When the Spaniards first arrived in that sea-like river, with shallow
shores--the mighty Parana, to which Sebastian Cabot afterwards gave the
name of La Plata--they encountered a fierce tribe (the Charranas)
inhabiting its shores. The natives endeavoured to repel the invaders by
a system of warfare which the latter, though they describe it as of the
most treacherous character, were not slow to imitate. Step by step,
however, the Spaniards fought their way; though sometimes defeated and
compelled to retreat, they again returned, establishing forts and towns
on the banks of the river, till they finally obtained a firm footing in
the land. They hesitated at no act, however atrocious, to secure their
conquests by the destruction of their foes.
On one occasion being warned that a tribe--the Guaycaruses--with whom
they had formed a treaty of peace, had laid a plot to cut them off, they
formed a counterplot, far surpassing in treachery that of the savages.
The Spanish Lieutenant-Governor, pretending that he had been smitten
with the charms of the daughter of their principal cacique, offered her
his hand in marriage. The proposal was accepted by the delighted
Indians, who, with their chiefs and a large number of people, were
invited into the town to attend the ceremony. Meantime soldiers were
concealed in the houses to which the chiefs were conducted, and orders
were given to supply them amply with intoxicating liquors. While they
were thus deprived of their senses, soldiers were sent across the river
to destroy the remainder of the tribe who had not come to the wedding.
At a given signal the native village was attacked, and every inhabitant
slaughtered; while the hosts of those in the town killed more than three
hundred of their helpless guests.
The invaders were creating a fearful heritage for their descendants by
intermarrying with the native women. From these marriages have sprung
the race which now occupies, in vast numbers, a large portion of that
magnificent territory, and who, by their low moral condition, their
ignorance, and instability of character, have been the chief cause of
the melancholy wars which have so long saturated its plains with blood.
The Jesuits, by the missions they formed in various parts of the
country, introduced a superficial civilisation among some of the tribes;
but their system failing, as it ever has done, to raise the moral
character of the people, and fit them for independent thought and
self-government, has left them as ignorant and superstitious, and
scarcely less savage, than before. Thus they have become the facile
tools of every leader who, by greater audacity, craft, or determination,
has risen to authority among them.