8 



INTRODUCTORY. 



used a great quantity formerly, they now take tea. These are causes 

 for regret, for one likes to see nationality preserved ; but there is one 

 cause for congratulation, (especially on the part of sea-going men, 

 ■who have sometimes suffered,) the railroad between Lima and Callao 

 has broken up the robbers. 



But with these matters I have nothing to do. My first business at 

 Lima was to establish relations with Don Francisco Paula y Vigil, 

 the accomplished and learned superintendent of the public library. 

 This gentleman, who is an ecclesiastic and a member of the Senate, 

 has so high a character for learning and honesty, that, though a par- 

 tisan politician, and a member of the opposition to the new govern- 

 ment, he preserves (a rare thing in Peru) the respect and confidence 

 of all. He placed the books of the library at my disposal, and kindly 

 selected for me those that would be of service. 



The sources of information, however, were small and unsatisfactory. 

 The military expeditions into the country to the eastward of the Andes 

 left little or no reliable traces of their labors. The records of the 

 explorations of the Jesuits were out of my reach, in the archives of 

 Quito — at that time the head of the diocese, and the starting-point of 

 the missions into the interior — and nearly all that I could get at were 

 some meagre accounts of the operations of the Franciscans, collected 

 by Father Manuel Sobreviela, guardian of the missionary college of 

 Ocopa, and published, in 1790, in a periodical called "Mercurio 

 jf'eruano," edited by an association styling itself "Amantes del Pais," 

 or lovers of their country. 



Though the information obtained in Lima was not great, I still think 

 that a slight historical sketch of the attempts to explore the Montana,* 

 of Peru, made since the conquest of that country by Pizarro, will not 

 be uninteresting. Before commencing it, however, I desire to express 

 my acknowledgments to the many gentlemen, both native and foreign, 

 who have assisted me in my researches with information and advice, 

 particularly to Don Nicholas Pierola, the Director of the National 

 Museum, whose name is associated with that of Mariano de Rivero, as 

 "par excellence" the scientific men of Peru ; to the Hon. John Randolph 

 Clay, charge d'affaires of the United States ; to Dr. Archibald Smith, 



* Montana (pronounced Montanya) is the name given by the Peruvians to any 

 wooded country, "monte" being the Spanish term for a thick and tangled forest. 

 As there is no other wooded country in Peru except to the eastward of the 

 Andes, the term applies only to the eastern slope, and the level country at the 

 base of the mountains, stretching as far as the confines of Brazil. 



