Xll INTRODUCTION 



of the Inca Empire (1343). Of the stories, let me recommend that 

 of the woman eaten by alHgators (744), the chieftainess who captured 

 an aUigator (1123), the whale fishery ( 1753) ; for picturesque descrip- 

 tions, the arrival at La Rioja (Tucuman) by the avenue of orange 

 trees in blossom (1776), the mosquitoes on the Guayaquil River 

 (11 17), methods of crossing streams (1187 f.), the christening of a 

 Guaicurii Indian chieftain's son (1804 f.), the disappointment of new 

 arrivals on the arid Peruvian coast (1175). This charm extends to 

 many tiny details, like the information that the Rector of the College 

 at La Plata (Sucre) gets an allowance of 4 reals a day for grass for 

 his mule (1741). We share Vazquez' enthusiasm for the University 

 of Lima (1275 ft'.) and the city's admirable hospitals (1272 ft.); 

 it is amusing to find the complaint three centuries ago, that the Uni- 

 versity was turning out more graduates than could find places (1276). 

 It was my good fortune to spend years of my young manhood 

 editing one of the great characters of antiquity — the historian Am- 

 mianus Marcellinus, whom a recent critic has pronounced the leading 

 literary figure between Tacitus and Dante. It is now my high privi- 

 lege to introduce to the modern world one of the noblest and ablest 

 of those scores of thousands who carried Spanish civilization and 

 ideals to the New World ; and I end the 3 years I have spent in com- 

 munion with him, with a respect and an affection which I hope are 

 conveyed by this translation, 



Charles Upson Clark. 



