PREFACE. Vii 



mtelle&ual treasures, fell into the hands of the Editor. The 

 few specimens of their contents which he was enabled to give 

 at the time*, on the eve of his being called abroad by his 

 public duty, were favourably received : they indeed excited, 

 among men of letters, a degree of surprize, which de- 

 manded the evidence of the originals to attest their authen- 

 ticity. It was suspe6ted that a new Psalmanazar, or another 

 Bamberger, of still more recent notoriety in literary imposture, 

 had conceived and digested the plan of obtruding on the pub- 

 lic credulity these scientific sketches, purporting to be from a 

 part of the globe where not any degree of science could be rea- 

 sonably supposed to exist. 



Such were the sentiments generally entertained in this coun- 

 try, of the abje6l state of every description of knowledge in 

 the South American continent, when the periodical work en- 

 titled " El Mercurio Peruano" (the Peruvian Mercury), strayed 

 from its destination, to efface the impressions which had been 

 made, and to substitute others very different in their ^nature. 

 An Academical Society established in the capital of Peru, the 

 members of which, in treating the diversified subjects of litera- 

 ture, philosophy, history, &c. displayed a profound know- 



* Through the medium of the Monthly Magazine, in 1797, and the commence- 

 ment of 1798. 



b ledge 



