The Jesuits, who first came to Peru in 1567, were conspicuously noted for their scholarship and their great ability as teachers among the Indians. In every city they established a church and a college; and at Juli, on the border of Lake Titicaca, they founded a training school for missionaries, in 1577. Here the students were taught the native tongues, and were provided with catechisms, grammars, dictionaries, and other text books necessary for their work, the order having introduced the printing press into Peru at that early date. The first book issued from the press of Juli was a catechism, which is now a valued possession of the National Library of Lima. Among their number were some of the most celebrated historians of the Conquest, as well as noted naturalists, geographers, and philologists. Their institutions became renowned, especially those established in Misiones, in the seventeenth century, the ruins of which are visited by hundreds of tourists annually. They accumulated such enormous wealth and their influence was so powerful throughout colonial Spain, that a royal decree of 1769 ordered their banishment. The command of the king was carried out with remarkable secrecy and expedition under the direction of the Viceroy Amat. The chief difficulty threatened the attempt to arrest the Jesuits of the capital and convey them on board the vessel which had been sent to the Peruvian port to receive them. However, the task was completed between midnight and sunrise, the viceroy himself heading the troops,—which were divided into four sections, each with a numerous force of infantry and cavalry—and marching to the four strongholds of the Jesuits in the city, viz., the convent of San Pablo, the Novitiate, the house of the _Desamparados_ and that of the _Cercado_. As soon as the door of each institution opened, the purpose of the viceroy’s visit was made known and the establishment was placed under guard of the royal troops until the inmates could be taken on board. The same method was followed in Chuquisaca, Potosí, and in Chile, though many of the unfortunate exiles met their death while crossing the snowbound passes of the Andes or in transportation by sea. Sixty were drowned on the voyage from Valparaiso to Callao, and the loss of life from shipwreck and other causes greatly reduced the number who arrived at their destination. [Illustration: OLD CHURCH AT URCOS.]