The number of religious communities, both male and female, in Buenos Ayres, adds to the originality of its character.
Bougainville says, "The year is full of Saint days, which are celebrated by processions and fireworks. Religious ceremonies supply the place of theatres. The Jesuits incite the women to greater austerity in their piety than any other order. Attached to their convent they have an institution intitled, Casa de los egericios de las mugeres, that is, 'house for the devotion of women.' Women and girls, without the permission of husbands or fathers, enter the retreat for twelve days, to increase their sanctity."
They were lodged and boarded at the expense of the company. No man ever set foot in this sanctuary unless in the cowl of St. Ignatius. Servants even of the female sex were not allowed to accompany their mistresses. The devotional services consisted of meditation, prayer, catechizings, confession, and flagellation. "We were shown the stains on the walls of the chapel, made by the blood which flowed under the hands of these Magdalens as they did penance."
The environs of the town were well cultivated and brightened by a large number of country houses named "quentas," but scarcely two or at most three leagues from Buenos Ayres were immense plains, with scarcely a single undulation, given up to bulls and horses, which are almost the only inhabitants. Bougainville says,—
"These animals were so abundant, that travellers, when they needed food, would kill a bull, consume what they could eat, and leave the rest to be devoured by wild dogs and tigers."
The Spaniards had not yet succeeded in subduing the Indian tribes on the two shores of the La Plata River. They were called "Indios bravos."
"They are of medium height, very ugly, and almost all infected with the itch. Their complexions are very dark, and the grease with which they perpetually rub themselves, makes them even blacker. Their sole garment is the skin of the roe-buck, which reaches to the heels, and in which they wrap themselves.
"These Indians pass their lives on horseback, at least near the Spanish settlement. They occasionally come there with their wives to buy eau de cologne, and they never cease drinking until drunkenness literally deprives them of the power to move. Sometimes they assemble in droves of two or three hundred to carry off the cattle from the Spanish lands, or to attack the caravans of travellers.
"They pillaged, massacred, and carried off slaves. It was an evil without remedy. How was it possible to subdue a wandering nation in a vast and uncultivated country where it was difficult even to meet with them?
"Commerce was far from flourishing, as no European merchandise was allowed to pass by land to Peru or Chili."