Ch. i. south AMERICA. 299 



and a nunnery of the order of the Conception. Its in- 

 habitants ot al.1 ages, sects, and classes, are computed 

 at ten or twelve thousand souls. 



Within the limits of this jurisdiction, is the lake 

 of Yagarchoca, famous for being the sepulchre of the 

 inhabitants of Otábalo, on its being taken by Huayna- 

 Capac, the twelfth Ynca, who, instead of showing 

 clemency to their magnanimity, being iritated at the 

 noble resistance they made, ordered them all to be be- 

 headed, both those who had quietly surrendered, and 

 those taken in arms, and their bodies thrown into the 

 lake ; and from the water of the lake being tinged of 

 a bloody hue, it acquired its present name, which sig- 

 nifies a lake of blood. 



The air is very mild, less cold than that of Quito, 

 and at the same time the heat is not at all inconveni- 

 ent. The temperature of the air is different in all the 

 villages of this jurisdiction, but in most warm, on ac- 

 count of their low situation. These parts are all over 

 this country called Valles, as I have already observed; 

 and the names of those in the jurisdiction of San Mi- 

 guel de Ibarra are Chotar Carpuela, and several others. 

 Most of the farms in them have plantations of sugar 

 canes, and mills for extracting the juice, from whence 

 they make great quantities of sugar, and very white: 

 some are planted with the fruits common in a hot cli- 

 mate ; and in others cotton only is cultivated, and to 

 the greatest perfection. 



The sugar canes do not ripen here so late as in Qui- 

 to ; but ihey may be committed at any time to the 

 mill, there being no necessity for cutting them at any 

 precise time, retaining all their goodness even when 

 suffered to stand two or three months after they are 

 ripe; so that they are cut every quarter, and the mills, 

 by that means, kept at work the whole year. 



The farms situated in a less hot part are employed 

 for cultivating maize, wheat, and barley, in the same 

 manner as in the jurisdiction of Otábalo, and which 



we 



