The example, authority and vigilance of such Caciques, caused this town, so lately composed of a barbarous and blood-thirsty rabble, to become a seminary of Christian piety. The strict observance of the marriage ceremony, the remarkable modesty of the youth of both sexes, their prompt obedience, industry, and concord, together with the extreme good-will they manifested towards the priests, excited the admiration of the Spaniards, who had not yet quite forgotten their ancient barbarism. They desired baptism both for themselves, and for their children, as soon as they were born, though formerly, by an error common to all savages, they had considered it mortally dangerous. In the three last days of Lent, after hearing of the agonies of our Saviour, they all felt an eager desire to inflict tortures on themselves. Many cruelly lacerated their bodies, others carried crosses, like supplicants, as they had formerly seen practised by the Spanish penitents in the city of Sta. Fè. Nor could the young lads be restrained from following the example of their elders. Knotted leathern thongs supplied the place of scourges; and when crosses were wanting, they took yokes of oxen, axle-trees of waggons, heavy beams, or any timber at hand, to be applied to the purpose of making them. They seemed to take amazing pleasure in mangling their flesh. One of them, seeing the backs of his companions streaming with blood, cried, "See! how we are changed by the teaching of the Fathers! how unlike we are grown both to our former selves, and to our ancestors! Accustomed from boyhood to shed the blood of others, we now voluntarily shed our own, and most justly. It is right that we punish ourselves for the numerous droves of horses that we have plundered, and slaughters that we have committed." According to the custom of the equestrian savages, the Mocobian mothers used frequently to kill their own offspring. By the extermination of this cruelty in mothers, together with the abolition of polygamy and divorce, the colony was enriched by a numerous progeny, though often diminished by the ravages of the small-pox. Father Francisco Burges, the founder, and for many years the Governor of this colony, was succeeded, or assisted by Miguel Zea, Joseph Cardiel, Joseph Garzia, Bonenti, Manuel Canelas, Joseph Brigniel, Joseph Lehmann, Pedro Pol, and Florian Pauke my successor when I was removed to the Abipones; from whose labours another colony of Christian Mocobios, distinguished by the name of Pedro and Pablo, took its rise. Over this colony presided the Cacique Amokin, who till that time had terribly infested the territories of the Spaniards with his Mocobios. You may have heard of a colony of Mocobios of the name of St. Xavier, situated near the city Esteco in Tucuman, in the last century, and it appears not foreign to my purpose to relate the origin, state, and ruin of it, in this place. A great sedition was stirred up in Tucuman, at that time, by the Indians, and the Spaniards employed all their forces to repress the tumult. The city Esteco seemed doomed to destruction, unless the continual hostilities of the Mocobios were put a stop to. Alfonzo Mercado, Governor of Tucuman, thinking that peace might be more easily obtained without war, sent two Jesuits to pacify the Mocobios, and these legates were able to obtain, by fair words, what those who sent them could never have extorted by the sword. The savages promised peace, and maintained it, whilst Mercado was Governor of Tucuman, but receiving information that he had been succeeded by Angelo de Paredo, they renewed their hostilities. The Governor, to avenge the slaughters they had already committed, and to prevent them from attempting fresh, armed all the forces of the Spaniards, and of the tame Indians, and after twice entering Chaco, took and slew some companies of Mocobios. Although this expedition proved so fortunate, it by no means tended to establish the tranquillity of the province: for the survivors, though less numerous yet with redoubled spirit and courage, dared every thing against the victorious Spaniards, the memory of the slaughter they had suffered exasperating their desire of vengeance, and supplying the place of numbers. Angelo de Paredo, therefore, softened by experience, adopted gentler methods to tranquillize the minds of the Mocobios. By gifts and conciliatory measures, he at length effected so much, that some companies of them, laying aside all enmity, settled in the neighbourhood of Esteco, and bore the appearance of a colony, which went by the name of St. Xavier. And as true religion is a strengthener of peace, and a certain instrument of good works, great pains were taken to induce them to embrace the Catholic religion. Father Diego Altamirano, a Jesuit, descended from a noble Spanish family, together with Father Bartolome Diaz, a native of Paraguay and well skilled in the languages of the Indians, were chosen to instruct these savages, but not permitted to reside amongst them by the provident Governor, who, fearing the ferocity of their disciples, wished to ensure the lives of the missionaries. On this account, they passed the night at Esteco; so that they were obliged to ride eight leagues every day in going and returning; as that city was four leagues distant from the settlements of the savages. Until a chapel could be built there, a very large cross was erected, near which the law of God was daily expounded. The Fathers spared no pains to civilize this nation, but the character which they gained for singular patience was the only reward of their labours: for the Governor, who looked for the harvest, almost before the sowing was finished, destroyed the colony under various pretexts. The Mocobios who inhabited it, together with the other savages whom he had taken in his last expedition into Chaco, he distributed amongst the Tucuman cities in the service of the Spaniards; by which liberality he secured the good-will of the people, and remunerated them for their assistance in the excursions undertaken against Chaco; but the savage tribes, thus torn from their native soil, conceived new hatred of the Spanish name, and have persisted to this very day in revenging the injury done them by the Governor, continuing ever hostile, ever mischievous to the whole province.
It cannot be doubted but that this colony was planted by the Governor in a most inauspicious season; for at the very time that he committed the Mocobios to the religious instructions of the Fathers, he persecuted their countrymen in Chaco with the utmost bitterness; nor was the situation of the colony approved by prudent persons. The city Esteco, which was a few years after destroyed by an earthquake, abounded in public vices proportionable to its wealth and power. The neighbouring Mocobios, who were more powerfully impelled to vice by the example of the licentious and intemperate, than to virtue by the exhortations of the Fathers, thought themselves justified in doing what they saw practised openly and with impunity by the Christian inhabitants of the city. This, amongst others, was the principal reason why the town of St. Xavier, founded in our times, was removed to thirty leagues distance from the city of Sta. Fè, that examples of wickedness, which are never wanting in the most virtuous cities, might not meet the eyes of the Mocobios. The Fathers were obliged to be extremely careful in preventing their Indian disciples from associating promiscuously with other Christians, in many of whom they would discover vices and impurities which they themselves were utterly ignorant of, or regarded with execration: for Spaniards are not the sole inhabitants of Paraguay; a mixed breed of Spaniards, Negroes, and Indians, are commonly to be seen there. Persons of good character, and respectable family, are never denied access to our colonies; on the contrary, they are well received by us, and permitted to lodge in our houses, sit at our tables, and survey any part of the town at their pleasure. But it was ordered by royal enactments that none of the dregs of society should gain admittance into the Indian towns, such being the very men most calculated to pervert or delude the stupid Indians. To keep the town clear of these nuisances, no care and vigilance on the part of the Fathers could be deemed superfluous. Fellows of this description, though perhaps devoid of any evil intent in their coming, seldom depart without the commission of mischief: for they either cajole the Indians out of their clothes, and other property, or corrupt them by indecent jokes and actions, or, as is frequently the case, steal and carry home young men, marriageable girls, and even married women, to serve as domestic slaves, and often for worse purposes. Within two years seventy boys and girls were carried into captivity from the town of St. Stanislaus. The Bishop and Governor, when informed by me of the fact, threatened the raptors with I know not what; but vain was anger without strength, in a province where holy prelates had formerly been cast down by the seditious citizens, and Governors confined in chains and a prison.
The Abipones, on account of their old friendship with the Mocobios, were hospitably received and liberally treated in their visits to the town of St. Xavier. Pleased with the gifts and conversation of the Fathers, they at length began to approve that kind of life which the Mocobios had adopted. Kebachin, a man of high reputation amongst the Abipones, promised to induce his fellow-hordesmen to request colonies for themselves, of the Spaniards. Debayakaikin, chief of the Abiponian Caciques, at length desired to live under our discipline, in the territories of Sta. Fè; but when the Governor of that city pointed out the banks of the river Salado, to build the new colony upon, the Abipones disapproved of that situation, and a business of so much import was consequently suspended: for Ychoalay, who possessed much more penetration than the rest, said that the Spaniards had pitched upon that situation with a design of rendering the Abipones subservient to their will, as they had done with regard to the remainder of the Calchacuis in Carcarañal. The dread of slavery disconcerted these useful measures, to the great disadvantage both of the Spaniards, and of themselves. By what means the whole Abiponian nation was settled in four colonies, remains to be circumstantially related.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE FIRST COLONY OF ST. JERONYMO, FOUNDED FOR THE
ABIPONES RIIKAHÉS.
Cordoba, impatient of war, and now no longer able to contend with her calamities, was eager to behold the Abipones appeased and reconciled. The instrument of attaining this desirable object was Father Diego Horbegozo, a Biscayan. He strongly urged the Abipones who frequented Sta. Fè, and the Vice-Governor Francisco de Vera Muxica, the latter to build, and the former to accept of a colony; and his wishes were gratified in both points. Ychamenraikin, chief Cacique of the Riikahés, besides promising peace to all the Spaniards, agreed to resign himself and his people to the care of the Jesuits, on this condition, that the youth alone should be taught the elements of religion, but that older persons should by no means be compelled to study them. The Vice-Governor readily subscribed to this condition, because he flattered himself that the efforts of the Fathers would induce all ages, indiscriminately, to attend to the truth; and also because he was of opinion, that peace, by which the public tranquillity, and the lives and fortunes of so many mortals were preserved, should be accepted without hesitation on whatever condition it were offered.
The situation of the colony was wisely left to the choice of the Abipones, who pitched upon the northern shore of the river Rey. This place, which is seventy leagues north of Sta. Fè, forms the centre of that territory which these people claim as their own. Here you behold a plain, about two hundred leagues in extent, abounding in good pasture, in wood for fuel and carpenter's work, and in vast numbers of wild animals. The soil is excellent and suitable to seed of every kind. Not a stone nor even a pebble can be met with here, nor any springs, so that the water of this place, being solely procured from the adjacent ditches, is seldom sweet, never clear. Nearly all the smaller rivers within sight are composed of muddy, bitter water, so salt, as to be refused by the very beasts, but which sweetens when increased by violent or continual rains. The same is the case with the Rio Rey, the principal river of the vicinity, which, in dry weather, becomes so shallow that travellers may cross it on foot, but is often swelled to such a degree by the inundations of the Parana, and by unusually heavy rains, that, overflowing its banks, it spreads far and wide, and assumes the appearance of a lake. When the waters recede, they leave a muddy marsh in every part, so that a foot of land can hardly be found, on which you can stand with safety. The Abipones, ever distrusting the friendship of the Spaniards, chose this place to prevent the possibility of being treacherously attacked by them; and they thought that the difficulty of the journey, by keeping off the Spaniards, would prove a guard to themselves. But some years after, when their minds were softened, and their suspicions of Spanish perfidy laid aside, they requested to have this town removed from the northern to the southern shore, where it was placed on a large and pleasant hill. So far concerning the site of this colony. Let us now proceed to other particulars.
Affairs being settled in the city of Sta. Fè, the head of the college, Diego Horbegozo, took a journey to the hordes of the Abipones, for the double purpose of gaining the good-will of the whole nation, and of observing the nature of the place where the town was to be situated. Having informed himself of the intentions of the Abipones, he returned to the city, and procured the sacred utensils for the priests, instruments for agriculture and house-building, and above all, the cattle necessary for the support of the Indians. But those very people, who had promised mountains of gold to avert from their throats the knives of the Abipones, were niggardly, and slow in fulfilling their engagements. The care not only of instructing, but likewise of supporting the Indians, as in other cases, fell solely upon the Fathers, who had perpetually to struggle with the want of all necessaries. For the assistance their prayers extorted from the royal treasury never equalled the necessities of the colony, and the expectations of the savages. Two Jesuits were appointed to take care of the town: Joseph Cardiel, a native of Castile, a man of the greatest intrepidity, and a missionary of various nations; to whom was given as a companion another Castilian, Francisco Navalon, a man of the gentlest disposition, and well fitted for economical cares, so that he rendered infinite services to this town for twenty years.
In the year 1748, the Vice-Governor of Sta. Fè, with two Fathers, and a troop of soldiers, went to the place designed for the colony. A small chapel, a little hut for the Fathers, and another for the chief Cacique, were hastily constructed by the soldiers, of wood and mud, and covered with hay. A heavy shower coming on, it seemed to have rained harder in the apartment of the Fathers, than out of doors; indeed the fabric altogether was such as no labourer or herdsman in Europe would deign to inhabit. The Abipones, assembled in this place, made use of their mats for tents, till, polished by some years' discipline, they constructed rather handsomer edifices, for sacred purposes, for the Fathers, and for themselves. Yet how languidly would these fabrics have been conducted, had they not been aided by the advice and even the personal labour of the Fathers! The court-yard of our house was surrounded with stakes, to guard against the incursions of our savage enemies, and to serve as a place of refuge for the women and children, whilst the men were fighting out of doors. The Abipones Riikahés, under Neruigini and Ychoalay, their chief commanders, constituted this first colony, which scarce consisted of three hundred people. The Caciques Naarè and Kachirikin settled here likewise, with their numerous Yaaukanigas, whilst the people of Corrientes were building them the town of St. Ferdinand. After some months Lichinrain, and then Ychilimin, and Kebachichi, came with their people to the newly built colony, and subsequently more and more flocked thither. The greater number were attracted by the desire of novelty, rather than of religion. The expectation of trifling presents, the beef which was every day gratuitously distributed, and security, were magnets which drew numbers to the colony. By observation, the town of St. Jeronymo is situated in the 28° 50' lat. and the 317° 40' long.
Father Joseph Cardiel being removed to the Mocobios, his place was filled by Father Joseph Brigniel, who had spent eleven years in the Guarany towns, and presided four years over the college at Corrientes. His companion for two years in the town of St. Jeronymo, and his pupil in the Abiponian tongue, I ever beheld in him the utmost industry and good nature, united with equal sanctity of life. He seemed created purposely to suit the tempers of the Abipones, who fly a supercilious person, and are won by easy manners. I told you before of his labours in investigating the nature of the Abiponian tongue, and in writing a vocabulary, grammar, catechism, sermons, &c. You shall now hear how much all the Paraguayrian towns were indebted to him. In order that the benefit of the peace granted by the Abipones to the city of Sta. Fè might be extended to all Paraguay, he contrived to have the chief Caciques of the whole nation convened in the town of St. Jeronymo. Each of the Caciques was accompanied by a chosen troop of his own horse, figures terrible to behold. Whether the peace faithfully offered by all the Spaniards should be accepted, and whether peace should be granted unreservedly to all the Spaniards, by the whole Abiponian nation, these were the subjects of deliberation in that savage conclave. At first, there was a great diversity of opinions. Many inclined towards according their friendship to the inhabitants of Sta. Fè, Cordoba, and St. Iago, to the exclusion of the Corrientines and Paraguayrians, denying the expediency of a universal peace which should embrace all the Spaniards. "Such a cessation," said they, "will cause the use of arms, and our ancient boast of military glory, to decay amongst us. Inactivity will destroy the love of war implanted in the youth of our nation. Grown effeminate like the pedestrian Indians, we shall be subjugated by the Spaniards, as soon as we cease to be formidable to them. War with one Spanish province at least is necessary to us, that we may still enjoy the opportunity of plundering those things of which we have need for daily use. We shall get more from the Spaniards as their enemies, than as their friends. It is better to be feared than loved by them; and who can promise himself their love unmingled with secret hatred, and desire of revenge, when he calls to mind, how sorely we have persecuted this province for so many years? The conquered seldom love their conquerors."
On the other hand, Ychoalay strongly advised that the peace should be extended to all the Spanish towns. "I maintain," says he, "that the friendship offered us by all the Spaniards, should not only be granted to them all in return, but eagerly embraced as a benefit. Are you apprehensive that the military spirit of your countrymen will be extinguished, or that your arms will contract rust for want of use? Are there not lions, tigers, stags, emus, and all the feathery and scaly tribes against which to direct your weapons? If you feel such ardour for fighting, turn your arms and your anger against the Yapitalákas, Oaékakalóts, Ychibachís, and other people with whom we are at variance. Does the recollection of former victories, and rash confidence in future ones, inspire you with such pride, that you scorn to receive all the Spaniards into your friendship? I allow that we have inflicted slaughters upon them; but will you always have the power, as you now have the inclination, to forget slaughters of their committing? The vicissitudes we have experienced sufficiently warn us not to trust too much to the changeful fortune of war. Indeed I ever thought a certain peace with all the Spaniards much safer and better than the uncertain victories which you expect to gain from them. How pleasant to be able to enjoy undisturbed slumbers, without fear of the Spaniards, on whose approach we have passed so many sleepless nights! How many days have we endured hunger! How many lakes and rivers have we swam in our flight, to find lurking-holes in distant woods, where we might preserve our lives! Ah! I feel both sorrow and shame in the remembrance of our terrors! But does the hope of booty prevent you from promising a universal peace? For my part, I fear that if we frowardly persist in war, we shall ourselves fall a prey to the Spaniards, like the Calchacuis, who were much more numerous than we, and, with your leave be it spoken, more warlike. Think on it again and again, lest, if you now refuse the friendship of the Spaniards, their enmity may prove fatal to our whole nation, and give you cause to repent when it is too late."