The women returned from captivity amongst the Spaniards caused the Fathers a great deal of trouble. From long intercourse with the lower orders of Spaniards, with Negroes, and Mulattoes, they had contracted habits execrated even by the savages, and imbibed opinions sure to produce mischief to the inhabitants of the colony. Still imbittered by the remembrance of their servitude, they left no stone unturned to alienate the minds of their countrymen from the Spaniards and the priests; to prevent the young children and sick adults from receiving baptism; and to inspire the rest with a horror of the divine law, and a reverence for their ancient superstitions. To effect these purposes, they used to invent calumnies, spread reports of hostile intentions on the part of the Spaniards towards the Abipones, and advise flight from the colony, in which they sometimes succeeded, obtaining the more credit from the Abipones on account of their long residence with the Spaniards. The wife of Christopher Almaraz was, of all the female captives, by far the greatest plague to the colony, as she exceeded the rest in high birth, in the propensity to lying, and in aversion to the Roman Catholic religion. After receiving some superficial religious instruction in the city of St. Iago, she was united to Almaraz in the church, and with proper ceremonies, but was divorced by him on entering the town of Concepcion, under pretext of her impiety, and his ignorance of the perpetuity of wedlock; her age, however, was his real objection, and when settled amongst his own countrymen he aspired to fresh nuptials with a Spanish girl. He obtained the permission of the bishop of Tucuman himself for this marriage, because it was proved, by convincing evidence, that his former Abiponian spouse was related to another woman whom he had married during his residence amongst the Abipones. Almaraz, now in possession of his wishes, exercised the art of medicine in his own country, with great profit and approbation,—I wish I could add, with equal benefit to his patients. Who would not laugh at the idea of the lower order of Spaniards, that whoever has dwelt for some time amongst the savages must necessarily have attained the knowledge of herbs and secret arts of healing, which Galen himself never dreamt of, though the whole of his residence amongst them may have been employed in slaying and scalping, and in drinking. I do not, however, deny that some of them, when they returned to their own country, became useful to the Governors, by successfully performing the offices of scouts and guides. They likewise acted as interpreters when a parley was held with the savages. CHAPTER XXIV. THE FLIGHT OF THE ABIPONES FROM THE TOWN OF CONCEPCION AND THEIR RETURN TO IT.