_BRAZIL; THE PLATE; AND PARAGUAY._
1499-1557.
[Sidenote: 1500.]
In the year 1499, Vicente Yañez Pinzon, of Palos, one of the three
brothers who had sailed with Columbus in his first voyage seven years
previously, obtained from the king of Castile the necessary permission
to embark on an expedition of discovery on the Atlantic. Pinzon, who was
accompanied by two nephews, as well as by several sailors who had sailed
with Columbus, set out with four _caravels_ from the port of Palos,
putting to sea in the beginning of December. After passing the _Canary_
and the Cape _de Verde_ Islands, the expedition proceeded to the
south-west. Having sailed about seven hundred leagues, they crossed the
equator and lost sight of the north star. On crossing the equinoctial
line they encountered a terrible tempest; but the confused mariners
looked in vain for a guide whereby to steer. Pinzon pursued his course
resolutely to the west, and after sailing for about two hundred and
forty leagues further, being then in the eighth degree of southern
latitude, he beheld, on the 20th of January, a point of land, which he
called _Consolation_, but which is now known as Cape _St. Augustine_, in
the province of _Pernambuco_. The sea was discoloured, and on sounding,
they found sixteen fathoms of water. Pinzon, as in duty bound, landed
with a notary and took formal possession of the territory for the crown
of Castile. The natives whom he saw in the neighbourhood declined to
have any dealings whatsoever with the strangers; and not liking their
appearance, the commander made sail next day and stood to the north-west
until he came to the mouth of a river where he again encountered a
multitude of naked Indians with whom his men had a desperate encounter,
in which a number of Spaniards were wounded or slain. Discouraged by
this reception, the navigator now stood forty leagues to the north-west,
being once more near the equinoctial line. Here the water was so sweet
that he replenished his casks from it.
Astonished at this phenomenon, he stood in for land, and arrived among a
number of islands whose people he found hospitable and in no way afraid
of intercourse with the strangers. By degrees Pinzon realised the fact
that these islands lay at the mouth of an immense river, a river so
great that its dimensions can scarcely be realised by one accustomed
even to the largest of European streams, such as the Danube or the
Volga, far less by one whose ideas of an inland stream were formed by
the Guadalquiver. The mariner had in fact alighted at the mouth of the
mightiest of the mighty streams of the New World, a river which pours
into the ocean a greater volume of water than even the _Mississippi_ or
the _Plata_; he had reached the _Amazons_, a stream which, discovered at
its mouth by one Spaniard, was, a few years later, to be traced
throughout the greater part of its course down to the ocean by another
Spaniard, the ill-fated Orellana.
The _Amazons_ at its mouth has a breadth of no less than thirty leagues,
the volume of water proceeding through which penetrates for forty
leagues into the sea before losing its sweetness. Whilst lying at the
mouth of this river, Pinzon encountered a sudden swelling of the stream,
which, meeting the current of the ocean, caused a rise of more than five
fathoms, the mountain waves threatening his ships with destruction.
Having extricated his vessels with no small difficulty from this danger,
Pinzon, finding that there was no object to detain him in this region,
showed that he was not less civilised than other Spanish navigators at
the time in the matter of requiting hospitality, by carrying off
thirty-six natives as slaves.
Having the polar star once more to guide him, the mariner pursued his
course along the coast, passing the mouths of the _Orinoco_, and
entering the gulf of _Pária_, where he took in brazil-wood, and from
which he emerged by the celebrated _Boca del Drago_. He subsequently
reached Palos about the end of September of the same year, having lost
two of his vessels at the _Bahamas_. Vicente Pinzon has the glory of
having been the first European to cross the equinoctial line on the
Western Atlantic and of having discovered _Brazil_.
[Sidenote: 1500.]
Later in the same year in which Pinzon had discovered Cape _St.
Augustine_ and had taken possession of the neighbouring coast in the
name of the sovereigns of Castile, an event happened which illustrates
how sometimes in human affairs the effect of accident may almost
anticipate the calculations and discoveries of genius.[I] Scarcely eight
years had elapsed since Columbus had set out on that voyage which,
according to the motto beneath his armorial bearings, gave a new world
to Castile and to Léon, when another expedition was equipped by King
Emanuel of Portugal, the commander of which, without having the least
idea of discovering land to the westwards, accidentally lighted upon the
coast of South America.
But although Cabral has little or no merit in having been one of the
first two independent discoverers of _Brazil_, yet it would be unfair to
state that chance was wholly answerable for his discovery, and that
scientific inquiry had no share in the matter. Scientific inquiry in
this instance was, however, not due to Cabral, but to Prince Henry of
Portugal, the great patron of maritime exploration along the western
coast of Africa, and who, though he did not survive to know it, had
paved the way for the great achievement of Vasco de Gama. It was in
order to follow up the discoveries of the hero of the Lusiad that King
Emanuel had equipped the squadron which left Belem on the Tagus, with
befitting pomp and solemnity, in March A.D. 1500. The commander took
with him a banner blessed by the Bishop of Ceuta, and set out under a
royal salute from the fleet. It is remarkable that this expedition,
destined to add to the Portuguese position in the East, should lead to
the foundation of the Lusian Empire of the West.
Cabral steered for the Cape _de Verdes_ and then westwards to escape
“the Doldrums” or calms on the African coast; and so sailing, he, on the
25th of April, sighted land near the harbour which bears his name. He
himself now proceeded on his original destination eastward, but he sent
back one of his vessels to inform his king of his discovery in the West,
to follow up which an expedition was next year despatched.
[Sidenote: 1501.]
Amerigo Vespucci, now in the service of Portugal, landed on the coast of
Brazil south of the equator; but the cannibal savages whom he discovered
declined to have any dealings with the intruders whom their domains
could not but attract. The forests were like gardens of flowers, the
trees having blossoms of all colours, contrasted with the perfection of
effect only met with in nature. Parasites filled the intervening spaces
between trees and boughs, whilst orchids hung from them in the air, and
birds of tropical plumage warbled amidst groves of pomegranate and
orange trees. As Vespucci and his companions sailed southwards, new
heavens were revealed to his wondering eyes, the Southern Cross looking
down upon them in its glory. On reaching the eighth degree of southern
latitude they found the natives more tractable. They were welcomed
everywhere, and were thus enabled to explore the coast. They coasted
onwards till the thirty-second degree, when they put out to sea, going
twenty degrees further in the same direction. Here they met with stormy
weather, and the cold became intense, so that Vespucci deemed it
expedient to retrace his way to Lisbon, which place he reached in safety
after a voyage of sixteen months. It was from this voyage that Amerigo
Vespucci was considered the discoverer of the mainland of South America.
His name was at first applied to these southern regions, but was
afterwards extended to the whole continent. Vespucci was ignorant that
_Brazil_ had previously been discovered both by Pinzon and Cabral. His
account of his voyage, addressed to Lorenzo de Medici, was published at
Strasburg in 1505. It is said to have been printed in Venice in 1504.
[Sidenote: 1504.]
In the spring of the ensuing year (1503) Vespucci again sailed from
Lisbon with a squadron of six vessels, of which, however, he only
commanded one ship. After many disasters and the loss of one vessel of
the squadron, he reached _Brazil_, with his own ship alone, at the
celebrated bay of All Saints, _Bahia_. There he remained two months in
the hope of being joined by the rest of the fleet. He then sailed two
hundred and sixty leagues to the south, where he remained for five
months, building a fort and taking in a cargo of brazil-wood. In the
fort he left a garrison of twenty-four men and set sail for Lisbon,
where he arrived in June 1504. The other four vessels of the squadron
were never afterwards heard of.
Early in the following year Amerigo Vespucci was at Seville on his way
to the Spanish court in quest of employment, and was the bearer of a
letter from Columbus to his son Diego, in which the great navigator,
speaking of Vespucci, says, “Fortune has been adverse to him as to many
others. His labours have not profited him as they reasonably should have
done.... He goes with the determination to do all that is possible for
me.” It is pathetic to hear the great discoverer thus speaking of the
man whose name was to usurp the place of Columbus on the two continents
of the New World.
The cargo of brazil-wood which had been brought by Amerigo to Lisbon was
so much esteemed that a trade in it at once sprang up, and the result
was that the coast whence it was procured, and finally the whole
neighbouring country, came to be called _Brazil_. The Portuguese
Government determined to colonize the land, and accordingly despatched
thither, in the first instance, a portion of the criminal population of
Portugal.
[Sidenote: 1508.]
Amerigo Vespucci being once more in the service of the king of Castile,
in which he obtained the rank of chief pilot, which he held until his
death, it was determined to take advantage of his previous discoveries,
and in the year 1508 Pinzon and Solis proceeded on an expedition to Cape
_St. Augustine_ and thence southwards, taking possession of several
points at which they landed, in the name of the king of Spain. As before
this date the Pope Alexander VI. had assigned to the Castilian and
Lusitanian crowns, respectively, the line beyond which their respective
discoveries might in either case be taken possession of, the Portuguese
king now complained that the proceedings of this last Spanish expedition
on the coast of South America were an infringement of the grant which
had been made to him by the Sovereign Pontiff. Notwithstanding this, the
king of Castile in the year 1515 despatched Juan de Solis on another
expedition to the south, in the hope of finding the means of
communication with the ocean which more than a year before this time had
been reached overland by Vasco Nuñez de Balboa. This expedition resulted
in the discovery of a stream to which Solis gave the name of the Sweet
Sea; for the extent of its fresh waters forbade him to entertain the
idea of its being a river. The Sweet Sea was named by a subsequent
navigator the River of Silver, from the ornaments of that metal found
amongst the people on the banks of the _Paraguay_, which flows into the
_Paraná_, which with the _Uruguay_ forms the _Plata_, and is now known
to us as the _Plata_ or the River _Plate_. This discovery cost De Solis
his life; for, having landed incautiously on the island of _Martin
Garcia_, he was set upon by the natives and murdered.
[Sidenote: 1519.]
And here it is necessary to mention the great navigator who should rank
next to Columbus in South American discovery. Fernando Magalhaens (in
Spanish Magallanes), better known as Magellan, was born in Oporto late
in the fifteenth century. He entered the Portuguese navy at the usual
early age, and served in India under Albuquerque. Fancying that his
merits at _Malacca_ had been overlooked, he retired from the service of
Portugal, and made proposals for new discoveries to Cardinal Ximenes. He
shared the view of Columbus that there must exist somewhere a western
passage to the seas beyond America, which seas had been seen by Vasco
Nuñez de Balboa. Having held out the inducement of obtaining the
_Moluccas_ by sailing westward, inasmuch as by the compact between Spain
and Portugal all countries discovered 180° west of the _Azores_ were to
belong to the former country, he obtained a fleet of five vessels,
manned by two hundred and thirty-four persons, which sailed from Seville
under his command on August 10th, 1519.
They steered for _Brazil_, and in the middle of the following December
he entered the river _Plata_. Finding that it was not a strait, he
sought his way southward, and took refuge in a harbour on the coast of
_Patagonia_ in the 49th degree of S. latitude, to which he gave the name
of Port _San Julian_. During his stay here he had to repress a
conspiracy amongst the four commanders of his squadron, who were
Spaniards, and who resented his being placed over them. Of these, two
were hanged, a third was stabbed, and the fourth was put on shore.
[Sidenote: 1520.]
It was not until August 1520 that Magellan, who had previously taken
possession of Port _San Julian_ in the name of the king of Spain,
proceeded southward, and on October 21st he entered the strait which
separates _Patagonia_ from _Terra del Fuego_, and which bears his name.
On the 20th of November he cleared the strait with his squadron, which,
by the desertion of one ship and the loss of another, was now reduced to
three vessels. Emerging triumphantly on the vast expanse beyond,--having
been the first navigator to sail to it from the Atlantic, he had the
right to bestow upon it the name of the _Pacific_ Ocean.[J]
[Sidenote: 1526.]
The name which, next to that of De Solis, deserves to be remembered in
connection with the discovery of _La Plata_, is that of Sebastian Cabot,
the son of John Cabot, a Genoese navigator, who, being then in the
service of Henry VII., was the first European that set foot on
North-American soil. Sebastian Cabot is said to have been born in
England, Bristol being assigned as his birthplace. In 1497 he coasted
the shore from _Labrador_ to _Florida_. In 1526, Cabot, then chief pilot
to the king of Spain, accepted the command of a squadron of four vessels
fitted out by the merchants of Seville. In April of that year he set
sail with the view of reaching China and Japan--then called Cathay and
Cipango--by way of the straits discovered by Magellan in 1520; but, a
mutiny breaking out in his command, he renounced his more ambitious
enterprise and resolved to content himself with following up the
discovery that had been made by the ill-fated De Solis.
Having entered the “Sweet Sea,” Cabot proceeded until he reached an
island which he named after _Gabriel_. There leaving his vessels, he
explored from a boat the coast of the mainland. A safe anchorage was
afforded on the northern shore, where he found one of the Spaniards who
had landed with De Solis, and who had escaped the cannibals. Throwing up
a small earthwork to protect a portion of his men, he proceeded to
explore the upper portion of the river. When he had reached the junction
of the _Paraná_ and the _Uruguay_ he sent one of his officers with a
vessel up the latter stream, whilst he himself ascended the former until
he reached the _Carcaraña_ or _Tercero_, where he erected a small fort
called _San Espiritu_, leaving in it a garrison of seventy men. Still
pursuing his course, he duly reached, after having surmounted countless
difficulties, the junction of the _Paraná_ with the _Paraguay_, nearly
nine hundred miles from the sea. Having explored the _Paraná_ a hundred
and fifty miles further, he then returned to the junction and ascended
the latter stream, and whilst there he received unexpectedly a welcome
reinforcement from Spain. Cabot passed the following two years in
friendly relations with the _Guaranís_, in whose silver ornaments
originated the name of _La Plata_ and thence of the _Argentine_
Republic, the name having been applied by Cabot to the stream now called
the _Paraguay_. That able and sagacious man now sent to Spain two of his
most trusted followers with an account of _Paraguay_ and its resources,
and to seek the authority and reinforcements requisite for their
acquisition. Their request was favourably received, but so tardily acted
on that in despair the distinguished navigator quitted the region of
his discoveries after a delay of five years.
[Sidenote: 1534.]
The two earliest explorers of the _Plata_ had been professional
navigators; the commander of the third great expedition to that region
was a courtier and a wealthy knight. _Don_ Pedro de Mendoza, no doubt
attracted by the name of the Silver Stream, undertook to plant the
Spanish race on its shores on the following conditions, namely: That the
region extending from the _Plate_ to the Straits of _Magelhães_, a
barren territory, was to be under his government; that he should pursue
his way by peaceful or by warlike means across the continent until he
should reach the ocean; that he was to be entitled _Adelantado_, and to
receive a salary of four thousand ducats; that he was to be perpetual
_Alcalde_ of one of three forts which he was to establish; that to his
heirs should be reserved the post of first _Alguazil_ of the town where
he should fix his residence; and that, should he capture another
Montezuma or Atahualpa, he and his soldiers should receive two-thirds of
the royal ransom. As a commentary on these ambitious views, Mendoza
likewise took with him eight priests to teach and spread the unselfish
doctrines of Christianity. His force consisted of some two thousand men
with one hundred horses. Touching on his way at _Rio de Janeiro_, he
thence proceeded along the coast and up the river _Plata_ to the
distance of one hundred miles. The flat southern shore was then in the
possession of the _Quirandis_, a tribe which has long since disappeared
before civilization. The green plains, unclothed by woods and unbroken
by hills, displayed no natural feature from which the knight might
derive a name for his town; but as the climate seemed of the best, he
resolved to call it _Buenos Ayres_.
[Sidenote: 1534.]
For some time the tribesmen supplied the invaders with food; but, with
the fickleness of barbarians, they one day sent back their messengers
mauled and empty-handed. This was a _casus belli_. The brother of
Mendoza marched against the natives with three hundred foot-soldiers
and thirty horsemen. Heretofore Spanish cavalry had, in their encounters
with American aborigines, invariably been successful. The mailed
warriors of Cortez or Pizarro had turned the scale of victory on many a
day; but the cavaliers who charged with Diego Mendoza were met with a
weapon now used for the first time against the horse and his rider.
_Bolas_, or balls of stone, attached to each other, three together, by
strips of hide, were hurled at the advancing centaur, which, entangled
and stopped, came headlong to the earth. _Don_ Diego and some horsemen
were killed, and twenty footmen met their death in covering the retreat
of their mounted comrades. The discipline of the infantry, however,
enabled them to remain masters of the field.
After this encounter famine seemed to stare the followers of Mendoza in
the face, and an expedition sent up the river in search of food was
everywhere met with hostility. Mendoza now determined to proceed up the
stream, and on an island he found an interpreter in one of the followers
of Cabot. _Buenos Ayres_ was meanwhile partly relieved by the return of
an expedition that had been sent to procure provisions from the coast of
_Brazil_. This was the extent to which the bright visions of Mendoza
were destined to be realized. Tortured in body and broken in spirit, the
knight left the scene of his misfortunes. On his homeward voyage he was
still pursued by hunger, and his reason gave way before death came to
his relief.
Mendoza had resigned his powers to his lieutenant, Ayolas, who ascended
the _Paraná_ and reached the _Paraguay_, there losing one of his ships.
Those whom it had conveyed proceeded by land, and encountered a tribe in
some respects civilized. The _Carios_ possessed maize and the sweet
potato, and in their farms were found ostriches, sheep, and pigs. Their
capital was surrounded by stakes. The tribesmen offered the invaders
provisions on condition of their departing. This not being accepted, a
fight ensued, and the natives fled. Ayolas then founded a city, in
which he took to himself, as we are told, seven wives, permitting two to
each of his followers. The city was called _Asuncion_.
[Sidenote: 1537.]
After the delay of some months in his new settlement, Ayolas determined
to find his way in the direction of _Peru_; and taking with him a
sufficient party, he left one of his officers, Irala, with fifty
Spaniards, at _Candelaria_ on the _Paraguay_, as a supporting party in
case of his retreat. The succeeding months were occupied by him in
wanderings in the primeval forest, where he received from a tribe the
glad tidings of the presence of gold and silver in the adjacent regions.
Ayolas and his party were, however, compelled to find their way back,
when they were doomed to disappointment in not meeting Irala, who,
despairing of their return, after waiting six months, had returned to
_Asuncion_. Ayolas and his people were soon after murdered by the tribe
of _Payaguas_. Irala meanwhile, having repaired his vessels, returned to
_Candelaria_ and made fresh, but of course fruitless efforts to discover
Ayolas, whose death, when he had ascertained it, he cruelly avenged on
some _Payaguas_.
[Sidenote: 1537.]
Learning the tale of treasure to be found in the interior, Irala now
bent his attention to discover it. At _Buenos Ayres_ wealth could only
be the reward of industry, and therefore the settlement founded by
Mendoza was abandoned, and the whole Spanish colony flocked up the river
to _Asuncion_. They mustered six hundred souls, and _Asuncion_ thus
became the earliest founded permanent city in the region of _La Plata_.
[Sidenote: 1540.]
It being believed in Spain, before the fact was ascertained, that Ayolas
was dead, the post of _Adelantado_ of _La Plata_ was conferred upon
_Don_ Alvar Cabeza de Vaca, who had passed ten years as a prisoner
amongst the natives of _Florida_. Cabeza de Vaca sailed from Spain with
four hundred followers in the year 1540, and by the following March had
disembarked at _Santa Catalina_, an island on the coast of _Brazil_,
opposite _Paraguay_, where confirmation reached him of the death of
Ayolas. He thereupon boldly proceeded from a point of the shore near to
_Santa Catalina_, making direct by land for _Asuncion_. He took with him
two hundred and fifty men with twenty-six horses, sending the remainder
by water to _Buenos Ayres_. During nineteen days Cabeza marched through
woods ere reaching a settlement of _Guaranís_, from whom he was enabled
to obtain abundance of food for his men.
Whilst resting with these friendly people, the explorer had the good
fortune to fall in with a native on his way from _Asuncion_ to _Brazil_,
and who undertook to retrace his steps and guide him to his seat of
government. Leaving a region where a certain degree of civilisation
existed--where maize and mandioc were cultivated, and where men lived in
houses and reared fowls and ducks--the Spanish leader had once more to
trust himself and his men to the toils and risks of a march through the
primeval forest, through which, after having surmounted innumerable
difficulties, they at length approached their destination. In the course
of one day they had to construct as many as eighteen bridges for the
passage of their horses. This march had mainly lain along the course of
the river _Yguazû_, a tributary of the _Paraná_, which takes its rise
near the Atlantic Ocean. In order to avoid a tribe which was reported to
be hostile, Cabeza de Vaca embarked with part of his force on canoes,
intending to proceed thus to the _Paraná_, whilst the rest of his men
should march along the river’s bank to the point of junction of the two
streams. But there was an obstacle in his way which prevented the
execution of this scheme. The _Yguazû_, which stream is about one mile
in breadth, while it flows through the Brazilian forest, suddenly
becomes contracted, at a short distance above its junction with the
_Paraná_, to the breadth of rather less than a thousand yards. It then
breaks into several channels and rushes over a series of descents, the
highest of which is one hundred and seventy-two feet. Of this
cataract--which, though little visited, is perhaps the grandest in South
America--the vicinity is made known by the roar of waters and by the
rising of a mist which overspreads the falls to a height of more than
one hundred feet.
The Indians through whose settlements Cabeza had passed, though they had
appeared friendly, had permitted him to embark on the _Yguazû_ above the
falls, without giving him warning of the danger that lay before him. The
canoes that had been lent to the explorer were hurled with fearful
rapidity along the face of the stream, and the rate of their passage
became increased as they approached the scene of danger; but the distant
sound of the falling waters warned Cabeza to steer for the bank, along
which, for the distance of half a league, his followers carried their
canoes, re-embarking below the falls, and then proceeding, without
interruption, to the point of junction of the _Yguazû_ with the
_Paraná_.
Cabeza de Vaca was fortunate enough to disarm any hostile intentions
which may have been harboured against him by a body of _Guaranís_ that
lined the further bank of the great river. They even helped him to
effect his passage across the stream into what is now the territory of
_Paraguay_. Sending down to the care of a friendly Indian chief, and
with a guard of fifty soldiers, such of his men as would be unable to
bear the fatigue of the march to _Asuncion_, the Spanish leader
proceeded on his way by land; and, after further experience of the
difficulties of travelling over so densely wooded a district, he at
length, on the 11th of March, had the satisfaction of reaching the
settlement of his fellow-countrymen.
[Sidenote: 1542.]
After the departure from the _Paraná_ of Cabeza de Vaca, those of his
men from whom he had separated were doomed to experience the invariable
inconstancy of savages. The fear of chastisement and the hope of
receiving presents being alike removed, the _Guaranís_ attempted by
every means in their power to cut off the sick men and their guard; but
by the aid of the friendly Indian chief to whose care they had been
entrusted, they were enabled to continue their course in safety, and,
having descended the _Paraná_ to the _Tres Bocas_, or three mouths of
the _Paraguay_, they ascended the latter river, and reached _Asuncion_
one month after their leader.
At the time when this exploration by land of the region between the
Atlantic Ocean and the river _Paraguay_ was being so successfully
carried out under the leadership of Cabeza de Vaca, another expedition,
of still greater geographical importance, was being effected elsewhere
on the same Continent; but before describing the discovery of the
_Amazons_, it is necessary to go back to the circumstances of which it
was one of the results. In reconnoitering the course of exploration over
a vast continent, it is impossible to relate the events of each year in
the exact order in which they occurred. One must take the discovery of
one region after another, going back when necessary to recount other
explorations elsewhere which may have meanwhile occurred simultaneously
with those already described. It may therefore be desirable here to
follow the proceedings of Cabeza de Vaca in _Paraguay_. His first care
was to send down vessels to _Buenos Ayres_ to the relief of that portion
of his force which had been despatched by sea from _Santa Catalina_ to
the latter place. It was obviously of the first advantage to the public
interest that the settlement of _Buenos Ayres_ should be re-established.
Without some port near the sea the settlers in the interior would ever
be at a loss for the means of communication with Spain. The vessels from
_Santa Catalina_ had reached _Buenos Ayres_ long before the arrival of
those sent from _Asuncion_, and during the interval the Spaniards
brought by the former had nearly perished from hunger. The force from
_Paraguay_ arrived in time to enable them to resist a formidable attack
from the natives. They attempted to fulfil the governor’s orders to
rebuild the town; but they were at length discouraged by the incessant
rain, and abandoning the attempt, embarked for _Asuncion_.
Cabeza de Vaca had taken into his alliance the _Guaranís_, and with them
he proceeded to attack another tribe, the _Guaycurùs_, on the opposite
side of the river. These were, as might be expected, disconcerted at the
sight of his armed horses and riders, and readily consented to be his
allies. With their aid he prepared to follow the course of exploration
towards _Peru_; and whilst vessels were being constructed for river
navigation, he sent Irala forward with an expedition by land. Soon
following in person and passing a settlement on the _Paraguay_, called
_Puerto de los Reyes_, which had been founded by Irala, he penetrated
into the interior; but from the want of provisions he had to return to
_Paraguay_. There he and his people suffered to the full the hardships
incident to the life of explorers. Whilst they were reduced by hunger,
prostrated by fever, and tormented by mosquitoes, they were attacked by
formidable bands of natives, having defeated whom, the _Adelantado_ was
glad to turn his face again towards _Asuncion_. On his arrival, however,
fresh troubles awaited him. During his absence a conspiracy had been
hatched. His person was seized and his authority usurped, Irala being
proclaimed governor in his stead. After a captivity of eleven months
Cabeza de Vaca was sent a prisoner to Spain, in company with two
official persons who were to prefer groundless charges against him; yet,
notwithstanding his innocence and his services, he had, like Warren
Hastings at a later period, to await during eight years a sentence of
acquittal.
The downfall of Cabeza de Vaca did not inaugurate a reign of peace at
_Asuncion_. Irala had been called to power by popular election, but his
authority was curtailed by the pretensions of certain official persons
who were nominated to their positions from Castile. Disputes and
dissensions arose; but after a time these became silenced in the face of
a combination against the Spaniards by two native tribes, the task of
chastising whom was confided to Irala. The chosen leader of the
colonists showed himself equal to the occasion. He successfully defended
the colony, which he employed the following two years in consolidating.
But a long period devoted to peaceful pursuits was not to the taste of a
man cast in the mould of Vasco Nuñez or of Cortez. Setting out with
three hundred and fifty Spaniards and two thousand auxiliaries, he
ascended the _Paraguay_ as far as to _San Fernando_. There the main body
of the expedition left the course of the stream, their boats being
entrusted to the care of some Spaniards. Irala was well fitted to be the
leader of such an expedition of discovery. Active and experienced, he
was likewise cautious, and was never found unprepared on an emergency.
Having journeyed onwards for a month or more, his ears were at length
greeted by the sound of the Spanish language from Peruvian lips. Such
was the first communication which took place between the Spaniards
proceeding from _La Plata_ and those who proceeded from the Pacific
Ocean.
[Sidenote: 1547.]
Irala, in conformity with the orders of the President Gasca of _Peru_,
retraced his steps to _Asuncion_. There he distributed to his followers
_repartimientos_, or consignments of land and slaves--a measure which
greatly added to his popularity. He likewise founded a new settlement
named _Ciudad Real_, near the border line of the Spanish and Portuguese
territories. In the year 1547 _Asuncion_ became the seat of a bishop,
and about the same time an important intermediate station between
_Paraguay_ and _Peru_ was established at _Santa Cruz de la Sierra_,
whilst Spanish civilization also began to extend downwards from
_Paraguay_ in the direction of the sea.
The favourable reports which had reached Spain of the climate and
capabilities of _Paraguay_ were such as to divert thither many
emigrants who would otherwise have turned their faces towards _Mexico_
or _Peru_. It was the constant endeavour of Irala to level the
distinctions which separated the Spaniards from the natives and to
encourage inter-marriages between them. This policy, in the course of
time, led to a marked result,--namely, to that singular combination of
outward civilisation and of primitive simplicity which was to be found
in the modern Paraguayan race until it was annihilated under the younger
Lopez. “It was,” to quote Mr. Washburn, who lived eight years amongst
them, “an anomalous people, and the like had never been seen in any
other country of America. The reason of this may be found in the fact
that in no other colony did the early colonists in large numbers adopt
the native language and take the Indian women as wives.”
[Sidenote: 1557.]
Irala, in fact, created a nation. The colony under his administration
became numerous and wealthy. From his first arrival in the New World
until his death, his career was one of activity, toil, and adventure,
always in the conscientious discharge of his duty to his sovereign and
to those around him. He was the life and soul of the colony, and his
death, which occurred in 1557 at the village of _Ita_ near _Asuncion_,
when he had attained the age of seventy years, was lamented alike by
Spaniards and _Guaranís_. In the estimation of Mr. Washburn, he was the
first and last great man ever known to _La Plata_.
From this date Paraguayan history is for a long period destitute of all
marked events save one. It consists, indeed, mainly of the establishment
and progress of the Order of Jesus in that country. An account of the
origin and advance of this remarkable movement must be deferred to a
future chapter.