The Church, however, operated more powerfully than any other influence in making Ecuador Spanish. Within a few years after the conquest a regular bishopric was established in Quito, and hundreds of priests and friars flocked over to take part in the wholesale evangelisation of the heathen natives. The gospel was preached everywhere, churches and chapels built in even the smallest villages, the obdurate Indians were treated with scant ceremony, and it soon became well understood among the natives that a hearty acceptance of the Christian cult tended to keep them out of trouble. Ecuador quickly became one of the most devotedly Catholic countries in the world, and has ever since remained so. The Crown and the landed proprietors made lavish gifts to the cause of religion, and a great proportion of the property of the country ultimately fell into the hands of the religious orders. Quito has appropriately been called the city of convents, and if we are to believe the accounts of travellers in colonial times half the population must have been priests, monks, and nuns. The introduction of Christianity among the Indians aided powerfully in spreading a knowledge of the Spanish language, but was more effective in substituting the Quichua for the ancient local tongues. The evangelists found it easier to preach to all the tribes in one language, and Quichua was naturally chosen, since it was already in the most general use as the official medium of the Inca empire. The Spanish priests reduced it to written form and it became a _lingua franca_ which was understood among all the nations of the Andean plateau very much as Guarany was among the Indians of the Atlantic slope. The details of Spanish civil, military, and financial administration in Ecuador did not differ greatly from those in the other provinces, and there is no need to repeat them here. The peaceable character of the Ecuador Indians made the maintenance of a standing army or even of a militia unnecessary. A few companies of troops in each of the principal towns and the natural military aptitude of the Spanish residents were sufficient to suppress any symptoms of rebellion, and to keep the Indians at work for their masters. Happily for the natives no great finds of silver or gold were made except in the southern province of Loja, and forced labour in the mines did not decimate the population, as happened in Bolivia and parts of Peru. Spaniards did not immigrate to any considerable extent, and negro slavery flourished on the seacoast.