The Charruas, a fierce equestrian nation, after being long formidable to travellers on the eastern bank of the Parana, were at length made captive, for the most part, by a troop of horse from Sta. Fè, and assembled in a colony founded in the plain Cajasta, where they were instructed in the divine law by a priest of the order of St. Francis. These savages, formerly so slothful, were impelled by hunger to make great exertions in cultivating land. But the plains adjacent to the town, being in great part marshy, scarce afforded a place where seed could be sown with any prospect of a harvest, and the hill occupied by the colony seemed too small for the number of inhabitants. On which account, some Charruas were sent by the priest to explore the remoter plains, and endeavour to find a better situation for the colony. On their return, they communicated their discovery of a very numerous horde of Abipones near La Laguna Blanca. The Vice-Governor of Sta. Fè, when informed of this circumstance, judged habitations of hostile Abipones insufferable in a place where they had such a good opportunity of sallying forth to annoy the colonies of the Spaniards. He appointed a troop of his own horse to drive away that hostile horde, and wrote to us to request that Ychoalay, with his people and with the Mocobios, might join them. The Vice-Governor's letter, which was delivered to us as we were at dinner, dispersed the cloud that overspread our minds, like a propitious star. Ychoalay got every thing in readiness the same evening, and set out the next day with a numerous company almost before sun-rise. There was not one amongst them all that did not follow him with a cheerful mind, not one that complained of want of horses. For although the enemy had taken great numbers of them but a very short time before, yet many, still lurking in the remoter pastures, escaped both their eyes and hands. Ychoalay rode on before the rest, and reached the plain specified by the Vice-Governor, where he found the Spanish horsemen on foot and fasting, their horses and oxen having left them in the night. Both were recovered by the sagacity of Ychoalay. Soon after, under the guidance of the Charruas, they hastened to the shores of La Laguna Blanca, which, however, they found already deserted by the Abipones, and whither they had removed was difficult to conjecture. Ychoalay was commissioned by the Spaniards to seek the abode of the fugitives. All places being diligently examined under his direction, the enemy's stations were at length discovered, and at the same time so closely besieged, that all hope of flight or victory being precluded, they every one yielded to the conquerors. They were deprived of their arms, and brought like captives to the town of St. Jeronymo, with a crowd of women and boys.