As soon as morning dawned, whilst the sand on the shores of the river bore visible marks of the feet of the Indians, the soldiers, disregarding the commands of their captain, returned home full speed, and obliged me to follow them, unless I preferred perishing in a perilous wild, full a hundred leagues in extent. I had ninety-four leagues to return, for to such a distance from the city had we travelled. The soldiers, to shorten the way, passed through the trackless woods of Turugòn, and through marshy fields, till they arrived, with me, at their native place, Salabina. The priest of the village, Clement Xerez de Calderon, embraced me with the utmost cordiality, and consoled me when I complained of the return of the runaway soldiers. "You are come to this town," said he, "by divine dispensation, to pronounce a panegyric on the Holy Mother:" for the Carmelite feast was at hand, which is annually celebrated in that place for nine successive days. Numbers of all ranks assemble there out of the whole province, and as the place is too small to contain so many thousands of strangers, most of them are obliged to pass the night out of doors amongst the bushes, whilst the better sort are entertained by the priest. The church, though small, was furnished with very precious sacred utensils, and ornamented with more silver than is commonly seen in European churches, most part of which the priest had inherited from a Peruvian canon, a relation of his. In this church then I pronounced a panegyric of an hour's length to a very numerous audience; amongst the rest, the Vice-Governor and all the chief people of the city were present, by whom, at the end of the discourse, I was honourably conducted, amid the noise of fireworks and small cannons, to the priest's house, where, according to custom, brandy and tobacco-pipes were liberally distributed amongst the crowd of Spanish horse. During the twelve days of my unwelcome detention in this place, I devoted the whole of my time which was not spent in short slumbers, meals, and the performance of divine service, to absolving penitents, who attended me in the open plain near the church. Meantime, at Barreda's command, forty soldiers were called out to accompany me on my second return, and were ordered to assemble in a field some leagues distant from Salabina. In this place, I and a few others remained three days in the open air, amid continual frost, and in danger of being devoured by tigers, vainly awaiting the rest of the soldiers; for after all there arrived no more than five-and-twenty, one of whom deserted the first night, carrying off with him some of the captain's horses. Having swam across the river Turugòn, we entered Chaco; and that we might have no sudden attack to fear from the savages who abide there, seven scouts were sent forward by day, and returned at night to make their report to the captain. These scouts discovered a party of Tobas and Mocobios, who, in flying to their