The success of the squadron under Du Guay-Trouin had been so marked that a second armament was equipped at the cost of private individuals, but with the assistance of the Government. Its objective point was Bahia; but its commander was of another stamp from that in which Du Guay-Trouin was cast. Bahia was spared; and he contented himself with a descent upon some of the smaller sugar-islands. The Portuguese colonies were, however, about to be relieved from further alarms by the Peace of Utrecht, by which they obtained the full sovereignty over both banks of the Amazons, France ceding, with much reluctance, all pretensions to the country between that river and the Oyapok. It was likewise stipulated that the French should not trade with Maranham.

The people of the Mines were thanked for the promptitude with which they had brought assistance for the deliverance of Rio; and S. Paulo, as being the capital of a captaincy, obtained the rank of a city. Some idea may be formed of the value of the yield of the mines at this time from the fact that, in the year 1714, the Government fifths were commuted for the equivalent of about £50,400 sterling. The commutation was, however, raised, three years later, by one-fourth. In the year 1720, the country of Minas Geraes was detached from S. Paulo and declared a separate captaincy.

CHAPTER XII.

BRAZIL: DISCOVERY OF THE DIAMOND DISTRICT.

1724-1749.

The great importation of negroes into Minas Geraes gave occasion to fears which were not entertained elsewhere in Brazil, and in consequence an order was issued forbidding the formation of free blacks into separate companies, and requiring that they should be mixed with white soldiers. No person who was a mulatto within the fourth degree might be an ordinary judge or hold any municipal office in Minas Geraes. The mode of mining had now undergone a considerable alteration. Instead of opening cuttings and carrying the produce in bulk to be washed, water was conveyed to the mining ground, and, washing away the mould, broke up the blocks in pits or wooden troughs, thus saving a great expenditure of labour. As water-power thus became a valuable property, those in possession of water-courses derived great advantages therefrom. Their pretensions were, however, so extravagant that it was found necessary to establish a set of laws respecting the distribution of the water.

The discovery of the mines had brought about so great an increase of wealth that the jealous restrictions against the immigration of foreigners into Brazil were rendered more stringent than ever. Not only were they forbidden to enter the country, but no person might embark for it unless he were appointed to an office there, or unless he were a servant of Portuguese birth accompanying his master. Even Portuguese must be provided with passports; and the clergy were likewise under restrictions.

The Paulistas, being greatly outnumbered by strangers in Minas Geraes, sought and found a new field for their energies. It was to the enterprise of one of this class of men, named Pascoal Cabral, that was due the discovery of the mines of Cuyabá in the centre of the Continent,—mines which should more naturally have fallen to the lot of the Spaniards from Paraguay or from Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The journey thither from S. Paulo was long and arduous, and was further attended with no slight risk, leading the traveller through the native country of the fierce Puayaguas. These people rendered the journey to Cuyabá so dangerous that, when a colony had been established there, a strongly-armed vessel was sent thence to await the annual caravan of traders at the Paraguay river.

So soon as the richness of the locality became known, cattle and supplies were forwarded to Cuyabá, but with infinite difficulty and at proportionate cost. Mining at Cuyabá was attended with a danger from which Minas Geraes was free, namely, the presence of hostile and resolute Indians. Military discipline was found necessary for self-preservation; but the attitude of the savages was at least attended with the good result of compelling the settlers to sink their own jealousies and differences in making common cause against them. Thus the settlement of Cuyabá soon began to flourish as much as had those of Minas Geraes. As the way thither by water was so circuitous and difficult, the governor of S. Paulo offered a reward for the opening up of a communication by land; and this object was effected by Manoel de Lara, a house being established at the point where the Paraná was crossed, in order that the gold might be registered and the royal fifths collected. But such a mode of levying the dues proved ineffectual in a country where smuggling was so easy; and it was judged expedient to have recourse to a poll-tax upon the slaves.

A like measure was, after long hesitation, determined upon in respect to the taxation of Minas Geraes, where almost every conceivable contrivance had been resorted to in order to defraud the Crown of the royal fifths,—such measures, for instance, as corrupting the goldsmiths and employing coins. It was therefore strongly recommended to raise the royal proportion by means of taxing the produce according to the number of slaves employed; and the task of introducing this measure devolved upon the new governor, Gomes Freyre de Andrade, the son of the distinguished Gomes Freyre, who had restored order in Maranham.

When the edict for the capitation was posted in the public places throughout the captaincy, the inhabitants of two districts tore down the proclamation and prepared to resist the levying of the tax; but so conciliatory was the new governor that this threatened disturbance was quieted down; and the peace of the province was happily insured by the discovery, at this time, of several fresh mines, which promoted a general prosperity extending to the entire population.

But it was not to gold alone that Brazil was to owe the sudden increase of its prosperity which occurred during the early part of the eighteenth century. A rumour had long been current of the existence of diamonds; and one Bernardino da Fonseca Lobo had found specimens of these precious stones in the Serro do Frio, which he sent home to Portugal, and which procured him the title of Capitam Mor of Villa do Principe for life. Diamonds were declared to be royalties, and subject to the same duties as gold. It was difficult, however, to collect these duties in the same manner; since neither by number, weight, nor measure could any equitable plan of taking the royal fifths be devised. A capitation tax upon the slaves employed was therefore decided upon. The diamonds were to be remitted, as was gold, only in the King’s ships, one per cent. on their value being charged for freight. The result of this last discovery of the produce of Brazil was such that, in the course of two years, the price of diamonds in Europe went down seventy-five per cent. The property of individuals was so seriously threatened that it was found necessary, without delay, to take measures for limiting the number of diamonds extracted.

In order to arrive at this end, by which the price of diamonds was to be kept up artificially, several measures were proposed, and were referred to commercial men for their opinion. The advice of Dr. Joam Mendes was to the effect that the diamond country should be reserved for the King’s use; that it should be placed under special laws; and that the diamonds should be extracted for the King’s account slowly. After due deliberation, the Court resolved to adopt the counsel thus given, in so far as to reserve the diamond country and to limit the extraction; but not to undertake it on its own account. An officer was therefore charged to mark out the limits of the forbidden district, and so heavy a capitation was imposed as to prevent all but a few persons from searching for the precious stones. It was thought that they could only be offered for sale at a heavy price.

Under the government of Gomes Freyre, a contract was made for employing six hundred slaves in the work of extracting diamonds, an annual poll-tax to be paid upon the slaves of two hundred and thirty milreis. The Crown was to have the option of purchasing stones above a certain size. When, at the end of four years, this contract expired, it had proved so profitable that the capitation was raised to two hundred and seventy milreis; whilst the Treasury should each year give the contractor credit for sixty thousand milreis of the two hundred and sixty-two thousand for which he stood engaged. This arrangement fell in with the views of all parties. The European lapidaries kept back their stock until time should have effaced the effects of the sudden glut; and whilst they gave out that the Brazilian diamonds were inferior to the Oriental, they did not fail to pass off the former as the latter. They are even asserted to have sent Brazilian stones to Goa to find thence their way back to Europe, until the equal value of the Brazilian diamonds with those of India was established.

The Serro do Frio, in which these diamonds were found, had been first explored by two Brazilians probably from the town of Villa do Principe, which dates from the beginning of the century. The boundaries of Minas Geraes, to the east, lay along the adjacent captaincies of Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, and Pernambuco. Towards the north and west there lay an undefined extent of unappropriated territory. To the south the province is bounded by the captaincies of S. Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The whole captaincy is a portion of an immense mountain-range. A winter of two months’ duration commences in May, when the average temperature is about 50° Fahrenheit; in the hot season the heat never exceeds 80°. The rainy season lasts from October till May, the rain sometimes continuing for days together. The captaincy of Minas Geraes was divided into four districts, of which that of Serro do Frio, called also the forbidden district, contained the diamond fields.

This district boasts innumerable peaks, some of enormous height, which present a scene of alpine grandeur and desolation—a grandeur which is added to by the magnificent cataracts into which the waters of the region are in many places gathered before they fall into the rivers which drain the district.

The Portuguese were now advancing in several directions into the interior of Brazil; more especially up the Amazons and the numerous tributaries of that stream. The Paulistas and the people of Minas Geraes spread themselves across the extensive region lying behind the captaincies of Bahia and Piauhy, which now forms the province of Goyaz; whilst from Cuyabá the settlers continued to advance towards the Chiquito and Moxo missions, and likewise in the direction of the western branch of the Tocantins. They thus secured for Portugal a country containing two hundred thousand square miles, which now forms the province of Matto-Grosso.

The name Goyaz is derived from the Goya tribe. The first discoverer of its mineral wealth was a Paulista, named Manoel Correa, who, in the seventeenth century, made his way thither at the head of a party of slave-hunters. He brought back some specimens of gold, which induced another adventurer to follow in his footsteps. He too found gold upon one of the rivers flowing into the Amazons. This second adventurer, called Bueno, was accompanied in another expedition by his son, then only twelve years old. They found the Goya women wearing pieces of gold picked up from the beds of the torrents. This was in 1670, before the age of Brazilian mining had arrived. Fifty years later Bueno’s son proposed to the Governor of S. Paulo to go in search of the spot which he had visited in his boyhood, and which, after three years’ searching, he once more found. He collected gold from five different streams, where he was appointed to establish a colony with the rank of Capitam Mor.

The mines of Goyaz soon rivalled those of Cuyabá, and had the advantage of a shorter and safer communication with the older settlements. Provisions came regularly from S. Paulo, but not in sufficient quantities to keep pace with the increasing population. The demand for food induced a portion of the community to devote themselves to rearing cattle and cultivating the ground, occupations which were soon found to be even more profitable than mining. In ten years the colony, requiring a separate jurisdiction, was made a province of S. Paulo; twelve years later it was declared a captaincy. Its capital, Villa Boa, was chartered in 1739.

Mines were first discovered in Matto-Grosso in 1734, upon the banks of the river Sarare. These, too, were found by a Paulista. Gold was found during the first years in greater abundance than in any other quarter; but the earlier adventurers suffered the greatest hardships from want of provisions. Even the necessaries of life rose to famine prices. The gold was not enough to prevent many from starving from want of food. The settlement was at length relieved by the arrival of a supply of cattle from Cuyabá; but not until the original discoverer, who was at the time rolling in wealth, had fallen a victim to disease.

The undoubted riches of the region, however, did not fail to insure a due proportion of settlers; and a road was opened to Cuyabá from Goyaz by which a due supply of cattle was introduced. Amongst the few survivors of the first miserable year was Manoel Felix de Lima, who was destined to accomplish a remarkable geographical feat, by finding his way from the mines of Francisco Xavier in Matto-Grosso to the Spanish settlements at Santa Maria Magdalena. A short sketch of this journey may be given here as illustrating the enormous natural and other difficulties with which the first explorers of the interior of Brazil had to contend.

Manoel de Lima, who was a native of Portugal, had failed to enrich himself in the pursuit of gold; prices were very high; and, being wearied of a settled life, he induced some companions to join him in an adventure down the rivers. The party made up the number of fifty, including slaves and Indians. They were all either penniless or deeply in debt, and were glad of any excuse for escaping from their creditors. Falling down the Sarare in canoes, they found themselves upon the Guapore, when they laid in stores for the voyage before them down the river which now forms for a considerable distance the frontier between Brazil and Bolivia.

On the tenth day of the voyage the adventurers landed on the right bank, at the mouth of a stream, where they found marks of a recent encampment made by a party under one Almeida, who had set out from the settlement six months before them upon a slave-hunting expedition, and who soon joined them here. Almeida had been informed that it would be dangerous to proceed down the stream, on account of the character of the natives; he therefore proposed to ascend the smaller river, where he might pursue his object with greater safety. The intelligence discouraged the greater number of Manoel’s party, but not the leader himself; he determined to pursue his course, notwithstanding the defection of fourteen of his number.

Going down the Guapore, they found, next day, a village, from which the Indians fled at their approach. The course of the stream led them into a vast lake where crocodiles were numerous, and near which they captured an Indian, and had some communication, not altogether friendly, with others. Renewing their voyage, they came to a part of the stream lined with habitations, and having many canoes; but as soon as any people saw them, they set up a cry and ran away. A pilot went in front with two negroes in a small canoe, and these, on one occasion, attacked some Indians, who, however, succeeded in escaping. Next morning, as was to be expected, a number of canoes came in pursuit of the aggressors, the leader of the party being a young man attacked on the previous day. The affair, however, ended peacefully, the Indians receiving gifts. A day or two later, they shot an antelope on the river, and, landing, found a piece of cloth and a cross, which were evident signs of converted Indians, some of whom they next day encountered.

Following the side of the broad stream, Manoel was so fortunate as to meet another canoe full of converted Indians, one of whom undertook to guide his party. This native now entered a stream which joined the Guapore on the left, and on which they were before long accosted from a canoe in Spanish. The adventurers were now amidst a labyrinth of islands and channels, where they might have wandered indefinitely had they not had a guide. They were about, however, to lose him; but, before his departure, he assured them that they would reach San Miguel on the following evening. To their surprise, their guide reappeared next morning, and conducted them amidst an infinity of intricate channels.

When near San Miguel, the guide was sent forward with a letter to the missionary; and when the adventurers followed, their appearance excited so much curiosity that the people even clustered on the trees to behold them. At this point the companions of Manoel were seized with apprehensions of danger, from the reflection that Paulistas could not expect good treatment either at the hands of the Jesuits or at those of their disciples. Manoel undertook the perilous task of first presenting himself. As soon as he landed, he was met by a number of old men, who, much to his surprise, mistook him for a bishop, and, kneeling down, besought his blessing. The missionary of San Miguel turned out to be a German of nearly fourscore years. This “Reduction” was situated upon the river Baures, twenty miles from its junction with the Guapore; it was one of the Moxo missions. The missionary had charge of about four thousand Indians, who had killed some of his predecessors.

From San Miguel Manoel de Lima descended the stream to the Guapore, and came to the second river, called the Magdalena, on which was situated the mission of that name. Ascending it, he and his companions arrived, on the tenth day, at cultivated fields; and they learned from an Indian that the German missionary had sent news of their coming overland. At nightfall a canoe arrived from the “Reduction,” bringing the travellers a welcome present of two dozen fowls and some other provisions. Next day, Manoel, having attired himself in a startling costume, proceeded to pay his visit to the two missionaries, a Hungarian and an Italian, who received him courteously, and entertained him and his companions at a plentiful repast.

The Magdalena mission was a flourishing one; the church was a spacious building, having three aisles; the columns being each composed of a tall tree. Some Indian carvers astonished the Portuguese by the beauty of the work with which they were embellishing the pulpit. The golden pyx, which had been sent from Lima, was valued at three thousand five hundred pieces of silver; and the Jesuits showed the traveller thirty hangings of tissue and brocade which had been sent from Lima and Potosí. The settlement was enclosed by a square wall, within which was a considerable space, so as to afford room for folds and gardens. There were shops for weavers, carpenters, and carvers; an engenho, for the fabrication of rum and sugar; public kitchens, and likewise stocks. The plantations attached to the settlement extended for leagues along the river; and the horses and cattle were very numerous.

But, although the Portuguese received every hospitality and attention, they were not allowed to depart without receiving a hint that the “reduction” was sufficiently strong to be capable of self-defence in the case of too frequent or unwelcome visits from their countrymen. On the second morning, after breakfast, fourscore horsemen were exercised in the great square. When they had concluded their manœuvres, both sides of the square were filled with archers, who discharged their arrows in the air so that they should fall into the intervening space. They became so heated in their exercise that Manoel de Lima became somewhat alarmed, and took the precaution of firing his pistol in the air, upon which the archers thought proper to disperse. The Jesuits stated that the missionaries could bring into the field forty thousand of these Indians.

Some of the Portuguese were now of opinion that they had proceeded far enough; and they proposed to purchase from the missionaries seven hundred and fifty cattle, with which to return to the mines. The missionaries, however, not having power to dispose of any property, the Portuguese were referred to the Provincial, who was then at Exaltacion upon the Mamore, to which point the travellers now determined to proceed, partly perhaps with the object of exploring this borderland. Manoel and three Europeans determined to set out by land, whilst the others preferred their canoes.

Before Manoel had departed, an incident occurred which somewhat changed the situation. This was the arrival of a messenger with a letter from the Provincial, in which the Father was reprimanded for having entertained the Portuguese, by doing which he had incurred the displeasure of the governor of Santa Cruz, and he was commanded to dismiss them without delay. At the end of three days, therefore, Manoel de Lima and his three companions were compelled to quit the society of the Jesuits, and to proceed on their voyage in canoes. They parted with many tears on both sides. Soon after they had reached the Guapore, they met a canoe bearing a cross; but they received no tidings of their former companions, all hope of rejoining whom was soon at an end.

At the junction of the Mamore with the Guapore the two rivers combine to form the Madeira, so called from the large quantities of wood which, after the rainy seasons, it bears into the Amazons. The last great river received by the Madeira before the point at which it turns to the north-west is the Beni. Very soon after passing the point of their junction, Manoel and his companions came upon the falls of the Madeira, and rapids more formidable than any which they had yet passed. Going down the stream they were much molested by the insects; whilst they had several narrow escapes from being swamped or upset by whirlpools or rocks. On one occasion the canoe was carried by a current against a rock, with such force that the men were thrown out; whilst the canoe was borne down the stream, and was soon out of sight.

The position of the travellers was now distressing. They had advanced so far down the stream that they could not think of returning; whilst they had no means of ascertaining their distance from the nearest settlement in the direction of Pará, the intervening country being possessed by wild animals or savages. Fortunately their arms and ammunition were remaining, and they were thus enabled to procure the means of subsistence. They had nothing for it but to follow the course of the river by land, when to their great joy they suddenly found themselves at the end of the rapids, and discovered their canoe caught between two large stones near an island. The canoe was regained by a slave.

On leaving behind them the last rapid and the last fall, where the river leaves the mountains, they saw on their right ground which had been cleared for a settlement by the people of Pará, who had come up the Madeira so far to seek for cinnamon, sarsaparilla, cacao, and tortoises. The settlers had been cut off by the Muras, from which people the travellers had a narrow escape. They likewise suffered from want of food; but after some days they came upon a Jesuit mission, where they were hospitably entertained. Here, leaving their canoe, they re-embarked in a larger vessel given them by the Jesuits, and proceeded down the stream to two other establishments of the same order, below the last of which they entered the Amazons.

Manoel de Lima, although he had not been the first to descend the Madeira, had performed a remarkable journey, having been the earliest European to proceed from Matto-Grosso to Pará, and to prove that a communication by water might be established. He was, therefore, sent to Lisbon to give an account of his proceedings. He expected great rewards for his services, and was consulted by the Portuguese ministers as to the steps which should be taken in consequence of his discoveries. But his pretensions were extravagant. Not contented with the offer of the repayment of the expenses of his expedition, he insisted on being appointed governor of the countries which he had discovered; and, as this was inadmissible, since they already belonged to Spain, he passed the remaining sixteen years of his life as a disappointed suitor at the court of Portugal. Those of his companions with whom he had parted at Magdalena made their way back to Matto-Grosso.

In the year 1749, a voyage was made from Pará to Matto-Grosso, inverting the route which had been followed by Manoel de Lima. It was undertaken by order of the Portuguese Government, and by a strong party, provided with instruments for laying down their course. The expedition had to overcome considerable difficulties, and did not reach its destination before nine months had been passed on the voyage. The voyage down the stream can be performed in one-sixth of the time. Since the above date the water communication between Matto-Grosso and Pará has been continuous; and it was by this route that the former place was supplied with European goods, this way being both cheaper and less perilous than that from S. Paulo.

The new provinces rapidly increased in population and prosperity, which was temporarily interrupted by a drought between the years 1744 and 1749. During this period the streams dried up, and in consequence of the severe heat the woods caught fire. A great mortality ensued; whilst the people were alarmed at mid-day by a sound as if of thunder beneath their feet, which was followed by several shocks of earthquake. This disturbance, however, was merely temporary; and in one year more than fifteen hundred persons passed from Goyaz to Matto-Grosso, bringing droves of cattle and horses. A salt lake was opportunely discovered, to remedy the distress which had been occasioned from the want of that article.

The Portuguese in Brazil had shown exemplary enterprise in pushing forward their settlement along the various streams which form the tributaries of the Amazons; and there were in consequence some disputes with Spain concerning the boundaries. They had even occasioned some fears in the minds of the Spanish authorities as to the safety of Peru. They had likewise, by their inland explorations by water, ascertained that there was a communication by water between the Amazons and the Orinoco, they having from the former reached the Spanish missions on the latter river.

By the middle of the eighteenth century no hostile tribes remained on the banks of the Amazons throughout the entire course of that stream; such as had not submitted to the missionaries had retired into the interior. Some Indians, being terrified of pursuit, did not feel themselves in safety until they had reached the French territory of Guayana, where they were well received and encouraged to settle.

It is stated that the Portuguese missions on the Amazons were in a more flourishing condition than were those of the Spaniards on the upper part of the same river or its tributaries. The reason is to be found in the fact that whereas the former depended for their communications and supplies upon the flourishing settlement of Belem or Pará, the latter were forbidden to hold any communication with their Portuguese neighbours, and had to be supplied by the long and difficult overland route from Quito, which place was itself a six days’ mountainous journey from the sea-coast. The city of Pará itself is stated by a French traveller[14] to have presented at this period the aspect of an European town, with regular streets of well-built stone houses and with magnificent churches. During thirty years it had been gradually rebuilt; whilst by clearing the country and converting woodland into pasture the healthiness of the city had been made to undergo a corresponding improvement. It should be remarked that about the year 1730 the plague of small-pox was here stayed amongst the Indians by the introduction of inoculation at the hands of a Carmelite missionary.

The system of the Jesuits in Maranham and Pará differed considerably from that of their brethren in Paraguay. In the latter country they are the proprietors of the missions, and were enabled to make their own laws within their territory. In the Chiquito and Moxo missions, though they had not adopted the principle of community of goods, they were equally unrestrained. But in Maranham they were obliged to base their institutions on the principle of rendering their Indians serviceable to the Portuguese settlers. Registers were kept at S. Luiz and at Pará containing the names of all Indians in their villages, from the age of thirteen to fifty, who were capable of service. These registers had to be attested upon oath by the missionaries every second year; and according to them the governor allotted the Indians for terms of six months, issuing written orders to the missionary to deliver them. It was optional for the Indians to serve during the remaining six months, and many preferred to do so.

In consequence of the divided allegiance which the Indians in these missions owed to the Jesuits and to the civil authority, respectively, they did not regard the former with the same absolute devotion which the Jesuits received from the Indians in Paraguay. Whereas the Guaranís were ever ready to devote their lives in defence of their teachers, the Indians of Brazil would forsake their masters upon the first alarm or on the slightest displeasure. As the kings of Portugal did not allow an annual salary to the Jesuits, such as they received from Spain, the Fathers in Maranham, since the colleges were too poor to support them, were permitted to employ five-and-twenty Indians for the same time and at the same rate of wages as any other Portuguese. They profited by their labour in collecting cacao and other indigenous produce, which was exported in a large canoe, one of which belonged to each of the twenty-eight Aldeas.

By the laws of Pedro II. of Portugal, no Portuguese were permitted to dwell in the Aldeas, in order to avert the evil influence of the bad example which they were sure to set. But the Portuguese received free permission to visit the settlements for the purpose of hiring Indians, and they were hospitably and gratuitously entertained by the missionaries. These Fathers did much to introduce civilization amongst their charges; a task in which they persevered in the face of much calumny. It was found more practicable for themselves to learn the Tupi language than to instruct the natives in Portuguese. As Tupi was likewise used by traders, it so completely gained the ascendancy throughout Pará that it was used exclusively in the pulpits.

At this period a missionary net was spread over the South-American Continent, its meshes extending in every direction. From Quito the Spanish missionaries, as we have seen, encountered those of Maranham on the upper tributaries of the Amazons. Those on the Rio Negro, another tributary of that great river, met the missions on the Orinoco; whilst the Moxo and Madeira settlements, in Upper Peru and Western Brazil, respectively, continued the connection. The Moxo missions adjoined those of the Chiquitos, which again communicated with the “Reductions” in Paraguay, whence the Jesuits extended the net to the Gran Chaco and the Pampas. It seemed as if the whole of South America were on the way to become Christian and civilized; but an unexpected check occurred to the activity of the Jesuits, and South America was thrown back into a state of confusion and barbarism from which many portions of the continent have not yet emerged.

CHAPTER XIII.

FOUNDATION AND PROGRESS OF BUENOS AYRES.

1580-1800.

In the year 1580 the foundations of a lasting city were laid at Buenos Ayres by De Garay on the same situation as had twice previously been chosen—namely, by Mendoza, and by Cabeza de Vaca, respectively. The same leader had before this founded the settlement of Santa Fè on the Paraná. The site selected for the future capital of the Pampas is probably one of the worst ever chosen for a city—a fact which is at once palpable to every one who has visited the place. That the same site should have been selected three times in succession is only to be accounted for by the tendency which exists in human nature to follow precedent, whether it be good or whether it be bad. “With a perversity of judgment,” says Mr. Washburn, in a passage in which there is not a word to alter, “which seemed to characterize all his acts, Mendoza moved up the broad and noble estuary, passing by the most suitable places for a town site, until he came to a place that combined all the inconveniences that could possibly exist, on the banks of a large navigable river. The point thus selected, and where now stands the principal city of the Plata, has probably the worst harbour in the world for a large commercial town. Large vessels must always lie off some two or three leagues from the shore, and those of lighter draft that venture within the inner roads are liable to be left high and dry on the hard bottom, or tosca, when a pampero, or strong wind, from the west sets in. But if the wind blows strongly from the south-east, then they are liable to drag their anchors, and be carried up so high inland that, when the wind veers again, they are left many rods from the water, and can only be broken up for firewood. The cost of lightening a vessel of her cargo is much more than the freight of it from New York or Liverpool. The country in the vicinity, for as far as the eye could reach, was a dead-level plain, without bush or tree; the air in the hot, dry season being frequently so full of dust as to be almost insupportable, and the soil of that sticky, clayey character that a slight rain would render it almost impassable for man or animal. And this place was selected by Mendoza as the site of the first Spanish settlement in South America.”

Notwithstanding the inconvenience of its harbour, Buenos Ayres soon became the chief commercial entrepôt of the valley of the Plata. The settlement was not effected without some severe fighting between De Garay’s force and the Querandis. The latter, however, were effectually quelled; the proof of it being their submission, without further resistance, to be parcelled out amongst the conquerors in repartimientos. “The registers are still preserved of De Garay’s followers by name, amongst sixty-five of whom he divided in lots the lands extending along the river-side from Buenos Ayres to Baradero on the Paraná, as well as the Indian inhabitants of the adjoining territories under their respective caciques.” The lines of the new city were laid out about a league higher up the river than the site of Mendoza’s settlement. Under De Garay’s superintendence it was soon sufficiently fortified to ensure protection. It is remarkable that it was not till about three years after the foundation of this settlement that the first vessel was despatched to Spain laden with the produce of La Plata—namely, hides and sugar from Paraguay, the former being evidence of the increase of horned cattle from the original stock imported from Europe thirty years before.

The Spaniards were now nominally masters of the Rio de La Plata, but they had still to apprehend hostilities on the part of the natives between their few and far-distant settlements. Of this liability De Garay himself was to form a lamentable example. On his passage back to Asuncion, having incautiously landed to sleep near the ruins of the old fort of San Espiritu, he was surprised by a party of natives, and murdered with all his companions. The death of this brave Biscayan was mourned as a great loss by the entire colony. The importance of the cities founded by him was soon apparent; and in 1620 all of the settlements south of the confluence of the rivers Paraná and Paraguay were formed into a separate, independent government, under the name of Rio de La Plata, of which Buenos Ayres was declared the capital. This city likewise became the seat of a bishopric.

An English traveller, whose name is lost, has left a description of Buenos Ayres as it was in the year 1658. At that time only Spaniards might proceed in Spanish ships to their Indian possessions. Other nations of Europe, however, were occasionally permitted to trade with the cities on the river Plate; and at Buenos Ayres, in the above-mentioned year, our countryman found twenty Dutch and two English ships preparing to proceed homewards, laden with bull-hides, plate, and vigonia wool, which they had obtained in exchange for other commodities. At that time the military resources of the city of Buenos Ayres were not great; for we read that, on the alarm of an attack by a French squadron, they had to send for aid to the Viceroy at Lima, who caused to be levied, with much difficulty and by the exercise of force, a hundred men, who did not reach the eastern coast until eight or nine months after they had been sent for.

The town of Buenos Ayres contained four hundred houses, and was not enclosed, either by wall or ditch. Its fortifications consisted in a bastion at the mouth of the rivulet, with two small iron guns, and in a small earthwork surrounded by a ditch, commanding the river, and on which were mounted ten iron guns. This fort contained the house of the governor of the place, who had under him a garrison of one hundred and fifty men, formed into three companies, the captains of which were appointed or removed at his will. The soldiers received pay at the rate of four reals a day. But the governor had further at his disposal the additional means of defence of twelve hundred horses, upon which, in case of necessity, he mounted as many citizens as could be collected together, to act as cavalry. The houses of the town were then built of sun-dried bricks. They were of one storey, and were thatched with canes and straw. They contained spacious rooms, and had large court-yards and adjoining gardens full of orange, lemon, and fig trees, of pear and of apple trees; of numerous kinds of vegetables; and of excellent melons. Wine, then as now, was almost the only article of diet which was sold at a high price; and the markets of the town were supplied abundantly with beef, mutton, venison, poultry, and game of various sorts. A partridge might be purchased for a penny. Ostriches were to be found in the neighbourhood in great numbers; and the traveller, whose description I quote from, makes a remark from general observation which indicates more subtle instinct on the part of those birds than they usually obtain credit for. “I saw one thing of these creatures very remarkable, and that is, while the hen sits upon the eggs, they have the instinct or forethought to provide for their young; so five or six days before they come out of the shell they set an egg in each of the four corners of the place where they sit; these eggs they break, and when they rot, worms and maggots breed in them in prodigious numbers; which serve to nourish the young ostriches from the time they are hatched until they are able to go farther for their sustenance.”

The better houses of Buenos Ayres were at that time adorned with hangings, pictures, and ornaments. The wealthier inhabitants were served from plate, and their establishments contained many servants or slaves, who were employed also in the cultivation of their grounds or to take care of their horses and mules. The wealth of the inhabitants at the period referred to consisted mainly in cattle, the numbers of which increased on the vast plains with wonderful rapidity. At that time hides were to be bought in the city at the rate of seven or eight reals each, or at less than an English crown, and the same were sold in Europe for at least four times as much money. Cattle were used for a singular purpose in the prosecution of war, being driven to the river-side in such numbers as to defy the efforts of the enemy to penetrate through them.

The merchants of Buenos Ayres of the seventeenth century had the reputation of possessing considerable wealth, the fortunes of many amongst them being estimated at from two to three hundred thousand crowns. They were reputed to love their ease, and to be blessed with wives who had the credit of being as virtuous as they were lovely. For their fidelity, however, they demanded a strict return, being ready to punish by the bowl or the dagger any breach of the marriage vow on the part of the husband.

Besides the Spanish population, there were in the seventeenth century in Buenos Ayres a few Frenchmen, some Dutch, and some Genoese, but all these passed themselves off as being Spanish, the more surely to escape the dangers of the Inquisition.

The chief edifices and institutions of the town at that period were the cathedral, the college of the Jesuits, and the convents of the Dominicans, the Recollects, and of the Order of Mercy.

The merchants of Seville, who had obtained a monopoly of the supply of Mexico and Peru, regarded with much jealousy the prospect of a new opening for the South-American trade by way of La Plata, and exerted their interest successfully to obtain prohibitory enactments against all trade with Buenos Ayres, lest it should interfere with the sale of their periodical shipments for Panamá. In vain the inhabitants of the former city petitioned and remonstrated; for some years the only boon they could obtain was the permission to export yearly to Brazil or to the coast of Guinea a small quantity of wheat, jerked beef, and tallow. In 1618 this was extended to a permission to send two vessels of a hundred tons burthen each year to Spain; but a custom-house was established at Cordova to levy a duty of fifty per cent. on goods carried by that way. All commercial intercourse with other Spanish colonies in America was prohibited under severe penalties. Under this miserable commercial legislation Buenos Ayres continued to languish for the first century of its existence.