TRAVELS IN ECUADOR.*
THIS is one of the most valuable and genuine books of travel in South America that have been published for many years ; it is, moreover, valuable by reason, rather than in spite of, the literary shortcomings of the writer. One can see by a glance at his first page that Mr. Simeon has no eye—perhaps it would be more accurate to say no ear—for the thoughts that are supposed to breathe and the words that are supposed to burn, and that are, in consequence, the stock-in-trade of the graphic writer. What is to be expected from an author who starts by speaking in schoolboy fashion of "grand" mountains," magnifi- cent" scenery, and " terrible " volcanoes P—and that, too, in connection with a country whose characteristics rouse even a commonplace encyclopaedia to rise almost into prose-poetry, when dwelling on each facts as that "hyperborean cold marks the snow-capped mountains ; a temperature at once moderate and uniform renders the upland plains so many paradises; while, on both sides of the dividing ridge, intense heat oppresses the lower valleys." Yet one has but to read a few pages to discover that the writer of these ineffective phrases is a man of courage and resource, and endowed with a faculty for accurate observation. The wilds of Ecuador—the mysterious Provincia del Orients, on the northern head-waters of the Amazon—were, before Mr. Simeon visited them, almost SS little explored and as greatly dreaded as what are, with grim humour, styled the roads to them. When in Guayaquil, whence he started on his journey, he was told that his proposal to visit them was madness or worse. He was reminded of the fate of Gonzalo Pizarro, who, in the course of the same journey, lost half of his 4,000 Indians, and 220 out of his 350 Spaniards, with all his horses and dogs, from hard- ship, exposure, fatigue, and want. He was also reminded of the fate of a Spanish Commission which had explored the same region, and which had emerged from it "decimated and forlorn." None of these things deterred Mr. Simeon, however ; and when he was recommended by the Bishop of Guayaquil and the President of Ecuador, Don Gabriel Garcia Moreno, whose sanc- tion had to be obtained to enter the " Oriente " Province, not to undertake his journey at the season of the nevadas, or heavy storms and rains on the mountains, he found in this objection rather an attraction, " that being the time when all Nature, streams, forests, and animal life, were to be seen in their most interesting and imposing phases." That he ran considerable dangers is beyond question, bat, all through, he minimises them, or rather, he seems unconscious of their existence. His success was due to hie tact and clear-headedness—we had almost said dry-headedness—qualities that are not always found in associa- tion with the literary gift, that are, as a rale, found where that gift is conspicuous by its absence.
Mr. Simeon gives a short account both of the geography and of the history of Ecuador Proper. But we do not find that be adds very much to our previous knowledge of Quito, or Guayaquil, or of Riobamba, which Humboldt has rendered famous. It may be said in passing, however, that we regret to find that Mr. Simeon has to endorse the views of other observers as to the unfitness of the people of Ecuador for self-government. In his travels and in his
• Travels in the Wilds of Ecuador, and the Exploration of the Pattern's. Einar. By 4.1tredEizwan. Landani Sarapoon Low, Merits.. Boarin,..1 RiriaStaa. WE. book alike, he is mainly concerned with the lands covered by dense forests now forming the Oriental Province of Ecuador, which was first entered in 1541 by Pizarro, who descended the Napo River to its junction with the Maranon, where he was abandoned by his captain, Orellana. The region was, after a. fashion, conquered and settled by the Spaniards. But the true civilises of the Oriental Province were the Jesuits, under whose regime it was when Mr. Simeon visited it, and of whom, on the whole, he speaks well. The inhabitants are essentially pure Indians of many tribes. These Mr. Simeon divides into Indios (Indians) and Infieles (infidels, or heathen). The former "are Qaichua-speaking, salt-eating, semi-Christians ; the 'infidels; named by the others Anne ' (i.e., traitors or barbarians), speak distinct languages, eat no salt, excepting some of the Jivaros, and know nothing of baptism and the Catholic Church." This volume will be found of most permanent value for the informa- tion it supplies as to the life, habits, and religion of these little- known Indian tribes. The first of them encountered by Mr. Simson—who, by the way, makes the shrewd observation that " one of the main causes of our misapprehension of savage character, and the apparent anomaly of its actions, is not that we cannot fathom or understand its motives, but that we try to sound where there is no depth"—was the Jivaros. The Maros are, to all intents and purposes, independent. In the early period of their history, they defied Incas and Spaniards alike. The Jesuit missions established among them have had almost no effect ; and during three years, they have killed twenty- nine whites in the neighbourhood of one station alone. Mr. Simeon found them hospitable but not disinterested, and regular workers, —that is to say," they issue forth to hunt, work in their planta- tions, build canoes, attend to pig-breeding, &c., regularly every day, returning to the house generally early in the afternoon, to enjoy repose in the lighter occupations of scraping lances or darts for the bocloquera (blow-gun for shooting small-game and birds), making combs, feather ornaments, Scc., whilst the women, who sometimes go out to work with them, cook and prepare the chicha mass (obtained from the cassava-root), their standard alimentation, and during their journeys the only one, being con- venient and light to carry wrapped up in plantain-leaves." Another variety of Indians—we pass over what he says of the Napo Indians—whom Mr. Simeon had dealings with was the Ziparo, so called from a kind of basket made of double wicker- work. The Ziparos have the reputation of being the most active hunters and woodsmen among Amazonian Indians, and Mr. Simeon says of them :— " Their perceptions of eye and ear are perfectly marvellous; and their knowledge of the woods is so perfect, that they often travel by night in unknown parts of the forest. In seeking game, they detect wands and footmarks where white men can see and hear nothing. At a glance they know the number of animals and the time at which they passed, though most of the tracks may be on loose leaves ! Bat what to me appeared most wonderful in following game with these Indiana, and also with others, was, for instance, that they would sud- denly atop, and then, as if meditating or listening a moment, wave a hand in the direction in which one saw that the trail proceeded ; next they would perhaps wave it crossways, as the case might be, as if mentally following the animal's course, and seem to make up their mind as to the direction taken by the game, and they would then start off away from the track, but only to come upon it again by a shorter cot. This, it mast be remembered, was not done when the animal was in hearing, or on ground known to them, but ooenrred in spots where they had never placed foot before. It has been suggested to me that scent might account for their discernment in thus finding and following a trail, and it is quite possible that this may be the case."
Mr. Simeon denies that the Zeparo Indians are the apathetic, peaceful people they have been described by more superficial travellers. They are changeable and unreliable, but not servile. They take a great delight in destroying life, whether of a human being or a lower animal, although they have a decided dislike to large alligators. They believe in a devil or evil spirit that haunts the woods, and whom they call Zatriciro, but Mr. Simeon could not discover whether they also believe in a good spirit or Creator. Mr. Simson also made the acquaintance of the Piojes, or Sante, Maria Indians, who differ considerably from the Zeparos in dress.—that of the men consists of a sort of shirt reaching to the knees, while that of the women is a band, eight inches wide, round the loins, the body being painted almost all over. The Piojes are comparatively industrious, having in many cases large and well-cared-for plantations. On the whole, we should say that the Indiana of the Amazonian " system," if well approached in the spirit of the padre whom Mr. Simeon came across, and who spoke of converting them into "men first and Christians after," could be made a great deal more of than the
relics of their kinsmen in North America. But of late they have apparently been badly managed, and in consequence, some of the Amazonian tribes have become vindictive and murderous.
Mr. Simeon, although he reached the Upper Amazon after his travels through the wilds of the Oriental Province, and although he conducted a special expedition up the Patumayo River, which belongs to the Amazonian system, can- not be said to have explored the Amazon itself. But he was able to appreciate the grandeur of this river when, in the course of his travels, he arrived at the village of Aquano, on the banks of the Napo. The Napo is by no means the largest of the tributaries of the Amazon, yet, even when not swollen, it is broader than the Thames at London Bridge, while the distance from Aquano to the sea is about 3,000 miles. As a matter of fact, it took Mr. Simeon twenty-five days to descend the Napo from Aquano to its mouth, on the left bank of the Maranon, 2,300 miles from the sea. As we began this notice with an allusion to Mr. Simson's style, or want of style, it is but fair to quote his description of one of the igarapes, or black-water lagunes, of the Upper Amazon :- "It was a type of peacefulness and solitude, with a powerful over. hanging eeese of gloom. The water was dark and sombre, though reflecting the vertical rays of a bright sun ; its surface was utterly motionless, though continually disturbed by innumerable fishes ; its depth looked black and impervious, though in reality clear and trans- parent as crystal; the vegetation was lit up by the sunlight, yet heavy, and casting gloomy, weird shadows on the marginal water; and although a deathlike stillness seemed to reign, the discordant chatter of the crows in the trees, and the dull splash of the terrapins as they dropped from their seats on the dead logs into the water, were heard at frequent intervals."
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