320 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I02 



wear a sort of large blanket which they call anacos in Peru, covering 

 all their body, and much wound around ; over their shoulders they 

 wear another one, small and serving as a mantilla, though they do not 

 cover their heads with it, but only the shoulders. On their heads 

 they wear garlands of different colored roses, made of cotton ; they 

 take great pains with their clothing, and the men the same. They 

 are all docile people, and good Christians. 



953. Twenty-two leagues NNE. of Bogota is the city of Tunja, 

 founded on a cool hillside by Capt. Gonzalo Suarez Rondon, acting 

 under orders of Commander Gonzalo Ximenez de Quesada in the 

 year 1538; he gave it the name of the monarch of that country, 

 Tunja. The city has over 600 Spanish residents, with a parish church, 

 Dominican, Franciscan, Augustinian, and Jesuit convents, two nun- 

 neries, hospitals where they care for the indigent sick, and other 

 churches and shrines. In this city His Majesty appoints a Corregidor 

 in consultation with his Royal Council of the Indies. It has very 

 wide jurisdiction ; the President of the Circuit Court appoints to 10 

 Corregimientos in it, viz : Chita, Gameza, Tensa, Toca, Ceniza, 

 Moabita, Turmeque, Sachica, Pamplona, Sogamoso — 9 of them of 

 Indians, for the jurisdiction of Tunja is the most thickly settled in 

 the whole kingdom ; Pamplona is a Spanish settlement. 



954. The whole Tunja district is thickly settled, and rich in gold 

 and silver ore. In this district they raise quantities of wheat, corn, 

 and the other cereals and fruit of Spanish and indigenous varieties. 

 In the adjoining Tensa Valley there are four sugar plantations and 

 some sugar mills, and large cattle ranches. In Tunja they make many 

 cotton blankets and much cotton cloth for the Indians' clothing. Five 

 leagues S. of the city lies the town of Leiva, which will contain about 

 150 Spaniards, with a marvelous springlike climate; there are large 

 cattle ranches here and some sugar plantations ; they raise some cotton 

 and work up fine henequen fiber. Near this town is a convent of 

 Recollect Augustinians, in which is the image of Nuestra Sefiora 

 de La Candelaria. This is one of the greatest sanctuaries of that 

 kingdom and has wrought many miracles ; they come here from every 

 side on pilgrimage, to receive the favors of this great Lady and offer 

 Her their gifts. 



955. The city of Velez is some 16 leagues from Tunja, toward 

 the Sierras de Opon, through which Commander Gonzalo Ximenez 

 de Quesada made his conquering entry. After subduing the country, 

 in the same year that he founded Bogota and Tunja, i.e., 1538, he 

 sent Capt. Gonzalo Suarez Rondon to found a new city, and since 

 he was a native of Granada, he gave it the name of Velez. This will 



