The mountains in the neighbourhood of Palactawga, in the district of Riobamba, are full of veins of gold and silver ore; but, excepting what is gathered when the rainy season ceases among the decombres washed down, they are entirely neglected; however, Don Martin Chiriboga, in 1808, had selected a very rich vein, which he assured me he had chosen out of thirteen shewn to him, and had taken out a register for the working of it; but during my stay in the province nothing effectual was done.
Near a village called Puncho a vein of cinnabar was discovered and seized by the government, because mines producing quicksilver were a royal monopoly; but a German mineralogist having been sent for from Lima, to form an assay of the ore, declared in his report to the royal audience, that it was a mine of sheet tin, haja de lata, not knowing the proper name for tin; however this mistake caused the tribunal to declare, that the mine should not be wrought nor again mentioned in court.
At Popayan and Cuenca there are many veins of iron, according to the generally received reports, particularly at the latter place, which is said to stand on a bed of iron ore. As I did not visit Cuenca, I mention this on the authority of several individuals, of whose veracity I have no reason to doubt.
I have already, when at Huacho, spoken of the character of the Peruvian indians; and as those of Quito were under the government of three of the Incas, received their laws, rites, and customs, and adopted their language, it is only reasonable to consider them a part of that nation, or rather, that the character of that nation was stamped on their habits and customs: at least, persevering industry, whether the result of their becoming the subjects of the Inca, or otherwise, is strongly marked in many of the remains of buildings in the territory belonging to Quito.
The ruins near to Cayambe may certainly be called superb. They are supposed to be the remains of a temple dedicated to the great creating spirit, Pachacamac. These ruins are on an elevated part of the plain: their form is a circle forty-eight feet in diameter; the walls are fifteen feet high and five thick, and the whole is built of adobes, sun-dried bricks, cemented with clay. The materials of which the walls are constructed are in a state of perfect preservation, which fact appeared to me more surprising than the building itself; because the climate is very different from that on the coast of Peru, where I had seen buildings of this class. Here the rains are both violent and of long continuance, nevertheless the walls are in many parts entire, though formed of clay, and seem by their hardness destined to defy the ravages of time for centuries to come.
At the northern extremity of the plains on which the town of Tacunga is built are the remains of Callo, belonging at present to a farm in the possession of the Augstin friars. This edifice, supposed to have been a palace of the Inca, was built of porphyry; the stones were cut into long square prisms of different dimensions, having the exterior surface slightly convex, except at the doors, where the fronts are plain; this gives to the walls the fluted appearance of rustic work. The stones are joined with such extreme nicety and exactness that the point of a pen-knife cannot be introduced between them. A kind of asphaltum seems to have been used as a cement, although in other Peruvian buildings a marly soil was employed for this purpose.
About one hundred yards from these ruins, fronting the principal entrance, there is a mount, standing in the middle of a plain: it is about a hundred and fifty feet high, having the shape of a cone, and appears to owe its existence ta human labour. It is called el panecillo de Callo, and, like that which stands at the southern extremity of the city of Quito, is supposed to have served the purpose of a watch-tower, because it commands an extensive view of the surrounding country, and might be one of the means employed to provide for the safety of the conqueror against any sudden surprize of his new subjects. If we believe the tradition of the Indians, it is a huaca or mausoleum of some of the royal race of the Incas; but this is not correct, because, according to Garcilaso, these were all interred at Cusco, to which place they were conveyed if they died in any other part of the country, Cusco being considered their holy city.
Near the town of Atun Cañar there is another ruin, similar to that at Callo, but of much greater extent; it was visited by M. de Humboldt, who gives a description of it in his researches. At the distance of six leagues is another at Pomallacta, and there are more in many parts of the country.
Several remains of fortified places, called pucuras, still exist; they are hills or mounts surrounded by ranges of moats or ditches, dug behind each other, and protected or strengthened with parapets of stone, whence the holders could safely annoy the enemy. These places were so common, that almost every eligible situation was thus fortified: the outward moat of circumvallation at Pambamarca is upwards of a league and a half in extent.