INTRODUCTORY. 



13 



an eminent physician, and author of a very clever book called " Peru as 

 it is ; " and to the courteous and hospitable partners of the mercantile 

 house of Alsop & Co., Messrs. Prevost, Foster, & McCall. 



Modern books upon the subject — such as Prescott's Peru; Humboldt's 

 Narrative; Von Tschude's Travels; Smith's "Peru as it is;" Conda- 

 mine's Voyage on the Amazon ; Prince Adalbert's Travels ; the Journals 

 of the English Lieutenants, Smyth and Maw; "Travels in Maynas" of 

 Don Manuel Ijurra, who afterwards accompanied me as interpreter to 

 the Indians ; Southey's Brazil, and a Chorographic Essay on the Prov- 

 ince of Para, by a Brazilian named Baena — were all consulted, and, 

 together with oral communications from persons who had visited various 

 parts of the Valley of the Amazon, gave me all the information within 

 my reach, and prepared me to start upon my journey at least with 

 open eyes. 



According to Garcilasso de la Vega, himself a descendant of the 

 Incas, the attention of the Peruvian government was directed to the 

 country east of the Andes even before the time of the Spanish conquest. 

 The sixth Inca, Hocca, sent his son, Yahuar Jluaccac,. at the head of 

 15,000 men, with three generals as companions and advisers, to the 

 conquest of the country to the northward and eastward of Cuzco, called 

 Antisu?jo, inhabited by Indians called Antis. The young prince added 

 a space of thirty leagues in that direction to the dominions of his father, 

 but could reach no further on account of the roughness of the country 

 and the difficulties of the march. The tenth and great Inca, Yupanqui, 

 sent an expedition of 10,000 men to pursue the conquests of Yahuar 

 Huaccac. These reached the Montana, and, embarking on rafts upon 

 the great river Amarumayo* fought their way through tribes called 

 Chunchos, till they arrived, with only 1,000 men, into the territory of 

 tribes called Musus. Finding their numbers now too small for con- 

 quest, they persuaded these Indians that they were friends, and, by their 

 superior civilization, obtained such an ascendency among them, that 

 the Musus agreed to send ambassadors to render homage and worship 

 to the " Child of the Sun," and gave these men of the Inca race their 

 daughters in marriage, and a place in their tribe. 



* As I shall have occasion, in speaking of routes, to refer again to this river, 

 I would like to draw particular attention to it, simply stating here, however, 

 that all who have penetrated into the Montana to the northward and eastward of 

 Cuzco, agree in reporting a large and navigable river arrived at soon after clear- 

 ing the skirts of the mountains. Different tribes of Indians inhabit its banks, and 

 I presume it is on this account that so many different names — such as Amarumayo, 

 Mano, Tono, Inambiri, Guariguari, Cachihuara, and Madre-de-dios — have been 

 given it. 



