[84] It is certain that the Guaranís, like many other Indians, were polygamists, and Xarque, in his ‘Vida Apostolica del P. Joseph Cataldino’, thus explains the matter: ‘El tener tanto numero de concubinas, no solamente lo ocasiona su natural lascivo, sino tambien, el vicio de la embriaguez, pues teniendo tantas criadas tenian con mas abundancia su cerveza y vino.’ Thus Xarque seems to agree with the late Miss Mary Kingsley, who in one of her books (though she says nothing about the ‘natural lascivo’ of the negroes of the West Coast of Africa) seems to attribute the polygamy of the negroes to the difficulty a man experiences, in the countries in which she travelled, in getting his food prepared by one wife. [85] Charcas is situated in what is now Bolivia, and was extremely inconvenient for all dwellers on the eastern side of the Andes to reach. Whether this was a masterpiece of policy calculated to discourage lawsuits, or whether it was merely due to Spanish incuriousness and maladministration, is a moot point. [86] The Indians of the missions were not allowed to possess firearms at this period. [87] ‘Paraguay’, Dr. E. de Bourgade la Dardye; English edition by George Philips junior (London, 1892). The Indians call it Salto de Canandiyú, which, according to Azara, was the name of a _cacique_ whom the first Spaniards met there. [88] ‘Descripcion y Historia del Paraguay’, Madrid, 1847. [89] ‘Y es un espantoso despeñadero de agua’, etc. (‘Descripcion del Paraguay’, tomo i., p. 39). [90] ‘No dan cuartel’. [91] At least, I have been unable to discover any other account by an eye-witness. [92] This city was situated near the great falls of Guayrá, and was destroyed by the Paulistas, as well as the city of Villa Rica, after the Jesuits and their Indians left the province. [93] ‘Conquista Espiritual’, p. 48. [94] ‘Rigoroso examen’ (‘Conquista Espiritual’). [95] In all the books and pamphlets I have searched about the Jesuits in Paraguay, both friendly and unfriendly to the Order, I have never found a charge of personal unchastity advanced against a Jesuit. In regard to the other religious Orders it is far otherwise. [96] Azara, ‘Descripcion e Historia del Paraguay’, tomo i., p. 40: ‘En las inmediaciones del Salto hay proporcion para tomar las medidas geometricas que se quiera y metiendose por el bosque se puede reconocer lo inferior del Salto, bien que para este es menester desnudare totalmente porque llueve mucho.’ [97] Azara records (book i.) the Indian fable that no living thing could exist near the cataract. Though this is of course untrue, yet in most Paraguayan forests near water, game is both scarce and hard to find. [98] ‘Con buenas prendas de su salud eterna’ (‘Conquista Espiritual’).