The sudden conversion of the natives, however, which had resulted from terror, lasted only as long as the Jesuits and their party remained sufficiently strong to overawe them. Left with one Father and fifteen Paraguayans, they obtained leave to depart for the purpose of bringing others to share the Father’s instruction. On their return in sufficient numbers to overpower him, fourteen of his Paraguayans were put to death, one being reserved as interpreter; one of the Spanish boatmen was likewise spared to steer the _Payaguas_ to their former haunts. There the interpreter was put to death in the defence of his master, who, however, together with his brother Jesuit, was almost immediately afterwards murdered by the _Guaycurus_. About the same period there were in _Buenos Ayres_ some twenty thousand Africans who could not speak Spanish. In order to be able to administer spiritual food to these, Father Chomé studied the tongue of _Angola_, in which in the course of three months he acquired such proficiency that he was able to persuade himself that the Africans understood his attempts to expound the doctrines of Christianity. His linguistic powers marked him out for service in _Peru_, but his destination was changed to _Paraguay_. He was conveyed thither in a covered cart, carrying with him his own bedding and provisions. The neighbourhood of _Santa Fè_ was then infested by the _Guaycurus_, who were even daring enough to attack that town. They gave no quarter, and carried as trophies the scalps of their victims. Their weapons were bows and arrows, lances and darts, which rebounded by means of a string fastened to the projector’s thumb. Issuing from their ambuscades, and giving utterance to wild cries, they inspired still further terror by their aspect, being enclosed in a suit composed of feathers. They had already attained perfection in horsemanship, now falling flat on the animals’ necks, now swinging their persons beneath their girths and holding on by their feet, or throwing themselves from one side to the other as occasion might require. If it seemed desirable to abandon their steeds and take to the river or thicket, they were as fishes in the former, and could defy the thorns of the latter. Beset by these savages, Father Chomé was indebted to his escort for his arriving without accident at _Santa Fè_, where he was still two hundred and twenty leagues from the nearest of the _reductions_. The carts in use were but little suited to a country intersected by streams, and where bridges were unknown. On reaching a stream the waggon was unloaded and attached to the tails of horses, who struggled as best they could to the opposite shore. Such travellers as could not swim were committed to small boats formed of a single ox-hide, with the almost unnecessary injunction to sit still in them. In the _pelotas_, too, the loads were transported. From _Santa Fè_ Father Chomé proceeded towards his destination on horseback.