Quito

Quito, the capital of Ecuador, and of the province of Pichincha, lies in 0° 14' S. lat., on the east side of the great plateau of Quito, at the foot of the volcano of Pichincha (q.v.), at an elevation of 9351 feet above the sea. Its site, cut up with numerous ravines, is very uneven; but the streets are laid out regularly at right angles, plunging into and scaling the sides of the valleys which come in their course. The city is well paved, but the sidewalks are very narrow; and the streets are lit only with candles or kerosene lamps—oftenest those placed before shrines at the street-corners. The appearance of Quito is very picturesque, and its beautiful environment of mountains, together with its clear, healthy, and temperate climate, maintaining an eternal spring, renders it one of the most charming cities of South America; yet the abrupt changes from the hot sun of mid-day to the chills of evening make pneumonia and diseases of the chest very common. The chief edifices are built of stone, the others of adobes or sun-dried bricks, covered with tiles. In the great square stand the quaint cathedral, with its green-tiled dome, the archbishop's palace, the municipal building, and the capitol, built of brick and stucco, with wine-shops on the ground-floor and the two halls of congress on the third story. Other public buildings include the university, a seminary, an institute of science, an observatory, a museum, a library of 20,000 volumes, a penitentiary with 500 cells, a hospital with 500 beds, a lunatic asylum, a retreat for lepers, a score of churches, and three times as many monasteries. Most of these last are in a very dilapidated condition, for which it is hard to find any explanation but laziness; for they still retain their lands and revenues, and the offerings of the faithful, who are nearly all Indians, are as constant as ever. Indeed, Quito is the paradise of priests—of whom there are more than 400 in the city—and the bells are jangling all day long; for Ecuador is the most faithful province of the pope, and the one state in the world which still refuses to recognise the unity of Italy and the condition of affairs that resulted from the occupation of Rome. There are only two or three good shops, and no hotels; the daily market in the square before the monastery of San Francisco is the general purchasing-place, and the religious houses serve for hostels. The city boasts a telephone system, but water is still purveyed in great jars borne on the shoulders of carriers. The manufactures include cottons and woollens and beer; the drying of bird-skins ('humming-birds'), the copying of religious paintings, and the production of images of the Virgin and of saints rank as important industries. Founded in 1534, Quito has suffered frequently from earthquakes (especially in 1797 and 1854) and from revolutions (recently in 1877 and 1883). Pop. about 50,000, mainly Indians and mestizoes. See Moumier, Des Andes au Para (1890); also Vincent, Around and About South America (1890).