About the middle of the seventeenth century attention was again directed to the history and institutions of the Inca Kingdom, this time by Fernando Montesinos, who wrote _Memorias antiguas históricas y políticas del Perú_. This treatise shows a large use of the imagination, and in this respect differs from the writings of Cieza de León and Sarmiento. The author passes in review some of the earlier writers on Peruvian history. He laments the confidence given to Garcilaso de la Vega; reproaches Xerés for his brevity; praises the accuracy of Zárate; finds Cieza de León’s descriptions true; and regards Las Casas as merely a declaimer. He sets down a long list of kings not discovered by other historians. His imagination is inflamed by the idea of much gold, and is given full play in his description of El Dorado, which he believes to exist in the interior of the continent. His fancy, moreover, determines the character of his work called _Ofir de España o memorias antiguas y nuevas del Perú_. He finds Peru to have been the Ophir of the Old Testament, and describes the route by which Solomon’s fleet reached that country. But Montesinos descends to the dreadful reality in his description of the auto de la fe held in Lima January 23, 1639. On this occasion eighty persons were sentenced, of whom twelve were burned. Certain practical treatises on metals were the result of his diligent literary activity; the titles of two of these are the following: _Directorio de beneficiadores de metales y arte de ellos_ and _Conservación del azogue que se pierde sobreaguado entre lamas y relaves_. The description of the auto de la fe was published in Madrid in 1640. A translation of the _Memorias_ into French was published by Ternaux-Compans in 1840, entitled _Mémoires historiques sur l’ancien Pérou_. In 1920 an English translation was issued in London by the Hakluyt Society. CHAPTER XI THE LAST HALF OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY I. _Juan de Barrenechea y Albis; Luis de Oviedo y Hererra; Juan del Valle y Caviedes._ II. _Ignacio de Arbieto; Jacinto Barrasa; José de Buendía._ III. _Jerónimo de Quiroga; Anello Oliva; Diego Ojeda Gallinato; Martín Velasco._ IV. _Lucas Fernández de Piedrahita._ V. _Pedro Claver; Juan Flórez de Ocáriz._ VI. _Anales del Cuzco._ VII. _Manuel Rodríguez; Samuel Fritz._ I [Sidenote: _Cautiverio feliz_]