An Account of the Abipones, an Equestrian People of Paraguay, (1 of 3). Dobrizhoffer Martin
of the Indians. Not a savage would now have been left in America, had every professor of Christianity conformed his life to its dictates, and joined his endeavours vigorously to ours.
The third division, from which the whole province takes its name, is that of Paraguay, so called from the river on which it borders. In regard to the laws of dominion its extent is immense; but from the dangerous vicinity of the savages on one hand, and the Portugueze on the other, the inhabitants, considering their number, are contracted into somewhat narrow limits. Extensive and fertile plains, both to the west on the opposite side of the river, and towards the north, are totally neglected, on two accounts – their distance from the metropolis, and the above-mentioned neighbours. The Corrientine country is accounted the southern boundary. The inhabitants are almost incalculably numerous. There are who assert their capability of bringing ten thousand soldiers into the field, Spaniards only: for if you count Indian natives, and all the herd of negroes, and other slaves, you might reckon up three times that number. But the majority of these deserve the motto – "Nos numerus sumus, et fruges consumere nati." Some one was heard to complain of the governours of Paraguay – that many soldiers were ranged under the banners, but few who were furnished with a musket, and still fewer who could manage one if they had it. The metropolis, Asumpcion, takes its name from the assumption of the Virgin Mary. It is situated in latitude 25° 8´ and longitude 319° 41´, on the banks of the Paraguay, which affords a convenient station for ships and an opportunity of commerce, but menaces destruction to the city; for the channel constantly nearing and nearing, undermines the bank and the houses situate thereupon. Neither splendid edifices nor city fortifications are here to be found. Many of the houses are of stone or brick, and roofed with tiles, but none of them are above one story high. The monasteries are nearly of the same description, possessing nothing by which you could recognise the church. The streets are crooked, and impeded with ditches and stones thrown out of their places, to the imminent peril both of men and horses. It has but one market-place, and that covered with grass. The governor and bishop have resided here since the time of Charles V. though neither has any proper seat. Besides grammar, the scholars in our college pay much attention to philosophy and theology. For the negroes, Indians, and mulattos, there is a separate priest and parish church. Even matrons of the higher rank, boys, girls, and all the lower orders speak Guarany, though the generality have some acquaintance with Spanish. To say the truth, they mingle both, and speak neither correctly. When the Spaniards first occupied this province, in which the Guaranies had previously settled, for want of Spanish women, they took the daughters of the natives in marriage. The couples presently caught each other's dialect; but as is usual with adults, who learn foreign tongues, the Spaniards miserably corrupted the Indian, and the Indian the Spanish language. Whence from the original two, a third dialect arose, in use at present.
The major part of the Spaniards live in hamlets, farms, and little villages, where the convenience of land and pasturage is greatest: cities, except the metropolis, they have none. Villa Rica and Curuquati are meagre places, mere shades of towns, the inhabitants being almost obliterated, by frequent migrations, from fear of the Portugueze. Xerez and Ciudad Real del Guayra, which once boasted the name of cities, have long since been destroyed by the incursions of the Portugueze who, assembled in the city of St. Paulo, enjoy, to this day, the finest parts of Guayra, the Spaniards vainly lamenting the seizure of the noblest part of their territory.
Of the ancient towns, where the Spaniards settled the Indians they had subdued with arms, or won by religion, there remain Caazapà, Yuti, Ytape, and Yta, which are governed by Franciscans. Caazapà contains about two hundred families, and exceeds the rest in the number of its herds. Ytape contains about twenty families; Yuti and Yta, somewhat more. They are all governed by parish priests. Atira and Altos together form one little town. Quarambare and Jobati are both inconsiderable. Yaguaron consists of two hundred families. The Indian inhabitants are mostly employed in the service of the Spaniards, and consequently in populousness, morality, and the appearance of their churches, vastly inferior to our Guaranies, who, exempted from private servitude, are accountable solely to the Catholic King.
In the dominions of Paraguay are three other towns, founded and preserved by men of our order. St. Joachim, situate in latitude 24° 49´, and longitude 321°, on the banks of the Yù, which, in 1767, numbered 2017 Christian inhabitants, named Ytatines or Ytatinguays. As early as 1697 about four hundred persons were discovered in the neighbouring woods of Taruma, by Father Bartholomew Ximenez and Francisco Robles, and assembled in the town of Nuestra Senhora de Sta. Fè, 150 leagues distant from Sta. Fè, where they held the Christian religion many years. But love of freedom at length bore them back to their original forests, whence they were in vain recovered, by fathers of our order, in the year 1721. In the place called Taruma, a little town was built for them, which, in 1723, contained three hundred souls. But partly from the poorness of the pastures, partly from the disturbances raised by the Spaniards, on occasion of Joseph Antequera's obtruding himself upon them as governour, the Ytatines were again removed to Nuestra Senhora de Sta. Fè, where they remained ten years, and bore a good report. But the bloody insurrection of the neighbouring Spaniards, famine, and the wasting pestilence of the small-pox, compelled them, in 1734, to take refuge in the forests they had formerly occupied. On the instant, Fathers Sebastiano de Yegros, Juan Escandon, Felix Villagarzia, and Luke Rodriguez, were sent to explore the lurking-places of the fugitives, and, after a laborious journey of eighteen months, returned unsuccessful. At length, in 1745 accident effected what labour could not. By the command of the superiors, Father Sebastiano de Yegros began the search, and after a forty-nine days journey of matchless difficulty, found the Ytatines in the woods of Tapebo. No opposition being made on their parts, a town was built for them in their native soil. Cattle of all kinds, clothes, axes, household furniture, and a few masters of music, and other arts, being sent from the old town, every thing went on favourably.
But a sudden terror interrupted the prosperous course of the new colony. The Guaycurus or Mbayas began to devastate the neighbouring estates of the Paraguayrians with slaughter and depredation. The Ytatines, thinking the marauders already upon them, lost all sense of safety. Alarmed by perpetual rumours of the enemy's approach, they spent their nights without sleep, and in open daylight still dreamt of peril. To this another distress was added: the want of water. The Fathers therefore judged it expedient to remove twenty-five leagues southwards, where the intermediate forests could protect them against the Guaycurus, and afford them a constant supply of water. In 1753, having left their church, and the residence of the Fathers, they built a town on the spur of the moment, which was regulated after the model of the Guarany colonies, increased by the accession of new families, and settled on a good foundation. To this city I devoted eight years of unregretted labour. When D. Manuel de la Torre, Bishop of Asumpcion, payed us his accustomed visit, he beheld with admiration the rigid Christian discipline, the accuracy of divine worship, and universal good order established among men so lately inhabitants of the woods. D. Carlos Murphy, an Irishman, and governor of Paraguay, was delighted during his five days' visit at my house with the dexterous management displayed by the Indians as well of their musical instruments, as of their weapons.
Another colony in the jurisdiction of Paraguay, that of St. Stanislaus, is the offshoot of St. Joachim. For the Ytatines, discovered by the joint efforts of the Indians and the Fathers of St. Joachim in woods situate between the rivers Caapivarỹ, Yeyuỹ, and Tapiraguaỹ, were prevailed upon to assemble in one place and embrace the Christian religion. Arduous, indeed, was the task of persuading them to leave their native woods; for, accustomed to the shade of towering trees, they shun the exposed and sunny plain, where they think their lives and liberties daily endangered. Father Sebastiano de Yegros lived a year in the woods with the savages; at the end of which time, he persuaded them to relinquish their woods, and occupy the plains bordering on the river Tapiraguaỹ, whither Fathers Manuel Guttierrez and Joseph Martin Mattilla bought cattle and the necessaries of subsistence, and in 1751 erected a chapel and dwellings. Softened by the kindness and liberality of the Fathers, they became docile and conformable to Christian discipline. In my visits to this town, I could not but admire the gentle disposition and compliance with divine regulations, displayed in a people bred in woods and thickets. In a few years the town was increased by the accession of Indians, won over by Fathers Antonio Planes, Thaddeus Emis, a Bohemian, and Antonino Cortada, after arduous journeys amid pathless wilds. This colony lies in latitude 24° 20´, and in longitude 321° 35´. In 1767 it contained upwards of two