928 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
[October i, 1891. 
Guaysquil, 23rd June, 1891, 
My dear — , — Guayaquil, from which I now 
write, ia the ohiel oommorcial city of Ecuador— ho 
oalled, of oonrse, because it ia on the Equator. 
The city, which ia on the weet bank of the river 
of the same name (properly, the Guay), ia 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 Quay 
is a noble river about lour miles broad up to 
this point, by far the largest river falling into 
the Pacific from South America. It rises at the 
base of Chimborazo (21,420 feet high), which 
mountain, being only about fifty miles from here, 
is seen clearly when there is no mish This, I 
am sorry to say, hangs thickly over its conical 
top to-day. A grand sight it must be (o see a 
snow-topped mountain iu the tropics. The town 
looks exceedingly well from the river, the boueos 
being exactly like the better style of buildings in 
Colombo, only rather higher and brighter and cither 
white or marble coloured. Trams ply constantly 
along the atreets, 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 hulMinga bsing, 
as a rule, mere “ wattle and dob," 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 1 How the people 
live at all ia a mystery to me. 
The population may be aboct .50 000. and though 
they do not look a very noble or heolthy race 
I nm bound to eay 1 have seen much worse, 
and rarely seen quieter people. No one spoke 
to ns as we dawdled leisurely along the socsiled 
streets ; not a single beggar asked for alms, nor a 
newspaper boy pottered 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 {dan- 
ter, who has estates eight miles up the river. 
His returns are, he says, 15 owts. per 1000 
trees — says 5 owls, per acre. He seems well 
satisfied with this result. The language is al- 
together Spanieh, and we already feel somewhat 
at a loss for an interpreter. 
The chief exports from here appear to bo cacao, 
coffee, sugar, rubber, plantains, cattle, hides, Ac. 
The chief officer tells me they lake on the ship 
an average of 7000 bags cncoo (210 Ih. each) 
every fortnight, and about 2000 baps tif crlT.^e, 
My interpreter made onn curious slip iu speak- 
ing to the hsrdy looking ii'auler before alluded 
to. 1 was anxious to nb'.nin some information 
regarding their system or mode of planting, ■' The 
(lonkeyn plant nearly all the coffee and cacao in 
this country!" he said. He evi'lently tliourht I 
looked somewhat scrptAal-anl it was unfeigned. 
•‘Yes, yes," ho eont.nacd, “ those liuuian-buinj;- 
like boasts you call donkeys, tiioy eat Iho fiuit, 
drop the seeds, and ihei'o they grow." "All, I 
see : monkeys he moans I" We took the address 
of this prosperous proprietor, ei.d m an to visit 
him and his estates o-u our return. Ha haa 
just had a trip home to Europe after a spell 
of forty years’ work here, and he looks quite 
good for other thirty. 
The more I look at this land the more for- 
cibly dees it strike me that, as regards the 
tropics, the Briton 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 raisrainag id country ? 
We saw some very excellent oeffee in the 
market— a fine, long, close bean, fairly well cured, 
.lust before leaving, Chimborazo very obligingly 
showed his Bugar loaf-like head. It was only for 
a few minutes, and we left duly grateful. But a 
greater joy awaited ns. While sailing down the 
river just before sunset the clouds cleared away 
from the snow-capped crown of the Andes, and 
lo 1 mountains piled npon mountains to the skies: 
my first peep of Peru, before which I fall dumb I 
Any mere words of mine would be sheer mockery- 
I can only ejaculate with Carlyle when he looked 
on the starry heavens, "It’s a sa'r siolitl’f or 
with the Turk, “God is great!" 
— Aberdeen Free Preu, AaTuon SiNOtAin. 
THU WORLD'S INDKBTEDXI-kSS TO 
t'l I U1 STOPII KB (.:0 KUM 15 L'S. 
The great international exposition which is to 
open at Chicago in the spring of 1S<J,3, in 
commemoration of the discovery ot America, will 
umloubtedly be the greatest (.xposition of the 
achievements of gonitis and industry the world 
has yet seen. Within its extensive area will be 
found an epitome of the industrial progress of 
four cooturies. In its catalogues and other leoords, 
in its reports and in the learned dissertations ot 
the pcienea oongresses which will be held during 
the time it is open, will bo formed the materials 
for a history of the material progresB of mank.nd ; 
of the manner in wliioh the great discoveries of 
modern acience have contributed to the prosperity 
of nations and to the comfort and happiness of 
the people. Time and hirtory and progress are 
continuous, but we may divide them into periods. 
We r ow approach the end of the first great period 
of int»lligsut advancement. Out of the ignorance 
and superstitions of past ages has grown the sura 
knowledge of this clo.«ing contuiy. So, the wisdom 
ot today may possit ly In- tlie foolishness ot centuries 
to oorae. But wo think wo build now on more 
solid ground. The four centuries that have passed 
have r, corded their full share of ignorane, 
Kurviviiip from past ages and the great ndvnnora 
upon whioh we pride ourto.ves are, with soarcrly 
an exception, less than a hundred years old. 
Therefore, the coming celebration appropriately 
marks a point in the history of civilisation, from 
whioh we may date a new era, of even moro rapid 
discovery and advaiioemont. 
The genius of the American people foetered 
by the ^ new conditions of life i.nd the stern 
I oncs.jities of their pioneer ancestors, lias contributed 
much to the comfort and prosperity of the civilised 
world. But apart from this, tno discovery of 
tliB American continent has had a greater influence 
upon the worl l at largo than most people imagine. 
lliB indigenous produots of the soil alone, have 
proved of immense value to Iho peop'o of every 
clime, and in at least one instance have provided 
what IS now the staple food of a diLtant country. 
* t'uia’iK Is pirt ofSouth Amiricn amt from wliat wo 
have read about i', un.mrga-sed for f. rtility. — Ed. I'.A. 
t Tlie version wo have seen is ihat Leith Hunt dis- 
canting on the cheerful look of twinkling stars ai.d 
shining const- lisfcinna Carlyle’s, response was, "Eh! 
ma- , but is a .s-nd siolit." — El). 7'. .1, 
