AN ACCOUNT OF THE ABIPONES, AN EQUESTRIAN PEOPLE OF PARAGUAY. --~~-- FROM THE LATIN OF MARTIN DOBRIZHOFFER, EIGHTEEN YEARS A MISSIONARY IN THAT COUNTRY. --~~-- _IN THREE VOLUMES._ VOL. I. ========= LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1822. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ London: Printed by C. Roworth, Bell-yard, Temple-bar. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PREFACE. Martin Dobrizhoffer was born at Gratz in Styria, on the 7th of September, 1717. In the year 1736, he entered the order of the Jesuits; and in 1749 went as a Missionary to South America, where for eighteen years he discharged the duties of his office, first in the Guarany Reductions, latterly in a more painful and arduous mission among the Abipones, a tribe not yet reclaimed from the superstitions and manners of savage life. Upon the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spanish America, he returned to his native country, and, after the unjust and impolitic extinction of his order, continued to reside at Vienna till his death, which took place July 17, 1791. The Empress Maria Theresa used frequently to send for Dobrizhoffer, that she might hear his adventures from his own lips; and she is said to have taken great pleasure in his cheerful and animated conversation. These notices concerning him have been obtained from one of the last survivors of his celebrated order. In 1784, he published the work, a translation of which is now laid before the public. The original title is _Historia de Abiponibus, Equestri, Bellicosaque Paraquariæ Natione, locupletata copiosis Barbararum Gentium, Urbium, Fluminum, Ferarum, Amphibiorum, Insectorum, Serpentium præcipuorum, Piscium, Avium, Arborum, Plantarun, aliarumque ejusdem Provinciæ Proprietatum Observationibus; Authore Martino Dobrizhoffer, Presbytero, et per Annos duodeviginti Paraquariæ Missionario_. A German translation, by Professor Kreil of the University of Pest, was published at Vienna in the same year. There is no other work which contains so full, so faithful, and so lively an account of the South American tribes. His motives for undertaking the work, and his apology for the manner in which it is executed, may best be given in his own words:—