COROLLARY TO THE EVENTS DETAILED IN THE
PRECEDING CHAPTER.
No one will deny that my Abipones performed wonders, beyond all
expectation, and even belief, when it is considered that twelve of them
not only held out for some hours against six hundred savages, but even
repulsed them. Amid such a cloud of arrows no Abipon received any injury
but the man I mentioned, and a boy of twelve years old, who, being
awakened from sleep by the neighing of the horses, and the shouts of the
combatants, was slightly wounded in the leg by an arrow, as he chanced
to look out of his tent. We concluded that many of the enemy had been
wounded from seeing two here and there seated on the same horse, and
because breastplates of hard antas' skins were found next day in the
plain covered with blood, and pierced with weapons. An Abiponian youth,
who had been stationed in a secure place, bravely defended a flock of
our sheep, which the enemy made frequent attempts to carry off, by
continually shooting arrows, and succeeded in preserving it untouched.
Fain would I bestow some commendation on those four noble Spanish
guards; but, alas! no sign of bravery or dexterity could I discover in
either of them: one discharged his musket at the moon, and another did
not even know how to load his, for he put the ball in first, and then
the gunpowder, so that the one prevented the other from catching fire.
Other instances of stupidity, which I observed in their comrades' method
of handling their arms, I have neither time nor inclination to
commemorate. Blockheads of this kind were sent us by the captains for
the defence of the colonies, whilst the more skilful, the more active,
those in short that alone deserved the name of Spaniards, were left at
home to increase their property.
On the same day which was rendered so memorable by the assault of the
Tobas, when we thought ourselves out of danger, ten savage horsemen,
issuing from a neighbouring wood about sun-set, presented themselves to
our sight, but quickly disappeared. The general opinion was that they
were spies, and this gave us occasion to suspect that the enemies were
lurking disguised in ambush, in the intent of returning at night to
surprize us. The unusual and universal barking of the dogs, during the
whole night, confirmed our fears. To ascertain whether any of the enemy
were lying in wait, I armed myself at ten o'clock at night, and
traversed the whole neighbourhood, the plain, the wood, and the shores
of the adjacent lake, followed by the four Spaniards. Having examined
every place in the vicinity, I became more tranquil, and wrote an
account to the Governor at Asumpcion of the state of our affairs. With
my letter I sent, wrapped up in my bloody shirt sleeve, the arrow which
had wounded me; a trophy of the religious obedience which had fixed me
to this perilous colony. The arrow and the sleeve stained with my blood
attracted all eyes in the metropolis, and were honourably preserved as
monuments. The Spaniards judged of the wound, and of my danger, partly
from the accounts of the Abiponian messengers, partly from the size of
the barbed arrow; and, as report usually swells in its progress, my
acquaintance mourned me as dead, and offered the sacrifice of the host
for my atonement. Others, knowing me to be still alive, honoured me with
the title of Confessor of the Lord; as my administering baptism to the
Cacique of the Tobas was the occasion of my receiving the wound. The
report of the assault and defence of the colony was spread in the
metropolis with great augmentations, when those four soldiers, who had
partaken of the danger, and been spectators of the whole conflict,
arrived. They declared upon their honour that we were attacked by eight
hundred savages, more terrible to behold than hobgoblins; they extolled
to the skies the bravery of the Abiponian defendants, who were so few in
comparison with the enemy; and they openly declared that their own
safety and that of the rest was principally owing to me, who had dared
to approach within ten steps of the savages, and to contend with them so
long in the open plain. But I always gratefully acknowledged, that,
being destitute of all human aid in repulsing the savages, we were
preserved in our extreme danger by divine assistance.
Though the assailants were departed, the minds of the inhabitants were
far from being in a state of tranquillity. Next day, the market-place
resounded with the screams of women, lamenting their husbands and sons,
who had gone out under pretext of hunting, as slain by the confederate
savages: but their speedy return to the colony dissipated the alarm
excited by this false report. Our joy for their safety was equalled by
their grief at hearing how many excellent horses had been carried off by
the enemy. To indemnify themselves, however, for the loss, was a matter
of little time and trouble; for, by a dexterous use of twenty horses,
given them by their friend Oaherkaikin, and of many others which they
had used on their journey, they soon after took a drove of four hundred
from the Mocobios, which subsequently proved the means of acquiring
still more. In the course of a few months, such was the abundance of
horses in the colony, it seemed impossible that any could have been
lost.
The Governor Fulgentio, who had been informed by me of the danger of the
colony, at length appointed ten regular soldiers for the defence of it;
but as men of this description are always slow in their obedience to
orders, and often refuse to comply with them altogether, they landed
with us two days after the hostile incursion that I have related took
place. I was greatly rejoiced at the arrival of the Spaniards, as it
secured me from being left alone should fear again induce the
inhabitants to desert the town; for fresh assaults were shortly to be
apprehended, the Tobas being neither appeased nor satisfied with
plundering horses, since they had been disappointed of an opportunity of
slaying their owners. They resolved upon a fresh incursion, repeatedly
exclaiming, that blood could only be repaid by blood; which being
conveyed to our ears by good authority, we were under the necessity of
watching day and night. The women, dreading the cruelty of the minacious
Tobas, sought security in the remotest lurking places, and persuaded
their sons and husbands to accompany them thither; so that in a few
weeks the little town was stripped of inhabitants. The Governor
continually promised to go out against the Tobas for the purpose of
revenging the blood I had shed, but he did not stand to his word till
six months after; meantime the hordes of Tobas had removed to more
distant places: in consequence of this long delay, the joint expedition
of the Spaniards and Abipones, though attended with an amazing deal of
inconvenience, proved totally fruitless, the Tobas remaining
undiscovered, and reckoning this vain journey of the Spaniards amongst
their victories.
Amidst these continual tumults, no time was left for the instruction of
the Abipones, nor the faintest hope of success in the attempt. Engrossed
by the pursuits of war and the chase, they had neither time nor
inclination for religious duties, and though in the evening most of the
young women and boys assembled in the chapel to learn from me the
rudiments of the faith, very few, and often none of the male adults
appeared there. No industry or eloquence seemed sufficient to abolish
their drinking-parties and superstitious ceremonials. It was with the
utmost difficulty that I could prevail upon them to receive baptism,
even at the point of death. They often refused to obey me when I advised
any wholesome ordinances, tending either to the security of the colony,
or the welfare of individuals. Hence, when the Governor desired to be
informed, by letter, of the number of inhabitants, that by exhibiting
this testimonial he might procure me the usual Missionaries' pension
from the master of the royal treasury; I replied to him in these words:
"I should not dare to demand the annual pension which his Catholic
Majesty has destined for the support of the Missionaries; for this
colony is not composed of catechumens, but of _energumens_: but the
stipend paid to the King's soldiers I assert to be my undoubted right,
and I verily believe that there is no captain or lieutenant in this
province who would be induced, by any emolument whatsoever, to pass even
one month amidst the perpetual dangers, watchings, labours, and
miseries, which I have daily undergone during a period of two years, in
defending this situation against the savages." These things I told the
Governor with the greatest sincerity; but let it be known that I never
received a single penny from the royal treasury, either in the character
of missionary or of soldier. Hence originated the uncommon indigence of
this colony: for the money which the piety of the King had appropriated
to the support of the Missionaries, was the chief, and almost the only
source from which we used to purchase the sacred utensils, the
instruments of iron, and other necessaries for clothing and remunerating
the Indians.
Worn out by two years' afflictions, labours, and cares; frequently
tormented by the gout; and deprived of the use of my middle finger; I
requested the Provincial to substitute another priest in my place. At
length, at the end of three months, Joseph Brigniel, a veteran
Missionary of the Abipones and Guaranies, accompanied by Father Jeronymo
Rejon, was appointed my successor. Both of them, though they had come
from the city plentifully furnished with small gifts to gain the
good-will of the inhabitants, and with things pertaining to domestic
use, were daily called upon for the exertion of their patience, finding
the Abipones little tractable, the Mocobios and Tobas ever hostile.
These latter, not to mention other instances, invaded the colony whilst
Brigniel was performing divine service; on which occasion an old Guarany
shepherd was killed in the country, and Oahari, amongst several others,
received a deep wound in battle. This Cacique died soon after of the
deadly bite of a serpent. Though of mean extraction, he was famous for
military deeds; politic, intrepid, courteous to his own countrymen, and
formidable to strangers; qualities which gained him the title of
Cacique, and the celebrated names, first of Revachigi, afterwards of
Oahari. Though scarcely more than thirty years of age, he had rendered
his name already illustrious, being superior to most of the Abipones in
dignity and beauty of person, in dexterity in horsemanship and the
handling of weapons, in contempt of danger, and in greatness of mind. He
was always well-disposed towards me, and attentive to my admonitions,
except that, from too great a desire to gratify his countrymen, he
suffered himself to be hurried into vices, which they indeed account
virtues, and was restrained from laying any commands or prohibitions on
his people by the consideration that the title of Cacique did not belong
to him by hereditary right, but had been conferred by the free votes of
the people, and consequently was a very precarious honour. In one
respect, he was more fortunate than the Caciques Debayakaikin,
Ychamenraikin, and Alaykin, who, though old inhabitants of our colonies,
died in battle without having received baptism; whereas he, of his own
accord, desired to undergo the ceremony, when he found himself at the
point of death.
Joseph Brigniel, though long accustomed to the Abipones, thought the
ferocity of the inhabitants, the perpetual incursions or threats of the
enemy, and the wretchedness of the place itself, quite intolerable; and
indeed, not many months after, he had a dangerous and obstinate fit of
sickness. He told many of his friends in letters that he could not
conceive how I had been able to remain for two years in so calamitous,
turbulent, and perilous a situation; and in one addressed to the
Governor declared that the preservation of this colony was, under God,
to be attributed to my patience, vigilance, and industry. I should have
forborn to mention this honest encomium, were it not to refute the
calumnies of certain individuals, who, never having performed any
praiseworthy actions themselves, are impelled by envy or malice secretly
to detract from the good deeds of others, when those who might convict
them of falsehood are far away. Let me now proceed to relate my
departure from the colony.
The decaying and shattered bark in which my successor Brigniel had come,
served to convey me up the river Paraguay, in company with a few
soldiers, to the city of Asumpcion. We performed a voyage of seventy
leagues in eight days, using both oars and sails. The night before we
reached port, a furious tempest drove us against a very lofty bank, the
height of which we at length gained by means of planks stuck into the
ground, and supported by the vessel. Sitting in the fields, we had for
some hours to endure a storm of rain and loud thunder, and though
completely drenched, esteemed ourselves fortunate in having escaped
being swallowed up by the waves, or struck dead by lightning. As the
soldiers were gone, and the sailors forced to remain to look after the
skiff, I set off on foot and alone, unless you call rain, wind, and
thunder my companions; and after travelling through a country swollen
with torrents, reached the metropolis a little before noon. The kindness
of my former associates in our college, who all ran to embrace me,
effaced from my mind the perils of the voyage, and the distress of the
preceding night. I went to the Governor, and told him as a friend what
measures he ought to pursue for the preservation of the colony and the
Fathers, and for the coercion of the savages. The good man acquiesced in
my counsels, promised much, and performed almost nothing: for, from
letters written to me subsequently by Father Brigniel, I understood that
affairs continued in the same state as before my departure, or rather
that they grew worse and worse.
My strength being somewhat repaired, it was thought advisable for me to
pursue my journey to the Guarany towns, where I might be entirely
restored to health. Antonio Miranda, rector of the college, a man of
plain manners, and a hater of flattery, said to me, just as I was going
to mount my horse; "You have had more to endure in two years, in the
situation you have just quitted, than others go through during many
years in other colonies." The rector also desired me to defer my journey
for a while, and to act instead of the Jesuit priest, who was absent on
business, in the estate of our college, called Paraguay, and twenty
leagues distant from Asumpcion. This place stretches out on one side
into a pleasant plain, affording pasture to a vast quantity of cattle;
on the other, where it looks towards the south, it is surrounded by
hills and rocks; in one of which a cross piled up of three large stones
is visited, and held in great veneration by the natives for the sake of
St. Thomas; for they believe, and firmly maintain, that the Apostle,
seated on these stones as on a chair, formerly preached to the assembled
Indians. Having executed my commission here, I pursued my journey on
horseback, accompanied by a few Negroes; for the shores of the
Tebiguary, which we crossed in a boat, are thought extremely dangerous
for travellers. On Christmas-eve, I reached the towns of the Guaranies,
and after travelling so many hundred leagues by water and land, laboured
sedulously, the first days of my arrival, both in the pulpit, and the
confessional chair. The tranquillity of those places, proper diet, and
the prescriptions of Norbert Ziulak, a famous physician and apothecary,
within a few weeks restored me so completely to health, that seeing
myself capable of undertaking another journey of an hundred and forty
leagues, I returned in Lent to the town of St. Joachim, at the earnest
request of its magistrate, and with the permission of the Corregidor of
the Indian towns. Amongst the Ytatinguas, the inhabitants of this town,
with whom I had formerly lived six years, I now spent two more with much
satisfaction. Here, indeed, my labours were great, but they were
pleasant, being crowned with abundant success; I would that they had
been lasting! But in two years I was recalled from this town, and sent
back to Europe with my associates, by order of the king. The banishment
of the shepherds was the destruction of the poor little sheep; and the
Abipones, leaving their towns, began anew to cut the throats of the
Spaniards. A Jesuit who sailed to Europe a year later than the rest,
told me, at Vienna, that all the Abipones had deserted the town of St.
Joachim, where I had left two thousand and seventeen Christians on my
departure, and that the neighbouring town of St. Stanislaus, which had
formerly contained two thousand three hundred neophytes, was entirely
destitute of inhabitants. Some secular priests, as well as monks, were
indeed put in place of the Jesuits, but they were all such as disliked
the Indians, or were disliked by them, having undertaken the care of the
towns, not spontaneously as we did, but by compulsion. Some came
weeping, as I myself witnessed; others, weary of dwelling ever so short
awhile amongst the indigent and formidable Indians, fell sick, or
feigned to do so, that they might be permitted to return. How much could
I write on this subject! but it is better to be silent. Time will
discover things, which, though perfectly true, cannot with propriety be
inserted in books.