But a sudden terror interrupted the prosperous course of the new colony. The Guaycurus or Mbayas began to devastate the neighbouring estates of the Paraguayrians with slaughter and depredation. The Ytatines, thinking the marauders already upon them, lost all sense of safety. Alarmed by perpetual rumours of the enemy's approach, they spent their nights without sleep, and in open daylight still dreamt of peril. To this another distress was added: the want of water. The Fathers therefore judged it expedient to remove twenty-five leagues southwards, where the intermediate forests could protect them against the Guaycurus, and afford them a constant supply of water. In 1753, having left their church, and the residence of the Fathers, they built a town on the spur of the moment, which was regulated after the model of the Guarany colonies, increased by the accession of new families, and settled on a good foundation. To this city I devoted eight years of unregretted labour. When D. Manuel de la Torre, Bishop of Asumpcion, payed us his accustomed visit, he beheld with admiration the rigid Christian discipline, the accuracy of divine worship, and universal good order established among men so lately inhabitants of the woods. D. Carlos Murphy, an Irishman, and governor of Paraguay, was delighted during his five days' visit at my house with the dexterous management displayed by the Indians as well of their musical instruments, as of their weapons. Another colony in the jurisdiction of Paraguay, that of St. Stanislaus, is the offshoot of St. Joachim. For the Ytatines, discovered by the joint efforts of the Indians and the Fathers of St. Joachim in woods situate between the rivers Caapivarỹ, Yeyuỹ, and Tapiraguaỹ, were prevailed upon to assemble in one place and embrace the Christian religion. Arduous, indeed, was the task of persuading them to leave their native woods; for, accustomed to the shade of towering trees, they shun the exposed and sunny plain, where they think their lives and liberties daily endangered. Father Sebastiano de Yegros lived a year in the woods with the savages; at the end of which time, he persuaded them to relinquish their woods, and occupy the plains bordering on the river Tapiraguaỹ, whither Fathers Manuel Guttierrez and Joseph Martin Mattilla bought cattle and the necessaries of subsistence, and in 1751 erected a chapel and dwellings. Softened by the kindness and liberality of the Fathers, they became docile and conformable to Christian discipline. In my visits to this town, I could not but admire the gentle disposition and compliance with divine regulations, displayed in a people bred in woods and thickets. In a few years the town was increased by the accession of Indians, won over by Fathers Antonio Planes, Thaddeus Emis, a Bohemian, and Antonino Cortada, after arduous journeys amid pathless wilds. This colony lies in latitude 24° 20´, and in longitude 321° 35´.