Of the situation of the city of San Francisco del Quito, of its
foundation, and who it was who founded it.
The city of San Francisco del Quito is in the northern province of the
kingdom of Peru. This province is nearly sixty leagues long from east to
west, and twenty-five or thirty broad. The city is built amongst ancient
buildings, which the Yncas, in the days of their power, had ordered to
be raised in these parts. They were the work of the illustrious and
powerful Huayna Ccapac, and of the great Tupac, his father, and the
natives called these royal and noble buildings Quito, whence the city
took its name.[267] The climate is healthy, and more cold than warm.
There is little or no extent of view from the city, because it is
situated in a hollow surrounded by high mountains, and the level space
is so confined that there will be some difficulty in building if it is
desired to enlarge the city, but it could be made very strong if it was
considered necessary. To the west are the cities of Puerto Viejo, and
Guayaquil, which are about seventy and eighty leagues distant, and to
the south are the cities of Loxa and San Miguel, the one one hundred and
thirty and the other eighty leagues distant. To the east are the forests
and the sources of the river which is called the fresh water sea,[268]
and to the north is the government of Popayan, which we have just
passed.
The city of Quito is under the equinoctial line, indeed only seven
leagues distant from it. The surrounding country appears to be sterile,
but in reality it is very fertile, and all kinds of cattle are bred in
it plentifully, besides other provisions, corn and pulse, fruit and
birds. The country is very pleasant, and particularly resembles Spain in
its pastures and its climate, for the summer begins in April, and lasts
until November, and, though it is cold, the land is no more injured by
it than in Spain.
In the plains they reap a great quantity of wheat and barley, so that
there is a plentiful supply of provisions in the province, and in time
it will yield all the fruits of our Spain, for even now they begin to
grow some of them. The natives are in general more gentle and better
disposed, and have fewer vices than any of those we have passed, and
indeed than all the Indians of the greater part of Peru. This, at least,
is what I myself have seen and understood, although others have formed a
different opinion. But if they had seen and noted all these people as I
have done, I hold it for certain that they would be of my way of
thinking. They are a people of middle height, and very hard workers.
They live in the same way as the people of the Kings Yncas, except that
they are not so clever, seeing that they were conquered by them, and now
live by the rules which were ordered to be observed by the Yncas. For
in ancient times they were, like their neighbours, badly dressed and
without industry in the erection of buildings.[269]
There are many warm valleys where fruit trees and pulses are cultivated
all the year round. There are also vineyards in these valleys, but as
the cultivation has only lately commenced, I can only mention the hope
that they will yield; but they already have large orange and lime trees.
The pulses of Spain yield abundantly, and all other provisions may be
had that man requires. There is also a kind of spice, which we call
cinnamon, brought from the forests to the eastward. It is a fruit, or
kind of flower, which grows on the very large cinnamon trees, and there
is nothing in Spain that can be compared with it, unless it be an acorn,
but it is of a reddish colour inclined to black, and much larger and
rounder. The taste is very pleasant, like that of real cinnamon, and it
is only eaten after it has been pounded, for, if it is stewed like real
cinnamon, it loses the strength of its flavour. It makes a warm cordial,
as I can affirm from experience, for the natives trade with it, and use
it in their illnesses, particularly for pains in the bowels and stomach.
They take it as a drink.[270]
They have great store of cotton, which they make into cloth for their
dresses, and also use it for paying tribute. In the neighbourhood of the
city of Quito there are many flocks of what we call sheep, but they are
more like camels. Further on I shall treat of these animals, of their
shape, and of the different sorts of these sheep of Peru, as we call
them. There are also many deer, rabbits, partridges, pigeons, doves, and
other game. Of provisions, besides maize, there are two other products
which form the principal food of these Indians. One is called potatoe,
and is a kind of earth nut, which, after it has been boiled, is as
tender as a cooked chestnut, but it has no more skin than a truffle, and
it grows under the earth in the same way. This root produces a plant
exactly like a poppy. The other food is very good, and is called
_quinoa_.[271] The leaf is like a Moorish rush (amaranth?), and the
plant grows almost to the height of a man, forming a very small seed,
sometimes white and at others reddish. Of these seeds they make a drink,
and also eat them cooked, as we do rice.
There are many other seeds and roots, but the natives of Quito, seeing
the value of wheat and barley, sow one or the other, and eat them, also
making a drink from the barley.[272] As I have said before, all these
Indians are industrious, although, in some of the provinces, they have a
different character, as I will relate when we pass through them, for the
women are made to work in the fields, while their husbands sew and
weave, and occupy themselves with female work. I have seen, in the
villages near Cuzco, while the women are ploughing, the men spinning and
preparing their arms and clothes, work suited to women and not to men.
In the time of the Yncas there was a royal road made by the force and
labour of men, which began at this city of Quito, and went as far as
Cuzco, whence another of equal grandeur and magnitude led to the
province of Chile, which is more than one thousand two hundred leagues
from Quito. On these roads there were pleasant and beautiful lodgings
and palaces every three or four leagues, very richly adorned. These
roads may be compared to that which the Romans made in Spain, and which
we call the silver road.
I have stopped longer to describe the noteworthy things of Quito than at
any of the other cities we have left behind, and the reason is that this
city is the principal place in this part of Peru, and has always been
much esteemed. To conclude with it, I must add that it was founded and
settled by captain Sebastian Belalcazar (who was afterwards governor and
Adelantado of the province of Popayan) in the name of the Emperor, Don
Carlos our lord, the Adelantado Don Francisco Pizarro being governor and
captain-general of the kingdoms of Peru and provinces of New Castille,
in the year of the nativity of our Redeemer Jesus Christ 1534.