14 MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY 



South American waters until the last of August, 1826, 

 when she set sail from New York with the Vincennes. 

 Eventually it was Maury's good fortune to be transferred 

 to the latter vessel, in which he was to circumnavigate 

 the globe. He first joined the Vincennes, on March 

 10, 1827, in Callao Roads, the port of Lima, Peru. The 

 American warships had by this time entered the Pacific 

 and were cruising up and down the South American coast 

 from Valparaiso, Chile to Guayaquil, Ecuador to protect 

 the commerce of the United States, as this part of South 

 America also was then in turmoil. 



Bolivar, after liberating the states of northern South 

 America from Spanish rule, was endeavoring to organize 

 Columbia, Peru, Bolivia, La Plata, and Chile into a grand 

 republic, of which he aspired to be the ruler. The union 

 of the first three of these states was practically realized, 

 but the undertaking finally ended in failure because of 

 the jealousy of Bolivar's former companions in arms and 

 the fickleness of the South American people. This 

 characteristic of the people is humorously set forth in 

 Maury's letters in which he describes some of the fighting 

 which he witnessed at Guayaquil. The young man's 

 historical outlook was thus further broadened by this 

 personal contact with the affairs of the great Lihertador^ 

 Bolivar. 



On July 4, 1829, the war meanwhile having come to an 

 end, the Vincennes, under the command of Captain 

 William Compton (Bolton) Finch, set forth from Callao 

 on her voyage across the Pacific. She w^as to make her 

 first stop at the Washington Islands, now known as the 

 Marquesas, in order, as Captain Finch's orders read, to 

 secure proper treatment from the natives for any of our 

 defenseless seafaring countrymen who in their lawful 



