Los Gringos; or, An Inside View of Mexico and California, with Wanderings in Peru, Chili, and Polynesia.

New York: Baker and Scribner, 1849. First edition. "An officer in the United States Navy, Wise served on board the... "Independent" during the Mexican War. He narrates his experiences... sailing from Boston around Cape Horn, bound for Mexico and California to fight the war... Wise recorded many details of the actual fighting... At the end of the war, the vessel returned to Boston, stopping at Hawaii, the Marquesas, Tahiti, and then Callao.." - Hill 1902. On pages 73-75, Wise recounts his meeting with one of the survivors of the Donner party... "men, women and children starved to death and were eaten by their fellows. Insanity followed. When relief arrived, the survivors were found rolling in filth, parents eating their own offspring... One Dutchman actually ate a full-grown body in thirty-six hours!" etc., etc. Howes W-593. Forbes 1761. Bound as issued in blind stamped cloth with gold spine lettering. Light wear to external joints, text clean.. 19 cm. xvi, 453 pp.