I shall here record another excursion to the savages, which, though completed in less time than the former, was productive of more advantage. A company of Spaniards were employed in preparing the herb of Paraguay on the southern banks of the river Empalado. The trees from which these leaves were plucked failing, they commissioned three men to seek for the tree in request beyond the river. By accident they lit upon a hovel and a field of maize, from which they falsely conjectured that the wood was full of savage hordes. This occurrence affected them all with such fear, that, suspending the business upon which they were engaged, they kept within their huts, like snails in their shells, and spent day and night in dread of hostile aggression. To deliver them from this state of fear, a messenger was sent to St. Joachim, requiring us to search for the savages abiding there, and to remove them, when found, to our colony. I applied myself to the task without shrinking, and on the day of St. John the Evangelist commenced my travels, accompanied by forty Indians. Having taken a guide from the Spanish hut, and crossed the river Empalado, we carefully explored all the woods and the banks of the river Mondaỹ-mir̂i, and discovering at length, on the third day, a human footstep, we traced it to a little dwelling, where an old woman with her son and daughter, a youth and maiden of twenty and fifteen years of age, had lived many years. Being asked where the other Indians were to be found, the mother replied that no mortal besides herself and her two children survived in these woods; that all the rest, who had occupied this neighbourhood, had died long ago of the small-pox. Perceiving me doubtful as to the correctness of her statement, the son observed, "You may credit my mother in her assertion without scruple; for I myself have traversed these woods far and near in search of a wife, but could never meet with a single human being." Nature had taught the young savage that it was not lawful to marry his sister. I exhorted the old mother to migrate as fast as possible to my town, promising that both she and her children should be more comfortably situated. She declared herself willing to accept my invitation, to which there was only one objection. "I have," says she, "three boars which have been tamed from their earliest age. They follow us wherever we go, and I am afraid, if they are exposed to the sun in a dry plain, unshaded by trees, they will immediately perish." "Pray be no longer anxious on this account," replied I; "depend upon it I shall treat these dear little animals with due kindness. When the sun is hot, we will find shade wherever we are. Lakes, rivers, or marshes will be always at hand to cool your favourites." Induced by these promises, she agreed to go with us. And setting out the next day we reached the town in safety on the first of January. And now it will be proper to give a cursory account of the mother and her offspring.