Point. The bays on this coast are commonly broad indentations, and the rivers discharging into them are generally obstructed by bars. The small ports along the coast, therefore, do not afford much protection to shipping. The most northern of these bays is the Ancon de Sardinas, lying south of the Mira delta. The head of the bay is fringed with islands and reefs, behind which is the mouth of the Santiago river, Poza Harbour, San Lorenzo Bay, Pailon basin and a network of navigable channels, all of which are difficult of access. The small ports of La Tola and Pailon are located on these waters. The port of Esmeraldas, near the mouth of the Esmeraldas river, is located near the southern entrance to this bay. As the mouth of the river is obstructed by a bar and its current is swift, the anchorage is outside in an open roadstead, only slightly protected on the south. Farther south is the broad Bay of Manta, with a small port of the same name at its southern extremity. The most frequented port on this part of the coast is that of Bahia de Caráquez, at the mouth of the Caráquez, or Caracas river, which is also obstructed by a bar. There is a fertile, productive country back of this port, and it is the objective point of a road from Quito. Immediately north of the Gulf of Guayaquil is the Bay of Santa Élena, with a small port of the same name, which has a good, well-sheltered anchorage and is the landing-place of the West Coast cable. The Gulf of Guayaquil, which lies between the Ecuadorean and Peruvian coasts, is the largest gulf on the Pacific coast of South America between Panama and Chiloe. Its mouth is 140 m. wide between La Puntilla on the north and Cabo Blanco on the south, and it penetrates the land eastward, with a slight curve northward at its head, for a distance of about 100 m., terminating in the Guayas estuary or river, on which is located the port of Guayaquil. The upper end of the bay and its northern shores are fringed with swamps through which numerous estuaries penetrate for some distance inland. Immediately west of the Guayas river the Estero Salado, which comprises a great many shallow tide-water channels, or bayous, penetrates as far inland as Guayaquil, but is used only by canoes. The upper end of the gulf is filling up with the silt brought down from the Cordillera. It is divided midway by the large island of Puna, at the eastern end of which is the anchorage for steamers too large to ascend the Guayas. The steamship channel passes between this island and the Peruvian coast, and is known as the Jambeli channel. The passage north of Puna Island is known as the Morro channel, but its entrance is obstructed by shoals and it is considered dangerous for shipping. A small port in the Jambeli channel, on the south-east shore of the gulf, is that of Puerto Bolivar, or Puerto Huaila, the shipping port for the town of Machala and the Zaruma mining region.
There are few islands off the coast of Ecuador, and only one of any considerable size—that of Puna in the Gulf of Guayaquil, which is 29 m. long from north-east to south-west and 8 to 14 m. wide. It lies in the north-east part of the gulf, and is separated from the Ecuadorean mainland by the Morro channel, and from the southern mainland by the wider and Islands.deeper Jambeli channel. There is a low, mountainous ridge, called the Zampo Palo, running through it, and its eastern shores have some moderately high bluffs; otherwise the island is low and swampy, and its shores, except the eastern end, are fringed with mud banks. The island is densely wooded (in marked contrast with the opposite Peruvian shore), and is considered unhealthy throughout the greater part. It has a population of 200, chiefly centred in the village of Puna, at its north-east extremity, which is a shipping port and health resort for the city of Guayaquil. Puna island is celebrated for its connexion with Pizarro’s invasion of Peru in 1531. It is said that it had a considerable population at that time, and that the natives resisted the invaders so vigorously that it cost six months to reduce them. Midway in the outer part of the Gulf of Guayaquil is Amortajada or Santa Clara island, whose resemblance to a shrouded corpse suggested the name which it bears. It lies 12 m. south-west of Puna island and 80 m. from Guayaquil. It rises to a considerable elevation, and carries a light 256 ft. above sea-level. There are some low, swampy islands, or mud flats, covered with mangrove thickets, in the lower Guayas river, but they are uninhabited and of no importance. North of the Gulf of Guayaquil there are only two small islands on the coast of more than local interest. The first of these is Salango, in lat. 1° 25′ S., which is 2 m. in circumference and rises to a height of 524 ft. It is richly wooded, and has a well-sheltered anchorage much frequented by whalers in search of water and fresh provisions. The next is La Plata, in lat. 1° 16′ S., which rises to a height of 790 ft., and has a deep anchorage on its eastern side where Drake is said to have anchored in 1579 to divide the spoils of the Spanish treasure ship “Cacafuego.” The Galapagos Islands (q.v.) belong to the republic of Ecuador, and form a part of the province of Guayas.
Geology.[1]—The great longitudinal depression which lies between the eastern and the western branches of the Andes is also the boundary between the ancient rocks of the east and the Mesozoic beds which form the greater part of the west of the country. The Eastern Cordillera is composed of gneiss, mica and chlorite schist and other crystalline rocks of ancient date; the Western Cordillera, on the other hand, is formed of porphyritic eruptive rocks of Mesozoic age, together with sedimentary deposits containing Cretaceous fossils. Most of the country between the Andes and the sea is covered by Tertiary and Quaternary beds; but the range of hills which runs north-west from Guayaquil is formed of Cretaceous and porphyritic rocks similar to those of the Andes. In the intra-andine depression, between the East and West Cordilleras, recent deposits with plant remains occur near Loja, and to the north-east of Cuenca is a sandstone containing mercury ores, somewhat similar to that of Peru. Farther north nearly the whole of the depression is filled with lavas, tuffs and agglomerates, derived from the Tertiary and recent volcanoes which form the most striking feature of the Andes of Ecuador. These volcanoes are most numerous in the northern half of the country, and they stand indifferently upon the folded Mesozoic beds of the Western Cordillera (e.g. Chimborazo, Iliniza, Pichincha), the ancient rocks of the Eastern Cordillera (Altar, Tunguragua, Cotopaxi, Antisana), or the floor of the great depression between. The lavas and ashes are for the most part andesitic.
Climate.—Climatic conditions in Ecuador are very largely contingent on altitude, and the transition from one climate to another is a matter of only a few hours’ journey. Although the equator crosses the northern part of the republic, only 15 m. north of the city Of Quito, a very considerable part of its area has the temperature of the temperate zone, and snow-crowned summits are to be seen every day in the year from its great central plateau. In addition to the climatic changes due to altitude, there are others caused by local arid conditions, by volcanic influences and by the influence of mountain ranges on the temperature and rainfall of certain districts. These influences are not general; on the contrary, they often affect very limited areas. For instance, Guayaquil has a hot humid climate and mangrove swamps line the shores of Guayas down to the gulf; at Santa Élena, about 60 m. due west, arid conditions prevail and vegetation is scanty and dwarfed; at Salango island, 50 m. north of Santa Élena, there is an abundance of moisture and vegetation is luxuriant; 33 m. farther north, at Manta, the country is a desert; and at Atacames bay, 135 m. north of Manta, the rainfall and vegetation are again favourable. On the plateau similar conditions prevail. There is no great display of arboreal vegetation anywhere except in the valleys and lower passes where the rainfall is abundant, but in general terms it may be said that the rainfall and vegetation which characterize the Quito basin soon disappear as one proceeds southward, and are substituted by arid conditions. Even here there are local modifications, as at Ambato, where a shallow depression, surrounded by barren, dust-covered ridges exposed to cold winds, is celebrated for its warm, equable climate and its fruit. It is to be noted that the Gulf of Guayaquil separates the humid, forest-covered coastal plain of Ecuador from the arid, barren coast of Peru, the two regions being widely dissimilar. The mean annual temperature, on this plain, according to an official publication, is 82·4° F., and the range is from 66° to 95°. The heat is modified at many points on the coast, however, by the cold Humboldt current which sweeps up the west coast of South America from the Antarctic seas. The year is divided into a wet and dry season—the former running from December to June, and the latter from July to December. The rainy season, or invierno, is broken by a short period of dry weather, called the veranillo (little summer), shortly after the December solstice; otherwise it rains every day, the streams overflow, land traffic is suspended, and the air is drenched with moisture and becomes oppressive and pestiferous. The dry season, which is called the verano, or summer, is also broken by a short rainy spell called the inviernillo (little winter) or “cordonazo de San Francisco,” which follows the September equinox. Apart from these the two seasons are sometimes broken by cloudless skies in winter, and a drizzling mist, called the garua, in summer. In the inter-andine region the variations in temperature are frequent and the averages comparatively low. An official estimate gives the mean annual temperature as 64° to 68° between 6000 and 11,000 ft. In Quito the mean annual temperature is 58·8°, the diurnal variation 10°, the annual maximum 70°, and the annual minimum 45°. Other returns give the mean annual temperature at 55°. It is said that pulmonary tuberculosis is unknown in these altitudes, though it is common in the coast districts. Catarrhal complaints are common, however, and leprosy is widely prevalent, it being necessary to maintain three large hospitals for lepers. In the higher altitudes there are wide variations in the snow-fall and intensity of the cold even on the same mountain. The line of permanent snow is much higher on the plateau side in both ranges, the precipitation being greater on the outer sides—those facing the forested lowlands—and the terrestrial radiation being greater from the barren surfaces of the plateau. In some instances the difference in the elevation of the snow-line has been found to be fully 1000 ft. Moreover, no two summits seem to retain the snow permanently at the same altitude. For instance, in 1880 Whymper found permanent snow on Cotocachi at 14,500 ft., while near by Imbabura was bare to its summit (15,033 ft.); Antisana was permanently covered at 16,000 ft., and near by Sara-Urcu, which is drenched with rains and mists from the Amazon valley- ↑ See J. Siemiradzki, “Geologische Reisenotizen aus Ecuador,” Neues Jahrb. f. Min., Beil. Band iv. (1886, pp. 195-227, pl. vii.); Th. Wolf, Geografia y geologia del Ecuador, publicada por orden del Supremo Gobierno de la Republica (Leipzig, 1892); W. Reiss and A. Stübel, Reisen in Sud-America. Das Hochgebirge der Republik Ecuador (Berlin, 1892–1902).
