vi PREFACE. 



my duty to explore the forests of the Peruvian 

 province of Caravaya, which has never yet been 

 described by any EngHsh traveller ; and the first 

 part of the work is occupied by an account of the 

 various species of Chinchona-plants and their pre- 

 vious history, a narrative of my travels in Peru, 

 and a record of the labours of the agents whom 

 I employed to collect plants and seeds of the 

 various species of Chinchonae in other parts of South 

 America. 



The traveller who ascends to the lofty plateau of 

 the Cordilleras cannot fail to be deeply interested in 

 the former history and melancholy fate of the Peru- 

 vian Indians ; and some account of their condition 

 under Spanish colonial rule, and of the insurrection 

 of Tupac Amaru, the last of the Incas, will, I trust, 

 not be unwelcome. I have devoted three chapters 

 to these subjects, which will form a short digression 

 on our way to the Chinchona forests. I am indebted 

 to the late General Miller, and to Dr. Vigil, the 

 learned Director of the National Library at Lima, 

 for much new and very curious material throwing 

 light on that period of Spanish colonial history 

 which includes the great rebellion of the Peruvian 

 Indians in 1780. 



The second part of the work contains a narrative 

 of my travels in India, a description of the sites 



