The ensuing district of Quito is that of Chimbo, whose principal town has the same name; but the chief magistrate resides at Guaranda, one of the seven villages of which the district is composed.
Chimbo, the capital, is a small place, containing only about eighty families. Guayaquil being separated only by the ridge of the mountains from this district, carries on all the trade of Quito to the Pacific through it, the bales of cloth, stuffs, meal, corn and other products of the interior passing over this ridge, to the port of Guayaquil, whence comes wine, brandy, salt, fish, oil and other goods, necessary for the internal provinces; this traffic can however only be carried on in summer, the roads being impracticable in the winter season for mules or other beasts.
The temperature of the air in Chimbo is generally cold, from the proximity of the snowy summits of Chimborazo.
The chief objects of the farmers in this district, is the breeding of mules, for the purposes of the trade before mentioned.
THE JURISDICTION OF GUAYAQUIL.
Guayaquil follows that of Chimbo on the west, and is the largest and most important district of Quito; it begins at Cape Passado, 21ʹ south of the equinoxial line, and stretching south, includes the island of Puna, and is terminated by Piura in Peru.
This country is mostly a continued plain, and is divided into seven departments, Puerto Viejo, Punta de Santa Elena, the island of Puna, Yaguache, Babahoyo, Baba, and Daule.
During the winter months, this district is infested by insects and vermin, and is subject to dreadful storms and inundations, which oblige the farmers to send their cattle to the Andes.
In the rainy season, fevers, dysenteries, diarrhœas, the black vomit, or yellow fever, and other disorders are common, and carry off great numbers of people; at this period also, snakes, scorpions, vipers and scolopendras find their way into the houses, and are sometimes even found in their beds. The boba, a serpent of immense size, is also common. These, with swarms of mosquitoes, and other venomous insects, render the towns very unpleasant during this season; and alligators, of an enormous size, cause the rivers and flooded places to be very dangerous.