The Abipones, like almost all the Americans, dreading the most distant idea of slavery, will scarcely perform the smallest service, unless quite sure of a compensation. Whenever you require anything of them, _Mieka enegèn labevè?_ what will you give me? they eagerly reply. They quietly looked on, whilst we were saddling our horses, or cutting down wood, and though they would not move a finger to our assistance, employed their tongues lavishly in our praise. "Bless me, Father! how well you equip your horse! How dexterous, and strong you are!" they exclaimed, though we should have preferred their assistance to their encomiums. Ychoalay, unlike the rest in this respect, was extremely ready to perform all sorts of good offices. He served the Fathers not with fine words, but with good deeds, as I had good reason to know, having taken many long journeys with him through incommodious wilds, when he fulfilled the part of a most diligent servant. Though many Abipones of inferior rank accompanied us, whenever we had to pass the night, or the mid-day in the plain, he charged himself with seeking fuel, bearing water, and taking care of the horses, and used always to procure me a safe passage over rivers and marshes. He not only harnessed my horse for me, but prudently pointed out that which was fittest for the journey we were going to enter upon. In travelling he always remained close by my side, kept a strict watch on all sides, and if he discovered any danger, acquainted me with it, and cautiously avoided it. The other Fathers, too, openly professed their obligations to this excellent man. The founding and preserving of the town of St. Jeronymo is chiefly to be attributed to him. Except three little huts, hastily constructed by the Spaniards, every thing was done under the direction, and by the labour of Ychoalay, particularly when it was removed to the southern shore. It was necessary to erect a little building for the performance of divine service, a dwelling-house for the Fathers, some cottages for the shepherds, and large folds for the cattle. There was likewise occasion to fortify the court-yard of our house with stakes, that in sudden incursions of the savages it might afford a defence to the women and children; huts were also to be constructed for the Abipones, who, till then, had sheltered themselves under mats. For these purposes many thousands of trees must be cut down, carried home, and worked upon. Ychoalay was the life of the labour and the labourers. He was always the first to take up the axe, the last to lay it down, instigating the Abipones to diligence more by example than by precept.