i,<,6 A VOYAGE TO Book VI. 



care of the four first : and to the latter, who lives at 

 ■Zuna, belong that town and the three others. At 

 the conquest, and for some time after, this country 

 was very populous, and, in honour of the great richer 

 drawn from its capital, was distinguished by the name 

 of Sevilla del Oro ; but at present only the memory 

 of its former opulence remains. Such an extreme de- 

 clension proceeded from an insurrection of thenatives, 

 who, after swearing allegiance to the king of Spain, 

 took arms, and made themselves masters of the city of 

 Logroño, and a town called Guamboya, both in the 

 same jurisdiction, and very rich. These devastations 

 have so discouraged any further settlement there, that 

 the whole country lies as a waste; no money goes cur- 

 rent in it, and the only way the wretched inhabitants 

 have to provide themselves with necessaries is by bar- 

 tering their home products. 



The nearness of Macas to the Cordillera of the 

 Andes causes a sensible difference betwixt its tempe- 

 rature and that of Quixos: for though it be also a 

 woody country, the diversity betwixt the two most 

 distant seasons of the year is manifest; and as its ter- 

 ritory is different from that of the jurisdiction of 

 Quito, so the variety in the periods of the season is 

 also great. Thus winter begins here in April, and 

 lasts till September, which is the time of summer be- 

 twixt the Cordilleras : and at Macas the fine season 

 is in September, and is the more delightful on ac- 

 count of the winds which are then mostly northward; 

 and thus charged with the frigoritic particles which 

 they have swc[)t away from the snowy mountains over 

 which they have passed. The atmosphere is clear ; 

 the sky serene; the earth clothed in its various beau- 

 tics; and the inhabitants, gladdened by such pleasing 

 objects, rejoice that the horrors of winter are passed, 

 as they are no less dreadiul and detrimental here 

 than at Guayaquil. 



In, grains and other products which require a hot 



and 



