33^ A VOYAGE TO BaoK VI. 



Auguft ; the feafon when the horrors of the moun- 

 tains of" Cuanacas, where it has its fource, are at 

 their height ; fo that the pafifage of it is extremely 

 dangerous, as many travellers, rafhly expofmg them- 

 felves to the intcnfenefs of its cold, amidft thick fnows 

 and violent winds, have fatally experienced. 



The inhabitants of Popayan and Qiiito differ very 

 fenfibly in their calls for as at Quito and the other 

 towns and villages of its jurifdidlions, the moft nu- 

 merous clafs of people is that of the cafts which 

 fprung from the intermarriages of Spaniards and In- 

 dians j fo at Popayan, Carthagena, and other parts 

 where Negroes abound, the lower clafs confifts of 

 cafts, refulting from the marriages of the Whites and 

 Negroes •, but very few Indian cafts. This is owing to 

 the great multitude of Negro flaves, kept as labourers 

 at the plantations in the country, the mines, and to 

 do the fervilc offices in the city: fo that the number 

 of Indians here are very few, compared with the othet 

 parts of the province. This government has, how- 

 ever, many large villages of them ; and it is only in the 

 capital, and other Spanifh towns, that they are lb 

 . greatly out- numbered by the Negroes. 



The inhabitants of Popayan are computed at be- 

 tween twenty and twenty-five thoufand and among 

 thefe are many Spanifh families, particularly fixty, 

 known to hare been originally descended from very 

 noble families in Spain. It is worth obferving here, 

 that, wbilft other towns fee their inhabitants conftantly 

 decreafing, Popayan may boaft of a daily increafe. 

 Thi^ has indeed nothing myfterious in it ; the many 

 gold mines- worked all over its jurifdidtion, afford 

 employment to the indigent, and, confequently, oc- 

 cafion a great refort of people to thefe parts. 

 - Popayan is the conftant refidence of the governor; 

 whofe office being purely civil, it is not requifite, as 

 in many others, that he fhould be acquainted with mi- 

 litary affairs. Witiiin the jurifdidtion of his govern- 

 ment. 



