After various vicissitudes of war, which I have briefly touched upon in another place, these seven towns were ceded by the Spaniards, but not accepted by the Portugueze, because they had at length discovered that all that territory along the banks of the Uruguay was destitute of the supposed mines of gold and silver. About fourteen thousand Indian exiles were dispersed up and down the plains of the Uruguay; nearly as many crossed the river of that name, and settled in the different towns of the Parana, where, after quitting handsome freestone houses, they were thankful for the precarious subsistence afforded by the kindness of their countrymen, and for cottages hastily built of straw. But Charles III., who was removed from the throne of Naples to that of Spain, cancelled the exchange of lands with the Portugueze agreed on by his late brother Ferdinand, and commanded that the landmarks placed in Paraguay should be pulled up, war declared on the Portugueze, and the Guarany exiles sent back to their towns, the administration of which was as usual to be intrusted to the Jesuits. But alas! what a mournful appearance did these towns, formerly so flourishing, present, after a three years' absence of their inhabitants! The churches were shorn of their splendor, the estates spoiled of their cattle. The walls and roofs of the houses were injured by the soldiers and the weather. Part of the buildings were reduced to ashes. The untilled fields began to be overspread with wood, and filled with tares. The whole neighbourhood was infested with snakes and tigers. It seemed as if the arts and industry of a whole century could hardly replace or make up for what had been destroyed in the last three years. This terrible misfortune of the Guarany nation alarmed the minds of the Abipones, and estranged them from the Spaniards. With sorrowful eyes they beheld all the Spaniards able to bear arms called out against the Guaranies. "If the Spaniards," said they, "are so desirous of war, why do they not turn their arms against the Guaycurùs, the Aucas, Chiriguanos, Yaapitalakas, and other hostile nations? Why do they persecute the Guaranies, their most faithful friends, who have done so much service to the king in the royal camps? Is the friendship of the Spaniards so versatile? Have they so short a memory as to forget the submission which the Guaranies have uniformly observed towards them?" Complaints and wonderings of this kind were daily felt and expressed by all. Nor was the affair confined to words alone. Many of them, either displeased by the severity of the Spaniards towards the Guaranies, or distrustful of their friendship, or tempted by the opportunity of pillaging, which the absence of the soldiers afforded, deserted their towns. Such were the deplorable effects of the war with the Guaranies.