of a hundred and twenty thousand leaves, and more than three hundred thousand decisions, the minutes of which are in my possession. From these materials I have drawn my first volume; and am now engaged in the second, by which the work will be completed.”
It was followed by two productions, one on the polity of the Indies, and the other on their ecclesiastical and spiritual government. Into the latter he introduced upwards of three hundred pontifical decisions, relative to the Indies, drawn from the apostolical bulls and briefs, and from the replies of the congregations of cardinals.
At the particular request of the Duke of Modena, he next wrote and published an Epitome of the Oriental and Occidental Library, in which, with infinite labour and diligence, he analyzed the productions of all the authors who had at that time published on either of the Indies. Considerable additions were afterwards made to this interesting work, which was reprinted in 1737, in three folio volumes, by order of the enlightened Spanish minister, Don Gonzales de Garcia, to whom the republic of letters is indebted for new editions of many old and scarce tracts relative to South America.
Anxious to enrich his country with whatever depended on his genius, talents, and assiduous application, Pinelo afterwards composed a work, in four books, entitled “the Foundation, and Historical and Political Grandeur of the famous City of los Reyes (Lima).” It was drawn up with much study and care; as was likewise his “History of the Imperial City of Potosi, with the Discovery of its rich Mines.” These productions were never printed, but several MS. copies are known to have been in the hands of the curious. As there is
