TOPOGRAPHY. 



341 



proved by its fine church ; the second contains twelve families 

 only ; and the third is, as well as Ascension and the other 

 towns, in a ruinous and abandoned state. It also appeared 

 that, it having been the intention of these missionaries to pro- 

 secute their spiritual conquest towards the north, they had, in 

 the year 1580, taken the customary possession of these towns*, 

 which had been afterward laid waste by repeated irruptions of 

 the barbarians, with the exception of Chavin, which had 

 been prote£led by its situation. It thus happened that this 

 country fell into oblivion, Monzon excepted, whither an image 

 of our lady, left by the Jesuits, attra(5led a few settlers-f, and 

 where many of the inhabitants of the mountains still meet in 

 pilgrimage, on the day of the festival of the blessed Virgin. 



The cinchona trees having been examined, and having been 

 found to be of the species named negriUa\^ reputed to be of 

 the best quality, Bezares perceived that he could carry his 

 proje6t into efFedl. He accordingly gave notice of his disco- 

 very, and offered to treat with those who would undertake to 

 cut the bark. For this purpose he engaged various individu- 

 als residing on the frontiers and mountains, and several even 

 belonging to the capital, who have been constantly engaged 

 until this time, in the process of decorticating the trees, from 

 which they have extra6ted thousands of arrobas of bark. With 

 this resource, and with the assistance of a sufficient number of 



* This information is derived from various tablets found in the churches which 

 still exist, as well as from several grants of land made at the time, and in the name 

 of the above missionaries. 



t This tradition of the ancient inhabitants of the country, has not been contro- 

 verted. 



% Yielding the red bark. 



labourers, 



