The temperature of the air in this district is variable, but generally warmer than at Quito. The soil is fertile, producing the tropical fruits, cotton, maize, great quantities of sugar, wheat and barley; and the Indians weave cotton and cloth, and work some large salt mines, which supply the northern districts. Few sheep are seen in Ibarra, but it abounds in goats, and near a village called Mira, with a multitude of wild asses, extremely fierce, which are hunted for their skins.
In passing from Pastos, through Ibarra, the traveller views with astonishment the deep valley or crevice of Chota, 4922 feet in depth, covered with luxuriant vegetation.
Ibarra contains within its district, eight principal villages or small towns.
OTABALO.
Otabalo is the next jurisdiction, containing eight towns or villages, the lands of which are laid out in plantations, principally of the sugar cane; but the wheat and barley sown in this district thrive very much; a great number of small rivers fertilize the country, and it abounds with sheep, black cattle and horses. Great quantities of butter and cheese are exported, and the native Indians are industrious, weaving quilts, cottons, bed furniture, and carpets, which, having very brilliant colours, are much valued in Quito and Peru.
The chief town is Otabalo, thirty miles north of Quito, in 0° 15ʹ north latitude, and 77° 56ʹ west longitude, containing 15,000 souls, a great portion of whom are whites; the other villages or towns are mostly inhabited by Indians.
This district contains two lakes, one called San Pablo, is three miles long, and a mile and a half broad, abounding with wild geese, and gives rise to the Rio Blanco. The other lake has nearly the same size, and is called Cuicocha, being situated at the foot of a mountain of that name; it produces a sort of cray-fish much esteemed at Quito, as it is the only fresh water fish that can be had there.
The Indians of Otabalo resisted Huana Capac in his expedition against Quito, which so exasperated him, that he ordered all that could be found to be beheaded, and cast into a small lake in Ibarra, called Yagarcocha, signifying the bloody lake.
The villages of Cayambe and Catacatche in this district, are situated at the feet of the mountains of those names, the latter of which is 16,434 feet above the level of the sea; near Cayambe are the ruins of an ancient circular temple on an eminence, and about fifty feet in diameter; of this nothing remains but the walls, which are about five feet thick and fifteen feet high; the whole is of unbaked brick, cemented with a sort of earth. In the plain near this village are numerous tumuli, or burying places of the ancient inhabitants of the province, which are generally in the form of sugar loaves; many of these are of great size, and have been perforated for the sake of the gold utensils which were buried with the chieftains.
Some Spaniards have enriched themselves in this manner, for in making a gallery through the tumulus, they have found golden idols and jewels to a great amount; but the contents generally consist only of the skeleton, earthen drinking vessels, tools of copper or stone, with mirrors of obsidian, and of a sort of flint, curiously made and perfectly polished. The golden ornaments and images they occasionally discover, are, in general, beautifully wrought, but always very thin and hollow; the emeralds are cut into all shapes, and perforated with the greatest nicety, but how these were executed without any other than hardened copper and stone tools, is almost inconceivable.