Page:The lives of celebrated travellers (Volume 2).djvu/344

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following years; and in 1748 his great work on South America, by which he will be advantageously known to posterity, was published by the order and at the expense of the government. When this was accomplished, he travelled by order of the king over a considerable portion of Europe, collecting during his journey knowledge useful both to the state and to the nation. As a reward for his services, he was appointed superintendent of the mercury mine at Guancavelica in Peru; but this did not altogether answer his expectations. In the reign of Charles III. he was promoted to the rank of commodore of a squadron, and was intrusted with the command of the fleet of the Indies. In 1762 Ulloa was commissioned to take possession of Louisiana, which had been recently ceded to Spain, and was at the same time appointed governor; but met with so much resistance on the part of the colonists, who disliked the change, that he was compelled to re-embark. The remainder of his life was spent in honourable offices and in literary and scientific labours, by which he acquired a high degree of well-merited reputation. He died in the Isle of Leon, on the 3d of July, 1795, in the eightieth year of his age.


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