Colonia del Sacramento, in 34° 22' south latitude, and 57° 52' west longitude, was formerly a place of some importance, as, the small tract of country surrounding it, which is thirty-three miles north-east of Buenos Ayres on the opposite bank of the La Plata, having been colonized by the Portuguese, in 1678, they built a city on it. It was taken from them in 1684, they however recovered it, but were again driven out in 1704, and it was not restored till the peace. In 1706, it was besieged a third time by the Spaniards, with 800 troops and 1500 Indians by land, and with four vessels by sea, but they could make no impression, so strongly was it fortified. It was however taken in 1762, but restored at the subsequent peace; the Spaniards still viewing it with a jealous eye, took it for the last time in 1777, when they destroyed the city and fortifications. Its only importance, at present, consists in its having a tolerable harbour or bay, formed by the river, and it is said, that the Portuguese have again recently occupied it.
The above are the principal towns of this extended government, which contains many others, most of them are however either missionary or military stations; the former abounding on the banks of the Parana and Uraguay, while the latter are chiefly on the north-west, towards the Llanos de Manso and Tucuman, and on the east towards the Portuguese frontier.
The provinces of this government have not been enumerated, they are little known, and many of them are only divisions of the missions, such as Guarania, which extends along the south shores of the Parana, and contains about thirty villages of the Guaranis Indians. On the south-east of Buenos Ayres, the country is named Tuyu; it however contains no Spanish settlements of any importance, and seems to be a tract crossed by a chain of mountains, which divide it from the coast of the Atlantic; much has been written concerning the Abipons, who occupy the north-west corner of this government; they appear to be a tribe consisting of about 5000 souls, who are of a very warlike disposition, frequently disturbing the settlements. Their language is distinct from that of the neighbouring nations, and they exist by the chase, preferring the flesh of the jaguar or American tiger to any other animal, and retire to the islands and high trees, when the annual inundations commence in their country. The Patagonians on the southern frontier have also excited much curiosity; but it seems to be proved beyond a doubt, that they are merely a race of Indians of a stature rather above the middling size, and that they do not differ in their general habits from their neighbours.
The limits of this work will not permit any farther description of the Indian nations who inhabit and surround Buenos Ayres. Of many of them, the Spanish settlers know nothing more than the names, and of the rest, it is observed, that the more the settlements spread, the less the Aborigines are seen, and the thinner their numbers become; most probably owing to the new diseases they acquire, and the more wandering and uncertain life they are obliged to lead; not so the Indians who settle in the missions, their life becoming one of peace and tranquillity, their wants being supplied by their own labour, and not being constantly exposed to the burning sun or chilling rains of the southern regions, their numbers continually increase; and though the Spaniards formerly used very harsh methods, to convert them either to their faith or their profit, it cannot be denied, that they have within the last century, wiped that blot from the historic page, and with a few exceptions, have conduced very materially to the welfare of a race, remarkable for their general inaptitude and unwillingness to assist in bettering their own condition.
Having therefore detailed every subject concerning the extensive governments of the viceroyalty of La Plata, which has been deemed interesting or novel, with the exception only of particular descriptions of the animals which are peculiar to it, and to the other southern regions of America, it now remains for us, only to treat of the last great political division of the Spanish colonies in that country, and in so doing, we shall give a more extended account of some of the most singular zoological objects; as they are equally common to the territory about to be treated of, as to Buenos Ayres.
The kingdom of Chili will therefore now engage our attention.
[CAPTAIN GENERALSHIP OF CHILI.]
The kingdom of Chili or Chilé is the last and most southerly of the governments which compose the empire of Spanish America.