EXTREME INDIGENCE OF THE COLONY, AND ITS VARIOUS
CALAMITIES.
The Rosary, as it had been unaptly named, was, from its very outset, the
most thorny of all colonies. All the Spaniards being departed with the
Governor, I was left entirely in the power of the Abipones, and of the
hostile savages who infested the neighbourhood; yet, depending on the
protection of the Almighty alone, I never felt myself more secure. There
was no colony of Christians within thirty leagues of us, from which we
could expect succour against the hostile troops of Mocobios, Tobas, and
Guaycurus, whose hordes were so near that the smoke of them could be
discerned from our colony. My Abipones for some time obstinately refused
to remove their tents to the situation appointed for the colony. The
sudden departure of the Governor was the origin of this refusal and of a
hundred suspicions,—"The Spaniards departed to-day," said they, "perhaps
in the intention of returning to-morrow to murder us, when they hear
that we are settled in the open plain." Seeing no houses built for them,
as usual in other colonies, they took occasion to suspect every thing
that was bad. Three days I spent unaccompanied, at the end of which, by
much persuasion, I prevailed upon the Abipones to quit their retreat,
and remove to the place where I was. They learnt from their spies that
the Spaniards were at a great distance, and being delivered from their
suspicions at length became more tranquil.
Wherever I turned my eyes I found necessaries wanting for myself and the
Indians, without which life could not be supported nor the colony
preserved. Almost all the sheep which the Spaniards contributed were
useless from age and disease, and the falling off of their wool; indeed
most of them died whilst the Governor was there, so that all prospect of
obtaining wool from them to clothe the Indians entirely disappeared. The
very lean and indifferent beef which was our principal and almost only
food, afforded the Indians daily subject of complaint. The oxen, which
were sent from the remote estates of the Spaniards, at intervals of a
year, arrived emaciated, and half dead from the length of the journey,
and, as no others remained, were immediately slain, without being left
time to fatten. Their flesh, either boiled or roasted, was devoid of all
taste and moisture, and better adapted to disgust than refresh the
stomach. For my part, I loathed it so much, that during many months I
tasted no other food than boiled cows' feet, though destitute of bread
or any vegetables.
Fulgentio de Yegros had established a little estate for the use of the
colony on the opposite shore of the river, but its pastures were by no
means fertile, and so poorly was it furnished with cattle, that they
scarce sufficed to feed the Abipones; consequently very few could be
left to breed. The man sent by Fulgentio to guard the cattle was an
infamous wretch, composed of nothing but fraud and falsehood, who used
to slay the fattest cows for his own use, and sell the fat and suet to
the Spaniards, whilst we in the colony were suffering the greatest want
of both. He also fatigued the horses of the colony by hunting with them,
or lending them to others for the same purpose, as if they were entirely
at his disposal. I often accused him to the Governor, but he was never
punished, though convicted of innumerable thefts. The man whom Fulgentio
appointed to supersede him was honest, but not quite sane: he was
agitated by continual terrors, and wherever he was, imagined that stones
were being thrown at him by some unknown hand, even in the middle of the
day. What diligence or accuracy could be expected from such a person in
managing the estate? Our never having a proper guard for the cattle was
the chief origin of all our miseries: for the Abipones think nothing
wanting to their felicity if they have plenty of good meat, but if that
be not the case will never rest easy in the colony.
It may also be reckoned amongst our misfortunes, that as the estate was
on the opposite shore of the Paraguay, we had to convey across that vast
river all the oxen necessary for our support. A ship, strong horses,
dexterous horsemen, and much industry were requisite to effect that
without the loss of many oxen.
Maize, and various kinds of beans, roots, and melons, serve the Indians
as a seasoning, or substitute for meat: I therefore exhorted the
Abipones to cultivate the ground, but agricultural implements were
wanting; we had scarcely any oxen fit for the plough; and were even
unprovided with a supply of seed for sowing. Some bushels of maize were
sent from the city, but they had been terribly gnawed by the worms; also
a sack of beans, in coming from thence, had been wetted in the river
from the carelessness of the sailors, and had already pushed out shoots.
Who would believe that the neighbouring savages, our former enemies,
supplied us with various kinds of seeds, which we had so long and vainly
sought from the Spaniards? The country itself, as I declared at first
sight, was unfavourable to plants, because it abounded in chalk. After
much rain, it bore the appearance of a lake—when the waters subsided it
became as hard and dry as a stone. Notwithstanding this, the Abipones
did plough and sow great part of it, but they lost their labour; in the
woods, however, where the soil is more fertile, and the sun's heat kept
off by the shade of the trees, they reaped an abundant and easily-earned
harvest of various fruits. I found the soil extremely favourable to the
tobacco which I planted, but could never find a situation fit for sowing
cotton. The alfaroba was only to be found in distant forests, but the
want of it was supplied by abundance of honey. Other fruits, which grow
quite common elsewhere, are extremely scarce here. The country near the
shore abounds in stags, deer, and emus, the neighbouring rivers in
crocodiles, water-wolves, and capibaris, but are mostly destitute of
fish. It is a remarkable circumstance, that the river near the colony
swarmed, for some days, with every kind of fish, which were easily
caught with the hand, as they swiftly hurried down the stream: they are
thought to have been conveyed into this river by intermediate pools,
from the Rio Grande, at the time of the annual flood.
But it is quite clear to me, that the penury of the colony was not so
much owing to the nature of the situation, as to the indigence of the
founders. The other Fathers, who were sent to instruct the savages,
received from the Governors and opulent citizens a plentiful supply of
linen and woollen cloth, glass-beads, knives, scissars, rings, needles,
hooks, ear-rings, &c. baits by which both the eyes and minds of the
savages are taken. When I set off to found the colony, not so much as a
pin was given me in the city of Asumpcion. The Spaniards of Sta. Fè and
St. Iago supplied the Fathers with choice horses when they went to a new
colony. The Spaniards of Asumpcion, on the contrary, robbed me of four
excellent horses, for which I was indebted to the kindness of the
Jesuits in the Guarany towns: yet the Governor neither made any enquiry
after the thieves, nor indemnified me for the loss. Great scarcity
almost always prevailed in the colony, because the supplies, which the
Spaniards engaged themselves to pay, were very seldom and very sparingly
sent, or, being brought by sailors, were long in reaching us, or were
destroyed on the way from want of care. No assistance could be expected
from the Guarany towns, which were so beneficial to other colonies, both
on account of their distance and the calamities of that period. The
small remainder of those little gifts, with which the liberality of my
friends had supplied me, I used, in my distress, for the purpose of
allaying the discontent of the Abipones, who had been induced by the
promises of the Spaniards, and the hopes of bettering their fortune, to
assemble in this colony, where they justly lamented to find themselves
deluded, and in want of every thing.