As we passed along the river almost innumerable monkeys of the small brown kind crowded the tops of the trees, dinning our ears with their unceasing chattering, and throwing down leaves upon us till the surface of the river was nearly covered; however the two Esmeraldeños with their sorbetanas killed upwards of fifty, out of which we chose the fattest, and made an excellent dinner, selecting it in preference to any of the dried provisions which I had with me. On the second day after our entrance on the Quinindi we landed, and in three hours arrived at the house of the cura of Santo Domingo de los Colorados.
The settlement or reduction of the Colorados is merely the house of the cura, and a small church; the indians live dispersed in different parts of the surrounding woods, generally on the banks of the small rivers, and only appear on the Sundays and holidays at mass. These indians, like the Malabas and Cayapos, trace their origin to the times of the Conchocandos of Lican: they also state, that they were never subject to the Incas, and only to the Spaniards within the last thirty years (1810). They are not tributary, but each indian from the age of eighteen pays one dollar annually to the parish priest, who has no other stipend. Including the two annexed _semi paroquias_ of San Miguel and Cocaniguas, the curacy contains about three thousand indians, but the curate seldom receives more than eight hundred dollars a year, or rather the amount of eight hundred. The indians always pay their quota in raw wax, at half a dollar a pound, which is sent to Quito for sale; but a considerable profit is derived from it, because it is worth a dollar a pound when purified.
The indians of Santo Domingo are called red _colorados_ from the quantity of achiote with which their bodies are besmeared; in their persons they resemble the Malabas; the dress of the men is composed of a pair of very short white drawers, and a white poncho about three-quarters of a yard square; their hair is cut round and hangs like a mop, but it is confined to the head with a fillet of silver lace, or a thin slip of sheet silver; round their necks, the small part of their arms, and below their knees, they wear other slips of silver, about an inch broad, and to the lower edge a great number of small silver drops hang loose, forming altogether a very pleasing appearance. The women wear a piece of flannel or cotton cloth, wrapped round the waist, and reaching below the knees, with a profusion of beads round their necks, wrists, and ankles; white and pale blue glass beads are held in great estimation among them; they plat their hair in long tresses, and allow them to hang loose.