plateau 9300 feet above the sea (Map: Ecuador, B 4). The location is of almost unrivaled grandeur. The plateau is bounded on all sides by lofty mountains, from which rise in plain sight no less than eight snow-clad volcanoes, some of which are among the highest peaks of the Andes, and the city is built on the very foothills of one of them, Pichincha. The climate of Quito is proverbially healthful, mild and equable. The plan of the city is a perfect square, with outlying suburbs, but as it is built on very uneven ground the streets are steep and generally impassable for wagons. There are several plazas, the largest of which, the Plaza Mayor, has been rendered very handsome with flower gardens and a fountain. It is faced by the cathedral, the Government and municipal buildings, and the Archbishop's palace. Besides the cathedral there are numerous other churches and convents, some of which are in fine Renaissance style, and contrast strangely with the low, mean adobe houses which make up the bulk of the city. At the head of the educational system stands the university, in whose buildings are installed also a library, a museum, an astronomical observatory, and a polytechnic school. There are, besides, two seminaries, several other colleges, and a medical school attached to a large leper hospital. Quito is, on the whole, a quiet and rather dull city. Having very poor means of communication with the outside world, its trade has not been active. A railroad, however, is now under construction to Guayaquil, the chief port of the Republic, and other improvements, such as electric lighting, have been installed. The chief manufactures are saddles, shoes, woolen and cotton cloth, blankets, and carpets. The chief exports are hides and rubber. Population, about 80,000.
Quito is one of the oldest cities of South America. It was the capital of an ancient Indian nation before it was captured in 1470 by the Inca Tupac Yupanqui. It was the northern capital of the Incas until it was taken by the Spaniards in 1534. It has suffered repeatedly from severe earthquakes, notably in 1844, 1859, and 1887, and has also been ravaged by civil wars. Consult: Ternaux-Conipans, Histoire du royaume de Quito (Paris, 1840); Herrera, Apuntes para la historia de Quito (Quito, 1874).
QUIT RENT. Originally, a fixed rent due from a freehold tenant to his feudal superior, so called because received in lieu of all other services. It was a common feature of socage tenure and came in course of time to designate any fixed rent due from a socage tenant. Quit rents were protected from abolition by the provisions of the Statute of Military Tenures. It is probable, however, that they have become entirely obsolete in the United States, excepting in Pennsylvania, where they survive to a limited extent, though there is no legal objection to their survival elsewhere in the States formerly subject to socage tenure. Quit rents still exist to a considerable extent in England, though they have largely been redeemed under the provisions of the Conveyancing Act of 1881. Wherever they exist, however (unless due to the Crown in England or to the State in America), they are of great antiquity, as they always involve a relation of dependent tenure such as could not arise in England after the Statute Quia Emptores (1290) nor in this country after the Revolution. Consult the authorities referred to under Real Property.
QUITTOR (connected with LGer. kwater, kwader, rottenness). A fistulous wound at the top of the horse's foot resulting from bruises, pricks, or neglected corns.
QUIX′OTE, Sp. pron., kē̇-Hō′tā̇, Don. See Cervantes.
QUODLIBET (Lat., what one pleases). A humorous combination of several melodies in use extensively during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. To-day it is a favorite amusement at a ‘Commers’ (a students' gathering) in Germany to continue the singing of a popular folk or drinking song until a certain word is reached, which happens to be the first word of another well-known song. The air is then broken off suddenly and the new air begun at that word, until another word again affords an opportunity to pass into a new air. Many collections of quodlibets have been published.
QUOITS (from OF. coiter, coitier, quoitier, to press, incite; probably from Lat. coactare, to constrain, frequentative of coagere, cogere, to urge, from co-, together + agere, to lead). A game played on a green at each end of which, 18 yards apart, a mark is placed. At this mark the quoits, iron concave rings 8 inches in diameter (of which the rim is from one to two inches in breadth), are pitched, alternately by two players of opposite sides, and so in rotation by any number of pairs forming the opposing sides. The game is won by the side which, in a given number of pitches, gets the greatest number of quoits nearest the marks or pins. Each player at each turn has two quoits. The sport is very common in Europe, and in America it is the subject of a national contest for the Bell Quoit Medal. The rules laid down in 1899 require the heads of the pins to be one inch above the ground into which they are driven, 18 yards apart, and the player to deliver his quoit from his hand with his first step. They leave the weight of the quoit unlimited, but restrict its external diameter to 8 inches. No quoit counts unless fairly delivered on the clay, free from the outer rim, and no quoit on its back counts, unless it holds clay, or is knocked out by another quoit. No quoit rolling onto clay counts unless it has first struck another quoit or the pin. In counting, the two quoits nearest to the pin count one point each; a ‘ringer,’ that is a quoit which has been pitched so that the pin shows through the open centre of the quoit, counts two points.
QUORUM (Lat., of whom, abbreviation of the ML. phrase quorum A. B. unum esse volumus, of whom we wish A. B. to be one). A legal and parliamentary term denoting the number of members of a public or private assembly whose presence is necessary for the transaction of business. In the case of private corporations the quorum necessary to enable the directors to transact business legally is fixed by the charter. In the case of private organizations it is fixed by their constitution or by-laws. In the case of legislative assemblies and constituent bodies it is generally fixed by the constitution, but is sometimes left to the determination of the assemblies themselves. The quorum is usually fixed at a majority of the legal number of mem-
