INTRODUCTION. Ill 



across the equinoctial. For he was steeped in all the 

 lore of the ancient philosophers concerning the un 

 bearable heat of the burning zone. He crossed the line 

 in March, and, to his surprise, it was so cold that he 

 was obliged to go into the sun to get warm, where he 

 laughed at Aristotle and his philosophy. 1 



On his arrival at Lima, he was ordered to cross the 

 Andes, apparently to join the Viceroy in the interior. 

 He took the route, with fourteen or fifteen companions, 

 across the mountainous province of Huarochiri, and by 

 the lofty pass of Pariacaca, 2 where the whole party 

 suffered severely from the effects of the rarified atmo 

 sphere. 3 Acosta describes these sufferings, which he 

 tells us were renewed on the three other occasions that 

 he had occasion to cross the cordillera, by Soras and 

 Lucanas, 4 by Collahuas, 5 and by Cavanas. 6 He also 

 mentions an attack of snow-blindness, and the way in 

 which an Indian woman cured him. 7 



Acosta arrived in Peru at an important time. Don 

 Francisco de Toledo, second son of the Count of Oro- 

 pesa, a man advanced in years and of great adminis 

 trative experience, had come out as Viceroy two years 

 before, in 1568. He was a stern man, capable of com- 



1 Page 90. 



2 Pariacaca is over 14,000 feet above the level of the sea. 



3 Page 130. 



4 The road through the districts of Soras and Lucanas leads to 

 the coast valley of Nasca. 



5 Collahuas is further north, in the modern department of 

 Ancachs, province of Huari. 



6 Cavanas, in the department of Puno. This was one of the 

 routes from the Collao to Arequipa. 7 Page 288. 



