other respects, but a novice amongst the American savages, and well aware of the unsteadiness of their friendship, and the uncertainty of their faith, he may be deemed excusable in preferring fear and caution to risking his life. CHAPTER XXXVII. EXTREME INDIGENCE OF THE COLONY, AND ITS VARIOUS CALAMITIES. The Rosary, as it had been unaptly named, was, from its very outset, the most thorny of all colonies. All the Spaniards being departed with the Governor, I was left entirely in the power of the Abipones, and of the hostile savages who infested the neighbourhood; yet, depending on the protection of the Almighty alone, I never felt myself more secure. There was no colony of Christians within thirty leagues of us, from which we could expect succour against the hostile troops of Mocobios, Tobas, and Guaycurus, whose hordes were so near that the smoke of them could be discerned from our colony. My Abipones for some time obstinately refused to remove their tents to the situation appointed for the colony. The sudden departure of the Governor was the origin of this refusal and of a hundred suspicions,—"The Spaniards departed to-day," said they, "perhaps in the intention of returning to-morrow to murder us, when they hear that we are settled in the open plain." Seeing no houses built for them, as usual in other colonies, they took occasion to suspect every thing that was bad. Three days I spent unaccompanied, at the end of which, by much persuasion, I prevailed upon the Abipones to quit their retreat, and remove to the place where I was. They learnt from their spies that the Spaniards were at a great distance, and being delivered from their suspicions at length became more tranquil. Wherever I turned my eyes I found necessaries wanting for myself and the Indians, without which life could not be supported nor the colony preserved. Almost all the sheep which the Spaniards contributed were useless from age and disease, and the falling off of their wool; indeed most of them died whilst the Governor was there, so that all prospect of obtaining wool from them to clothe the Indians entirely disappeared. The very lean and indifferent beef which was our principal and almost only food, afforded the Indians daily subject of complaint. The oxen, which were sent from the remote estates of the Spaniards, at intervals of a year, arrived emaciated, and half dead from the length of the journey, and, as no others remained, were immediately slain, without being left time to fatten. Their flesh, either boiled or roasted, was devoid of all taste and moisture, and better adapted to disgust than refresh the stomach. For my part, I loathed it so much, that during many months I tasted no other food than boiled cows' feet, though destitute of bread or any vegetables.