QUITO, the capital of the republic of Ecuador, South America, an archbishopric, and the chief town of a department, lies 14' of latitude south of the equator, and in 79° 45' W. long., at a height of 9520 feet above the sea. In ancient times it was connected with Cuzco by a paved highway, portions of which still exist; but under Spanish rule it was allowed to relapse almost into the natural isolation of its position. Since 1870, however, ...
two carriage roads have been constructed from Quito to Milagro on the Guayaquil river and to the province of Manabi respectively. The railway projected between the city of Guayaquil and Quito has as yet advanced inland only to Chimbo bridge at the foot of the Andes, so that the really difficult part of the enterprise remains untouched; a telegraph line, however, has been opened. The distance between these two leading cities of the republic is 200 miles by road, and the transit of goods takes fourteen days and costs from 10 to 14 dollars per cargo of 250 lb. Though built on the eastern skirts of the magnificent volcano of Pichincha (15,827 feet) and within 5 miles of its crater, Quito is not within sight of the summit, a secondary eminence known to the Incas as Yavird, and now as Panecillo, rising between. The site is an irregular plain traversed by two ravines running down from the mountain, one of which is arched over so as not to interfere with the alignment of the streets. Though the streams flow east at first, they really belong to the system of the Perucho which discharges into the Pacific near Esmeraldas. The houses, mostly of sun-dried brick, are usually low and squat, and not a chimney is to be seen. The public buildings are also of a massive and heavylooking Spanish type. In the principal square are the cathedral, with a fine marble porch, the Government house, with a colonnade running the whole length of the façade, and the palace of the nuncio. But the finest building in Quito is the college of the Jesuits, part of which is occupied by the university, an institution long rendered interesting to Englishmen by the presence of the venerable botanist Dr William Jameson. There is a public library in the city of 20,000 volumes, and a polytechnic school was instituted in 1872. The local manufactures are confined to coarse cotton and woollen stuffs, thread, lace, hosiery, silk, and a certain amount of jewellery. About 1870 the population was estimated by Dr Jameson at between 30,000 and 40,000; the Almanach de Gotha for 1885 states it as 80,000.
Quito (the city of the Quitus, a race akin to the Quichuas of Peru) was peacefully conquered by the Spanish captain Sebastian Benalcazar in 1533. It received the rank of a Spanish city in 1541 from Charles V., and became the capital of the province of Quito in the viceroyalty of New Granada. More than once it has suffered severely from earthquakes: in 1797, for example, 40,000 of its inhabitants were thus destroyed; and in March 22, 1859, property was damaged to the value of $3,000,000.
