The Council of the Hakluyt Society selected the first part of the "Cronica" of Cieza de León to form a volume of its series in 1864, and the translation and editing were entrusted to me. It is a valuable contribution to the geography of the Cauca valley in Colombia, and of Peru; while the author's account of the coast almost amounts to a book of sailing directions. In 1880, II, the history of the Incas, was brought to light, and texts were printed by the late Dr. González Rosa in 1873, and also by Jiménez de la Espada in 1880. This exceedingly valuable account of Inca civilization was known to Mr. Prescott, and he frequently quotes from it; but he was not aware of Cieza de León being the author.[2] This part was chosen by the Council to be included in the Hakluyt Society's series in 1883, and I again undertook the work of translation and editing. Quite recently three of the volumes on the Civil Wars of Peru by Cieza de León have been discovered in manuscript, and published at Madrid. "The War of Quito," covering the period from the arrival of the Viceroy Blasco Núñez Vela to his death at Anaquito, was translated and edited by me, forming one of the Hakluyt Society's volumes for 1912. I have also translated and edited the "War of Las Salinas," giving a detailed account of the dispute between Pizarro and Almagro, which ended with the battle of Las Salinas and the execution of Almagro by Hernando Pizarro. The present volume, by Cieza de León, is entitled "THE WAR OF CHUPAS," and contains a detailed narrative of events from the battle of Las Salinas to the final overthrow of the Almagro faction at the battle of Chupas, including the murder of Pizarro, the arrival of Vaca de Castro as governor, the campaign against Almagro the younger, the promulgation of the New Laws, and the appointment of Blasco Núñez Vela as viceroy to enforce them. These Civil War volumes contain a great deal that is of geographical interest, especially in the detailed accounts of expeditions of discovery into the forests to the east of the Andes, which to this day are not fully explored. Cieza de León gives connected narratives of the expedition of Pedro de Candía into the _montaña_ of Paucartambo, of that of Pedro Anzures de Camporredondo who entered by Marcapata and returned by one of the Caravaya ravines, of Diego de Rojas into the Gran Chaco, of Alvarado and Mercadillo in the valleys of the Marañón and the Huallaga, and of Gonzalo Pizarro into the "land of cinnamon." I translated and edited for the Hakluyt Society in 1858 the account of this last expedition in the Royal Commentaries of Garcilaso Inca de la Vega. The independent account by Cieza de León contains many details obtained by him at Quito from members of the expedition very soon after the event, and is therefore of special interest.