Ch. V. SOUTH AMERICA. 387 



madilla, after a voyage of ten months, they arrived at 

 Gran Para on the 12th of December, whence, accord- 

 ing to their instructions, they passed over to Spain, 

 and completely acquitted themselves of the trust re- 

 ])osed in them. 



At the end of the last century, another expedition 

 was undertaken, for making discoveries on the Ma- 

 lanon ; but at that time it was already so well known, 

 that most of the adjacent lands had been improved 

 by the missions which the Jesuits had settled there : 

 and the government of Manas now includes many 

 nations, who, on the fervent preaching of the Jesuits, 

 liaving embraced Christianity, vowed obedience to the 

 kings of Spain ; and a happy alteration was seen in 

 their morals and customs. The banks of this river, 

 where before only wild Indians were seen living in the 

 manner of beasts, were now turned into plantations 

 and regular towns, the inhabitants of wliich shewed 

 that they were not destitute of reason and humanity. 

 These improvements were in a great measure owing 

 to Father Samuel Fritz, who, in 1686, preached the 

 Gospel among those people, and in a short time was 

 the instrument of the conversion of many nations : 

 but the continual fatigues and hardships, both by 

 land and water, affected his health to such a degree, 

 that he M'as obliged to set out for Para in January 

 i6S9, and arrived there on the 11th of September of 

 the same vear. Here he remained in a disao-reeablc 

 inactivity, till his health was restored, andsome affairs 

 settled which required instructions from the court of 

 Lisbon. 



July the 8th, 16^1, Father Fritz left Para, in order 

 to return to his mission, which then reached from the 

 mouth of the river Napo to some distance beyond the 

 Negro, and included the Omaguas, Yurimaguas, 

 Aysuarcs, and man}^ other adjacent nations, the most 

 numerous of the whole river. October the 13th, in 

 the same year, he returned to the town of Nuestra Se¡ 



C c 2 nora 



