Illustrated Gazetteer of the Maritime Kingdoms

Annual commerce collects 2.5 million dollars original: 圓 (yuán); referring to silver pesos in treasury silver. The public debt stands at twenty million dollars.

To its southwest lies the Equatorial Region original: 黃道地方 (Huángdào Dìfāng); literally "The Place of the Ecliptic," a translation of the name "Ecuador", namely the nation of Ecuador original: 厄瓜多爾國 (Èguāduō’ěr Guó). Its territory spans 15,385 li a traditional Chinese unit of distance. It has a population of 550,000 inhabitants. The land is divided into three departments and seven provinces, and it produces timber, sugar original: 詩葛 (shīgé); likely a phonetic transliteration of "sugar", and other commodities. Every year, its imports and exports each amount to approximately three million dollars, with 125 ships entering and leaving its ports. Guayaquil original: 危亞貴 (Wēiyàguì) is its major seaport. The public debt is 1,500 dollars The text likely omits "ten-thousand" here, as 1,500 would be an improbably small national debt.

The descendants of the Spanish original: 是班亞 (Shìbānyà) people there indulge in leisure and pleasure, dreading hard labor. They are fond of personal adornment; men and women gather to sing, and they eat and drink without moderation. Only the indigenous people have some knowledge of manual labor. The masses eat maize original: 西粟 (xīsù); literally "Western grain". The volcanoes reach a height of 18,000 feet original: 千八百丈 (qiān bābǎi zhàng); a zhang is roughly 10 feet; the mountain peaks pierce the very heavens, and the terrain is grand and steep.

However, the lands along the Orinoco River original: 阿利諾河 (Ālìnuò Hé) are low and flat, with many marshes and salt flats. Vegetation there is lush and flourishing. The people there are fierce by nature and fond of fighting; they only raise livestock and have not yet turned toward civilization original: 向化 (xiànghuà); a historical term for adopting "civilized" or settled customs, often implying assimilation into a colonial or imperial social order.