does not exceed three or four leagues. Thus in different fpots, and fometimes in one and the fame, fowing and reaping are performed throughout the whole year, the forwardness or retardment naturally arifing from the different fituations, fuch as mountains, rifing grounds, plains and valleys; and the temperature being different in each, the best times for performing the feveral operations of husbandry muft alfo differ.

The country is obferved to abound more in women than men, which is the more remarkable, as those causes which induce men to leave their country, as travelling, commerce, and war, naturally bring over more men from Europe than women. But there are many families in which there are a number of daughters, without one fon among them. The women enjoy a better state of health than the men, which may be owing in fome measure to the climate, but more particularly to the early intemperance and voluptuoufnefs of the other fex.

The Creoles are well made, of a proper ftature, and of a lively and agreeable countenance. The Meftizos are alfo in general well made, often taller than the ordinary fize, very robuft, and have an agreeable air. The Indians, both men and women, and commonly low of ftature, though flrong and well proportioned; but more natural defects are to be found among them than in any of the reft. Some are remarkably fhort, fome ideots, dumb, or blind. Their hair is generally thick and long, which they wear loofe on their fhoulders; but the Indian women plait theirs behind with a ribband, and cut that before a little above the eyebrows, from one ear to the other. The greateft difgrace that can be offered to an Indian of either fex is to cut off their hair; for whatever corporal punishment their mafters think proper to inflict on them, they bear with patience; but this affront they never forgive, and accordingly the government has interpofed, and limited this punishment to the moft enor mous crimes. The colour of the hair is generally a deep black; it is lank, harfh, and as coarfe as that of a horse. On the contrary, the male Meflizos, in order to diftinguish themfeives from the Indians, cut off their hair, but the females do not adopt that custom.

The Meftizos in general wear a blue cloth, manufactured in this country; but though they are the lowest clafs of the Spaniards, they are very ambitious of diftinguishing themselves as fuch, either by the colour or fashion of the clothes they wear.

The Meflizo women affect to drefs in the fame manner as the Spanish, though they cannot equal the ladies in the richness of their fluffs. The meaner fort wear no fhoes, but, like the men of the fame rank, go barefooted.

In Quito, and all the towns and villages of its province, different dialects are fpoken, Spanish being no lefs common than the Inga, the language of the country. The Creoles ufe the latter as much as the former, but both are confiderably adulterated by borrowed words or expreflions. The firft language generally fpoken by children is the Inga, for the nurfes being Indians, many of them do not understand a word of Spanish, and thus they afterward learn a jargon composed of both languages.

The fumptuous manner of performing the last offices for the dead, demonftrates how far the power of habit is capable of prevailing over reafon and prudence, for their oftentation is fo great in this particular, that many families of credit are ruined by prepofteroufly endeavouring to excel others; and the people here may be faid to toil and fcheme and lay up wealth, to enable their fucceffors to lavish honours upon a body infenfibly of all pegcantry.

The commerce of the province of Quito is chiefly carried on by Europeans settled here, and others who occasionally arrive. The manufactures of this province are only cottons, fome white and ftriped baize, and clothes, which meet with a good market at Lima, for fupplying the inward provinces of Peru. The returns are made partly in filver, and partly in fringes made of gold and filver thread, and wine, brandy, oil, copper, tin, lead, and quickfilver. On the arrival of the galleons at Carthagena, thele traders refort thither to purchase European goods, which, at their return, they configu to their correfpondents all over the province. The coafts of New Spain fupply this province with indigo, of which there is a very large confumption at the manufactures, blue being univerfally the colour which this people adopt for their apparel. They alfo import, by way of Guayaquila, iron and fleel, both from Europe and the coaft of Guatimala.

The difpofition of the Indians in the province of Quito is extremely remarkable, and they appear to have no refemblance to the people found there by those who first difcovered the country. They at prefent poffefs a tranquility not fo diftributed either by fortunate or unfortunate events. In their mean apparel they are as contended as a prince clothed in the moft fplendid robes. They fhew the fame difregard to riches; and even the authority and grandeur within their reach is fo little the object of their ambition, that to all appearances it seems to be the fame to an Indian whether he be created an alcaide, or obliged to perform the office of a common executioner.

Their floth is fo great, that scarcely any thing can induce them to work. Whatever, therefore, is neceffary to be done, is left to the Indian women, who are much more active; they fpin and make the half fhirts and drawers, which form the only apparel of their hufbands; they cook the provifions, grind barley, and brew the beer called chica, while the hufband fits fquatting on his hams, the ufual pofture of the Indians, looking at his bufy wife. The only domestic service they do is to plough the little fpot of land, which is fowed by the wife. When they are once feated on their hams, no reward can induce them to ftir; fo that if a traveller has loft his way, and happens to come to one of their cottages, they charge their wives to fay that they are not at home. Should the paffengers alight and enter the cottage the Indian would fill be fafe, for having no light but what comes through a hole in the door, he could not be difcovered; and fhould the ftranger even fee the Indian, neither entreaties nor rewards would prevail on him to flir a flep with him.

They are lively only in parties of pleafure, rejoicings, entertainments, and efpecially dancing; but in all these the liquor muft circulate brifkly, and they continue drinking till they are entirely deprived both of sense and

motion.

It is remarkable that the Indian women, whether maids or married, and Indian young men before they are of an age to contract matrimony, arc never guilty of this vice; it being a maxim among them, that drunkenness is the privilege of none but masters of families, who when they are unable to take care of themfelves, have others to take care of them.

The women prefent the chica to their husbands in calabashes, till their fpirits are railed, then one plays on a pipe and tabor, while others dance. Some of the best voices among the Indian women fing fongs in their own language, and those who do not dance, fquat down in the ufual posture till it comes to their turn. When tired with intemperance, they all lie down together, without regarding whether they be near the wife of another or their

own fifter or daughter. Thefe feftivities fometimes continue three or four days, till the pricft coming an on them, throws away all the chica, and dif. perfes the Indians, left they fhold procure more.

Their funeral are likewife folemnized with exceffive drinking. The house is filled with jugs of chica, for the folace of the mourners and other vifitors; the arter even go out into the streets, and invite all of their nation who hap pen to pals by, to come in and drink to the honor of the deceased. This ce remony lafts four or five days, and fometimes more, firong liquor being their fupremne enjoyment.

The Indians in the audience of Quito are faid to act contrary to all other nations in their marriages, for they never make choice of a woman who has not been firft enjoyed by others, which they confider a certain indication of her perfonal attractions. After a young man has made choice of a woman, he alks her of her father, and having obtained his confent, they begin to cohabit together as man and wife. At the end of three or four months and frequently of a year, the huíband leaves his bride or wife, without any ceremo ny, and perhaps expoftulates with his father-in-law for endeavouring to deceive him, impofing upon him his daughter, whom nobody else had thought worthy of making a bedfellow. But if no difguft arifes in the man on this account, or any other, after paffing three or four months in this commerce, which they call amanarse, or to habituate one's felf, they then marry. This cuftom is ftill very common, though the whole body of the clergy have used all their endeavours to put a flop to it. Accordingly they always abfolve them of that fin before they give them the nuptial benediction.

Lima, or Los Reyes.

THE next divifion of Peru is the audience of Lima, which is

bounded on the north by Quite; on the eafl, by the Cordilleras of the Andes; on the fouth, by the audience of Los Charcos; and on the weft, by the Pacific ocean; it being about seven hundred and seventy miles in length from north to fouth, but of an unequal breadth.

The climate and foil of this country is uncommonly various; in fome places it is exceedingly hot, in others infupportably cold, and in the city of Lima, where rain never falls, it is always temperate. The feafons vary with in the compais of a few miles, and in certain parts of the audience, ́all the vicillitudes of weather are experienced in twenty-four hours. It is extreme. ly remarkable that no rains fall. or rivers flow on the fea coafts, thongh the country is refreshed by thick fogs, and the heat abated by denfe clouds that never condenfe into thowers. This phenomenon has drawn the attention of many naturaltits, without their being able fatisfactorily to account for it.

Spring begins towards the close of the year, that is, about the end of Noverber, or the beginning of Decen.ber, when the vapours which fill the atanofphere during the winter fubfide, and the fun to the great joy of the inha bitatis, again appears, and the country then begins to revive, which daring the ablence of his rays, had continued in a ftate of langour. This is fucceed. ed by fummer, which though hot from the perpendicular direction of the fun's rays, is far from being infupportable; the heat, which indeed, would otherwife be excoil.ve, being moderated by the fouth winds, which always blow at this featon, though with no great force. Winter begins at the latter end of June or the begining of July, and continues till November or Decem ba," when the fouth wind begins to blow ftronger, and to produce a certain

degree of cold, not indeed, equal to that in the countries where the ice and fnow are known, but fo keen that the light dreffes are laid by, and cloth or other warm ftuffs worn. During the winter the earth is covered with fo thick a fog, as totally to intercept the rays of the fun; and the winds, by blowing under the fhelter of the fog, retain the particles they contracted in the frozen zone. In this feason only the vapours diffolve into very fmail dew, which every where equally moiftens the earth; by which means all the hills, which during the other parts of the year offer nothing to the fight but rocks and wafles, are clothed with verdure and enamelled with flowers of the molt beautiful colours. Thefe dews never fall in fuch quantities as to impair the roads or incommode the traveller; a very thin ftuff will foon be wet through, but the continuance of the mills during the whole winter, without being exhaled by the fun, fertilizes every part of the country.

Lima is as free from tempels as from rain, fo that those of the inhabitants who have neither vifited the mountains nor travelled into other parts, are abfolute strangers to thunder and lightning, and are therefore extremely terrifi ed when they firil hear the former, or fee the latter. But it is very remarkable, that what is here entirely unknown, fhould be fo common thirty leagues east of Lima; it being no farther to the mountains, where violent rains and tempefts of thunder and lightning are as frequent as at Quito.

But though the capital is freed from the terror of these tempefls, it is fubject to what is more dreadful Earthquakes happen here fo frequently, that the inhabitants are under continual apprehenfions of their being from their fuddennefs and violence, buried in the ruins of their own houfes; yet these earthquakes, though fo fudden, have their prefages, one of the principal of which is a rumbling noife in the bowels of the earth, about a minute before the shocks are felt, that feems to pervade all the adjacent fubterraneous part; this is followed by difmal howlings of the dogs, who feem to prefage the approaching danger. The beafls of burden palling the fireets flop, and by a natural inflinct spread open their legs, the better to fecure themfeives from falling. On thefe potents the terrified inhabitants fly from their houses into the freets with fuch precipitation, that if it happens in the night, they appear quite naked; the urgency of the danger at once banishing all fenfe of delicacy or fhame. Thus the streets exhibit fuch odd and fingular figures as might afford matter of diverfion, were it poffible to be diverted in fo terrible a moment. This fudden concourfe is accompanied with the cries of children waking out of their fleep, blended with the lamentations of the women, whofe agoniting prayers to the faints increase the common fear and confufion. The men are alfo too much affected to refrain from giving vent to their terror, fo that the whole city exhibits a dreadful fcene of conflertation and terror.

The country of Lima enjoys great fertility, producing all kinds of grain, and a prodigious variety of fruit. Here indulty a d art fupply that moiffure which the clouds withhold. The ancient Incas of Peru cauled fmali canals to be formed, in order to conduct the waters of the rivers to every part of the country. The Spaniards, finding thete ufeful works executed to their hands, had only to keep them in order, and by thefe are watered fpacious fields of barley, large meadows, plantations, vineyards and gardens, all yielding uncommon plenty. Lima differs from Quito, where the fruits of the earth have no determined feafon, for here the harvel is gathered in, and the trees drop their leaves in the proper season.

Although the fummer here is hot, yet venomous creatures are unknown; and the fame may be faid of the territory called Falles, though Lere are foue

ports, as Tumbez and Piura, where the heat is almost as great as that of Guayaquil. This fingularity can therefore proceed from no other cause than the natural drought of the climate.

The audience of Lima is divided into four bishoprics, Truxillo, Guamanga, Cufco and Arequipa. The diocefe of Truxillo lies to the north of the archiepifcopal diocese of Lima, and like all the others is divided into several juridictions. The city of Truxillo is feated in 1° 6' south latitude, in a pleafant fituation, though in a fandy foil.

In the diocefe of Guamanga is a rich quickfilver mine, from which the inhabitants of a neighbouring town procure their whole fubfiftence; the coldnefs of the air in that place checking the growth of all kinds of grain and fruit, fo that they are obliged to purchase them from their neighbours. The quickfilver mines wrought here fupply all the filver mines in Peru with that neceffary mineral, and notwitflanding the prodigious quantities already extracted, no diminution is perceived.

Cufco, which gives name to another diocefe, is the moft ancient city in Peru, being of the fame date with the empire of the Incas, and was founded by them as the capital of the empire. On the mountain contiguous to the north part of the city are the ruins of a famous fort built by the Incas, whence it appears, that their defign was to inclofe the whole mountain with a prodigious wall of such conftruction as to render its afcent abfolutely impracticable to an enemy, in order to prevent all approach to the city. This wall was entirely of freeftone, and strongly built, fome of the ftones being of a prodigious inagnitude. The city Cufco is nearly equal to that of Lima.

In this bifhopric are feveral mines of gold and filver that are extremely rich.

The fourth diocese of the audience of Lima is Aqequipa, which contains the city of the fame name, one of the largest in all Peru: and it is delightfully feated in a plain, the houses are well built of ftone, and generally lofty, commodious, finely decorated on the out-fide, and neatly furnished within. The temperature of the air is extremely agreeable, the cold being never exceffive, nor the heat troublesome, fo that the fields are always clothed with verdure, and enamelled with flowers, as in a perpetual fpring. But these advantages are allayed by its being frequently expofed to dreadful earthquakes, for by these convulfions of Nature it has been four times laid in ruins. city is, however, very populous, and among its inhabitants are many noble families.

The

In this bishopric are feveral gold and filver mines, and in fome parts are large vineyards, from which confiderable quantities of wine and brandy are made. Among the other productions is Guinea pepper, in which the jurifdiction of Africa in this diocefe carries on a very advantageous trade, the annual produce of these plantations bringing in no less than fixty thousand dollars per annum. The pods of this pepper are about a quarter of a yard in length, and when gathered are dried in the fun and packed up in bags of ruthes, each bag containing an aroba or a quarter of a hundred weight, and thus they are exported to all parts. Other places of this jurifdiction are faTrous for vaft quantities of large and excellent olives, far exceeding the finck produced in Europe, they being nearly the fize of a hen's egg.