An Account of the Abipones, an Equestrian people of Paraguay, (3 of 3)
History
An Account of the Abipones, an Equestrian people of Paraguay, (3 of 3)
Abipon Indians; Jesuits -- Missions; Paraguay -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
in crossing the river, the opposite bank being occupied by the savages,
they began immediately to think of retreat, and nothing was attempted
against the enemy. Oaherkaikin at a distance pursued the Corrientines,
and carried away that very night a drove of horses from the colony of
St. Ferdinand. The Spaniards were not insensible to this injury, but
digested it in silence, fearing to provoke these hornets afresh. You
shall now hear some particulars respecting Ychoalay.
He enjoyed every thing but the name of Cacique. He was born of a most
honourable family amongst the Riikahés, and nearly related to
Debayakaikin, who taught him, when a boy, to sit a horse, and to manage
it. He was exceedingly tall, with an oval face, an aquiline nose, and
strength adequate to all of the fatigues of warfare; indeed, the whole
conformation of his body was exactly expressive of, and suitable to a
military man. On the strength of a peace, established between the
Riikahés and the people of Sta. Fè, the youth Ychoalay visited that
city, and served the Spaniards for hire, either as a breaker-in of
horses, or a guard in the estates. At length he assumed the name of his
master, Benavides, and by this name he was afterwards known, when a
leader of the Abipones, and an enemy to the Spaniards; though his own
countrymen called him Oahari in his boyhood, and at a more advanced
period of his life, Ychoalay. Though averse to the Christian religion,
he was so desirous of an acquaintance with the Spanish language, that in
order to be more sure of attaining it, he went from Sta. Fè to the
kingdom of Chili, whither a Spaniard was returning with a number of
waggons: this man he served on the journey as a driver, and afterwards
as a cultivator of vines, at Mendoza. Ychoalay, ever mindful of his
origin, constantly showed himself the soldier, never appearing out of
doors without a spear, and manifesting courage superior to that of the
rest. Hence, when his companions were robbed or murdered by the Charruas
or Pampas, in the deserts of Paraguay, Ychoalay, repelling force by
force, remained a survivor. Some years after, he returned from Mendoza
to Sta. Fè, and on his masters' refusing to pay him his wages, became
disgusted with the Spaniards. Anger was turned into rage, when he learnt
from a Spaniard of Cordoba, that his life had been attempted by an
inhabitant of Sta. Fè. Weary of his condition, and of the society of the
Spaniards, he rejoined the Abipones, who were, at that time, harassing
the territories of Cordoba with daily inroads, and accompanied his
countrymen in all their plundering excursions, displaying so much valour
as caused him to be soon after promoted from a fellow-soldier to be a
leader of others. Shrewd and active, he always executed with wonderful
bravery, and equal good fortune, whatever he planned to the injury of
the Spaniards. He had a great share in all the victories which I have
related as being obtained over the Spaniards, and in all the dangers and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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