Rubber was known to the indigenous peoples of the Americas long before the arrival of European explorers. In 1525, Padre d'Anghieria reported that he had seen Mexican tribespeople playing with elastic balls. The first scientific study of rubber was undertaken by Charles de la Condamine, when he encountered it during his trip to Peru in 1735. A French engineer that Condamine met in Guiana, Fresnau studied rubber on its home ground, reaching the conclusion that this was nothing more than a "type of condensed resinous oil