16 



INTRODUCTORY. 



graphical information ; and the map may now be consulted in elucida- 

 tion of the text. 



In 1673 the Franciscan Father Manuel Biedma penetrated into the 

 Montana from Jauxa, by the way of Comas and Andamarca, and 

 established the missionary station of Santa Cruz de Sonomora, on the 

 river Pangoa, a tributary of the Ucayali. 



In 1681 he opened a mule road from Andamarca to Sonomora, and 

 in 1684 one from Sonomora to the junction of the Pangoa with the 

 Perene. In 1686 he embarked at this place with Antonio Vital, and 

 descended the Ucayali to near the junction of the Pachitea. Here he 

 established a station called " San Miguel de los Conibos" and, leaving 

 Vital in charge, he attempted to ascend the river again, but was killed 

 by the savages. Vital, hearing of his death, and seeing himself 

 abandoned, without hope of succor, determined to commit himself to 

 the downward current ; and, embarking in a canoe with six Indians, 

 he soon reached the Jesuit missionary stations near the mouth of the 

 Ucayali. Directed by these missionaries, he ascended the Maranon, 

 the Huallaga, and the river Mayo as far as it is navigable. He then 

 disembarked, travelled by land through Moyobamba and Chachapoyas, 

 and passing through Lima arrived at Jauxa, whence he had set out 

 with Father Biedma. 



About this time the Franciscans, also penetrating from Tarma by the 

 valleys of Chanchamayo and Vitoc, established the missions of the 

 Cerro de la Sal and the Pajonal. The Cerro de la Sal is described as 

 a mountain of rock and red earth, with veins of salt of thirty yards in 

 breadth, to which the Indians, for many miles round, were in the habit 

 of repairing for their supply. The Pajonal is a great grassy plain, 

 enclosed between the river Pachitea and a great bend of the Ucayali. 

 It is about one hundred and twenty miles in length from north to south, 

 and ninety from east to west; and I judge from its name, and some 

 imperfect descriptions of it, that it is a very fine grazing country. 



In the year 1712 Padre Francisco de San Jose established a college, 

 "de propaganda fide," at the village of Ocopa, in the Andes, a few 

 leagues from Jauxa. By his zeal and abilities he induced many Euro- 

 pean monks, of the order of St. Francis, to come over and join him in 

 his missionary labors. These men labored so successfully, that up 

 to 1742 they had established ten towns in the Pajonal and Cerro de 

 la Sal, and had under their spiritual direction ten thousand converts. 

 But in this year an Indian of Cuzco, who had been converted and bap- 

 tized as Juan Santos, apostatized from the faith ; and, taking upon 

 himself the style and title of Inca, and the name of Atahuallpa, excited 

 to rebellion all the Indians of the plain, and swept away every trace of 



