ys by his scientific
position.]

The Supreme Court consists of five judges. Criminal cases only are tried
by jury; and an attorney is not permitted to question a witness. There
are no penitentiaries: second-class criminals are made to work for the
public, while political offenders are banished to the banks of the Napo,
or to Peru. Here, as in no other country, every man's house is his
castle. No search-warrants are allowed; a policeman can be shot dead on
the threshold. The person and property of a foreigner are safe; and no
native in the employ of a foreigner can be taken by the government for
military purposes. All, except pure Indians, can vote if over
twenty-one, and can read and write. A man's signature is without value
if it lacks his flourish--a custom of Spanish origin.

The permanent army consists of two regiments. The soldiers are mostly
half-breeds, and are generally followed by their wives. They are poorly
paid; and as they are impressed into the service, they carry out the
principle by helping themselves wherever they go. In marching, they have
a quicker step than Northern soldiers. The chief expenditure of the
republic is for the army, about $500,000; the next is for the payment of
the national debt, $360,000. The foreign debt is L1,470,374. Ecuadorians
claim a revenue of a million and a half, of which one half is from the
custom-house, and one fiftieth from the post-office.

One would suppose that the people who breathe this high atmosphere, and
enjoy this delightful climate, and are surrounded by all that is truly
grand and beautiful, would have some corresponding virtues. But we find
that Nature, here as every where, has mingled base and noble elements.
The lofty mountains, bearing in their steadfastness the seal of their
appointed symbol--"God's righteousness is like the great
mountains"--look down upon one of the lowest and most corrupt forms of
republican government on earth;[32] their snowy summits preach sermons
on purity to Quitonian society, but in vain; and the great thoughts of
God written all over the Andes are unable to lift this proud capital out
of the mud and mire of mediaeval ignorance and superstition. The
established religion is the narrowest and most intolerant form of
Romanism. Mountains usually have a more elevating, religious influence
than monotonous plains. The Olympian mythology of the Greek was far
superior to the beastly worship on the banks of the Nile. And yet at the
very