ILLUSTRATIONS (8). THE POTATO PLANT. 427 



1537, a period when its introduction from Chile, Peru, and 

 Quito must have been improbable, the plant may be regarded 

 as indigenous to New Granada." It must, however, be borne 

 in mind that the Peruvians had invaded Quito, and made 

 themselves completely masters of it before 1525, in which 

 year the death of the Inca Huayna Capac occurred. Indeed, 

 the southern provinces of Quito fell under the dominion 

 of Tupac Inca Yupanqui at the close of the fifteenth 

 century.* The history of the first introduction of the potato 

 into Europe is, unfortunately, involved in much obscurity, but 

 the merit of the introduction is still very generally supposed 

 to be due to Sir John Hawkins, who is said to have brought 

 the plant from Santa Fe in the year 1563 or 1565. But 

 a fact, which appears to be better authenticated, is, that 

 the first potatoes grown in Europe were those planted by 

 Sir Walter Haleigh on his estate at Youghal in Ireland, 

 from whence they were conveyed to Lancashire. The 

 Banana-tree (Musa), which, since the arrival of the Spa- 

 niards, has been cultivated in all the warmer parts of 

 New Granada, is believed, by Colonel Acosta (p. 205), to 

 have been known only in Choco before the Conquista. The 

 name Cundinamarca, which by affected erudition was applied 

 to the young republic of New Granada in the year 1811, a 

 name suggestive of golden dreams (suenos dorados), would 

 properly be Cundirumarca, not Cunturmarca.f Luis Daza, 

 who accompanied the small invading army commanded 

 by the Conquistador Sebastian de Belalcazar, who advanced 

 from the south, mentions having heard of a distant country, 

 rich in gold, and inhabited by the race of the Chicas. This 

 country, Daza states, was called Cundirumarca, and its prince 

 solicited auxiliary troops from Atahuallpa in Caxamarca. 

 The Chichas have been confounded with the Chibchas or 

 Muyscas of New Granada ; and by a similar mistake the name 

 of the unknown more southerly region has been transferred 

 to this country. 



(9) p. 400 "JWJ of the Rio de Chamaya." 



See my Recueil des Observ. Astron., vol. i. p. 304; Nivelle- 

 ment Barometrique, No. 236-242. I made a drawing of the 



* Prescott's Conquest of Peru, vol. i. p. 332. 



t See Garcilaso, lib. viii. cap. 2; also Joaquin Acosta, p. 189. 



