Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/484

426 Total, forty-six days. In the interval which remains to complete the three months, there is sufficient time to reach Spain by the Azores islands. Father Manuel Sobreviela, on the authority of the information communicated to him by Don M. Molina, a distinguished merchant, asserts, in a relation of the progress of the missions of Ocopa, printed at Lima in 1790, before he set out on his expedition, that the return to Lima may be performed in pretty nearly the same time. Experience has demonstrated, however, that at least double the time is required from Para; seeing that the navigation, in following the course of the waters, is at the rate of from two to three leagues per hour; while, in navigating against the stream, three quarters of a league only can be performed in the same space of time. But this observation merely applies to an inconsiderable part of the route.

The communication the above expedition opens with Manoa, the restoration of which was its principal object, will be elucidated at the close of the peregrination of father Narciso Girbal by the Ucayali, which now follows.