BY WHAT MEANS THE ABIPONES POSSESSED THEMSELVES
OF HORSES, AND HOW FORMIDABLE THIS ATTAINMENT
RENDERED THEM TO THEIR NEIGHBOURS.
History gives no account of the proceedings of the Abipones in the
fifteenth century, before they settled in Chaco; but I should imagine
that, being at that time, like the other Indians, unfurnished with
horses, they passed their lives in ignoble obscurity, more anxious to
avoid, than to attack the Spaniards. It appears from the annals of
Paraguay, that in the year 1641, they possessed horses, and were become
dexterous in the management of them. We read also, that they made war
about this time upon the Mataràs, whom, on account of their submission
to the Spaniards, they pursued with unrelenting hatred. Moreover the
Abipones became formidable to the pedestrian nations on account of their
reputation for horsemanship.
But do you ask me how the Abipones first obtained horses? I will tell
you what I learnt from an Abipon, an hundred years of age. He informed
me that some of his ancestors, before they had obtained these useful
animals, used to go privily to the lands belonging to the city of Sta.
Fè, and steal a few horses, with some iron knives. They afterwards made
use of these horses for the purpose of driving fresh herds from the
lands of the Spaniards. It frequently happens that horses, tormented by
insects or frightened by tigers, stray to the distance of many leagues.
The men appointed to guard the cattle, (if there be any,) are mostly few
and unarmed, always timorous, and can easily be slain whilst absent from
their huts, or eluded whilst they are sleeping.
In the space of fifty years, an hundred thousand horses were driven from
the estates of the Spaniards, by the Abipones. Do not imagine that I
have exaggerated the number, for, calculating from conjecture, I should
say it exceeded two hundred thousand, and no wonder: for young men of
the nation of the Abipones often carried off four thousand horses in one
assault, and as they grew in years, they increased their robberies.
Cunning and a little sagacity are more requisite than strength. The
Calchacuis, after they had afflicted the country about Sta. Fè with
reiterated slaughters, were at last reduced to order in one conflict.
Those who survived that overthrow were almost all cut off by the
small-pox. The miserable remains of this most warlike nation are yet
living by the river Carcarañal, and are reckoned at about twenty people.
The Abipones settled in the land formerly possessed by the Calchacuis,
inheriting not their country alone, but also their hostile disposition
towards the Spaniards. They took possession of all the land from the
river Plata to the city of Sta. Fè, and from the banks of the Parana and
Paraguay to the territories of St. Iago, the Spaniards vainly
endeavouring to oppose them, and obliged to part with their ancient
station, or maintain it with the loss of their lives. In the eighteenth
year of this century, even women might go, without danger, from the city
of Sta. Fè, and thence to Cordoba, though it is a journey of many days,
even to horse travellers. That all things were safe and out of danger of
the enemy may be concluded from the numerous estates of the Spaniards,
which are continued all along the roads from the above-mentioned cities,
but were afterwards so depopulated by the perpetual hostilities of the
Abipones, that the ruins of these dilapidated buildings are now alone to
be seen.
The country over which, as their own, the Abipones freely wander,
extends an hundred and twenty leagues from North to South, and as many
from East to West, in many places. They are divided into hordes,
according to the number of the Caciques, and frequently remove their
tents, choosing that situation which is rendered most eligible by the
season, security, and the opportunity it affords of hunting. Having
removed their women, children, and decrepit old men to a place of
safety, the rest sallied forth, to plunder the surrounding colonies of
the Christians, and always returned laden with heads of Spaniards, and
other spoils. The crowd of captives, the droves of horses, and the
success of the expedition incited others to the like daring, so that
when one party returned, another quickly succeeded. Scarce a month
passed in which they did not disturb the Spanish colonies with some
hostile attack; and although one place alone was invaded, the whole
neighbourhood trembled the more, the safer things appeared. For
experience had taught them, that enemies of that kind are never nearer
than when they are thought to be at the greatest distance.
It is certainly difficult to understand by what means about a thousand
savages (for the whole nation of the Abipones hardly contained more who
were able to bear arms) had the power of disturbing an immense province.
Unanimous hatred of the Spaniards, craft, tolerance of labour, and the
alliance of the Mocobios stood them in the stead of numbers. Barreda,
commander at St. Iago, repeatedly affirmed, that were he to hear that
all the Abipones had been slain, ten only surviving, he should still
judge it necessary to have the watch continued in every part of
Paraguay. He therefore thought one tally of Abipones sufficient to
distress a whole province. There was no retreat so sequestered that they
did not discover, and furiously overrun; no place so remote or well
fortified by nature, that they thought impenetrable. They swam across
those vast rivers the Parana and Paraguay, even where they are united in
one channel, and pleasantly conversing at the same time. They rode over
vast precipices, sometimes ascending, and sometimes, which was still
more frightful, descending, till they reached the confines of Cordoba
and St. Iago, and there, alas! what torrents of blood they caused to
flow! Trackless woods full of rushes and thick trees, marshes, and lakes
rendered slippery with mud, they crossed with ease. That immense plain
of an hundred and fifty leagues, which lies between the banks of the
Parana and the Salado, is sometimes flooded to such a degree, that it
resembles a vast lake; this happens after long and incessant rain; but
when, as is often the case, no rain falls for many months, that immense
tract of land is so parched by the burning sky, that the smallest bird
would fail to find a drop of water there.
The Abipones, regardless of these impediments, arrived at the dwellings
of the Spaniards, whom they intended to kill or rob, by a journey of
many days, sometimes having to pass through water, at others entirely
destitute of it. I have frequently attempted the journey, both with
Spaniards and Abipones, who have now laid aside their former enmity: the
latter scorned to turn back, swearing that they might easily cross the
deepest marshes on horseback, whilst the others declared them
impassable. None of the Abipones would shrink from a journey of three
hundred leagues or more, were he attracted by the hope of richer booty,
or greater military glory; for neither the difficulty of the roads, nor
the distance of the places, are sufficient to deter them.
As many nations worship the crocodile, the snake, and the ape, as
divinities, the Abipones would adore their horses, if idolatry prevailed
amongst them. Nor is it unreasonable in them to set a high value upon
horses, by the use of which they have become formidable and destructive
to the Spanish colonists. The pedestrian savages, though they may
entertain the same wish of annoying the Spaniards, have not the same
opportunity, and consequently employ their arms more for their own
defence than for the offence of the Spaniards. I shall now proceed to
relate, individually, the slaughters committed in various parts of the
province.