CHAPTER VI.

OF THE EXCURSIONS OF THE ABIPONES AGAINST THE COLONIES OF ST. IAGO DEL ESTERO.

Long after the other colonies throughout Paraguay had been struggling with the enemy, the country of St. Iago continued free from molestation and totally unacquainted with the Abipones, and their powers; for these savages had at that time discovered no way of approaching them; but at last the inhabitants themselves were their instructors. They were in the habit of going in troops out of their own country to the river Parana, for the purpose of hunting the numerous stags which frequent its banks. These hunters sometimes held familiar intercourse with the Abipones, and sometimes, abusing their friendship, carried away their horses. The savages, provoked by these injuries, pursued their footsteps when they departed, and in this way first began to obtain a knowledge of the province of St. Iago, and afterwards to disturb it with arms.

I have found all the Spaniards throughout Paraguay to be active, intrepid, endowed with a handsome form, great strength, and a noble disposition, agile in swimming, and remarkable for skill in horsemanship; but I fearlessly assert that the St. Iagans are better qualified than any of the rest to pursue the savages. Both themselves and their horses are extremely patient of labour, travelling, and inconveniences of every kind, and are satisfied with that food which is most easily procured. On sudden expeditions against the savages they make a composition of maize flour, preserved with honey or sugar: this, mixed with water, is all their provisions, as it allays both hunger and thirst; and in travelling with them I did not find it unpleasant, especially when the weather was particularly hot, as it possesses an excellent property of cooling the body, and quenching the thirst. The soldiers use it to save time and labour, for neither wood nor fire are required to cook this flour. When they dismount from their horses to cross a lake or river, each man draws water for himself in a little horn cup suspended by a string, and drinks it mixed with this flour, which saves time, and enables them more conveniently to pursue the savages. The Spaniards of Cordoba, Buenos-Ayres, and Sta. Fè, when they took a journey on account of the Indians, used to drive before them whole droves of horses and oxen. Whilst a soldier of St. Iago, with but one horse, makes a journey of many days and even weeks, the former change their horses frequently in one day, and consume a great deal of time in catching and harnessing them. That fresh meat may be always in readiness, they kill oxen every day, so that much of their time is spent in cutting the flesh, roasting and eating it, and in seeking fuel for the fire to cook it with. It is no wonder therefore that the slowly pursuing Spaniards are almost always eluded by the savages who prosecute their flight without interruption, and that the soldiers of St. Iago are dreaded on account of their swiftness. Moreover the fires which the other Spaniards kindle on the way are to be condemned, because the smoke often betrays them to the Indians. When their flour is consumed, the soldiers of St. Iago support themselves by the wild animals which they hunt on the way. Few of them are furnished with muskets; their chief arms are spears, which, though not of the best quality, are more formidable to the savages than the fire-arms of others.

Another of their excellencies is a wonderful sagacity in exploring. None are quicker than they at discovering the hidden retreats of the savages, at finding any fugitive, whether it be man or beast, or at bringing back any thing stolen. This quickness at exploring enabled them not only to discover the savages, but to intimidate and overcome them in time of war; for to discover the enemy, either whilst they are concealed in their secret retreats, or contemplating a surprize, is a great part of victory in America. This I learnt for certain, that the horsemen of St. Iago, on account of their swiftness, and singular skill in exploring, were more dreaded by the Abipones, and seldomer and more cautiously attacked than the other Spaniards. St. Iago itself, from being surrounded by lesser colonies, never suffered either danger or molestation from the savages. The whole neighbourhood enjoyed the same exemption; for a row of surrounding dwelling-houses, like little fortifications, forbade all access to the savages, or at least rendered it very dangerous. The storm of the war seems, for many years, to have fallen on the territories that are washed by the river Salado, and on those near Cordoba. The passage from Chaco to these places is easy, and the outskirts of provinces are everywhere more liable to the incursions of hostile nations. The Abipones frequently overran these territories for the sake of plunder. Many were slain in the fields and houses, some taken captive, and others robbed of their goods and cattle. How great were the sufferings of Moppa and Salabina, old townlets of the Indians, and the neighbouring places! In Manumo many were killed on the same day. All the men being slain, a Mulatta woman snatched up a sword, and slew an Abipon, but she was soon killed herself by the rest. The journey from Sta. Fè to St. Iago was, at that time, most perilous. The ways were strewed with the dead bodies of the Spaniards. Miguel de Luna, who, though more remarkable for greatness of body than of mind, had been promoted to the rank of camp-master, was returning from the estates of Sta. Fè, accompanied by a great number of horses and oxen, which he had purchased. Whilst reclining at noon, under the shade of a tree, he was surprized by a company of Abipones and Mocobios. Of his companions some were employed in catching the horses which had been let loose to pasture, others in killing oxen. Some of the Spaniards were pierced by the spears of the Abipones in the first attack: the rest were saved by means of their horses' hoofs, leaving the cattle and baggage in the hands of the enemy. Tinko, a man famous for his knowledge of ways and tracks, caught hold of his master Miguel with both hands, and placing him like a bundle on the crupper of his horse, galloped away so quickly that Miguel had no time to seat himself in a proper position. The servant and his master were pursued in their flight by a party of savages, who kept endeavouring to wound them with spears, but none durst approach for fear of the musket which hung suspended from Miguel's back, though this musket was in such a condition that the enemy had little occasion to fear it, nor could its owner expect it to yield a single spark of fire. Many years after, I saw this noble pair of fugitives, as well as that famous instrument of defence, at which I laughed heartily, for it was hardly worthy of the name of musket.

The same road which had been the scene of these events became always liable to the incursions of the savages, and proved fatal to many who journeyed there. Alarcon, Las Tres Cruzes, La Viuda, Las Sepulturas, Don Gil, Do[=n]a Lorenza, and other places near the river Salado, are wont to inspire terror by recalling the memory of the numerous slaughters perpetrated there. Throughout these extensive tracts of land, estates once flourished opulent in cattle, which being laid waste by the savages, a mournful solitude, opportune for plunderers, had succeeded. Hence the road hanging over the river Salado was deserted by the St. Iagans, who, for the sake of security, thought proper to frequent another, named _El camino de los porongos_. But whilst they avoided Charybdis they fell upon Scylla, for there the Abipones wandered in troops, bearing destruction to all they met. One Barassa, and three companions, as they were conveying merchandise on mules from the city of Sta. Fè, were cruelly murdered in the field called _Los monigotes_, whilst I was in Paraguay.

The slaughter of the Spaniards of St. Iago in the woods named Hierro, was much more desperate. To give you some idea of the extent of it, a little prefacing is necessary. To seek honey and wax in the woods, to purify and prepare it, and to sell it to others, is the principal and peculiar trade of the inhabitants of St. Iago. Slaves are sent for that purpose by the more opulent, with a director, to the remotest woods, where natural bee-hives are found in hollow trees. Cottages are built for the labourers of boughs and straw, where there is a field close by, and a good opportunity of getting water. They always keep a number of horses and mules; the former for the purpose of travelling and hunting, the latter for that of carrying burdens of provisions, wax, and honey. They are all extremely solicitous to have in readiness very swift horses, with which they daily sally forth to hunt wild animals, the flesh of which they use for food, and the skins for bags to hold the honey. Whilst the rest wander through the wood, their director boils the wax collected the day before, and prepares food for his companions on their return. There is one place particularly abundant in honey; it is a hundred leagues from St. Iago, and is named Hierro.

This circumstance was well known to Oaherkaikin, the crafty leader of the Abipones, and thither he came to commit depredations with a faithful troop of followers, nor was he disappointed in his hopes; for he found a vast number of Spaniards in that place seeking honey. The most distinguished of these was Lisondo, than whom, the Commander-in-chief, Barreda, declared, he had not a braver nor more active soldier. One of the slaves, who had gone to a neighbouring ditch to draw water, spied an Abiponian horseman leaning upon his spear, and having his face painted with dark colours; upon which he called out _Amigo_, friend. This salutation being sternly rejected by the savage, the slave, greatly alarmed, told what he had seen to Lisondo, who, always intrepid, said he saw no immediate occasion for fear. Soon after, the bands of Abipones sprung forth from the various parts of the wood where they had concealed themselves, and slaying all they met, rushed into the cottage of Lisondo, who, armed with his axe and his presence of mind alone, broke the spears of four of the assailants, but at last fell oppressed by numbers. He expired wounded in many places, having been first dragged out of doors by strong straps of leather, with which his hands and feet were bound. Lisondo being slain, the few who escaped the eyes and hands of the savages, saved their lives by flight. Three or four leapt on to the same horse, and beginning their journey without any provisions, the fugitives were threatened with fresh dangers of death. They had to travel at least fifty leagues, in a vast solitude, before they could reach the dwellings of men. Hence, wasted with hunger, thirst, and apprehension, they at length reached home, many of them on foot, and though they had escaped death, looked more dead than alive. Meanwhile, in the scene of so much bloodshed, a vast quantity of wax and honey, a number of excellent horses and mules, the large brazen caldrons for refining the wax, the axes and various other iron implements, and the wearing apparel, became the prey of the savages; whilst the owners at St. Iago bitterly deplored the deaths of the men, and the loss of their property. The Abipones who committed this slaughter were those who, till then, had refused to enter the colonies founded for their nation; but they soon after took refuge in them to avoid the vengeance of the Spaniards.

The Abipones raged with still more violence and pertinacity against those colonies which look towards the south, and are near the territories of Cordoba. Zumampa, Las Barrancas, and El Oratorio, for a long time witnessed the cruelty of the savages. A whole village was destroyed, while some of the inhabitants were slain, and others made captive, scarce one or two surviving. This country is intersected by a high road, through which waggons loaden with Peruvian money frequently pass to Buenos-Ayres. The certainty of booty and great facility of committing depredations had attracted the Abipones to these parts of the province, to the great annoyance of merchants, who were thus necessitated either to lose their merchandise, or to bring soldiers at a great expense to defend the waggons and their drivers, who often lost their lives as they were endeavouring to defend the lives and properties of others.

These and many other things of this kind were committed by the Abipones against the inhabitants of St. Iago, who knew not that they had to deal with a people accustomed to leave nothing unrevenged. They frequently eluded the attempts of the enemy by vigilance, oftener warded them off by dint of brave exertions. They often returned slaughter for slaughter, wounds for wounds. They had made such frequent inroads into Chaco, and so many successful invasions of the hordes of the savages, that the soldiers were scarce sufficient to guard the captives. I cannot commend the soldiers of St. Iago without launching out into the praise of their general, Barreda. Excuse me if I make some tribute to my love for this man, and appear somewhat prolix in what respects him but fear nothing in regard to veracity. Barreda is indeed my friend, but truth still more so.