366 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I02 



of Quito. They plant and gather cotton and make very nice cloth 

 out of it for their clothing. 



Chapter VIII 



Continuing the Description of the Diocese of Quito and the 

 Provinces of Los Quixos. 



1106. Twenty leagues E. of Quito in the Province of Los Quixos 

 lies the city of Baeza, residence of the Governor of these provinces, 

 who is appointed by the Council. The country is hot [and] heavily 

 wooded and forested ; wheat will not grow there. They raise corn 

 and much cotton, from which they make [much] cloth and [in par- 

 ticular] beautifully worked bed-canopies (pabellones), famous in 

 all the Kingdom of Peru for the quantities turned out in this State, 

 and they export them for sale all over the kingdom. The country 

 is very rough and there are only a few Indians. They raise [much] 

 very fine fruit and especially the granadillas known as Los Quixos 

 granadillas (passionflowers). These are one of the [greatest deli- 

 cacies] best fruits of the Indies ; the vine on which they grow is 

 like ivy, twining around a tree ; it puts forth [many] flowers which 

 are mysterious, for in each flower there is a very vivid representation 

 of the five wounds of Christ Our Savior. This produces a fruit of 

 the shape of an egg but considerably larger, like a lemon, and when 

 it is ripe its skin has an orange color ; one pulls off a bit of it and sucks 

 out the contents, which are watery with a few very smooth sweet 

 seeds ; they are not harmful even if eaten in quantity, and they give 

 out much fragrance when eaten. Although this fruit, which is one 

 of the most delicious in the Indies, is found in many regions, those 

 of this Province and State are the best of all. 



1107. In this Province and State they have [very good] cinnamon 

 laurel ; this is a very handsome tree like a laurel but taller and showier. 

 The cinnamon comes in the buds ; all that region where it grows is 

 very sweet and fragrant with its perfume. Beyond Baeza some 20 

 leagues to the SE. is the city of Archidona, with the same climate 

 and only a few residents. The city of Avila is 24 leagues N. of 

 Archidona ; [the city] of San Pedro de Alcala lies in the Province 

 of the Cofanes, hot, wooded country, 30 leagues from Baeza [and] 

 in the same State, which is crossed by large rivers ; it runs N. and S. 

 more than 100 leagues, to the city of Sevilla del Oro in the Province 

 of Macas ; when I discuss Riobamba I shall touch on it ; it is very 

 mountainous country. Connected with it to the E. are broad provinces 

 of heathen. In all this country the bees make much wild honey in 



