The whole is governed by a viceroy, whose title is at present disputed, by the capital being in possession of the insurgent government; and the ecclesiastical affairs of the country are under the guidance of the archbishop of La Plata, in Charcas, who has six suffragans. Its population is estimated at 1,100,000 Creoles and Spaniards: but the Indians have not been numbered. HISTORY, DISCOVERY, &c. The Spaniards claim the honour of first discovering this country. Juan Dias de Salis, having sailed from Spain with two ships, in 1515, to explore Brazil, arrived at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, and took formal possession of the land: but, deluded by the friendly appearance of the Indians, and being off his guard, he was slain, with the few attendants who had landed with him. In 1526, Sebastian Cabot, then in the Spanish service, also endeavouring to make the coast of Brazil, entered the same river, and discovered an island, which he called St. Gabriel; advancing about 120 leagues, he found a fine river flowing into the great stream, this he named St. Salvador, and causing his fleet to enter this river, disembarked his men, and built a fort, in which he left a garrison, while he proceeded farther up, and also discovered the Paraguay. Having procured much silver from the Indians, particularly the Guaranies, who brought the metal from the eastern parts of Peru, he imagined that mines existed in the country he was in, and accordingly gave the name of River of Silver, or Rio de la Plata, to the great stream he had sailed up.