Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/468

410 were accompanied by several lay brothers, and three soldiers. Having to pass on foot over a very extensive and rugged tract of country, the Indians of Caxamarquilla, who formed their suite, were so exhausted by fatigues, that it was deemed expedient not to risk the sacrifice of the lives of this civilized race, for the precarious benefit of the savage nations whose conversion the expedition had in view.

An ancient map, found in the archives of the college of Ocopa, having pointed out that, by the route of Pozuzu, it was possible to navigate, by the Pachitea, to the Ucayali and Manoa, after having, in the first instance, embarked at the junction of the river Pozuzu with the Mayro, two expeditions were undertaken on this very slender information. In consequence of an error in the map, the first did not reach the Manoa river within the limited time; and the effect of this delay was, that father Francis fell into the hands of the Casivos, a wandering tribe, by whom he was slain. The second expedition, which was under the direction of friar Manuel Gil, commissary of the missions, was undertaken in 1767. Notwithstanding it was more prudently managed than the preceding one, the only consequence which resulted from it was, that the missionaries collected the melancholy information of the death of all the fathers belonging to the conversions. Rungato, the Indian who, as has been already mentioned, was met with on a former occasion at the entrance into Manoa, had instigated the three nations of Setebos, Sipibos, and Conivos, to cut off all the missionaries distributed among the different tribes.

The loss of the Manoa missions has been sensibly felt, not only by the reverend fathers missionaries, but likewise by Peru, and by the monarch himself. The possession of Manoa secured to the latter a vast and fertile territory. The peregrinations of father Sobreviela, and those which just have been concluded, under his authority, by father Girbal, hold out the prospect of its being speedily restored to us. Under an enlightened governor, who is aware of all the importance of such an enterprise, the above fathers have been supplied with whatever was necessary to its accomplishment. It is with much pleasure that we engage in the task of publishing their travels, entertaining, as we do, in common with every feeling breast, a profound sense of gratitude for the benefits conferred on any portion of the human race.