Book III 



Of the District of the Circuit Court of Quito, Containing a Descrip- 

 tion of Its Provinces and What They Comprise. [The Different 

 Kinds of Country and Their Nature ; the Native and Spanish 

 Products They Bear ; of the Gold and Silver Mines, the Cloth Mills, 

 the Rites and Customs of the Indians; the Cities and Towns of 

 Spaniards, with Their Establishment ; the Posts of Governor, Cor- 

 regidor, and Other Offices Filled by His Majesty in Consultation 

 with the Supreme Council of the Indies, with the Salaries Paid ; the 

 Corregimientos and Other Offices Filled by the Viceroy; together 

 with the Other Curious and Noteworthy Features of This Region.] 



Chapter I 



Of the City of Popayan, Capital of Its State and Diocese. 



1065. The city of Popayan is 40 leagues from Timana and 100 

 from Bogota, to the S. It is built on a hill or slope of a ridge which 

 they call M, from the resemblance of its shape to this letter. Round 

 about the city flow two small streams which take their rise about a 

 league away. These provinces were subdued by Commander Sebastian 

 de Belalcazar, and after he had pacified them he founded the city 

 in the year 1536, on this site described above, at 2 "30' N. It has 

 a better than springlike climate, and is very well supplied with pro- 

 visions. They raise quantities of wheat, corn, and many other cereals 

 and vegetables, both Spanish and native sorts, as is true also of 

 fruit. They have large cattle, sheep, and hog ranches, and excellent 

 horses and mules. 



1066. The city has 300 Spanish residents, plus the troop of service 

 classes, Yanacona Indians, Negroes, and mulattoes. It is the residence 

 of the Governor and the Bishop of these provinces ; there is a very 

 fine Cathedral here, with Bishop and Prebendaries in residence for 

 its service. They have three convents, Dominican, Franciscan, and 

 Augustinian ; a nunnery of Augustinian nuns ; there is a hospital 

 which serves as parish church for the Yanacona Indians who reside 

 in the city and serve the Spaniards ; some of them are artisans. 

 There are in this city Officials of the Royal Patrimony : a Paymaster 

 and a Treasurer. 



1067. Eleven leagues from the city there is a paramo known as 

 Papallacta, cold and inhospitable for all that it is under the Equator, 



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