Part 18

Each of the _reduçōes_, otherwise called missions, was a considerable town, laid out with straight streets. The houses, generally of earth, were whitened, covered with tiles, and had verandas on each side, in order to preserve them from the sun and rain. On seeing one, a correct idea might be formed of the whole. Each mission had only a mother church, generally of stone, magnificent and richly ornamented, some being entirely gilded. A vicar and a curate, both Jesuits, were the only ecclesiastics exercising the parochial functions, being, at the same time, inspectors of all civil economy; under whose direction there were magistrates, (_corregedores_,) elected annually; a _cacique_, or chief, elected for life; and other officers, each with his jurisdiction. With the exception of these, every individual of both sexes wore a shirt reaching to the ancles, usually of white cotton. They cultivated _matte_, the cotton tree, and such provisions as prospered best in the country. The whole was deposited in warehouses, from whence it was distributed daily to the people. Each family received an ounce of _matte_, four pounds of meat, and a certain measure of Indian corn, and more if it was judged necessary. All passed under the review of the magistrates or of other subordinate persons. The curates lived commodiously, near to their churches, and contiguous to their dwellings were two spacious houses; one destined for schools of reading, painting, architecture, music, and having shops for different manual occupations; the other was a _recolhimento_, or receptacle for a great number of young girls, who were engaged in different works, under the inspection of matronly women, already instructed. The women received on Monday a certain portion of cotton, which they were to return in the spun state on Saturday. The curate, accompanied by certain officers and masters, went daily at eight o’clock to visit the schools and shops. The signal of the last _Avi Marias_ was also that of the _rosario_, or counting of beads, at which all assisted.

All superfluities were exported, with a large quantity of tallow, hides, and _matte_, and with the proceeds they paid the capitations, and obtained in return requisite European articles.

It is calculated that the Indians possessed near two million head of cattle.

Such was the condition of the _reduçōes_, or missions, which constituted the pretended Guaranitic state, in 1768, when the Jesuits were expelled and their people delivered over to the direction of the Dominicans, Franciscans, and Mercenarians. The last is an order of friars instituted in Arragon by King James for the redemption of captives.

The Marquis of Bucarelli, governor of Buenos Ayres, wishing to go personally, accompanied by the best troops of Europe which he could collect in that capital, to execute the orders of his sovereign relative to the missions, which were repugnant to the feelings of the Indians, wrote, before he commenced his march, to all the vicars to send to him the chief (_cacique_) and head magistrate of each mission, in order that he might communicate to them advices from his Majesty. On their arrival at Buenos Ayres he unjustly retained them as hostages, with a view of obviating any difficulty that might arise. In Yapegú, which is the first mission, was presented to him the celebrated chief, Nicolau, who in Europe passed for the sovereign of the Guaranitic republic, and who was not able to proceed in the train of the others, in consequence of the infirmities of old age, being then seventy. The Europeans and their descendants began to frequent the missions, and the Indians to have mutual relations with them, and to learn from them many of the most familiar words, also some relaxation from the more correct morals and manners of the Jesuits. The population, in consequence, soon began to diminish, as well as the neatness and cleanliness of their houses and temples.

MOUNTAINS.--In the northern part there is the serra of Maracaju, which is of trifling altitude; and the Lambara, in the vicinity of the capital, also not of remarkable elevation, although it exceeds in height all those that encompass it.

The mineralogy consists of _gesso_, or plaster, limestone, granite, and marble.

RIVERS AND LAKES.--Besides the three great rivers that limit this province, there are many others which water the interior, and some of them navigable for a considerable distance.

The Gualeguay, which has a course of more than one hundred and forty miles, empties itself into the Uruguay, a few leagues above the Negro, after having watered a level country, rich in cattle, corn, and fruit trees.

The Mirinay, which also runs into the Uruguay, fifty miles below the Ibicui, is considerable, and runs through an extensive country, stocked with large cattle.

The Taquary, seventy miles long, empties itself also into the Uruguay, ninety miles below the preceding.

The Jaguare, rising in the Serra Maracaju, runs into the Paranna, twelve leagues below the Setequedas (Seven Falls).

According to a map of the country, which does not appear a bad one, the Acarahy is the first considerable river which enters the Paranna by the right bank, seventy miles below the Setequedas.

The Tibiquary, which is considerable, disembogues into the Paraguay ninety miles above the confluence of the Paranna. The Cannabé, after a course of one hundred miles, enters the Paraguay fifty miles north of the Tibiquary.

The lake Ibera, otherwise Caracares, is pretty considerable, and approximates the left margin of the Paranna; it has some islands, and its neighbouring lands are marshy. Charts do not accord as to its size: some give it one hundred and fifty miles in length, and little less in width; others, ninety in length, and twenty in width; they agree that it communicates with the Uruguay by the Mirinay, and with the Paraguay by the Correntes, which empties itself near thirty-five miles below St. Luzia. It is also said to communicate in two parts with the Paranna. The lake Jagapé, which is large, and surrounded with woods, is near the northern bank of the Paranna, about sixty miles above the town of Itaty.

PHYTOLOGY.--The cedar, which is of various sorts, the _páu d’arco_, (bow wood,) sassafras, with many other trees of fine timber for building; the pine tree, and those which afford a resin denominated the blood of the dragon, and the oil of _cupahiba_; the ipecacuanha, jalap, rhubarb, and other medicinal plants; the _opuncia_, pine-apple, orange, banana, and _mamoe_, of which last tree there are male and female; the male bears no fruit but only flowers, the female bears fruit and no flowers.

The vegetable _matte_ is a large shrub or bush, with leaves similar to an orange tree, and tastes of mallows; it is said the serra Maracaju produces the best. It is usual not to wait for the leaves falling, but they are plucked, and then dried by some of the most approved methods, generally upon hides between two fires. This plant is taken almost like tea, and the use of this beverage has prevailed from time immemorial amongst the Indians of the northern part of this province. It was they who introduced it amongst the first inhabitants of Assumption.

ZOOLOGY.--This province is prodigiously abundant in cattle, horses, and mules; sheep are numerous, but goats few. There is a sufficiency of hogs for the consumption of the inhabitants. Amongst the wild quadrupeds are remarked the ounce, the deer, the monkey, the fox, the rabbit, the cat, the _tamandua_, _quaty_, _zorrilha_, or squash, the _tatous_, or armadillo, _paca_, _cotia_, and the boar. Of birds, the emu ostrich, the _seriema_, _jaburu_, _cegonha_, _garca_, _mutun_, _jacu_, _colhereira_, _urubu_, _tucano_, _rola_, troquaze pigeons, the parrot, _codornize_, or quail, _beija-flor_, or humming-bird, the _guiraponga_, and the partridge. There are also a diversity of wild ducks and geese.

The principal _povoações_ are, Assumpçao, or Assumption, Correntes, Coruguaty, and Villa Rica.

Assumpçao, an episcopal city, is in a state of mediocrity, possessing some commerce. It is the capital and the residence of the governor, and is situated upon the margin of the Paraguay, which daily washes away a part of the ground upon which it is built. It is ornamented with a hospital, with convents of the Dominicans, Franciscans, Mercenarians, Recoletos, (rigid friars,) and a seminary which was a Jesuitical college. This city has no regularity nor fine edifices; the greater part of the houses are built of earth, and many of the inhabitants of its three parishes are descended from the Portuguese. From hence is exported tobacco, _imbe_, timber, and a prodigious quantity of matte to Buenos Ayres, where it is afterwards packed in hides, and distributed over various Spanish districts, being a beverage universally used amongst them, as well as by the Portuguese in the southern parts of Brazil. In its environs are bred numerous herds of large cattle. There are plantations of cotton and the cane. Honey and wax are abundant. They cultivate also, as in other parts, _aipim_, or _pompim_, as it is called here, which root, after being scraped, chopped, and dried in the oven, is cooked with meat, serving for bread. The maize, or Indian corn, after it is boiled, and beat in a pestle, is passed through a sifter, kneaded with milk, and baked, when it receives the name of _chippa_.

The bishop is a suffragan of La Plata, otherwise _chuquissaca_. The chapter of the church, as in all other ultramarine cathedrals of the Spanish states, is composed of twelve canons, including the moderator of the Inquisition, five dignitaries, the dean, archdeacon, chanter, treasurer-mór, and master of the college; also six petty canons to sing the Evangelists, and as many more half petty canons for the Epistles, whose vestments differ little from the others. The canons of theology, doctorial, magisterial, and penitentiary, only give graduates, and that by competition. The revenue of the suppressed canonship is destined for the expenses of the tribunal of the holy office.

There are two tribunals, one called the _Junta Decimal_, for the public disposal of the decimos, and consisting of two canons, a royal fiscal, a minister clothed with a _toga_, or gown, an accountant, and an _escrivao_, or scrivener. The other denominated _Meza Capitular_, for the collection and distribution of the proceeds of the decimos, is formed of a _provisor_, or vicar-general, a canon, acting at times as a fiscal, the _contador-mor_, or chief accountant of the treasury, and another accountant to make the distribution or rates.

All the produce of the decimos is appropriated to the church. In calculating this, the chief accountant of the treasury divides it into nine equal parts; one and a half, under the name of _noveno e medio_, belongs to the crown, and is destined for the repairs and other necessities of the church; and which the sovereign, as patron, gives by way of succour. Of the other seven and a half parts, one-half is for the bishop, whose duty is to relieve the necessities of the diocesans, especially the poor ones, collected in the house erected for their habitation, because none of them are permitted to solicit alms _pelas portas_, at the doors.

The residue is divided into three equal fifths, one for the dean, the remainder subdivided anew into three, two are distributed amongst the other dignitaries and the canons, with arithmetical proportion. The part remaining is portioned equally amongst the petty canons, and the half petty canons, or chaplains. The priests of the cities are denominated _reytors_, or rectors, and those of the towns, _vigarios_, or vicars. The padres only of the Indians have revenues, (_congrua_,) drawn from the coffers where the produce of the Indian lands that are sold, and the rents of the _emprazadas_, (persons paying an annual fine for lands bought,) are deposited. They receive nothing from the parishioners, except for the solemnization of burials.

The priests of the churches of the whites (_brancos_) alone have the altarage, (or free offerings of the people made at the altar,) and the productions of the patrimonies with which they were founded.

The churches are given after a competition of talent exhibited before the bishop. The competitors are convoked by him and the vice-patron, who is the governor, and without whose consent nothing can be decided in these cases. In order to fill up a vacancy, the bishop proposes three, the choice from which belongs to the vice-patron, if he does not reject the whole, and demand a proposal of others for his choice.

Correntes is a small city, advantageously situate in the southern angle of the confluence of the river Paranna, ornamented with a convent of Dominicans, one of Franciscans, and a third of Mercenarians, having straight streets, and many houses with one story. The Jesuitical house is in ruins. Amongst its inhabitants, there are some Portuguese, many Indians, and a few negroes. In its vicinity there is much marshy land, and very extensive woods. Cattle and horses are the wealth of the country. _Mandubins_, Indian corn, vegetables, water-melons, and cotton, are the objects of culture. The land is neither adapted for wheat nor matte. The ants and locusts, which are extremely numerous, destroy the mandioca, and prevent its cultivation. The _pitangueira_, or _pitangua_ tree, is very abundant; peaches are not met with. The _imbagay_ is a fruit similar to the mango, but something smaller, and found from hence northward. Hides and timber are the principal articles of exportation. Mosquitoes are extremely troublesome here.

Justice is daily administered by two _alcaldes_, or magistrates, assisted by two _assessores_, or lawyers. The four are elected annually by a judicial _cabildo_, composed of twenty-four governors for perpetuity, except in the event of delinquency; four of whom are principals, namely the royal ensign, the deacon, an officer called the _aguazil maior_, and the provincial alcalde. The others are ordinaries, each with his inspection, presided by an assessor-general, called _tenente assessor_, (lieutenant assessor.) There is an advocate named by the _audiencia_, or audience-court of the province, for the purpose of defending _gratis_ the causes of the poor, or those who do not possess a patrimony of a certain value, and also of prisoners, although they may be rich.

Ten leagues to the north of Correntes is the parish of Nehembuçu, on the margin of the Paraguay, where they build boats and different sorts of vessels. Thirty leagues to the south of Correntes is situated the village and parish of St. Luzia, also upon the margin of the Paraguay; in its district there is _gesso_, a species of plaster, which forms a branch of exportation. In this interval are the parishes of Algarrobas, Esquina, and Goya, abounding sufficiently in meat and fish.

Bagada de St. Fé, and commonly called Paranna, is a small village situated upon the Paraguay, in front of St. Fé, in view of an island of considerable extent. From hence is exported a good deal of limestone.

Coruguaty is a middling town, and celebrated for the large quantity of matte collected in its district, of which it is the deposit. It is situated about thirty leagues to the north-east of Assumption, and three miles distant from the left margin of the river from which it borrows the name.

Five leagues to the north of it is the _prezidio_ or garrison of St. Miguel, established in order to obstruct the invasions of the Guaycuru Indians.

Villa Rica, where also is accumulated large quantities of matte, lying twenty leagues to the south-east of Assumption, is yet small. There is another place of the same name on the borders of the Paraguay, to the north of the capital.

Arroio da China is a middling town, situated on the banks of the Uruguay, more than thirty leagues above its embouchure. Its inhabitants, mainly white people, breed cattle and cultivate corn and fruit.

Itaty is a small town, but regular, and well situated upon the southern bank of the Paranna, about thirty leagues above Correntes. Its inhabitants consist of Indians and some white people; a portion occupy themselves in potteries, and others in forming plantations of the cotton tree. The soil and climate are adapted for oranges and water-melons, which prosper abundantly.

In the country of the missions is to be remarked the following places.

Candellaria, which took the name from its magnificent church, as did almost all the _reduçōes_ of the pretended Guaranitic kingdom, or the missions of the Paranna, of which it was always considered the capital, in consequence of its superior size and population. It is situate upon the left bank of the river Paranna, where it inclines to the west, near the mouth of a small river.

Corpus, also on the left margin of the same river, is fifteen leagues to the north of Candellaria, and is the most northern of the missions, situated upon the Paranna, and one of the handsomest in the province.

Between the two preceding are situated those of St. Gosme, St. Anna, St. Gosme Velho, Nosso Senhora do Loreto, and St. Ignaçio Menor, (the smaller.) This last is three leagues above the preceding one, and four below Corpus.

The Padre Xarque, says the _reduções_ of Nosso Senhora do Loreto and St. Ignaçio Menor, were founded for the establishments of the twelve thousand Indians, which the Jesuits conducted from the Upper Paranna, when the Paulistas invaded the country.

Itu, upon the same margin of the Paranna, is fifteen leagues to the west of Candellaria.

Assumpçao is fifteen leagues, with little variation, to the south-west of Corpus, near the mouth of a small river that loses itself in the Uruguay.

Conceiçao is situated sixteen leagues to the south of the preceding one, and little more than three leagues distant from the river Uruguay.

St. Thomas is fifteen leagues distant, in a southern direction, from Conceiçao.

St. Maria Maior is a few leagues to the north of Conceiçao, also upon the margin of the Uruguay.

Apostolos is little more than six leagues to the west of Conceiçao, upon the road which leads towards Itu; and twenty miles further in the same direction upon this road St. Carlos is situated.

St. Francisco Xavier is a few leagues to the north of St. Maria, and to the east of Candellaria. In this interval Martyres is situated.

Itapuan is on the right bank of the Paranna, to the north of Candellaria. Trinidade is eight leagues to the north of Itapuan. St. Ignaçio Guassu (the larger) is near the head of a branch of the river Tibiquary. It is the most ancient of the whole.

St. Fé is five leagues to the north-east of St. Ignaçio Guassu. The mission of Jesus is four leagues to the north-north-west of Trinidad.

St. Roza is six leagues to the east of St. Ignaçio Guassu; St. Gosme four leagues to the south-east of St. Roza.

St. Tiago is eight leagues to the north of Itu; and Yapegu, which is the most southern, and amongst the largest of the missions, is situated near the Uruguay, a little below the confluence of the Ibicui, and half a league to the north of the river Guavirida. The Jesuits had a college here richly ornamented.

CHAP. VII.

PROVINCE OF URUGUAY.

_Foundation of Aldeias, called Missions, by the Spanish Jesuits for the Tappe Indians--Flourish till the Expulsion of that Sect--Subsequent Decay--War between the Spaniards and Portuguese--Conquest of the Seven Missions by the latter Power in 1801--Governor sent--Boundaries--Mountains--Rivers --Phytology--Zoology--Names and Population of the Seven Missions at their Conquest._

In the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Spanish Jesuits entered the territory to the east of the river Uruguay, and there founded seven large villages, called _reduçōes_, for the habitation of various hordes of Tappes, the possessors of the country, in order the better to civilize and bring them to Christianity, by the same means as were practised with those of the Paranna. It has been already stated, that, in the treaty of limits of 1750, the exchange of these missions for Colonia do Sacramento was agreed upon by their Faithful and Catholic Majesties; and also, that the Jesuits frustrated its execution in the first instance, and that, on the sudden return to Rio de Janeiro, of Gomes Freyre d’Andrade, in 1756, things soon reverted to their anterior state.

These _reduçōes_, which made a part of the spiritual Jesuitical kingdom, flourished to the period of the expulsion of their founders, when they began to decay, and thirty-four years of deterioration, by imperceptible degrees, could not have transformed the whole more effectually; in which state they were, in effect, at the beginning of the present century, when the declaration of war between the two crowns in Europe, caused the arming of the inhabitants of the capitania of Rio Grande de St. Pedro, who, since the peace of 1777, had lived in tranquillity.

Almost at the same time that the Portuguese troops of the town of St. Pedro passed the river of St. Gonçalo, in 1801, against the Spanish posts, in the vicinity of the western margin of the lake of Patos, a corps of Portuguese militia and deserters, attracted by the amnesty, were put in motion upon the frontiers of the river Pardo; amongst the latter of which appeared Joze Borges do Canto, a native of the country, and who had deserted from a regiment of dragoons. He immediately offered to go and commence hostilities in the Spanish territories, on being granted some comrades and the necessary arms. Ammunition only was conceded to him, with the liberty of assembling such people together as would join his standard. Having formed a battalion of forty men, armed at their own expense, he marched direct to the missions of Uruguay, and, encountering on the road a known Indian, who was retiring discontented from the Spaniards, he received from him the certain intelligence that the Indians, on hearing of the war, would not hesitate to subject themselves to the crown of Portugal, as almost all the Indian population lived unhappily under their present government. Canto persuaded the Indian to return, and announce to his compatriots the opportunity which was now presented of freeing themselves from the Spanish yoke, and of passing under the protection of the Faithful Crown, and to inform them, that he would afford all necessary assistance. The Indian, convinced of this, accompanied them to within sight of St. Miguel, where there was a lieutenant-colonel, commanding a trench which he had formed in apprehension of an attack from the Portuguese.

Having arrived thus far at day-break, Canto sent the Indian forward by a bye-way, with orders to bring him what information he could, to a certain situation, whither he should continue to march. As the place was very near to the trench, Canto and his party were discovered by the sentinel, who called out to arms. Under these circumstances, Canto saw himself obliged to advance without order against the entrenched, who were in greater disorder; and after discharging a few shots they abandoned the fortification, retiring to the town, where the commandant was, and leaving this intrepid squadron masters of the trench, with ten pieces of artillery.

The commandant supposing himself to be attacked by a great number of another class of combatants, offered a capitulation to the chief of the conquerors, who willingly conceded almost all that was asked, in order that the Spaniards might leave the country before a reinforcement arrived, or before they knew that it was only forty adventurers, without any corps of reserve, from whom they had fled. The commandant was a good deal perplexed, at the execution of the articles of capitulation, when Canto, being asked for his degree of rank, replied that he was the lowest soldier in the Portuguese army. At this time the Indians of the place had already united with the Portuguese, and the adjustment of the treaty was indispensable.