Ch. i. south AMERICA. 301 



anc! mouth, with such activity, that without slacken- 

 ing their pace, they often maim their nursuers : but 

 the most remarkable property in these creatures i?, 

 that after carrying the first load, their celerity leaves 

 them, their dangerous ferocity is lost, and they soon 

 contract the stupid look and dullness peculiar to the 

 asinine species. It is also observable, that these crea- 

 tures will not permit a horse to live among them ; and 

 if one of them happens to stray into (he places where 

 they feed, they all fall upon him, and, vvithout giving 

 him the liberty of flying from them, they bite and 

 kick him till they leave him dead on the spot. They 

 are very troublesome neighbours, making a most hor- 

 rid noise ; for whenever one or two of them begin to 

 bray, they are answered in the same voeiferons man- 

 ner by all within the reach of the sound, which is • 

 greatly increased and prolonged by the repercussions 

 of the valleys and breaches of the mountains. 



II. The jurisdiction joining on the south to that 

 of St. Miguel de Ibarra, is called Otábalo ; in the 

 jurisdiction of which are the following eight princi- 

 pal villages or parishes : 



I. Cayambe. V. Cotacache. 



II. Tabacundo. VI. San Pablo. 



III. Otábalo. VIL Tocache. 



IV. Atontaqui. VIIÍ. Urquuqui. 



The parish of Otábalo is well siuatcd, and so large 

 and populous, that it is said to contain eighteen or 

 twenty thousand souls, and among them a consider- 

 able number of Spaniards. But the inhabitants of 

 all the other villages are universally Indians. 



The lands of this jurisdiction are laid out in pinn- 

 tations like those of the former, except that here are 

 not such great numbers of sugar mills; but this is 

 compensated by its great superiority in manuíáctures, • 

 a consequence resulting from the multitude of Indians 



residinn- 



