A set of robbers united into a body, a few years ago, on the north side of the river, and may become more dangerous to the Spaniards than they are at present, if efficacious measures are not taken to destroy them. Some malefactors escaped from the hands of justice, retired to the north of the Maldonadoes; some deserters joined them; their numbers encreased insensibly; they took wives from among the Indians, and founded a race of men who live upon robberies. They make inroads, and carry off the cattle in the Spanish possessions, which they conduct to the boundaries of the Brasils, where they barter it with the Paulists[[14]], against arms and clothes. Unhappy are the travellers that fall into their hands. They are now, it is said, upwards of six hundred in number, have left their first habitation, and are retired much further to the north-west.
Extent of the government de la Plata.
The governor-general of the province de la Plata resides, as I have already mentioned, at Buenos Ayres. In all matters which do not concern the marine, he is reckoned dependent upon the viceroy of Peru; but the great distance between them almost annuls this dependency, and it only exists in regard to the silver, which he is obliged to get out of the mines of Potosi; this, however, will no longer be brought over in shapeless pieces, as a mint has been established this year at Potosi. The particular governments of Tucuman and Paraguai (the principal settlements of which are Santa-Fé, Corrientes, Salta, Tujus, Cordoua, Mendoza, and Assumption) are dependent, together with the famous missions of the Jesuits, upon the governor-general of la Plata. This vast province contains, in a word, all the possessions of the Spaniards, east of the Cordilleras, from the river of Amazons to the straits of Magalhaens. It is true, there is no settlement south of Buenos Ayres; and nothing but the necessity of providing themselves with salt, induces the Spaniards to penetrate into those parts. For this purpose a convoy of two hundred carts, escorted by three hundred men, sets out every year from Buenos Ayres, and goes to the latitude of forty degrees, to load the salt in lakes near the sea, where it is naturally formed. Formerly the Spaniards used to send schooners to the bay of St. Julian, to fetch salt.
I shall speak of the missions in Paraguay when I come to the second voyage, which some circumstances obliged us to make again into the river of la Plata; I shall then enter into the account of the expulsion of the Jesuits, of which we were witnesses.
The commerce of the province de la Plata is less profitable than any in Spanish America; this province produces neither gold nor silver, and its inhabitants are not numerous enough to be able to get at all the other riches which the soil produces and contains. The commerce of Buenos Ayres itself is not in the same state it was in about ten years ago; it is fallen off considerably, since the trade by land is no longer permitted; that is, since it has been prohibited to carry European goods by land from Buenos Ayres to Peru and Chili; so that the only objects of the commerce with these two provinces are, at present, cotton, mules, and maté, or the Paraguay-herb[[15]]. The money and interest of the merchants at Lima have obtained this order, against which those of Buenos Ayres have complained. The law-suit is carried on at Madrid, and I know not how or when it will be determined. However, Buenos Ayres is a very rich place: I have seen a register-ship sail from thence, with a million of dollars on board; and if all the inhabitants of this country could get rid of their leather or skins in Europe, that article alone would suffice to enrich them. |Colony of Santo Sacramento.| Before the last war, they carried on a prodigious contraband-trade with the colony of Santo Sacramento, a place in the possession of the Portuguese, upon the left side of the river, almost directly opposite Buenos Ayres. But this place is now so much surrounded by the new works, erected by the Spaniards, that it is impossible to carry on any illicit trade with it, unless by connivance; even the Portuguese, who inhabit the place, are obliged to get their subsistence by sea from the Brasils. In short, this station bears the same relation to Spain here, as Gibraltar does in Europe; with this difference only, that the former belongs to the Portuguese, and the latter to the English.
Account of the town of Montevideo.
The town of Montevideo has been settled forty years ago, is situated on the north side of the river, thirty leagues above its mouth, and built on a peninsula, which lies convenient to secure from the east wind, a bay of about two leagues deep, and one league wide at its entrance. At the western point of this isle, is a single high mountain, which serves as a look out, and has given a name to the town; the other lands, which surround it, are very low. That side which looks towards a plain, is defended by a citadel. Several batteries guard the side towards the sea and the harbour. There is a battery upon a very little isle, in the bottom of the bay, called Isle au François, or French-Island. |Anchorage in this bay.| The anchorage at Montevideo is safe, though sometimes molested by pamperos, which are storms from the south-west, accompanied by violent tempests. There is no great depth of water in the whole bay; and one may moor in three, four, or five fathoms of water in a very soft mud, where the biggest merchant-ships run a-ground, without receiving any damage; but sharp-built ships easily break their backs, and are lost. The tides do not come in regular; according as the wind is, the water is high or low. It is necessary to be cautious, in regard to a chain of rocks that extends some cables-length off the east point of the bay; the sea forms breakers upon them, and the people of this country call them la Punta de las Carretas.
It is an excellent place to put in at for refreshments.
Montevideo has a governor of its own, who is immediately under the orders of the governor-general of the province. The country round this town is almost entirely uncultivated, and furnishes neither wheat nor maize; they must get flour, biscuit, and other provisions for the ships from Buenos Ayres. In the gardens belonging to the town, and to the adjoining houses, they cultivate scarce any legumes; there is, however, plenty of melons, calabashes, figs, peaches, apples, and quinces. Cattle are as abundant there as in any other part of this country; which, together with the wholesomeness of the air, makes Montevideo an excellent place to put in at for the crew; only good measures must be taken to prevent desertion. Every thing invites the sailor thither; it being a country, where the first reflection which strikes him, on setting his feet on shore, is, that they live there almost without working. Indeed, how is it possible to resist the comparison of spending one’s days in idleness and tranquility, in a happy climate, or of languishing under the weight of a constantly laborious life, and of accelerating the misfortunes of an indigent old age, by the toils of the sea?