CHAPTER V.

_BRAZIL; THE PLATE; AND PARAGUAY._

1499-1557.

[Sidenote: 1500.]

In the year 1499, Vicente Yañez Pinzon, of Palos, one of the three brothers who had sailed with Columbus in his first voyage seven years previously, obtained from the king of Castile the necessary permission to embark on an expedition of discovery on the Atlantic. Pinzon, who was accompanied by two nephews, as well as by several sailors who had sailed with Columbus, set out with four _caravels_ from the port of Palos, putting to sea in the beginning of December. After passing the _Canary_ and the Cape _de Verde_ Islands, the expedition proceeded to the south-west. Having sailed about seven hundred leagues, they crossed the equator and lost sight of the north star. On crossing the equinoctial line they encountered a terrible tempest; but the confused mariners looked in vain for a guide whereby to steer. Pinzon pursued his course resolutely to the west, and after sailing for about two hundred and forty leagues further, being then in the eighth degree of southern latitude, he beheld, on the 20th of January, a point of land, which he called _Consolation_, but which is now known as Cape _St. Augustine_, in the province of _Pernambuco_. The sea was discoloured, and on sounding, they found sixteen fathoms of water. Pinzon, as in duty bound, landed with a notary and took formal possession of the territory for the crown of Castile. The natives whom he saw in the neighbourhood declined to have any dealings whatsoever with the strangers; and not liking their appearance, the commander made sail next day and stood to the north-west until he came to the mouth of a river where he again encountered a multitude of naked Indians with whom his men had a desperate encounter, in which a number of Spaniards were wounded or slain. Discouraged by this reception, the navigator now stood forty leagues to the north-west, being once more near the equinoctial line. Here the water was so sweet that he replenished his casks from it.

Astonished at this phenomenon, he stood in for land, and arrived among a number of islands whose people he found hospitable and in no way afraid of intercourse with the strangers. By degrees Pinzon realised the fact that these islands lay at the mouth of an immense river, a river so great that its dimensions can scarcely be realised by one accustomed even to the largest of European streams, such as the Danube or the Volga, far less by one whose ideas of an inland stream were formed by the Guadalquiver. The mariner had in fact alighted at the mouth of the mightiest of the mighty streams of the New World, a river which pours into the ocean a greater volume of water than even the _Mississippi_ or the _Plata_; he had reached the _Amazons_, a stream which, discovered at its mouth by one Spaniard, was, a few years later, to be traced throughout the greater part of its course down to the ocean by another Spaniard, the ill-fated Orellana.

The _Amazons_ at its mouth has a breadth of no less than thirty leagues, the volume of water proceeding through which penetrates for forty leagues into the sea before losing its sweetness. Whilst lying at the mouth of this river, Pinzon encountered a sudden swelling of the stream, which, meeting the current of the ocean, caused a rise of more than five fathoms, the mountain waves threatening his ships with destruction. Having extricated his vessels with no small difficulty from this danger, Pinzon, finding that there was no object to detain him in this region, showed that he was not less civilised than other Spanish navigators at the time in the matter of requiting hospitality, by carrying off thirty-six natives as slaves.

Having the polar star once more to guide him, the mariner pursued his course along the coast, passing the mouths of the _Orinoco_, and entering the gulf of _Pária_, where he took in brazil-wood, and from which he emerged by the celebrated _Boca del Drago_. He subsequently reached Palos about the end of September of the same year, having lost two of his vessels at the _Bahamas_. Vicente Pinzon has the glory of having been the first European to cross the equinoctial line on the Western Atlantic and of having discovered _Brazil_.

[Sidenote: 1500.]

Later in the same year in which Pinzon had discovered Cape _St. Augustine_ and had taken possession of the neighbouring coast in the name of the sovereigns of Castile, an event happened which illustrates how sometimes in human affairs the effect of accident may almost anticipate the calculations and discoveries of genius.[I] Scarcely eight years had elapsed since Columbus had set out on that voyage which, according to the motto beneath his armorial bearings, gave a new world to Castile and to Léon, when another expedition was equipped by King Emanuel of Portugal, the commander of which, without having the least idea of discovering land to the westwards, accidentally lighted upon the coast of South America.

But although Cabral has little or no merit in having been one of the first two independent discoverers of _Brazil_, yet it would be unfair to state that chance was wholly answerable for his discovery, and that scientific inquiry had no share in the matter. Scientific inquiry in this instance was, however, not due to Cabral, but to Prince Henry of Portugal, the great patron of maritime exploration along the western coast of Africa, and who, though he did not survive to know it, had paved the way for the great achievement of Vasco de Gama. It was in order to follow up the discoveries of the hero of the Lusiad that King Emanuel had equipped the squadron which left Belem on the Tagus, with befitting pomp and solemnity, in March A.D. 1500. The commander took with him a banner blessed by the Bishop of Ceuta, and set out under a royal salute from the fleet. It is remarkable that this expedition, destined to add to the Portuguese position in the East, should lead to the foundation of the Lusian Empire of the West.

Cabral steered for the Cape _de Verdes_ and then westwards to escape “the Doldrums” or calms on the African coast; and so sailing, he, on the 25th of April, sighted land near the harbour which bears his name. He himself now proceeded on his original destination eastward, but he sent back one of his vessels to inform his king of his discovery in the West, to follow up which an expedition was next year despatched.

[Sidenote: 1501.]

Amerigo Vespucci, now in the service of Portugal, landed on the coast of Brazil south of the equator; but the cannibal savages whom he discovered declined to have any dealings with the intruders whom their domains could not but attract. The forests were like gardens of flowers, the trees having blossoms of all colours, contrasted with the perfection of effect only met with in nature. Parasites filled the intervening spaces between trees and boughs, whilst orchids hung from them in the air, and birds of tropical plumage warbled amidst groves of pomegranate and orange trees. As Vespucci and his companions sailed southwards, new heavens were revealed to his wondering eyes, the Southern Cross looking down upon them in its glory. On reaching the eighth degree of southern latitude they found the natives more tractable. They were welcomed everywhere, and were thus enabled to explore the coast. They coasted onwards till the thirty-second degree, when they put out to sea, going twenty degrees further in the same direction. Here they met with stormy weather, and the cold became intense, so that Vespucci deemed it expedient to retrace his way to Lisbon, which place he reached in safety after a voyage of sixteen months. It was from this voyage that Amerigo Vespucci was considered the discoverer of the mainland of South America. His name was at first applied to these southern regions, but was afterwards extended to the whole continent. Vespucci was ignorant that _Brazil_ had previously been discovered both by Pinzon and Cabral. His account of his voyage, addressed to Lorenzo de Medici, was published at Strasburg in 1505. It is said to have been printed in Venice in 1504.

[Sidenote: 1504.]

In the spring of the ensuing year (1503) Vespucci again sailed from Lisbon with a squadron of six vessels, of which, however, he only commanded one ship. After many disasters and the loss of one vessel of the squadron, he reached _Brazil_, with his own ship alone, at the celebrated bay of All Saints, _Bahia_. There he remained two months in the hope of being joined by the rest of the fleet. He then sailed two hundred and sixty leagues to the south, where he remained for five months, building a fort and taking in a cargo of brazil-wood. In the fort he left a garrison of twenty-four men and set sail for Lisbon, where he arrived in June 1504. The other four vessels of the squadron were never afterwards heard of.

Early in the following year Amerigo Vespucci was at Seville on his way to the Spanish court in quest of employment, and was the bearer of a letter from Columbus to his son Diego, in which the great navigator, speaking of Vespucci, says, “Fortune has been adverse to him as to many others. His labours have not profited him as they reasonably should have done.... He goes with the determination to do all that is possible for me.” It is pathetic to hear the great discoverer thus speaking of the man whose name was to usurp the place of Columbus on the two continents of the New World.

The cargo of brazil-wood which had been brought by Amerigo to Lisbon was so much esteemed that a trade in it at once sprang up, and the result was that the coast whence it was procured, and finally the whole neighbouring country, came to be called _Brazil_. The Portuguese Government determined to colonize the land, and accordingly despatched thither, in the first instance, a portion of the criminal population of Portugal.

[Sidenote: 1508.]

Amerigo Vespucci being once more in the service of the king of Castile, in which he obtained the rank of chief pilot, which he held until his death, it was determined to take advantage of his previous discoveries, and in the year 1508 Pinzon and Solis proceeded on an expedition to Cape _St. Augustine_ and thence southwards, taking possession of several points at which they landed, in the name of the king of Spain. As before this date the Pope Alexander VI. had assigned to the Castilian and Lusitanian crowns, respectively, the line beyond which their respective discoveries might in either case be taken possession of, the Portuguese king now complained that the proceedings of this last Spanish expedition on the coast of South America were an infringement of the grant which had been made to him by the Sovereign Pontiff. Notwithstanding this, the king of Castile in the year 1515 despatched Juan de Solis on another expedition to the south, in the hope of finding the means of communication with the ocean which more than a year before this time had been reached overland by Vasco Nuñez de Balboa. This expedition resulted in the discovery of a stream to which Solis gave the name of the Sweet Sea; for the extent of its fresh waters forbade him to entertain the idea of its being a river. The Sweet Sea was named by a subsequent navigator the River of Silver, from the ornaments of that metal found amongst the people on the banks of the _Paraguay_, which flows into the _Paraná_, which with the _Uruguay_ forms the _Plata_, and is now known to us as the _Plata_ or the River _Plate_. This discovery cost De Solis his life; for, having landed incautiously on the island of _Martin Garcia_, he was set upon by the natives and murdered.

[Sidenote: 1519.]

And here it is necessary to mention the great navigator who should rank next to Columbus in South American discovery. Fernando Magalhaens (in Spanish Magallanes), better known as Magellan, was born in Oporto late in the fifteenth century. He entered the Portuguese navy at the usual early age, and served in India under Albuquerque. Fancying that his merits at _Malacca_ had been overlooked, he retired from the service of Portugal, and made proposals for new discoveries to Cardinal Ximenes. He shared the view of Columbus that there must exist somewhere a western passage to the seas beyond America, which seas had been seen by Vasco Nuñez de Balboa. Having held out the inducement of obtaining the _Moluccas_ by sailing westward, inasmuch as by the compact between Spain and Portugal all countries discovered 180° west of the _Azores_ were to belong to the former country, he obtained a fleet of five vessels, manned by two hundred and thirty-four persons, which sailed from Seville under his command on August 10th, 1519.

They steered for _Brazil_, and in the middle of the following December he entered the river _Plata_. Finding that it was not a strait, he sought his way southward, and took refuge in a harbour on the coast of _Patagonia_ in the 49th degree of S. latitude, to which he gave the name of Port _San Julian_. During his stay here he had to repress a conspiracy amongst the four commanders of his squadron, who were Spaniards, and who resented his being placed over them. Of these, two were hanged, a third was stabbed, and the fourth was put on shore.

[Sidenote: 1520.]

It was not until August 1520 that Magellan, who had previously taken possession of Port _San Julian_ in the name of the king of Spain, proceeded southward, and on October 21st he entered the strait which separates _Patagonia_ from _Terra del Fuego_, and which bears his name. On the 20th of November he cleared the strait with his squadron, which, by the desertion of one ship and the loss of another, was now reduced to three vessels. Emerging triumphantly on the vast expanse beyond,--having been the first navigator to sail to it from the Atlantic, he had the right to bestow upon it the name of the _Pacific_ Ocean.[J]

[Sidenote: 1526.]

The name which, next to that of De Solis, deserves to be remembered in connection with the discovery of _La Plata_, is that of Sebastian Cabot, the son of John Cabot, a Genoese navigator, who, being then in the service of Henry VII., was the first European that set foot on North-American soil. Sebastian Cabot is said to have been born in England, Bristol being assigned as his birthplace. In 1497 he coasted the shore from _Labrador_ to _Florida_. In 1526, Cabot, then chief pilot to the king of Spain, accepted the command of a squadron of four vessels fitted out by the merchants of Seville. In April of that year he set sail with the view of reaching China and Japan--then called Cathay and Cipango--by way of the straits discovered by Magellan in 1520; but, a mutiny breaking out in his command, he renounced his more ambitious enterprise and resolved to content himself with following up the discovery that had been made by the ill-fated De Solis.

Having entered the “Sweet Sea,” Cabot proceeded until he reached an island which he named after _Gabriel_. There leaving his vessels, he explored from a boat the coast of the mainland. A safe anchorage was afforded on the northern shore, where he found one of the Spaniards who had landed with De Solis, and who had escaped the cannibals. Throwing up a small earthwork to protect a portion of his men, he proceeded to explore the upper portion of the river. When he had reached the junction of the _Paraná_ and the _Uruguay_ he sent one of his officers with a vessel up the latter stream, whilst he himself ascended the former until he reached the _Carcaraña_ or _Tercero_, where he erected a small fort called _San Espiritu_, leaving in it a garrison of seventy men. Still pursuing his course, he duly reached, after having surmounted countless difficulties, the junction of the _Paraná_ with the _Paraguay_, nearly nine hundred miles from the sea. Having explored the _Paraná_ a hundred and fifty miles further, he then returned to the junction and ascended the latter stream, and whilst there he received unexpectedly a welcome reinforcement from Spain. Cabot passed the following two years in friendly relations with the _Guaranís_, in whose silver ornaments originated the name of _La Plata_ and thence of the _Argentine_ Republic, the name having been applied by Cabot to the stream now called the _Paraguay_. That able and sagacious man now sent to Spain two of his most trusted followers with an account of _Paraguay_ and its resources, and to seek the authority and reinforcements requisite for their acquisition. Their request was favourably received, but so tardily acted on that in despair the distinguished navigator quitted the region of his discoveries after a delay of five years.

[Sidenote: 1534.]

The two earliest explorers of the _Plata_ had been professional navigators; the commander of the third great expedition to that region was a courtier and a wealthy knight. _Don_ Pedro de Mendoza, no doubt attracted by the name of the Silver Stream, undertook to plant the Spanish race on its shores on the following conditions, namely: That the region extending from the _Plate_ to the Straits of _Magelhães_, a barren territory, was to be under his government; that he should pursue his way by peaceful or by warlike means across the continent until he should reach the ocean; that he was to be entitled _Adelantado_, and to receive a salary of four thousand ducats; that he was to be perpetual _Alcalde_ of one of three forts which he was to establish; that to his heirs should be reserved the post of first _Alguazil_ of the town where he should fix his residence; and that, should he capture another Montezuma or Atahualpa, he and his soldiers should receive two-thirds of the royal ransom. As a commentary on these ambitious views, Mendoza likewise took with him eight priests to teach and spread the unselfish doctrines of Christianity. His force consisted of some two thousand men with one hundred horses. Touching on his way at _Rio de Janeiro_, he thence proceeded along the coast and up the river _Plata_ to the distance of one hundred miles. The flat southern shore was then in the possession of the _Quirandis_, a tribe which has long since disappeared before civilization. The green plains, unclothed by woods and unbroken by hills, displayed no natural feature from which the knight might derive a name for his town; but as the climate seemed of the best, he resolved to call it _Buenos Ayres_.

[Sidenote: 1534.]

For some time the tribesmen supplied the invaders with food; but, with the fickleness of barbarians, they one day sent back their messengers mauled and empty-handed. This was a _casus belli_. The brother of Mendoza marched against the natives with three hundred foot-soldiers and thirty horsemen. Heretofore Spanish cavalry had, in their encounters with American aborigines, invariably been successful. The mailed warriors of Cortez or Pizarro had turned the scale of victory on many a day; but the cavaliers who charged with Diego Mendoza were met with a weapon now used for the first time against the horse and his rider. _Bolas_, or balls of stone, attached to each other, three together, by strips of hide, were hurled at the advancing centaur, which, entangled and stopped, came headlong to the earth. _Don_ Diego and some horsemen were killed, and twenty footmen met their death in covering the retreat of their mounted comrades. The discipline of the infantry, however, enabled them to remain masters of the field.

After this encounter famine seemed to stare the followers of Mendoza in the face, and an expedition sent up the river in search of food was everywhere met with hostility. Mendoza now determined to proceed up the stream, and on an island he found an interpreter in one of the followers of Cabot. _Buenos Ayres_ was meanwhile partly relieved by the return of an expedition that had been sent to procure provisions from the coast of _Brazil_. This was the extent to which the bright visions of Mendoza were destined to be realized. Tortured in body and broken in spirit, the knight left the scene of his misfortunes. On his homeward voyage he was still pursued by hunger, and his reason gave way before death came to his relief.

Mendoza had resigned his powers to his lieutenant, Ayolas, who ascended the _Paraná_ and reached the _Paraguay_, there losing one of his ships. Those whom it had conveyed proceeded by land, and encountered a tribe in some respects civilized. The _Carios_ possessed maize and the sweet potato, and in their farms were found ostriches, sheep, and pigs. Their capital was surrounded by stakes. The tribesmen offered the invaders provisions on condition of their departing. This not being accepted, a fight ensued, and the natives fled. Ayolas then founded a city, in which he took to himself, as we are told, seven wives, permitting two to each of his followers. The city was called _Asuncion_.

[Sidenote: 1537.]

After the delay of some months in his new settlement, Ayolas determined to find his way in the direction of _Peru_; and taking with him a sufficient party, he left one of his officers, Irala, with fifty Spaniards, at _Candelaria_ on the _Paraguay_, as a supporting party in case of his retreat. The succeeding months were occupied by him in wanderings in the primeval forest, where he received from a tribe the glad tidings of the presence of gold and silver in the adjacent regions. Ayolas and his party were, however, compelled to find their way back, when they were doomed to disappointment in not meeting Irala, who, despairing of their return, after waiting six months, had returned to _Asuncion_. Ayolas and his people were soon after murdered by the tribe of _Payaguas_. Irala meanwhile, having repaired his vessels, returned to _Candelaria_ and made fresh, but of course fruitless efforts to discover Ayolas, whose death, when he had ascertained it, he cruelly avenged on some _Payaguas_.

[Sidenote: 1537.]

Learning the tale of treasure to be found in the interior, Irala now bent his attention to discover it. At _Buenos Ayres_ wealth could only be the reward of industry, and therefore the settlement founded by Mendoza was abandoned, and the whole Spanish colony flocked up the river to _Asuncion_. They mustered six hundred souls, and _Asuncion_ thus became the earliest founded permanent city in the region of _La Plata_.

[Sidenote: 1540.]

It being believed in Spain, before the fact was ascertained, that Ayolas was dead, the post of _Adelantado_ of _La Plata_ was conferred upon _Don_ Alvar Cabeza de Vaca, who had passed ten years as a prisoner amongst the natives of _Florida_. Cabeza de Vaca sailed from Spain with four hundred followers in the year 1540, and by the following March had disembarked at _Santa Catalina_, an island on the coast of _Brazil_, opposite _Paraguay_, where confirmation reached him of the death of Ayolas. He thereupon boldly proceeded from a point of the shore near to _Santa Catalina_, making direct by land for _Asuncion_. He took with him two hundred and fifty men with twenty-six horses, sending the remainder by water to _Buenos Ayres_. During nineteen days Cabeza marched through woods ere reaching a settlement of _Guaranís_, from whom he was enabled to obtain abundance of food for his men.

Whilst resting with these friendly people, the explorer had the good fortune to fall in with a native on his way from _Asuncion_ to _Brazil_, and who undertook to retrace his steps and guide him to his seat of government. Leaving a region where a certain degree of civilisation existed--where maize and mandioc were cultivated, and where men lived in houses and reared fowls and ducks--the Spanish leader had once more to trust himself and his men to the toils and risks of a march through the primeval forest, through which, after having surmounted innumerable difficulties, they at length approached their destination. In the course of one day they had to construct as many as eighteen bridges for the passage of their horses. This march had mainly lain along the course of the river _Yguazû_, a tributary of the _Paraná_, which takes its rise near the Atlantic Ocean. In order to avoid a tribe which was reported to be hostile, Cabeza de Vaca embarked with part of his force on canoes, intending to proceed thus to the _Paraná_, whilst the rest of his men should march along the river’s bank to the point of junction of the two streams. But there was an obstacle in his way which prevented the execution of this scheme. The _Yguazû_, which stream is about one mile in breadth, while it flows through the Brazilian forest, suddenly becomes contracted, at a short distance above its junction with the _Paraná_, to the breadth of rather less than a thousand yards. It then breaks into several channels and rushes over a series of descents, the highest of which is one hundred and seventy-two feet. Of this cataract--which, though little visited, is perhaps the grandest in South America--the vicinity is made known by the roar of waters and by the rising of a mist which overspreads the falls to a height of more than one hundred feet.

The Indians through whose settlements Cabeza had passed, though they had appeared friendly, had permitted him to embark on the _Yguazû_ above the falls, without giving him warning of the danger that lay before him. The canoes that had been lent to the explorer were hurled with fearful rapidity along the face of the stream, and the rate of their passage became increased as they approached the scene of danger; but the distant sound of the falling waters warned Cabeza to steer for the bank, along which, for the distance of half a league, his followers carried their canoes, re-embarking below the falls, and then proceeding, without interruption, to the point of junction of the _Yguazû_ with the _Paraná_.

Cabeza de Vaca was fortunate enough to disarm any hostile intentions which may have been harboured against him by a body of _Guaranís_ that lined the further bank of the great river. They even helped him to effect his passage across the stream into what is now the territory of _Paraguay_. Sending down to the care of a friendly Indian chief, and with a guard of fifty soldiers, such of his men as would be unable to bear the fatigue of the march to _Asuncion_, the Spanish leader proceeded on his way by land; and, after further experience of the difficulties of travelling over so densely wooded a district, he at length, on the 11th of March, had the satisfaction of reaching the settlement of his fellow-countrymen.

[Sidenote: 1542.]

After the departure from the _Paraná_ of Cabeza de Vaca, those of his men from whom he had separated were doomed to experience the invariable inconstancy of savages. The fear of chastisement and the hope of receiving presents being alike removed, the _Guaranís_ attempted by every means in their power to cut off the sick men and their guard; but by the aid of the friendly Indian chief to whose care they had been entrusted, they were enabled to continue their course in safety, and, having descended the _Paraná_ to the _Tres Bocas_, or three mouths of the _Paraguay_, they ascended the latter river, and reached _Asuncion_ one month after their leader.

At the time when this exploration by land of the region between the Atlantic Ocean and the river _Paraguay_ was being so successfully carried out under the leadership of Cabeza de Vaca, another expedition, of still greater geographical importance, was being effected elsewhere on the same Continent; but before describing the discovery of the _Amazons_, it is necessary to go back to the circumstances of which it was one of the results. In reconnoitering the course of exploration over a vast continent, it is impossible to relate the events of each year in the exact order in which they occurred. One must take the discovery of one region after another, going back when necessary to recount other explorations elsewhere which may have meanwhile occurred simultaneously with those already described. It may therefore be desirable here to follow the proceedings of Cabeza de Vaca in _Paraguay_. His first care was to send down vessels to _Buenos Ayres_ to the relief of that portion of his force which had been despatched by sea from _Santa Catalina_ to the latter place. It was obviously of the first advantage to the public interest that the settlement of _Buenos Ayres_ should be re-established. Without some port near the sea the settlers in the interior would ever be at a loss for the means of communication with Spain. The vessels from _Santa Catalina_ had reached _Buenos Ayres_ long before the arrival of those sent from _Asuncion_, and during the interval the Spaniards brought by the former had nearly perished from hunger. The force from _Paraguay_ arrived in time to enable them to resist a formidable attack from the natives. They attempted to fulfil the governor’s orders to rebuild the town; but they were at length discouraged by the incessant rain, and abandoning the attempt, embarked for _Asuncion_.

Cabeza de Vaca had taken into his alliance the _Guaranís_, and with them he proceeded to attack another tribe, the _Guaycurùs_, on the opposite side of the river. These were, as might be expected, disconcerted at the sight of his armed horses and riders, and readily consented to be his allies. With their aid he prepared to follow the course of exploration towards _Peru_; and whilst vessels were being constructed for river navigation, he sent Irala forward with an expedition by land. Soon following in person and passing a settlement on the _Paraguay_, called _Puerto de los Reyes_, which had been founded by Irala, he penetrated into the interior; but from the want of provisions he had to return to _Paraguay_. There he and his people suffered to the full the hardships incident to the life of explorers. Whilst they were reduced by hunger, prostrated by fever, and tormented by mosquitoes, they were attacked by formidable bands of natives, having defeated whom, the _Adelantado_ was glad to turn his face again towards _Asuncion_. On his arrival, however, fresh troubles awaited him. During his absence a conspiracy had been hatched. His person was seized and his authority usurped, Irala being proclaimed governor in his stead. After a captivity of eleven months Cabeza de Vaca was sent a prisoner to Spain, in company with two official persons who were to prefer groundless charges against him; yet, notwithstanding his innocence and his services, he had, like Warren Hastings at a later period, to await during eight years a sentence of acquittal.

The downfall of Cabeza de Vaca did not inaugurate a reign of peace at _Asuncion_. Irala had been called to power by popular election, but his authority was curtailed by the pretensions of certain official persons who were nominated to their positions from Castile. Disputes and dissensions arose; but after a time these became silenced in the face of a combination against the Spaniards by two native tribes, the task of chastising whom was confided to Irala. The chosen leader of the colonists showed himself equal to the occasion. He successfully defended the colony, which he employed the following two years in consolidating. But a long period devoted to peaceful pursuits was not to the taste of a man cast in the mould of Vasco Nuñez or of Cortez. Setting out with three hundred and fifty Spaniards and two thousand auxiliaries, he ascended the _Paraguay_ as far as to _San Fernando_. There the main body of the expedition left the course of the stream, their boats being entrusted to the care of some Spaniards. Irala was well fitted to be the leader of such an expedition of discovery. Active and experienced, he was likewise cautious, and was never found unprepared on an emergency. Having journeyed onwards for a month or more, his ears were at length greeted by the sound of the Spanish language from Peruvian lips. Such was the first communication which took place between the Spaniards proceeding from _La Plata_ and those who proceeded from the Pacific Ocean.

[Sidenote: 1547.]

Irala, in conformity with the orders of the President Gasca of _Peru_, retraced his steps to _Asuncion_. There he distributed to his followers _repartimientos_, or consignments of land and slaves--a measure which greatly added to his popularity. He likewise founded a new settlement named _Ciudad Real_, near the border line of the Spanish and Portuguese territories. In the year 1547 _Asuncion_ became the seat of a bishop, and about the same time an important intermediate station between _Paraguay_ and _Peru_ was established at _Santa Cruz de la Sierra_, whilst Spanish civilization also began to extend downwards from _Paraguay_ in the direction of the sea.

The favourable reports which had reached Spain of the climate and capabilities of _Paraguay_ were such as to divert thither many emigrants who would otherwise have turned their faces towards _Mexico_ or _Peru_. It was the constant endeavour of Irala to level the distinctions which separated the Spaniards from the natives and to encourage inter-marriages between them. This policy, in the course of time, led to a marked result,--namely, to that singular combination of outward civilisation and of primitive simplicity which was to be found in the modern Paraguayan race until it was annihilated under the younger Lopez. “It was,” to quote Mr. Washburn, who lived eight years amongst them, “an anomalous people, and the like had never been seen in any other country of America. The reason of this may be found in the fact that in no other colony did the early colonists in large numbers adopt the native language and take the Indian women as wives.”

[Sidenote: 1557.]

Irala, in fact, created a nation. The colony under his administration became numerous and wealthy. From his first arrival in the New World until his death, his career was one of activity, toil, and adventure, always in the conscientious discharge of his duty to his sovereign and to those around him. He was the life and soul of the colony, and his death, which occurred in 1557 at the village of _Ita_ near _Asuncion_, when he had attained the age of seventy years, was lamented alike by Spaniards and _Guaranís_. In the estimation of Mr. Washburn, he was the first and last great man ever known to _La Plata_.

From this date Paraguayan history is for a long period destitute of all marked events save one. It consists, indeed, mainly of the establishment and progress of the Order of Jesus in that country. An account of the origin and advance of this remarkable movement must be deferred to a future chapter.