Ychohake, a man distinguished by a hundred noxious arts, closed a life, infamous for crimes, by a noble death. Having long been declining, he desired to receive the sacrament a short while before his decease, and to evince his abhorrence of the superstitious rites of his nation, refused to admit any of the female jugglers, who usually attend the sick, into the house. For the same reason he desired by his last will that his horses and sheep might not be slain on his grave, according to the custom of the Abipones, but that they might be kept for the use of his little daughter. The more noble Indians dug his grave, at other times a female office, with their hands, in a place which they had desired us to point out in the chapel, and, rejecting the lamentations of the women and other savage ceremonies, interred him according to the rites of the Church of Rome. Ychoalay was bathed in tears, and said he had now no brother left. Hemakie, and many others, whose lives had been employed in robbing and murdering the Spaniards, died in my presence in a manner worthy of a Christian. An Abiponian girl, converted to Christianity, concealed herself for many nights in a wood frequented by tigers and serpents, to avoid being forced into a marriage with Pazonoirin, a bitter enemy to religion. Intemperance in drinking began to decrease; polygamy and divorce were no longer generally practised; and the savage custom of killing their unborn babes was at length condemned by the mothers themselves. Many chose rather to endure the want of things which could hardly be dispensed with, than obtain them by arts to which they had long been familiarized, but which were forbidden by the divine law. It is an undeniable fact that these colonies, in which the Abipones were confined like wild beasts in cages, were highly advantageous to all Paraguay. By means of them security was restored to the public roads, through which merchants were in the habit of passing; and fresh estates were able to be founded and enriched with additions of cattle in places which had long been deserted for fear of the Abipones. By them too, the other savages, the Tobas, Mocobios, and Guaycurus, were prevented from continuing their usual inroads into the lands of the Spaniards, who were thus enabled to repose in safety and tranquillity in the bosom of peace, whilst we were keeping watch amongst the Abipones, and often exposing our lives to danger. I do not deny that many deserted their colonies, took up arms again, and, renewing their predatory excursions, plundered droves of horses from the undefended estates; but, as I have observed elsewhere, that was entirely the fault of the Spaniards themselves, who left none but women at home, having called out all the men to make war upon those seven Guarany towns, which, according to treaty, were to be delivered up to the Portugueze.