INTRODUCTION. XV 



names and native words, which have been carefully 

 corrected in the present edition. 



The Natural History of Acosta has been much used 

 by subsequent writers on Peru and Mexico. It is 

 quoted twenty-seven times in the Royal Commentaries 

 of the Ynca Garcilasso de la Vega, and sometimes 

 these quotations consist of long passages. I have 

 given a list of them in the index to my translation of 

 the first part of the Royal Commentaries .* A full 

 notice of Acosta and his works is given by Antonio. 2 



Purchas, in his Pilgrimage, quotes largely from 

 Acosta, in his account of the Mexican superstitions 

 and sacrifices, and of Peruvian religious ceremonies 

 and government. 3 An abstract of the Natural and 



1 ii, page 547. 



2 &quot; Josephus de Acosta. Medinensis, postquam in sodalitio So- 

 cietatis, cui se puerum Salmanticse tradidit, omni disciplinarum 

 genere, indefessi virlaboris, ingenium prestans atque acre judicium 

 instruxisset, in occidentalem Indiam delatus, provinciam ibi Peru- 

 anam sodalium rexit praepositus, septemdecimque totos annos cora- 

 moratus est, ea curiose observans et in commentaria digerens, qu8G 

 hodie magno cum fructu atque operse pretio de rebus Indias ab eo 

 extant. Inde reversus visitatorem egit in provinciis Aragonise ac 

 Bceticse, necnon et aliquando procuravit Bomse promovitque salutis 

 Indorum spiritualem causam ; quod postremum ab eo impensum 

 officium Bibliothecse Societatis scriptorem fugit. Sexagenarius 

 tandem e vita migravit munus gerens rectoris in Salmantino col- 

 legio, pluribus scriptis clarus, superstesque anno 1599.&quot; Then 

 follows a list of his works : JSibliotheca Hispana Nova sive Hispan- 

 orum Scriptorum qui ab anno M.D. ad M.V.C.LXXXIV jloruere notitia : 

 auctore D. Nicolao Antonio Hispalensi, J. G. (Madrid, 1783, fol., 

 i, page 800.) 



3 Puichas, Pilgrimage (1623), lib. v, page 869; and lib. vi, 

 page 931. 



