These rivers are fordable in summer, but in winter can be crossed only by the bridges. Theplain of Cuença is about six leagues long, and in it these four rivers unite and form a large stream. The streets are straight and broad, the houses mostly of adobes, or unburnt bricks; the Indian suburbs, consisting of low mean huts; but the place is well supplied with water, and the environs are extremely fertile and pleasant. It contains three churches, two of which are appropriated to the Indians; there are also four convents, two nunneries, and a college formerly belonging to the Jesuits, with an hospital.
Its public offices are the chamber of finance, and those of the government of the city; and the tithes and taxes of Loja and Jaen de Bracameros, are collected here.
The men are said to be very indolent, the manufactures of baize and cottons, being carried on by the women, who transact most of the business.
Its inhabitants exceed 20,000. The district of Cuença is subdivided into two departments,Cuença, andAlausi; the former including ten villages, and the latter, which borders on Riobamba, has four.
They produce sugar, cattle, cotton, and grain, and a great quantity of cloth is manufactured in them. The mines in this country are very numerous, but from want of capital, and other causes, are not worked.
This district is famed for the many remains of Peruvian architecture it contains, the ruins of the Fort of Cannar before mentioned, being near the village of Atun-cannar, or Great Cannar, which village is also noted for its corn fields, affording very rich harvests.
The unfortunate inhabitants of the district were inhumanly massacred by Atabalipa, on account of their siding with his brother Huascar; and it is stated, that he caused 60,000 to be slain after the victory he gained over that monarch.
The climate of the city of Cuença is mild, the cold being little felt, and the heat very moderate. It is subject, however, to dreadful storms of rain, thunder and lightning, and in the department of Alausi, to earthquakes; the whole of that part of the district being full of chasms and crevices, caused by these events. In this part the air is also cold, on account of the neighbourhood of the snowy mountains.
Alausi, the chief place of the second department, is an inconsiderable town, containing a few Spaniards of rank, mestizoes and Indians, with a good parish church, and a Franciscan convent, in 2° 12ʹ north latitude, and 78° 39ʹ west longitude.
The last jurisdiction of Quito on the south, which is not a separate province, isLoja, orLoxathe chief town of which has the same appellation, and was founded in 1540, by Alonzo de Mercadillo, resembling in extent, form and manner of building, the city of Cuença, but the climate is much hotter. In Loja are two churches, several convents, a nunnery, an hospital, and an ancient college of the Jesuits; its population is about 10,000 souls, who are an industrious people, governed by an officer of high rank, having some peculiar titles and privileges.
In this district are fourteen villages, and it is famous for producing great quantities of the best quinquina, or cinchona, so well known as a medicine; the forests of Loxa contain three kinds of this substance.
The trees which produce this bark are not of the largest size, the usual height being about fifteen feet; the largest branches do not always yield the best; and in order to collect the bark, the Indians cut down the trees, then strip them and dry the rind in the sun, after which it is packed for exportation. Cochineal of an extreme good quality is bred in this country, but so little care is taken, that enough isonly produced to serve the dyers of Cuença. Numerous droves of cattle and mules are sent from this district to Peru and Quito; and the manufacture of carpets, in which the cochineal dye is used, is very considerable.
The village ofZerumais celebrated for having some rich gold veins in its neighbourhood, which have failed, owing to the want of proper exertion being made to clear them. This town or village was one of the first which was built in the province, and contains five or six thousand inhabitants.
This government following that of Loja on the south, we shall describe it before those of Quixos and Maynas, although it is the most southern of the provinces of Quito. It is bounded on the north by Loja and Quixos, or Macas, on the east by Maynas, on the west by Piura, and on the south by Caxamarca, or Chachapoyas in Peru. Its southern and western frontiers limit the territories of the viceroyalty of Peru.
Bracamoros was first discovered and explored in 1538, by Pedro de Vergara, who was appointed to command an expedition by Hernando Pizarro. Juan de Salinas was sent afterwards to this province with the title of governor; by courage and artifice, he conquered the native tribes, and built several villages, some of which are dignified with the names of cities. The Indians of the country, known at that time by the names of Yaguarsongo, and Pacamoros revolted and destroyed all the principal settlements, and those which escaped, dreading a return of a similar calamity, united themselves into one town called Jaen, from which the whole province has now taken its name.
The town, or city ofJaen, lies in nearly the same longitude as Quito, and in about 5° 25ʹ south latitude;it was founded in 1549, by Diego Palomino, on the river Chinchipe at its conflux with the false Maranon. Its inhabitants amount to about 4000, being chiefly mestizoes, a very few Indians, and still fewer Spaniards.
There are three other villages calledValladolid,Loyola, andSantiago de las Montañas, which are styled cities, but contain very few inhabitants to support this title. The other villages, which are about ten in number, are mostly peopled by Indians.
The Pongo de Manseriche, or strait by which the False Maranon passes the Andes, is partly in this district.
The embarkation on the Lauricocha, the present name for a river which was until very lately supposed to be the Maranon, is usually at Chuchunga, a village of Bracamoros, in 5° 29ʹ south latitude, four daysʼ journey from Jaen; the river not being navigable nearer than this, on account of the rapids.
In Jaen, the climate is hot, though the rains are not so violent or lasting as in Quixos; the summer is the pleasantest season, as the heat, the rains, and the tempests abate during that period.
Such parts of this country as are under cultivation, are very fertile, but nearly the whole government is covered with forests. The cacao flourishes very much, but owing to the difficulty of carriage, cannot be exported with profit; tobacco seems peculiar to the soil, as great quantities are produced, which being prepared in a peculiar manner, by soaking the leaves in decoctions of fragrant herbs, acquires so pleasant a taste, that the cigars of Jaen are universally sought after in Peru, Chili, and Quito. Cotton-trees are very abundant, and their produce constitutes a great part of the traffic of the inhabitants. The rivers of Bracamoros formerly produced a great deal of gold, but no exertions are made to procure the grains at present.
Its commerce consists in cotton, tobacco and mules, with which a brisk trade is carried on with the provinces of Peru and Quito, in return for European articles.
The animals peculiar to the wilds of Jaen are the cougar, or puma, the jaguar, and the great black bear of the Andes, which equally inhabits all the mountain regions of Quito. They have also a very large animal called danta, which is as big as an ox; its skin is white, and it has a horn in the middle of its head bending backwards; and the woods are abundantly stocked with reptiles and birds.
All the rivers of Jaen flow into the Lauricocha, or descend into the deserts of the Maranon to join that noble stream on the east. The communication by post is carried on down these rivers, and the Indian, who carries the letters, wraps them in his dress which he ties round his head, and with a great knife in his hand, to clear the underwood which may obstruct his road when obliged to land, he descends swimming for two days the river of Guacabamba, or Chamaya, and then the Amazons to Tomependa, a village of Jaen. The Chamaya is full of rapids, but the postman passes these by land, and generally carries with him a log of bombax or balsa, in order to rest himself on in the water. In the huts of the natives, which mostly lie along the shores, he finds food and welcome, and none of these rivers are infested with alligators, which generally prefer water whose stream is not rapid.
The Indians who inhabit Bracamoros are usually in large hordes, and on their migrations from one hunting ground to another, they generally travel in this manner, excepting when they ascend the country; then the forests offer the only paths; and through these (in which cinchona of the finest quality is found) they are forced to hew their way with their long knives.
The government of Maynas is the most eastern territory of Quito; it extends to the Portuguese frontiers on the Great Maranon, and is bounded on the north by Quixos, west by Bracamoros and Peru; south by Peru, and eastward by Portuguese America, and the missions north of the Maranon.
The extent of Maynas cannot be computed, as the greater part of it consists of the immense forests of the vale of the Amazons.
Its capital isSt. Francisco de Borja, orBorja, in 4° 28ʹ south latitude, and 76° 24ʹ west longitude. The inhabitants are not numerous, being mostly creoles and Indians; but the governor resides here, who is styled governor of Maynas and Maranon. The western district of Maynas contains, besides the city of Borja, the town ofSantiago de la LagunaorCocamason the eastern bank of the river Guallaga. This is the seat of the superior of the missions, which are spread among the Cocames, the Maynas, Xibaros, Panos, Omaguas, Chamicuros, Aguanos, Muniches, Otanabes, Roamaynas, Gaes, Napeanos, Yurimaguas, and several other Indian tribes. On the river Napo these missionaries have twelve villages, and on the False and True Maranon, as far as the Rio Negro, upwards of twenty-four, with many infant settlements. In the interior, and on the banks of other rivers which flow into the Maranon, they have also many populous and flourishing places, among various tribes of Indians, but most of which are little known.
All these nations of Indians have a great affinity to each other in appearance and manners, but their languages differ as much as those of the northern continent; many of them have also very singular customs; the Omaguas flattening the heads of their infants,by compressing them constantly between boards, and fancying that this gives them a very beautiful appearance; these people were converted by father Fritz, in 1686.
Other tribes bore holes in the septum of the nose, in the lips, or in their chins, sticking in these fine feathers or other ornaments, whilst some extend the lobes of their ears, by constantly hanging weights to them, till they descend to the shoulders.
Maynas is chiefly remarkable as being the country which was supposed to contain such invaluable forests of cinnamon, that the brother of Pizarro nearly lost his life in endeavouring to find it. This exploratory march of the governor of Quito led to the discovery of one of the finest rivers in the world; a part of which traverses this district.
The riverMaranonrises in the southern Andes of Peru, and if its length is estimated from its known parts only, to the Atlantic, it rolls its waters through a space equal to 4500 miles, and it is said that a vessel of 4 or 500 tons, might actually navigate it throughout this immense extent. It receives on every side along its majestic course, streams which are themselves longer and deeper than most of the great rivers of Europe; theBeni, theLauricochaorTunguragua, theMaderaorLlavari, and theNegro, are all of this description; besides which, as a late traveller in Brazil has observed, it may be said to receive thousands of others into its bosom. Near its supposed sources, this noble stream, or rather inland sea, is called theApurimac, and rises to the south of the mountains of Cailloma, between 16 and 17 degrees of south latitude, near the city of Arequipa, where it is joined by theMonigoteorPanguana, and is so deep that on entering the province of Canes, a rope bridge becomes necessary. Eight miles below this bridge it passes through the Andes, amid awful precipices, and is joined by thePampasorCharcasin 13° 10ʹ south latitude from the west. TheVilcamayo, nearly equal in size to the Apurimac, falls into it, at 12° 15ʹ south latitude, and the RioJauja, orMantaroin 12° 6ʹ south latitude. At the junction of this stream with the Apurimac, the current which had before run from north-west, changes to the north-east. ThePereneat 11° 13ʹ, and theYnambari, orPaucartambo, at 10° 45ʹ, augment its swelling waters, after which, from hence to 8° 26ʹ south latitude, it receives forty large streams; but none so considerable as theBeni, whose sources lie in the province of Sicasica, in 19° south latitude. At its confluence with this river, the Apurimac is called theGrand Para, and is two miles in width; and at 8° 26ʹ south latitude; thePachiteathrows in its tributary waters.
Northward of this last thePiachizjoins it, and here the river changes from north to north-east. At 7° 35ʹ south latitude, theAguaytrafalls into it, and in 7° south latitude, theManoaorCuxniabatay, theSariacuat 6° 45ʹ south latitude, and theTapichiat 5° south latitude. The stream has now borne for some time the name ofUcayale, and proceeding under this appellation, with an immense volume, it receives at 4° 55ʹ south latitude, theTunguragua,Lauricocha, orFalse Maranon. It now divides into three branches, the largest of which is 55 fathoms in depth, and turns directly to the east. Before describing its farther progress, it is necessary to say that some authors have doubted whether the Beni is not the true Maranon, as its sources are farther south than those of the Apurimac; and it is of such force, and has such an immense width on its junction with that river, that it actually drives the Apurimac towards the west for some distance.
TheTunguraguawas formerly considered to be the Real Amazons, but that opinion is now quite exploded; it rises in the province of Tarmain Peru, in the lake Lauricocha, near the city of Guanuco, in 11° south latitude, and flows through Peru to Bracamoros, where passing by Jaen, it turns to the east, and pours itself, after intersecting the Andes at the Pongo de Manseriche into the Maranon by an immense mouth, below the village of St. Regis.
The Tunguragua receives many large tributary streams, in the kingdom of Peru, one of which, theGuallaga, rising in the southern Andes, east of Guamanga, is at its conflux with the Lauricocha, 450 yards wide, and thirty-four fathoms deep.
The Ucayale, or True Maranon, is navigable at all seasons; it was explored in 1794 by father Girval, who ascended it from St. Regis to the river Pachitea, and found its current gentle, abounding with fish, and its banks crowned with superb forests stored with wild animals. The native tribes on its shores were generally of a pacific nature, and in the course of 300 leagues he found 132 islands.
From the confluence of the Ucayale and Tunguragua, the river decidedly receives the name ofMaranon, and flows with a gentle current, and with an increasing expanse of waters into the Atlantic Ocean; its course lies mostly through the Portuguese territories of Amazonia, Guiana, and Grand Para. It receives from the Cordillera of Quito, theCaquetaandApapures, which running into each other, become a noble river, under the name of theYapura. TheNapo, which was the river on which Orellana first embarked, also rises in Quito, as does thePutumayo, orIca, which flows into the Maranon, between the Napo and the Yapura. East of these rivers, besides an immense number of smaller streams, the Maranon receives the greatRio Negro, by which it communicates with the Orinoco. Between the junction of the Negro and the Atlantic Ocean, innumerable streams rising in the deserts of Portuguese Guiana pour in theirtributary waters from the north; on its south side this amazing river receives, commencing from the west after the conflux of the Lauricocha, theYavari, theJutay, theJuruay, theTefe,Carori,Puros, and the greatMadera, which has its sources in Potosi, far south of the Apurimac, and falls into the Maranon by numerous mouths; and theTopayos,Zingu,Dos Bocas, theTocantinsand theMugu, issuing from the mining districts of Brasil, pay their tribute to the Maranon, until it rushes into the vast bosom of the Atlantic.
In breadth and depth the Maranon answers almost every where to its immense length, and it forms throughout its course, innumerable islands, especially between the mouths of theNapoand theCarori, which are picturesque in the extreme, from the great variety of their figures, and from the beautiful straits they form between their banks. The depth of the branches formed by these islands, near St. Pablo, or St. Paul de Omaguas, the western Portuguese fort, on the frontiers of New Granada and Peru, is more than a mile. At Coari, where the groups of isles terminate for a short space, the river is nearly a mile and a half broad, and M. de la Condamine, after taking every precaution against the effect of the current, found no bottom with 100 fathoms of line; 400 miles below the mouth of the Negro, the shores of the Maranon approach each other, and this place is called the Straight of Pauxis; the breadth here is only a mile, and the tides are perceptible, though the ocean is still 200 leagues distant.
Proceeding onward, with a majestic course, and forming numerous islands and straights, the river directs its course, after receiving the Zingu, towards the north-east, and enlarging its boundaries in the most astonishing manner, it runs, with accumulated force, to its final destination, forming, as it glides along, several very large insulatedplaces; one of these dividing it at last into two mouths, by which it enters the Atlantic Ocean.
This island, called Joanes, is 150 leagues in length, and from its Cape Maguari to Cape Norte, on the opposite continent, the largest of the two estuaries is forty-five leagues in breadth, whilst the lesser is twelve leagues broad, from the same Cape Maguari to Tigioca point, on the southern continent.
The Maranon is subject to periodical floods during the rainy seasons, at which times it overflows, and fertilizes the country adjacent to its banks. The descent of this river in a straight course of 1860 miles, was found by M. de la Condamine, (who embarked on the Tunguragua and joined the Maranon) to be about 1020 feet, or rather more than six inches in a mile; and the place where the tides are first perceptible, is 90 feet above the level of the sea.
Its banks are adorned with every variety of plants peculiar to tropical countries; immense and stately forests are every where observed, inhabited only by the wild animals, or by man in a state of nature. The settlements of the Portuguese, extend only a very short distance from the Atlantic, where they have here and there a fort, in the most open situations of the interior; the rest of the valley of the Amazons is in the possession of its ancient tenants.
A history of the discovery of this river from the interior, has been already given; but Orellana was not the first who explored it. Vicente Yanez Pinzon, who accompanied Columbus in his first voyage, was the person by whom this was achieved. At his own expence, he fitted out four vessels in Spain, in 1499, and sailed to the Canaries; passing Cape Verde, he steered directly west, till on the 26th January 1500, when he saw the land, which he named Cabo de Consolacion (now called Cape St. Augustine); landing here, and viewing thecountry, he determined to coast along its shores, until he at last found himself in a fresh water sea, and advancing further, he discovered the islands at the mouth of the river, and trading with the Indians who inhabited its banks, he called it by what he heard them name it, the Maranon.
This discovery was followed by that of Orellana from the interior, in 1540. In 1559, Pedro de Orsua endeavoured to trace the route of Orellana, but was killed by the Indians.
In 1602, Rafael Ferrer explored the river for a short space, and gave the first account of the nations on its shores.
In 1616, some soldiers, pursuing the Indians, fell in with the False Maranon, and went down it in canoes; on their return, and in consequence of what they reported, Baca de Vega was appointed governor of Maynas, in 1618.
Some missionaries afterwards proceeded as far as Para in Brasil, from whence they were dispatched with a flotilla of boats, to re-ascend and explore the banks of the river. They departed on the 28th of October 1637, and reached Palamino in Quixos, on the 24th June 1638.
In consequence of this voyage, the flotilla was ordered to return to Para, with several intelligent persons on board, who were to make a further survey, and then proceed by way of the Portuguese territory, to Spain. They accordingly set out from Quito, on the 16th of February 1639, and reached Grand Para, after a voyage of ten months; whence they crossed the Atlantic to Europe.
The missionaries now exerted themselves to form settlements, but none so arduously as Father Fritz, who sailed down the river from Maynas to Para, in 1689, and returned by the same route, in 1691; he subsequently visited most of the rivers which flow into the False Maranon, as well as some of those down to the Negro, which fall into thegenuine river, and drew a map of these, which was engraved at Quito, in 1707.
Father Girval explored the Ucayale, or True Maranon, in 1794, extracts from whose account will appear in the description of Peru.
The voyage of M. de la Condamine, in 1793, down the Maranon, from the province of Jaen de Bracamoros, to the Atlantic Ocean, threw a great light on the geography of this famous river, since which period no traveller of any note has undertaken this dangerous and fatiguing journey, for scientific purposes alone. A stronger motive than the mere love of science induced a lady to venture herself on the immeasurable expanse of the Maranon. Madame Godin des Odonnois, the wife of M. Godin, a brother of the celebrated mathematician of that name, had received advices from her husband, that it would be necessary to embark with her family on this perilous voyage. Actuated by the spirit of conjugal affection, she committed herself to the bosom of the river, in 1769. In this expedition the greater part of the company who went with her, perished, having lost their way in the trackless forests of the country; after the most inconceivable struggles, she regained the borders of the river, and sailed down it to the ocean. The narrative of the disasters which befel her is one of the most affecting relations ever penned by the hand of man; and her conduct exhibits a picture of the fortitude which woman is capable of exerting, in situations under which the mind of the bravest of the other sex fails. From Madame Godin alone, this noble river might be named the Amazons.
One of the extraordinary circumstances respecting this river, is the pororoca, or bore, a sudden efflux of the waters, which rush like a moving wall, twelve or fifteen feet in height, and sweep every thing before them; the noise of this irruption may be heard for eight miles; it is chiefly observable at the Cape del Norte, at its confluence with the Arowary.This rising of the waters is observable in several rivers and arms of the sea, in the New and Old Worlds; the river Severn in England, and the bay or basin of Minas in Nova Scotia, are, with that of the Ganges in India, among the most remarkable.
The waters of the Maranon run with such velocity, that they are unmixed with the salt of the ocean, 80 leagues from the mouth.
Maynas contains several other rivers besides the Lauricocha, the most noted of which are theNapo, issuing from Cotopaxi, which receives several other streams, and after a course of 200 leagues, falls into the Maranon. Father de Acuna insisted that this was the true Amazons.
The RiverIca, orPutamayo, rising in the district of Ibarra, falls into the Maranon, east of the Napo, after a course of 300 leagues. TheYapura, which rising in Popayan, under the name ofCaqueta, runs into the Maranon, by several mouths. One branch of this river was formerly thought to be the great Rio Negro, the junction of which, with the Orinoco, is so exactly laid down in a map of Father Ferreira, of the city of Gran Para, that it differs in very few respects from the late discoveries of M. de Humboldt on the Cassiquiare. The Portuguese penetrated from the Amazons to the Orinoco, by means of canoes, as early as 1774; and M. de la Condamine, also gives a very reasonable description of this famous junction.
TheRio Negrorises a short space north of the Caqueta or Yapura, and after an amazing course, sends off one branch to the Orinoco, directly north, and another south-easterly to the Maranon. The northern branch is now known by the name of theCassiquiare: these afford an inland communication between two of the most celebrated rivers in the world; and as the settlements of the Spaniards in Caraccas, and the Portuguese in Guiana, approach each nearer and nearer everyyear, this natural canal will shortly become of great importance.
The most remarkable natural curiosity in Maynas is the Pongo or straight, through which the Lauricocha passes the Andes. The river above the Pongo, runs down a mountain channel, forming rapids, cataracts, &c., approaching the eastern ridge of the Andes, where it suddenly contracts its bounds, from 1600 to 600 feet, and rushes through a crevice of tremendous height for the space of eight miles.
The vortices are so powerful here, that a missionary was kept in one for two days, and would have perished with his raft, if the river had not suddenly swollen and carried him out of it. Balsas are always used in this strait, as the spring they have resists the shocks which they experience when dashed against the rocks; in such cases, a canoe or boat would be broke to pieces.
La Condamine was carried through on his balsa at the rate of nine miles an hour, and emerging from the jaws of the mountain, he found himself in a new world, separated from all human intercourse, on a fresh water sea, surrounded by a maze of rivers and lakes, which struck in every direction into the gloom of an immense forest, impenetrable but for them. New plants and animals were exhibited to his view, the soil covered with a dense mass of vegetation never appeared, and nothing was to be seen but verdure and water. Below Borja, and four or 500 hundred leagues beyond it a stone or a pebble is as rare as a diamond.
In Maynas the Indians are great adepts in fishing, and the rivers swarm with tortoises on their shores and islands, which they catch in great numbers. The manati or sea-cow is also sought after by them for food; it is about three or four yards long, and very broad, with two large wing fins. This animal feeds on the herbage growing along shore, and has obtained its name from itsgreat size, and from its suckling its young in the manner of a cow, and its flesh tastes also like beef.
This country, particularly along the rivers, is infested with large snakes, or boa constrictors, and in the places where these abound, the air is generally hot and unhealthy, as is the case along the whole range of the vast river Maranon, which likewise swarms with alligators, venomous reptiles, and insects.
The government of Quixos and Macas is the last and most easterly of those of the audience of Quito and kingdom of New Granada; it is bounded on the north by Popayan and the plains; east by Portuguese Guiana; on the west it is separated from Latacunga and Ibarra by the Cordilleras of Cotopaxi, Cayambe, &c., and on the south, it is limited by Maynas and Bracamoros.
This country was first discovered by Gonzalo de Pineda, as before related, in 1536. The viceroy Canete, commissioned Davalos to govern the province, reduce the Indians, and found towns. He accordingly erected Baeza the capital, in 1559, and this was soon followed by the building of Archidona, Avila, and other places.
In Quixos the climate is very hot and moist, the rains being almost continual. It is covered with thick forests, some of the trees in which are of prodigious magnitude. In the south-west of Quixos, is the country calledLos Canelos, a sort of spice resembling cinnamon growing there. The south part of Quixos is calledMacas, and is separated into a distinct district, under that appellation, of which the chief town is the city ofMacas, orSevilla de Oro.
The climate of Macas is better than that of Quixos, as the proximity of the Andes occasions to be much cooler. The winter here begins inApril, and lasts till September, the summer then commences, and the north winds blowing constantly, renders it very mild. The chief occupation of the settlers is the cultivation of tobacco which is exported to Peru; sugar canes thrive very well, as do cotton, grain, &c. Among the infinite variety of trees, which the forests are composed of, is the storax, distinguished by the exquisite fragrancy of its gum. Great quantities of copal are brought from Macas as well as wild wax, and the district contains eight principal villages, and numerous missionary settlements, two priests or superiors governing the spiritual affairs. At the conquest, this country was very populous, owing to the quantity of gold drawn from the neighbourhood of Macas.
Baeza, the capital of Quixos y Macas, is a miserable village, of only eight or nine houses, the governor residing always at Archidona.
Macas, the chief town of Macas, lies in 2° 30ʹ south latitude, and 78° 5ʹ west longitude. Its houses are built of wood and thatched; the inhabitants who amount to 1200, are generally mestizoes or Spaniards.
Archidonais a small place, in 0° 45ʹ south of the line, and 76° 48ʹ west longitude. Its houses are of wood with thatched roofs, and the inhabitants amount to about 700, being a mixture of all castes. It was almost ruined in 1744, by an explosion of Cotopaxi.
Avilais in 0° 44ʹ south latitude, and 76° 25ʹ west longitude; its inhabitants amount to about 300, and its curate has six other villages under his jurisdiction. The number of regular villages in Quixos are twelve, with numerous missions. The independent Indians are still the chief occupiers of Quixos and Macas; their irruptions are frequent and much dreaded, most of them being of a warlike disposition. This prevents these countries from being colonized rapidly, but a few Spanishtroops properly managed, might however soon quell these people, and reduce them to a state of insignificance. The missions ofSucumbios, five in number, also belong to this government.
Quixos and Macas are intersected by the rivers mentioned as flowing into the Maranon through parts of Maynas; but little is known of the state of the country on their banks, as the aborigines are there the sole and undisputed masters.
FOOTNOTES:[A]The latitude of forty-four degrees south has been taken as the boundary of Spanish America, because it appears that in that parallel there are Spanish settlers dispersed amongst the islands on the west coasts of Terra Magellanica.
[A]The latitude of forty-four degrees south has been taken as the boundary of Spanish America, because it appears that in that parallel there are Spanish settlers dispersed amongst the islands on the west coasts of Terra Magellanica.
[A]The latitude of forty-four degrees south has been taken as the boundary of Spanish America, because it appears that in that parallel there are Spanish settlers dispersed amongst the islands on the west coasts of Terra Magellanica.
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
Printed by A. Strahan,Printers-Street, London
Punctuation and capitalization which appear to be printing errors have been fixed. Repeated spelling variations and inconsistencies (e.g. Louisiania and Louisiana, scite and site, caste and cast, Cape Gracias à Dios and Cape Gracios á Dios), as well as inconsistent hyphenation and older spellings, have been retained as printed in the original text. However, words that appear to be printing errors have been corrected and are listed below.
“govenor” changed to “governor” on page 52. (under the directions of the governor)
“runing” changed to “running” on page 136. (running underneath the ground)
“Yutacan” changed to “Yucatan” on page 155. (the east coast of Yucatan)
“isdivided” changed to “is divided” on page 188. (into which Cuba is divided)
“sacrified” changed to “sacrificed” on page 195. (the natives had sacrificed)
“coastsof” changed to “coasts of” in the footnote at the end of Part I. (the west coasts of Terra Magellanica)