YCHOALAY, IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE SPANIARDS, TAKES
A COMPANY OF HOSTILE ABIPONES, AND, ON ANOTHER
OCCASION, FIGHTS SUCCESSFULLY WITH OAHERKAIKIN.
The Charruas, a fierce equestrian nation, after being long formidable to
travellers on the eastern bank of the Parana, were at length made
captive, for the most part, by a troop of horse from Sta. Fè, and
assembled in a colony founded in the plain Cajasta, where they were
instructed in the divine law by a priest of the order of St. Francis.
These savages, formerly so slothful, were impelled by hunger to make
great exertions in cultivating land. But the plains adjacent to the
town, being in great part marshy, scarce afforded a place where seed
could be sown with any prospect of a harvest, and the hill occupied by
the colony seemed too small for the number of inhabitants. On which
account, some Charruas were sent by the priest to explore the remoter
plains, and endeavour to find a better situation for the colony. On
their return, they communicated their discovery of a very numerous horde
of Abipones near La Laguna Blanca. The Vice-Governor of Sta. Fè, when
informed of this circumstance, judged habitations of hostile Abipones
insufferable in a place where they had such a good opportunity of
sallying forth to annoy the colonies of the Spaniards. He appointed a
troop of his own horse to drive away that hostile horde, and wrote to us
to request that Ychoalay, with his people and with the Mocobios, might
join them.
The Vice-Governor's letter, which was delivered to us as we were at
dinner, dispersed the cloud that overspread our minds, like a propitious
star. Ychoalay got every thing in readiness the same evening, and set
out the next day with a numerous company almost before sun-rise. There
was not one amongst them all that did not follow him with a cheerful
mind, not one that complained of want of horses. For although the enemy
had taken great numbers of them but a very short time before, yet many,
still lurking in the remoter pastures, escaped both their eyes and
hands. Ychoalay rode on before the rest, and reached the plain specified
by the Vice-Governor, where he found the Spanish horsemen on foot and
fasting, their horses and oxen having left them in the night. Both were
recovered by the sagacity of Ychoalay. Soon after, under the guidance of
the Charruas, they hastened to the shores of La Laguna Blanca, which,
however, they found already deserted by the Abipones, and whither they
had removed was difficult to conjecture. Ychoalay was commissioned by
the Spaniards to seek the abode of the fugitives. All places being
diligently examined under his direction, the enemy's stations were at
length discovered, and at the same time so closely besieged, that all
hope of flight or victory being precluded, they every one yielded to the
conquerors. They were deprived of their arms, and brought like captives
to the town of St. Jeronymo, with a crowd of women and boys.
The event of this expedition exasperated the minds of all the
Nakaiketergehé Abipones, as much as it elated those of our nation; and
proved a stimulus to the enemies to pursue the war with still more
pertinacity. That three of the most formidable of the captives, Zapancha
and Pachieke, and a brother-in-law of Alaykin, whose face dwells in my
memory, though not his name, were kept in chains in the port of
Monte-Video, was what the Nakaiketergehes could never digest, and what
they embraced every opportunity to avenge. A few months after, to omit
other instances, seven inhabitants of St. Jeronymo were treacherously
slain, whilst travelling, by the tribesmen of Oaherkaikin. Ychoalay,
thinking these atrocities no longer to be endured, led a hundred and
twenty-five Riikahés against Oaherkaikin, whose encampments were then
forty leagues north of the town.
I, who was then removed to the town of St. Ferdinand, through which
Ychoalay was to pass with his troop, had a good deal of trouble and
anxiety on account of this expedition, fearing that our Yaaukanigas, who
had long been hostile to Ychoalay, would take part with Oaherkaikin, and
involve our town in the troubles of war. The day before Ychoalay and his
company arrived, a scout of his, who had been sent forward to explore
the roads taken by the enemy, and their places of concealment, came to
me in the early part of the night. In the space of an hour he was
followed by a second, and then by a third. The two latter returned at
night to relate to Ychoalay what they had seen and heard, but the first,
who was called Rochus Chiruilin, passed the night in my house.
The same day at noon, Ychoalay and his people arrived, in such an
orderly band, with so much silence, and such decent habiliments, that I
should have taken them for a troop of Spaniards. They were all furnished
with iron spears, with hats, and Spanish saddles. A hill which slopes
towards the town was the place where they chose to encamp. They were
defended against sudden assaults by a wood behind, and by a ditch on
each side, and had a full view of the plain beneath, where their horses
were feeding, so that if any treacherous attack were meditated it would
be immediately perceived. They passed the night in the open air, placed
in a row describing the form of a semicircle, as that figure contributes
much to the mutual defence of a few against many. When lying down they
make use of saddles instead of a pillow, and the housings of their
horses serve them for a mattress. Every one has his spear fixed in the
ground close at hand. Four or six feed their fire, which is kept up to
give light in the night; whilst others, who are appointed to keep watch
for the security of the sleepers, and of the horses, traverse the plain
on horseback, and if they observe any thing alarming or unusual, give
notice of it to those who are reposing, by horns and trumpets.
There was not one of the Abiponian guests who did not run to my house to
ask me how I did; for, having lived two years in the town of St.
Jeronymo, I knew and loved them all. Ychoalay, by reason of our old
intimacy, conversed with me in a friendly manner for some hours every
day. All my anxiety and my arguments were directed towards persuading
him to baptism. I expatiated on the perils to which he was going to
expose his life. But he, confiding in the number and fidelity of his
fellow-soldiers, would not allow that he stood in any danger, and owned
himself too much engaged in warlike cares to be in a fit state for pious
thoughts of that kind. I was also anxious on another account. I knew
that my Yaaukanigas were inimical to Ychoalay, but amicably inclined
towards their neighbour Oaherkaikin, and feared that they would assist
the one against the other. But I advised them not to take part with
either, if they wished to consult their own interest. I united threats
with entreaties to deter them from attempting any thing against
Ychoalay, who, though he did not stand in need of their assistance
himself, would, I was well aware, be greatly incensed at their lending
any to Oaherkaikin. This I repeatedly declared to the chief men of the
town, and at length, forgetting their old grudge, they suffered
themselves to be persuaded. Some of the younger went to be close
spectators of the fight, but they carried no weapons.
In the mean time, Oaherkaikin, being at length informed of Ychoalay's
journey, informed him, by means of a messenger, of his present place of
abode, whither, he said, Ychoalay might come, and welcome; that he
himself had never bestowed a thought on flight or terror; and that his
soldiers were few, but such that every one of them seemed to him capable
of slaying many. The day before Ychoalay left us, his chief emissary
Hapaleolin intercepted Kepakainkin, a tribesman and brother-in-law of
Oaherkaikin. As his wife was a Nakaiketergehe, whilst his brothers dwelt
amongst the Riikahés, he sometimes joined one tribe, sometimes the
other, and, on this very account, incurred the hatred of both. Fearing
the arrival of Ychoalay, he withdrew from Oaherkaikin's horde, which was
shortly to be attacked, under pretext of watching the motions of the
enemy; but in reality with a treacherous design, which he put in
execution, of meeting with the Riikahés, and conducting them to the
horde of Oaherkaikin: however, he was only a spectator of the fight, and
afterwards deserted Oaherkaikin's town, and betook himself to that of
St. Jeronymo.
The horde of Oaherkaikin was a few leagues distant from the town of St.
Ferdinand, nor did it contain more than twenty men able to bear arms,
the rest being at that time employed in harassing the colonies of the
Spaniards. But the small number of those who resisted were defended
against all assaults by the natural situation of the place. Behind, and
on each side, they had a wood, and in front a marshy field, which
rendered access difficult, and fighting dangerous to the enemy.
Ychoalay, with his usual intrepidity, left his horse, and struggled
through the deep mud, till he arrived near enough to reach the enemy
with arrows. The younger part alone followed their leader: for the rest,
despairing of a victory amongst so many straits, marshes, and woods,
from their horses, as from an orchestra, beheld their companions bravely
fighting at a distance. The desertion of the old men, however, increased
the boldness of the young ones, and more furiously inflamed their anger
against the enemy. Oaherkaikin received three deep gashes, and his
brother was dangerously wounded in the throat by an arrow. Of the rest
scarce one departed from the field of battle without a severe wound.
Though streaming with blood, not one of them seemed to remove his foot
from his standing place, or his hand from the bow; which was extremely
honourable both to the conquered and to the conquerors. Ychoalay, who
remained unhurt amid this storm of arrows, had only three of his people
wounded, and those had previously received baptism. On their return to
the town, I examined and dressed their wounds. Hapaleolin was pierced by
an arrow in the side, and a Spaniard, named Lorenzo, one of the
voluntary captives of the Abipones, in the arm. Rochus Chiruilin had the
tendon of his great toe hurt by an arrow, and remained seven weeks in my
house till I had completely healed him. Whilst the battle was yet
raging, some followers of Oaherkaikin arrived from the estates of Sta.
Fè, whence, after slaughtering the Spaniards, they brought many hundreds
of horses, all of which Ychoalay took, and restored to their owners;
besides these, a multitude of horses, which Oaherkaikin had in the
neighbouring pastures, also fell into his hands.
These events having taken place in the absence of the curate, Father
Joseph Klein, I sent both for him and the Vice-Governor of Corrientes,
fearing the doubtful event of Ychoalay's expedition, and the
disturbances which would, in all probability, ensue in our colony. He
came on the evening of the next day with my companion, accompanied by
ten Spanish horsemen, and, in a friendly manner, saluted Ychoalay, who
returned from the skirmish a short time after, and who, at first sight,
requested the Vice-Governor, Nicolas Patron, that those ten horsemen,
who were all excellently armed with muskets, might be added to his
Abipones, as he purposed returning immediately to destroy Oaherkaikin,
the implacable enemy of the Spanish nation. But the Vice-Governor
disapproved of his intention, and endeavoured to dissuade him from it.
He said that to join battle with the wounded, appeared to him repugnant
to humanity, and that however advantageous such a victory might be, it
would be entirely devoid of glory. After many arguments on both sides of
the question, Ychoalay at length yielded to the Vice-Governor's
suggestion, that if Oaherkaikin preferred peace to war, he should enter
this colony, refrain from slaughter and rapine, and promise peace and
friendship to all the colonies of the Christians; but on his refusing
these conditions, should be given to understand that Ychoalay would
instantly return to meet him in the field of battle. These things were
announced to him by a Yaaukaniga horseman, by whom he replied, that the
proposed conditions met his approbation; that, at present, neither
himself nor his wounded companions had strength or horses sufficient to
undertake the journey; but that when their wounds were thoroughly
healed, he, with his companions, wives, and children, would remove to
our colony. Oaherkaikin kept his word: for when Ychoalay had gone back
to his own people, he and his numerous family, before their wounds were
even scarred over, came to the town of St. Ferdinand. This observance of
the promised peace, however, did not outlast the fear which had induced
it; when released from that, he changed both his mind and his place of
residence, continuing ever a plunderer, ever the chief of the Abiponian
plunderers.