Guayaquil

“ Let every man do as he pleases as regards his own property, views, and interests; because every individual will watch over his own with more zeal than senates, ministers, or kings. By your enlarged views set an example to the New World; and thus, as Guayaquil is from its situation the Central Republic, it will become the centre of the agriculture, commerce, and riches of the Pacific.
Guayaquilenos! The liberality of your sentiments, and the justice of your acts and opinions, are a bulwark to your independence more secure than that of armies and squadrons. ”

“ Sudden death is reputed to fly chiefly by night along the Guayas. So only when the sun was high did we venture across to Ecuador’s metropolis and far-famed death-trap, Guayaquil. Outwardly, the low, heat-steaming city looked far cleaner than Quito. But here filth grants no immunity. During three hours we saw the black funeral street-car pass nine times—and by no means all the population can afford so splendid an exit from the world. Yet here were electric tramways for the first time since Bogotá, larger shops and more ambitious displays than in Quito, and signs of greater commercial activity. ”

“ Guayas is the chief industrial and commercial province of the republic, about nineteen-twentieths of the commerce of Ecuador passing through the port of its capital, Guayaquil. There are no land transport routes in the province except the Quito & Guayaquil railway, which traverses its eastern half. The sluggish river channels which intersect the greater part of its territory afford excellent facilities for transporting produce, and a large number of small boats are regularly engaged in that traffic. There are no large towns in Guayas other than Guayaquil. ”

“ Founded in 1535 by one of the lieutenants of Pizarro, Guayaquil has been the market for five hundred miles of coast ever since, but now it is almost destitute of native capital, nearly all the merchants being foreigners, mostly English and German, with one or two from the United States. It is the only place in Ecuador in which modern civilization exists; the rest of the country is a century behind the times. ”

“ Believe me, that the state of Chili will ever be grateful for your assistance, and more especially the Supreme Director, by whose exertions the squadron was created, and to whom, in fact, South America owes whatever benefit she may have derived from its services.
May you be as free as you are independent, and as independent as you deserve to be free! With the liberty of the press, now protected by your excellent Government, which discriminates enlightenment from that fount, Guayaquil can never again be enslaved. ”

“ After the foregoing description of Guayaquil and its productions, it is almost unnecessary to say any thing respecting its importance as a place of commerce. It is likewise the principal, and till very lately (1824) was the only port to the provinces of Quito, Cuenca, Paste, and Papayan, all of which are extensive, well peopled, and comparatively rich districts. The only thing wanting here is an [Pg 256] increase of capital, activity, and inhabitants; for the climate and the soil are calculated to produce whatever is found between the tropics ”

“ The population of Guayaquil amounts to [Pg 209] about twenty thousand souls; the inhabitants are composed of all the different classes which are found in the various towns of South America, but there is an excess of mulattos. A phenomenon presents itself here which greatly surprises all foreigners; the complexion of some of the white natives is extremely delicate, the lily and the rose are blended as enchantingly as on the cheek of any European beauty, accompanied also with blue eyes and light coloured hair; yet the climate is extremely hot, and the town is surrounded with low swampy grounds. ”

“ There is not a penitentiary, house of correction, reformatory, or benevolent institution outside of Quito and Guayaquil; there is not a railroad or stage-coach in the entire country, and until recently there was not a telegraph wire. Laborers get from two to ten dollars a month, and men are paid two dollars and a quarter for carrying one hundred pounds of merchandise on their backs two hundred and eighty-five miles. There is not a wagon in the republic outside{307} of Guayaquil, and not a road over which a wagon could pass. ”

“ Guayaquil, a city of about 50,000 inhabitants, is Ecuador’s principal seaport, and, next to Valparaiso and Callao, the busiest and most important on the Pacific side of the continent. All the way up from Callao the steamer hugs the shore as closely as safety will permit. ”

“ The august sanitary junta sat augustly at Guayaquil. From this port doctor’s station to Guayaquil was some distance. To telegraph one made one’s report, then it was paddled across the muddy tide-water creek in a dugout; then it was carried on foot across the island—for this strip of beach and home of the straggling black pigs was but a portion of an island of some size—and then across more water in a dugout and there was a telegraph station! Naturally all this took time. The port boat put back and the captain returned to his quarters. ”

“ There is not a newspaper printed outside of the city of Guayaquil, and the only information the people have of what is going on in the world is gained from the strangers who now and then visit the country, and from a class of peddlers who make periodical trips, traversing the whole hemisphere from Guatemala to Patagonia. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The number of inhabitants is 10,000, most of whom are engaged in commerce, the Spaniards and creoles being the merchants, and the creoles and castes the artizans and labourers. The trade of this town is gradually increasing, and from the situation of its port, it will in all probability become a place of the first consequence, notwithstanding the insalubrity of its climate, and the dreadful tempests it is subject to in winter. The women of Guayaquil are proverbially handsome, which causes many Europeans to marry and settle here. ”

“ The arrival of the Chilean vessels of war gave the government of Guayaquil an opportunity of addressing themselves to the Quitenos, "assuring them, that Peru was entirely free, and that the liberating naval force had arrived at Guayaquil for the protection of that part of the new world." This was a ruse de guerre not uncommon in the new world, and under similar circumstances practised even in the old. On our arrival General Sucre sent Colonel Ibarra to compliment Lord Cochrane, as the hero of the Pacific, the magnanimous supporter of Colombian liberty. ”

“ At present, Guayaquil in Ecuador is the seaport of Quito, the capital of the country. Quito is situated some three hundred miles up in the mountains, and is connected by rail with Guayaquil. Yellow fever is at present endemic in Guayaquil and has been so for many years. The old resident of Guayaquil is immune to yellow fever, but the natives of Quito dread Quayaquil as they do death. They never go there when they can avoid it, and when they have to visit the outside world, they remain in Quayaquil just as few hours as will enable them to catch their ship. And the fear is well founded. ”

“ Guayaquil is well situated for trade and ship-building, being fourteen leagues from Point Arena and seven from Puna, up a large river, into which fall several smaller ones, and on which there are many villages and farms. The water of this river is fresh for four leagues below the city, and all along its banks grow great quantities of mangroves and sarsaparillas, and on account of this last the water is thought salutary against the lues. But during floods, when it brings down many poisonous plants from the mountains, among which is the manchinilla apple, it is not reckoned wholesome. ”

“ To the southward of the Isthmus on the shores of Colombia, in about 2° south latitude, we find the port and city of Guayaquil, of well-known commercial importance. Here, the climate is considered unhealthy during the wet season, when the air is sultry and oppressive; but in the dry season Guayaquil is not reckoned particularly sickly. The rain commences in light showers in December, is very heavy in February, and dwindles away in April. From May to December is the dry season. ”

“ Feeling that all was peacefully settled in the mountainous provinces, he thought it would be well to undertake a journey to the province of Puerto Viejo, to that which we call Guayaquil, and to the valleys of the Yuncas. The captains and principal men of his council approved the thought, and advised that it should be put into execution. Many troops remained in Quito. The Inca set forth with a suitable force, and entered those lands, where he had some skirmishes with the natives. But, eventually, one after another submitted, and governors, with mitimaes, were established. ”

“ The cacao also thrives exceedingly in Baba, and the quantity of this fruit gathered annually in Guayaquil for exportation and home consumption, amounts to 50,000 loads, at eighty-one pounds the load.
The last district of Guayaquil is that of Daule, so called from a river of that name, which flows by its principal town, also called Daule. This town contains some fine houses, to which the inhabitants of Guayaquil retire in the hot seasons; and by its river it sends fruits and plantains to the capital. ”

“ The trade in horned cattle, mules, and horses, of which there is an excess in the savanas of Guayaquil, is extensive; they are driven into the interior, where they find a good market, and amply repay the breeder. The province of Guayaquil also produces many articles of less moment, but all contributing [Pg 234] to enrich its inhabitants; some of these are bees wax, honey, small quantities of excellent coffee, rice, ajonjoli, cotton, bark for tanning, vainilla, coconuts, copal gum, sarsaparilla, sassafras, anime balsam, cassiafistula, caraña gum, and cascol, a kind of black sealing wax ”

“ Proceeding northward of Lima, the climate becomes damper, till on the banks of the Guayaquil, nearly under the equator, we find the most luxuriant forests. The change, however, from the sterile coast of Peru to that fertile land is described as taking place rather abruptly in the latitude of Cape Blanco, two degrees south of Guayaquil.
Callao is a filthy, ill-built, small seaport. The inhabitants, both here and at Lima, present every imaginable shade of mixture, between European, Negro, and Indian blood. They appear a depraved, drunken set of people. ”

“ At Guayaquil, the westernmost city of South America, it is even possible on occasions in clear weather to see Chimborazo, eighty miles from the sea. Nowhere in the world is there a greater assembly of lofty peaks than will be seen as the vessel proceeds along the coast. ”

“ Quesada led an expedition up the Magdalena River. He had for companion Benalcazar. They approached the country from the south, occupied Popagan and Pasto, and founded Guayaquil. They also penetrated the Valley of Curacua and Bogotá, and thus traversed the whole Province. This brought them into contact with the Chibcha Indians. In the end these unfortunate beings were completely subdued, their civilization destroyed, and they themselves divided as slaves among the Spaniards. ”

“ In this province some cotton goods are manufactured; these are exported to Peru, for which gold, silver, laces, wine, brandy, oil, copper, tin, lead and quicksilver are returned; the wheat of Quito is exported to Guayaquil, and the coast of Guatimala sends indigo, iron and steel, for which some of the products of Quito are returned by way of Guayaquil. The commerce of Quito is however mostly internal, and this province contains no metallic veins which are worked, though many rich ones are supposed to exist, and some mercury has been found between the villages of Cuença and Azogue. ”

“ Since its foundation Guayaquil has been burned several times, and often plundered by pirates; now its commercial condition seems secure from all dangers except revolutions, which are epidemic in Ecuador. In fact, the country would feel queer without one. Earthquakes are frequent, but the elastic bamboo houses{305} only shiver—they never fall. To the torch of the revolutionist, however, they are like tinder, and the blocks that have been burned over testify to its effectiveness as a weapon of destruction. ”

“ Goods manufactured in the neighbouring provinces are commonly brought to market by the manufacturers themselves, from whom the inhabitants purchase them at high prices. The produce of the province is generally purchased by commission from Peru and Mexico, so that the merchants of Guayaquil are in some degree, only brokers. Small speculations and activity will insure to any one most excellent profits, and hence the considerable number of persons in this city who enjoy a comfortable independence ”

“ Durán, on the Guayas river opposite Guayaquil, is the starting point of the Quito railway and contains the shops and offices of that line. The port of Santa Elena on a bay of the same name, about 65 m. W. of Guayaquil, is a landing-point of the West Coast cable, and a port of call for some of the regular steamship lines. Its exports are chiefly Panama hats and salt.
GUAYCURUS, a tribe of South American Indians on the Paraguay. The name has been used generally of all the mounted Indians of Gran Chaco. The Guaycurus are a wild, fierce people, who paint their bodies and go naked. ”