322 A VOYAGE TO Book VI. 



fhoLild inform him how it was poffible to make fa 

 long a voyage in fo fbort a time. The other readily 

 fatisfying his defire, they both agreed that this mufl: 

 have been an aclion of that enemy to mankind, wlio 

 had brought the poor Spaniard thither to enrich him- 

 felf from the treafures concealed in the bowels of the 

 hill on which he had laid him ; and ever fince it has 

 been called Supay-urco, or the Devil's Hill. This 

 Hory is well known throughout all the jurifdidliion of 

 Cuen^a even the children are acquainted with it and 

 father Manuel Rodriguez, in his ' Kifloria del Ma- 

 ranon, y Amazonas, lib. ii. cap, 4.' mentions it. From 

 all which it may be inferred, that it is, in reality, of as 

 ancient a date as the inhabitants of Cuenca pretend ; 

 that it has defcended through a long feries of time 

 without alteration and from this ftory, though de(H- 

 tute of proof, the notion that this hill contains an inex- 

 hauftible trealure, had its rife. 



IX. The laft jurifdidlion of the province of Quito, 

 on this Tide, is that of Loja, the capital of which is 

 called by the fame name, and was founded in the year 

 1 5465 by captain Alonfo de Mercadillo. It refembles, 

 in extent, form, and buildings, the city of Cuenca 

 but the temperature of the air is confiderably hotter. 

 In its ditlridl are the follovv^ing fourteen villages : 



I. Sarag-uroandOna. VIII. Zororono;a. 

 II. San Juan del Valle. IX. Dominguiilo. 



III. Zaruma. X. Catacocha. 



IV. Yuluc. Xf. San Lucas deAmboca. 



V. Guachanana. XII. El Sifne. 

 VI. Gonzanama. XIII. Malacatos. 



yil. Cariu manga. XIV. San Pedro del Valle. 



LojA, befides two churches, has feveral convents, a 

 nunnery, a college of Jefuits^ and an hofpital. 



In the territory of this jurifdidion is produced that 

 famous fpecific for intermitting fevers, known by the 

 3 ' name 



