number of the courts; I lived in picturesque and formal Quito and in
lazy, easygoing Guayaquil; and I bounced in a jeep through a part of
the fabulous Oriente. I believe I know the Ecuadoran people, and I feel
a warm friendship for them. I hope that this sentiment has not miti-
gated the objectivity -- the "irrational passion for dispassionate ration-
ality" -- which I have endeavored to preserve in the following pages.

I was aided by a number of Ecuadorans while I was in their country,
and it is difficult to single out a few of them for mention here. I am
particularly grateful to Aníbal and Barbara Buitrón -- she is a North
American -- for their warm hospitality and invaluable aid on Indian
questions, and to Dr. Pío Jaramillo Alvarado, the venerable dean of
Ecuador's students of Indian life, for his assistance in understanding
a number of social problems. Dr. Homero Viteri Lafronte and his son,
Jorge Viteri de la Huerta; former Presidents Carlos Alberto Arroyo
del Río and Federico Páez; and Mayor Rafael Guerrero Valenzuela of
Guayaquil gave unstintingly of their time in aiding with political data.
Dr. José Vicente Trujillo and Fernando Barredo Hidalgo were exceed-
ingly helpful in the development of information and viewpoints on the
judicial function; and I profited greatly from Dr. Carlos A. Rolando's
knowledge of the field of administrative history. To José Coronel Robles,
my "man Friday" at Guayaquil, I am exceedingly thankful.

I owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Russell H. Fitzgibbon of the Univer-
sity of California, Los Angeles, for innumerable forms of aid, not the
least of which was a most helpful critical reading of the manuscript;
and to Drs. Foster H. Sherwood and Robert G. Neumann, also of the
University of California, Los Angeles, who likewise made valuable sug-
gestions. Also, sections of the text were criticized by Drs. Charles S.
Hyneman and Paul P. Van Riper, both of Northwestern University. I
wish, further, to acknowledge the help of the Honorable John F. Sim-
mons, the United States Ambassador at Quito, and the assistance of the
Division of International Exchange of Persons, United States Depart-
ment of State, which made possible my stay in Ecuador from March to
September of 1948. None of these people, of course, is guilty of com-
plicity in any errors of fact or judgment which may have crept into
the book; the responsibility for them is my own.

G. I. B.

Evanston, Illinois
March, 1950

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