Quito is plentifully supplied with water from several streams which flow from the sides of the mountains, and are conducted into the town by means of conduits. Several of these brooks unite in one spot, and form the small river Machangara, which washes the south parts of the city, and is crossed by a stone bridge.
In the church of the Jesuits is an alabaster slab, on which is engraven a Latin inscription, commemorating the labours of the French and Spanish mathematicians in 1736, and the following years, till 1742, and enumerating the signals, angles, and other circumstances connected with the great undertaking of the measurement of a degree of the meridian which was performed in those years.
In this province some cotton goods are manufactured; these are exported to Peru, for which gold, silver, laces, wine, brandy, oil, copper, tin, lead and quicksilver are returned; the wheat of Quito is exported to Guayaquil, and the coast of Guatimala sends indigo, iron and steel, for which some of the products of Quito are returned by way of Guayaquil. The commerce of Quito is however mostly internal, and this province contains no metallic veins which are worked, though many rich ones are supposed to exist, and some mercury has been found between the villages of Cuença and Azogue.
Quito is celebrated as having been the scene of the measurement of a degree of the meridian by the French and Spanish mathematicians, in the reign of Louis the XV. The plain made choice of for the mensuration of the great base is situated 1592 feet lower than the city of Quito, and four leagues north-east of it, near the village of Yuranqui, from which it has its name. It was in this desert valley, surrounded by the lofty summits of the central Andes, that these geodesic operations were carried on, and which were attended with constant peril and labour; some idea of which may be formed from the following description of the chain of the Andes which pervades Quito; this chain after having been divided near Popayan into three branches, unites in the district of Pastos, and stretches far beyond the equator.
Its most lofty summits form two lines, separated by a series of valleys, from 10,600 to 13,900 feet in height, as far as the third degree of south latitude, in which the chief towns of Quito are situated. On the west side of this vale or plain rise the mountains of Casitagua, Pichincha, Atacazo, Corazon, Ilinissa, Carguirazo, Chimborazo and Cunambay; and on the east are the peaks of Cayambe, Guamani, Antisana, Passuchoa, Ruminavi, Cotopaxi, Quelendama, Tunguragua and Capa Urcu, or the altar, all of which, excepting three or four, are higher than Mont Blanc, but on account of the great elevation of the plain on which they rest, their appearance is not so lofty as may be imagined; the summit of Chimborazo, the most elevated, not being more than 11,942 feet above the plain of Tapia, which itself is 9481 feet above the level of the sea.
The constant temperature of the air is such, that the summits of those mountains which enter the region of perpetual snow have the line of congelation distinctly marked, and the road to Quito from Guayaquil leads along the northern declivity of Chimborazo, amid scenes of the most majestic nature, and near the regions of eternal frost.
Chimborazo, the most lofty of the American summits is in the form of a dome, and towers over the conical peaks and heads of the adjacent mountains, to an amazing altitude; its height above the level of the sea being 21,441 feet.
Pichincha, which surmounts the city of Quito was formerly a very active volcano, but since the conquest, its eruptions have not been frequent; three peaks rise from the edge of its crater, which are generally free from snow, on account of the heat of the ascending vapours; at the summit of one of these is a projecting rock twelve feet long, by six broad, hanging over the precipice, and generally strongly agitated by convulsive shocks. M. de Humboldt lay on his breast on this stone, and looked down into the abyss of the crater below, which was so vast (being three miles in circumference) that the summits of several mountains were seen in it. Its sides were of a deep black, the tops of the mountains he observed in this awful situation were six hundred yards beneath him, and he supposes the bottom of the crater is on a level with the city of Quito. Its edges are always covered with snow, and flames rise from its surface, amid columns of dark smoke. Pichincha is 15,939 feet above the level of the sea.
Of all the American volcanoes Cotopaxi is the most noted, and is situated to the south-east of Quito, twelve leagues distant from that city, and five leagues north of Latacunga, between the mountains of Ruminavi, the summit of which is rugged and jagged with separate rocks, and Quelendama, whose peaks enter the regions of eternal frost. The form of Cotopaxi is very beautiful, being that of a perfect cone, covered with snow, and the crater appears surrounded with a wall of black rock, which is impossible to be reached by reason of the immense crevices in the sides of the mountain.
In viewing this volcano every thing conspires to afford the most majestic and awful scene that can be imagined; the pyramidal summits of Ilinissa, the snowy ridges of the other mountains, the singular regularity of the inferior line of snow, and the luxuriancy of the great plains offer an unparalleled assemblage of the grand and picturesque features of nature.