The situation of the colony was wisely left to the choice of the Abipones, who pitched upon the northern shore of the river Rey. This place, which is seventy leagues north of Sta. Fè, forms the centre of that territory which these people claim as their own. Here you behold a plain, about two hundred leagues in extent, abounding in good pasture, in wood for fuel and carpenter's work, and in vast numbers of wild animals. The soil is excellent and suitable to seed of every kind. Not a stone nor even a pebble can be met with here, nor any springs, so that the water of this place, being solely procured from the adjacent ditches, is seldom sweet, never clear. Nearly all the smaller rivers within sight are composed of muddy, bitter water, so salt, as to be refused by the very beasts, but which sweetens when increased by violent or continual rains. The same is the case with the Rio Rey, the principal river of the vicinity, which, in dry weather, becomes so shallow that travellers may cross it on foot, but is often swelled to such a degree by the inundations of the Parana, and by unusually heavy rains, that, overflowing its banks, it spreads far and wide, and assumes the appearance of a lake. When the waters recede, they leave a muddy marsh in every part, so that a foot of land can hardly be found, on which you can stand with safety. The Abipones, ever distrusting the friendship of the Spaniards, chose this place to prevent the possibility of being treacherously attacked by them; and they thought that the difficulty of the journey, by keeping off the Spaniards, would prove a guard to themselves. But some years after, when their minds were softened, and their suspicions of Spanish perfidy laid aside, they requested to have this town removed from the northern to the southern shore, where it was placed on a large and pleasant hill. So far concerning the site of this colony. Let us now proceed to other particulars.