It certainly ought to be reckoned amongst the noble victories of our age, that the Abipones who, from the time of Charles the Fifth, had continued to defy the arms of the Spaniards, when so many other nations of Paraguay were put under the yoke, have at last been induced to enter colonies. The fruitlessness of innumerable expeditions undertaken against them at length convinced the Spanish soldiers that the Abipones were an overmatch for all the force and cunning of the Europeans, by their craft, their swiftness, and above all by the situation of the places they occupied, the nature of which itself defended, and rendered them invincible. Their stations served for strong-holds, thick woods for walls, rivers and pools for fosses, lofty trees for watch-towers, and the Abipones themselves for guards and spies. To prevent the possibility of their ever being utterly exterminated, they were separated into various hordes, and dwelt in different places, both that they might mutually warn and assist one another, and that, if any danger were apprehended, that they might with more certainty avoid the enemy. Indeed the old complaint of the Spaniards was, that they had more difficulty in finding the Abipones, than in conquering them when found. Though to-day you learn from your spies that they are settled in a neighbouring plain, you will hear to-morrow that they are removed to a great distance from their yesterday's residence, and are buried amidst woods and marshes. Whenever the savages have any suspicion of danger, they mount swift horses, hasten to places of greater security, and, sending scouts in all directions, generally disconcert the plans of the enemy by unremitting vigilance. I do not think the Abipones are much to be censured for having delayed to enter our colonies so long: for whilst they live in towns, banished from their lurking-places, and exposed to attacks of every kind, they think they have sold their liberty and security, incapable of any firm reliance on the faith and friendship of the Spaniards, which the cruelty and deceit formerly practised towards their ancestors have taught them to suspect.