CmV. SOUTH AMtRICA. ijs 



yet few of them are of diftinguifhed wealth, which 

 in general confifts in landed eftates, applied to feveral 

 ufes, as I fhall fhew in the fequel. Here are alfo no 

 very fplendid fortunes raifed by trade. Confequently 

 it may be inferred, that the city is neither famous foi^ 

 riches, nor remarkable for poverty. Here are indeed 

 confiderable eftates, though their produce is not at all 

 equal to their extent : but the commerce, though 

 fmall, is continual. It muft alfo be obferved, to the 

 credit of this city, that the more wealthy families 

 have large quantities of plate, v/hich is daily made ufe 

 of; arid indeed, through the feveral clafles, their 

 tables are never deftitute of one piece of plate af 

 leaft. 



C H A P. VL 



Of the Temperature of the Air at Quito ; -D/A' 

 ttn^ion between Winter and Summer \ Incon^ 

 veniefices^ Advantages ^ and Dijlempers, 



TO form a right judgement of the happy tern-* 

 perature of the air at Qiiito, experience muft be 

 made ufe of, to corredl the errors which would arife 

 from mere fpeculation ; as without that unerring 

 guide, or the information of hiftory, who would 

 imagine, that in the center of the torrid zone, or ra^ 

 ' ther under the equinodtial, not only the lieat is very 

 tolerable, but even, in fome partis, the cold painful 5 

 and that others enjoy all the delights and advantages 

 of a perpetual fpring, their fields being always co- 

 vered with verdure, and enameled with fiov/ers of 

 the moft lively colours. The mildnefs of the climate^ 

 free from the extremes of cold and heat, and the 

 conftant equality of the nights and days, render a 

 country pleafant and fertile, which uninigrmed rea- 



T 2 ion 



