WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE KSPINOSA 365 



governed by the Corregidor of Quito [as shall be described and 

 related with brevity and the greatest clearness of which I am capable.] 



1101. In the city of Quito there are Royal Officials and a Royal 

 Treasury. This Diocese is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Lima. 

 The city has bright and health-giving skies, favorable to human life. 

 The days and nights are of equal length and equable temperature, 

 for they have no winter to distress them with its cold, nor summer 

 to try one with its heat, nor those extreme changes experienced in 

 other quarters and particularly with us in Europe. 



1102. The Diocese measures in length from N. to S. along the 

 Peru King's Highway from the city of Pasto which is the last in 

 the diocese to the N. and 45 leagues from Quito, down to the 

 Provinces of Los Calvas and Paltas, the last in the Diocese to the S.. 

 and to the Corregimiento of Loja, border town with the Diocese 

 of Trujillo and with the Circuit Court of Lima, more than 150 

 leagues ; and in the same direction more to the E., [over] 170 leagues 

 to Nieva, Santiago de Las Montafias, and Valladolid ; and from Quito 

 to Puerto Vie jo on the W. (which is 7 leagues from the port of 

 Manta) on the Pacific, it is over 120 leagues. In the district of the 

 Diocese there are over 20 cities and towns with Spanish residents, 

 and many with large provinces of Indians [with large wealthy vil- 

 lages]. All these provinces have increased in population since their 

 discovery and conquest [in contradistinction to all other provinces 

 in the Indies]. 



1103. The city of San Juan de Pasto is 44 leagues N. of Quito. 

 It will have 400 Spanish residents, not counting the service contingent 

 of Indians, Negroes, and mulattoes. In civil matters there is a 

 Corregidor appointed by the Governor of Popayan. It has a very 

 fine parish church and Dominican, Franciscan, Augustinian, and 

 Mercedarian convents, and an excellent nunnery and other churches 

 and shrines, and many villages in its district. 



1104. Twenty leagues from Quito in the Province of Carangue 

 lies the town of San Miguel de Ibarra. The country is [very] fertile 

 and prolific, with crops of corn, wheat, potatoes, and other cereals, 

 and with cattle. Near this province and town is that of Otavalo, 

 [very] rich and lavish, with a Corregidor appointed by the Viceroy. 

 All this country is among the best and most thickly settled in the 

 Indies. 



1105. Near the city of Quito to the W. is the Province of Los 

 Yumbos, in the hot country and thickly wooded ; there are sugar 

 plantations [producing much sugar] and in the woods honeycombs 

 and wax. This tribe comes under the administration of the Corregidor 



