Part 13

THE governor having left the Indians of the Pequiry very friendly and peaceful, continued his journey with his people through the interior, passing many settlements of Guaranís, all of whom came to meet him with plenty of provisions, showing great joy at his coming. And to all their chiefs he distributed presents, and even the old women and children came to greet them, laden with maize and potatoes. And the inhabitants of villages which were one and even two days off along his line of march did the same, and all brought commodities; and for some distance before the villages were reached they cleared and swept the road, dancing and making great merriment on seeing the Spaniards. What increases their pleasure and contentment is to see their old women merry, because they are wont to do as these tell them, and are more obedient to them than to the old men. The last day of January, continuing to advance into the interior of the province, they arrived at the river Yguazú, and before arriving at this river they traversed an uninhabited region without finding any settlement of Indians. This is the same river they crossed at the beginning of their journey, when they left the coast of Brazil. It is also called in that part Yguazú. It flows from east to west, and there are no settlements on its banks. Here they took the altitude and found it to be twenty-five and a half degrees. Before arriving at the river Yguazú, they learned from the natives that it fell into the Paraná, also called Rio de la Plata; and that between this river Paraná and the Yguazú the Indians killed the Portuguese whom Martin Alfonzo de Sosa[316] had sent to discover that land, who were slaughtered while crossing the river in canoes. Some of these Indians who had so killed the Portuguese warned the governor that the Indians of the Pequiry river were bad people and our enemies, and that they were lying in wait to seize and kill us during our passage of the river. Because of this the governor held a council, and decided to secure both banks of the river, he with part of his people descending the Yguazú in canoes, and entering the Paraná, while the remainder of the people with the horses went by land, and took up a position on the bank in order to overawe the Indians; all the people were then to pass to the other side in the canoes, and this was accordingly effected. The governor himself with eighty men embarked in canoes and descended the Yguazú, the remainder of the people and the horses proceeded by land, as we have said, and all joined on the river Paraná. The current of the Yguazú was so strong that the canoes were carried furiously down the river, for near this spot there is a considerable fall, and the noise made by the water leaping down some high rocks into a chasm may be heard a great distance off, and the spray rises two spears high and more above the fall.[317] It was necessary, therefore, to take the canoes out of the water and carry them by hand past the cataract for half a league with great labour. Having left that bad passage behind, they launched their canoes and continued their voyage down to the confluence of this river with the Paraná. And it pleased God that the people and the horses that went by land, as well as those in the canoes with the governor, all arrived at one time. On the bank of the Paraná there had assembled a great number of Indian Guaranís, all decked with parrots' feathers, painted red and a variety of other colours, holding their bows and arrows and all massed together for battle. The arrival of the governor and his people in the manner we have described caused much fear among them and threw them into confusion. We began to speak with them through interpreters and to distribute a number of presents among their chiefs; and as they were covetous people, delighting in novelties, they began to be appeased and to approach us. And many of them helped us to cross to the opposite bank.[318] When we had passed, the governor ordered rafts to be made by lashing the canoes by twos together; and in two hours they were ready, all the people and the horses reaching the other side without being interfered with by the natives. This river Paraná, at the place where we crossed it, was a long cross-bow shot wide, very deep and rapid; in passing it one of the canoes upset and one Christian was drowned, the current having drawn him under, and he never rose to the surface. The strength of the current and great depth form many whirlpools.

[316] Martim Affonzo de Sousa held a captaincy on the extreme southern part of the coast of Brazil, for the Portuguese Government, in 1531. This was the Capitania de São Vicente.

[317] The Salto do Iguaçu, or fall of the Iguassu, is a succession of leaps made by this river at about eight miles from its mouth. The difference in level above and below the falls is 58 mètres. (_Subsidies, etc., to the Physical Map of Brazil_, Homem de Mello, Rio de Janeiro, 1876, p. 29; Azara, _Viajes_; Martin de Moussy, _Description de la République Argentine, etc._)

[318] _I.e._, to the right bank of the Paraná.

CHAPTER THE TWELFTH.

_Which treats of the rafts that were made to carry the sick._

WHEN the governor had passed the river Paraná he was greatly disappointed at not finding the two brigantines which he had ordered by letter the two captains who were at the Ascension to send, these vessels being much needed to protect the passage for the transport of the sick and those who were fatigued with the long journey. As there were many incapable of marching who could not safely be left behind in the midst of so many enemies, who might soon pluck up courage to attempt some of their treasonable practices, he arranged to send the sick down the Paraná on the rafts, entrusting them to the care of an Indian chief named Yguaron, to whom he gave presents. This man offered to take charge of the sick in person and bring them to the village of Francisco, a servant of Gonzalo de Acosta, in the expectation that by the way they would meet the brigantines, and would be received and entertained by them; meanwhile this Indian, Francisco, who had been brought up among Christians and who lived on the bank of the Paraná, four days' journey from the point of their departure, according to the information of the natives, would look after them. So the governor ordered them to embark, and they were about thirty men, and he sent with them fifty arquebusiers and crossbowmen for their protection. And as soon as he had sent them, the governor, with the remainder of his people, continued his journey by land towards the town of the Ascension, to reach which he would have to travel nine days according to the information given by the Indians inhabiting the banks of the Paraná. Possession was taken of this river in the name of His Majesty, and the pilots took the altitude and found it to be twenty-four degrees.[319]

[319] This is an error. The mouth of the river Yguazú is in 25° 35′ lat.

The governor and his people advanced across the country, passing settlements of the Guaranís, all of whom received him well, and came forth to meet him laden with provisions, as usual. In this march they crossed large marshes, and other bad places, and rivers, and had to build bridges and overcome many difficulties. After the passage of the Paraná the Indians accompanied them from village to village, showing great friendship and goodwill; they did them many good offices, both in serving as guides, and providing them with food. For all this the governor rewarded them generously, and made them well satisfied. During the march a Spaniard came from the town of Ascension to meet the governor, and took back tidings to his fellow-countrymen, and the people there, of his arrival; for, owing to the straits they were in, their desire to see him and his people was very great; and they could hardly believe that he would do them such a service until they had seen him with their own eyes, even though they had read the letters he had written to them. This Christian informed the governor of the situation, and of the danger the people were in, of the deaths that had happened both of those who went with Juan de Ayolas, as well as many others slain by the natives, and of their great tribulation and discouragement, especially since the evacuation of Buenos Ayres; for they had long expected relief from Spain, and when at length that port was abandoned, they had given up all hope of deliverance. He also related many other losses that had been sustained in the country.

CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH.

_How the governor arrived at the Ascension, where the Spaniards lived whom he had come to relieve._

HAVING learned of the above-mentioned Spaniard of the death of Juan de Ayolas and his companions, and of the deaths of other Christians, of the extremity of the survivors in the town of Ascension, and of the abandonment of Buenos Ayres, whither he had left orders that the ship _Capitana_ should proceed with the one hundred and forty men from the island of St. Catalina; considering, too, the danger in which those might be who arrived by sea, when they found that port deserted by the Christians and in the hands of a large number of Indians, he made all the haste he could to reach Ascension in the quickest time possible, in order that he might infuse new courage into those who remained there, and restore confidence among the friendly Indians. All the natives of the parts he was now travelling through make their houses of straw and wood, and many of those from the district round Ascension spoke to the governor in our own Castilian tongue, bidding him and his Spaniards welcome. Their reception of him was as cordial as any met with heretofore. They cleared and swept the road, formed processions with their wives and children, waited his arrival with presents of provisions: maize, wine, bread, potatoes, fowls, fish, honey, and game, all prepared; and they distributed these gifts among his men. In token of peace they raised their hands, and, in their own language, some, too, in ours, welcomed the governor and his people. Along the route they entered into conversation with us, and were as cordial and familiar as though they were our own countrymen, born and bred in Spain.

Travelling in this way, it pleased God that on the eleventh of March, being one Saturday, at nine o'clock in the morning, in the year of grace 1542, we arrived at the city of Ascension, where we found the Spaniards living whom we had come to relieve.

This town is situated on the bank of the Paraguay, in twenty-five degrees south latitude. Before entering it the governor was met by all the captains and people resident there, who showed incredible joy at his arrival, declaring they had never believed, or even expected that they would be relieved, so great were the dangers and difficulties of the road never before explored; as for the sea-route _viâ_ Buenos Ayres, by which they had hoped succour might have reached them, their expectations from this quarter had also vanished since the Indians had taken the aggressive with the idea of soon capturing and making an end of them. Moreover, so long a time had elapsed since any Spaniards had landed there, that they were in despair.

The governor received them all at an interview, spoke very kindly with them, and informed them that he had come by His Majesty's orders to succour them. Thereupon he showed his credentials and powers to Domingo de Irala, and the officers Alonzo Cabrera, controller, a native of Loja; Philip de Caceres, accountant, of Madrid; Pedro Dorantes, factor, of Bejar, and to other captains and inhabitants of that province. These documents were read out to the clergy and soldiers present, and by virtue of them they recognized him as governor, and signified their obedience as to a captain-general of the province, appointed by His Majesty. The insignia of justice were given up to him, and were redelivered, in the name of His Majesty, to the magistrates who should administer civil and criminal law in the said province.

CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH.

_How the Spaniards, left behind through sickness, on the river Pequiry, arrived at the town of Ascension._

THIRTY days after the arrival of the governor at the town of Ascension, as we have related, the Christians, both sick and sound, whom he had sent on rafts from the river Paraná, arrived at the harbour, one only being missing; and he had been killed by a tiger. They reported to the governor how the Indians of the river assembled in great numbers with their canoes, and while our men were descending on the rafts, came out and attacked them with loud cries and beating of drums, shooting a storm of arrows at them. Two hundred canoes surrounded them at one time, trying to board and take possession of the rafts in order to kill the Spaniards. For fourteen days and nights they never ceased fighting, being exposed all that time to a constant fire of arrows, both from those on shore as well as those in the canoes. The natives tried with long hooks to seize hold of the rafts, and drag them towards the shore, while the incessant shouting and cries of these men made so much din that one would have said the powers of light and darkness were at war with one another. They gave them no rest, for those in the canoes changed places with those on shore, these continuing the fight while the others rested. Twenty Spaniards were wounded, but not seriously; and all this time the rafts kept drifting down stream, borne along by a strong current. They descended so rapidly that rowing was unnecessary, and all their efforts were directed to prevent their being drawn to land, where the danger was greatest. Nevertheless, they were now and then exposed to great peril, owing to the whirlpools which caught the rafts and twirled them round; and it required all the skill of those that navigated them to prevent them being taken inshore by the eddies. In this way they continued their voyage for fourteen days without the possibility of finding succour or protection, always pursued by the Indians in their canoes, and a constant target for their arrows. At length they arrived near the village of Francisco, the Indian, who, with some of his men, came out to meet and succour the Christians. He brought them to an island near his village, and gave them food, for they were weary with the fatigues they had undergone, and starving. Here the wounded recovered from their wounds, and all rested, for the enemy had not dared to pursue them farther, and had withdrawn. Meanwhile the two brigantines sent for their relief arrived at the village. In these they embarked and arrived at the Ascension.

CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH.

_How the governor, wishing to re-people Buenos Ayres, sent reinforcements to those who had come there in the ship 'Capitana'._

ALVAR NUNEZ ordered two brigantines to be equipped with all diligence, and to be loaded with provisions and other commodities; and having manned them with some of the former colonists of Buenos Ayres who were acquainted with the navigation of the Paraná, he sent them to relieve the one hundred and forty Spaniards who were to have embarked at St. Catalina in the ship _Capitana_ for Buenos Ayres; for, owing to the abandonment of this port, these people would be exposed to great danger. He ordered that the port should be immediately rebuilt in the most convenient place, as the colony was necessary for the safety and welfare of all the Spaniards in the province, as well for those who might come there in future, ships being obliged to anchor in this part of the river; here, too, brigantines have to be built to navigate the river for three hundred and fifty leagues to the town of Ascension.

The first two brigantines set out on the sixteenth of April. After they had started, the governor ordered two more to be built, and laden with provisions and people, to proceed also to the relief of the Spaniards, and to re-establish the port of Buenos Ayres. He gave special injunctions to the captains of these two vessels to treat the natives of the Paraná with kindness, and induce them by fair means to acknowledge the sovereignty of the King. He, moreover, directed them to take note of everything that occurred, in order that a full report might be sent to His Majesty. Having made these dispositions, Alvar Nuñez turned his attention to the service of God, and His Majesty, and to the pacification of the province. For the better accomplishment of these duties, he summoned a meeting of the monks and clergy residing in that province, as well as those that had come with him, and, in the presence of all the officers, the captains and the people, he entreated them, in kind but earnest words, to bestow special attention to the teaching of the Christian doctrines to the natives, subject to the King, and he caused certain passages of the Royal Charter to be read aloud, in which special mention was made of the treatment of the Indians. He further enjoined the monks, clergy, and other ecclesiastics, to take the Indians under their particular care, and to protect them from ill-treatment, and to inform him of anything done contrary to these orders--promising to supply all things necessary for this holy cause, and for the celebration of the sacraments in the churches and monasteries. And for this purpose he supplied them with wine and flour, and distributed among them the vestments he had brought for use in divine service; and he also gave them a barrel of wine for this use.

CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH.

_How the natives kill and eat their enemies._

SOON after the arrival of the governor at the Ascension the natives and conquistadores brought serious charges against the officers of His Majesty. Alvar Nuñez therefore ordered all the native subjects of the king to assemble, and in the presence of the monks and clergy told them he had been sent to protect them, and that they should come to the knowledge of God and accept Christianity at the hands of the monks and clergy who had come as the ministers of God, and should subject themselves to His Majesty. If they did this they would be better treated and protected. He warned them to give up eating human flesh, as that was a sin and grave offence in the sight of God. The monks and the clergy repeated this warning, and the governor concluded by distributing presents among them, such as shirts, stuffs, caps, and other things they delighted in.

These Guaranís speak a language common to all the tribes of this province. They eat the flesh of their enemies whom they take captive in war, bringing them to their settlements and making great merriment and rejoicing with them, dancing and singing till the captive grows fat. They give him their wives and daughters, in order that he may have every pleasure. It is these wives who take the trouble to fatten him. Those held in the greatest honour among them admit him to their couches, adorn him in various ways according to their custom, and bedeck him with feathers and necklaces of white beads and stones, which are much prized among them. When he begins to grow fat they redouble their efforts; the dancing, singing, and pleasures of all kinds increase. Then the men come; they adorn and make ready three boys of the age of six or seven, placing a little hatchet in their hands. The Indian considered the bravest among them now takes a wooden sword in his hand, called in their language _macana_, and leads the captive to a place where he is made to dance for one hour; the Indian then advances, and with both hands deals him a blow in the loins, and another on the spine to knock him down. It happens sometimes that after striking him six blows on the head they cannot kill him, so hard are their heads, though this two-handed sword is made of very tough, heavy, black wood, and the executioner is strong enough to kill an ox with a single blow. When they have knocked him down the three boys come with their hatchets, and the eldest of them, usually the son of the chief, begins striking blows on his head, the others do the same till the blood flows; the Indians meanwhile exhorting them to be brave and learn to kill their enemies and make war upon them, and to remember that this victim has killed many of their own people, and that they should revenge themselves upon him. As soon as he is dead the one that gave him the first blow takes the name of the dead man and keeps it henceforward in token of his bravery. Then the old women cut the body in pieces and cook it in their earthenware pots, distributing the flesh among themselves. They eat it and consider it excellent food. Afterwards they resume their dancing and pleasures, which last several days, saying that now the enemy who had slain their relatives is dead, they will take their rest and make merry.

CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH.

_Of the peace which the governor concluded with the Indian Agazes._