Affairs being settled in the city of Sta. Fè, the head of the college, Diego Horbegozo, took a journey to the hordes of the Abipones, for the double purpose of gaining the good-will of the whole nation, and of observing the nature of the place where the town was to be situated. Having informed himself of the intentions of the Abipones, he returned to the city, and procured the sacred utensils for the priests, instruments for agriculture and house-building, and above all, the cattle necessary for the support of the Indians. But those very people, who had promised mountains of gold to avert from their throats the knives of the Abipones, were niggardly, and slow in fulfilling their engagements. The care not only of instructing, but likewise of supporting the Indians, as in other cases, fell solely upon the Fathers, who had perpetually to struggle with the want of all necessaries. For the assistance their prayers extorted from the royal treasury never equalled the necessities of the colony, and the expectations of the savages. Two Jesuits were appointed to take care of the town: Joseph Cardiel, a native of Castile, a man of the greatest intrepidity, and a missionary of various nations; to whom was given as a companion another Castilian, Francisco Navalon, a man of the gentlest disposition, and well fitted for economical cares, so that he rendered infinite services to this town for twenty years. In the year 1748, the Vice-Governor of Sta. Fè, with two Fathers, and a troop of soldiers, went to the place designed for the colony. A small chapel, a little hut for the Fathers, and another for the chief Cacique, were hastily constructed by the soldiers, of wood and mud, and covered with hay. A heavy shower coming on, it seemed to have rained harder in the apartment of the Fathers, than out of doors; indeed the fabric altogether was such as no labourer or herdsman in Europe would deign to inhabit. The Abipones, assembled in this place, made use of their mats for tents, till, polished by some years' discipline, they constructed rather handsomer edifices, for sacred purposes, for the Fathers, and for themselves. Yet how languidly would these fabrics have been conducted, had they not been aided by the advice and even the personal labour of the Fathers! The court-yard of our house was surrounded with stakes, to guard against the incursions of our savage enemies, and to serve as a place of refuge for the women and children, whilst the men were fighting out of doors. The Abipones Riikahés, under Neruigini and Ychoalay, their chief commanders, constituted this first colony, which scarce consisted of three hundred people. The Caciques Naarè and Kachirikin settled here likewise, with their numerous Yaaukanigas, whilst the people of Corrientes were building them the town of St. Ferdinand. After some months Lichinrain, and then Ychilimin, and Kebachichi, came with their people to the newly built colony, and subsequently more and more flocked thither.