OF THE FREQUENT ENDEAVOURS OF THE JESUITS IN
REDUCING THE ABIPONES TO OBEDIENCE UNDER THE
KING OF SPAIN AND CONVERTING THEM TO THE
CATHOLIC RELIGION.
Amongst those who in the last century interested themselves in the
conversion of the Abipones, Father Juan Pastòr, a Spaniard, merits the
first place. Long celebrated for his apostolical missions to the
Indians, he was made master of the college at St. Iago del Estero, when
he conceived the project of visiting the Abipones, and, if he found them
tractable, of instructing them in Christianity. They were then dwelling
above a hundred and sixty leagues from the city of St. Iago. The
difficulty and ruggedness of the roads were almost greater than you can
conceive; but the perseverance of this intrepid man overcame every
thing. He chose for his companion Father Gaspar Cerqueira, a native of
Paraguay, who understood the Tonocotè language, which is used by many
nations, and was of much service to him in this great expedition. After
crossing a vast wilderness of nearly a hundred leagues, they turned
aside for a while amongst the Matarà Indians, who, though they had all
received baptism, and were governed in one colony by a secular priest,
had little more than the name of Christians. Bárzana and A[=n]asco
priests of our order, and before them St. Solano, had certainly not been
useless amongst them; but the lapse of time had entirely eradicated from
their minds whatever they had learnt of Christianity. Drunkenness was
daily practised amongst them. The rites which they yearly celebrated to
the souls of the departed were moistened with drink, more than with
tears. Maize, ground by the teeth of old women, and fermented in water,
served them for wine. Each was ordered to bring with him an emu, to
furnish out the funeral table. After feasting three days they devoted
one hour to weeping and lamentations, and then wiped away their tears
and returned to their cups and dainties. When heated with liquor, they
frequently polluted these anniversaries with quarrels, strife, wounds,
and mutual slaughter.
Their pious guests Pastòr and Cerqueira spared no pains to obliterate
the memory of so great an impiety committed by a people who called
themselves Christians. They never ceased day or night to admonish them
of their duty: and their private conversations and public sermons in the
church effected so much that many, after confession, sincerely promised
amendment. I have seen a few remnants of this nation which are still
surviving in a wretched little town called Matarà, on the banks of the
Salado. In former times they were in subjection to some private
individuals, Spaniards of St. Iago, and, though once numerous, fell away
by degrees. After some days' stay, the Fathers pursued their journey to
the Abipones, accompanied by the curate of the place and the principal
Caciques, with a company of soldiers, who hoped, by means of the
Fathers, to regain the friendship of the Abipones, between whom and
their nation an ancient and bloody feud existed. The Fathers had
certainly much need of their company. Sixty leagues of the journey still
remained, through an unknown country, full of woods, lakes, and marshes.
Had they not had the Mataràs for guides and protectors, they could
neither have safely undertaken such a journey, nor prudently proceeded
to the business they came upon. They were obliged to creep for a long
time through trackless woods, and at every step to struggle with briers,
which generally proved a bloody contest. To assuage the burning thirst
occasioned by extreme heat and bodily fatigue, they could meet with
nothing but stinking water out of pools and ditches, which offended
their nostrils to such a degree that the poor creatures almost thought
thirst preferable. They could not turn their eyes without perceiving
traces of tigers, nor move a step without meeting swarms of gnats and
other insects: insomuch that the stings of the one, and the apprehension
of the other, prevented them from resting at night, though sore fatigued
in the day-time. Issuing from the woods into the open plain, they found
themselves surrounded by continuous marshes occasioned by the
inundations of the river Bermejo, which, deserting its channel, spreads
to the extent of five leagues. A vast plain, white with waters,
presented itself to their eyes. By the number of difficulties you may
judge how great must have been the courage of the Fathers, who not only
endured them unrepiningly themselves, but by their example inspired
patience into their Indian companions. Vanquished by none of the
asperities of the way they all persevered in their journey, till they
reached the territories of the Abipones.
When two leagues distant from their stations, fearing that the Abipones
would take them for enemies, they halted awhile in that place, attended
with guards, whose flight was more apprehended by the Fathers than an
attack from the Abipones; for they well knew that the Mataràs trembled
at the very name of these savages, and were half dead with fear at the
idea of being so near them. The eloquence of the Fathers was scarce
sufficient to do away their fears. To ascertain that all was safe, it
was intrusted to Father Cerqueira to go forward with two companions, and
endeavour to find out some method of presenting himself to the Abipones
and entering their hordes, without being suspected of hostile
intentions. The Father had scarcely gone a league when he met a troop of
two hundred Abipones, who had been apprized, by their emissaries, of the
arrival of foreigners. Approaching them, of his own accord, he spoke to
the savages in the Tonocotè language, which many of the Abipones, at
that time, were acquainted with. "You are greatly mistaken," said he,
"if you imagine that I am alarmed at seeing you, which is the very thing
that I most desire. After crossing immense wildernesses, and struggling
through an hundred dangers for your sake, I am here at last. Do not take
me for an enemy, nor cherish unkindly feelings towards me. Behold I come
unarmed to teach you the way to happiness. If you have your own welfare
at heart, do not reject the Author of it in me, but rather look upon me
as a friend, and as the messenger of the great Creator of all things."
The savages, satisfied by this harangue, exchanged threats for welcomes,
and emulated one another in showing civilities to him whom at first they
had surrounded with arms. The Father took advantage of this happy
disposition in his favour, and informed them that another Father, of the
same mind as himself, remained a short way behind with a few companions,
and that he was coming laden with scissars, hooks, needles, and
glass-beads, with which he intended liberally to remunerate those who
would listen to the law of God. The Cacique of the neighbouring horde,
instigated by the expectation of these trifling gifts, commanded his
son, with a proper attendance, to bring Father Pastòr speedily to him.
On his approach he was received in the neighbouring horde with public
marks of rejoicing, and a festive percussion of the lips, and accosted
by the name of the Great Father. After explaining the reasons of his
coming, he distributed amongst those present, the pins, and other gifts
above-mentioned. Food was then produced, which the guests, in spite of
their hunger, would gladly have been excused from tasting; for it
consisted of stinking fish, with no other sauce than the good-will of
the givers. But the Fathers, that they might not appear to despise this
savage delicacy, forced themselves to taste some of it, though against
their stomachs. The next day, Father Pastòr, planting a cross in the
ground, dedicated that land to Christ, and performed divine service in a
tent, at the conclusion of which, he led round the Abipones, in the
manner of supplicants, and taught them to kneel before the cross. The
savages behaved wonderfully well on this occasion, listening with
attentive ears and minds to the preacher whilst he explained to them the
reasons of his coming, and the heads of the holy religion. Caliguila,
then chief Cacique of that nation, greatly approved of their words, and
conducted both Fathers, with much honour, to his horde on the opposite
shore of the Bermejo. There they were received with joyful acclamations,
and eagerly attended to, whilst they endeavoured to instruct the savages
in the Christian faith, and to instil into their minds a sense of
religion. The report of their arrival spreading throughout the
neighbourhood, the concourse of strangers increased every day. Caliguila
permitted our religion to be promulgated amongst his people. He publicly
declared that the Fathers were at liberty to build a little church, to
baptize infants, and to instruct them in the ordinances of Christianity;
with this condition, that the young men were not to be detained before
and after noon in long prayers and ceremonies, lest inactivity and
sedentary habits should damp their martial ardour, and lessen their
dexterity in the use of arms. But the Fathers denied that this alacrity
and military knowledge were destroyed by the exercises of piety, and
this they proved by the example of the Spanish youth. Caliguila,
however, besought the Fathers in the name of the rest, that they would
allow the boys always to carry a bow and arrows, even during divine
service, that they might never run the risk of being endangered by a
sudden attack from the enemy whilst unprovided with arms. This proposal
they willingly acceded to, as it contained nothing repugnant to the laws
of Christianity. But the Fathers had occasion repeatedly to warn the
savages, who still savoured of their ancient superstitions, from the
performance of their old rites of sepulture and divination.
The conditions on both sides being accepted, the cross which they had
made of a lofty palm tree, was erected in that place with many
reverential ceremonies. The Abipones were instructed in the heads of
religion, in daily assemblies, all their savage customs and notions
extirpated, and persons of every age fortified against the artifices of
the jugglers. Father Pastòr, seeing an aged female of this profession on
the point of death, vainly endeavoured to administer baptism to her. The
obstinate old woman withstood the earnest exhortations of the father,
whether he promised her the eternal joys of Heaven, or threatened her
with torments from the evil spirit. She replied, with a laugh, that she
had little occasion to fear the evil demon, with whom she had been
familiar so many years. But others of better understanding began to
believe what the Fathers told them, and openly to distrust the arts and
words of the jugglers. To sum up all, by continual perseverance they
wrought so much, that in a few weeks, they joyfully beheld something
like Christianity beginning to flourish amongst these savages.
Father Cerqueira returning to the Mataràs, Juan Pastòr redoubled his
efforts. Though enfeebled by age, and with strength by no means
athletic, he built a little hut of sticks and straw, and plastered it
over with mud. In a short time, he wrote out with much labour, an
epitome of the Abiponian tongue; of this vocabulary, when I was there,
nothing but the memory remained. But alas! these flourishing hopes of
the improvement of the Abipones were all destroyed by an unexpected
messenger, who called Juan Pastòr home on urgent business. Nor was there
at that time any one to supply his place, so great was the scarcity of
priests of our order. Father Lozano, in his History of Chaco, says, that
Pastòr was sent to Europe to treat of the affairs of the province in the
courts of Rome and Madrid, and that he had collected out of various
countries, and intended to bring into Paraguay, the number of Jesuits
necessary for the settling of so many savages. But just as he was going
to set sail with his apostolical supplies, he received letters from the
Royal Senate, at Madrid, prohibiting him from carrying any foreigners
into Paraguay. In consequence of which he was obliged to send back the
other priests into their native countries, and with a very few
Spaniards, for the most part young men, and according to our established
rule, unfit to be ordained for many years, sailed to Paraguay, still
labouring under the want of priests for so great a number of colonies.
This decree of the rulers of Madrid, excluding all foreign priests from
Paraguay, was certainly extremely disadvantageous to the Spaniards
themselves. For if those German, Italian, and Flemish Jesuits had
arrived in Paraguay, doubtless, by their labours, the Abipones, Tobas,
and Mocobios would have been induced to submit to the authority of the
King of Spain, and to receive the Catholic religion; whilst, left for
nearly a century in their savage state, they over-ran the whole province
with hostile, and generally victorious arms.
But when, from her decreased population, Spain could no longer supply
priests sufficient for the vast provinces of America, the court of
Madrid not only invited foreign Jesuits whom they had formerly excluded
from Paraguay, but even had them carried thither at the expense of the
government, and to the great advantage of the monarchy. It would be
endless to mention, individually, all the Italians, Flemings, and
Germans, who, for many years, have rendered signal service to the
Spanish monarchy, and the Christian religion, in Paraguay and the other
provinces of Spanish America, in our times. This honour has sometimes
been envied to foreigners, but never denied them.