Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/431

Rh direct, and govern, under the auspices of her illustrious husband, the common protector and Mecenas, the charitable and civil society of the fair sex of Quito.

On quitting the subject of the above city, which, although it has, from a variety of causes, fallen into decay, is still extremely populous, it may be proper to notice, that the costumes of the inhabitants are in every respect similar to those of Lima; to illustrate which, several plates have been given under the head of Customs and Manners. As, however, in Quito, the more efficient part of the population consists of mestizos and mulattoes, whose talents and industry are exerted with great benefit to the community, in occupations which are disdained by the haughty Spaniards, two of the latter cast (mulattoes), a male and a female, to the end that they may not be passed over entirely unnoticed, are introduced, with their appropriate costumes, in Plate XIX.

The following particulars, demonstrative of the noxious effects resulting from the burial of the dead in the churches of populous cities, more especially in a climate similar to that of Peru, gave rise to several learned dissertations, which appeared from time to time in the Peruvian Mercury, on this important subject of political economy.

The city of Tarma is situated in a spot which is, in a manner, entirely destitute of ventilation. The three hills by which it is surrounded form an obtuse angle, without any outlet or passage, unless at the side of the broken ground named Acobamba, leading to the great road to Lima. This circumstance, and the consideration of the depth in which it is placed, respectively to the other towns in its vicinity, gave a certain degree of probability to the suspicion, that its temperature was