the Riodellaplata. They are wonderful warriors on land. Their villages
or towns are situate on hills upon the river Paraboe[87]; formerly their
city was called Lambere.[88]
[87] Paraguai.
[88] Lambaré.
Their town is made with two wooden palisades, each piece of timber being
the thickness of a man. And one palisade is separated from the other by
a space of twelve feet; the posts are driven down into the earth, six
feet deep, and are above the earth nearly as high as one may reach with
a sword.
They have also their forts. And at a distance of fifteen feet from this
town wall they made pits as deep as the height of three men, one over
the other, and put into them (but not above ground) lances of hard wood,
with points like that of a needle; and they covered these pits with
straw and small gravel, strewing a little earth and grass between, to
the intent that when we Christians pursued them, or assaulted their
town, we should have fallen blindly into these pitfalls. But at length
they digged so many pits that they themselves fell into them.
For when our chief captain Johann Eijollas[89] commanded all our people,
except sixty men who were left in the Parchkadienes[90] to guard them,
and marched them in good order against their town Lambere, the Carios
descried our approach at a gunshot distance, and they numbered forty
thousand men armed with bows and arquebuses, and they begged us to go
back to our Parchkadienes; if we did so, they would provide us with
victuals and other necessaries, but if not they would act as our
enemies. But it did not suit us nor our chief captain to do this, for
the country and the people pleased us very well, as did also their food,
for we had not seen nor eaten better bread during the last four years,
fish and meat having been our only sustenance.
[89] Juan de Ayolas.
[90] Brigantines.
So the Carios took their bows and guns and received us therewith, and
told us that we were welcome, but we refused to do them any harm. On the
contrary, we told them for the third time to keep the peace, and that
we wished to be their friends. But they did not take any notice of our
words, because they had not yet tried our bows and guns. And when we
came near them we fired at them, so that they heard it, and saw their
people fall to the ground, although they saw not any bullet or arrow
or aught else but a hole in their body; and they wondered and were
frightened, and soon all took to flight, and fell one upon another like
dogs. So they hastened to shelter themselves in their town, after two
hundred of them had fallen into the above-mentioned pits.
Afterwards we Christians came to their town and assaulted it, but they
resisted as well as they could for three days. Not being able to hold
out any longer, and fearing besides for their wives and children whom
they had with them in the town, they prayed for mercy, promising that
they would do anything for us if only we would spare their lives. Also
they gave to our commander, Johann Eijollas, six women, the eldest of
whom was only eighteen years old.
They also gave him six deer and other wild beasts, and besought us to
remain with them, and they gave to every soldier two women to wait on
him, and to wash and cook for him. Besides which they gave us food and
all the necessaries of life; so that peace was then concluded between us
and our enemies.
After that the Carios were compelled to build us a great house of stone,
earth, and wood, in order that if in the meanwhile they were to revolt
against us we Christians might have a place of refuge in which to defend
ourselves.
We took this town on the feast of the Assumption, in the year 1539, and
therefore it is called Noster Signora desumsion.[91]
[91] Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion. Schmidt's chronology is often
mistaken. Lambaré, with its population, was taken by Juan de Ayolas on
the 15th of August 1536. Asuncion was founded in the following year by
Juan de Salazar.
In this skirmish sixteen men fell on our side, and we abode there two
months. These Carios are distant from the Aygais[92] thirty miles,
and from the island Bone Speranso, _i.e._, Good Hope, where the
Thijembus[93] live, about three hundred and fifty-five miles.[94]
[92] Agazes.
[93] Timbus.
[94] Buena Esperanza was situated about lat. S. 32° 33′; Asuncion is
in 25° 17′.
And so we made a covenant with the Carios, they agreeing and promising
to make war along with us, and to aid us with eight thousand men against
the Aygais.
After our chief captain had decided all this, he took three hundred
Spaniards and these Carios, and went down the river, and afterwards by
land for thirty miles, to a place where the aforesaid Aygais live, of
whom and of their treatment of us we have spoken.
We found them at the same place where we had left them, and we fell upon
them by surprise in their houses while they were asleep, between three
and four o'clock in the morning, for the Carios had sought them out and
watched them, and we killed everybody, young and old, for it is the
custom of the Carios, when they make war and are victorious, to kill all
without any mercy or pity whatsoever.
We took also more than five hundred canoes or skiffs, and we burnt down
all the villages we found, and wrought very much damage besides. Four
months afterwards, some Aygais[95], who had not taken part in this
skirmish, because they were not then at home, came and asked for mercy,
and our commander was obliged to grant it them by order of H. I.
Majesty, who gave orders to pardon every Indian up to the third time,
but if one of them brake the peace for the third time he should become
a prisoner for life or a slave.
[95] Agazes.
After that we continued for six months in this town, Noster Signora
Desumsion, in German "Unser Frawen Himmelfahrt", and had a good rest.
Then our commander Johann Eijollas[96] inquired of the Carios about a
people called Peijembas,[97] and they answered: it was from this town
Desumsion to the Peijembas[97] one hundred miles distance up the river
Parabol.[98]
[96] Juan de Ayolas.
[97] Payaguás.
[98] Paraguai.
Our commander then asked the Carios how the Peijembas[97] lived, and
what provisions they had, and from what they abstained; also what kind
of people they were, and of their habits. Their answer was, that the
Peijembas[99] had nothing else but fish and meat, and also St. John's
bread and fenugreek.[100] From this fenugreek they make flour which they
eat with their fish; they also make wine of it, and this wine is as
sweet as mead in Germany.
[99] Payaguás, _vide supra_, p. 15.
[100] Algarroba.
Our chief captain Johann Eijollas having heard all this from the Carios,
ordered them to load five ships with provisions of Turkish corn and
other things which were in the country; this had to be done in two
months' time, and by that time he and his men would also equip
themselves, and in the first place go to the Peijembas,[99] and
afterwards to a people called Carch Karaisch, and the Carios promised
to be always obedient, and to fulfil in all particulars the captain's
orders.
All things having now been arranged, and the ships provided with
victual, our commander ordered all the people to assemble, and out of
the four hundred men, took three hundred well armed; and the remaining
one hundred were left in the aforesaid town Vardellesse,[101] _i.e._
Noster Signora Desumsion, where the said Carios live. And then we went
up the river and found at a distance of five miles from these Carios a
village on the river Paraboe. The people here brought to us Christians,
victual, in the shape of fish, meat, hens, geese, Indian sheep, and
ostriches.
[101] _Vardellesse_ must be a Germanized form of the Spanish word
_Fortaleza_ (fortress).
Coming at last near a village of the Carios, which is called
Weybingen,[102] and is at a distance of eighty miles from Noster Signora
Desumsion, we took from them victual and other things which we could
obtain from them.
[102] There is no village of that name in Paraguai.
From there we came to a mountain called S. Fernando, which resembles
the Bagenberg; there we found the said Peijembas, who are at twelve
miles distance from Weybingen, and they met us peaceably, and received
us with false hearts, as we shall see hereafter.
They took us into their houses and gave us fish and meat and also
fenugreek, and so we abode there for nine days.
Then our commander sent to ask their chief if they knew a folk named
Carchkareisso.[103] He replied that they knew nothing indeed of such a
people but what they had heard of them by report, and that they dwelt
far away in the country, and that they had much gold and silver, but
that they (the Peijembas) had never seen any of them.
[103] Guaycurús.
They also told us that these Carchkareisso[103] were wise men, like as
we Christians are, and that they had plenty of victuals, such as Turkish
corn, manioc, manduis, padades, wachekew, mandeochparpü, mandeochade,
mandepare,[104] etc., and several other roots, the flesh of Indian sheep
called amne,[105] an animal resembling a donkey, but that it has feet
like kine and a thick and coarse skin, and that they had plenty also of
deer, rabbits, geese, and hens; but that none of the Peijembas[106] as
has been said, had ever seen all this, but only knew it by report of
others. But we found afterwards how things were situated.
[104] Manduvis, potatoes, papas, etc.
[105] Anta, or tapir.
[106] Payaguás.
Having learned all this, our chief commander required to have some
Peijembas to go with him into that country, whereupon they readily
offered themselves, and presently their chief appointed three hundred
Peijembas to accompany us to carry our victual and other necessaries.
Our commander ordered these people to prepare themselves, for he would
be starting in four days, and of the five ships he ordered three to
sail, and on the other two he left fifty men of us Christians, whom
he ordered to wait there during his five months' absence, and that if
within that space of time he returned not unto us, that we should go
back with these two vessels to Noster Signora Desumsion. But it so
happened that we abode among these Peijembas for six months, and never
heard anything in the meanwhile of our commander Johann Eijolla,[107]
and we grew short of victual, so that we were compelled to return with
our temporary commander Martin Domingo Eijolla[108] to the town Signora,
according to the orders of our chief commander.
[107] Juan de Ayolas.
[108] Domingo Martinez de Irala.
How our chief commander Johann Eijollas made his voyage shall be
presently recorded.
First, when he departed from the Peijembas,[109] he came to a folk named
Naperus,[110] who are on friendly terms with the Peijembas; they have
nothing but fish and flesh, and are a people of considerable numbers.
Our commander took with him some of these Naperus to show him the way,
for they were to pass through divers countries, and many nations,
with great difficulty and penury of all things, and meet with much
resistance; so much so that nearly one-half of the Christians died
during this voyage. Finally, when he had come to a people called the
Peijssennas,[111] he could not go any further, but was compelled to turn
back again with all his people except three sick Spaniards, whom he left
among the Peijssennas.
[109] This word Peiembas is not Guaraní. It must be the _Payaguás_,
one of the tribes occupying the right bank of the river Paraguay, to
which Schmidt refers here, or perhaps the _Mbaiàs_, the tribe adjacent
to them.
[110] Yaperús, a tribe of the Payaguás.
[111] The Peyssennas are the same as the Peiembas. I believe the
author is referring to the Payaguás.
Our chief commander therefore, Johann Eijollas being _salvo mendo_,
_i.e._ in good health, had come back with his men to the Naperus, where
he stayed until the third day, because the men were faint and overtired
with the journey, and because they had no further supplies.
But the Naperus, understanding this, resolved with the Peijembas, and
made an agreement with them to the effect, that they would kill and
make away with the chief commander Johann Eijollas and all his men, and
they did so afterwards, for when Johann Eijollas was going with his
Christians from the Naperus to the Peijembas, and had gone about
half-way, they were attacked unawares, and with loud cries by the
Naperus and their allies the Peijembas, who fell upon them like mad
dogs, as they were passing through a forest; and they were mercilessly
and miserably slaughtered, sick and faint Christians as they were,
including their commander Johann Eijollas,[112] so that not one of them
escaped. God have mercy on their souls!
[112] Juan de Ayolas.
Now as we fifty men had gone to the town Noster Signora Desumsion, and
were waiting there for our commander Johann Eijollas and our soldiers,
to know how things had gone, we heard tidings from an Indian who had
been a slave to the late Johann Eijollas, and had been brought by him
from the Peijssennas, and who had escaped because of his knowledge
of the language. But although this man told us minutely all that had
happened from beginning to end, we would not believe him.
And having remained during a whole year in the above-named town, Noster
Signora, we were unable to gather any certain information as to how it
had fared with our soldiers; only the Carios told our commander Martin
Domingo Eijolla[113] that the general report was, that our Christians
had all perished at the hands of the Peijembas.[114] But we would not
yet believe it until we should hear from a Peijemba himself that it
was true. After two months the Carios brought to our commander, Martin
Domingo Eijolla, two Peijembas whom they had taken captive. These
Peijembas being asked if they had really slain them all, denied it most
emphatically, and said that our chief commander and his men were not yet
gone away from their land.
[113] Domingo Martinez de Irala.
[114] Payaguás. These were the Indians who killed Juan de Ayolas
and all his people, according to Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca in his
_Comentarios_, _infra_, and Ruy Diaz de Guzman in _La Argentina_; also
Herrera, _Década_, v, libro 7, capitulo 5.
Our commander then obtained permission from the judge and the
provost-marshal that the two prisoners should be put to the torture
in order that they might tell the truth; and by his order they were
tormented in such a manner that they were compelled to confess that they
had killed the Christians and their chief.
In consequence thereof our commander Martin Domingo Eijolla had them
judged, and ordered the two Peijembas to be tied to a tree around which
a great fire was made in order to burn them.
Meanwhile it seemed good to us Christians to elect Martin Domingo
Eijolla for our chief commander (especially because he had behaved so
well against the war-people), until H. I. Majesty should give further
orders.
Then Martin Eijolla ordered to prepare four parchkadienes,[115] and
taking one hundred and fifty soldiers, the others being left in the
aforesaid town of Noster Signora, he gave us to understand that he would
gather together the other people who had been left among the Peijembas
for reasons before mentioned,[116] and the one hundred and sixty
Spaniards left at Bonas Aeieres[117] in the two ships, and bring them
to the town Noster Signora Desumsion. Then he, Martin Domingo Eijolla,
departed with these four brigantines down the rivers Parabol and
Paranon.[118]
[115] Brigantines.
[116] On account of sickness, _cf. ante_, p. 26.
[117] Buenos Ayres.
[118] Paraguai and Parana.
Now before we came to the Thijembas,[119] it was resolved by the
Christians who waited there for us, namely, by a captain named
Franciscus Ruis, and Johann Paban, a priest, and a secretary named
Johann Ernandus,[120] governors of the Christians, that they would kill
the chief of the Thijembus, and certain other Indians, and they verily
performed this impious and mischievous deed, and put from life to death
the Indians who had rendered them for so long a time so many services
before we came down there with Martin Domingo Eijolla.
[119] Timbus.
[120] These names are Francisco Ruiz Galan, Juan Pavon and Juan
Hernandez; Juan Pavon was not a clergyman, but an alcalde.
And when we arrived at these Thijembus and Christians, our commander
was alarmed at this murder and at the flight of the Thijembus.[119] But
he could do nothing, and therefore he left victuals in the castle of
Corpus Christi, also our twenty men, with a commander named Antonius
Manchossa,[121] and gave strict orders that he should not trust the
Indians in any way, but that he should keep strict watch by day and
by night, and if it happened that the Indians should come back and be
friendly with him, that he should deal courteously with them, and give
them all tokens of friendship, yet to be on his guard and beware lest
any misfortune should happen to them or to other Christians.
[121] Antonio de Mendoza.
Now our commander, Martin Domingo Eijolla,[122] took down with him those
three persons who were the authors of the manslaughter, namely Francisco
Ruis, the priest Johann Paban, and Ernandus, the secretary. And when
they were about to take their journey and depart from us, a chief
of the Thijembus, named Zeicho Lijemii,[123] came; this one was the
Christians' friend, who showed good-will towards them, but from a false
and treacherous heart (as will be seen hereafter) said falsely that he
must pretend to be on good terms with the Indians, for the sake of wife,
children, and friends. And he engaged with our commander to take all the
Christians with him down the river, because the whole country was up
in arms against them to kill them or drive them out. To whom our chief
commander, Martin Domingo Eijolla answered, that he would soon be back,
that his people were strong enough to resist the Indians, and added,
that he, Zeiche Lijemii should come over to the Christians, with wife,
children, and friends, and with all his folk; and Zeiche Lijemii replied
that he would do so.
[122] Domingo Martinez de Irala.
[123] This is not a Guaraní name; it is undoubtedly an error on the
part of the author.
Then our chief commander sailed down the river, leaving us at Corpus
Christi. About eight days afterwards, the aforesaid Indian Zeicho
Lijemii sent one of his brothers, named Suelapa,[124] treacherously, and
requested our commander, Antonius Manchossa, to place at his disposal
six Christians armed with guns and other weapons, for he wished to bring
his household with his family to us, and henceforth live among us, and
he remarked withal that he feared the Thijembus, and that without such
help, he could scarcely hope to bring his things out in safety. He
showed himself in such a way as though he would bring us victual and all
sorts of necessaries, but that was all knavery and deception.
[124] Not a Guaraní name.
Our commander not only promised him six men, but gave him fifty well
armed Spaniards, and ordered these fifty men to be watchful and on their
guard, in order that they might not suffer any harm at the hands of the
Indians.
It was not more than half a mile distance from us Christians to
these Thijembus, and when our fifty men came to their settlement, the
Thijembus came out to them, and gave them a Judas kiss, and brought them
fish and meat to eat.
Now when the Christians began to fall to their meat, these Thijembus,
with their allies who were hidden in the houses and in the fields,
suddenly fell upon them, and so consecrated the banquet with them, that
not a man of them escaped alive, but one lad called Kalderon.[125] God
be merciful to them and to us all. Amen.
[125] Calderon.
Afterwards they set upon us with ten thousand men or more, and besieged
us, and thought they would vanquish us, but that did not happen, God
be praised! although they stayed fourteen days before our place, and
attacked us day and night.
They had this time long spears or javelins, which they had learnt how
to make from the Christians, with which they drave at us and defended
themselves.
And it happened on that same day that the Indians attacked us by night
with all their force, and burnt down our houses, that our commander,
Antonius Manchossa,[126] armed with a two-handed sword ran out of a gate
near which some Indians lay in ambush so that they could not be seen;
and the Indians thrust him through with their spears, so that he
presently fell down dead without uttering a word. God's mercy be with
him! Now the Indians could not remain any longer because they had
nothing to eat, so they broke up half their camp and departed.
[126] Antonio de Mendoza.
After this two brigantines laden with provisions and other necessaries
came to us from Bonas Aeieres[127] sent by our commander, Martin Domingo
Eijolla,[128] in order that we might maintain ourselves where we were
until the said commander's arrival, which cheered us very much indeed.
But those who came with the two ships were very sorrowful for the
Christians that were slain. We therefore determined by a common council,
and found it best to abide no longer in the village of Corpus Christi
near these Thijembus, but we went all of us down the river and came to
Bonas Aeieres to our commander, Martin Domingo Eijolla. He was much
shocked and very angry about the slaughter of the people, and doubtful
how to consult what he should first do, seeing that victual and other
necessary things failed us.
[127] Buenos Ayres.
[128] Domingo Martinez de Irala.
But after we had stayed for five days at Bonas Aeieres, a ship called a
_Carabelle_,[129] came from Spain, and brought us fresh tidings to wit,
that a ship had arrived at St. Catharina, whose captain was called
Albernunzo Gabrero,[130] and he had brought with him two hundred
soldiers from Spain.
[129] Caravela.
[130] Alonso Cabrera.
As soon as our commander had heard these tidings, he ordered one of the
two lesser ships, which was called a galleon, to be made ready; and sent
it along with the first to Sta. Catharina in Priesiell,[131] which is
thirty miles[132] from Bonas Aeieres, and appointed for it a commander
named Conssaillo Manchossa,[133] to govern the ship, and he charged him,
when he arrived with his ship at St. Catherina in Priesiell, to load
her with provisions, namely rice, manioc, and other things as he should
think fit.
[131] Brazil.
[132] From Buenos Ayres to the Island of Santa Catalina there are
600 miles. Santa Catalina did not then belong to Brazil, but to the
Gobernacion del Rio de la Plata (Government of the River Plate),
belonging to the Spanish Crown. Schmidt could not have been ignorant
of this, since he had been there with the expedition of Don Pedro de
Mendoza.
[133] Gonzalo Mendoza.
This commander, Conssaillo Manchossa, asked Martin Domingo Eijolla for
six trusty soldiers, whom he could rely upon; and they were promised
him. So he took me and six Spaniards, and also twenty more soldiers and
seamen.
Departing from Bonas Aeieres, we came in a month's time to St.
Catharina, and finding the above-mentioned ship which had arrived from
Spain, and the commander, Albernunzo Gabrero, with all his men, we were
greatly rejoiced, and stayed there for two months, loading our ship
with rice, manioc, and Turkish corn, so full that we could not take any
more.
Then having sailed with both ships and the commander, Albernunzo
Gabrero, and all his people from S. Catharina towards Bonas Aeieres in
India, we arrived at twenty miles from the river Paranaw Wassu.[134]
This river is forty miles wide at its mouth, and has the same width for
eighty miles, until one reaches a harbour called S. Gabriel, where the
river (Parana) has a width of eight miles.
[134] In early times this river was called Rio de Solis, and
afterwards also Paraná Guazú. Its mouth, as we have before stated
(_supra_, p. 6), is 188 miles wide between Capes Santa Maria and San
Antonio. The width of the Paraná proper, where it empties into the
Plate, at the end of the Delta, is twenty-five miles, between the
island of Martin Garcia and Point San Fernando.