HALL’S EXCURSIONS. 347 
one of the richest inhabitants of Quito; and both the 
establishment and our accommodations were superior to 
what are commonly met with. The house is situated imme- 
diately on the base of the eastern ridge of the Cordillera ; 
behind it rise the Paramos, which form the pasture and 
breeding grounds of the farm. Cattle raised in these high 
lands are afterwards fattened in water-meadows or potreros, 
for the Quito market. The Indians, who are properly the 
serfs of the estate, live in cottages, scattered over the demesne. 
They amount sometimes to several hundred, especially on 
the tillage farms, which have often attached to them manu- 
factories of coarse cloths, or Bayetos. Few of these Indians 
speak or understand the Spanish language. The Quichua, 
on the contrary, is generally spoken by the country pro- 
prietors and overseers or bailiffs. Although it scarcely enters 
into the limits of these sketches to give a detailed account of 
the present condition of the aboriginal possessors of the soil, 
who still constitute the mass of the population in the south 
of Colombia, some few remarks may be interesting. Those 
who desire a full and perfect statement, may consult the 
* Secret Memoirs," presented to the Court of Spain, by the 
. two Ulloas, and first published in Spanish and English by 
Mr. David Barry in 1826. The importance of this work 
can be duly appreciated only by those, who, from residing in 
the country, can vouch for its exactness. It is curious to 
compare the copious and interesting information it contains 
with the meagre details given on the same points by the same 
authors, when writing for the public : noris it to be wondered 
the court of Spain should have buried in oblivion a work 
which is the severest condemnation of its colonial policy. 
I regret that so far as regards the condition of the Indians, 
it is to the present day, classical authority. In what relates 
to the oppression of the Corregidors there is some change. 
The Indians are no longer compelled to purchase spectacles 
or silk stockings, if the Corregidor happens to have them for 
sale; but, on the other hand, they are, on all occasions, the 
beasts of burthen of the government, as well as of their masters, 
