3o8 A VOYAGE TO Book VI. 



struck with the concurrence of the bursting of this 

 volcano, and the invasion of a foreign army, that the 

 spirit, which universally began to show itself in the 

 preparatives ev^ery where made for a vigorous resis- 

 tance, entirely left them, and the whole province ea- 

 sily conquered, all its caciques submitting to the 

 king of Spain. The large plain in which this assien- 

 to stands, is full of fragments of rocks, ejected at 

 that supposed ominous eruption, and some of them 

 to the distance of five leagues from its roots. In the 

 year 1743, while we were on the coast of Chili, a se- 

 cond eruption happened, the particulars of which we 

 shall relate in another place. 



The temperature of the air is very different in 

 the several villages of this jurisdiction ; being hot in 

 those lying in the valleys ; temperate in those situated 

 on the plains ; whilst the air in those bordering on 

 the mountains, like that of the assiento, is cold, and 

 sometimes to an excessive degree. The villages are in 

 general larger, and more populous, than those of the 

 other jurisdictions in the same province. Their inha- 

 bitants are Indians, Mestizos, and a few Spaniards. 



Besides the parish church, which is served by two 

 priests, one for the Spaniards and the other for the In- 

 dians, this assiento has convents of Franciscans, Au- 

 gustines, Dominicans, the Fathers of Mercy, and a 

 college of Jesuits. The churches of these religious- 

 are well built, decently ornamented, and kept very 

 neat. The inhabitants, by the nearest computation, 

 amount to between ten and twelve thousand, chiefly 

 Spaniards and Mestizes. Among theformer are several 

 families of eminent rank and easy circumstances, and 

 of such virtues and accomplishments as add a lustre to 

 their happy situation. The Indians, as at Quito, live 

 in a separate quarter adjoining to the country. 



In this assiento all kinds of trades and mechanicarts 

 are carried on ; and, as in all the other parts of thisju- 

 risdiction, it has a considerable number of manufacto- 

 ries 



