462 ' AVOYAGETO Book VI. 



a private Indian, whofe guaca was raifed only by his 

 family and a few acquaintance : • with them alfo were 

 buried their furniture, and many of their inftruments 

 both of gold, copper, (lone, and earth : and thefe 

 now are the objedis of the curiofity or avarice of 

 the Spaniards inhabiting the country; that many of 

 them make it a great part of their bufmefs to break 

 up thefe guacas, in expe6tation of finding fomething 

 valuable : and, milled by finding fome pieces of 

 •f gold here and there, they fo devote themfelves 

 to this fearch, as to fpend in it both their fub- 

 flance and time : though it mull: be owned, that 

 many, after a long perfeverance under difappoint- 

 ments, have at length met with rich returns for all 

 their labour and expence. Two inftances of this 

 kind happened while we were in the country ; the 

 firft guaca had been opened near the village of 

 Cayambe, in the plain of Pefillo, a little before 

 our arrival at Qtiito ; and out of it were taken a 

 confiderable quantity of gold utenfils ; fome of which 

 we faw in the revenue-office, having been brought 

 there as equivalents for the fifths. The fecond was 

 more recently difcovered in the jurifdi6lion of Paftos, 

 by a Dominican friar, who, from a turn of geniusi 

 for antiquities, had laid out very large fums in this 

 amufement ; and at lafl met with a guaca in which 

 he is faid to have found great riches. This is cer- 

 tain, that he fent fome valuable pieces to the pro- 

 vincial of his order, and other perfons at Quito. 

 The contents of moft of them confifl only of the 

 fkeleton of the perfon interred ; the earthen vefTels in 

 which he ufed to drink chica, now called guaqueros ; 

 fome copper axes, looking-glafTes of the ynca-llone, 

 and things of that kind, being of little or no value, 

 except for their great antiquity, and their being the 

 works of a rude illiterate people. 



The 



