had received the name of Anna Rosa. On the 8th of July they reached the banks of the river Manoa, where they perceived two canoes filled with Indians. On their approach, Anna Rosa prevailed on an Indian, named Rungato, to land from his canoe. The caresses and affability of the missionaries soon prevailed on him to lay aside his fear, and, by the dint of a few entreaties, he was led to conduct them to his tribe, which consisted of about two hundred and twenty souls, inhabiting a small village named Suaray. Here the reverend fathers were received with every token of sincerity and pleasure, manifested by the Indians in their dances and rustic repasts; and were hailed by the gentle appellation of friends.
It appeared, by the testimony of several of these Indians, that their nation had formerly maintained an intercourse with the Spaniards. Recurring to their traditions, they dated their origin from the ancient Setebos. From the year 1657 to 1686 the latter occupied the banks of the Pachitea, and extended their boundaries to the river Ucayali, where a missionary, friar Manuel Biedma, converted a considerable number of them, and rendered their condition highly flourishing. Exposed to the attacks and inroads of their turbulent neighbours the Callisecas, a portion of these converted Indians accompanied their spiritual guides in their flight, and proceeded by the Payanzos tribes to those of Panatahua. The remainder passed from the banks of the Ucayali to those of the Manoa, a distance of twenty leagues. By the means of this ancestry, some notions of the christian religion were handed down to and propagated among them, but blended with a thousand errors and absurdities. They believe in God, the dispenser of rewards and punishments. They acknowledge Jesus Christ, and his holy mother; but they assimilate the latter with the Deity, maintaining her to be the co-author and conservatrix of the universe. They practise baptism, and sprinkle on the heads of the children newly born a quantity of lime juice, without uttering a syllable, or making any sign. Friar St. Joseph, who, with seven Europeans, remained among the Manoa Indians, after the departure of father Salcedo, represented to his Prelates how much he had to suffer from hunger, from the annoyance of insects, and from the cruelty of the Indians. Being unprovided with the necessary implements for cutting down the large shrubs on the mountains, and for tilling the land, his crops had been very unproductive. These implements were shortly after liberally supplied.
The conversion of the Manoa Indians, although inconsiderable, was extremely interesting, inasmuch as it led to that of the other tribes which are scattered over the Pampa del Sacramento, and on the banks of the Ucayali. Twenty leagues to the south of Manoa, the Sipibos, sprung from the ferocious Callisecas, by whom the Payanzos missionaries were cut off, inhabit the banks of the river Pisqui. They
live,
