a populous Indian town having the same name. Its agreeable site, and the fine temperature of the air, call loudly for its re-construction; at the same time that the productiveness and fertility of these low grounds, in which the quina trees, those more especially that yield the yellow bark, flourish, render them well adapted to the cultivation of indigo, of fine tobacco similar to that produced at the Havannah, of cochineal which is collected throughout the year; of rice, and, in general, of all esculent plants, as is indicated by those that, growing wild, were formerly sought after with great avidity, and by those that still spring up. Here it is that Don Juan de Bezares has already cleared the ground for a new settlement, to be denominated San Carlos. At the distance of somewhat more than half a league lies the river Yanamayo, beyond which, at a similar distance, the traveller has to cross the bridge thrown by Bezares over the stream Xincartambo. Here commence the great pajonales (the parts covered by high grasses) of the mountainous territory, capable, through their extent, of nourishing many thousand heads of cattle of every description. Proceeding onward half a league, the bridge of Chinchima, over the river Monzon, terminates the eleven leagues of the new road opened by Bezares, the plantations and high grasses still presenting themselves to the view.
From this site the traveller proceeds by the bank of the river Monzon, and at the end of the second league reaches the village of Chipaco, in which there are twenty-six heads of families, partly mestizos, and partly tributary Indians, who are, as well as the other settlers on this bank, visited but once a year by the sub-rector, and the collector of the sub-delegate of the province. Considering the fertility of the extensive marshes they inhabit, and which are adapted, on either bank, to every description of cultivation, as well as to the rearing of cattle, they may be said to be poor and needy. Their idle prejudices formerly deprived them of the best part of their sustenance, namely, the broad beans and Yucas: the former, in their persuasion, gave them the itch, and the latter dried the blood. Bezares has, however, succeeded in subduing these prejudices, and, in addition to the above, has introduced various productions, particularly the anil, which for that purpose he caused to be brought from Nicaragua.
At the distance of half a league from the village of Chipaco lies the river Aucantagua, which rises in the south, and runs through an extensive and fertile marsh communicating with the high grounds. Several towns, inhabited by civilized Indians, formerly subsisted in this district. The vestiges of the capital, named Chancaran, are still discernible; and about them are to be seen the ruins of the works erected for the purifying of the gold and silver ores brought from the
mines
