The Jesuits made several attempts to colonise Chaco, but did not succeed, and little is known concerning its products or features.
The adjoining government to Los Charcas, which has now been described as fully as the nature of the work would admit, is,—
THE GOVERNMENT OF PARAGUAY.
Paraguay is a very extensive government of Buenos Ayres, which is bounded by Chiquitos, Chacos, and Tucuman on the north-west and west; on the north it extends to Lake Xarayes; north-east and east it bounds the Portuguese territories; and south-east and south it is limited by the Parana, which separates it from the missions of Guayra in Buenos Ayres, its jurisdiction ending in the south of the city of Asuncion, in 26° 48' south latitude, and it is divided from Tucuman, or the Llanos de Manso, by the river Paraguay.
HISTORY, DISCOVERY, &c.
The history of this province commences with its discovery by Sebastian Cabot, in 1526, who sailed up the Parana. This navigator was the son of a Venetian pilot, who was much employed in England, and by some accounts is said to have been born at Bristol, in 1477, and having been brought up to the same profession, went with his father, John Cabot, to the discovery of Newfoundland, and from thence to Florida. They had the honour of being the first navigators who saw the continent of America, Columbus not having discovered it till a year afterwards. Sebastian, after this voyage, made another to Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, in the service of Henry VII. of England, and reached the coast of Brazil, but was hindered from exploring it by the timidity of his coadjutor Sir Thomas Pert.
Owing to some opposition on his return to England, he went to Spain, and offered his service to the king; his request was graciously attended to, and on account of his great skill, he was appointed pilot-major of the kingdom, an office of great honour in those days. In 1524, the Spanish merchants entered into a treaty with Cabot, to command an expedition to the Moluccas, which was to pass through the newly-discovered streights of Magalhaens. He undertook this voyage, and proceeded to the coast of Brazil, coasting it southward from the bay of Todos los Santos, till he arrived at the river La Plata, where he landed three of his chief officers, who had mutinied, on a desert island, and being unable, from want of provisions and the bad behaviour of his crew, to proceed farther to the south, he sailed thirty leagues up the river, and discovered an island, which he called San Gabriel; three leagues higher up he saw a large river, and named it San Salvador; here he landed his people, and built a fort, from which advancing in his boats he discovered another river, thirty leagues distant, called Zarcacana by the natives, on the banks of which he constructed another fort, and named it Santi Spiritûs.
He afterwards explored the river Parana, and sailing up it entered the Paraguay, where he found the natives tilling the ground. These people opposed his landing and in a skirmish with them he lost twenty-five men who were killed and three who were taken prisoners. Cabot wintered, however, in this country, and was joined by another adventurer, Jayme Garcia, who had been sent from Europe to explore the river, and returning together to the fort Santi Spiritûs, they dispatched a vessel with an account of their discoveries to Spain.
So long were the ministry in sending the necessary supplies to Cabot, that, tired of waiting, he returned to Spain, after an absence of five years, in the year 1531: but not being well received at court, he continued a few years in the Spanish service, and returned to England in the latter end of the reign of Henry VIII. In the following reign he was made grand pilot of England, with a pension of 166l. 13s. 4d. per annum; a sum in those times equal to 1000l. at present.
During the reign of Edward, and that of Philip and Mary, many privileges were granted to Cabot; he was made governor of the Russian company, and had the management of the expedition which sailed under Sir Hugh Willoughby to the North Seas.