Having seen and approved of the opinion of the monks, the clergy, and the captains, the governor gave orders to equip and make ready the ten brigantines which had been built for the service of His Majesty. He bade the Guaranís supply provisions for the voyage, the fire having destroyed the stores of the Spaniards, and he expended on these preparations his own resources, paying the Indians for the provisions they brought, besides giving them many presents. This he did so as not to delay matters till the next harvest. In order that everything might be prepared with the utmost speed, he sent Captain Gonzalo de Mendoza with three brigantines up the river Paraguai to the lands and villages of the friendly Indians, vassals of His Majesty, to load these vessels there, ordering him to pay for everything, and treat the natives in a kindly way, satisfying them with presents, of which he took a large number, and he charged him to keep a watch and see that the interpreters dealt fairly by the Indians, abstaining from doing them any wrong or compulsion, under threat of punishment. Those were his orders.
[CHAPTER THE FORTIETH.]
What Gonzalo de Mendoza wrote.
A FEW days after Gonzalo de Mendoza had set out with the three brigantines he wrote and informed the governor of his arrival at the port of Giguy,[336] and of his having sent into the interior to those villages where provisions were obtainable, and that many Indian chiefs had been to visit him, and had begun bringing in provisions; that the interpreters had fled from the natives and taken refuge in the brigantines, because an attempt to kill them had been made by the friends and relatives of an Indian who was in revolt and was raising the country against the Christians and against our Indian allies, advising them not to give us provisions, and that many Indian chiefs had come to beg for assistance and help to protect their tribes against two chiefs named Guaçani and Atabare,[337] who with all their relatives and friends were making war upon them with fire and sword, burning their settlements and ravaging their lands, threatening to kill them and destroy them utterly if they would not unite to drive out the Christians. He (Gonzalo de Mendoza) was temporising and parleying with these people till he knew what measures it would be expedient to adopt, and meanwhile the Indians had brought no provisions, because the enemy had blocked the roads, and his Spaniards were starving.
[336] This river is the Jejuy.
[337] Tabaré; cf. supra, p. [38].
Having read Gonzalo de Mendoza’s letter, the governor assembled the monks, clergy, officers, and captains, and caused it to be read to them. He then asked them to give their opinion as to what they thought expedient to be done in that emergency, having regard to the king’s instructions, which were also read to them; and they answered, that since the Indians were making war against the Christians and His Majesty’s vassals, their opinion was (and it was recorded in writing and signed with their names) that he should march against them, and, after demanding peace, should exhort them to give in their submission; failing which, and after repeating his request twice, thrice, or as often as was deemed necessary, and warning them that they would be held responsible for any evil consequences that might ensue, that then war should be waged against them as enemies, for the defence and protection of the friendly natives.
A few days after the above occurrences, the said Captain Gonzalo de Mendoza wrote again to the governor, informing him how the Indian chiefs Guaçani and Atabare were making a cruel war against the friendly natives, over-running their land, slaying and robbing them, as far as the port where the Christians were collecting provisions, and that the Indian allies were much harassed, and were daily beseeching him (Gonzalo de Mendoza) for aid, and saying that if he did not soon help them, all the Indians would rise in revolt, reminding him, too, of the cruel losses such a war entailed upon them.