204 PROVINCE OF QUITO. 



power, the richest cinnamon of the East. Great 

 quantities of copal and wild wax are also brought 

 from Macas, but the latter is of little value. 



It/would not readily be imagined that the pro- 

 vince of Quito, situated in the centre of the torrid 

 zone, and immediately beneath the line, could be, in 

 climate, a privileged and happy land : where in 

 some parts the natives not only rejoice in the mild- 

 ness of the atmosphere, but even suffer occasionally 

 from the cold ; while in others they walk through 

 meadows covered all the year with verdure, and 

 enamelled with beautiful flowers. 



Various circumstances concur in producing these 

 effects, and by the combination of them, the heat is 

 mitigated, and the country rendered habitable. First 

 of these, is the elevation of this portion of America, 

 which, rising high above the sea and land, is less 

 heated by the action of the sunbeams, and is con- 

 stantly played over by cool and refreshing breezes. 

 Stupendous mountains also intersect the country in 

 many parts, covered with snow that never melts ; 

 volcanoes, too, flaming within, but having their sum- 

 mits and deeply riven sides involved in ice. Hence, 

 it happens that the plains are temperate, the valleys 

 warm, and the mountainous regions even cold, and 

 that according to the situation of different places is 

 the gradation and variety of temperature, between 

 cold and heat. 



Quito possesses a happy medium. There neither 

 heat nor cold predominates, though the extremes of 

 both are felt at a short distance. The morning is 

 generally pleasant, the day warm, and the nights of 

 an agreeable coolness; the seasons go hand in hand, 



