CHAPTER XIV.

SOME THINGS WORTHY OF NOTE RESPECTING YCHOALAY AND OAHERKAIKIN.

Oaherkaikin, a Nakaiketergehe, and a tribesman of Debayakaikin, was of middling stature, lean, strong-boned, with a pale face, a stern countenance, small sunken eyes, and short hair shaven at intervals, like that of a monk; his limbs were all covered with large scars; his ears were bored to admit the knots of cows horn which he wore by way of ear-rings; he seemed always either in the act of threatening, or absorbed in contemplation. He was a great lover of drinking-parties, a man of few words, though very affable to his followers; an implacable foe to the Spaniards; ever formidable, even when threatening nothing; wonderfully well-skilled in the use of the spear and other weapons, and in the arts of riding and swimming; extremely attached to the superstitions of the savages; a despiser of elegant clothing; and endowed with an intrepid and daring mind; but careless of his promises; given to falsehood and knavery; and well worthy of his name Oaherkaikin, which signifies a liar. He was as crafty in eluding and repelling the enemy, as he was bold in attacking them. Having learnt, by means of his spies, that Nicolas Patron, Vice-Governor of the Corrientines, was approaching his horde with hostile intentions, accompanied by fifty horsemen, he would not await the arrival of the Spaniards, but went in person to meet them with a company of soldiers. Armed with a spear, arrows, and a military breastplate, and having his face blackened to make his appearance the more terrible, he stationed himself on foot, in a place where he had a wood at his back, and an unfordable river in front. On the approach of the Vice-Governor, he informed him, by means of a captive interpreter, that if he were inclined to fight, a corresponding desire was felt on his own part, and that the threats of the Spaniards excited laughter in him, instead of fear. The Vice-Governor, astonished at sight of the savage, and provoked at his insolent challenge, looked at his soldiers, and exclaimed, "Come, get ropes and catch this wild beast for me!" an order which struck consternation into the minds of the soldiers. "My Lord," replied a lieutenant of the name of Añasco, "if you are so desirous of taking this savage, do you try your own fortune, we have no objection to that; but, for our own parts, none of us have either leisure or inclination to throw away our lives upon a joke." As great danger was to be apprehended in crossing the river, the opposite bank being occupied by the savages, they began immediately to think of retreat, and nothing was attempted against the enemy. Oaherkaikin at a distance pursued the Corrientines, and carried away that very night a drove of horses from the colony of St. Ferdinand. The Spaniards were not insensible to this injury, but digested it in silence, fearing to provoke these hornets afresh. You shall now hear some particulars respecting Ychoalay.

He enjoyed every thing but the name of Cacique. He was born of a most honourable family amongst the Riikahés, and nearly related to Debayakaikin, who taught him, when a boy, to sit a horse, and to manage it. He was exceedingly tall, with an oval face, an aquiline nose, and strength adequate to all of the fatigues of warfare; indeed, the whole conformation of his body was exactly expressive of, and suitable to a military man. On the strength of a peace, established between the Riikahés and the people of Sta. Fè, the youth Ychoalay visited that city, and served the Spaniards for hire, either as a breaker-in of horses, or a guard in the estates. At length he assumed the name of his master, Benavides, and by this name he was afterwards known, when a leader of the Abipones, and an enemy to the Spaniards; though his own countrymen called him Oahari in his boyhood, and at a more advanced period of his life, Ychoalay. Though averse to the Christian religion, he was so desirous of an acquaintance with the Spanish language, that in order to be more sure of attaining it, he went from Sta. Fè to the kingdom of Chili, whither a Spaniard was returning with a number of waggons: this man he served on the journey as a driver, and afterwards as a cultivator of vines, at Mendoza. Ychoalay, ever mindful of his origin, constantly showed himself the soldier, never appearing out of doors without a spear, and manifesting courage superior to that of the rest. Hence, when his companions were robbed or murdered by the Charruas or Pampas, in the deserts of Paraguay, Ychoalay, repelling force by force, remained a survivor. Some years after, he returned from Mendoza to Sta. Fè, and on his masters' refusing to pay him his wages, became disgusted with the Spaniards. Anger was turned into rage, when he learnt from a Spaniard of Cordoba, that his life had been attempted by an inhabitant of Sta. Fè. Weary of his condition, and of the society of the Spaniards, he rejoined the Abipones, who were, at that time, harassing the territories of Cordoba with daily inroads, and accompanied his countrymen in all their plundering excursions, displaying so much valour as caused him to be soon after promoted from a fellow-soldier to be a leader of others. Shrewd and active, he always executed with wonderful bravery, and equal good fortune, whatever he planned to the injury of the Spaniards. He had a great share in all the victories which I have related as being obtained over the Spaniards, and in all the dangers and slaughters inflicted upon them. Frequent and successful expeditions gained him so much celebrity, that he was as much honoured by his own people as feared by others.

It is worthy of remark, that, though he vented his fury for a long space of time on the other Spanish colonies, he always spared those of Sta. Fè, and likewise that he never touched the lives of men devoted to religion, or permitted his soldiers to do so. He never suffered female jugglers to remain within his horde; and that they might not remove to some other, he pierced them himself with a spear, lest they should deceive his people with their artifices, or disturb them with bad auguries. Long acquaintance with Ychoalay gave me opportunities of observing many things in his character that were worthy of praise, many that deserved reprehension. He had such an immoderately high opinion of himself, that he could never endure to hear any of his countrymen extolled for valour. Extremely self-conceited and opinionated, he was very impatient of opposition. His restless and turbulent disposition induced him to plan methods whereby he might circumvent or vanquish Oaherkaikin, and others of his rivals, not from the hope of emolument, but from the desire of overthrowing the celebrity they had obtained. This caused him to be always sowing dissensions, and hunting out occasions of quarrels, which proved the source of numerous disturbances in the new town, and prevented it from ever enjoying a respite from its enemies. Though at other times mild and courteous, when scheming expeditions against his adversary, he deprived his dearest friends of his conversation. Amongst various coverings for the head, he had one little woollen cap of a yellow colour, and whenever he wore this I observed him to be stern and meditative, and carefully avoided his company. Joseph Brigniel was amused by this observation of mine, and became so convinced of its truth, by experience, that we used jokingly to call that little hat the prognostic of an approaching expedition against the enemy.

But these and other defects Ychoalay redeemed by shining virtues. None of us ever entertained the least doubt of his being the chief instrument of the peace established between the Abipones and all the Spaniards, and the founder and preserver of the colony of St. Jeronymo. He always religiously adhered to the friendship he had contracted with the Spaniards, and took great care to prevent any of the Abipones from violating it, often with the risk of his life. Whomsoever he understood to be guilty of a violation of the peace, against them, as against enemies, he thought it his duty to take up arms. This was an occasion of continual war with the Abipones Nakaiketergehes. Thousands of horses, which during many years he had retaken from their plunderers, he brought back to the Spanish colonies, and restored to their masters, and was displeased at being asked what compensation he required, saying, "Don't you know then that I am your friend? All I ask is not to be thought mercenary." By his zeal in preserving and recovering the property of the Spaniards, he incurred the hatred of all the savages; even his countrymen regarded him with execration as a friend of the Spaniards, and an enemy to themselves: whence his daily complaint: "My countrymen think me wicked now, because I am good; formerly they called me good, because I was wicked." Sometimes when he invited his fellow-hordesmen to join him in tilling the fields, or attacking the enemies of the town, on their delaying, or refusing to accompany him, under pretext of a want of proper horses, "Father," would he say to me, "you would have seen them follow me with the utmost alacrity, had I invited them to rob and murder the Spaniards. Not one would have remained with you in the town; not one would have made the scarcity of horses an objection."

It must be allowed that the progressive improvement of the town was, under God, chiefly to be attributed to the industry and authority of Ychoalay: for the chief Cacique Ychamenraikin, although illustrious for his high birth and warlike actions, and endeared to his people by the gentleness of his disposition, contributed nothing of consequence to the establishment of the colony. He presided over all, but was of service to no one, the mere shadow of a magistrate, the useless image of power. He was addicted to drinking, and practised polygamy and divorce. Yet all bore him great good-will, because he connived at the vices of his hordesmen. The love of Christian knowledge had no place in his breast, nor did he ever enter public religious assemblies, or endeavour to make others do so. During his lifetime, no man would ever receive baptism, till on the point of death: when he died, no man refused it, which was brought about by the labours of Ychoalay, who, though not possessed of the chief command, managed all the affairs of the town by his own authority. He obliged others to attend the church, in order to learn the elements of religion, but for some time delayed entering it himself. After receiving daily admonitions on this subject from Joseph Brigniel, "Father," replied he, "permit me to think about slaying Oaherkaikin. My head is at present in a tumult with warlike cares. In time of peace I shall have leisure to attend to your religious discourses." After repeated excursions against Oaherkaikin, a truce being at length established, Brigniel reminded him of his promise, to which Ychoalay replied, "I must first make a fold for the security of the sheep in the estate, I will then become your disciple in the school of religion;" and he kept his word. A few days after, the Father, on entering the church, beheld Ychoalay kneeling on the ground and heard him praying, and making the responses. Thenceforward, no man was a more constant attender on places of worship, or displayed greater modesty and docility when there: and by his example they were daily crowded with pious hearers. He not only committed to memory the regular Christian prayers, and every thing relating to religion, but repeated them aloud to his domestics in the evening.

When the Fathers had occasion to baptize persons languishing under a mortal disease, or the bite of a venomous snake, and if they died, to bury them in holy ground, according to the rites of the catholic church, Ychoalay alone was their defender and assistant. It would be difficult to enumerate all those who for baptism, sepulchral honours, and indeed heaven itself, are indebted to the labours of Ychoalay. By his desire, Ychamenraikin first, and then all the boys and girls were dedicated to Christ by baptism; for the more careful performance whereof, twenty alone were admitted on the same day to the sacred font. This, indeed, was effected, more by the example than by the exhortations of Ychoalay, who had his children baptized as soon as they saw the light, and those which died he gave into the hands of the priest, to be buried with the Christian forms. You will wonder, I think, that one who was so careful of the salvation of others should have neglected his own, since it would commonly be thought that what was not eligible for himself could hardly be eligible for another.

Indeed we were all surprized that the virtuous Ychoalay should, for so many years, have deferred his baptism, to receive which he had long been peculiarly fit. He lived for many years contented with one wife, never frequented drinking-parties, except to consult upon war, and was a bitter enemy to drunkenness and drunkards. Though formerly the prince of plunderers, he was now become a severe avenger of plunderings. He was as well acquainted with the ordinances of religion as with his own name. He shunned no labour conducive to his own advantage or that of the town, and was assiduous in cultivating land and breeding cattle. He might, therefore, have been initiated into the Roman Catholic religion long before, and indeed he frequently assured us of his intention to be so, as soon as ever his mind was free from anxiety respecting his rival Oaherkaikin. In fact, when the Vice-Governor Francisco de Vera Muxica was in the town of St. Jeronymo, he requested baptism of his own accord, but was desired by the same to wait a little, because he wished to perform the ceremony in the city of Sta. Fè, with great magnificence. Ychoalay, displeased at the delay, could not be induced to receive baptism till some years after, when it was administered to him by Father Joseph Lehman, in the above-mentioned city; where the ceremony was performed with much pomp, and so large a concourse of people that the church could hardly contain the multitude. The Royal Vice-Governor himself took the illustrious neophyte from the sacred font, and gave him a sumptuous feast, and suitable gifts. The Spaniards with joyous and tearful eyes beheld the celebrated Ychoalay standing by the divine altar like the meekest lamb, whom all Paraguay had formerly dreaded as a rapacious wolf.