VARIOUS INCURSIONS OF THE MOCOBIOS AND TOBAS.
All places being full of peril and fear, and exposed to the machinations
of the enemy, many of the Abipones, weary of a life embittered in so
many ways, crossed the river with their families, and went to the estate
of Fulgentio de Yegros, who received them with great pleasure, and
usefully employed them in his service. The women were occupied in
shearing sheep and spinning the wool; the men in guarding cattle, and
other rural tasks; receiving, as the best recompense that could be given
them, abundance of beef. Very few, meantime, remained with me in the
colony. This was thought a good opportunity for an attack by the
Mocobios and their allies, and indeed our destruction would have been
inevitable, had I not providentially abstained from my usual custom of
sleeping in the afternoon. The particulars of the affair deserve to be
related:—I had gone on foot, and alone, to the bank of the river to try
the new boats and rowers, and that I did not fall asleep on my return,
after being fatigued with three hours' walking in the heat of the sun,
can only be attributed to heavenly interposition. At two o'clock in the
afternoon, a boy who was sitting on the steps of the observatory
suddenly exclaimed, "The savages are coming!" As I was walking in the
yard, I spied a troop of Mocobios, who presented themselves in the
market-place, armed and painted, as for a battle, disposed in regular
ranks, and unaccompanied with any women or children; all which betokened
hostile intentions. The boy I mentioned, with six old women and a lame
Abipon, were the only persons that remained with me in the town.
Snatching up my arms, and guarding the door, I performed the part both
of commander and garrison; and, little as I am, was more than sufficient
to terrify so many horsemen. As soon as ever they saw me present the
musket they turned their backs, and slowly receding through the
market-place, sat down in a little wood near the tents of the Abipones.
Aware that the Americans supply by craftiness any defect in courage, and
that they often renew the attack when their adversaries imagine them
completely intimidated, and on their return home, I remained armed in
the same place, and kept an eye on their motions. When a quarter of an
hour had elapsed in this manner, I approached the Mocobios on foot, and
with no one but the boy for my companion, to ascertain whether they were
to be considered as friends or foes. I accosted them unarmed, but
received very laconic replies to the questions I put them; and their
sullen and threatening-looks discovered that they were ill-disposed
towards us. As we were conversing, a quantity of smoke rose up in that
part of the shore where the Spaniards cross the Paraguay; being asked by
the Mocobian Cacique whence or from whom I thought that fire proceeded;
I replied from the Spaniards; and that I was in expectation of two
hundred soldiers, whom the Governor had promised to send to build houses
in the colony. Struck with this news, the savages were afraid to execute
what they had planned to our destruction, fearing that any acts of
hostility perpetrated by them would be avenged by the Spanish horsemen,
whom they thought approaching. At this conjuncture a cloud of dust
appeared in that direction by which the Mocobios had come, and by the
shining of their spears, we knew the savage horsemen; perceiving which,
the Mocobios instantly leapt on to their horses; an additional proof of
their evil intentions. The boy pulled my gown, saying, "Let us go,
Father, lest we be taken;" and indeed I began to entertain the same
apprehension myself. Civilly taking leave of the Mocobios, I returned
home with slow steps, to avoid betraying my suspicions, and resuming my
weapons, posted myself at the door, and awaited the event.
Without delay a numerous company of Tobas, headed by Cacique
Keebetavalkin, drew out in the market-place. All were laden with arms of
every description, and painted with dark colours; but without saying a
word about the occasion of their coming, they sent their horses to
pasture, and sat down to pass the night with the troop of Mocobios. I
approached, and accosted these new comers, unfurnished with weapons of
any sort, bearing myself towards them altogether as towards friends,
though they could not, in any light, be accounted other than enemies,
certain to do us a mischief, unless we conducted ourselves towards them
with great liberality and caution. I took care to have an ox immediately
slain for their supper, from the same motive that one would stroke an
unruly horse, or throw a piece of meat to a surly mastiff. Not to be
quite unprepared for treachery on their part, we passed a sleepless
night, keeping the strictest watch both with our eyes and ears, and
holding our weapons in readiness to repel violence were it offered. I
performed divine service early in the morning, without ringing of bells,
and with the greatest quietness, lest the savages, discovering that I
was engaged at the altar, and being thus delivered from their
apprehension of the musket, should attempt hostilities against us with
impunity. All my precautions, however, proved unavailing; for a crowd of
savages surrounded me as I was pronouncing the formula of the divine
consecration. A Mocobian juggler stole in first by a door adjoining the
altar. After standing awhile behind me, he jumped back several times to
his companions, who were near the door, making mimic gestures, and
tossing about his arms in a ridiculous manner. They conversed together
for some time by signs. Imagine what must have been the state of my mind
in this interim—I expected death every moment.
Having accurately performed divine service to the end, I presented the
savages, as if they had politely come to visit me, with any little gifts
that were at hand, but failed to elicit from them what their intentions
were, though I could not but suspect them to be of the very worst
nature; for they examined every corner of my house, impudently
attempted, in my presence, to pull up the stakes with which it was
surrounded, and tried whether they could burst open the wooden door of
the chapel with their shoulders. Meanwhile, I smilingly looked on, and
took especial care to prevent the suspicions of my mind from appearing
in my countenance; knowing that the greatest coward is inspired with
courage if he perceives himself an object of terror. I boasted of our
intrepidity and skill in archery, displayed a store of arms, and a
variety of leaden bullets, and descanted upon the wonderful power of the
musket, which reaches the most distant objects, and penetrates and
demolishes the hardest substances. The Governor, on leaving the colony,
had given me, for the defence of the inhabitants, one of those very
small cannon which are fixed to the prows of ships; to load this, he had
furnished me with eight charges of gunpowder, fifteen bullets, but only
one iron ball, weighing scarce half a pound, which, to deprive them of
all inclination to assault the colony, I gave to the savages to handle
and look at. When they came to visit me in my apartment, "Oh, how heavy
it is," they exclaimed: "what a hole it would make in a man's body!"
By these artifices, I induced the Mocobios and Tobas to give up their
intention of destroying the colony, or rather, as the event discovered,
to defer it till a better opportunity. During many days, which they
passed in sight of us, in the same spot they had at first occupied, they
daily explored the adjacent pastures, plains, and woods; not one of the
few Abipones that remained at home presuming to offer the least
opposition, though perfectly aware of their dangerous intentions.
Meantime, though suspected of treachery, they revelled like Bacchanals
at our expense; oxen being at my orders slain on purpose for them, lest,
on failure of other food, ourselves should be devoured by these
cannibals. A fortunate event at length delivered us from these hateful
guests, and freed us from continual anxiety and suspicion. About
sun-set, the whole plain resounded with a sudden tumult, no one doubted
but that the enemies were approaching; and I myself believed we should
be presently attacked by a vast company of Mocobios and Tobas, of which
those that had stayed so long with us were only the spies and
forerunners. But this was a false alarm; for when the dust, which had
concealed them from us, dispersed itself, we discovered ten of our
Abipones, who were bringing about two thousand horses which they had
plundered from Ychoalay's estate, to revenge the death of one of their
countrymen who had fallen by his hand in a recent skirmish. The Cacique
of the Mocobios, seeing so large a booty, doubted not but that the owner
was pursuing the plunderers, and fearful that by remaining he should be
involved in the conflict with Ychoalay, and drawn into a participation
of the danger, hastened home next morning as soon as it was light. The
ill-will that he bore towards us was manifested by his parting speech to
the Abiponian women: "If," said he, "you value your lives, your
liberties, and your children, desert this colony forthwith. The land you
occupy is not your own, nor will we suffer you to usurp it. It will be
stained with your blood, unless you depart voluntarily." This first
visit of the Mocobios and Tobas was a prelude and preparation to that
grand expedition which these savages, in conjunction with the
Oaekakalots, undertook, some months after, to the destruction of our
colony. Of this subject we shall treat more fully after having made some
premises.