In this district are fourteen villages, and it is famous for producing great quantities of the best quinquina, or cinchona, so well known as a medicine; the forests of Loxa contain three kinds of this substance.
The trees which produce this bark are not of the largest size, the usual height being about fifteen feet; the largest branches do not always yield the best; and in order to collect the bark, the Indians cut down the trees, then strip them and dry the rind in the sun, after which it is packed for exportation. Cochineal of an extreme good quality is bred in this country, but so little care is taken, that enough is only produced to serve the dyers of Cuença. Numerous droves of cattle and mules are sent from this district to Peru and Quito; and the manufacture of carpets, in which the cochineal dye is used, is very considerable.
The village of Zeruma is celebrated for having some rich gold veins in its neighbourhood, which have failed, owing to the want of proper exertion being made to clear them. This town or village was one of the first which was built in the province, and contains five or six thousand inhabitants.
GOVERNMENT OF JAEN DE BRACAMOROS.
This government following that of Loja on the south, we shall describe it before those of Quixos and Maynas, although it is the most southern of the provinces of Quito. It is bounded on the north by Loja and Quixos, or Macas, on the east by Maynas, on the west by Piura, and on the south by Caxamarca, or Chachapoyas in Peru. Its southern and western frontiers limit the territories of the viceroyalty of Peru.
Bracamoros was first discovered and explored in 1538, by Pedro de Vergara, who was appointed to command an expedition by Hernando Pizarro. Juan de Salinas was sent afterwards to this province with the title of governor; by courage and artifice, he conquered the native tribes, and built several villages, some of which are dignified with the names of cities. The Indians of the country, known at that time by the names of Yaguarsongo, and Pacamoros revolted and destroyed all the principal settlements, and those which escaped, dreading a return of a similar calamity, united themselves into one town called Jaen, from which the whole province has now taken its name.
The town, or city of Jaen, lies in nearly the same longitude as Quito, and in about 5° 25ʹ south latitude; it was founded in 1549, by Diego Palomino, on the river Chinchipe at its conflux with the false Maranon. Its inhabitants amount to about 4000, being chiefly mestizoes, a very few Indians, and still fewer Spaniards.
There are three other villages called Valladolid, Loyola, and Santiago de las Montañas, which are styled cities, but contain very few inhabitants to support this title. The other villages, which are about ten in number, are mostly peopled by Indians.
The Pongo de Manseriche, or strait by which the False Maranon passes the Andes, is partly in this district.
The embarkation on the Lauricocha, the present name for a river which was until very lately supposed to be the Maranon, is usually at Chuchunga, a village of Bracamoros, in 5° 29ʹ south latitude, four daysʼ journey from Jaen; the river not being navigable nearer than this, on account of the rapids.