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firmed their suspicions, and rendered them ferocious. The difficulty of understanding one another gave still more frequent occasion for animosity on both sides. If, on more mature acquaintance, the Indians sometimes renewed their hostilities, it was commonly because they were roused to vengeance by the rapaciousness, cruelty and perfidy of that ambitious power which had come to disturb the peace of this part of America. On other occasions they might perhaps be charged with imprudence, in too hastily taking up arms from false apprehensions of danger; but never with injustice or duplicity. They were always found true to their promises, to the faith of treaties, and to the sacred rights of hospitality. The just idea which was at length entertained of their character, induced the Portuguese to collect them into villages along the coast, or some little way up the country. By this means a communication was secured between the remote settlements of the Portuguese; and the savages, who infested the intermediate parts by their depredations, were kept at a distance. Some missionaries, mostly Jesuits, were entrusted with the temporal and spiritual government of these new communities. These ecclesiastics, according to the best information, were absolute tyrants; such as retained any sentiments of moderation or humanity, whether from indolence or superstition, kept those little societies in a state of perpetual infancy. They neither improved their understanding nor their industry, beyond a certain degree; and possibly, had they been ever so willing, they might have found it difficult to have been more serviceable to them; for the court of Lisbon, while it exempted the Indians from all taxes, subjected them to the labors of vassalage. This fatal law made them dependent upon the neighboring commandants and magistrates, who, under the usual pretence adopted by men in office, of making them work for the public, too often imposed labors upon them for their own selfish purposes. Those who were not employed for them as their spiritual directors, were generally idle. If they shook off their natural indolence, it was to go hunting or fishing, or to cultivate as much cassava as was necessary for their own subsistence. Their manufactures were confined to some cotton girdles or sashes, to cover their loins, and the arrangement of a few feathers to adorn their heads. Those among them who were most industrious, procured the means of purchasing a few articles of cutlery, and other things of small value.

Such was the state of the Brazilian natives, who had submitted to the crown of Portugal, and whose number never exceeded two hundred thousand. The independent natives had little intercourse with the Portuguese, except by the captives which they sold them,

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or those of their number that were made such, for the purpose of servitude. A sense of mutual interest made acts of hostility less frequent between the two nations, and a total cessation of them at last took place. The Portuguese have not been in danger from the natives, since 1717, and have not molested them since 1756.

While the court of Lisbon was engaged in regulating the interior concerns of the colony, some of the subjects of Portugal were devising the means of extending it. They advanced to the south towards Rio de la Plata, and to the north as far as the Amazon. The Spaniards seemed to be in possession of both these rivers; and the Portuguese were determined to expel them, or to share the navigation with them.

The Maragnon or Amazon, no less famous for its length of course than for that vast body of water with which it swells the ocean, derives its common name, the river of Amazons, from the fabulous relation of Orellana, a Spaniard, who sailed down it; and who, among other marvellous particulars, described a republic of female warriors inhabiting its banks. This absurd fiction the fond credulity of the age believed; and what more particularly excited the Spaniards, was another circumstance in Orellana's story. He described a nation on the banks of the river, whose temples were covered with gold. In quest of this rich country Orellana himself embarked in 1644, with four hundred men, and the title of governor over all the regions he should conquer; but a train of disasters ruined his ships; his men perished by diseases, or were cut off by the natives; and he himself fell a victim to his own vainglorious ambition, in attempting to realize some part of the tale he had invented.

The civil war of Peru prevented any second attempt to take possession of the country bordering on the Amazon, till the year 1560, when, tranquillity being restored, Pedro de Orsua, a Spaniard distinguished for his talent and bravery, offered to renew the undertaking. He accordingly set out from Cuzco, with seven hundred men; but these adventurers proved to be unprincipled and lawless desperadoes. They massacred their commander, and selected for their leader, Lope de Aguirre, a native of Biscay. With their consent he assumed the title of king; and while he was a man of ferocious and bloody disposition, destitute of common humanity, he promised them all the treasures of the New World. Inflamed with such flattering hopes, these desperate men sailed down the Amazon into the Atlantic Ocean, and landing at Trinidad, murdered the governor and plundered the island. The coasts of Cumana, Caracas and St. Martha, were still more severely treated. because they were richer. The plunderers next

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penetrated into New Granada, and were advancing towards Quito and the interior part of Peru, when they were unexpectedly attacked and dispersed by a body of troops hastily assembled. Aguirre, their chief, seeing no way to escape, marked his despair by an atrocious action. "My child," said he to his only daughter, who attended him in this expedition, "I thought to have placed thee upon a throne, but the event has not answered my expectations. My honor and thine own will not permit thee to live and be a slave to our enemies. Die then by a father's hand!" Having uttered these words, he plunged a dagger into her heart. His strength soon failed him; he was taken prisoner, and suffered the punishment due to his crimes. The inhabitants of the country believe, to this day, that the soul of "the tyrant" wanders in the savannas, like a flame that flies at the approach of man.

After these unfortunate expeditions, the river Amazon was entirely neglected, and seemed to be totally forgotten for half a century. Some attempts were again made to resume the discovery of the countries stretching along its banks, but with no better success than formerly. The honor of surmounting every difficulty. and acquiring a useful knowledge of that great river, was reserved for the Portuguese. They had built a town called Para, near the mouth of the river. At this place Pedro de Texeira embarked in 1638, and with a great number of canoes, full of Indians and Portuguese, sailed up the river, as far as the confluence of the Napo, and then up the Napo, which brought them almost to Quito, whither he proceeded by land. Notwithstanding the enmity subsisting between the Spaniards and Portuguese, though at that time subject to the same prince, Texeira was received at Quito with the regard and confidence due to a man who had performed a signal service. He returned in company with Da Cunha and de Astieda, two learned Jesuits, who were appointed to verify his observations and to make others. An accurate account of these two successful voyages was sent to the court of Madrid, where it gave rise to a very extraordinary project.

The communication between the Spanish colonies had long been found very difficult. The Buccaneers at that time infested both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and interrupted their navigation. Even those ships which had reached Havana and joined the fleet, were not perfectly safe. The galeons were frequently attacked, and taken in whole squadrons by the Dutch; and they were always pursued by privateers, who seldom failed to carry off the straggling vessels. The river Amazon, it was hoped, would remedy all these inconveniences. It was thought to be even an easy matter, to convey thither the treasures of New

Granada, Popayan, Quito, Peru, and of Chili itself, by navigable rivers, and that, descending the river, they would find the galeons ready in the harbor of Para to receive them. The fleet from Brazil would then have joined and strengthened the fleet from Spain. They would have sailed with great security in latitudes little frequented by cruisers. But the revolution which placed the duke of Braganza on the throne of Portugal, put an end to these important projects. Each of the two nations was then intent only upon securing to itself that part of the great river which best suited its own situation.

The Spanish Jesuits undertook to establish a mission in the country lying between the Amazon and the Napo, and near the conflux of these two rivers. Every missionary, attended only by one man, took with him hatchets, knives and needles, and all kinds of iron tools, and penetrated into the thickest of the forest. There they spent whole days in climbing up the trees, to see if they could descry any hut, perceive a smoke, or hear the sound of a drum or fife. When they were assured by some of these tokens that any savages were in the neighborhood, they advanced towards them. Most of them fled; but those whom the missionary could reach, were easily allured by such presents as were offered them. This was all the eloquence the missionary could employ, and all that he had occasion to exert. When he had assembled a few families, he led them to the spot where he had determined to build a village; but they were not easily persuaded to take up their abode there. As they were accustomed to rove about, they found it an insupportable hardship to remain forever in the same place. The state of savage independence in which they had always lived, they thought preferable to the social life that was recommended to them; and their unconquerable aversion to labor induced them to return constantly to the forests, where they passed their lives in idleness. Even those who were restrained by the authority or paternal kindness of their pious legislators, seldom failed to disperse in their absence, though ever so short, and their death always occasioned a total subversion of the settlement.

But the perseverance of the Jesuits at last conquered these obstacles, apparently invincible. Their mission, which began in 1637, gradually acquired some degree of firmness, and, before the dissolution of the order, consisted of thirty-six villages, twelve of which were situated along the Napo, and twenty-four on the banks of the Amazon. The number of inhabitants, however, in these villages was very inconsiderabie, and the increase must always have been slow. The women of this part of America

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157 are not fruitful; the climate is unhealthy, and contagious distempers are frequent. These obstructions to population were augmented by the natural stupidity of the people. Of all the Indians whom the Jesuits had collected, they found none so intractable and incapable of being roused to exertion, as those inhabiting the banks of this river. Every missionary was obliged to put himself at their head, in order to make them pick up the cocoa, the vanilla and the sarsaparilla, which nature spontaneously offers them. Their whole property, usually, consisted of a hut open on all sides, and covered with palm leaves; some fishing tackle; a tent, a hammock, and a canoe. It was impossible to inspire them with a desire beyond these articles. They were so well satisfied with what they possessed, that they wished for nothing more. They lived unconcerned, and died without fear: and if happiness consists more in an exemption from the uneasy sensation that attends want, than in the multiplicity of enjoyments that our wants create, these Indians may be said to have been the happiest people upon the face of the earth.

The Portuguese paid more attention to their settlement towards the Rio de la Plata. They had established themselves, in 1679, at St. Sacrament, opposite Buenos Ayres, when they were accidentally discovered by the Spaniards. The Guaranis, under the command of their spiritual leaders, hastened thither to make amends for the neglect of government. They attacked the newlyerected fortifications of the Portuguese with great intrepidity, and demolished them. The court of Lisbon, which had built great hopes upon that settlement, was not discouraged by this misfortune, and requested that, till such time as their claim could be adjusted, the Portuguese might be allowed a place where they could be sheltered from the storms, if forced by stress of weather to enter the Rio de la Plata. Charles II., of Spain, who dreaded war and hated business, was weak enough to comply with their request, only stipulating that the place so granted should be considered his property; that no more than fourteen Portuguese families should be sent thither; that the houses should be built of wood and thatched; that no fort should be erected; and that the governor of Buenos Ayres should have a right to inspect both the settlement and the ships which should come into its harbor.

If the Jesuits who conducted the war had also been trusted with the negotiation, such a permission would never have been granted. It was impossible that a fixed settlement in such a situation, however inconsiderable, should not become a frequent source of altercation with enterprising neighbors, whose claims were very strong; who were sure of the protection of all the ene