Taught by long experience in the affairs of Paraguay, I declare it as my opinion, that the Americans, were they instructed in the arts of war, and furnished with arms, and all the necessary apparatus, by reason of their natural abilities for riding, swimming, and enduring the hardships of weather and of warfare, would be of more service against the incursions of the savages than any European soldiers. In every part of Paraguay you may see youths truly Spaniards in origin, name, and disposition; intelligent, agile, intrepid, remarkable for strength and stature, and astonishingly dexterous in horsemanship; of such were one company formed in every territory, commanded by able captains, and furnished with a regular stipend, I think that the Indians, when foes, might easily be induced to embrace the friendship of the Spaniards, and when friends, kept in their duty; and thus the colonies would be freed from their afflictions. But if, on urgent danger, a regiment were formed out of four or five of these companies, none of the savage hordes, however numerous, would be invincible to them, were a leader of tried valour and experience at the head of the expedition. About fifty horsemen of this description, supported at the public expense by the city of Sta. Fè, and called Blandenges, have shown much conduct on many occasions. A troop of these horsemen might watch in each of the Spanish colonies, and be easily supported, partly out of the royal treasury, partly at the expense of the more opulent Spaniards, whom it chiefly interests to preserve the security of the estates and of commerce from the incursions of the savages. CHAPTER XL. WHAT IS THE FATE OF THE SLAIN AMONGST THE ABIPONIAN VICTORS.