A COLONY FOUNDED FOR THE MOCOBIOS AFTERWARDS
THE OCCASION OF ABIPONIAN COLONIES.
The Spaniards, weakened by daily slaughters, were extremely desirous of
procuring a peace with the savages, whom, for so many years, they had
proved unable to vanquish by arms. Instructed by the experience of other
nations, they were persuaded that the friendship of the Abipones and
Mocobios could never be either obtained, or preserved, unless these
people surrendered themselves to our instructions in civilization and
religion. And nothing was more desired by the Jesuits, than the
discovery of some means whereby the savages might be induced to inhabit
the colonies founded for them. The Royal Governors of cities were
liberal in their offers of assistance; but they seldom, or in a very
limited manner, fulfilled their promises. Satisfied when the Abipones
were driven by our means, into a new town, and kept from plunder, they
left the care of feeding and clothing them entirely to us. They thought
it a mighty performance to build a few huts of wood and mud in a new
colony, to serve as chapels and dwelling-houses for us and the Indians.
These being completed in a day or two, by the hasty labours of the
soldiers, they sent high-flown letters both to the Viceroy of Peru, and
the court of Madrid, in which they declared themselves the founders of a
new town, and the conquerors of a savage nation. But if those worthy
Governors were really solicitous for the safety of the province
committed to their care, and the firm establishment of the Indians whom
they had delivered to our instructions, they should have made a point of
furnishing every new colony with herds of oxen and flocks of sheep, with
axes and other agricultural instruments, lest the savage inhabitants,
from want of meat for daily consumption, of wool for weaving garments,
and of ploughs for daily use, should be obliged to subsist by plunder or
hunting, to wander without the colony, return to their native woods,
and, destitute of all necessaries, to declare, that they looked upon war
as more to their advantage than such a peace. But of this subject I
shall treat more fully in another place. The city of Sta. Fè formerly
cultivated, more than any of the rest, the friendship of the Abipones
and Mocobios, some troops of whom, on the strength of a peace
established between them, stationed themselves in the plains adjacent to
the city, and were permitted to enter the market-place for the purpose
either of buying what they needed, or of disposing of what they had
taken from the other Spaniards, with whom they were still at variance.
They frequently visited our college. By daily intercourse with the
Spaniards their ferocity gradually disappeared, and Aletin and Chitalin,
chief Caciques of the Mocobios, were rendered so tractable by the
presents and conversation of the Jesuits, that they refused not to be
instructed in the holy religion along with their people. The Spaniards
and Jesuits thought they should be well repaid for their labours, could
they but induce a nation so formidable for numbers and military valour,
to submit to God and the King. A colony was founded by Father Francisco
Burges Navarro, a few leagues from the city, and distinguished by the
name of St. Xavier. At first it only contained twenty families, but
received such accessions from multitudes of fresh comers, that it
increased beyond the expectation of all. As they were but a few in the
beginning, the Fathers, by the liberality of the Spanish, but still more
of the Guarany towns, were enabled so fully to satisfy, not only the
necessities, but even the desires of the savages, that, deserting their
predatory habits, they all rejoiced in their fortune, and instigated
their countrymen, who dwelt more towards the North, to embrace the same
kind of life. The other Mocobios without the colony of St. Xavier, who,
scorning the example of their countrymen, still continued to rove up and
down their own territories, received a complete overthrow from Barreda,
a few being slain, and about two hundred taken prisoners. Those who
survived this slaughter, fled for fear, to the colony of St. Xavier,
whither, likewise, the excellent Barreda afterwards sent many of his
captives.
The colony, as it increased in the number of its inhabitants, made great
progress in religious knowledge. Affairs assumed an extremely favourable
aspect, much more so than, from the ferocity of the savages, could a
short while before have been expected. Their native customs were
exterminated; whatever savoured of barbarism and superstition was
abolished, and succeeded by virtues of every kind. Persons of all ages
received religious instruction and baptism, whenever they proved
themselves worthy of it. They were as obedient in performing whatever
was enjoined them, as docile in believing whatever they heard.
Accustomed to spears and arrows, they nevertheless accounted it a
pleasure to handle the plough and the axe, and to employ themselves in
tilling the fields and in building houses. Two schools were opened, in
the one of which children learnt the arts of reading and writing, and in
the other were instructed in music, and taught to play upon the musical
instruments used in churches. One of their masters was Father Florian
Pauke, a Silesian, by whose instructions many were rendered musicians
and singers, and formed an agreeable addition to divine service. This
being known throughout the province, the Mocobian musicians were invited
to the cities of Buenos-Ayres and Sta. Fè, where they chaunted mass and
vespers, accompanied by a full band of instruments. The sweet symphony
excited the admiration of all the Spaniards, and even drew tears from
many of them, when they thought of the terror which, a few years before,
the parents of the young musicians had inspired them with, whenever
their savage trumpets and loud shouts were heard in repeated assaults.
I have no sort of doubt, that both the commencement and progress of the
fresh colony, under God, were chiefly owing to the exertions and good
example of Aletin and Chitalin. The former, who was remarkable for the
gentleness of his disposition and for natural probity, never neglected
any thing conducive to the improvement of his people. He was always the
first to attend divine service in the morning, and the holy institutions
for teaching Christianity at mid-day. Standing by the little chapel with
a brazen bell in his hand, he called to the performance of their
religious duties, those very people, whom he had formerly animated by
sound of trumpet to slaughter the Spaniards. If any violation of
integrity came under his notice, he either immediately corrected it
himself, or requested one of the Fathers to do so, whom he always
honoured with the promptest obedience, and manifested the utmost
alacrity in serving. In this alone he claimed pre-eminence above the
rest, that, though the eldest of them all, he ever laboured the most
both at home and abroad. Chitalin, who was more illustrious amongst his
own countrymen for high birth and military fame, possessed such
acuteness of intellect as occasioned Father Bonenti, the companion of
Father Burges, to say we had the greatest reason to thank God, that this
Indian Chitalin was devoid of book learning: for were this not the case,
he of himself would be sufficient to deceive all mankind. But though of
a very lively temper, in the prime of his years, arrogant, and proud of
military fame, he submitted to the divine law and the will of the
Fathers, and by so doing induced many to amend their conduct.
Inconceivable is the importance attached to the examples of the Caciques
by the Indians. The adage that the character of the king determines that
of his people, is no where more true than in America. The third Cacique
of St. Xavier, who received the name of Domingo at his baptism, though
younger than the two former, was superior to them both. Many years after
the rest had entered the colony, he, with a troop of horse, spread
terror and desolation throughout the land of Cordoba. Incensed at his
countrymen on account of the peace they had established with the
Spaniards, he long persecuted their town with the utmost virulence, and
when the opportunity for slaughter was wanting, carried off droves of
horses from the pastures of the city. Father Burges daily besought the
Almighty to convert this mischievous man to a better course of life; his
prayers were at length heard, and entering the colony, Domingo exceeded
the rest in usefulness and good conduct as much as he had previously
done in ferocity and the disposition to mischief. Some years afterwards,
he obtained the captain's staff, as a reward of his merits, from Pedro
Ceballos, Governor of Buenos-Ayres.
The example, authority and vigilance of such Caciques, caused this town,
so lately composed of a barbarous and blood-thirsty rabble, to become a
seminary of Christian piety. The strict observance of the marriage
ceremony, the remarkable modesty of the youth of both sexes, their
prompt obedience, industry, and concord, together with the extreme
good-will they manifested towards the priests, excited the admiration of
the Spaniards, who had not yet quite forgotten their ancient barbarism.
They desired baptism both for themselves, and for their children, as
soon as they were born, though formerly, by an error common to all
savages, they had considered it mortally dangerous. In the three last
days of Lent, after hearing of the agonies of our Saviour, they all felt
an eager desire to inflict tortures on themselves. Many cruelly
lacerated their bodies, others carried crosses, like supplicants, as
they had formerly seen practised by the Spanish penitents in the city of
Sta. Fè. Nor could the young lads be restrained from following the
example of their elders. Knotted leathern thongs supplied the place of
scourges; and when crosses were wanting, they took yokes of oxen,
axle-trees of waggons, heavy beams, or any timber at hand, to be applied
to the purpose of making them. They seemed to take amazing pleasure in
mangling their flesh. One of them, seeing the backs of his companions
streaming with blood, cried, "See! how we are changed by the teaching of
the Fathers! how unlike we are grown both to our former selves, and to
our ancestors! Accustomed from boyhood to shed the blood of others, we
now voluntarily shed our own, and most justly. It is right that we
punish ourselves for the numerous droves of horses that we have
plundered, and slaughters that we have committed." According to the
custom of the equestrian savages, the Mocobian mothers used frequently
to kill their own offspring. By the extermination of this cruelty in
mothers, together with the abolition of polygamy and divorce, the colony
was enriched by a numerous progeny, though often diminished by the
ravages of the small-pox. Father Francisco Burges, the founder, and for
many years the Governor of this colony, was succeeded, or assisted by
Miguel Zea, Joseph Cardiel, Joseph Garzia, Bonenti, Manuel Canelas,
Joseph Brigniel, Joseph Lehmann, Pedro Pol, and Florian Pauke my
successor when I was removed to the Abipones; from whose labours another
colony of Christian Mocobios, distinguished by the name of Pedro and
Pablo, took its rise. Over this colony presided the Cacique Amokin, who
till that time had terribly infested the territories of the Spaniards
with his Mocobios. You may have heard of a colony of Mocobios of the
name of St. Xavier, situated near the city Esteco in Tucuman, in the
last century, and it appears not foreign to my purpose to relate the
origin, state, and ruin of it, in this place. A great sedition was
stirred up in Tucuman, at that time, by the Indians, and the Spaniards
employed all their forces to repress the tumult. The city Esteco seemed
doomed to destruction, unless the continual hostilities of the Mocobios
were put a stop to. Alfonzo Mercado, Governor of Tucuman, thinking that
peace might be more easily obtained without war, sent two Jesuits to
pacify the Mocobios, and these legates were able to obtain, by fair
words, what those who sent them could never have extorted by the sword.
The savages promised peace, and maintained it, whilst Mercado was
Governor of Tucuman, but receiving information that he had been
succeeded by Angelo de Paredo, they renewed their hostilities. The
Governor, to avenge the slaughters they had already committed, and to
prevent them from attempting fresh, armed all the forces of the
Spaniards, and of the tame Indians, and after twice entering Chaco, took
and slew some companies of Mocobios. Although this expedition proved so
fortunate, it by no means tended to establish the tranquillity of the
province: for the survivors, though less numerous yet with redoubled
spirit and courage, dared every thing against the victorious Spaniards,
the memory of the slaughter they had suffered exasperating their desire
of vengeance, and supplying the place of numbers. Angelo de Paredo,
therefore, softened by experience, adopted gentler methods to
tranquillize the minds of the Mocobios. By gifts and conciliatory
measures, he at length effected so much, that some companies of them,
laying aside all enmity, settled in the neighbourhood of Esteco, and
bore the appearance of a colony, which went by the name of St. Xavier.
And as true religion is a strengthener of peace, and a certain
instrument of good works, great pains were taken to induce them to
embrace the Catholic religion. Father Diego Altamirano, a Jesuit,
descended from a noble Spanish family, together with Father Bartolome
Diaz, a native of Paraguay and well skilled in the languages of the
Indians, were chosen to instruct these savages, but not permitted to
reside amongst them by the provident Governor, who, fearing the ferocity
of their disciples, wished to ensure the lives of the missionaries. On
this account, they passed the night at Esteco; so that they were obliged
to ride eight leagues every day in going and returning; as that city was
four leagues distant from the settlements of the savages. Until a chapel
could be built there, a very large cross was erected, near which the law
of God was daily expounded. The Fathers spared no pains to civilize this
nation, but the character which they gained for singular patience was
the only reward of their labours: for the Governor, who looked for the
harvest, almost before the sowing was finished, destroyed the colony
under various pretexts. The Mocobios who inhabited it, together with the
other savages whom he had taken in his last expedition into Chaco, he
distributed amongst the Tucuman cities in the service of the Spaniards;
by which liberality he secured the good-will of the people, and
remunerated them for their assistance in the excursions undertaken
against Chaco; but the savage tribes, thus torn from their native soil,
conceived new hatred of the Spanish name, and have persisted to this
very day in revenging the injury done them by the Governor, continuing
ever hostile, ever mischievous to the whole province.
It cannot be doubted but that this colony was planted by the Governor in
a most inauspicious season; for at the very time that he committed the
Mocobios to the religious instructions of the Fathers, he persecuted
their countrymen in Chaco with the utmost bitterness; nor was the
situation of the colony approved by prudent persons. The city Esteco,
which was a few years after destroyed by an earthquake, abounded in
public vices proportionable to its wealth and power. The neighbouring
Mocobios, who were more powerfully impelled to vice by the example of
the licentious and intemperate, than to virtue by the exhortations of
the Fathers, thought themselves justified in doing what they saw
practised openly and with impunity by the Christian inhabitants of the
city. This, amongst others, was the principal reason why the town of St.
Xavier, founded in our times, was removed to thirty leagues distance
from the city of Sta. Fè, that examples of wickedness, which are never
wanting in the most virtuous cities, might not meet the eyes of the
Mocobios. The Fathers were obliged to be extremely careful in preventing
their Indian disciples from associating promiscuously with other
Christians, in many of whom they would discover vices and impurities
which they themselves were utterly ignorant of, or regarded with
execration: for Spaniards are not the sole inhabitants of Paraguay; a
mixed breed of Spaniards, Negroes, and Indians, are commonly to be seen
there. Persons of good character, and respectable family, are never
denied access to our colonies; on the contrary, they are well received
by us, and permitted to lodge in our houses, sit at our tables, and
survey any part of the town at their pleasure. But it was ordered by
royal enactments that none of the dregs of society should gain
admittance into the Indian towns, such being the very men most
calculated to pervert or delude the stupid Indians. To keep the town
clear of these nuisances, no care and vigilance on the part of the
Fathers could be deemed superfluous. Fellows of this description, though
perhaps devoid of any evil intent in their coming, seldom depart without
the commission of mischief: for they either cajole the Indians out of
their clothes, and other property, or corrupt them by indecent jokes and
actions, or, as is frequently the case, steal and carry home young men,
marriageable girls, and even married women, to serve as domestic slaves,
and often for worse purposes. Within two years seventy boys and girls
were carried into captivity from the town of St. Stanislaus. The Bishop
and Governor, when informed by me of the fact, threatened the raptors
with I know not what; but vain was anger without strength, in a province
where holy prelates had formerly been cast down by the seditious
citizens, and Governors confined in chains and a prison.
The Abipones, on account of their old friendship with the Mocobios, were
hospitably received and liberally treated in their visits to the town of
St. Xavier. Pleased with the gifts and conversation of the Fathers, they
at length began to approve that kind of life which the Mocobios had
adopted. Kebachin, a man of high reputation amongst the Abipones,
promised to induce his fellow-hordesmen to request colonies for
themselves, of the Spaniards. Debayakaikin, chief of the Abiponian
Caciques, at length desired to live under our discipline, in the
territories of Sta. Fè; but when the Governor of that city pointed out
the banks of the river Salado, to build the new colony upon, the
Abipones disapproved of that situation, and a business of so much import
was consequently suspended: for Ychoalay, who possessed much more
penetration than the rest, said that the Spaniards had pitched upon that
situation with a design of rendering the Abipones subservient to their
will, as they had done with regard to the remainder of the Calchacuis in
Carcarañal. The dread of slavery disconcerted these useful measures, to
the great disadvantage both of the Spaniards, and of themselves. By what
means the whole Abiponian nation was settled in four colonies, remains
to be circumstantially related.