44 



BOTANY. 



was followed, and the mysterious, tenacious, and mistrustful 

 disposition of these Indians*, have deprived us of many ad- 

 vantages which might have resulted from their long experi- 

 ence. On our side, we have not aimed at recovering these 

 advantages, contenting ourselves with the relics which tradi- 

 tion and history have afforded us-f. It may be said, that the 



faculty, set out for Cercado and Surco" (Indian villages, the former contiguous to, 

 and the other at a small distance from Lima), *' to be cured by Indian men and wo- 

 men, and recover the health which their physicians could not give them." The 

 progress made by the Indians in the knowledge of medicinal plants, was in a great 

 measure owing to the prospedl this acquirement held out to them, of being appointed 

 physicians to the Yncns, and distinguished personages ; a dignity which did not 

 allow them to debase themselves by practising among the comtnon people. The 

 law which expressly enjoined that no one should be idle, and that those, among the 

 people, who were not skilled in agriculture or in warfare, should become herbalists 

 to aid the sick, was equally favourable to this study. For these reasons, we ought to 

 consider the Indians as the fathers and founders of the botany of Peru. 



* The obstinacy with which the Indians endeavoured to conceal their acquire- 

 ments from the Europeans, may be colledled from a document, by Pedro DeOsma, 

 dated at Lima, 1568. In this paper he states, that having left his house, in com- 

 pany with several friends, with a view to discover the part in which the bezoar 

 stone is engendered in the vicunas, the Indians not only refused to answer the diffe- 

 rent questions which were proposed to them on this subjecSt, but likewise would not 

 consent to disclose the secret of the poison they carried about them. Si quidquam de 

 lapidibus scire negabant, ut sunt nobis infestissimi, nec sua secreta nobis innotescere vellent. 

 These secrets having, however, been revealed by a young Indian aged ten or 

 twelve years, his countrymen expressed a wish to cut off his head. Osma took him 

 under his protection ; but having afterwards negledled the necessary precautions for 

 his security, he fell into the hands of the Indians, by whom he was sacrificed. 



t Cieza, Gomara, and Zarate, were the earliest historians who attempted to 

 crive a few notices relative to the esculent and medicinal plants of Peru. Garcilaso, 

 Don Antonio Pinelo, and Calancha, followed them with more precision, and with 

 a greater length of detail. With the historians we may connect the poets : among 

 ours, the only one who has treated this subjeil is Don Pedro De Peralta, in his 

 work entitled Lima Fundada. 



greater 



