The Salt Industry in Ecuador

Resumen

IN Ecuador the salt industry is controlled by the government, and the sale of salt is virtually a state monopoly. An early reference to this control runs thus: . . Lieutenant, invested with the civil government, resides at the town of Punta, two leagues from the port, where there are, indeed, warehouses, or rather sheds, for receiving salt and other goods, but no dwelling houses. The port of Punta has so many salt works, that it supplies the whole province of Quito and the jurisdiction of Guayaquil. salt is not the finest, but remarkably compact, and answers very well the principal intention, that of salting flesh. .. Vessels belonging to the merchants of Guayaquil of two hundred tuns, load here with salt; a trade, which from the cheapness of that commodity, turns to very good account. 1 Punta is the present Salinas, situated near the headland of Santa Elena, and it seems reasonable to assume that the primary use of the salt at that time was not so much as an article of food in a direct sense but as a means of preserving fish not only for the use of the inhabitants but possibly for the Spanish galleons which frequently called there for supplies. demand for salt is not vital amongst the coast dwellers, since they can resort to sea water in case of necessity; but they put salt to good use in curing the excellent fish that abounds in the coastal waters and constitutes their staple diet. fish is of a firm-textured and cool-water variety-the Humboldt Current flows near the coast for many months of the year-and when the fishermen have been fortunate in their harvest the womenfolk preserve the surplus that cannot be consumed or disposed of in other ways. preserving process is simple and, although it would not be approved of by a Department of Health, is apparently adequate for the people concerned. fish are gutted and cleaned in a primitive way and split in two, crushed salt is well rubbed in, and the fish slung over a bamboo pole to dry in the wind and sun.