ABSTRACT
The death of Jean Seniergues cast a shadow over the rest of the expedition, confirming the worst fears of the violence and anarchy that lay so close to the surface throughout colonial Peru. As much shipping as possible was quickly withdrawn from both oceans, and in Peru the Viceroy sensibly ordered all shipments of gold and silver from Guayaquil to be diverted overland to Quito. La Condamine fmally left Tarqui en route for the Amazon on 11 May 1743, nearly eight years after the expedition had set out from Europe and seven since their arrival in Quito. The narrative of his further adventures may be, as he himself admits, peripheral to the measurement of the degree, but it can hardly be separated from the project as a whole, the struggle for its completion, and the safe return of the results to Paris.
