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.

_Archidona_ is 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.

_Avila_ is 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 Spanish troops properly managed, might however soon quell these people, and reduce them to a state of insignificance. The missions of _Sucumbios_, 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.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

Printed by A. Strahan, Printers-Street, London

Transcriberʼs Notes:

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)

End of Project Gutenberg's Spanish America, by Richard Henry Bonnycastle