In Peru José de Acosta, Garcilaso de la Vega, and Pedro Sarmiento became especially prominent. These men were better equipped by education than most of the writers who had described the events of the conquest from personal observation. Acosta was a professor of theology in Lima, and the Church expected to have its influence extended by his eloquence as a preacher. His principal work is entitled _Historia natural y moral de las Indias_. The first book deals chiefly with Peruvian affairs, but the fifth, sixth and seventh books refer extensively to conditions and institutions in Mexico. The author was born in Spain in 1540, and his boyhood was passed with his parents in the town of Medina del Campo. He became a Jesuit in 1553 and went to America in 1570. The intervening years had been spent in study, so that when he set out for the Indies he had already acquired a vast amount of knowledge. He landed at Cartagena, went to Nombre de Dios and thence across the Isthmus to Panama. From Panama he proceeded to Peru, and arrived at Callao in 1571. Peru was then under the vigorous rule of Viceroy Francisco de Toledo (1569-1581), who at this time was absent from Lima, engaged in making an inspection of the viceroyalty. Acosta was ordered to join the viceroy’s other assistants, particularly Polo de Ondegardo and Juan Matienzo. He accompanied Toledo, and was a member of the expedition directed against the Chiriguana Indians. [Sidenote: Offices in Lima] After his return to Lima he resumed his duties as professor of theology, and retained this post until the middle of 1575, when he became rector of the Colegio Máximo de San Pablo. The next year he was promoted to the office of provincial of the Jesuit province of Peru, succeeding the first provincial, Portillo. Acosta’s term as provincial expired in 1580. He resided for some years at the missionary station of Juli, near Lake Titicaca, and during this period his time was divided between missionary work and writing. The Jesuits had established a college at Juli to facilitate the study of the native languages. Holguín had resided there, and his Quichua grammar is an important contribution to knowledge of that language. Bertonio, also sometime a resident there, performed a similar service by his Aymará dictionary. [Sidenote: Acosta at Council of Lima]