Part 13

I have crossed this channel twice, but must own I never measured it. It is certain, that incautious or too credulous captains are often deceived by the wideness of this vast river, which prevents them from seeing both shores of it. Trusting too much to their own fallacious calculations, they think themselves sailing on the ocean, and boldly proceed with spread sails, and without consulting the sounding-line, but at length when the ship strikes upon shoals, perceive too late that they are in the river Plata, and frequently perish. I write this on my own experience. On St. Thomas's day the ship proceeded full sail, and with a wind as favourable as could be desired. We observed little birds, never at other times seen on the ocean, flying about, bits of grass floating, and the colour of the water changed, from all which it was easy to conclude that we were near land. We represented these circumstances over and over again to the captain, a Portugueze, who, though in other respects a worthy and prudent man, relied too much on his own observations, and was somewhat pertinacious and opiniated He insisted upon it that we were far from land, and openly declared that he should pursue his present course, full sail, till seven o'clock at night. We should have perished had he acted according to his word. For about sun-set, a short-lived but violent gust of wind sprung up. All sails were lowered as usual. We perceived that the ship was surrounded on all sides by seals, which were the means of saving our lives by proving that we were in the perilous river La Plata, or at least in the entrance of it. For you will never see these amphibious animals in the main sea, it being their daily custom to quit the water and go upon shore. The testimony of the seals was also confirmed by the sounding-line, by which we discovered that the bottom was but a very few cubits deep. The captain convinced of his former error, thought fit to put in practice the maxim _festina lente_! We stuck between the hammer and the anvil, when that first squall was succeeded by a tempest accompanied with thunder and a furious south wind. Lest the ship should be driven to the neighbouring promontory of Sta. Maria, or on to the shoals, the sails were placed in such a manner that the wind when it falls into one is repelled by the other, by which means the ship, floating in the same place, is prevented from proceeding. About the middle of the night, the wind abating a little, we proceeded very slowly with but one sail. At dusk in the evening unknown tracts of land presented themselves to our eyes. At length the sun being fully risen, it was not without terror that we beheld ourselves scarce a gun-shot from the lofty rocks of the promontory of Sta. Maria. Our alarm was increased when, after repeatedly casting the sounding-line, the sailors discovered that, to the imminent danger of the ship, the bottom was but six fathoms deep. For the sea being at ebb, and the waters momently decreasing more and more, we should have been becalmed, and consequently disenabled from receding from the neighbouring rocks, where, if the south wind returned, we should be dashed to pieces, but if the calm lasted we must stick fast in the shallows. We derived safety and incredible consolation from the sun, then at the meridian, from observation of which we at length discovered whereabouts we were. Two hours after noon a gentle gale arose, which enabled us to quit the shallows and that threatening shore, and to re-enter the main sea. The wind becoming more favourable after sun-set, we stole into the very channel of the river, and about dawning got sight of La Isla de Lobos. But this short-lived joy was saddened the same day with all those wanderings and perils which I have just related. From all this you may conclude how formidable the width of the river La Plata is to captains of ever so long experience.

The name of the river Plata being spread throughout Europe in former times, many of the Spaniards flew to Paraguay, and after all found nothing but poverty, where they expected riches. Paraguay is surrounded by the provinces of Chili, Peru, and Quito, which abound in gold, silver, gems, and precious stones, neither of which is to be found in Paraguay. Some of them might perhaps be discovered, you will say, if properly searched for, but this I do not believe, knowing how sagacious and quick-sighted the Spaniards are in seeking for treasures concealed in the bosom of the earth; as, therefore, they have never hitherto endeavoured to dig for gold and silver, or have been unsuccessful in the attempt, I am firmly persuaded that there are none to be found; and the longer I remained in this country, the more was my opinion on that head strengthened by convincing proofs and experiments. In many places signs of hidden metal were sometimes discovered, but they served rather to drain the purses of the more credulous Spaniards than to enrich them. I will fairly relate whatever occurs to my memory relative to the attempts that were made to discover metals, and the ridiculous ideas that were entertained on this head. I was intimately acquainted with a merchant in the city of St. Iago del Estero, who had formerly been opulent, but was at that time reduced to ruin. Hoping to become as rich as Crœsus, he directed his whole thoughts and faculties towards discovering mines. Emissaries were hired to search in those places which were thought to contain metals. At much expense he undertook a journey to the Governour of Tucuman, who lived at a great distance, to obtain from him a right to dig for gold. He spent immense sums upon workmen, mules, provision, and other instruments necessary for searching the bowels of the earth, with no reward for his pains, except spending the riches that he already possessed, without obtaining those which he promised himself under ground, and remained ever afterwards indigent and derided by all. Yet deluded by his hopes, he had still to learn wisdom. He knew that about eighty leagues distant from the city of St. Iago, was a place named Hierro, which runs out into an extensive plain covered with rich grass. Not a stone or even a pebble is to be seen in the whole vicinity. Here and there appears out of the turf a plank, or the trunk of a tree, having the appearance of iron, except that by its shining it bears some sort of resemblance to silver. The good man now thought he had reached the summit of his wishes, for he swore that silver mixed with iron lay concealed in this place, to the great amusement of all that heard him. He gave a little piece of this metal, which he had eagerly snatched up, to a smith to be melted in the city. The Spaniards who were present privily slipped some pieces of silver money into the furnace. When, therefore, he beheld the melted mass, consisting of silver and that kind of iron flowing from the furnace, he thought himself the happiest of mankind. But understanding that he had been cheated, and cajoled, he flew into a rage, and threatened the authors of the deceit with every thing that was dreadful. An European smith, after carefully trying that exotic metal with fire, informed me that it was a sort of iron, but so hard and so brittle, that no art would be sufficient to bend or reduce it to any kind of form, and consequently that it was of no use whatever. I will tell you another anecdote of the same kind.

A certain merchant of Cordoba was involved in very great pecuniary difficulties, to extricate himself from which he forsook his old calling, and took up that of a physician, in which he was never properly instructed;—a metamorphosis by no means uncommon amongst the Europeans who reside in America. Deserters from the army and navy, if they exercise any handicraft trade, will never find a wife in Paraguay. To obviate this objection they apply themselves to merchandise. Whoever has his shop filled with tallow-candles, cheese, knives, needles, scissors, linen or woollen neck-handkerchiefs, and some flagons of brandy, is styled a merchant, immediately becomes noble, is esteemed superior to the vulgar, and fit to make any marriage connection, or hold any magistracy. Reduced to ruin, from merchants they suddenly become physicians. These ignorant quacks, who in Europe hardly know how to shave a beard, breathe a vein, cut the nails, apply cupping-glasses to the skin, administer an injection, or spread a plaster, give themselves out for Galens in Paraguay, and slay the rich with impunity at all hours of the day. Such an one was Bartholomew. Finding his purse no way filled by the diseases and deaths of others, and being universally dreaded, he at length changed his mind, forsook his gallipots, and turned his thoughts towards metals, the last anchor of his hopes. A vague report had been spread that in the mountains near Cordoba, signs of hidden gold had manifested themselves. Having consulted those persons who were best informed on this subject, obtained leave of the royal Governours, hired men to dig, and purchased cattle to maintain them, solely on the promise of reward, he explored, for some time, the bowels of the earth, but with no success, with great loss, and terrible expense, as it was necessary to convey both wood and water many leagues on the backs of mules. Overwhelmed with debts, which his hopes of discovering gold had led him to contract, this wretched man served to teach others that it is safer to seek for gold on the surface of the earth, than in the subterranean caverns of the Cordoban mountains. And indeed no one, that I know of, from that time forward ever thought of seeking there for mines of gold. A report was spread amongst the common people, that the Indians, before the coming of the Spaniards, had dug gold out of the mountains which surround the city Rioja. But every attempt of the Spaniards to find this noble metal in those mountains was uniformly unsuccessful. That small pieces of gold had been discovered in our times in the mountains near the city of Monte-Video, I was informed by Andonaegui, Governour of Buenos-Ayres. Though the Catholic King was made acquainted with this circumstance, no pains were ever taken to examine and excavate those mountains, it being thought that there was little hope, and perhaps no reality in the matter. Some one reported that amethysts had been found in the river Rosario, near the city of Monte-Video; but I thought that they either were not genuine, or had been brought thither from some other place, as no one was known to have taken the pains to seek for more in the same river.

The first Spanish inhabitants entertained a thorough belief that the province of Guayra was rich in metals; and there too, they promised themselves to find abundance of precious stones. They had not yet learnt that all that glitters is not gold nor diamonds either. On the shores of the Parana, they found some stones which they called _cocos de mina_. These stones in shape are sometimes round, sometimes oval; their surface is rough and hard, and of a dark colour. In size they are equal to a pomegranate, and sometimes to a man's head. Within the outer shell they contain little stones of various colours, and great value in the eyes of ignorant persons, who take them for crystal, amethysts, rubies, emeralds, &c. But they are deceived. Jewellers rate them about as high as Bohemian stones. They say that the _cocos de mina_, pregnant with these kinds of pebbles, burst with a noise as loud as that of a gun, when what they consider the noble burden which their womb contains is mature. This appearance and these properties are attributed to them by the vulgar, with what truth I know not, for though I have travelled over the greatest part of Paraguay, particularly the shores of the Parana, with eyes attentive to nature, I never saw a stone of this kind. I do not pretend to say that the _coco de mina_ may not have its value in the other provinces of America, which produce genuine jewels, but I boldly deny that any inhabitant of Paraguay was ever enriched with one. The foolish credulity of certain persons, who, from this fallacious resemblance of jewels, hoped to gain riches, was punished with extreme poverty, as we all know. Xerez, Ciudad Real, and Villa Rica, cities formerly accounted fountains of metals and of riches, have all proved seminaries of indigence and misery. What was called Villa Rica, or the Rich City, was never opulent in reality, but only so in name, and the hopes it held out of discovering metals.

Finding no gold and silver in those parts of Paraguay which their feet had traversed and their eyes beheld, they persuaded themselves and others that these metals were concealed in the native soil of the Guaranies, whom the Jesuits had undertaken to instruct in religion. From this false conjecture, how many lies have been coined, who many calumnies launched against us! By the royal authority and at the desire of the Jesuits, there were sent men commissioned to search diligently if any metal existed in the Guarany territories. These explorers were attended, in the capacity of guide, by a Guarany deserter, a man of bad character. This rogue had been induced, by the gifts and liberal promises of some enemy of the Jesuits, to declare that he had seen gold mines at the banks of the Uruguay, in the land belonging to Concepcion, a town of the Guaranies, and that this place was strengthened like a fort with strong holds, warlike machines, and a numerous garrison. Thither they directly hastened, and when they were a very few leagues distant from that _golden_ spot, the knavish Indian, fearing the punishment of his falsehood, which must be discovered next day, fled away in the night; but being taken in the town of Yapeyù, by the missionary himself, was sent back, chained and guarded, to the Spaniards from whom he had deserted. The cheat respecting those gold mines and fortifications was thus brought to light, and the phantoms raised by falsehood and calumny disappeared. The Spaniards examined every corner far and near; after which they unanimously and publicly declared that no mines existed in that place, nor indeed that any one, who considered the nature of the situation, could rationally expect them to be produced there. The Indian was punished for his perfidy. Certain Spaniards, who had thus falsely accused the Jesuits, were declared calumniators, punished with confiscation of their goods and public infamy, and pronounced incapable of holding any office in the state. By these royal fulminations calumny was for a little while repressed; yet the ridiculous suspicion that mines were buried amongst the Guaranies was not yet extinct; it was even propagated amongst the more credulous Europeans.

I have often laughed at beholding the eagerness and solicitude with which the Spaniards, who visited the Guarany towns, gathered up all the little worthless stones they met with on the way, and which, on account of their various colours, they thought to be emeralds, amethysts, or rubies. Every thing that was found on the Guarany soil they took for gold and jewels. Diamonds, which nature has denied to every part of Paraguay, were reported to abound in the land of the Guaranies. In the Gazeta de Madrid, I read this article, dated London. "They write from Brazil that the Jesuits of Paraguay have brought their diamond mines to such a degree of perfection, that it is greatly to be apprehended the diamonds of Brazil will decrease in value." I submitted this paragraph to the perusal of Charles Murphy, Governour of Paraguay, and I cannot tell whether it excited his laughter or his indignation the most. I would have bought the smallest particle of a diamond at any price, to cut the glass for the various uses of the church, but could never meet with any one who possessed such a thing, and was, consequently, always obliged to make use of a flint instead. If the savages at the straits of Magellan have any metal, they must have got it from the mountains where every one knows that metals are found. But the province of Chili differs as much from Paraguay, as Austria does from its neighbour Hungary. The one abounds in gold and silver, the other is absolutely destitute of both. The Portugueze in Cuyaba, in Matto Grosso, and in the fortlet of Sta. Rosa, collect sands from various rivers, out of which they pick very small particles of gold, formerly with the connivance of the Spaniards, and since the last declaration of peace with their open consent. For the Portugueze always contended that the above-mentioned territories were comprehended within the limits of Brazil, whilst the Spaniards annexed them to Paraguay, or their own Peru. That you may perceive the truth of what I say, I will fairly describe the liberality of nature towards Paraguay. You shall see and laugh at its treasures.

At the close of the last century, Father Antony Sepp found out a method of extracting a small quantity of iron from stones named _ytacurù_, by dint of a very hot fire kept up for twenty-four hours. But he had scarcely any imitators, for the quantity of iron obtained was so inconsiderable, in proportion to the labour and firewood spent upon it, that it was not thought worth the trouble. These stones, which are composed of a number of very small pebbles, are of a dusky colour, mottled with black spots. In our times, somewhat more iron has been brought in the Spanish ships, but even now it is sold at a price incredible to Europeans. All the Guarany youths, on their marriage-day, and the married people at the beginning of January, receive from the Jesuit, the priest of the town, a common knife to use at table. This donation is more expensive than Europeans may imagine, as some of the towns contain four thousand inhabitants, some six or seven. Yet, notwithstanding the dearness of iron, none of us ever thought of procuring a trifling quantity of it, with immense labour, from the stones named _ytacurù_.

Out of the Cordoban mountains, they sometimes dig _talc_, a sort of softish white stone, very light, and of no firmness. It consists of slender laminæ, so that it may be divided with a knife into small plates, and is sometimes dipped in water. When slightly burnt, it assumes the softness of paper and the colour of silver, and is used to make little images and other figures to adorn poor churches. Out of the numerous leaves of which this stone is composed, you will find few entirely white and transparent, for most of them are darkened with black or yellow spots. The better ones supply the place of glass in windows and lanterns; for that article was extremely scarce and dear, in 1748, when I arrived in Paraguay. I could not see one glass window in the chief colleges of the province, nor in the towns of the Guaranies. Every one made his own window of the stone talc, (which is difficult to procure,) of paper, or linen cloth; and as these substitutes were torn away by every shower or boisterous wind, was continually under the necessity of making repairs. But in the last years of my residence in Paraguay, a quantity of glass was brought thither in the Spanish ships, and the price being reduced, the houses and churches shone with glass windows. In the churches, where they look towards the south, instead of a glass window, they place a hard, white, and transparent stone, which is a kind of alabaster, and is brought at a great expense from Peru, its native soil. For the south wind, which is excessively violent in South America, at the first gust breaks all the glass that opposes its fury, often levelling whole houses, breaking enormous masts of large ships, and tearing up lofty cedars by the roots. Stones fit for making lime are to be met with in almost any part of Paraguay, but they are not found in the territories of the Abipones and Guaranies. The shores of the Paraguay and other rivers afford gypsum. The Guaranies, who dwell at a distance from these shores, make use of burnt snails' shells, or of a chalk like fuller's earth, which they call _tobaty_, in whitening their houses. At the banks of the greater Tebiguarỹ, I sometimes saw marble of a black colour, spotted with green, but of very small dimensions. I know not whether any other marbles or remarkable stones are concealed in the bosom of the earth elsewhere. Red and black flints, containing plenty of fire, and extremely fit for muskets, may be seen in many places, especially at the banks of the Uruguay; but instruments to cut them, and fit them for the use of muskets, are wanting. Whether Paraguay produces alum, sulphur, and mercury, I do not know.

Many have committed mistakes who have written concerning Paraguay, in that country itself. They have liberally bestowed treasures upon it, not because it really possesses them, but because they have dreamt of them in a country utterly destitute of all metals. The blind man dreamt that he saw, as the Spanish proverb goes, and he dreamt of what he desired. _El çiego soñaba que veia, y soñaba lo que queria._ To this number belongs Martin del Barco, Archdeacon in the city of Buenos-Ayres, who, in his poem intituled _Argentina, y Conquista del Rio de la Plata_, affirms that pearls are formed in some lake, near which the Abipones inhabit. The oldest of the Indians, the most distinguished for experience and veracity, who were born in that neighbourhood, and had dwelt there for many years, all answered, with one accord, that they had never seen any pearls, nor heard any thing about them from their ancestors. Would not these savages, who continually adorn their necks, arms, and legs, with glass beads brought from Europe, with little round globes made of cockle-shells, with the seeds and kernels of various fruit and the claws of birds, would not they have grasped eagerly at pearls, which are naturally so bright, had they ever met with any? We may therefore safely pronounce this lake, said to produce pearls, a mere fable, long since expunged from history by all sensible persons.

Silver vessels are seen in the houses of the Spaniards, and silver utensils in the churches of the cities. In the Guarany colonies, not only the altars, but sometimes the very ceilings are gilded. This I do not deny. But all that gold and silver was not created in the bowels of Paraguay, but brought from the provinces of Chili or Peru. The Guaranies make very large brass bells for their own churches, or for those of the Spaniards; but the people of Chili supply them with brass. No money is coined in any part of Paraguay in the name of the King, or of any other person.