Moreover they made a warlike alliance with the Mocobios and Tobas, equestrian savages, formidable by their numbers and resolution. Scarcely any memorable slaughter occurred in which these confederated nations did not join; to this they were incited by their unanimous hatred of the Europeans, the certain hope of booty, and their common desire of military glory. The Mocobios were never reckoned inferior to the Abipones either in stature, or in military skill; but I boldly affirm that, in atrocity and steady hatred to the Spaniards, they exceed them. Certainly in the last century they seemed to conspire to the ruin of Tucuman; proving themselves formidable, not to solitary estates merely, but to whole cities. The province was devastated by slaughter, rapine, and fire: Salta, Xuxui, the city of St. Miguel, and Cordoba, were reduced to desperation, and Estecco, formerly an opulent city, quite ruined. The city of Concepcion was rased to the ground, the inhabitants having been treacherously massacred. History does not inform us whether the Abipones were partakers with the Mocobios in these numerous and bloody excursions. Alonzo Mercado, Angelo de Paredo, and other Governours of Tucuman, withstood, indeed, the efforts of the savages, and conducted as many soldiers as they could muster, either Spaniards or Indian Christians, into Chaco, to besiege the fastnesses of the savages, but by a journey always difficult, and seldom recompensed by success; for, although they sometimes took and slew some of the Mocobios and Tobas in their hordes, yet the survivors, enraged by the loss of their companions, redoubled their fury, never ceasing to employ their strength, which was equal to their anger, in revenge; and success always crowned their wishes. Several fruitless expeditions of the Tucuman forces confirmed the opinion of the savages, that the arms of the Spaniards were not to be feared by them, and that they were sufficiently guarded in their lurking-places, which were either unknown to the Spaniards, or inaccessible to them; but that if, peradventure, they were overcome by numbers, they might reckon upon a victory in flight, opportunities for which were afforded them by their knowledge of the country, and by their dexterity in swimming and riding: whilst the Spaniards, with horses fatigued by a long rough journey, and encumbered by the length of their clothes and of their arms, could with difficulty pursue the fugitives, especially if marshes, rivers, and trackless woods intervened. Emboldened by these considerations, they left nothing unattempted against Tucuman. Salta, the residence of the Governour, and other places surrounding it, were exposed to the daily assaults of the savages.