A remarkable incident, respecting an Indian chief of a powerful tribe near Buenos Ayres, is related to have occurred in the year 1745. Orellana, as he is named in the account, with ten of his followers, having been taken captive by the Spaniards, was placed on board a Spanish ship of 66 guns and 500 men, and there treated with great cruelty. Finding means to communicate his plan to his men, they watched their time, and when a favorable opportunity occurred, they suddenly rose, armed with thongs of leather loaded with double-headed shot, prepared beforehand, and drove the Spaniards below. They then killed forty of them, and kept possession of the ship for two hours, in spite of all the efforts of the Spaniards to regain it; but Orellana being at last wounded by a random shot through the cabin doors, and seeing the Spaniards on the point of success, he, with his brave men, leaped overboard, and they were all drowned. Of the several Indian tribes that inhabit that large tract of territory known by the name of Patagonia, and which terminates in the cold and desolate regions of Terra del Fuego, we can give no history. They are now, as when first discovered, mere savages, and have continued to occupy the soil with little disturbance from Europeans. Their country is too poor and repulsive to tempt the cupidity of civilized man, hence it has remained in the possession of its original masters. As they have no history worthy of remembrance, so they have no means of preserving the memory of events; and thus, like the leaves of the forest, they live, pass away, and then slumber in oblivion for ever. Their manners and customs alone are worthy of record, and these will be given in their proper place. [Illustration] FOOTNOTE: [3] For an account of the operations of the missionaries in Paraguay, see “Lights and Shadows of American History.” INDIANS OF BRAZIL. Brazil was discovered in 1500. The first Spaniard who ventured to cross the equator was Vincent Pinzon. He landed at a point on the coast of Brazil, about twenty miles south of Pernambuco. A fleet was soon after sent out from Portugal, in which sailed that fortunate adventurer, Americus Vespucius, who has given his name to the New World. The Indians of Brazil were real savages, perfidious, cruel, and cannibals, and appear to have had scarcely a single noble or generous trait in their characters. The dreadful depravity of these tribes seems to have infused the spirit of furies into the hearts of the females; and when the women of a people are rendered ferocious, there is little, if any, chance, that the nation will ever, by its own efforts, become civilized. The following account of the first interview between the Portuguese and the Brazilian Indians is sufficient to show the character of the latter.