ECUADOR, like all other South American republics, has been under Catholic rule since Spain raised her flag in the Western Hemisphere.
It is said that President Garcia Moreno, the president before the setting up of the liberal party in 1895, sent 50,000 sueres a year to the pope of Rome.
General Eloy Alfaro, the present president, and his party, after many years of fighting, gained in the revolution of 1895. Since then the country has been open to Protestant denominations for propaganda work.
Altho the conservative party has been very bitter against his work, the country has been steadily advancing, especially in liberal ideas.
The inauguration of the Guayaquil and Quito Railroad, at Quito, the 25th of June, has silenced as it were the enemies of progress. The head ones of course are always the priests who scheme to keep the people in ignorance.
The writer was privileged to see Quito for the first time at the inauguration of the train. Quito is 289 miles from Guayaquil. Being elevated 9,400 feet above sea-level, it has a very agreeable climate. The population is about eighty thousand. I was surprised to find it much cleaner than other smaller interior towns. Being situated on the mountainside, it is very easily drained. The water for the city is piped from a waterfall up in the snow belt, so no ice is needed to cool the water.
Panorama of Quito, Ecuador.
It is said that there are forty Catholic churches and convents in the city, but with all this number of temples there are many who think Protestantism is the best religion. Some evangelical work has been done there, but at present there are no Protestant workers, so now would be just the time for us to enter this great city. It seems to me a school (English) could be started very easily there now on a self-supporting plan as Mr. Buckner is doing of late here in Ambato, and at the same time he is teaching the third angel's message to his students in a quiet way. Any one coming as a teacher should know the Spanish language before coming, or stay at least six months in the country before attempting to teach. Any one interested in this line of work could write to William Steele, the director of our mission of Ecuador, Ambato, Apartado 3.
Gen. Eloy Alfaro, the President of Ecuador, with his family.
