CHAPTER XXIII.

THE ORIGIN AND COMMENCEMENT OF A COLONY OF ABIPONES, NAMED FROM THE CONCEPTION OF THE DIVINE MOTHER.

Christopher Almaraz may be called the founder of this colony; he certainly was the occasion of its being founded. A Spaniard by descent, and born in the country of St. Iago, he was taken captive when a boy by the Abipones, amongst whom he was brought up, and became a savage in countenance, language, mind, and manners. None of the savages was more hostile to the Spaniards than Almaraz, so that he became famous for slaughters and plunderings, and was an Abipon in the eyes of the Abipones themselves, by whom he was not only naturalized, but honoured in an uncommon degree, by receiving in marriage a woman of noble family amongst them, who, after bearing him many children, was carried away to St. Iago, with the other captives taken by Barreda, in his assault. In the hope of recovering his wife, Almaraz entreated his Cacique, Alaykin, to request Barreda to grant a colony for his countrymen, declaring that this was the surest and the only method of procuring the liberty of the captives. He offered his services as orator and ambassador in the negociation. This advice being approved by Alaykin, Almaraz set off unaccompanied and unarmed, and after travelling more than a hundred leagues, entered the town of St. Iago. The business succeeded to his wish, and Barreda assented with pleasure to his petition for a colony.

Supported by the assistance of the Governor of Tucuman, and by repeated conversations well acquainted with the inclinations of the Cacique Alaykin, he founded a colony on the eastern shore of the river Inespin, which is nine leagues distant from the Parana, sixty from the city of Sta. Fè, and a hundred and seventy from the land of St. Iago. The town was situated on a gentle acclivity. The climate was admirably temperate, neither parched with summer heats, nor starving with frost or cold winds. In the neighbourhood was a river, supplying wholesome water, a wide plain abounding in pasture, and woods which afforded fruit-trees, fire-wood, and timber for building. There was an incredible variety of wild animals fit for the chase. All kinds of palm-trees grew near at hand. In an immense plain, extending towards the south, you beheld many thousands of wandering horses; and the marshes, lakes, and rivers abounded in otters and capibaris. The soil moreover was extremely fertile, and favourable to any kind of seed. These numerous advantages induced the Cacique Alaykin to choose that place for the site of the colony. His companions too, greatly approved of the situation, thinking that the more distant it was from the towns of the Spaniards, the better secured it must be from their attacks. Rivers frequently unfordable, immense swamps, marshes, and lakes many miles in extent, incredibly retard the journey from St. Iago to this colony.

By Barreda's orders some little chapels and cottages for the Fathers and the Cacique were hastily built by the soldiers of stakes plastered over with mud. The town was committed to the care of Fathers Joseph Sanchez, a Murcian, and Bartolome Araez, a Tucuman, who was succeeded, in a few months, by Lorenzo Casado, a native of Castile. The whole colony was governed by Alaykin, who had been made Cacique, not so much from the prerogative of birth, as from military merit. He was a man of good understanding, a gentle disposition, remarkable candour, and universal intrepidity; on which account he was equally dear to his own people and formidable to the Spaniards, whose colonies he had for many years wearied with his inroads. Above all, the countries of Cordoba and St. Iago found him a destructive and implacable enemy. Though a frequent attendant at drinking-parties, his conduct was exemplary in this respect, that he always avoided the quarrels and altercations incident to drunkenness. During his whole life, he contented himself with one wife, by whom he had two daughters and as many sons, all remarkable for strength and comeliness. The eldest was the unfortunate Pachieke, whom I have lately spoken of. The Caciques Malakin, Ypirikin, Oaikin, and Zapancha, with their followers, soon after joined Alaykin, so that the new colony was wonderfully increased by the accession of so many families. These savages were attracted by the expectation of the clothes, presents, and beef, which was daily distributed gratis to all: and they were not deceived in their hopes, as the estate of this colony was managed with more care and liberality than that of any other. For besides those cattle which Barreda had collected from the opulent Spaniards, the Governor Martinez, with money from the royal treasury, purchased two thousand bulls out of Peru, and as many elsewhere, and sent them thither. This number was, in a few years, increased to twenty thousand head of kine by the industry of Father Sanchez, though many thousands were consumed by the voracity of the Abipones.

The women returned from captivity amongst the Spaniards caused the Fathers a great deal of trouble. From long intercourse with the lower orders of Spaniards, with Negroes, and Mulattoes, they had contracted habits execrated even by the savages, and imbibed opinions sure to produce mischief to the inhabitants of the colony. Still imbittered by the remembrance of their servitude, they left no stone unturned to alienate the minds of their countrymen from the Spaniards and the priests; to prevent the young children and sick adults from receiving baptism; and to inspire the rest with a horror of the divine law, and a reverence for their ancient superstitions. To effect these purposes, they used to invent calumnies, spread reports of hostile intentions on the part of the Spaniards towards the Abipones, and advise flight from the colony, in which they sometimes succeeded, obtaining the more credit from the Abipones on account of their long residence with the Spaniards. The wife of Christopher Almaraz was, of all the female captives, by far the greatest plague to the colony, as she exceeded the rest in high birth, in the propensity to lying, and in aversion to the Roman Catholic religion. After receiving some superficial religious instruction in the city of St. Iago, she was united to Almaraz in the church, and with proper ceremonies, but was divorced by him on entering the town of Concepcion, under pretext of her impiety, and his ignorance of the perpetuity of wedlock; her age, however, was his real objection, and when settled amongst his own countrymen he aspired to fresh nuptials with a Spanish girl. He obtained the permission of the bishop of Tucuman himself for this marriage, because it was proved, by convincing evidence, that his former Abiponian spouse was related to another woman whom he had married during his residence amongst the Abipones. Almaraz, now in possession of his wishes, exercised the art of medicine in his own country, with great profit and approbation,—I wish I could add, with equal benefit to his patients. Who would not laugh at the idea of the lower order of Spaniards, that whoever has dwelt for some time amongst the savages must necessarily have attained the knowledge of herbs and secret arts of healing, which Galen himself never dreamt of, though the whole of his residence amongst them may have been employed in slaying and scalping, and in drinking. I do not, however, deny that some of them, when they returned to their own country, became useful to the Governors, by successfully performing the offices of scouts and guides. They likewise acted as interpreters when a parley was held with the savages.