VI INTRODUCTION. 



Towards the close of the viceroyalty of Toledo, 

 Father Acosta appears to have moved from the interior 

 of Peru to Lima. Here he mentions having been en 

 gaged in superintending the casting of a great bell, 

 and that there was difficulty in getting fuel for the 

 furnace, which made it necessary to fell some great 

 trees in the valley of the Eimac. 1 He mentions also 

 that he saw camels in Peru, 2 which had been brought 

 from the Canaries ; and that the Viceroy Toledo sent 

 home seeds of the beautiful white datura, which grows 

 round Lima, as worthy of a place in the royal gardens. 3 

 In 1579 Sir Francis Drake was on the coast, and the 

 Viceroy dispatched a fleet under Don Pedro Sarmiento, 

 partly to chase the English pirate, and partly to ex 

 plore and survey the Straits of Magellan. Acosta had 

 conversations with the pilot of Sarmiento s fleet, and 

 was allowed to inspect his chart, thus obtaining much 

 hydrographical information, and particulars respecting 

 the tides in the straits. He also conversed with the 

 new Viceroy Henriquez on the same subject. 4 



Don Francisco de Toledo returned to Spain in 1579, 

 and was succeeded by Don Martin Henriquez, a 

 younger son of the Marquis of Alcanises, who had 

 previously been Viceroy of Mexico. Don Martin 

 made his entry into Lima on May 4th, 1581. Three 

 weeks afterwards the new Archbishop, Dr. Toribio 

 Mogrovejo, was installed, and commenced his saintly 

 and active career ; which acquired for him so great a 

 name for purity and holiness that he was eventually 



i Page 308. 2 Page 2 72. 3 Page 255. 



4 Pages 133, 140, H3, 145. 



