History gives no account of the proceedings of the Abipones in the fifteenth century, before they settled in Chaco; but I should imagine that, being at that time, like the other Indians, unfurnished with horses, they passed their lives in ignoble obscurity, more anxious to avoid, than to attack the Spaniards. It appears from the annals of Paraguay, that in the year 1641, they possessed horses, and were become dexterous in the management of them. We read also, that they made war about this time upon the Mataràs, whom, on account of their submission to the Spaniards, they pursued with unrelenting hatred. Moreover the Abipones became formidable to the pedestrian nations on account of their reputation for horsemanship. But do you ask me how the Abipones first obtained horses? I will tell you what I learnt from an Abipon, an hundred years of age. He informed me that some of his ancestors, before they had obtained these useful animals, used to go privily to the lands belonging to the city of Sta. Fè, and steal a few horses, with some iron knives. They afterwards made use of these horses for the purpose of driving fresh herds from the lands of the Spaniards. It frequently happens that horses, tormented by insects or frightened by tigers, stray to the distance of many leagues. The men appointed to guard the cattle, (if there be any,) are mostly few and unarmed, always timorous, and can easily be slain whilst absent from their huts, or eluded whilst they are sleeping. In the space of fifty years, an hundred thousand horses were driven from the estates of the Spaniards, by the Abipones. Do not imagine that I have exaggerated the number, for, calculating from conjecture, I should say it exceeded two hundred thousand, and no wonder: for young men of the nation of the Abipones often carried off four thousand horses in one assault, and as they grew in years, they increased their robberies. Cunning and a little sagacity are more requisite than strength. The Calchacuis, after they had afflicted the country about Sta. Fè with reiterated slaughters, were at last reduced to order in one conflict. Those who survived that overthrow were almost all cut off by the small-pox. The miserable remains of this most warlike nation are yet living by the river Carcarañal, and are reckoned at about twenty people. The Abipones settled in the land formerly possessed by the Calchacuis, inheriting not their country alone, but also their hostile disposition towards the Spaniards. They took possession of all the land from the river Plata to the city of Sta. Fè, and from the banks of the Parana and Paraguay to the territories of St. Iago, the Spaniards vainly endeavouring to oppose them, and obliged to part with their ancient station, or maintain it with the loss of their lives. In the eighteenth year of this century, even women might go, without danger, from the city of Sta. Fè, and thence to Cordoba, though it is a journey of many days, even to horse travellers.