Finding no gold and silver in those parts of Paraguay which their feet had traversed and their eyes beheld, they persuaded themselves and others that these metals were concealed in the native soil of the Guaranies, whom the Jesuits had undertaken to instruct in religion. From this false conjecture, how many lies have been coined, who many calumnies launched against us! By the royal authority and at the desire of the Jesuits, there were sent men commissioned to search diligently if any metal existed in the Guarany territories. These explorers were attended, in the capacity of guide, by a Guarany deserter, a man of bad character. This rogue had been induced, by the gifts and liberal promises of some enemy of the Jesuits, to declare that he had seen gold mines at the banks of the Uruguay, in the land belonging to Concepcion, a town of the Guaranies, and that this place was strengthened like a fort with strong holds, warlike machines, and a numerous garrison. Thither they directly hastened, and when they were a very few leagues distant from that _golden_ spot, the knavish Indian, fearing the punishment of his falsehood, which must be discovered next day, fled away in the night; but being taken in the town of Yapeyù, by the missionary himself, was sent back, chained and guarded, to the Spaniards from whom he had deserted. The cheat respecting those gold mines and fortifications was thus brought to light, and the phantoms raised by falsehood and calumny disappeared. The Spaniards examined every corner far and near; after which they unanimously and publicly declared that no mines existed in that place, nor indeed that any one, who considered the nature of the situation, could rationally expect them to be produced there. The Indian was punished for his perfidy. Certain Spaniards, who had thus falsely accused the Jesuits, were declared calumniators, punished with confiscation of their goods and public infamy, and pronounced incapable of holding any office in the state. By these royal fulminations calumny was for a little while repressed; yet the ridiculous suspicion that mines were buried amongst the Guaranies was not yet extinct; it was even propagated amongst the more credulous Europeans.