Acuna, Cristoval De

Acuna, Cristoval De, a Spanish Jesuit missionary, was born at Burgos in 1597. He was admitted into the society in 1612, and, after some years spent in study, was sent as a missionary to Chili and Peru, and became rector of the College of Cuenca. In 1639 he was appointed by the Jesuits to accompany Pedro Texeira in his second exploration of the Amazon in order to take scientific observations and draw up a report that might be sent to Spain. He published a narrative of this expedition under the title Nuevo Descubrimiento del Gran Rio de las Amazonas, etc. (Madrid, 1641) but he was coldly received by the king of Spain, and nothing was done to improve the country thus opened up. After occupying the positions of procurator of the Jesuits at Rome and calificador (censor) of the Inquisition at Madrid, Acufia returned to South America, and died on a journey from Panama to Lima, soon after the year 1675.