i6o ' condamine's tra^t:ls 



five fpecies of the Butua ; with thefe alfo a grammar, printed at Lima, of the language 

 of the Incas, which I defigned as a prefent for M. de BufFon, from whom I received no 

 anfwer. By that with which I was honoured from M. Rouille, I learnt that His Majefty 

 had been pleafed to direfl that the governor and intendant of Cayenne Ihould both fur- 

 nil]^ me with recommendations to the government of Para. Upon this, I wrote to you. 

 Sir, and you were fo obliging as to folicit pafTports for me. You moreover favoured me 

 with a letter of recommendation from Commander La Cerda, minifter of Portugal to 

 France, addrefled to the governor of Para, with a letter from M. T Abbe de la Ville, 

 which informed you that my paffports had been expedited, and forwarded to Para. I 

 enquired refpefting them of the governor of that place, who expreffed his entire igno- 

 rance of the fad. I repeated my letters to M. Rouille, who then was no longer in the 

 miniftry. Since that time I renewed my letters every year, four, five, and even fix 

 times, for the purpofe of obtaining my paffports, and conftantly without effeft. Many 

 of my letters were loft, or intercepted, during the war, of which I the lefs doubt from your 

 having ceafed to receive any, notwithftanding I regularly continued my correfpondence. 

 At length, hearing cafually that M. le Comte d*Herouville was in the confidence of 

 M. de Choifeul, I ventured, in 1765, to write to the former of thefe noblemen, although 

 I had not the honour of being known to him, explaining in a few words who I was, and 

 entreating him to intercede with the Due de Choifeul for the tranfmilTion of my paff- 

 ports. To the kindnefs of this nobleman alone can I attribute the fuccefs that followed 

 this ftep ; for, the tenth month from the date of my letter to M. le Comte de Herouville, 

 I faw a decked galliot arrive at Cayenne, equipped at Para by order of the King of Por- 

 tugal, manned with thirty oars, and commanded by a captain of the garrifon of Para, in- 

 ftrudted to bring me to Para, thence tranfport me up the river as high as the firft 

 Spanifh fettlement, to wait there till I returned with my family, and ultimately re-con- 

 duA me to Cayenne, all at the fpecial charge of His Moft Faithful Majefty ; a liberality 

 truly loyal, and fuch as is little common among fovereigns. We left Cayenne at the clofe 

 of November 1765, in order to take in property belonging to me at the fort of Oyapoc, 

 where I refided. Here I fell fick, and even dangeroufly fo. M. de Rebello, the cap- 

 tain, a knight of the order of Chrift, was fo complaifant as to wait for me fix weeks ; 

 finding at length that I ftill continued too ,ill to venture on the voyage, and, fearful of 

 abufing the patience of this officer, I befought him to continue his route, and that he 

 would permit me to put fome one on board, to whom I might entruft my letters, and 

 who might fill my place in taking care of my family on its return. I caft my eyes on 

 Triftan D*Oreafaval, a perfon whom I had long known, and in whom I had confidence. 

 The packet I entrufted to him contained the orders of the Father-general of the Jefuits 

 to the Provincial of Quito, and the Superior of the miffions of Maynas, for furnifhing 

 the canoes and equipage neceffary for the voyage of my fpoufe. The inftru6lions I gave 

 to Triftan were fimpiyto deliver thofe letters to the Superior, refident at La Laguna, the 

 capital of the Spanifh miffions of Maynas, whom I entreated to forward my letters to 

 Riobamba, in order that my wife might receive information of the veffel difpatched by 

 His Majefty of Portugal, at the recommendation of the King of France, to bring her to 

 Cayenne. Triftan was further direded to wait an anfwer from Riobamba at Laguna. 

 He failed from Oyapoc on the 24th January 1766, and arrived at Loreto, the firft efta- 

 blifhment belonging to Spain on afcending the river, in the month of July or Auguft of 

 the fame year. Loreto is a miffion eftablifhed below that of Pevas fince the period of 

 your coming down the river in 1743 ; nay, both this and the Portugueze miffion of 

 Savatinga, above that of St. Pablo, which was before their laft fettlement up the river, 

 have been founded fince my paffage defcending in 1 749. The better to comprehend 



t4 what 



