_Boundaries--Climate--Productions--Matte the most
lucrative--First Discoverers--Proceedings of the
Spanish Jesuits--Guarani Indians formed into Reduçoes,
or Villages--Nature of those Missions--Expulsion
of the Jesuits--Delivery of the Missions to other
Ecclesiastics--their Decay--Mountains--Mineralogy--Rivers and
Lakes--Phytology--Zoology--Towns, Parishes, &c.--Remaining
Establishments of the Jesuitical Missions._
This province is bounded on the north by Matto Grosso, on the west
and south by the Paraguay, and on the east by the Uruguay and the
Paranna, which latter affords it the name, and divides it into two
unequal parts, northern and southern. It is altogether situated in
the temperate zone, between 24° and 33° 30′ south latitude, being six
hundred and fifty miles long from north to south, and more than two
hundred and fifty at its greatest width from east to west. The winter,
which commences in May and lasts till October, is cold. The prevailing
wind in this province is from the south-west. The climate is temperate
and wholesome, with the exception of those marshy situations, and
others which occasionally overflow, where the fever reigns periodically
in certain months. This is a country almost universally low, with few
mountains and hills, and these of inconsiderable elevation. The land
is generally excellent, and adapted to almost all the productions
of the torrid zone, as well as those of the temperate. Wheat and
Indian corn are abundant, as are the plantations of cane, cotton, and
mandioca. The most lucrative, however, are those of the _matte_.
These productions do not prosper generally in all the districts; wheat
rarely grows but in the southern parts, and matte in the northern. The
peach tree is so prodigiously abundant in the southern islands of the
Paraguay and the adjacent country, that they are frequently cut down in
order to heat the oven with their branches. They are not met with to
the north of St. Fé.
Sebastian Caboto and Diogo Garcia were the discoverers of this country,
on advancing up the Paraguay in 1526.
The colony of Assumption was the first establishment in the province
after the fort of St. Anna, and suffered much from the various
neighbouring nations of barbarous Indians, principally the Guaycurus
and Payagoas, who were as numerous as they were ferocious and brave. It
was, however, rendered defensible by the augmentation of its settlers.
Defective in gold and silver mines, which attracted so many people
to Peru and Mexico, this fine country, so advantageously situated,
remained for many years after its discovery almost unnoticed.
The middle and eastern parts were the conquests of the Jesuits, by the
introduction of Christianity amongst their possessors, the Guaranis.
These priests, knowing, from experience, the relaxation of European
morals, and how much it prevailed amongst the American colonists,
determined to catechize only those Indians who were at a distance from
the Europeans, in order that the proselytes should not know practices
contrary to the precepts to be taught. The perfection with which they
soon spoke the Guaranitic idiom, and the docility of this tribe of
Indians, concurred equally to carry into effect this wished-for object.
In a few years the Jesuits reduced the various hordes of this nation
to a settled life, in large _aldeias_, or villages, denominated
_reduçōes_, the number of which, in the year 1630, had arrived
at twenty, with seventy thousand inhabitants. Those who had advanced
to the Upper Paranna, with the intention of extending the spiritual
conquest, were obliged, by eight thousand Paulistas, to fall back, in
1631, to the south of the Maracajú Serra. The Jesuit, Montoya, relates,
that he and his colleagues retired from above to below the seven falls
of the Paranna, with two thousand Indians, when the Paulistas invaded
the Upper Paranna, and that the latter continued hostilely to visit the
_reduçōes_ of the Lower Paranna; and that, in 1637, one hundred
and forty Paulistas, with one thousand five hundred Indians, attacked
the _reduçōes_ of Jesu Maria, St. Christovam, and St. Anna, and
retired with seven thousand prisoners.
The Jesuits next reduced the Tappes to the eastward, and continued to
civilize those two nations, by teaching them all the useful arts, thus
forming the celebrated Guaranitic empire, which moderate calculators
never raised to more than two hundred thousand inhabitants; and it is
said they were able to carry into the field an army of forty thousand
men. One authority states that between the rivers Uruguay and Paraguay
was established a powerful republic, comprising thirty-one large
villages, inhabited by one hundred thousand souls; but Guthrie raises
the population of these missions to three hundred and forty thousand
families, making a surprising and incredible population of thirteen
hundred thousand inhabitants.
It is said the word _Guarrannis_ means _Guerreiros_, (warriors,) and
that this people, in former times, wandered about, carrying destruction
to every part within their reach, and obtaining many prisoners, thus
acquiring greater numbers and power. Their language and name became
common to divers tribes, whom these religious teachers introduced
into their associations, from different parts, by which they greatly
augmented the population of this republic. The exchequer of the
catholic crown furnished annually forty to fifty thousand ducats to the
missionaries employed in this conquest, inasmuch as the Indians did
not render their agriculture and industry adequate to the expenditure
and support of the country, the public receipts of which the Jesuits
were the receivers and appropriators. When the villages and temples
were completed, each man, from eighteen to fifty years, paid annually a
capitation of two gold pieces. The captains (_caciques_) were exempted
from this tribute as well as their first born, (_primogenitas_,)
and twelve men more in each mission destined to the service of the
church. In 1634, when there was already thirty _reduçōes_ with one
hundred and twenty-five thousand Christian Indians, the number that
paid tribute only amounted to nineteen thousand one hundred and
sixteen. In 1649, with a view of gaining more subjects, and to avoid
any desertion to the territory of the crown of Portugal, where there
was no capitation, the Indians were alleviated from one-half of this
tribute. Four years previously was conceded to them the power of
exporting the _matte_, upon certain conditions, in order that they
might become less chargeable to the capitation. The concession of this
liberty was a means of feeding the cupidity of the Jesuits, by the
intervention of the curates of the _reduçōes_ serving them as a cloak
through the Indians, to carry on a great trade in this commodity, to
the prejudice of the merchants at Assumption, whose complaints produced
two decrees; the one apprizing the chief priest of Paraguay of the
exorbitant quantity of _matte_ which its padres had traded in; the
other prohibiting the Indians from carrying more than twelve thousand
arrobas annually to that city.
Each of the _reduçōes_, otherwise called missions, was a considerable
town, laid out with straight streets. The houses, generally of earth,
were whitened, covered with tiles, and had verandas on each side,
in order to preserve them from the sun and rain. On seeing one, a
correct idea might be formed of the whole. Each mission had only a
mother church, generally of stone, magnificent and richly ornamented,
some being entirely gilded. A vicar and a curate, both Jesuits, were
the only ecclesiastics exercising the parochial functions, being,
at the same time, inspectors of all civil economy; under whose
direction there were magistrates, (_corregedores_,) elected annually;
a _cacique_, or chief, elected for life; and other officers, each
with his jurisdiction. With the exception of these, every individual
of both sexes wore a shirt reaching to the ancles, usually of
white cotton. They cultivated _matte_, the cotton tree, and such
provisions as prospered best in the country. The whole was deposited
in warehouses, from whence it was distributed daily to the people.
Each family received an ounce of _matte_, four pounds of meat, and a
certain measure of Indian corn, and more if it was judged necessary.
All passed under the review of the magistrates or of other subordinate
persons. The curates lived commodiously, near to their churches, and
contiguous to their dwellings were two spacious houses; one destined
for schools of reading, painting, architecture, music, and having shops
for different manual occupations; the other was a _recolhimento_,
or receptacle for a great number of young girls, who were engaged
in different works, under the inspection of matronly women, already
instructed. The women received on Monday a certain portion of cotton,
which they were to return in the spun state on Saturday. The curate,
accompanied by certain officers and masters, went daily at eight
o’clock to visit the schools and shops. The signal of the last _Avi
Marias_ was also that of the _rosario_, or counting of beads, at which
all assisted.
All superfluities were exported, with a large quantity of tallow,
hides, and _matte_, and with the proceeds they paid the capitations,
and obtained in return requisite European articles.
It is calculated that the Indians possessed near two million head of
cattle.
Such was the condition of the _reduçōes_, or missions, which
constituted the pretended Guaranitic state, in 1768, when the Jesuits
were expelled and their people delivered over to the direction of
the Dominicans, Franciscans, and Mercenarians. The last is an order
of friars instituted in Arragon by King James for the redemption of
captives.
The Marquis of Bucarelli, governor of Buenos Ayres, wishing to go
personally, accompanied by the best troops of Europe which he could
collect in that capital, to execute the orders of his sovereign
relative to the missions, which were repugnant to the feelings of the
Indians, wrote, before he commenced his march, to all the vicars to
send to him the chief (_cacique_) and head magistrate of each
mission, in order that he might communicate to them advices from
his Majesty. On their arrival at Buenos Ayres he unjustly retained
them as hostages, with a view of obviating any difficulty that might
arise. In Yapegú, which is the first mission, was presented to him the
celebrated chief, Nicolau, who in Europe passed for the sovereign of
the Guaranitic republic, and who was not able to proceed in the train
of the others, in consequence of the infirmities of old age, being
then seventy. The Europeans and their descendants began to frequent
the missions, and the Indians to have mutual relations with them,
and to learn from them many of the most familiar words, also some
relaxation from the more correct morals and manners of the Jesuits.
The population, in consequence, soon began to diminish, as well as the
neatness and cleanliness of their houses and temples.
MOUNTAINS.--In the northern part there is the serra of Maracaju,
which is of trifling altitude; and the Lambara, in the vicinity of
the capital, also not of remarkable elevation, although it exceeds in
height all those that encompass it.
The mineralogy consists of _gesso_, or plaster, limestone, granite, and
marble.
RIVERS AND LAKES.--Besides the three great rivers that limit this
province, there are many others which water the interior, and some of
them navigable for a considerable distance.
The Gualeguay, which has a course of more than one hundred and forty
miles, empties itself into the Uruguay, a few leagues above the Negro,
after having watered a level country, rich in cattle, corn, and fruit
trees.
The Mirinay, which also runs into the Uruguay, fifty miles below the
Ibicui, is considerable, and runs through an extensive country, stocked
with large cattle.
The Taquary, seventy miles long, empties itself also into the Uruguay,
ninety miles below the preceding.
The Jaguare, rising in the Serra Maracaju, runs into the Paranna,
twelve leagues below the Setequedas (Seven Falls).
According to a map of the country, which does not appear a bad one, the
Acarahy is the first considerable river which enters the Paranna by the
right bank, seventy miles below the Setequedas.
The Tibiquary, which is considerable, disembogues into the Paraguay
ninety miles above the confluence of the Paranna. The Cannabé, after a
course of one hundred miles, enters the Paraguay fifty miles north of
the Tibiquary.
The lake Ibera, otherwise Caracares, is pretty considerable, and
approximates the left margin of the Paranna; it has some islands, and
its neighbouring lands are marshy. Charts do not accord as to its size:
some give it one hundred and fifty miles in length, and little less in
width; others, ninety in length, and twenty in width; they agree that
it communicates with the Uruguay by the Mirinay, and with the Paraguay
by the Correntes, which empties itself near thirty-five miles below St.
Luzia. It is also said to communicate in two parts with the Paranna.
The lake Jagapé, which is large, and surrounded with woods, is near the
northern bank of the Paranna, about sixty miles above the town of Itaty.
PHYTOLOGY.--The cedar, which is of various sorts, the _páu
d’arco_, (bow wood,) sassafras, with many other trees of fine
timber for building; the pine tree, and those which afford a resin
denominated the blood of the dragon, and the oil of _cupahiba_;
the ipecacuanha, jalap, rhubarb, and other medicinal plants; the
_opuncia_, pine-apple, orange, banana, and _mamoe_, of which
last tree there are male and female; the male bears no fruit but only
flowers, the female bears fruit and no flowers.
The vegetable _matte_ is a large shrub or bush, with leaves
similar to an orange tree, and tastes of mallows; it is said the serra
Maracaju produces the best. It is usual not to wait for the leaves
falling, but they are plucked, and then dried by some of the most
approved methods, generally upon hides between two fires. This plant
is taken almost like tea, and the use of this beverage has prevailed
from time immemorial amongst the Indians of the northern part of this
province. It was they who introduced it amongst the first inhabitants
of Assumption.
ZOOLOGY.--This province is prodigiously abundant in cattle, horses,
and mules; sheep are numerous, but goats few. There is a sufficiency
of hogs for the consumption of the inhabitants. Amongst the wild
quadrupeds are remarked the ounce, the deer, the monkey, the fox, the
rabbit, the cat, the _tamandua_, _quaty_, _zorrilha_, or squash, the
_tatous_, or armadillo, _paca_, _cotia_, and the boar. Of birds, the
emu ostrich, the _seriema_, _jaburu_, _cegonha_, _garca_, _mutun_,
_jacu_, _colhereira_, _urubu_, _tucano_, _rola_, troquaze pigeons,
the parrot, _codornize_, or quail, _beija-flor_, or humming-bird, the
_guiraponga_, and the partridge. There are also a diversity of wild
ducks and geese.
The principal _povoações_ are, Assumpçao, or Assumption, Correntes,
Coruguaty, and Villa Rica.
Assumpçao, an episcopal city, is in a state of mediocrity, possessing
some commerce. It is the capital and the residence of the governor,
and is situated upon the margin of the Paraguay, which daily washes
away a part of the ground upon which it is built. It is ornamented
with a hospital, with convents of the Dominicans, Franciscans,
Mercenarians, Recoletos, (rigid friars,) and a seminary which was a
Jesuitical college. This city has no regularity nor fine edifices;
the greater part of the houses are built of earth, and many of the
inhabitants of its three parishes are descended from the Portuguese.
From hence is exported tobacco, _imbe_, timber, and a prodigious
quantity of matte to Buenos Ayres, where it is afterwards packed in
hides, and distributed over various Spanish districts, being a beverage
universally used amongst them, as well as by the Portuguese in the
southern parts of Brazil. In its environs are bred numerous herds of
large cattle. There are plantations of cotton and the cane. Honey and
wax are abundant. They cultivate also, as in other parts, _aipim_,
or _pompim_, as it is called here, which root, after being
scraped, chopped, and dried in the oven, is cooked with meat, serving
for bread. The maize, or Indian corn, after it is boiled, and beat in a
pestle, is passed through a sifter, kneaded with milk, and baked, when
it receives the name of _chippa_.
The bishop is a suffragan of La Plata, otherwise _chuquissaca_.
The chapter of the church, as in all other ultramarine cathedrals
of the Spanish states, is composed of twelve canons, including the
moderator of the Inquisition, five dignitaries, the dean, archdeacon,
chanter, treasurer-mór, and master of the college; also six petty
canons to sing the Evangelists, and as many more half petty canons
for the Epistles, whose vestments differ little from the others. The
canons of theology, doctorial, magisterial, and penitentiary, only
give graduates, and that by competition. The revenue of the suppressed
canonship is destined for the expenses of the tribunal of the holy
office.
There are two tribunals, one called the _Junta Decimal_, for the
public disposal of the decimos, and consisting of two canons, a royal
fiscal, a minister clothed with a _toga_, or gown, an accountant,
and an _escrivao_, or scrivener. The other denominated _Meza
Capitular_, for the collection and distribution of the proceeds
of the decimos, is formed of a _provisor_, or vicar-general,
a canon, acting at times as a fiscal, the _contador-mor_, or
chief accountant of the treasury, and another accountant to make the
distribution or rates.
All the produce of the decimos is appropriated to the church. In
calculating this, the chief accountant of the treasury divides it
into nine equal parts; one and a half, under the name of _noveno e
medio_, belongs to the crown, and is destined for the repairs and
other necessities of the church; and which the sovereign, as patron,
gives by way of succour. Of the other seven and a half parts, one-half
is for the bishop, whose duty is to relieve the necessities of the
diocesans, especially the poor ones, collected in the house erected for
their habitation, because none of them are permitted to solicit alms
_pelas portas_, at the doors.
The residue is divided into three equal fifths, one for the dean, the
remainder subdivided anew into three, two are distributed amongst
the other dignitaries and the canons, with arithmetical proportion.
The part remaining is portioned equally amongst the petty canons,
and the half petty canons, or chaplains. The priests of the cities
are denominated _reytors_, or rectors, and those of the towns,
_vigarios_, or vicars. The padres only of the Indians have
revenues, (_congrua_,) drawn from the coffers where the produce of
the Indian lands that are sold, and the rents of the _emprazadas_,
(persons paying an annual fine for lands bought,) are deposited. They
receive nothing from the parishioners, except for the solemnization of
burials.
The priests of the churches of the whites (_brancos_) alone have
the altarage, (or free offerings of the people made at the altar,) and
the productions of the patrimonies with which they were founded.
The churches are given after a competition of talent exhibited before
the bishop. The competitors are convoked by him and the vice-patron,
who is the governor, and without whose consent nothing can be decided
in these cases. In order to fill up a vacancy, the bishop proposes
three, the choice from which belongs to the vice-patron, if he does not
reject the whole, and demand a proposal of others for his choice.
Correntes is a small city, advantageously situate in the southern angle
of the confluence of the river Paranna, ornamented with a convent of
Dominicans, one of Franciscans, and a third of Mercenarians, having
straight streets, and many houses with one story. The Jesuitical house
is in ruins. Amongst its inhabitants, there are some Portuguese, many
Indians, and a few negroes. In its vicinity there is much marshy
land, and very extensive woods. Cattle and horses are the wealth of
the country. _Mandubins_, Indian corn, vegetables, water-melons,
and cotton, are the objects of culture. The land is neither adapted
for wheat nor matte. The ants and locusts, which are extremely
numerous, destroy the mandioca, and prevent its cultivation. The
_pitangueira_, or _pitangua_ tree, is very abundant; peaches
are not met with. The _imbagay_ is a fruit similar to the mango,
but something smaller, and found from hence northward. Hides and timber
are the principal articles of exportation. Mosquitoes are extremely
troublesome here.
Justice is daily administered by two _alcaldes_, or magistrates,
assisted by two _assessores_, or lawyers. The four are elected
annually by a judicial _cabildo_, composed of twenty-four
governors for perpetuity, except in the event of delinquency; four
of whom are principals, namely the royal ensign, the deacon, an
officer called the _aguazil maior_, and the provincial alcalde.
The others are ordinaries, each with his inspection, presided by
an assessor-general, called _tenente assessor_, (lieutenant
assessor.) There is an advocate named by the _audiencia_,
or audience-court of the province, for the purpose of defending
_gratis_ the causes of the poor, or those who do not possess a
patrimony of a certain value, and also of prisoners, although they may
be rich.
Ten leagues to the north of Correntes is the parish of Nehembuçu, on
the margin of the Paraguay, where they build boats and different sorts
of vessels. Thirty leagues to the south of Correntes is situated the
village and parish of St. Luzia, also upon the margin of the Paraguay;
in its district there is _gesso_, a species of plaster, which
forms a branch of exportation. In this interval are the parishes of
Algarrobas, Esquina, and Goya, abounding sufficiently in meat and fish.
Bagada de St. Fé, and commonly called Paranna, is a small village
situated upon the Paraguay, in front of St. Fé, in view of an island of
considerable extent. From hence is exported a good deal of limestone.
Coruguaty is a middling town, and celebrated for the large quantity
of matte collected in its district, of which it is the deposit. It is
situated about thirty leagues to the north-east of Assumption, and
three miles distant from the left margin of the river from which it
borrows the name.
Five leagues to the north of it is the _prezidio_ or garrison
of St. Miguel, established in order to obstruct the invasions of the
Guaycuru Indians.
Villa Rica, where also is accumulated large quantities of matte, lying
twenty leagues to the south-east of Assumption, is yet small. There is
another place of the same name on the borders of the Paraguay, to the
north of the capital.
Arroio da China is a middling town, situated on the banks of
the Uruguay, more than thirty leagues above its embouchure. Its
inhabitants, mainly white people, breed cattle and cultivate corn and
fruit.
Itaty is a small town, but regular, and well situated upon the
southern bank of the Paranna, about thirty leagues above Correntes.
Its inhabitants consist of Indians and some white people; a portion
occupy themselves in potteries, and others in forming plantations
of the cotton tree. The soil and climate are adapted for oranges and
water-melons, which prosper abundantly.
In the country of the missions is to be remarked the following places.
Candellaria, which took the name from its magnificent church, as did
almost all the _reduçōes_ of the pretended Guaranitic kingdom,
or the missions of the Paranna, of which it was always considered the
capital, in consequence of its superior size and population. It is
situate upon the left bank of the river Paranna, where it inclines to
the west, near the mouth of a small river.
Corpus, also on the left margin of the same river, is fifteen leagues
to the north of Candellaria, and is the most northern of the missions,
situated upon the Paranna, and one of the handsomest in the province.
Between the two preceding are situated those of St. Gosme, St. Anna,
St. Gosme Velho, Nosso Senhora do Loreto, and St. Ignaçio Menor, (the
smaller.) This last is three leagues above the preceding one, and four
below Corpus.
The Padre Xarque, says the _reduções_ of Nosso Senhora do Loreto
and St. Ignaçio Menor, were founded for the establishments of the
twelve thousand Indians, which the Jesuits conducted from the Upper
Paranna, when the Paulistas invaded the country.
Itu, upon the same margin of the Paranna, is fifteen leagues to the
west of Candellaria.
Assumpçao is fifteen leagues, with little variation, to the south-west
of Corpus, near the mouth of a small river that loses itself in the
Uruguay.
Conceiçao is situated sixteen leagues to the south of the preceding
one, and little more than three leagues distant from the river Uruguay.
St. Thomas is fifteen leagues distant, in a southern direction, from
Conceiçao.
St. Maria Maior is a few leagues to the north of Conceiçao, also upon
the margin of the Uruguay.
Apostolos is little more than six leagues to the west of Conceiçao,
upon the road which leads towards Itu; and twenty miles further in the
same direction upon this road St. Carlos is situated.
St. Francisco Xavier is a few leagues to the north of St. Maria, and to
the east of Candellaria. In this interval Martyres is situated.
Itapuan is on the right bank of the Paranna, to the north of
Candellaria. Trinidade is eight leagues to the north of Itapuan. St.
Ignaçio Guassu (the larger) is near the head of a branch of the river
Tibiquary. It is the most ancient of the whole.
St. Fé is five leagues to the north-east of St. Ignaçio Guassu. The
mission of Jesus is four leagues to the north-north-west of Trinidad.
St. Roza is six leagues to the east of St. Ignaçio Guassu; St. Gosme
four leagues to the south-east of St. Roza.
St. Tiago is eight leagues to the north of Itu; and Yapegu, which is
the most southern, and amongst the largest of the missions, is situated
near the Uruguay, a little below the confluence of the Ibicui, and half
a league to the north of the river Guavirida. The Jesuits had a college
here richly ornamented.