A GENEROUS OFFER. 165 



to repel the insurgents ; at the same time he offered 

 himself to aid the cause, by presenting a sum of 

 1000 piastres, twenty loads of corn, and two regi- 

 ments, raised and equipped at his expense. Though 

 his pecuniary assistance was very properly declined, 

 his zeal was publicly applauded by all orders of 

 people, and testified by authentic documents ex- 

 pressive of their gratitude. When the insurrection 

 was quelled, Dombey generously presented to the 

 hospital of St Jean de Dieu the sum he had offered 

 towards the defence of the state. 



Shortly after these events he returned to Lima, 

 where he had the mortification of hearing that his 

 first collection had been captured by the English, 

 and redeemed at Lisbon by the Spanish Govern- 

 ment. In consequence of this mishap, a very 

 valuable part of it, the ancient Peruvian vases, and 

 a complete dress of one of the Incas, which he 

 had destined for his own sovereign, had been pre- 

 sented to the Spanish monarch ; duplicates of the 

 dried plants and seeds only having been forwarded 

 to Paris. 



In the meantime, though enfeebled by his long 

 and laborious journeys, Dombey determined to 

 accomplish a visit to Chili ; and leaving his more 

 recent acquisitions in safety at Lima, he com- 

 menced his undertaking. This had been from the 

 first a principal object of his mission, on account of 



