was the loss of horses and mules in both estates! Some thousands were driven away. In another place, a quantity of the herb of Paraguay, belonging to a Spanish merchant, was conveyed in many waggons from the town of Sta. Rosa to the banks of the Parana, by Guaranies; to whom was given, as a superintendent and guard, a certain Spaniard, an active man, armed with seven excellent muskets; but without having time allowed him for loading any of them, he was surrounded by a troop of Abipones, and slain, with almost all the Indians, except two, and a crowd of horses and oxen. Fifty dead bodies were found lying on the field. I have thought proper to relate those slaughters which were most recently committed whilst I was in the country; for it would be endless to describe, individually, all which the Guaranies suffered in the space of so many years. The poor wretches, half dead at the remembrance of them, whenever they had an engagement with the Abipones, seemed to think more of undergoing death, than of inflicting it. This very fear of the Guaranies stimulated the Abipones to fresh pillaging, in proportion as it increased their confidence of victory; so that on an approaching fight, like the Spartans, they did not enquire how many the Guaranies were, but where. The terror of the Guaranies being perceived by the Royal Governour, some Spanish soldiers were hired, at his advice, and ordered to traverse the roads on horseback, for the security of their towns, to watch the march of the savages, and to repel them, or at least apprize the inhabitants of their arrival. But the sagacity of the Abipones out-witted the vigilance of the Spanish horsemen, and their assaults were repeated with the same frequency as before, although with greater caution. In consequence therefore of the little benefit and great inconvenience which the towns derived from these guards, who were supported by them at a great expense, they were permitted to return home. But the savages were not always suffered to ravage with impunity. They not unfrequently atoned for the deaths of others by their own. Sometimes, as they were meditating an attack, they were discovered and repulsed. Sometimes they were overtaken in precipitate flight by the Guaranies, by whom they were very roughly handled, and obliged to relinquish their booty. The Guaranies might oftener have triumphed over the Abipones, would they have preserved their lives by keeping strict watch. Vigilance, as I have often observed, is the best armour against the savages. You will wonder, in reading this, that the Guaranies were such timid hares at home, when they are described by historians to have fought like lions in the royal camps, against the Portugueze, and even against the savages. They behaved nobly in the king's service, because they were governed by Spanish generals. At home, when left to themselves, they did but little against the savages. They are swayed by