482 ULLOA's voyage to south AMERICA. 



village, with all the appendages of government, but the inhabitants fpoke a different 

 »vj«.^ language, had different laws and cuftoms, and lived totally independent of each other, 

 ■f But thefe villages and ancient provinces being now comprehended under the jurifdidion 

 of one fmgle tribunal ; and thofe which before were under a multitude of curacas 

 acknowledging one fovereign, and compofmg one province, where juftice is adminiftered 

 to them in the name of the prince j and the governments being in juridical affairs de- 

 pendent on the audience of Quito, they can only be confidered as parts of its province. 

 It is therefore requifite, in order to form a proper idea of this country, that I fliould 

 treat of them in the fame circumflantial manner I have already obferved in defcribing 

 the jurifdiftions. 



I. The firft government in the province of Quito, and which terminates it on the 

 north, is that of Popayan. It is not indeed wholly dependent on it, being divided into 

 two jurifdidions, of which that on the north and eaft belong to the audience of Santa 

 Fe, or the new kingdom of Granada, Quito having only thofe parts lying towards the 

 fouth and weft ; fo that, without omitting any thing remarkable in the whole govern- 

 ■ ment, I fhall be a little more explicit in my account of the department belonging to 

 ' Quito. 



The conqueft of the whole country now containing the government of Popayan, or 

 at leaft ihe greater part of it, was performed by that famous commander Sebaftian de 

 Belalcazar, who being governor of the province of Quito, where ho had fettled a per- 

 fedt tranquillity, and finiflied the building of that city, being informed that on the north 

 fide of his government lay a country of great extent, and richer than the parts he already 

 poffeffed, prompted by that fpirit which had animated the Spaniards, to extend their 

 reputation by a feries of amazing conquefts in this part of the globe, he fet out on his 

 enterprife in 1536, at the head of three hundred Spaniards; and after feveral fharp 

 encounters with the Indians of Pafto, who firft oppofed his march, he proceeded in his 

 conquefts, and reduced the two principal curacas of that country, Calambas and Popay- 

 an (after whom both the country and chief town were called), two brothers equally 

 refpeded for their power and military talents. This defeat opened him a paffage to fu- 

 ture conquefts ; and the neighbouring nations, terrified at the fuccefs of thofe illuftrious 

 warriors, fubmitted to the King of Spain. Belalcazar, afte^- thefe exploits, in the pro- 

 fecution of his conquefts, had feveral other encounters with Indians, fired with the dif- 

 dain of fubmitting to a foreign yoke. His conquefts were, however, at laft fo rapid, 

 that at the clofe of the fame year he pitched his camp in the centre of that country, where 

 the mildnefs of the climate, the fertility of the foil, and falubrity of the air, confpired to 

 induce him to render it the feat of the Spanifh government. Accordingly, in 1537, he 

 laid the foundation of the firft city, which ftill retains the name of Popayan ; and whilft 

 the place was building, he, to keep his people in exercife, and prevent the Indians he 

 had conquered from forming themfelves into a new army, or carrying on any clandef- 

 tine correfpondence with thofe whom his arms had not reached, fent out detachments 

 different ways, with orders to march into the neighbouring countries, that they might 

 prevent the rifmg of fome, and reduce others to obedience. 



Belalcazar had fcarce finilhed his new town, when the officers of thefe corps, on their 

 return made fuch a report of the riches and fertility of the country, that he determined 

 to view it in perfon, increafe the number of towns, and by that means fecure the poffef- 

 iion of it. Accordingly he continued his march to Cali, where he built a town, which 

 ftill retains the fame name, though in a different country ; for after it was finifhed in 

 the country of the Gorrones Indians, captain Miguel Munoz foon after removed it, on 

 account of the unheaithinefs of the air. Belalcazar founded alfo another town, called 



Santa 



