nearly a century in their savage state, they over-ran the whole province with hostile, and generally victorious arms. But when, from her decreased population, Spain could no longer supply priests sufficient for the vast provinces of America, the court of Madrid not only invited foreign Jesuits whom they had formerly excluded from Paraguay, but even had them carried thither at the expense of the government, and to the great advantage of the monarchy. It would be endless to mention, individually, all the Italians, Flemings, and Germans, who, for many years, have rendered signal service to the Spanish monarchy, and the Christian religion, in Paraguay and the other provinces of Spanish America, in our times. This honour has sometimes been envied to foreigners, but never denied them. CHAPTER XII. A COLONY FOUNDED FOR THE MOCOBIOS AFTERWARDS THE OCCASION OF ABIPONIAN COLONIES. The Spaniards, weakened by daily slaughters, were extremely desirous of procuring a peace with the savages, whom, for so many years, they had proved unable to vanquish by arms. Instructed by the experience of other nations, they were persuaded that the friendship of the Abipones and Mocobios could never be either obtained, or preserved, unless these people surrendered themselves to our instructions in civilization and religion. And nothing was more desired by the Jesuits, than the discovery of some means whereby the savages might be induced to inhabit the colonies founded for them. The Royal Governors of cities were liberal in their offers of assistance; but they seldom, or in a very limited manner, fulfilled their promises. Satisfied when the Abipones were driven by our means, into a new town, and kept from plunder, they left the care of feeding and clothing them entirely to us. They thought it a mighty performance to build a few huts of wood and mud in a new colony, to serve as chapels and dwelling-houses for us and the Indians. These being completed in a day or two, by the hasty labours of the soldiers, they sent high-flown letters both to the Viceroy of Peru, and the court of Madrid, in which they declared themselves the founders of a new town, and the conquerors of a savage nation. But if those worthy Governors were really solicitous for the safety of the province committed to their care, and the firm establishment of the Indians whom they had delivered to our instructions, they should have made a point of furnishing every new colony with herds of oxen and flocks of sheep, with axes and other agricultural instruments, lest the savage inhabitants, from want of meat for daily consumption, of wool for weaving garments, and of ploughs for daily use, should be obliged to subsist by plunder or hunting, to wander without the colony, return to their native woods, and, destitute of all necessaries, to declare, that they looked upon war as more to their advantage than such a peace. But of this subject I