ULLOA*S VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA. 445 



prieits, and the governors of Maynas and Quijos ; partly for the officers of the Com- 

 mandries, and partly for the caciques of the villages. 



The Tribunal de Cruzada, or Croifade, has a commiflary, who is generally fome dig- 

 nitary of the church ; and a treafurer, who is alfo the accomptant, through whofe hands 

 every thing paiTes relating to the Croifade. 



Here is alfo a treafury for the effeds of perfons deceafed ; an inftitution long fince 

 eftabliihed all over the Indies, for receiving the goods of thofe whofe lawful heirs were 

 in Spain, that thus they might be fecured from thofe accidents to which, from difhonelly 

 or negligence, they v.^ould be liable in private hands, and fecurely kept for the perfons 

 to which they belong : an inftitution originally very excellent, but now greatly abufed, 

 great defalcations being made in the eilates before they are reftored to their proper 

 owners. 



Befides thefe tribunals, here is a commiflary of the inquifition, with an alguazil major, 

 and familiars appointed by the holy office at Lima. 



The Corporation confifls of a corregidor, two ordinary alcaldes chofen annually, and 

 regidores. Thefe fuperintend the election of the alcaldes, which is attended with no 

 fmall diflurbance in this city, perfons of all ranks being divided into the two parties of 

 Creoles, and Europeans or Chapitones, to the great detriment of private repofe and fo- 

 ciability. This aflembly alfo nominates the alcalde major of the Indians, who mufl be 

 a governor of one of the Indian towns within five leagues of the city, and has under him 

 other inferior alcaldes, for the civil government of it ; and this alcalde major, together 

 with the others, are little more than the alguazils, or officers of the corregidor or ordi- 

 nary alcaldes of the city, though at firft they were invefled with niuch greater power, . 

 Befides thefe, here are others called alcaldes de harrieros, whofe bufmefs it is to provide 

 mules, &c. for travellers ; and though all thefe are fubordinate to the alcalde major, yet 

 he has very little authority over them. 



The cathedral chapter confifts of the bifhop, dean, archdeacon, chanter, treafurer, 

 a doftoral, a penitentiary, a magiftral, three canons by prefentation, four prebends, 

 and two demi-prebends, with the following revenues. That of the bifhop 24,000 dol- 

 lars ; the dean 2,500; the four fucceeding dignities 2,000 each ; the canons 1,500 

 each ; the prebends 600, and the demi-prebends 420. This church was eredted into a 

 cathedral in the year 1545, and, among other feftivals, are celebrated in it, with amaz- 

 ing magnificence, thofe of Corpus Chrifti, and the Conception of our Lady, when all 

 the courts, offices, and perfons of eminence, never fail to affifl. But the fingular pomp 

 of the proceffion of the hofl in the former, and the dances of the Indians, mufl not be 

 omitted. Every houfe of the flreets through which it p:iffes are adorned with rich hang- 

 ings ; and fuperb triumphal arches are erefted, with altars at ftated dillances, and 

 higher than the houfes, on which, as on the triumphal arches, the fpedlator fees with 

 admiration immenfe quantities of wrought plate, and jewels, difpofed in fuch an elegant 

 manner as to render the whole even more pleafmg than the aftonifhing quantity of 

 riches. This fplendor, together with the magnificent drelTes of the perfons who affifl at 

 the proceffion, render the whole extremely folemn, and the pomp and decorum are both ; 

 continued to the end of the ceremony. 



With regard to the dances, it is a cuflom, both among the parifiies of Quito and all 

 thofe of the mountains, for the priefl, a month before the celebration of the feafls, to 

 feledl a number of Indians who are to be the dancers. Thefe immediately begin to 

 praftife the dances they ufed before their converfion to chriflianity. The mufic is a 

 pipe and tabor, and the mofl extraordinary of their motions fome awkward capers ; in . 

 (hort, the whole is little to the tafle of an European. Within a few days of the folem- 

 6 nity. 



