NO TRIFLING ADVANTAGES DERIVED FROM THE ABIPONIAN
COLONIES, THOUGH FEWER THAN WERE EXPECTED.
The four colonies of St. Jeronymo, Concepcion, St. Ferdinand, and the
Rosary, were so many schools where the assembled nation of the Abipones
were civilized and instructed in religion. Spite of innumerable
obstacles which had long retarded the progress of our efforts, we
succeeded in banishing superstition and barbarism, and in softening
their ferocious manners by apostolic gentleness. Those who had formerly
lived like wild beasts on the products of plunder or the chase, laid
aside their detestation of labour, and applied themselves to
agriculture; they who had before appeared most active and skilful in
plundering, became afterwards most indefatigable in tilling the fields,
and building themselves houses. Ychoalay, Kevachichi, Tannerchin, and
others, the terror of the Spaniards, and the most fortunate chiefs of
the whole nation, became diligent above the rest in ploughing and
building, on their removal to colonies, and exhorted their hordesmen,
whom they had formerly encouraged in slaughtering the Spaniards, to
follow their example. Almost all the inhabitants of St. Jeronymo, the
capital town, and a great number in the other three colonies, received
baptism. Many, both of the younger and older men, by the innocence of
their lives, their attention to the Christian faith, their reverence for
the church and for images, and their diligence in prayer and frequent
use of the sacraments, gave solid proofs of piety towards God and the
Saints; though the female sex always bore away the palm in the duties of
religion. I have not time to relate every circumstance tending to verify
what I have just advanced, but it would be wrong to omit them all.
Ychohake, a man distinguished by a hundred noxious arts, closed a life,
infamous for crimes, by a noble death. Having long been declining, he
desired to receive the sacrament a short while before his decease, and
to evince his abhorrence of the superstitious rites of his nation,
refused to admit any of the female jugglers, who usually attend the
sick, into the house. For the same reason he desired by his last will
that his horses and sheep might not be slain on his grave, according to
the custom of the Abipones, but that they might be kept for the use of
his little daughter. The more noble Indians dug his grave, at other
times a female office, with their hands, in a place which they had
desired us to point out in the chapel, and, rejecting the lamentations
of the women and other savage ceremonies, interred him according to the
rites of the Church of Rome. Ychoalay was bathed in tears, and said he
had now no brother left. Hemakie, and many others, whose lives had been
employed in robbing and murdering the Spaniards, died in my presence in
a manner worthy of a Christian. An Abiponian girl, converted to
Christianity, concealed herself for many nights in a wood frequented by
tigers and serpents, to avoid being forced into a marriage with
Pazonoirin, a bitter enemy to religion. Intemperance in drinking began
to decrease; polygamy and divorce were no longer generally practised;
and the savage custom of killing their unborn babes was at length
condemned by the mothers themselves. Many chose rather to endure the
want of things which could hardly be dispensed with, than obtain them by
arts to which they had long been familiarized, but which were forbidden
by the divine law.
It is an undeniable fact that these colonies, in which the Abipones were
confined like wild beasts in cages, were highly advantageous to all
Paraguay. By means of them security was restored to the public roads,
through which merchants were in the habit of passing; and fresh estates
were able to be founded and enriched with additions of cattle in places
which had long been deserted for fear of the Abipones. By them too, the
other savages, the Tobas, Mocobios, and Guaycurus, were prevented from
continuing their usual inroads into the lands of the Spaniards, who were
thus enabled to repose in safety and tranquillity in the bosom of peace,
whilst we were keeping watch amongst the Abipones, and often exposing
our lives to danger. I do not deny that many deserted their colonies,
took up arms again, and, renewing their predatory excursions, plundered
droves of horses from the undefended estates; but, as I have observed
elsewhere, that was entirely the fault of the Spaniards themselves, who
left none but women at home, having called out all the men to make war
upon those seven Guarany towns, which, according to treaty, were to be
delivered up to the Portugueze.
It is also most certain that many of the Abipones, after dwelling for
years amongst us, still continued to reject baptism and religious
instruction, and though blameless in other respects, obstinately adhered
to their old customs. This grieved, but did not greatly surprize us: for
were either the Jews, the Greeks, or the Romans immediately convinced by
the Apostles who taught the law of Christ? Were the temples and the
synagogues overthrown in a few years? No; that was a work of ages,
perfected by the toils and blood of numbers, and we have not yet reached
the goal. Alas! how small a portion of the globe has sworn allegiance to
Jesus Christ; numbers without number still observing the law of Moses,
of Mahomet, of Confucius, of Nature; others even paying worship to
idols! An aged oak, with roots deep fixed in the ground, is not felled
at one blow. To eradicate the ridiculous superstitions of the Abipones,
their habits of wandering and of plunder, confirmed by the example of
their ancestors, and become as it were a second nature, appeared to many
a business of infinite labour, and almost desperate success: for
experience shows that the equestrian savages are harder to be civilized
than the pedestrian tribes: their inveterate habit of roaming about the
whole province, and committing depredations, is a sweet poison, which
insinuates itself deep into the very marrow, and is with difficulty
expelled. So thought St. Xavier, who, though he left no stone unturned
to convert the neighbouring nations of Asia, and even the remote Chinese
and Japonese, to Christianity, never attempted to instruct the Badajas,
an equestrian tribe in the bordering kingdom of Narsinga, or Bisnagur,
foreseeing that in such an expedition he should lose the labour which,
with greater and more certain success, he expended on other nations.
Notwithstanding the hardness and obstinacy of the equestrian nations,
they were by no means to be neglected by the Apostolic labourers of
Paraguay, as their conversion and civilization were of the greatest
importance to the safety and tranquillity of the whole province. But
many artifices must be made use of by those who have to instruct or deal
with them in any way. They must be advised, admonished, and corrected,
with singular mildness, and some indulgence; with them the maxim
_festina lentè_ should be put in practice, lest premature fervour and
severity should suddenly destroy the hopes of future fruits. You will
alarm the savages who have but just quitted the woods, and make them fly
you, if, burning with the spirit of Elijah, you imprudently strive to
abolish their rude, barbarous manners, and conform them exactly to the
rule of Christian discipline, at the first trial. But though indulgence
was always our aim, we did not think proper to connive at any thing
contrary to religion, or injurious to others, which it was in our power
to prevent. To procure immortal life for dying infants, we often
incurred danger of death from the opposing savages, who would rush upon
us with spears, foolishly imagining that the ceremony of baptism
accelerated dissolution. Even now I tremble at the remembrance of that
night when Father Brigniel hastened to baptize an infant which he
understood to be at the point of death, I accompanying him, and carrying
the torch. Cacique Lichinrain, the father of the child, could be induced
by no entreaties, threats, or expostulations, to suffer his little son
to be baptized; which as he was endeavouring to effect against the will
of the Cacique, the furious Kevachichi laid hands on him, and pulled him
back, the rest of the by-standers expressing great indignation, and
threatening us with every thing that was dreadful. The Cacique held his
almost expiring son tight with both arms, and covered him all over with
his clothes, so that he was entirely concealed. We, therefore, returned
home without accomplishing our purpose: the infant, however, soon after
recovering, put an end to our grief. How often, surrounded by swords and
arrows, have we flown to prevent a crowd of drunken Abipones from
rushing to mutual wounds and slaughter! If you read the annals of either
India, you would be convinced that the Jesuits, who instructed the
savages in the divine law, must have united apostolic severity with mild
indulgence, whenever they had to contend for the glory of God, and for
integrity of conduct. Above all admiration, and almost beyond belief,
are the examples of magnanimity which the men of our order, employed in
taming the ferocious nations of Paraguay, have left to posterity. What
has not been endured and attempted for the love of God, by Roque
Gonzalez, Barsena, Boroa, Ortega, Mendoza, Ruyz de Montoya, Mazzeta,
Cataldino, Diaztaño, Lorenzana, Romero, Yegros, Zea, Castañares,
Machoni, Strobel, Andreu, Brigniel, Nusdorffer, Cardiel, Fons, and their
numerous imitators, many of whom ended an Apostolic life with a bloody
and honourable death! I shall here subjoin a list of the names of those
who were slain by the savages, or on their account, at various times and
places. As I have not at hand the most approved historians of Paraguay,
Father Nicolas del Techo, Doctor Francisco Xarque, and Pedro Lozano, who
have given an accurate account of all these matters, I may perhaps omit
some who deserve to be enrolled in this class of brave men; but I will
faithfully record the names of all those who are mentioned in my notes.
P. Roque Gonzalez de Santa Cruz, born in the city of Asumpcion; P.
Alonzo Rodriguez, and P. Juan de Castillo, killed by the Guaranies in
Caarò, in the year 1628, Nov. 15th.
P. Christoval de Mendoza, (who is said to have baptized ninety-five
thousand Indians,) slain by the savage Guaranies in Tapè, in the year
1635, April 26. By the same savages, and at the same time, three hundred
lately baptized infants were killed and devoured in the town of Jesus
and Maria.
Fathers Gaspar Osorio, and Antonio Ripario, killed by the Chiriguanos,
in the year 1639, April 1.
P. Diego Alfaro, shot by the Brazilian Mamalukes, in the year 1639, Jan.
19.
P. Alonzo Arias, and P. Christoval de Arenas, slain by the same
Mamalukes, but at a different time and place.
P. Pedro Romero, and Brother Mateos Fernandez, his companion, slain by
the Chiriguanos, in the land of Curupay, March 22d, 1645, for having
said to the neophytes, _It is not permitted you to have two wives_.
P. Espinosa, killed by the Guapalaches, in the way to the city of Sta.
Fè, whither he had been sent by P. Ruyz de Montoya, Superior of the
Missions, to buy cotton for clothing the naked Indians.
P. Lucas Cavallero, wounded by the Pinzocasas with an arrow, and then
dispatched with a club, Oct. 18th, 1711.
Father Bartholomew Blende, a Fleming, and P. Joseph de Arce, a native of
the Canaries, slain by the Payaguas, anno 1715.
P. Blasio de Sylva, a native of Paraguay, formerly Provincial there, and
P. Bartolome de Niebla, slain at another time by the same Payaguas.
P. Antonio Solinas, a Sard, and his companion the Reverend Don Pedro
Ortiz de Zarate, a priest, to whose care the new colony of St. Raphael
had been committed, slain on the same day by the Mocobios and Tobas, at
the door of the church, near the river Senta.
P. Nicolas Mascardi went out with a number of Patagonians to seek the
fabulous city De los Cesares, and, after an unsuccessful search, was
slain on his return by the Poya Indians.
Brother Alberto Romero had his head cloven with an axe by the Zamucos in
the year 1718.
P. Juliano Lizardi, a Biscayan, whilst ministering at the altar in the
vale of Ingre, was dragged into a neighbouring field by the rebellious
Chiriguanos, tied to a stake, and dispatched with thirty-seven arrows at
the town of Concepcion.
P. Augustino Castañares, a native of Salta in Tucuman, slain with a
club, as he was travelling, by the Tobas and Mataguayos, Sept. 15, 1744.
P. Diego Herrero, going to the Guarany towns, was pierced with a spear
by an Abipon near Cordoba, Feb. 18, 1747.
P. Francisco Ugalde, a Biscayan, killed by the Mataguayos with a shower
of arrows, and burnt to ashes in the church, which was set on fire by
the same savages with arrows headed with flaming tow.
P. Antonio Guasp, a Spaniard, taken by one Guaña, knocked down by
another with a blow on the forehead from a club, and slain and wounded
all over with a sword by their Cacique the Mbaya Oyomadigi, in the
estate of the town Santissimo Corazon de Jesu, amongst the Chiquitos,
anno 1764.
P. Martin Xavier, a Navarrese, a relative of St. Francis Xavier, and P.
Balthasar Seña, starved to death among the Guaranies.
Father Hans Neümann, an Austrian, from fatigues endured in a wretched
navigation of some months on the river Paraguay, died at Asumpcion, Jan.
7, 1704.
Brother Henrique Adamo died of a disease which he contracted in a
journey to the Chiquitos.
P. Lucas Rodriguez, after a long search of the fugitive Ytatines, amid
continual showers and thick woods, expired shortly on his return home.
P. Felix de Villa Garzia, a native of Castile, in a journey of some
months, undertaken for the purpose of discovering the same Ytatines in
the Tarumensian woods, got an ulcer in his left eye, which continually
streamed with blood and swarmed with worms, and which miserably
tormented this pious man for many years, and at length put a period to
his existence in the town of Sta. Rosa.
P. Romano Harto, a Navarrese, was dangerously wounded in the belly with
two arrows by those Mataguayos who slew and burnt his companion Ugalde.
Father Joseph Klein, a Bohemian, who acquitted himself admirably amongst
the Abipones for twenty years, received a blow on the head from a young
man of that nation, which laid him prostrate on the ground, where he lay
for some time senseless and bathed in his own blood, in the town of St.
Ferdinand.
Father Martin Dobrizhoffer, whilst defending his own house and the
chapel against six hundred savages in the town of the Rosary, had his
right arm pierced with a barbed arrow, the muscle of his middle finger
hurt, and one rib wounded by a savage Toba, at four o'clock in the
morning, on the 2d of August, in the year 1765.
All these, and many more perhaps, employed in establishing the religion
of Christ amongst the various nations of Paraguay, courageously parted
with their lives, or shed their blood in the cause. Happy they who were
allowed to die for the sake of the Gospel! We who survived, though
partakers of their toils and dangers, seemed unworthy of so noble a fate
as our comrades in not being permitted to end our lives in Paraguay. The
royal mandate by which we were ordered to return to Europe, for reasons
still unknown to us, being, in the words of the decree, confined to the
King's own breast, was bitterer to us than any death; it did in fact
hasten that of many who are at this moment floating on the ocean, or who
fell victims to a voyage of four, nay of five months. Out of some thirty
Jesuits who were carried to Europe from the port of Buenos-Ayres, five
only reached Cadiz half alive, not to mention many others who underwent
the same fate in sailing from other countries of Asia or America. All
well disposed persons grieved that men distinguished for piety and
knowledge of various kinds, who had rendered such signal services to
Christianity and to America, and who had been apostolic fishers of
savage nations, should become at last the prey of sea-fishes.
I, who, though exiled from Paraguay, have by God's grace been preserved
till now in my native land, derive the greatest satisfaction from the
recollection of the toils which I encountered for many years in
endeavouring to make the Abipones and Guaranies acquainted with the will
of God; though my success never answered to my wishes, especially
amongst the Abipones, who, like other equestrian savages, are of an
indocile and untractable disposition. Yet no one can call the labour we
spent on them subject of regret, or the colonies useless in which they
were placed; for besides that by them tranquillity was restored to the
whole province, many of the Abipones, infants as well as adults, were
initiated into the rites of the Romish church, and brought over to peace
and civilization. Nor can it be doubted that many who died ere they
enjoyed the use of their reason, but had been baptized beforehand, were
admitted into the society of the blest; I also think that many adults
who received that holy ablution obtained the same felicity. I am not
acquainted with the exact number of Abipones, who were baptized in those
four colonies.
In the soil of the Guaranies the harvest was much more abundant. From
the year 1610, till the year 1768, 702,086 Guaranies were baptized by
the hands of the Jesuits, not including those who received baptism from
men of our order in the ancient towns destroyed by the Mamalukes, most
of which contained many thousands of Christians. About two thousand
persons, infants as well as adults, were baptized by me alone.
In the last fifty years which the Jesuits spent in Paraguay, 18,875
infants were sent to Heaven, having received baptism, and being devoid
of reason, and consequently of sin. That you may not think this an
exaggeration, I must tell you that in the year 1732 those thirty Guarany
towns situated near the Parana and Uruguay contained 141,182 Christians.
The repeated ravages of the meazles and small-pox, military expeditions
in the Royal Camps against the Portugueze, tumults of war on account of
the Guarany Reductions, bloody incursions against the savages, and
various diseases, had so diminished the number of inhabitants that, on
our return to Europe, we left scarce one hundred thousand Guaranies,
though twenty years before the two colonies of Ytatines, St. Joachim,
and St. Stanislaus, each containing almost five thousand inhabitants,
had been added to the thirty ancient towns.
I also find it recorded in my notes that from the year 1747 till the
year 1766, 91,520 persons were baptized in those thirty-two Guarany
towns.
The ten towns of the Chiquitos in the year 1766, contained 23,788
Indians, men and women. All except a few catechumens, who had but lately
quitted the woods, were excellent Christians, formidable to their foes,
and useful to the Spaniards. The other colonies of various nations
founded and governed by us in the province of Chaco were reckoned the
same year to contain 5,424 Christians. I am not acquainted with the
exact number of Christians in each of these colonies; this only I know
that the town of St. Francis Xavier supported about a thousand Christian
Mocobios in the year 1766, and that of St. Jeronymo about eight hundred
Christian Abipones. The town of St. Ferdinand contained no more than two
hundred; the rest of the inhabitants were only catechumens. I do not
know the number of Abipones that received baptism in the towns of
Concepcion and the Rosary. I have been the more diffuse in this
enumeration in order to make you understand how much more successful the
priests were amongst the pedestrian than amongst the equestrian nations,
the conversion of which was a matter of so much more time and labour,
that the progress of Christianity amongst the Abipones, though it did
not equal our wishes, exceeded the expectations of the Spaniards. I have
given this account of the Abipones with the greatest fidelity possible,
though not in the most elegant style. Veracity was more my aim than
polished language. The judicious reader will pardon any rusticity of
expression in an author who has passed so many years amongst savages in
the woods of America.
THE END.
London: Printed by C. Roworth,
Bell-yard, Temple-bar.
Transcriber's notes.
1. Variations in hyphenation, accentuation and punctuation have been
retained as they were in the original publication.
2. Variations in the spelling of proper nouns have been retained as they
appear in the original publication.
Except Namaraichene and one example of Ychamenraikin where a circumflex
over the r has been omitted.
3. Possible printer and typographical errors have been changed silently.
4. Italicized words and phrases are presented by surrounding the text
with _underscores_.