The climate of Atacames is hot, and resembles that of Guayaquil, producing the same fruits, vegetables and grains. Vanilla, achiotte, indigo and sarsaparilla, are cultivated, or found in great abundance; and the forests which cover the greater part of the country are famed for the noble and lofty trees they are composed of, which appear fit for all architectural purposes. Great quantities of wax are made and exported, and the cacao of Tacames is not inferior to that of Guayaquil, yielding more profit, as from the higher situation of the sloping land it grows on, it receives all the necessary moisture, without being subject to be drowned. The capital of this government is _Tacames_, in the bay of Atacames on the Pacific Ocean, 110 miles north-west of Quito, in 0° 52ʹ north latitude, 62 degrees west longitude, having about twenty miles south of it, the famous mine of emeralds, which has been long supposed to have been lost. The other towns, which are of little importance, are, on the coast, _Tumaco_, _Tola_, _San Mateo de Esmaraldas_, and _La Canea_. In the interior, _Lachas_, _Cayapas_, _Inta_, _Gualxa_, _Nanegal_, _Tambillo_, _Niguas_, _Cachillacta_, _Mindo_, _Yambe_, _Cocaniguas_, _Cansa Coto_, _Santo Domingo_, _San Miguel_ and _Nono_. _PRESIDENCY OF QUITO._ QUITO was originally an independent country, which remained distinct from all the neighbouring states, until a very short time previous to the conquest of Peru by Francisco Pizarro; but its limits were not the same as they are at present, nor is it of any importance to trace their ancient extent. It is now bounded by Santa Fé on the north, and has within its audience some districts of Popayan, which also forms a part of its northern frontier. On the east its jurisdiction extends over the governments of Maynas, Macas, and Quixos, which reach to the Portuguese frontiers. On the west the Great Pacific washes it from the gulf of Puna to the government of Atacames, and on the south the kingdom of Peru concludes its boundaries. Its length from north to south is about 600 miles, whilst its breadth exceeds 1800. In this immense extent the population is chiefly confined to the valley, which is formed on the very ridge of the main chain of the Andes, by the parallel summits making a prolonged series of small narrow plains extending from St. Miguel de Ibarra to Loja, and to the country between those and Popayan, and from the western slope of the Cordillera to the ocean. The eastern governments, which will be hereafter mentioned, being chiefly immense tracts, thinly scattered with missionary villages. Quito Proper is subdivided from north to south into nine districts, viz., _San Miguel de Ibarra_, _Otabalo_, _Quito_, _Latacunga_, _Riobamba_, _Chimbo_, _Guayaquil_, _Cuença_, and _Loxa_ or _Loja_.