378 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 102 



wattles above and below like cocks. There are black, grayish black, 

 and white varieties. They are very large and savage. The eggs they 

 lay are about as large as ostrich eggs. Their wingspread is about 

 4 varas ; the large wing feathers are thick as one's finger and each 

 feather over a vara long. They are very savage and bloodthirsty ; 

 like the buzzards they live and maintain their lives by feeding on 

 dead animals, and their habit is to mount into the region of the air 

 for a view, and they stay up there long periods of time balancing 

 themselves by soaring, it must be for the purpose of descrying from 

 up there any dead animals to devour [for that is their sole interest]. 

 When they are feeding on some dead animal and there are carrion 

 buzzards about, these latter look like chickens around the mother 

 hen ; and when they are chuck full it is possible to chase them with 

 a stick, as was once my experience in the wilderness, for they cannot 

 fly off till they find a rock or high spot from which to take wing. 

 And when they can find nothing to eat, they make for the plains 

 where there are cows which have just dropped their calves and before 

 the little creatures can suckle their mothers, up come two of these 

 condors ; one takes his stand in front of the calf and the other behind ; 

 this latter gives him a very hard peck and as he opens his mouth to 

 bellow with the pain, the condor in front seizes him by the tongue 

 so that he cannot bellow and summon his mother, and so they kill 

 and eat him, and that happens frequently ; and so there are many 

 cows that will not separate themselves from their offspring and live 

 with the greatest vigilance, for the knowledge they have acquired 

 and the dread they have, of these savage birds. Let this suffice, and 

 let us take up the discussion of the Corregimiento of Cuenca. 



Chapter XIV 



Of the City of Cuenca and Its Provinces, and the Rivers of Its 

 District. 



1127. The foundation of the city of Cuenca was ordered by the 

 Marques de Canete when he was Viceroy of Peru ; he commissioned 

 Gil Ramirez de Avalos to place it between the Province of Paute 

 and Los Caviares, near the Province of Los Cahares, 55 leagues from 

 Quito on the King's Highway to Lima, in the year 1557. The city 

 lies in a level valley over 10 leagues long, between two rivers which 

 run near it, and all those sierras, many of them belonging to Los 

 Caiiares ; they contain very rich mines of silver, gold, quicksilver, 

 and other metals. The city has more than 500 Spanish residents ; 

 it has a springlike climate with bright skies and good soil ; the country 



