322 A VOYAGE TO Book VI. 



should inform him how it was possible to make so 

 long a voyage in so short a time. The other readily 

 satisfying his desire, they both agreed that this must 

 have been an action of that enemy to mankind, who 

 had brought the poor Spaniard thither to enrich him- 

 self from the treasures concealed in the bowels of the 

 hill on which he had laid him; and ever since it has 

 been called Supay-urco, or the Devil's Hill. This 

 story is well known throughout all the jurisdiction of 

 Cuen9a, even the children arc acquainted with it; and 

 father Manuel Rodriguez, in his ' Historia de! Ma- 

 rañan, y Amazonas, lib. ii. cap. 4.' mentions it. From 

 all which it may be inferred, that it is, in reality, of as 

 jincient a date as the inhabitants of Cuen9a pretend ; 

 that it has descended through a long series of time 

 without alteration ; and from this story, thougli desti- 

 luie of proof, the notion that this hill contains an in- 

 exhaustible treasure had its rise. 



IX. TiiK hisc jurisdiction of the province of Quito, 

 o]i this side, is that of Loja, the capital of which is 

 called by the same name, and was founded in the year 

 1546, by captain Alonso ác Mercanillo. It resembles, 

 in extern, torm, and buildings, the city of Cuen9a ; 

 but the temperature of the air is considerably liotter. 

 In i;s district are the following fourteen villages: 



I. Saragnro aiul Ona. VII i. Zororonga. 

 11. San Juan del Valle. IX. Dominguillo. 



III. Zaruma. X. Catacoclia. 



IV. Yuluc. Xi. San Lucas deAmboca. 

 V. Guachanana. XI Í. E! Sisne. 



VÍ. Gonzanama. XIII. Malacalos. 



VII. Cariumanga. XIV^ San Pedro del Valle. 



LoJA, befiides two churches, has several convents, 

 a nunnery, a^college of Jesuits, and* an hos[)ÍLa¡. 



In theterritory of this jurisdiction is produced that 

 famous specific for intermitting fevers^ knovrn by the 

 ^i .' name 



