56 The Andes ai^d the Amazon. 



CHAPTER III. 



Early History of Quito. — Its Splendor under the Incas. — Crushed by Spain. 

 — Dying now. — Situation. — Altitude. — Streets. — Buildings. 



Quito is better known than Ecuador. Its primeval his- 

 tory, however, is lost in obscurity. In the language of 

 Prescott, " the mists of fable have settled as darkly round 

 its history as round that of any nation, ancient or modern, 

 in the Old World." Founded, nobody knows when, by the 

 kings of the Quitus, it was conquered about the year 1000 

 by a more civilized race, the Cara nation, who added to it 

 by conquest and alliance. The fame of the region excited 

 the cupidity of the Incas of Peru, and during the reign of 

 Cacha (1475), Huayna-Capac the Great moved his army 

 from Cuzco, and by the celebrated battle of Hatuntaqui, in 

 which Cacha was killed, Quito was added to the realm of 

 the Incas. Huayna-Capac made Quito his residence, and 

 reigned there thirty-eight years — the most brilliant epoch 

 in the annals of the city. At his death his kingdom was 

 divided, one son, Atahuallpa,* reigning in Quito, and Huas- 

 car at Cuzco. Civil war ensued, in which the latter was 

 defeated, and Atahuallpa was chosen Inca of the whole em- 

 pire, 1532. During this war Pizarro arrived at Tumbez. 

 Every body knows what followed. Strangled at Caxamar- 

 ca, the body of Atahuallpa was carried to Quito, the city of 

 his birth, in compliance with his dying wish, and buried 

 there with imposing obsequies. Pefounded by Benalcazar 



* The son of his Quito love. The name was first written Atauhuallpa, 

 meaning fortunate in war; after the fratricide, he was caWeA Atahvallpa, or 

 game-cock. He was the Boabdil of this occidental Granada. He is called 

 traitor by Peruvian writers, and is not admitted by them into the list of their 

 Incas. 



