ld
Spanish practice of compulsory sales, forcing the Indians to take
lienzo, knives, beads, etc., at exorbitant prices, and making them pay
in gold dust and pita. This kind of commerce is known under the name of
_repartos_. It is hard to find an Indian whose gold or whose labor is
not claimed by the blancos. The present and possible productions of this
region are: bananas, plantains, yucas,[116] yams, sweet potatoes, rice,
beans, corn, lemons, oranges, chirimoyas, anonas (a similar fruit to the
preceding), pine-apples, palm cabbages, guavas, guayavas, castor-oil
beans, coffee, cacao, cinnamon, India-rubber, vanilla (two kinds),[117]
chonta-palm nuts, sarsaparilla, contrayerva (a mint), tobacco (of
superior quality), and guayusa; of woods, balsam, red wood, Brazil wood,
palo de cruz, palo de sangre, ramo caspi, quilla caspi, guayacan (or
"holy wood," being much used for images), ivory palm, a kind of ebony,
cedar, and aguana (the last two used for making canoes); of dyewoods,
sarne (dark red), tinta (blue), terriri, and quito (black); of gums,
estoraque (a balsam) and copal, besides a black beeswax, the production
of a small (Trigona) bee, that builds its comb in the ground; of
manufactures, pita, hammocks, twine, calabashes, aguardiente (from the
plantain), chicha (from the yuca),[118] sugar and molasses (from the
cane, which grows luxuriantly), and manati-lard; of minerals, gold dust.
The gold, in minute spangles, is washed down by the rivers at flood
time, chiefly from the Llanganati Mountains. The articles desired in
exchange are lienzo, thread, needles, axes, hoes, knives, fish-hooks,
rings, medals, crosses, beads, mirrors, salt, and poison. Quito nearly
monopolizes the trade; though a few canoes go down the Napo to the
Maranon after salt and poison. The salt comes from near Chasuta, on the
Huallaga;[119] the _urari_ from the Ticuna Indians. It takes about
twenty days to paddle down to the Maranon, and three months to pole up.
The Napo is navigable for a flat-bottomed steamer as far as Santa
Rosa,[120] and it is a wonder that Anglo-Saxon enterprise has not put
one upon these waters. The profits would be great, as soon as commercial
relations with the various tribes were established.[121] Four yards of
coarse cotton cloth, for example, will exchange for one hundred pounds
of sarsaparilla. _Urari_ is sold at Napo for its weight in silver. By a
decree of the Ecuadorian Congress, there will be no duty on foreign
goods en