The houses belonging to the principal inhabitants have generally an upper story, but those belonging to the lower classes have only the ground floor; they are for the most part built of adobes or stone, and are tiled. The families of the higher classes reside in the upper story, the lower being destined to the servants, and serve also as coach houses, store-rooms, and other like purposes. The use of estrados, one part of the floor raised above the rest, is as common here as at Conception, and the females appear to be uneasy when seated on a chair. The furniture, owing to a want of cabinet makers, is a mixture of antique and modern pieces, just as they can be procured; yet some of the houses, particularly that of the Count de San Jose, is most elegantly furnished.
A fashion prevails here of having a magnificent bed at one end of the estrado; some are of crimson velvet, lined with satin, trimmed with broad gold lace, and a deep gold fringe, with a cover of gold and silver embroidery, on velvet; the sheets and pillow covers are trimmed with fine Brussels lace, or equally fine lace made in Quito. Some of these beds have a handsome painting beyond them, or in some cases a transparency, which, when the curtains are withdrawn, has a very good effect.
The government of Quito and its province is vested in a president, a royal audience, composed of a regent, four judges, oidores, and a fiscal; this tribunal was first established in 1563; it was abolished in 1718, and re-established in 1739. The President enjoys all the privileges of a Viceroy, except in the military department, in which he is subject to the Viceroy of Santa Fé de Bogota. The corporation, cavildo, is composed of two Alcaldes ordinarios, eight regidores, and other officers, as at Lima. The Indians are subject to an alcalde, mayor, who is an indian, elected by the city corporation; they have also an advocate paid by the King, who is called the Protector of the Indians. The royal treasury has an accomptant, a treasurer, a fiscal, and minor officers. The aduana, custom-house, has an accomptant, treasurer, and minor officers. Besides these are the tribunals of the crusade, of the effects of those who die intestate, of posts, and of temporalities.
Quito was made a Bishop's see in 1545, and has been the residence of twenty-two bishops (1810). The chapter, cavildo ecclesiastico, is composed of the dean, archdeacon, chanter, treasurer, doctoral, penitentiary, magistral, three canons, four prebends, and two demi-prebends.
Among the inhabitants of this city there are six marquises, three counts, and one viscount, besides several families of distinguished nobility. The family of the present Conde de Puñelrostre, a grandee of the first class, who is a native of Quito, and the lineal descendants of San Francisco de Borja, Duke of Gandia, also reside here. Quito is the birth-place of one archbishop, eight bishops, six venerables, and several persons of eminent literature, among whom, Don Pedro Maldonado Sotomayor is worthy of notice. He was a profound mathematician, became professor of the sciences at Paris, and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London, in which city he died. Among those of note at present (1810), Dr. Rodrigues and Dr. Arauco and la Señora Doña Mariana Mateus de Ascasubi are esteemed literary characters. Quito was likewise the birth-place of the unfortunate Atahualpa, the last Inca of Peru.
The population of this city amounts to about seventy-five thousand souls, and may be divided into three nearly equal parts: whites, mestisos, and indians. Here are very few negroes or descendants of that race, the indians being generally engaged as the household servants, in which capacity they are called huasi camas.
The principal employment of persons of rank is to visit their estates, on which they generally reside during part of the year, particularly in harvest time. The white inhabitants of moderately easy circumstances, are farmers, merchants, or follow a literary career in the church, at the bar, or are employed by the government. The young men belonging to these classes are usually brought up at college, either as collegians or day students, the education of these being gratis. Much judgment, as well as vivacity, are displayed in the scholastic disputations, and nothing is wanting but greater liberality in the professors, or rather a removal of all ecclesiastical restrictions, with a better selection of books and instruments, to enable the university of Quito to vie with some of those of the most polished countries in Europe. If the young men, educated in the colleges do not become such adepts in science as might be expected, it is their misfortune, not their fault. The female children of this class are generally educated under the eye of their mothers, and except needle-work in its different branches, and the management of household affairs; reading and writing are all they are taught. For their skill in playing on the guitar and psaltery, of which they are remarkably fond, they are principally indebted to their own application, or to the direction of some female friend.
The white inhabitants are generally of a moderate stature, of a lively countenance, and fair complexion. Like the white natives of Chile they are narrow across the chest, to which configuration the frequency of pulmonic affections may perhaps be attributed. In society they are loquacious, frank, and courteous, particularly the females; in their houses remarkably hospitable; and to strangers they are kind to an excess. The only trait in the character of a Quiteño which militates in any degree against his virtues, is a sort of fickleness or inconstancy; they are indeed always ready for a change. The assertion of a friend I found to be very true: "if," said he, "we have a penitential procession in the morning, all attend in their most penitent attire, and put on their gravest looks; if in the afternoon we have a bull fight, none are absent; they will leave the circus in the evening to attend the sermon of a missionary, and spend the remainder of the night at a dance or card party." This instability was too visible, and often proved fatal during the period of the first revolution in this city.
The mestisos are in general well formed, often taller than the ordinary size, robust, of a ruddy colour, and very agreeable countenance; they partake of many of the virtues of the whites, but exceed them in their vices; they are equally void of fixed determination, remarkably fond of diversions, but surprisingly docile, kind and obliging, considering any attention paid to them, by any person who ranks above them, as a mark of real honour. Many of this class are employed as overseers, mayordomos, on the farms and estates belonging to the nobility; others apply themselves to painting and sculpture, in which some have excelled, and many of the paintings of Miguel de Santiago have been classed in Italy among the first productions of the pencil; at present (1810) the artists in greatest repute are Samaniego, Cortes, and Solis. The mestisos also apply themselves to mechanical trades, and excel as lapidaries, jewellers, and silversmiths; but a lack of inventive genius is certainly visible in all their performances, exact imitation being their principal study, and in this they most assuredly succeed.
The Indians, both men and women, are of a low stature, well proportioned, very muscular, and strong; they bear a general resemblance in their habits and customs to the indians in Peru, but they are under more subjection to their masters. Those that are employed in the city are household servants, in which capacity they are very useful, partly on account of the equanimity of their temper and their blind submission to their masters, and, if well treated, their attachment is great to the house in which they live: a moderate recompense insures their constant services. They are capable of supporting very heavy burthens; a man will carry on his back during the greater part of the day a large earthen jar holding from twelve to sixteen gallons of water; this jar rests on the lower part of the back, while a leather thong fastened on each side the jar is passed across the forehead of the carrier, who stoops in such a manner, that the mouth of the jar is in a horizontal position, and the whole weight rests on a line perpendicular to his right heel, on which side it entirely presses. The indian has a kind of limping gait; he trips on his left foot, and then throws himself on the right; owing to which the right ancle is much thicker than the left, and this foot is also much larger than the left. I examined an old indian servant belonging to the palace, whose constant employment for several years had been to carry water from the fountain in the plasa to the palace, and found that the whole of the right side of the body was a great deal more muscular than the left.