Ch. IV. SOUTH AMERICA. 



35^ 



CHAP. IV. 



Defcrlptwn of the Governments of Quixos, and 

 Macas; with an Account of Jean de Braca- 

 moros, the Difcovery and Conqueji of it. 



NEXT to the government of Popayan, which 

 has been treated of in the foregoing chapter, 

 follow thofe of Quixos and Macas, on the eaft fide of 

 the Cordillera of the Andes: it is divided into two 

 diftridts, Quixos being the north part of the govern- 

 ment, and Macas the fouth, with the country of 

 Camelos lying betwixt them. As their fituation and 

 other circumftances require that each Ihould be treat- 

 ed diftindly, I fhall begin widi Quixos, which on 

 the north fide borders on the jurifdidtion of Popayan ; 

 eaftward it reaches to the river Aguarico, and weft- 

 ward is feparated from the jurifdidions of Quito, La- 

 tacunga, and the town of San Miguel de Ibarra, by 

 the Cordilleras of Cotopaxi and Cayamburo. The 

 firft difcovery of the country of Qtiixos is owing to 

 Gonzalo Diaz de Pineda, in the year 1536, who, 

 among the ofHcers fent from Popayan by Sebaftian de 

 Belalcazar, to trace the courfe of the river of Magda- 

 lena, and take a furvey of the country adjacent to 

 that which had been conquered, was appointed to make 

 difcoveries in thefe parts, which he performed with 

 great care and difpatch ; and finding it to abound in 

 gold, and caffia trees, he returned to his commander ^ 

 and on his report, Gonzalo Pizaro, in the year 1539, 

 at that time governor of Qiiito, marched to it with 

 a defign of reconnoitring its whole exient, and making 

 fetclements. Bur, his expedition mifcarrying, the con- 

 queft of this countr}^, though from Pineda's report 

 very defirable, was fufpended till the year 1549, when 

 the marquis de Canete, viceroy of Peru, gave a com- 

 miflion to Gil Ramirez Davalos, a man of undaunted 



couraee 



