Ch. X. SOUTH AMERICA. 449 



only one of thefe advantages. Quito may jiiftly 

 clalfed among the former, being that province which 

 of all Peru is the moli: fertile in grain and fruits ; 

 the moft populous, and efpecially in Spaniards ; 

 abounds moft in cattle ; has the moft manufa6lures, 

 and excels in them; and in mines, if not the richeft, 

 yet equal to any of the others, on which nature has 

 poured out thefe her choiceft favours. But it feems 

 as if nature, unwilling to diftinguifti this by an abfo- 

 kite happinefs, has denied it a fuitable concourfe of 

 people, that it might not at once have a full enjoy- 

 ment of all the benefits laviftied on it, there being 

 no reafon which can difculpate the inhabitants of 

 Quito in the neglect of the mines. For though the 

 number of them difcovered be very great, and af- 

 ford a very probable conjecture that the Cordilleras 

 muft contain many more ; yet very few are worked, 

 particularly within thefe jurifdidlions. Thus the 

 riches of the country lie buried, and without them the 

 fertility of the foil cannot fupply their want fo as to 

 fpread through the province an opulence like that ob- 

 fervable in the other provinces of Peru, where, by the 

 circulation of filver, there is an univerfal appearance 

 of affluence, gaiety, and fplendor. 



Of the great number of mines within the province 

 of Quito, fome were formerly worked, which at pre- 

 fent are abandoned. The country then was fenfible 

 of its advantage; and the remembrance of the general 

 opulence of thofe times, refuiting from the riches ta- 

 ken out of the mines, ftill fubfifts. Not only the ca^ 

 pital, but the towns and villages were then very popu- 

 lous : and manv of its inhabitants were famous ail 

 over Peru for their prodigious wealth. The rich 

 mines, within the jurifdidlion of Macas, were irreco- 

 verably loft by a revolt of the Indians ; and in pro- 

 cefs of time the very remembrance of their iituation 

 was obliterated. The mines of Zaruma have been 



Vol. I. G g abandon- 



