Oí. IV. SOUTH AMERICA. 351 



CHAP. IV. - ' 



Description of the Governments of Quixos, and ^ lacas \ 

 ivith an Account of Jean de Bracamoros, the Dis- 

 covery and Conquest of it, 



NEXT to the government of Popayan, which 

 has been treated of in the fore^roinfj; chapter, 

 follow those of Quixosand Macns, on the east side of 

 the Cordillera of the Andes; it is divided into two 

 districts, Quixos being the north pnrt of the govern- 

 ment, and Macas the south, with the country of 

 Camelos lying betwixt them. As their situation and 

 other circumstances require that each should be treat- 

 ed distinctly, I shall begin with Qnixos, which on 

 the north side borders on the juri-^diction oí Popayan; 

 eastward it reaches to the river Aguarico, and west- 

 ward is separated trom the jurisdictions of Quito, La- 

 tacur^ga, and the town of San Miguel dc Ibarra, by 

 the Cordilleras of Cotopaxi and Cayamburo. The 

 first discovery of the country of Quixos is owing to 

 Gonzalo Diaz de Pineda, in the year 1536, who, 

 among the officers sent from Popayan by Sebastian de 

 Belalcazar, to trace the course of the river of Magda- 

 lena, and take a survey of the country adjacent to 

 that which had been conquered, was appointed to make 

 discoveries in these part?, which he performed vvich 

 great care and dispatch ; and finding it to abound in 

 gold, and cassia trees, he returned to his commander; 

 and on his report, Gonzalo Pizaro, in the year 1539, 

 at that time governor of Quito, marched to it with 

 a design of reconnoitring its whole extent, and mak- 

 ing settlements. But, his expedition iniscarrying," 

 the conquest of this country, though from Pineda's 

 report very desirable, was suspended tdl the year 

 1549, when the marquis de Cañete, viceroy of Peru, 

 gave a commission to Gil P^amirez Davalos, a man of 



undaunted 



