Ch. X. SOUTH AMERICA. 449 



only one of these advantages. Quito may justly be 

 classed among the former, being that province which 

 of all Peru is the most fertile in grain and fruits ; 

 the most populous, and especially in Spaniards ; 

 abounds most in cattle ; has the most manufactures, 

 and excels in them ; and in mines, if not the richest, 

 yet equal to any of the others, on which nature has 

 poured out these her choicest favours. But it seems 

 as if nature, unwilling to distinguish this by an abso- 

 lute liappiness, has denied it a suitable concourse of 

 people, that it might not at once have a full enjoy- 

 ment of all the benefits lavished on it, there being 

 no reason, which can discúlpate the inhabitants of 

 Quito in the neglect of the mines. For though the 

 number of them discovered be very great, and af- 

 ford a very probable conjecture that the Cordilleras 

 must contain many more; yet very few are worked, 

 particularly within these jurisdictions. Thus the 

 riches of the country lie buried, and without them the 

 fertility of the soil cannot supply their want; so as 

 to spread through the province an opulence like that 

 observable in the other provinces of Peru, where, by 

 the circulation of silver, there is an universal ap- 

 pearance of affluence, gaiety, and splendour. 



Of the great number of mines within the province 

 of Quito, some were formerly worked, which at pre- 

 sent are abandoned. The country then was sensible 

 of its advantage; and the remembrance of the general 

 opulence of those times, resulting from the riches ta- 

 ken out of the mines, still subsists. Not only the ca- 

 pital, but the towns and villages were then very popu- 

 lous : and many of its inhabitants were famous all 

 over Peru for their prodigious wealth. The rich 

 mines within the jurisdiction of Mecas, were irreco- 

 verably lost by a revolt of the Indians ; and in pro- 

 cess of time the very remembrance of their situation 

 was obliterated. The mines of Zaruma have been 



Vol. I. G g abandon- 



