[Sidenote: 1610.] Two Jesuit priests reached _Asuncion_ in 1610, the modest vanguard of a formidable army. From the very date of their arrival they displayed the usual zeal of their order, and the first _reduction_ was established on the upper _Paraná_. It was called _Loreto_, and the neighbouring natives were invited to resort thither, to receive instruction and to become members of the community, which was entirely under Jesuit control. As others of the order arrived, other _reductions_ were formed. On reaching _Asuncion_ the earliest Jesuit Fathers found the colony distracted by rivalries and controversies between the secular and the religious authorities. The first bishop of _Paraguay_ was a Franciscan. The policy which had been initiated and pursued by Irala of incorporating the natives with the governing body had fallen into at least partial disuse. Although the natives of _Paraguay_ had not to complain of the same harsh treatment from their Spanish conquerors as had the Peruvians, their condition still left much to desire. They were not slaves in name, nor could they be purchased or sold, but they were nevertheless compelled to labour in the interest of others who had no responsibility for their care or support. The priests, as befitting their character, were willing and anxious to better their condition; but the colonists were loth to permit their interference in secular matters. Still their presence was not without its result, if only in its leading to its being considered more respectable to treat the natives as human beings rather than as the lower animals. Such being the state of society on the arrival of the Jesuits, whose professed object was the redemption of the natives, their coming was by no means welcomed by the colonists.