Seevai^ts.- — -Washekwomen. 83 



made of split stick. Since our return, we have sent to a 

 Quitonian gentleman, by request, a package of broom-corn 

 seed, wliich, we trust, will be the forerunner of a harvest of 

 brooms and cleaner floors in the high city. Not only the 

 lords, but also the ladies, are inveterate smokers. Little 

 mats are used for spittoons. 



Washerwomen. 



Perhaps Quitonian ladies have too many Indian servants 

 about them to keep tidy; seven or eight is the average 

 number for a family. These are married, and occupy the 

 ground floor, which swarpis with nude children. They are 

 cheap, thievish, lazy, and fllthy. No class, pure-blood or 

 half-breed, is given to ablution, though there are two pub- 

 lic baths in the city. "Washerwomen repair to the Machan- 

 gara, where they beat the dirty linen of Quito over the 



