_Oropesa_, the capital, is a very considerable place; it is seated on a small river, which is one of the streams of the Rio Grande, in a beautiful and fertile valley; and the chief occupation of its inhabitants, consists in supplying the neighbouring provinces with fruits and grain. It is 150 miles north-west of La Plata, in 18° 15' south latitude, and 67° 6' west longitude. The province of SICASICA is a very extensive tract, of nearly a hundred leagues in length, and contains some silver mines, two of which are worked. The far greater part of this district lies among the mountains, and it has Cochabamba to its west, Oruro to the south, Paria to the east, and La Paz to the north. Those parts which consist of plains or valleys, are extremely hot, and produce great quantities of coca or betel, with which the neighbouring provinces are supplied. The mountains feed large herds of cattle, and flocks of vicunas, guanucos, &c.; and, the capital is _Sicasica_, 40 miles north-north-west of Oruro. POMABAMBA is a province bounded on the north by Tomina; east by the lands of the independent tribes; west by Porco and Amparaes, and south by Pilaya y Paspaya. It is about 24 leagues in length, and has no other town than its capital, the inhabitants being dispersed in their plantations. Its population is only 3000 souls, who gain a scanty subsistence from their farms, which are often plundered by the Chiriguanos Indians. It has the river _Parapeti_ on the north, and the _Rio Nuevo_ on the east, which separates it from the Indian territories. The capital of the same name is on the shore of the Parapeti, in 19° 55' south latitude, and 64° 8' west longitude, nine miles east of La Plata. The province of La PAZ lies north of Sicasica, and consists only of a small district round the city of the same name, in the vicinity of the western Cordillera of the Andes. The produce of this country is barley, coca or betel, and papas. It is chiefly noted for the city of _La Paz_, or _Chuquiavo_, or _Pueblo Nuevo_, which was first founded by Mayta Capac, the fourth Inca, who subdued this country; but the Spaniards thinking this an advantageous place, as a post between Arequipa and La Plata, built the city under the presidency of Pedro de la Gasca, who ordered Alonzo de Mendoza to place it midway between Cuzco and Charcas, and to call it _Neustra Senora de la Paz_, in memory of the public tranquillity being settled by the defeat of Gonzalo Pizarro and his adherents. Accordingly a valley in the country, called Las Pacasas, was pitched upon, in which the city was begun, on the 8th of October 1548, the place abounding in cattle, grain, &c. This city is in 17° 15' south latitude, and 68° 25' west longitude, and 120 miles east-south-east of Arequipa; 288 south-east of Cuzco; 612 south-east of Lima; and 234 west of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, on a fine river, which flows through the valley.