In this state of things, Don Juan de la Piedra, who it has already been stated was originally sent from Spain to take command of the establishments in Patagonia, and who had never ceased to remonstrate against the act of the Viceroy, which deprived him of that command, was reinstated by orders from the government at home; and proceeded in consequence to the Rio Negro, to resume his functions as principal Superintendent (1785); over-anxious, perhaps, after what had passed, to distinguish himself, instead of making any attempt to conciliate the Indians, he boastingly took the field, and advanced into their lands to attack them, with a force totally inadequate to the purpose: the consequence was, that he was surrounded and totally defeated. He himself perished miserably, and several officers fell into the hands of the savages: happily for them, some relations of the victors were at the same time in the power of the Viceroy, and the hope of recovering them by exchange, induced the savages for once to save the lives of their prisoners.
Amongst them was Don Leon Ortiz de Rosas, father of the present Governor of Buenos Ayres, then a Captain in the King's service, who turned his captivity to such good account, that he not only succeeded in an extraordinary degree in conciliating the respect and good will of the principal Caciques, but finally brought about a peace between them and the Viceroy, which lasted many years, and deservedly established the celebrity of the name of Rosas throughout the pampas.
The Spanish government for a short time took some interest in the establishment on the Negro:—upwards of 700 settlers were sent there from Gallicia, and large sums were spent upon it; but the expectations formed of its importance were not realized. The colonists remained satisfied to carry on a petty traffic with the Indians for skins, instead of launching out upon the more adventurous speculation of the fisheries upon the coast, and the authorities at Buenos Ayres, finding them more expensive than useful, became indifferent about them, and allowed them to sink into the insignificance of a remote and unprofitable colony.
Thus, in 1825, when the war between Buenos Ayres and Brazil broke out, there were hardly 800 inhabitants. The blockade of the river Plate made it then a resort for the privateers of the Republic, and once more brought it into notice. A small coasting trade is now carried on with it, and many seal-skins are collected there to be sent to Buenos Ayres, as well as those of the guanaco, hare, skunk, and other animals, brought in by the Indians from the deserts further south: it has of late years also furnished occasional supplies of salt for the Saladeros of Buenos Ayres.
Had the government of Buenos Ayres been able to exercise any efficient superintendence over the adjoining coast, the fishery of seals, and seal elephants, might have become of importance; but in the absence of all control, the unrestrained and indiscriminate slaughter of the young as well as of the old animals has driven them from their former haunts further south, where they are still found by the English and North American fishermen, who know their rookeries, as they are called; and in the proper season, take them in great numbers.
The Governor of Carmen is an officer appointed from Buenos Ayres, to the Junta of which province the inhabitants name a representative.
FOOTNOTES:
[19] In a subsequent report of Viedma's, he says that, when the first accounts of San Joseph's were brought to Monte Video, a merchant of that place, Don Francisco de Medina, fitted out a vessel to go a whaling there, the crew of which, in the first month, harpooned no less than fifty fish within the port.