The city of Quito is in a narrow gorge, where two beautiful plains are connected together between high mountains: This necessarily destroys the symmetry of the form of the city, contracting it by the moun tains in some parts, whilst it is extended in undue proportion in others. The high mountain Pichinca adjoins the city, and, indeed, a part of the city may be said to be built on its lower side. It rises about 6000 feet above the level parts of the city, and 16,000 above the level of the sea. Its ex treme summit is covered with eternal snow, and sup plies rivulets by its melting, which water the plain, and dispenses to the inhabitants the luxury of ice in the warmest seasons. In ancient times it was a tre mendous volcano, but its eruptions have ceased, and it now discharges neither fire nor smoke, but at fre quent periods rumbling noises issue from the crater, which call to mind the devastations its fiery streams formerly occasioned, and give to the inhabitants notes of fearful alarm. The principal square of Quito is a magnificent pile of building ; the whole of one side of it is filled with the cathedral church, the other by the episcopal palace. The other two aides opposite to each other are occupied by the Casa de Cabildo, or town hall, and by the hall of the royal audience, public buildings thus fanning the whole, with a beautiful fountain in the centre. There are two other squares, and the streets are numerous and wide, but, from the acclivity of the ground on which they stand, very irregular. This irregularity pre. vents the use of carriages, and the people of rank are carried in sedan chairs. Besides the cathedral, which is most sumptuously ornamented and adorned with images, covered with jewels, altars of pure silver, and candelabras of gold, there are seven pa rochial churches, various chapels, eight convents, five nunneries, and two hospitals, which are magni ficent buildings, and give an appearance of grandeur to the whole city. There are no theatres, but the inhabitants are indulged with numerous processions, which are intended to be of a religious nature, and were introduced under the pretence of appeasing the Deity, and thus restraining the force of that ele mentary war which, from their volcanic position, they have reason to dread. These processions, ac. companied with all the parade that rich dresses, gilded images, and gold and silver church furni ture, can afford, pass through the streets, whose inhabitants decorate their houses by exhibiting their most costly ornaments and dresses, whilst thou sands of Indians join the procession, and wont. puny it with their native music and dancing, to the delight of the silly and the contempt of the wilier part of the citizens. There is little commerce in the city ; the numerous offices of government, the courts of law, and especially the church, furnish callings to those who have what is there considered a liberal education, and trade is too degrading for such persons. There are some manufactories, how ever, both of cotton and of baize, but they are of inconsiderable extent, and conducted without either spirit or skill. The workmen in jewellery are con siderable, and the number of silversmiths is great in proportion to the population, as every man, above the vulgar, is furnished with silver forks, plates, spoons, and other domestic utensils, and decorates his horses with silver bitts, buckles, and stirrups.
The fertility of the surrounding district equals, if it does not exceed, the best portions of Santa Fe, and may be traced to the same causes,—the alluvial and volcanic nature of the soil, the facility of irriga tion, and the equable temperature of the climate. The progress of vegetation is constant and uniform through the whole year. Whilst some plants are fading, others of the same kind are springing up, and whilst some flowers are losing their beauty, others are beginning to bloom ; when the fruits have gained maturity, and the leaves begin to change their colour fresh leaves, blossoms, and fruits, are seen in their several gradations, on the same tree. The same cir cumstances are exhibited in the several grains : as sowing and reaping are carried on at the same time. The oorn recently sown is springing up, that which has been longer sown is in the blade, that longer is in blossom, and some fit for the sickle, thus exhibit ing, on the declivities of the mountains, all the beau. ties of the four European seasons within one view.
The breeding and fattening of cattle is conducted with equal facility, and the beef and mutton brought to the market of Quito is very good. The produce.
of the dairy is equal to that of the best ports of Eu rope; butter is abundant, and the quantity of cheese, made beyond what the wants of the inhabitants re quire, is so considerable as to form one of the chief branches of their commerce with the warmer dis tricts. Though thus favoured with all the pro ductions of the temperate zone, Quito is far from being destitute of the fruits of the tropical climates; in the valleys oranges, limes, and lemons, grow abundantly; and the plantains, bananas, sugar canes, melons, and guavas, are cultivated with very great success and little labour. They make from the maize, by fermentation, a species of beer of an intoxicating quality, to whose excessive use the In dians are addicted, whilst the sugar-cane produces, by distillation, an inferior kind of rum, which is too abundantly consumed by the higher classes, who prefer it to the wines of Peru. The mineral riches of the province of Quito are but small, few mines are worked, and those have only commenced lately, end give no favourable prospect of success. Some mercury has been found, and from the name Azogue, being that of a village near Cuenca, it is supposed a mine of that mineral in former times was worked there. Quito is celebrated for having been the spot chosen by the corps of Spanish and French mathe maticians, who were occupied in measuring a degree of the meridian in 1736, and the three following years. The sufferings they endured in the progress of the operation were severe, and might have been avoided by executing the experiment on some of the level and extensive plains to the eastward of the Cordilleras.
Within the presidency of Quito are several con siderable towns and populous villages. San Me guil de Ibara, which stands on a high culti vated plain, contains a population of 10,000 per eons. It is somewhat warmer than Quito, which causes the productions to approach nearer to those Of the tropics ; it contains a church, a college, and a nunnery. The most striking natural curiosity is the valley or fissure of Chota, 4900 feet in depth, al ways covered with luxuriant vegetation. Olabalo is thirty miles north of Quito, and somewhat colder. The population amounts to 15,000, mostly white Creoles ; but the populous villages that sur round it are chiefly peopled by Indians. In some of these villages are numerous tumuli, the burying pla ces of the ancient inhabitants. These have some times been perforated for the hidden treasure they were supposed to contain, and, though the reward has usually been inadequate to the labour, they have dis covered, among bones and skeletons, idols of gold and jewels, drinking vessels of earthenware, tools of cop per or stone, with mirrors of obsidian and polished flint. Latacunga contains about 12,000 inhabitants, and, though it has been the frequent victim of the con vulsions of nature, it has always risen from its ruins, and soon assumed a flourishing appearance. Being in a colder climate than Quito, the character of its productions are conformable. Large quantities of cheese, butter, and salted pork, are sent from hence to Guyaquil, and cloth and baize are manufactured to a moderate extent. Riobamba has been rebuilt since the tremendous catastrophe of 1797, in what is considered a more secure spot; and its population has as incweased, as now to amount to 20,000 per sons. It 'contains tee churches, four convents, two nunneries, and a hospital, and carries on a consider able traffic with Guyaquil, for wheat, maize, and salted meat. Hambato, a town of 10,000 inhabit ants, has suffered much from the convulsions of its neighbouring volcano; but, like Riobamba and Latacunga, has soon. recovered, been rebuilt, and quickly peopled. In proceeding southward from Quito, the plains about Hambato and Latacunga are the first places in which the Llamas or Peruvian beasts of burden are found. These animals, whose native place is the high mountains, cannot endure a warm climate ; and as some deep and warm valleys intervene betwixt this district and Quito, which they would never voluntarily pass, they are never seen in a wild state to the north of it. In Riobamba they are the common beasts of burden, and so general, that few even of the Indians are without one or two to carry his baggage and goods, when he has occasion to travel from one place to another.