POLITICAL ECONOMY. 



dlre6l, and govern, under the auspices of her illustrious hus- 

 band, the common protedlor and Mecenas, the charitable and 

 civil society of the fair sex of Quito. 



On quitting the subje6l of the above city, which, although 

 it has, from a variety of causes, fallen into decay, is stjll ex- 

 tremely populous, it may be proper to notice, that the cos- 

 tumes of the inhabitants are in every respe6l similar to those of 

 Lima ; to illustrate which, several plates have been given under 

 the head of Customs and Manners. As, however, in Quito, 

 the more efficient part of the population consists of mestizos 

 and mulattoes, whose talents and industry are exerted with 

 great benefit to the community, in occupations which are dis- 

 dained by the haughty Spaniards, two of the latter cast (mu- 

 lattoes), a male and a female, to the end that they may not 

 be passed over entirely unnoticed, are introduced, with their 

 appropriate costumes, in P/aie XIX. 



The following particulars, demonstrative of the noxious ef- 

 fe6fs resulting from the burial of the dead in the churches of 

 populous cities, more especially in a climate similar to that of 

 Peru, gave rise to several learned dissertations, which appeared 

 from time to time in the Peruvian Mercury, on this important 

 subje6t of political economy. 



The city of Tarma is situated in a spot which is, in a man- 

 ner ,^ entirely destitute of ventilation. The three hills by which 

 it is surrounded form an obtuse angle, without any outlet or 

 passage, unless at the side of the broken ground named Aco- 

 bamba, leading to the great road to Lima. This circum- 

 stance, and the consideration of the depth in which it is placed,, 

 respedlively to the other towns in its vicinity, gave a certain 

 degree of probability to the suspicion, that its temperature 



was 



