The canoes of Guayaquil are, although unornamented, very handsomely constructed; they are generally made of cedar, huachapeli, or ceibo: some of them are upwards of twenty feet long, and three feet wide. A large canoe built upon with two or three rows of planks is called a chata, and is used for bringing down the cocoa and other productions from the plantations; where, owing to the narrowness of the creeks, and the many turns and windings, the balsas are useless: these also have a lugsail and a jib.
Many persons have been surprised at not finding the Guayaquil merchants possessed of very large capitals: this may be attributed to various causes; the repeated fires have destroyed considerable stocks of merchandize, and as there are no insurance companies, the whole loss has fallen on the individual proprietors. The merchants are also generally supplied with European manufactures from the Lima and Panama markets, which increases the price of the commodity; and the decrease in the consumption is necessarily in the inverse ratio of the price. 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; and probably this is another objection to the amassing of large fortunes by commerce.
CHAPTER VIII.
Productions of the Province of Guayaquil, Cocoa....cultivation....Harvest....Tobacco....Timber....Salt....Cattle....Minor Articles of Trade....Turbines found at Santa Elena....Large Bones, &c....Animals, Perico, Ligero....Monkeys....Iguanas....Toucanes....Trompeteros....Snakes....Curiquinqui, Snake-eater....Huaco, Antidote for the Bite of Snakes....Lagartos, Alligators, Description of....Methods of Killing....Fishermen....Mineral Productions.
The following account of the productions of the province of Guayaquil is partly from my own observation, and partly from statements given to me by some very respectable natives, on whose veracity I could rely.
The most important production of this rich part of South America, as an article of exportation, is the cocoa, the utility and delicacy of which, as an article of food, needs no other encomium than that Linnæus calls it Theobroma, the beverage of the Gods. The cacao, so called by the Indians, and which name it still retains in America, is cultivated here to a very great extent, and considerable profit; but, like many other articles, it requires greater care to render it abundantly productive than what it usually receives. It is sometimes sown in nurseries, on a good soil, where it can be irrigated and shaded from the sun till the plants are about two feet high; at which time they are fit for transplanting; but it is more frequently sown where the plants are to remain. For this purpose the ground is first prepared by clearing away the wood, which is allowed to dry and is then burnt, excepting some lofty trees, which are left to form a shade over the cacao trees; for this, unlike other fruit trees, must be protected against the rays of the sun during every period of its existence. The ground is then divided into compartments, by cutting trenches for the purpose of draining it during the rainy seasons. The cacao beans, fresh from the ripe pod, are laid on the ground in pairs, fourteen or fifteen feet asunder; these are very slightly covered with earth, and a folded leaf of plantain laid over them to preserve the moisture, or prevent the heavy rains from destroying the young plants. If the two beans germinate, the weaker plant is cut down, when both have grown to that height which allows the planter an opportunity of judging of their strength. At the time that the cacao is planted, bananas, or plantains, are also sown, ranges of the young plants being placed between those of the cacao, for the purpose of procuring a shade for the shrubs; and it is calculated that on an average the crop of plantains will defray the whole expence of the plantation.
Until the cacao tree has grown to the height of four feet it is pruned to the stem, and then allowed to throw out three or four branches, at equal distances, from which the leaves are stripped, to prevent them from drooping; all suckers are also removed, and the tree grows to the height of eighteen or twenty feet.
When the cacao tree begins to bear, which is commonly the third year after planting, then as well as before that period, it is assaulted by several enemies of the caterpillar species; one of this tribe is four inches long, and one in circumference round the body; it is belted alternately with black and pale yellow stripes; these and all others are carefully sought for and killed. When the tree begins to bear fruit, the cavias, monkeys, squirrels, and the parrots, commit the greatest depredations, and nothing but fire-arms will drive them away; they skip and fly from tree to tree, and do more damage by breaking the branches, than if they were allowed to remain and feed quietly on the fruit; some of the monkey tribes are so impudent, that they will perch themselves on the branches, break off the ends or the fruit, and throw them at the person who attempts to disturb them.