iv INTRODUCTION 



Spain. But his best efforts failed to identify the author ; from my 

 scanty notes, Dr. Ernst Schafer, the learned historian of the Council 

 of the Indies, hazarded the guess that I might have unearthed the 

 famous lost compilation made by Leon Pinelo about that time for the 

 Council; and both urged me to make a further study of the MS. 

 My commission having been renewed for a second year, I returned 

 to Rome and transcribed from the MS all the data I could find casting 

 light on the author's career and personality ; I mailed these to various 

 scholars, and was soon rewarded by Dr. Schafer's positive identifica- 

 tion of him as the Carmelite missionary Fray Antonio Vazquez de 

 Espinosa. 



In 1930, just three centuries after his death, all that we knew of 

 Fray Antonio was comprised in some references made by Leon Pinelo, 

 and the scanty data on which is based the following biographical sketch 

 in the great Espasa Spanish-American "Enciclopedia Universal 

 Ilustrada Europeo-Americana" (1929), vol. 67, p. 377: 



Barefoot Carmelite friar and Spanish author, born in Jerez de la Frontera 

 in the last third of the i6th century, and died in Seville in 1630. He embraced 

 the ecclesiastical career and applied himself to study with great success, becoming 

 a distinguished theologian. In the exercise of his sacred charge he resided in 

 Jerez, but in his desire to make greater sacrifices for the saving of souls and 

 the spreading of the Faith he went over to America and in traveling through 

 the Kingdoms of Peru and Mexico, became known as one of the most fervent 

 missionaries in the New World. Returning to Spain about 1622, he resided 

 for some time in Malaga, Madrid, Seville, and other places. He had been 

 Censor of the Holy Office, and wrote the following works : Confesionario 

 general, luz y guia del cielo y metodo para poderse confesar (General Con- 

 fessional, Light and Guide to Heaven, and Rules for proper Confessing) ; Viaje 

 y navegacion del afio de 1622 que hizo la flota de Nueva Espaiia y Honduras 

 (Malaga, 1623) (Voyage and Route of the New Spain and Honduras Fleet 

 in 1622) ; Sumario de indulgencias (Madrid, 1623) (Summary of Indulgences) ; 

 Circumstancias para los tratos y contratos de las Indias del Peru y Nueva 

 Espana (Malaga, 1624) (Data for Commercial Contracts with Peru and New 

 Spain, in the Indies) ; and Indiae descriptionem (Description of the Indies). 



This last is our present work, and so little known to the compiler 

 of this sketch that he cites it with a Latin title. 



We did however know enough about Fray Antonio's magnum opus 

 to realize that it must have been one of the leading works of his day. 

 Leon Pinelo in his "Bibliotheca," the first great bibliography of 

 Americana, writes of his contemporary, Vazquez de Espinosa : "De- 

 scription of the Indies. It is an extensive work giving many details, 

 and the most exhaustive produced up to the present time, and almost 

 entirely based on personal inspection. He is endeavoring to print it." 

 Professor Rivet calls attention to Leon Pinelo's later testimony in 



