Cuenca

“ The roads are in such a backward condition that they cripple not only the mining interests but also the exports of timber, and at the beginning of the 20th century there was no railway except a branch line which passed westwards from Aranjuez through Tarancon to Cuenca, the capital (pop. 1900, 10,756) . No other town has as many as 6000 inhabitants, and no other Spanish province is so thinly populated as Cuenca. In 1900 there were only 37.6 inhabitants per sq. m. Education is backward, and extreme poverty almost universal among the peasantry. ”

“ The rocky and bare highland of Cuenca on the north and east includes the upper valley of the Jucar and its tributary streams, but in the north-west the province is watered by tributaries of the Tagus. The forests are proverbial for their pine timber, and rival those of Soria; considerable quantities of timber are floated down the Tagus to Aranjuez and thence taken to Madrid for building purposes. Excessive droughts prevail; the climate of the hills and of the high plateaus is harsh and cold, but the valleys are excessively hot in summer. ”

“ As the sun sets gradually down through the cuenca of La Paz, so it rises, gilding first the western precipice far up near the edge of the plateau, plainly seen from my pillow in the “Tambo Quirquincha,” then slowly crawling down into the valley until, long after its first appearance, it finally floods in upon the city itself and lights up its 512streets and eastern house-walls. ”

“ The adjoining district of Cuença is the next of the presidency of Quito, that comes under our notice, the chief town of which is the city of Cuença, founded in 1537, by Gil Ramirez Davalos; it stands in 2° 53ʹ 49ʺ south latitude, and 79° 14ʹ 40ʺ west longitude, on a spacious plain, about half a league from the river Machangara; on the south side is another river called Matadero, and about a quarter of a league distance are two others, named Yanuncay and Banos.
These rivers are fordable in summer, but in winter can be crossed only by the bridges. ”

“ Eastern Castile, being at a considerable elevation above the sea-level, and having a rugged surface, cannot support a population more dense than either La Mancha or Estremadura. There are but few towns of note, and even the capital, Cuenca, is hardly more than a third-rate provincial city. Picturesquely perched {393} upon a steep rock overhanging the deep gorges of the Huecar and Júcar, it merely lives in the past. ”

“ Meantime the sky kept on weeping through its countless eyes; the river, roaring more wrathful every moment, was now licking at the ends of the low-lying streets near the bank, creeping up into the gardens on the shore, stealing in between the orange-trees, opening holes in the hedges and the mudwalls.
The main concern of the populace was whether it were raining also in the mountains of Cuenca. If much water came down from there, the flood would become serious. And experienced eyes studied the color of the waters carefully. ”

“ To the visitor to Spain, who has already seen Seville and Toledo and Cuenca, the city of Granada is not greatly impressive, or even deliberately interesting. The older streets are tortuous, narrow and noisy; but the modern part is as regular and unimaginative as only a modern city can be, with wide thoroughfares, spacious squares, and excellent pavements. ”

“ Except in the collecting of taxes and as a place of reward for its henchmen, the central government leaves Cuenca and the south of Ecuador virtually abandoned, and that tendency, so general in Latin-American countries, for the more distant parts to break away and form a free, or at least autonomous state is here marked. The region labors under a thousand petty annoyances. For instance, Quito has a parcel-post service with the outside world, but Cuenca has none, nor any money-order system, and about one piece of mail in three ever reaches an addressee in the capital of the Azuay. ”

“ As in Bogotá, the very isolation and lack of opportunity has driven many to their studies, and Cuenca numbers many writers among her “sons,” producers chiefly of that languid, half-melancholy, pretty poetry, full of the “fine writing” the divorce from life and unlimited leisure to polish their gems of thought gives. ”

“ Cuenca has no fitting excuse for not being one of the richest agricultural cities on earth. Yet its only “hotels” are dirty little Indian eating-houses without sleeping accommodations, and the traveler must fall back on the prehistoric system of hunting up a friend’s friend. For once this roundabout method brought handsome results; at the home of the Montesinos brothers I found my most home-like accommodations south of Quito, in a highly cultured family with no scent of the public hostelry about it. ”

“ Red, tile roofs stand strikingly forth from deep-green corn-fields, and thousands of fertile, cultivated acres are shut in by barren, sand-faced hills, though there are no imposing peaks south of Cañar, and I had seen none snow-clad since leaving Riobamba. With no census for twenty-five years, the metropolis of southern Ecuador, third city of the republic, and capital of the rich province of Azuay, estimates its population at 45,000. Some have it that this great cuenca, six leagues long, gouged out of the Andes, was the original Tomebamba, birthplace of Huayna Ccápac. ”

“ The process was much in vogue in Andalusia and Castile until about 1550, when there arose the method de cuenca in which the parts of the design to receive different coloured enamels were stamped, slightly concave (cuenca—a bowl or socket) , their edges alone being left in relief. ”

“ The investigation had been thorough; but the outside world still remains in darkness on the art of shrinking heads among the Jívaros.
To the stranger, perhaps the feature of Cuenca that will remain longest in his memory is her street lights; certainly, if it happens to be his lot to have to find his way home on a black night after a sad, candle-lighted “comedy” in the local theater—the school-room of the colegio. The laws of Cuenca require that every resident in the principal streets set up a candle before his house. ”

“ Cuenca, a fine old city in Spain, 83 m. E. of Madrid; also a high-lying city of Ecuador, over 100 m. S. of Quito, with a delightful climate; both in provinces of the same name.
Cujas, or Cujacius, a celebrated French jurist, born at Toulouse; devoted to the study of Roman law in its historical development, and the true founder of the Historical school in that department (1522-1590) .
Culdees, fraternities of uncertain origin and character scattered up and down Ireland, and especially Scotland, hardly at all in England, from the 9th or 10th to the 14th century ”

“ The two Cordilleras are again united in the north by the mountain knot of Los Pastos, on the borders of Ecuador and Columbia. The valley plains are about 40 miles wide. On the south is the valley of Cuenca, which is about 50 miles long, and about 7800 feet above the sea. From it the way into the central valley plain, that of Ambato, is across the transverse ridge by the pass of Assuay, which rises to 15,520 feet, it is about 130 miles long, and about 8000 feet above the sea. ”

“ Never was a city founded in a more picturesque spot. It almost resembles Göschenen in Switzerland, with the difference that whereas in the last named village a white-washed church rears its spire skyward, in Cuenca a large cathedral, rich in decorative accessories, and yet sombre and severe in its wealth, occupies the most prominent place in the town.
Of the origin of the city nothing is known. In the tenth and the eleventh centuries Conca{343} was an impregnable Arab fortress. ”

“ Most of the country between the Andes and the sea is covered by Tertiary and Quaternary beds; but the range of hills which runs north-west from Guayaquil is formed of Cretaceous and porphyritic rocks similar to those of the Andes. In the intra-andine depression, between the East and West Cordilleras, recent deposits with plant remains occur near Loja, and to the north-east of Cuenca is a sandstone containing mercury ores, somewhat similar to that of Peru. ”

“ The cultivated land and the population of Ecuador lie chiefly in this elevated region, which extends along between the summits of the Cordillera, and may be considered as divided by transverse ridges or dikes into the valleys of Quito, Hambato, and Cuenca. ”

“ Azuay is an elevated mountainous district with a great variety of climates and products; among the latter are silver, quicksilver, wheat, Indian corn, barley, cattle, wool, cinchona and straw hats. The capital is Cuenca. ”

“ The too easterly longitude which had been determined for Quito was, by La Condamine, carried to Cuenca and the Amazon river. “Je fis,” says La Condamine, “mon premier essai de navigation sur un radeau (balsa) en descendant la rivière de Chinchipe jusqu’à Tomependa. Il fallut me contenter d’en déterminer la latitude et de conclure la longitude par les routes. J’y fis mon testament politique en rédigeant l’extrait de mes observations les plus importantes.” [SD]
121. ”

“ The elevated plateau between the two great chains, which is about 300 m. long and 20 to 30 m. wide, is divided into three great shallow basins or plains by the transverse ridges or paramos of Tiupullo and Azuay. These are known as the Quito, Ambato and Cuenca basins. South of the latter is the irregular and deeply broken Loja basin, which can hardly be considered a part of the great Ecuador plateau. The three great basins, which are broken and subdivided by mountainous spurs and ridges, descend gradually toward the south, the Quito plain having an average elevation of 9500 ft. ”

“ Murcia, also known as Cartagena. See also Cuenca. Murcia was a seat of one of the early tribunals, comprising the sees of Murcia and Cartagena. Cuenca, which was attached to it in the redistribution by Ximenes in 1509, was separated about 1520. Oran, some time after its conquest by Ximenes, was placed under the jurisdiction of Murcia. The see of Orihuela, although belonging to Valencia, on its suppression about 1510, was united to that of Cartagena and thus fell under the tribunal of Murcia, where it remained after the restoration to episcopal honors in 1564. ”

“ Indeed, visiting cards should be as fixed a part of every Andean traveler’s equipment as heavy boots.
One could not but pity these ineffectually ambitious mortals, kept down by leaden environment and isolation. He who does not deal in “panama” hats has hardly an opening in Cuenca, except to study medicine, law, or theology in the local colegio; hence there is a plethora of “doctors” who can only wear their titles and live the life of enforced bookworms, forbidden by the rigid rules of caste even the privilege of turning their hands to some useful occupation. ”

“ The country between Valencia and Murviedro is like a closely-planted orchard, bounded by the sea on the right, and on the left terminating at some distance from the foot of the mountains which separate Valencia from La Mancha, Cuenca, and Aragon. ”

“ Picturesqueness of costume there was none, this having disappeared near Cuenca along with the Quichua tongue. Indians of pure race and distinctive garb had been rare south of Zaraguro; here was still plenty of Indian blood, but only in the veins of “civilized” mestizos. It is not far from the watershed of the Andes. The town of Huarmaca, just up on the ridge of the Cordillera above, has a church one side of the roof of which sends its waters to the Pacific, and the other to the Atlantic. ”

“ Its public offices are the chamber of finance, and those of the government of the city; and the tithes and taxes of Loja and Jaen de Bracameros, are collected here.
The men are said to be very indolent, the manufactures of baize and cottons, being carried on by the women, who transact most of the business.
Its inhabitants exceed 20,000. The district of Cuença is subdivided into two departments, Cuença, and Alausi; the former including ten villages, and the latter, which borders on Riobamba, has four. ”

“ As we advance from the mica-slate mountain of Loxa towards the north, between the Paramos of Alpachaca and Sara (in latitude 3 degrees 15 minutes) the knot of mountains ramifies into two branches which comprehend the longitudinal valley of Cuenca. This separation continues for a length of only 12 leagues; for in latitude 2 degrees 27 minutes the two Cordilleras again re-unite in the knot of Assuy, a trachytic group, of which the table-land near Cadlud (2428 toises high) nearly enters the region of perpetual snow. ”

“ All but twenty pounds of my baggage I had turned over to a native fletero, proprietor of a mule-and-jackass express company that operated as far south as Cuenca. It was in the nature of things, however, that even under a light load I should pay for my descent to Huigra by much sweating toil, before raising again its paltry 4000 feet to the two miles or more of the Andean chain. In the valley a brilliant sun set me dripping ”

“ After the foregoing description of Guayaquil and its productions, it is almost unnecessary to say any thing respecting its importance as a place of commerce. It is likewise the principal, and till very lately (1824) was the only port to the provinces of Quito, Cuenca, Paste, and Papayan, all of which are extensive, well peopled, and comparatively rich districts. The only thing wanting here is an [Pg 256] increase of capital, activity, and inhabitants; for the climate and the soil are calculated to produce whatever is found between the tropics ”