Ch. III. SOUTH AMERICA, 3^3/ 



vinces being now . comprehended under the jurif- 

 didion of one fmp-le tribunal: and thofe which be- 

 fore were under a multitude of curacas acknowledg- 

 ing one fovereign, and compofing one province, where 

 juftice is adminiRered to them in the name of the 

 prince and the governments being in juridical af- 

 fairs dependent on the audience of Quito ; they can 

 only be coniidered as parts of its province. It is 

 therefore requifite^ in order to form a proper idea of 

 this country, that I fiiould treat of them in the fame 

 circumilantiai manner I have already obferved in de- 

 fcribing the jurildiclions. 



I. The firil government in the province of Quito, 

 and which terminates it on the north, is that of Po- 

 payan. It is not indeed wholly dependent on it, 

 being divided into two jurifdidions, of which that on 

 the north and eail belong to the audience of Santa 

 Fe, or the new kingdom of Granada; Qiiito having 

 only thofe parts lying towards the fouth and weft ; fo 

 that, without omitting any thing remarkable in the 

 whole government, I (hall be a little more explicit in 

 my account of the department belonging to Qiiito. 



The conqueft of the whole country now contain- 

 ing the government of Popayan, or at ieaft the greater 

 part of it, was performed by that famous commander 

 Sebailian de Beialcazar, who, being governor of the 

 province of C)uito, vvhere he had fettled a perfe6t 

 . tranquillity, and finifhed the building of that city, 

 being inform.ed, that on the north fide of his govern- 

 ment lav a country of great extent, and richer than 

 the pares he already poffefTed prompted by that fpirit 

 which had animated the Spaniards to extend their re- 

 putation, by a feries of amazing conquefts, in this part 

 of the globe, he fet out on his enterprize in 1536, at 

 the head of 300 Spaniards \ and after feveral fiiarp en- 

 counters with the Indians of Pafto, w^ho firft oppofed 

 : his march, he proceeded in his conqueils, and reduced 

 the two principal curagas of that cQuntry, Calam* 



