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[Illustration: PALMS ON THE MIDDLE AMAZON.]
THE
ANDES AND THE AMAZON:
OR,
ACROSS THE CONTINENT OF SOUTH AMERICA.
By JAMES ORTON, M.A.
PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY IN VASSAR COLLEGE, POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.,
AND CORRESPONDING
MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, PHILADELPHIA.
_WITH A NEW MAP OF EQUATORIAL AMERICA AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS._
_NEW YORK:_
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
FRANKLIN SQUARE
1870.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by
HARPER & BROTHERS,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New York.
* * * * *
TO
CHARLES DARWIN, M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S., F.G.S.,
WHOSE PROFOUND RESEARCHES
HAVE THROWN SO MUCH LIGHT UPON EVERY DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE,
AND
WHOSE CHARMING "VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE" HAS SO PLEASANTLY
ASSOCIATED HIS NAME WITH OUR SOUTHERN CONTINENT,
THESE SKETCHES OF THE ANDES AND THE AMAZON ARE, BY PERMISSION,
MOST RESPECTFULLY
Dedicated.
* * * * *
"Among the scenes which are deeply impressed on my mind, none
exceed in sublimity the primeval forests undefaced by the hand of
man; whether those of Brazil, where the powers of Life are
predominant, or those of Terra del Fuego, where Death and Decay
prevail. Both are temples filled with the varied productions of the
God of Nature: no one can stand in these solitudes unmoved, and not
feel that there is more in man than the mere breath of his
body."--DARWIN'S _Journal_, p. 503.
PREFACE.
This volume is one result of a scientific expedition to the equatorial
Andes and the river Amazon. The expedition was made under the auspices
of the Smithsonian Institution, and consisted of the following gentlemen
besides the writer: Colonel Staunton, of Ingham University, Leroy, N.Y.;
F.S. Williams, Esq., of Albany, N.Y.; and Messrs. P.V. Myers and A.
Bushnell, of Williams College. We sailed from New York July 1, 1867;
and, after crossing the Isthmus of Panama and touching at Paita, Peru,
our general route was from Guayaquil to Quito, over the Eastern
Cordillera; thence over the Western Cordillera, and through the forest
on foot to Napo; down the Rio Napo by canoe to Pebas, on the Marañon;
and thence by steamer to Pará.[1]
[Footnote 1: Another division, consisting of Messrs. H.M. Myers, R.H.
Forbes, and W. Gilbert, of Williams College, proceeded to Venezuela, and
after exploring the vicinity of Lake Valencia, the two former traversed
the Ilanos to Pao, descended the Apuré and ascended the Orinoco to
Yavita, crossed the portage of Pimichin (a low, level tract, nine miles
wide, separating the waters of the Orinoco from those of the Amazon),
and descended the Negro to Manáos, making a voyage by canoe of over 2000
miles through a little-known but deeply-interesting region. A narrative
of this expedition will soon be given to the public.]
Nearly the entire region traversed by the expedition is strangely
misrepresented by the most recent geographical works. On the Andes of
Ecuador we have little besides the travels of Humboldt; on the Napo,
nothing; while the Marañon is less known to North Americans than the
Nile.
Many of the following pages first appeared in the New York _Evening
Post_. The author has also published "Physical Observations on the Andes
and the Amazon" and "Geological Notes on the Ecuadorian Andes" in the
_American Journal of Science_, an article on the great earthquake of
1868 in the Rochester _Democrat_, and a paper _On the Valley of the
Amazon_ read before the American Association at Salem. These papers have
been revised and extended, though the popular form has been retained. It
has been the effort of the writer to present a condensed but faithful
picture of the physical aspect, the resources, and the inhabitants of
this vast country, which is destined to become an important field for
commercial enterprise. For detailed descriptions of the collections in
natural history, the scientific reader is referred to the various
reports of the following gentlemen, to whom the specimens were committed
by the Smithsonian Institution:
Volcanic Rocks Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, F.R.S., Montreal.
Plants Dr. Asa Gray, Cambridge.
Land and Fresh-water Shells. M. Crosse, Paris,
and Thomas Bland, Esq., New York.
Marine Shells Rev. Dr. E.R. Beadle, Philadelphia.
Fossil Shells W.M. Gabb, Esq., Philadelphia.
Hemiptera Prof. P.R. Uhler, Baltimore.
Orthoptera S.H. Scudder, Esq., Boston.
Hymenoptera and Nocturnal Lepidoptera Dr. A.S. Packard, Jr., Salem.
Diurnal Lepidoptera Tryon Reakirt, Esq., Philadelphia.
Coleoptera George D. Smith, Esq., Boston.
Phalangia and Pedipalpi Dr. H.C. Wood, Jr., Philadelphia.
Fishes Dr. Theodore Gill, Washington.
Reptiles Prof. E.D. Cope, Philadelphia.
Birds John Cassin, Esq.,[2] Philadelphia.
Bats Dr. H. Allen, Philadelphia.
Mammalian Fossils Dr. Joseph Leidy, Philadelphia.
[Footnote 2: This eminent ornithologist died in the midst of his
examination. Mr. George N. Lawrence, of New York, has identified the
remainder, including all the hummers.]
Many of the type specimens are deposited in the museums of the
Smithsonian Institution, the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Science,
the Boston Society of Natural History, the Peabody Academy of Science,
and Vassar College; but the bulk of the collection was purchased by
Ingham University, Leroy, New York.
The Map of Equatorial America was drawn with great care after original
observations and the surveys of Humboldt and Wisse on the Andes, and of
Azevedo, Castlenau, and Bates on the Amazon.[3] The names of Indian
tribes are in small capitals. Most of the illustrations are after
photographs or drawings made on the ground, and can be relied upon. The
portrait of Humboldt, which is for the first time presented to the
public, was photographed from the original painting in the possession of
Sr. Aguirre, Quito. Unlike the usual portrait--an old man, in
Berlin--this presents him as a young man in Prussian uniform, traveling
on the Andes.
[Footnote 3: We have retained the common orthography of this word,
though _Amazons_, used by Bates, is doubtless more correct, as more akin
to the Brazilian name _Amazonas_.]
We desire to express our grateful acknowledgments to the Smithsonian
Institution, Hon. William H. Seward, and Hon. James A. Garfield, of
Washington; to Cyrus W. Field, Esq., and William Pitt Palmer, Esq., of
New York; to C.P. Williams, Esq., of Albany; to Rev. J.C. Fletcher, now
United States Consul at Oporto; to Chaplain Jones, of Philadelphia; to
Dr. William Jameson, of the University of Quito; to J.F. Reeve, Esq.,
and Captain Lee, of Guayaquil; to the Pacific Mail Steamship, Panama
Railroad, and South Pacific Steam Navigation companies; to the officers
of the Peruvian and Brazilian steamers on the Amazon; and to the eminent
naturalists who have examined the results of the expedition.
NOTE.--Osculati has alone preceded us, so far as we can learn, in
obtaining a vocabulary of Záparo words; but, as his work is not to be
found in this country, we have not had the pleasure of making a
comparison.
INTRODUCTION
BY
REV. J.C. FLETCHER,
AUTHOR OF "BRAZIL AND BRAZILIANS."
In this day of many voyages, in the Old World and the New, it is
refreshing to find an untrodden path. Central Africa has been more fully
explored than that region of Equatorial America which lies in the midst
of the Western Andes and upon the slopes of these mountain monarchs
which look toward the Atlantic. In this century one can almost count
upon his hand the travelers who have written of their journeys in this
unknown region. Our own Herndon and Gibbon descended--the one the
Peruvian and the other the Bolivian waters--the affluents of the Amazon,
beginning their voyage where the streams were mere channels for canoes,
and finishing it where the great river appears a fresh-water ocean. Mr.
Church, the artist, made the sketches for his famous "Heart of the
Andes" where the headwaters of the Amazon are rivulets. But no one whose
language is the English has journeyed down and described the voyage from
the _plateaux_ of Ecuador to the Atlantic Ocean until Professor Orton
and his party accomplished this feat in 1868. Yet it was over this very
route that the King of Waters (as the Amazon is called by the
aborigines) was originally discovered. The _auri sacra fames_, which in
1541 urged the adventurous Gonzalo Pizarro to hunt for the fabled city
of _El Dorado_ in the depths of the South American forests, led to the
descent of the great river by Orellana, a knight of Truxillo. The fabled
women-warriors were said to have been seen in this notable voyage, and
hence the name of the river _Amazon_, a name which in Spanish and
Portuguese is in the plural. It was not until nearly one hundred years
after Orellana was in his grave that a voyage of discovery ascended the
river. In 1637 Pedro Teixeira started from Pará with an expedition of
nearly two thousand (all but seventy of whom were natives), and with
varied experiences, by water and by land, the explorer in eight months
reached the city of Quito, where he was received with distinguished
honor. Two hundred years ago the result of this expedition was
published.
The Amazon was from that time, at rare intervals, the highway of Spanish
and Portuguese priests and friars, who thus went to their distant
charges among the Indians. In 1745 the French academician De la
Condamine descended from Quito to Pará, and gave the most accurate idea
of the great valley which we had until the first quarter of this
century.
The narrow policy of Spain and Portugal was most unfruitful in its
results to South America. A jealous eye guarded that great region, of
which it can be so well said there are
"Realms unknown and blooming wilds,
And fruitful deserts, worlds of solitude,
Where the sun smiles and seasons teem in vain."
Now, the making known to the world of any portion of these "fruitful
deserts" is performing a service for the world. This Professor Orton
has done. His interesting and valuable volume hardly needs any
introduction or commendation, for its intrinsic merit will exact the
approbation of every reader. Scientific men, and tourists who seek for
new routes of travel, will appreciate it at once; and I trust that the
time is near at hand when our mercantile men, by the perusal of such a
work, will see how wide a field lies before them for future commercial
enterprise. This portion of the tropics abounds in natural resources
which only need the stimulus of capital to draw them forth to the light;
to create among the natives a desire for articles of civilization in
exchange for the crude productions of the forest; and to stimulate
emigration to a healthy region of perpetual summer.
It seems as if Providence were opening the way for a great change in the
Valley of the Amazon. That immense region drained by the great river is
as large as all the United States east of the States of California and
Oregon and the Territory of Washington, and yet it has been so secluded,
mainly by the old monopolistic policy of Portugal, that that vast space
has not a population equal to the single city of Rio de Janeiro or of
Brooklyn. Two million five hundred thousand square miles are drained by
the Amazon. Three fourths of Brazil, one half of Bolivia, two thirds of
Peru, three fourths of Ecuador, and a portion of Venezuela are watered
by this river. Riches, mineral and vegetable, of inexhaustible supply
have been here locked up for centuries. Brazil held the key, but it was
not until under the rule of their present constitutional monarch, Don
Pedro II., that the Brazilians awoke to the necessity of opening this
glorious region. Steamers were introduced in 1853, subsidized by the
government. But it is to a young Brazilian statesman, Sr. A.C. Tavares
Bastos, that belongs the credit of having agitated, in the press and in
the national parliament, the opening of the Amazon, until public
opinion, thus acted upon, produced the desired result. On another
occasion, in May, 1868, I gave several indices of a more enlightened
policy in Brazil, and stated that the opening of the Amazon, which
occurred on the 7th of September, 1867, and by which the great river is
free to the flags of all nations, from the Atlantic to Peru, and the
abrogation of the monopoly of the coast-trade from the Amazon to the Rio
Grande do Sul, whereby 4000 miles of Brazilian sea-coast are open to the
vessels of every country, can not fail not only to develop the resources
of Brazil, but will prove of great benefit to the bordering
Hispano-American republics and to the maritime nations of the earth. The
opening of the Amazon is the most significant indication that the leaven
of the narrow monopolistic Portuguese conservatism has at last worked
out. Portugal would not allow Humboldt to enter the Amazon Valley in
Brazil. The result of the new policy is beyond the most sanguine
expectation. The exports and imports for Pará for October and November,
1867, were double those of 1866. This is but the beginning. Soon it will
be found that it is cheaper for Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and New Granada,
east of the Andes, to receive their goods from, and to export their
India-rubber, cinchona, etc., to the United States and Europe, _via_ the
great water highway which discharges into the Atlantic, than by the
long, circuitous route of Cape Horn or the trans-Isthmian route of
Panama.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Guayaquil.--First and Last Impressions.--Climate.--Commerce.--The
Malecon.--Glimpse of the Andes.--Scenes on the Guayas.--Bodegas.--Mounted
for Quito.--La Mena.--A Tropical Forest......Page 25
CHAPTER II.
Our Tambo.--Ascending the Andes.--Camino Real.--Magnificent Views.
--Guaranda.--Cinchona.--The
Summit.--Chimborazo.--Over the Andes.--Chuquipoyo
the Wretched.--Ambato.--A Stupid City.--Cotopaxi.--The
Vale of Machachi.--Arrival at Quito......40
CHAPTER III.
Early History of Quito.--Its Splendor under the Incas.--Crushed by Spain.
--Dying now.--Situation.--Altitude.--Streets.--Buildings......56
CHAPTER IV.
Population of Quito.--Dress.--Manners.--Character.--Commerce.--Agriculture.
--Manufactures.--Arts.--Education.--Amusements.--Quito
Ladies......68
CHAPTER V.
Ecuador.--Extent.--Government.--Religion.--A Protestant Cemetery in
Quito.--Climate.--Regularity of Tropical Nature.
--Diseases on the Highlands......85
CHAPTER VI.
Astronomic Virtues of Quito.--Flora and Fauna of the Valley of Quito.
--Primeval Inhabitants of the Andes.--Quichua Indians......97
CHAPTER VII.
Geological History of South America.--Rise of the Andes.--Creation of the
Amazon.--Characteristic Features of the Continent.--Andean Chain.--The
Equatorial Volcanoes......114
CHAPTER VIII.
The Volcanoes of Ecuador.--Western Cordillera.--Chimborazo.--Iliniza.
--Corazon.--Pichincha.--Descent into its Crater. Page 127
CHAPTER IX.
The Volcanoes of Ecuador.--Eastern Cordillera.--Imbabura.--Cayambi.--Antisana.
--Cotopaxi.--Llanganati.--Tunguragua.--Altar.--Saugai......143
CHAPTER X.
The Valley of Quito.--Riobamba.--A Bed of "Fossil Giants."--Chillo Hacienda.
--Otovalo and Ibarra.--The Great Earthquake of 1868......152
CHAPTER XI.
"The Province of the Orient," or the Wild Napo Country.--The Napos, Zaparos,
and Jívaros Indians.--Preparations to cross the Continent......164
CHAPTER XII.
Departure from Quito.--Itulcachi.--A Night in a Bread-tray.--Crossing the
Cordillera.--Guamani.--Papallacta.--Domiciled at the Governor's.--An
Indian Aristides.--Our Peon Train.--In the Wilderness......177
CHAPTER XIII.
Baeza.--The Forest.--Crossing the Cosanga.--Curi-urcu.--Archidona.--Appearance,
Customs, and Belief of the Natives.--Napo and Napo River......187
CHAPTER XIV.
Afloat on the Napo.--Down the Rapids.--Santa Rosa and its mulish Alcalde.
--Pratt on Discipline.--Forest Music.--Coca.--Our Craft and Crew.--Storm
on the Napo......200
CHAPTER XV.
Sea-Cows and Turtles' Eggs.--The Forest.--Peccaries.--Indian Tribes on
the Lower Napo.--Anacondas and Howling Monkeys.--Insect Pests.--Battle
with Ants.--Barometric Anomaly.--First View of the Amazon.--Pebas......215
CHAPTER XVI.
Down the Amazon.--Steam on the Great River.--Loreto.--San Antonio.--Tabatinga.
--Brazilian Steamers.--Scenery on the Amazon.--Tocantíns.--Fonte
Boa.--Ega.--Rio Negro.--Manáos......230
CHAPTER XVII.
Down the Amazon.--Serpa.--Villa Nova.--Obidos.--Santarem.--A Colony
of Southerners.--Monte Alégre.--Porto do Moz.--Leaving the Amazon.
--Breves.--Pará River.--The City of Pará.--Legislation and Currency.
--Religion and Education.--Nonpareil Climate. Page 247
CHAPTER XVIII.
The River Amazon.--Its Source and Magnitude.--Tributaries and Tints.--Volume
and Current.--Rise and Fall.--Navigation.--Expeditions on the
Great River......264
CHAPTER XIX.
The Valley of the Amazon.--Its Physical Geography.--Geology.--Climate.
--Vegetation......280
CHAPTER XX.
Life within the Great River.--Fishes.--Alligators.--Turtles.--Porpoises
and Manatís......295
CHAPTER XXI.
Life around the Great River.--Insects.--Reptiles.--Birds.--Mammals......300
CHAPTER XXII.
Life around the Great River.--Origin of the Red Man.--General Characteristics
of the Amazonian Indians.--Their Languages, Costumes, and Habitations.
--Principal Tribes.--Mixed Breeds.--Brazilians and Brazil......315
CHAPTER XXIII.
How to Travel in South America.--Routes.--Expenses.--Outfit.--Precautions.
--Dangers......325
CHAPTER XXIV.
In Memoriam......334
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A
Barometrical Measurements across South America Page 338
APPENDIX B
Vocabularies from the Quichua, Záparo, Yágua, and Cámpas Languages 340
APPENDIX C
Commerce of the Amazon 344
ADDENDA 349
INDEX 349
ILLUSTRATIONS
Palms on the Middle Amazon _Frontispiece_
Cathedral of Guayaquil Page 27
Equipped for the Andes 37
Ascending the Andes 42
Quito from the North 61
Water-carriers 62
Street in Quito 63
Capitol at Quito 66
Indian Dwellings 78
Washerwomen 83
Ecclesiastics 88
Profiles of Ecuadorian Volcanoes 123
Crater of Pichincha 135
Humboldt in 1802 156
Ibarra 158
Napo Peon 184
Autograph of an Indian 185
Papaya-tree 202
Trapiche, or Sugar-mill 208
Our Craft on the Napo 211
Hunting Turtle-eggs 217
A Howler 223
Kitchen on the Amazon 238
Natives on the Middle Amazon 241
A Siesta 244
Santarem 250
Pará 255
Fruit-peddlers 259
Igarapé, or Canoe-path 265
Coca-plant 293
Iguana 305
Toucans 307
Brazilian Hummers Page 309
Capybara 310
Jaguar 311
Native Comb 317
Colonel Staunton _To face page_ 334
Map of Equatorial America _End._
THE ANDES AND THE AMAZON.
CHAPTER I.
Guayaquil.--First and Last Impressions.--Climate.--Commerce.--The
Malecon.--Glimpse of the Andes.--Scenes on the
Guayas.--Bodegas.--Mounted for Quito.--La Mona.--A Tropical Forest.
Late in the evening of the 19th of July, 1867, the steamer "Favorita"
dropped anchor in front of the city of Guayaquil. The first view
awakened visions of Oriental splendor. Before us was the Malecon,
stretching along the river, two miles in length--at once the most
beautiful and the most busy street in the emporium of Ecuador. In the
centre rose the Government House, with its quaint old tower, bearing
aloft the city clock. On either hand were long rows of massive,
apparently marble, three-storied buildings, each occupying an entire
square, and as elegant as they were massive. Each story was blessed with
a balcony, the upper one hung with canvas curtains now rolled up, the
other protruding over the sidewalk to form a lengthened arcade like that
of the Rue de Rivoli in imperial Paris. In this lower story were the gay
shops of Guayaquil, filled with the prints, and silks, and fancy
articles of England and France. As this is the promenade street as well
as the Broadway of commerce, crowds of Ecuadorians, who never do
business in the evening, leisurely paced the magnificent arcade; hatless
ladies sparkling with fire-flies[4] instead of diamonds, and far more
brilliant than koh-i-noors, swept the pavement with their long trains;
martial music floated on the gentle breeze from the barracks or some
festive hall, and a thousand gas-lights along the levee and in the city,
doubling their number by reflection from the river, betokened wealth and
civilization.
[Footnote 4: The _Pyrophorus noctilucus_, or "cucujo," found also in
Mexico and the West Indies. It resembles our large spring-beetle. The
light proceeds from two eye-like spots on the thorax and from the
segments underneath. It feeds on the sugar-cane. On the Upper Amazon we
found the _P. clarus_, _P. pellucens_, and _P. tuberculatus_.
At Bahia, on the opposite coast, Darwin found _P. luminosus_, the most common
luminous insect.]
We landed in the morning to find our vision a dissolving view in the
light of the rising sun. The princely mansions turned out to be hollow
squares of wood-work, plastered within and without, and roofed with red
tiles. Even the "squares" were only distant approximations; not a right
angle could we find in our hotel. All the edifices are built (very
properly in this climate) to admit air instead of excluding it, and the
architects have wonderfully succeeded; but with the air is wafted many
an odor not so pleasing as the spicy breezes from Ceylon's isle. The
cathedral is of elegant design. Its photograph is more imposing than
Notre Dame, and a Latin inscription tells us that it is the Gate of
Heaven. But a near approach reveals a shabby structure, and the pewless
interior is made hideous by paintings and images which certainly must be
caricatures. A few genuine works of art imported from Italy alone
relieve the mind of the visitor. Excepting a few houses on the Malecon,
and not excepting the cathedral, the majority of the buildings have a
tumble-down appearance, which is not altogether due to the frequent
earthquakes which have troubled this city; while the habitations in the
outskirts are exceedingly primitive, floored and walled with split cane
and thatched with leaves, the first story occupied by domestic animals
and the second by their owners. The city is quite regularly laid out,
the main streets running parallel to the river. A few streets are
rudely paved, many are shockingly filthy, and all of them yield grass to
the delight of stray donkeys and goats. A number of mule-carts, half a
dozen carriages, one omnibus, and a hand-car on the Malecon, sum up the
wheeled vehicles of Guayaquil. The population is twenty-two thousand,
the same for thirty years past. Of these, about twenty are from the
United States, and perhaps twenty-five can command $100,000. No
foreigner has had reason to complain that Guayaquilians lacked the
virtues of politeness and hospitality. The ladies dress in excellent
taste, and are proverbial for their beauty. Spanish, Indian, and Negro
blood mingle in the lower classes. The city supports two small papers,
_Los Andes_ and _La Patria_, but they are usually issued about ten days
behind date. The hourly cry of the night-watchman is quite as musical as
that of the muezzin in Constantinople. At eleven o'clock, for example,
they sing "_Ave Maria purissima! los once han dedo, noche clara y
serena. Viva la Patria!_"
[Illustration: Cathedral of Guayaquil.]
The full name of the city is Santiago de Guayaquil.[5] It is so called,
first, because the conquest of the province was finished on the 25th of
July (the day of St. James), 1533; and, secondly, after Guayas, a
feudatory cacique of Atahuallpa. It was created a city by Charles V.,
October 6, 1535. It has suffered much in its subsequent history by fires
and earthquakes, pirates and pestilence. It is situated on the right
bank of the River Guayas, sixty miles from the ocean, and but a few feet
above its level. Though the most western city in South America, it is
only two degrees west of the longitude of Washington, and it is the same
distance below the equator--Orion sailing directly overhead, and the
Southern Cross taking the place of the Great Dipper. The mean annual
temperature, according to our observations, is 83°. There are two
seasons, the wet, or _invierno_, and the dry, or _verano_. The _verano_
is called the summer, although astronomically it is winter; it begins in
June and terminates in November.[6] The heavy rains come on about
Christmas. March is the rainiest month in the year, and July the
coldest. It is at the close of the _invierno_ (May) that fevers most
abound. The climate of Guayaquil during the dry season is nearly
perfect. At daybreak there is a cool easterly breeze; at sunrise a brief
lull, and then a gentle variable wind; at 3 P.M. a southwest wind, at
first in gusts, then in a sustained current; at sunset the same softened
down to a gentle breeze, increasing about _7_ P.M., and dying away about
3 A.M. Notwithstanding heaps of filth and green-mantled pools,
sufficient to start a pestilence if transported to New York, the city
is usually healthy, due in great part, no doubt, to countless flocks of
buzzards which greedily wait upon decay. These carrion-hawks enjoy the
protection of law, a heavy fine being imposed for wantonly killing
one.[7] It is during the rainy season that this port earns the
reputation of being one of the most pestiferous spots on the globe. The
air is then hot and oppressive, reminding the geologist of the steaming
atmosphere in the carboniferous period; the surrounding plains are
flooded with water, and the roads, even some of the streets of the city,
become impassable; intolerable musquitoes, huge cockroaches, disgusting
centipedes, venomous scorpions, and still more deadly serpents, keep the
human species circumspect, and fevers and dysenteries do the work of
death.
[Footnote 5: The ancient name was _Culenta_.]
[Footnote 6: The continuity of the dry season is broken by a rainy fit
commencing a few days after the autumnal equinox, and called _el
Cordonazo de San Francisco_. "Throughout South America (observes Mr.
Spruce) the periodical alternations of dry and rainy weather are laid to
the account of those saints whose 'days' coincide nearly with the epochs
of change. But if the weather be rainy when it ought to be fair, or if
the rains of winter be heavier than ordinary, the blame is invariably
laid on the moon."]
[Footnote 7: The turkey-buzzard, the "John Crow" of the West Indies, is
not a social bird, though a score are often seen together: each comes
and goes by himself.]
The Guayas is the largest river on the Pacific coast; and Guayaquil
monopolizes the commerce of Ecuador, for it is the only port. Esmeraldas
and Peylon are not to be mentioned. Through its custom-house passes
nearly every import and export. The green banks of the Guayas, covered
with an exuberant growth, are in strong contrast with the sterile coast
of Peru, and the possession of Guayaquil has been a coveted prize since
the days of Pizarro. Few spots between the tropics can vie with this
lowland in richness and vigor of vegetation. Immense quantities of
cacao--second only to that of Caracas--are produced, though but a
fraction is gathered, owing to the scarcity of laborers, so many
Ecuadorians have been exiled or killed in senseless revolutions. Twenty
million pounds are annually exported, chiefly to Spain; and two million
pounds of excellent coffee, which often finds its way into New York
under the name of "pure Java." There are three or four kinds of
indigenous cacao on this coast, all richly deserving the generic title
_Theobroma_, or "food for the gods." The best grows in Esmeraldas, as it
contains the largest amount of oil and has the most pleasant flavor. But
very little of it is exported, because it rots in about six months. The
_cacao de arriba_, from up the River Guayas, is the best to export, as
it keeps two years without damage. Next in order is the _cacao de
abajo_, from down the river, as Machala, Santa Rosa, Balao, and Manabi,
below Guayaquil. A still richer nut is the mountain cacao, but it is
never cultivated. It is small and white, and almost pure oil. This oil,
called cacao-butter, is used by the natives for burns, sores, and many
cutaneous diseases. Cacao contributes more to the commerce of the
republic than any other production of its soil. The flowers and fruit
grow directly out of the trunk and branches. "A more striking example
(says Humboldt) of the expansive powers of life could hardly be met with
in organic nature." The fruit is yellowish-red, and of oblong shape, and
the seeds (from which chocolate is prepared) are enveloped in a mass of
white pulp. The tree resembles our lilac in size and shape, and yields
three crops a year--in March, June, and September. Spain is the largest
consumer of cacao. The Mexican _chocolalt_ is the origin of our word
chocolate. Tucker gives the following comparative analysis of unshelled
beans from Guayaquil and Caracas:
Guayaquil. Caracas.
Theobromine 0.63 0.55
Cacao-red 4.56 6.18
Cacao-butter 36.38 35.08
Gluten 2.96 3.21
Starch 0.53 0.62
Gum 1.58 1.19
Extractive matter 3.44 6.22
Humic acid 8.57 9.28
Cellulose 30.50 28.66
Ash 3.03 2.91
Water 6.20 5.58
----- -----
98.38 99.48
The coffee-tree is about eight feet high, and has dark green leaves,
white blossoms, and green, red, and purple berries at the same time.
Each tree yields on an average two pounds annually.
The other chief articles of exportation are hides, cotton, "Panama
hats," manufactured at Indian villages on the coast, cinchona bark,
caucho, tobacco, orchilla weed, sarsaparilla, and tamarinds.[8] The hats
are usually made of the "Toquilla" (_Carludovica palmata_), an
arborescent plant about five feet high, resembling the palm. The leaf,
which is a yard long, is plaited like a fan, and is borne on a
three-cornered stalk. It is cut while young, the stiff parallel veins
removed, then slit into shreds by whipping it, and immersed in boiling
water, and finally bleached in the sun. The same "straw" is used in the
interior. The "Mocora," which grows like a cocoa-nut tree, with a very
smooth, hard, thorny bark, is rarely used, as it is difficult to work.
The leaves are from eight to twelve feet in length, so that the "straws"
will finish a hat without splicing. Such hats require two or three
months, and bring sometimes $150; but they will last a lifetime. They
can be packed away in a vest pocket, and they can be turned inside out
and worn, the inside surface being as smooth and well finished as the
outside. "Toquilla" hats are whiter than the "mocora."
[Footnote 8: In 1867 there were exported to Europe of cacao, 197,260
quintals; cotton, 10,247 do.; caucho, 8911 do.; sarsaparilla, 149 do.;
orchilla, 10,247 packages; quinine, 5000 do.; tobacco, 2000 do.; coffee,
1611 do.; tamarinds, 65 bbls.; sides of leather, 22,514; hats, 8397.]
The exports from Guayaquil bear no proportion to the capabilities of the
country; Ecuador has no excuse for being bankrupt. Most of the imports
are of English origin; lard comes from the United States, and flour from
Chile.
The Malecon and river present a lively scene all the year round; the
rest of the city appears deserted in comparison. The British steamers
from Panama and Payta arrive weekly; Yankee steam-boats make regular
trips up and down the Guayas and its tributaries; half a dozen sailing
vessels, principally French, are usually lying in the stream, which is
here six fathoms deep; and hundreds of canoes are gliding to and fro.
But the _balsas_ are the most original, and, therefore, the most
attractive sight. These are rafts made of light balsa wood, so buoyant
as to be used in coasting voyages. They were invented by the old
Peruvians, and are the homes of a literally floating population. By
these and the smaller craft are brought to the mole of the Malecon,
besides articles for exportation, a boundless variety of
fruits--pine-apples (whose quality has made Guayaquil famous), oranges,
lemons, limes, plantains, bananas, cocoa-nuts, alligator pears, papayas,
mangos, guavas, melons, etc.; many an undescribed species of fish known
only to the epicure, and barrels or jars of water from a distant point
up the river, out of the reach of the tide and the city sewers. Ice is
frequently brought from Chimborazo, and sold for $1 per pound. A flag
hoisted at a favorite café announces that snow has arrived from the
mountains, and that ice-cream can be had. The market, held every morning
by the river side, is an animated scene. The strife of the half-naked
fishmongers, the cry of the swarthy fruit-dealers--"Pinas!" "Naranjas!"
etc., and the song of the itinerant dulce-peddler--"Tamales!" mingled
with the bray of the water-bearing donkeys as they trot through the
town, never fail to arrest the attention of every traveler.
But there is another sight more attractive still--one worth a long
voyage, for Nature nowhere else repeats the picture. From the balconies
of Guayaquil can be seen on a clear day the long, towering range of the
Andes. We may forget all the incidents in our subsequent journey, but
the impression produced by that glorious view is unfading. The sun had
nearly touched the Pacific when the clouds, which for days had wrapped
the Cordilleras[9] in misty robes, suddenly rose like a curtain. There
stood, in inconceivable grandeur, one of the stupendous products of the
last great revolution of the earth's crust, as a geologist would say,
but, in the language of history, the lofty home of the Incas, made
illustrious by the sword of Pizarro and the pen of Prescott. On the
right a sea of hills rose higher and higher, till they culminated in the
purple mountains of Assuay. Far to the left, one hundred miles
northeasterly, the peerless Chimborazo lifted its untrodden and
unapproachable summit above its fellows--an imposing background to
lesser mountains and stately forests. The great dome reflected
dazzlingly the last blushes of the west, its crown of snow fringed with
black lines, which were the steep and sharp edges of precipitous rocks.
It was interesting to watch the mellowing tints on the summit as the
shadows crept upward: gold, vermilion, violet, purple, were followed by
a momentary "glory;" then darkness covered the earth, and a host of
stars, "trembling with excess of light," burst suddenly into view over
the peaks of the Andes.
[Footnote 9: _Cordillera_ (pronounced Cor-de-yér-ra), literally a long
ridge, is usually applied to a longitudinal subdivision of the Andes, as
the east and west cordilleras inclosing the valley of Quito; _Sierra_
(from the Spanish for saw or Arabic _sehrah_, an uncultivated tract) is
a jagged spur of the Andes; _Cerro_, "a hog-backed hill." _Paramo_ (a
desert) is the treeless, uninhabited, uncultivated rolling steppes just
below the snow-limit.]
Bidding "adios" to our Guayaquilian friends, we took passage in one of
Captain Lee's little steamers to Bodegas, seventy miles up the river.
The Ecuadorian government, strange to say, does not patronize these
steamers, but carries the Quito mail in a canoe. The Guayas is a
sluggish stream, its turbid waters starting from the slope of the
Andes, and flowing through a low, level tract, covered with varied forms
of vegetable life. Forests of the broad-leaved plantain and banana line
the banks. The fruit is the most common article of food in equatorial
America, and is eaten raw, roasted, baked, boiled, and fried. It grows
on a succulent stem formed of sheath-like leaf-stalks rolled over one
another, and terminating in enormous light green, glossy blades nearly
ten feet long by two feet wide, so delicate that the slightest wind will
tear them transversely. Each tree (vulgarly called "the tree of
paradise") produces fruit but once, and then dies. A single bunch often
weighs 60 or 70 pounds; and Humboldt calculated that 33 pounds of wheat
and 99 pounds of potatoes require the same space of ground as will
produce 4000 pounds of bananas. They really save more labor than steam,
giving the greatest amount of food from a given piece of ground with the
least labor. They are always found where the palm is; but their original
home is the foot of the Himalayas. The banana (by some botanists
considered a different species from the plantain) is about four inches
long, and cylindrical, and is eaten raw. The plantain is twice as large
and prismatic, and uncooked is unhealthy. There is another variety,
_platanos de Otaheite_, which resembles the banana in size and quality,
but is prismatic.
A belt of jungle and impenetrable brushwood intervenes, and then cacao
and coffee plantations, vast in extent, arrest the eye. Passing these,
the steamer brings you alongside of broad fields covered with the low,
prickly pine-apple plant; the air is fragrant with a rich perfume wafted
from a neighboring grove of oranges and lemons; the mango spreads its
dense, splendid foliage, and bears a golden fruit, which, though praised
by many, tastes to us like a mixture of tow and turpentine; the exotic
bread-tree waves its fig-like leaves and pendent fruit; while high over
all the beautiful cocoa-palm lifts its crown of glory.[10] Animal life
does not compare with this luxuriant growth. The steamer-bound traveler
may see a few monkeys, a group of _gallinazos_, and many brilliant,
though songless birds; but the chief representative is the lazy, ugly
alligator. Large numbers of these monsters may be seen on the mud-bank
basking in the hot sun, or asleep with their mouths wide open.
[Footnote 10: The mango of Asia is superior in size and flavor to that
of America. It is eaten largely in Brazil by negroes and cattle. The
cocoa-palm is also of Asiatic origin, and is most abundant in Ceylon. It
has a swollen stem when young, but becomes straight and tall when
mature. The flowers burst into a long plume of soft, cream-colored
blossoms. It is worthy of remembrance that the most beautiful forms of
vegetation in the tropics are at the same time most useful to man.]
Eight hours after leaving the Malecon we arrived at Bodegas, a little
village of two thousand souls, rejoicing in the synonym of Babahoyo.
This has been a place of deposit for the interior from the earliest
times. In the rainy season the whole site is flooded, and only the upper
stories are habitable. Cock-fighting seems to be the chief amusement. We
breakfasted with the governor, a portly gentleman who kept a little
dry-goods store. His excellency, without waiting for a formal
introduction, and with a cordiality and courtesy almost confined to the
Latin nations, received us into his own house, and honored us with a
seat at his private table, spread with the choicest viands of his
kingdom, serving them himself with a grace to which we can not do
justice. Much as we find to condemn in tropical society, we can not
forget the kindness of these simple-hearted people. Though we may
portray, in the coming pages, many faults and failings according to a
New York standard, we wish it to be understood that there is another
side to the picture; that there are virtues on the Andes to which the
North is well-nigh a stranger. "How many times (says an American
resident of ten years) I have arrived at a miserable hut in the heart
of the mountains, tired and hungry, after traveling all day without any
other companion than the arriero, to receive a warm-hearted welcome, the
best, perhaps the only chair or hammock offered to me, the fattest
chicken in the yard killed on my account, and more than once they have
compelled me by force to take the only good bed, because I must be
tired, and should have a good night's rest. A man may travel from one
end of the Andes to the other, depending altogether on the good people
he meets."
At Bodegas travelers take to mules or horses for the mountains, hiring
one set for Guaranda and another at that village for Quito; muleteers
seldom allow their animals to pass from one altitude to the other. These
_arrieros_, or muleteers, form a very important class in Ecuador. Their
little caravans are the only baggage and express trains in the republic;
there is not a single regularly established public conveyance in the
land. The _arrieros_ and their servants (_peons_) are Indians or
half-breeds. They wear a straw or felt hat, a poncho striped like an
Arab's blanket, and cotton breeches ending at the knees. For food they
carry a bag of parched corn, another bag of roasted barley-meal
(_mashka_), and a few red peppers. The beasts are thin, decrepit jades,
which threaten to give out the first day; yet they must carry you
halfway up the Andes. The distance to the capital is nearly two hundred
miles. The time required is usually eight or nine days; but officials
often travel it in four.
[Illustration: Equipped for the Andes.]
We left Bodegas at noon. It was impossible to start the muleteer a
moment earlier, though he had promised to be ready at seven. Patience is
a necessary qualification in a South American traveler. In our company
were a Jesuit priest, with three attendants, going to Riobamba, and a
young Quito merchant, with his mother--the mother of only twenty-five
children. This merchant had traveled in the United States, and could not
help contrasting the thrift and enterprise of our country with the
beggary and laziness of his own, adding, with a show of sincerity, "I am
sorry I have Spanish blood in my veins." The suburbs of Bodegas reminded
us of the outskirts of Cairo; but the road soon entered a broad savannah
instead of a sandy desert. At 3 P.M. we passed through La Mona, a
village of twenty-five bamboo huts, all on stilts, for in the rainy
season the whole town is under water. Signs of indolence and neglect
were every where visible. Idle men, with an uncertain mixture of
European, Negro, and Indian blood; sad-looking Quichua women, carrying a
naked infant or a red water-jar on the back; black hogs and lean poultry
wandering at will into the houses--such is the picture of the motley
life in the inland villages. Strange was the contrast between human
poverty and natural wealth. We were on the borders of a virgin forest,
and the overpowering beauty of the vegetation soon erased all memory of
the squalor and lifelessness of La Mona. Our road--a mere path, suddenly
entered this seemingly impenetrable forest, where the branches crossed
overhead, producing a delightful shade. The curious forms of tropical
life were all attractive to one who had recently rambled over the
comparatively bleak hills of New England. Delight is a weak term to
express the feelings of a naturalist who for the first time wanders in a
South American forest. The superb banana, the great charm of equatorial
vegetation, tossed out luxuriantly its glossy green leaves, eight feet
in length; the slender but graceful bamboo shot heavenward, straight as
an arrow; and many species of palm bore aloft their feathery heads,
inexpressibly light and elegant. On the branches of the independent
trees sat tufts of parasites, many of them orchids, which are here
epiphytal; and countless creeping plants, whose long flexible stems
entwined snake-like around the trunks, or formed gigantic loops and
coils among the limbs. Beneath this world of foliage above, thick beds
of mimosæ covered the ground, and a boundless variety of ferns attracted
the eye by their beautiful patterns.[11] It is easy to specify the
individual objects of admiration in these grand scenes, but it is not
possible to give an adequate idea of the higher feelings of wonder,
astonishment, and devotion which fill and elevate the mind. This road to
the Andes is a paradise to the contemplative man. "There is something in
a tropical forest (says Bates) akin to the ocean in its effects on the
mind. Man feels so completely his insignificance, and the vastness of
nature." The German traveler Burmeister observes that "the contemplation
of a Brazilian forest produced on him a painful impression, on account
of the vegetation displaying a spirit of restless selfishness, eager
emulation, and craftiness." He thought the softness, earnestness, and
repose of European woodland scenery were far more pleasing, and that
these formed one of the causes of the superior moral character of
European nations. Live and let live is certainly not the maxim taught in
these tropical forests, and it is equally clear that selfishness is not
wanting among the people. Here, in view of so much competition among
organized beings, is the spot to study Darwin's "Origin of Species." We
have thought that the vegetation under the equator was a fitter emblem
of the human world than the forests of our temperate zone. There is here
no set time for decay and death, but we stand amid the living and the
dead; flowers and leaves are falling, while fresh ones are budding into
life. Then, too, the numerous parasitic plants, making use of their
neighbors as instruments for their own advancement, not inaptly
represent a certain human class.
[Footnote 11: Ferns constitute one sixth of the flora of South America;
Spruce counted 140 species within the space of three square miles. Their
limits of growth are 500 and 7000 feet above the sea.]