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Their habitations are miserable hovels, destitute of every convenience or accommodation, and disgustingly filthy. Their dress is mean, and their food coarse and scanty. Their strongest propensity is to spirituous liquors; and to this indulgence they sacrifice every other consideration. Though they are considered converts to the Christian religion, they are still tainted with the superstitions of their ancestors. But they are great observers of the external rites and ceremonies of the church, and they expend large sums of money in masses and processions; a species of profusion from which they are not discouraged by the priests. The Indians of Peru are required to pay to the Spanish government a personal tax or tribute; but this is extremely moderate, and is to be regarded rather as a distinctive mark and a token of vassalage, than a serious burthen. Indians of noble birth, that is, of the families from which the caciques are taken, enjoy an exemption from tribute, and are considered equally qualified with Spaniards to fill important offices in the colony. In places where Indians are the sole inhabitants, they are still governed by their caciques. The Indians are subject to another burthen: the mita, or compulsory labour in the mines. Every male Indian, from eighteen to fifty years of age, must take his share in this service, which lasts for six months, and returns once in about three years and a half. Whatever be his occupation, he must leave it when his turn comes. Some Indians are compelled to travel two or three hundred leagues from home; and many take their families with them to the mines. They have only a small allowance for their travelling expenses; but they receive, for their work in the mines, at least half a dollar a day, and occasionally a sum much greater than this. This class of people are employed in the mines, because they are able to endure the fatigue and unwholesomeness of the labour, whilst Spaniards and negroes, though they have often been tried, always sink under it after a short time. More intolerable

hardship, or more flagrant injustice than the mita, cannot well be imagined: a forced conscription, for the purpose of digging riches from the bowels of the earth, to benefit only the employers, is the extremity of cruelty and injustice.

Besides European-Spaniards, Creoles, and Indians, the population of this country consists of mestees, quarteroons, cholos, negro slaves, and mulattoes. The mestees are the offspring of Spaniards and Indians, and are the next class in rank to the Creoles. They have not the privileges and exemptions of the Indians, nor are they subject to the same burthens. The quarteroons are the offspring of Spaniards and mestees, and are scarcely distinguishable from Spaniards. The cholos, on the contrary, spring from Indians and mestees, are classed with the Indians, and rendered subject to tribute. There are in Peru, a considerable number of negro slaves. These are either employed in domestic service, or on the sugar plantations and farms of their masters. Free negroes are very numerous, and are, in general, idle and disorderly. The mulattoes are called by Spanish writers, the gipsies of Spanish America; and they have this appellation from their resemblance, in complexion, manners, and character to the Spanish gipsies. The free mulattoes are usually tradesmen and mechanics.

Fifteenth Day's Instruction.

PERU CONTINUED.

PERU, as a Spanish province, is of much less extent than it was under the Incas. In the year 1718 Quito was separated from it: in 1778, it was further diminished by the separation of Potosi, and the south-eastern provinces, which were annexed to the vice-royalty

of the Rio Plata; and, of late, the inhabitants of some of the remaining parts have declared themselves independent, and have shaken off the yoke of the Spanish government.

It will be unnecessary to perplex you with a detail of the minute divisions of this territory; and you will attain a more distinct idea of its general topography, if I describe to you, in succession, the whole district, than if I were to separate the provinces under different heads, and to state the particulars respecting them in a detached form.

Quito.

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I shall commence with Quito, a district which is about two hundred leagues in extent, from north to south, and two hundred and fifty from east to west. is bounded on the north by Popayan and New Granada, on the east by Brazil, and on the west by the ocean. The valley of Quito, about nine thousand feet above the level of the sea, and, surrounded by mountains, exhibits some of the most singular and interesting scenes that can be imagined. Nature is here on a grand scale; and the country is distinguished by features of peculiar magnificence. The climate is various, according to the elevation of the soil, and the proximity of the mountains, rivers, and seas. Some districts are parched with intense heat, and others, though immediately under the equator, are chilled with snow and ice. Dreadful storms of thunder and lightning, and destructive earthquakes, frequently occur. During winter rain generally prevails; but a long drought sometimes happens in summer, and is productive of dangerous diseases. In many parts the soil is astonishingly fertile, and vegetables and fruit of numerous kinds are produced through the whole year. It frequently happens that fruits in maturity, fresh leaves, and blossoms, appear on the same tree. A similar incessant fertility is observable in the grain: though there is a settled season for the grand harvest, yet

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reaping and sowing are often carried on at the same time. This country is intersected by innumerable torrents and rivers, most of which flow into the Amazon; and there are many valuable quarries of stone, and mines of metals and minerals.

Within the province of Quito there are still some remains of ancient Peruvian monuments and architecture. On the plains are sepulchral tumuli of earth, sixty feet and upwards in height, in some of which treasures have been found. In one of the villages are the ruins of a circular temple, built of brick, and one hundred and forty feet in circumference; and north of Tacunga are the walls of a royal palace, constructed of stone, and neatly joined without cement. But from these and other ancient edifices, in different parts of the country, it appears that even the most important buildings of the incas were constructed without either regularity or design.

Quito, the capital of this province, is a bishop's see, and the seat of an university. It is a fortified and opulent manufacturing city, built on the rugged acclivity of the mountain Pichincha, and at an elevation of more than nine thousand feet above the level of the sea, from which it is about a hundred miles distant. Many of the streets are broad and handsome, but irregular and extremely uneven; and most of the houses are constructed of clay or unburnt bricks. The best houses are large, and have balconies toward the street, but none of them are more than one story high. Near the middle of the city is a magnificent square, which contains the cathedral, the episcopal palace, the town house, and palace of audience; and the principal streets terminate at the angles of this square. Quito has, at different times, suffered much from conflagrations; but, in particular, it was nearly burnt to the ground in 1764*.

*For a further account of Quito, see Ulloa's and Humboldt's Travels.

In the vicinity of this city are two spacious plains, both of which are covered with verdure, and embellished with cultivated fields, villages, farm-houses, and hamlets. These plains are environed by mountains, and overlooked by the summits of the two lofty volcanoes Cotopaxi and Pichincha.

The province of Quito, it has already been stated, is subject to destructive earthquakes. A tremendous convulsion of the earth, on the 4th of February, 1797, changed the whole aspect of the province. This, almost in an instant, destroyed thirty-five or forty thousand persons, and has changed the temperature of the atmosphere to a greater degree of cold than before. In the city of Quito little damage was sustained, but the subterraneous thunder, and the shocks, repeated every five or six hours, occasioned indescribable horror and dismay. On the ensuing day it was known that Tacunga, and various hamlets in its vicinity, were utterly destroyed. Near Hambato many mountains were split, and, by their sudden fall, occasioned an awful destruction of the human race. A town called Quero, and all its people, were buried in an instant by a cliff which fell upon it. Another town was overwhelmed by a stream of water and mud. The elegant town of Riobamba' became a heap of wreck and desolation, and shortly afterwards totally disappeared. The peak of a mountain falling upon it, filled up two rivers that passed by, and thus for a considerable time formed a lake, so that even the ruins of the town were not visible. Of nine thousand inhabitants only about four hundred escaped. The effects of this earthquake were more or less experienced through an extent of country upwards of two hundred and fifty miles in length from north to south. Since this catastrophe, earthquakes are continually recurring; and in such shocks that it is considered probable all the higher ground is one vast volcano.

Across the mountains towards the south-east, and at the distance of about eighty miles from Quito, lies Archidona, formerly the residence of a governor, but

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