
the time ifc is open, will be formed the materials 
for a history of tlie material progress of mankind ; 
of the manner in which the great discoveries of 
modern science have contributed to the prosperity 
of nations and to the comfort and happiness of 
the people. Time and history and progress are 
continuous, but we may divide them into periods. 
We now approach the end of the first great period 
of intelligent advancement. Out of the ignorance 
and superstitions of past ages has grown the sure 
knowledge of this closing century. So, the wisdom 
of today may possibly be the foolishness of centuries 
to come. But we think we build now on more 
solid ground. The four centuries that have passed 
have recorded their full share of ignorance, 
surviving from past sgea, and the great advances 
upon which we pride ourselves are, with scarcely 
an exception, lees than a hundred years old. 
Therefore, the coming celebration appropriately 
marks a point in the history ot civilisation, from 
which we may date a new era, of even more rapid 
discovery and advancement. 
The genius of the American people fostered 
by the new conditions of life and the stern 
Eeoessities of their pioneer ancestors, has contributed 
much to the comfort and prosperity cf the civilised 
world. But apart from this, the discovery of 
the American continent has had a greater influence 
upon the world at large than most people imagine. 
Ttie indigenous products of the soil alono, have 
proved of immense value to the peop'e cf every 
dime, and m at least one instance have provided 
wlial is now the staple food of a distant country. 
» Clniana is p.u't oi South Amtrica and from what we 
hh-i'- :e,i.i about is uu-,ur|.ii-se<l forfi rtllity. — Ed. I'.A. 
]■ ThoversioQwe have seen is OiatLen'h Hunt dif- 
canting on the cheerful look of Iwinlihag stars ai^d 
shining coni5t''!Ktioiis, Oarlyle's, i'espon,so wis, "Eb! 
nia:>, Uit is a srrt/ siclit." — Ed, 7'. A, 
