onnects Quito and the Rio Napo. Congress lately promised to put
Canelos in communication with the capital; but the largest villages in
this vast and fertile region--Archidona, Canelos, and Macas--still
remain isolated from the outer world.[98] Ecuador once appointed a
functionary under the high-sounding title of "Governor of the Orient,"
with a salary of $700; but now the Indians are not troubled with any
higher official than an alcalde.

[Footnote 97: The boundary-line between Ecuador and Peru is about as
indefinite as the eastern limit of Bolivia, Brazilians claiming "as far
west as the cattle of the empire roam."]

[Footnote 98: Quito might be made more accessible on the Atlantic than
on the Pacific side. But Ecuadorians dote on Guayaquil, and refuse to
connect themselves directly with the great nations of the East. We
believe there is a glorious future for Quito, when it will once more
become a city of palaces. But it will not come until a road through the
wilderness and a steamer on the Napo open a short communication with the
wealth of Amazonia and the enterprise of Europe.]

The country is very thinly inhabited. The chief tribes are the
semi-Christianized Napos (sometimes called Quijos), dwelling on the
north bank of the Napo; the peaceful but uncivilized Zaparos, living
between the Napo and Pastassa, and the warlike Jivaros, spread over the
unexplored region between the Pastassa and Santiago.

These oriental tribes would probably be assigned by D'Orbigny to the
Antisian branch of the Alpine races of South America. Dwelling amid the
darkness of primeval forests, and on the gloomy banks of mountain
torrents, they have acquired modifications of character, physical and
moral, which distinguish them from the natives of the high and open
regions, or the steaming lowlands of the Amazon. In color, however, they
do not appear to us to be entitled to the name of "white men;" they
approach nearer to the bronze complexion of the Quichuans than the
yellow cast of the Brazilians. We see no evidence of that "bleaching
process" resulting from a life under the dense canopy of foliage of
which the learned French naturalist speaks, neither did we perceive the
force of his statement that the color of the South American bears a very
decided relation to the humidity of the atmosphere.

The features of the Napo Indians are Quichuan, especially the low
forehead, squarely-built face, and dull expression; but in stature they
exceed