A New Voyage Round the World by a Course Never Sailed Before

by Daniel Defoe

But, seignior, says I, does not his Catholic majesty claim a title to the possession of it? and have the Spaniards no governor over it? nor any ports or towns, settlements, or colonies in it, as is the case here in Chili? Seignior, replied he, the king of Spain is lord of all America, as well that which he possesses as that which he possesses not, that right being given him by the Pope, in the right of his being a Christian prince, making new discoveries for propagating the Christian faith among infidels; how far that may pass for a title among the European powers I know not. I have heard that it has always passed for a maxim in Europe, that no country which is not planted by any prince or people can be said to belong to them; and, indeed, I cannot say but it seems to be rational, that no prince should pretend to any title to a country where he does not think fit to plant and to keep possession. For, if he leaves the country unpossessed, he leaves it free for any other nation to come and possess; and this is the reason why the former kings of Spain did not dispute that right of the French to the colonies of the Mississipi and Canada, or the right of the English to the Caribee islands, or to their colonies of Virginia and New England.

In like manner, from the Buenos Ayres, in the Rio de la Plata, which lies that way (pointing north-east), to the Fretum Magellanicum, which lies that way (pointing south-east), which comprehends a vast number of leagues, is called by us Coasta Deserta, being unpossessed by Spain, and disregarded of all our nation; neither is there one Spaniard in it. Nevertheless, you see how fruitful, how pleasant, and how agreeable a climate it is; how apt for planting and peopling it seems to be, and, above all, what a place of wealth here would be behind them, sufficient, and more than enough, both for them and us; for we should have no reason to offer them any disturbance, neither should we be in any condition to do it, the passages of the mountains being but few and difficult, as you have seen, and our numbers not sufficient to do anything more than to block them up, to keep such people from breaking in upon our settlements on the coast of the South Seas.

I asked him if these notions of his were common among those of his country who were settled in Chili and Peru? or whether they were his own private opinions only? I told him I believed the latter, because I found he acted in all his affairs upon generous principles, and was for propagating the good of mankind; but, that I questioned whether their governor of Old Spain, or the sub-governor and viceroy of New Spain, acted upon those notions; and, since he had mentioned the Buenos Ayres and the Rio de la Plata, I should take that as an example, seeing the Spaniards would never suffer any nation to set foot in that great river, where so many countries might have been discovered, and colonies planted; though, at the same time, they had not possessed, or fully discovered those places themselves.

He answered me, smiling; Seignior, says he, you have given the reason for this yourself, in that very part which you think is a reason against it. We have a colony at Buenos Ayres, and at the city of Ascension, higher up in the Rio de la Plata, and we are not willing to let any other nation settle there, because we would not let them see how weak we are, and what a vast extent of land we possess there with a few men; and this for two reasons:

First, We are possessed of the country, and daily increasing there, and may in time extend ourselves farther. The great rivers Parana and Paraguay being yet left for us to plant in, and we are not willing to put ourselves out of a capacity of planting farther, and therefore we keep the possession.

Secondly, We have a communication from thence with Peru. The great river la Plata rises at the city of that name, and out of the mountain Potosi, in Peru, and a great trade is carried on by that river, and it would be dangerous to let foreigners into the secret of that trade, which they might entirely cut off, especially when they should find how small a number of Spaniards are planted there to preserve it, seeing there are not six hundred Spaniards in all that vast country, which, by the course of that river, is more than one thousand six hundred miles in length.

I confess, said I, these are just grounds for your keeping the possession of that river. They are so, said he, and the more because of so powerful a colony as the Portuguese have in the Brazils, which bound immediately upon it, and who are always encroaching upon it from the land side, and would gladly have a passage up the Rio Parana to the back of their colony.

But here, seignior, says he, the case differs; for we neither take nor keep possession here, neither have we one Spaniard, as I said, in the whole country now before you, and therefore we call this country Coasta Deserta. Not that it is a desert, as that name is generally taken to signify, a barren, sandy, dry country; on the contrary, the infinite prodigious increase of the European black cattle which were brought by the Spaniards to the Buenos Ayres, and suffered to run loose, is a sufficient testimony of the fruitfulness and richness of the soil, their numbers being such, that they kill above twenty thousand in a year for nothing but the hides, which they carry away to Spain, leaving the flesh, though fat and wholesome, to perish on the ground, or be devoured by birds of prey.

And the number is so great, notwithstanding all they destroy, that they are found to wander sometimes in droves of many thousands together over all the vast country between the Rio de la Plata, the city of Ascension, and the frontier of Peru, and even down into this country which you see before us, and up to the very foot of these mountains.