ago A VOYAGE TO Book Vi- 



the great difr.culty of si pportlng it, without detri- 

 n-^enc either to the pubhc or the audiences, the sup- 

 pression of which had been so detrimental to the in- 

 habicaiusj being overcome, thedignity of viceroyalty 

 was again erected in the year 1739, Don Sebastian de 

 Eslaba, lieutenant-general, being appointed the first 

 viceroy, and arrived in the beginning of the year 

 1740 to take possession of his lioxeinaieu!; ; which 

 included the whole kingdom of Terra Firma and the 

 province of Quito. 



This province is bounded on the north by that of 

 Santa Fé de Bogota, and includes part of the govern- 

 ment o'f Papayan; on the south it is limited by the 

 governments of Peru and Chachapoyas ; eastward it 

 extends over the whole government of Maynas, and 

 the river of the Amazons, to the meridian of demar- 

 cation, or that which divides the dominions of Spain 

 and Portugr:]. Its western boundary is the sea, from 

 the coast of Máchala, in the gulf of Puna, to the coast 

 of the government of Atacames and the jurisdiction 

 of Barbacoas, in the bay of Gorgona. Its greatest' 

 breadth ftom north to south is about 200 leagues; 

 and its length, from east to west, the whole extent 

 from Cape de Santa Elena, in the south-sea, to the 

 meridian above mentioned ; v/hich, by the most.accu- 

 rate computation, is 600 leagues. But a very great 

 part of these vast dominions are, it must be owned, 

 either inhabited by nations of savage Indians, or have 

 not hitherto been thoroughly peopled by the Spaniards, 

 if indeed they have been sufficiently known. All 

 the parts that can properly be said to be peopied, and 

 actually subject to the Spanish government, are those 

 intercepted by the two Cordilleras ofthe Andes, which, 

 in comparison to the extent of the country, may be 

 termed a street or lane,extendingfrom the jurisdiction 

 ofthe town of St. Miguel de Ibarra to that of Loga; 

 the country from lience to the government of Popayan, 

 and also that comprehended between the western Cor- 

 dillera 



