Their pious guests Pastòr and Cerqueira spared no pains to obliterate the memory of so great an impiety committed by a people who called themselves Christians. They never ceased day or night to admonish them of their duty: and their private conversations and public sermons in the church effected so much that many, after confession, sincerely promised amendment. I have seen a few remnants of this nation which are still surviving in a wretched little town called Matarà, on the banks of the Salado. In former times they were in subjection to some private individuals, Spaniards of St. Iago, and, though once numerous, fell away by degrees. After some days' stay, the Fathers pursued their journey to the Abipones, accompanied by the curate of the place and the principal Caciques, with a company of soldiers, who hoped, by means of the Fathers, to regain the friendship of the Abipones, between whom and their nation an ancient and bloody feud existed. The Fathers had certainly much need of their company. Sixty leagues of the journey still remained, through an unknown country, full of woods, lakes, and marshes. Had they not had the Mataràs for guides and protectors, they could neither have safely undertaken such a journey, nor prudently proceeded to the business they came upon. They were obliged to creep for a long time through trackless woods, and at every step to struggle with briers, which generally proved a bloody contest. To assuage the burning thirst occasioned by extreme heat and bodily fatigue, they could meet with nothing but stinking water out of pools and ditches, which offended their nostrils to such a degree that the poor creatures almost thought thirst preferable. They could not turn their eyes without perceiving traces of tigers, nor move a step without meeting swarms of gnats and other insects: insomuch that the stings of the one, and the apprehension of the other, prevented them from resting at night, though sore fatigued in the day-time. Issuing from the woods into the open plain, they found themselves surrounded by continuous marshes occasioned by the inundations of the river Bermejo, which, deserting its channel, spreads to the extent of five leagues. A vast plain, white with waters, presented itself to their eyes. By the number of difficulties you may judge how great must have been the courage of the Fathers, who not only endured them unrepiningly themselves, but by their example inspired patience into their Indian companions. Vanquished by none of the asperities of the way they all persevered in their journey, till they reached the territories of the Abipones.