The houses of the indians at Santo Domingo are very similar to the sheds which my carriers used to make in the woods for a night's shelter; being nothing better than a few slender poles placed in a slanting position, supported by others, like the roof of a house, having only one side covered to exclude the rain.
These indians cultivate capsicum, aji, to a very large extent, and find a ready market for it at Quito, where they also carry fruit, fresh fish caught in the rivers, and wax taken from the nests of the Moquingana bees. Their food is principally composed of plantains, ground nuts, maize, yucas, fish, and game.
From Santo Domingo I pursued my route to Quito, passing through Cocaniguas, and crossing the southern skirts of Pichincha by the Alto de San Juan, having, in three months, traversed the forests lying between the capital and the coast, in search of a new road of more easy communication between these two places than that from Guayaquil. The road recommended by Don Pedro Maldonado is undoubtedly the best in every respect, and I have since had the satisfaction to know, that my report has hastened the opening of it, which will add greatly to the advantage of the inhabitants, to the ease and convenience of travellers, and will facilitate the carriage of merchandize; so that I may hope that I have added my mite towards increasing the prosperity of one of the richest capitals of the new world, by assisting to produce the means by which its intercourse may be rendered more easy and expeditious with the old.
END OF VOLUME II.