When the above important decision was arrived at, Altamirano addressed an instruction to the Jesuits, requiring them to destroy all gunpowder within the disturbed districts, and to prevent the manufacture of implements of war; after which, in case they should not be able to persuade the _Guaranís_ to yield obedience to the treaty, they were to quit their charges and repair to _Buenos Ayres_. The Provincial of the Jesuits now addressed, in the name of the Company, a resignation of their charges, not in the proclaimed districts alone, but in all the _Guaraní_ “Reductions.” But the governor and the bishop, to whom the resignation was addressed, declined to accept it; whilst Valdelirios insisted that the Jesuits should not be ordered to withdraw. The first hostilities occurred upon the river _Pardo_, between a detachment of Portuguese and the _Guaranís_ of _S. Luiz_. Of the latter, fifty were made prisoners, and they caused much prejudice against the Jesuits by stating, in reply to questions, that there were Jesuits amongst them, and that the latter had incited them to cut off the heads of the Portuguese who fell into their hands,--statements which were probably invented as being agreeable to their questioners. More serious operations soon followed. It had been arranged between the commissioners that whilst the Spaniards should advance against the _Guaranís_ from _Buenos Ayres_, the Portuguese should attack them from _Rio Grande_. The Spaniards set forth in May, proceeding upon the left bank of the _Uruguay_; but they had advanced no further than the river _Igarapuy_ when want of stores and pasture compelled them to retire. They had not retreated, however, without a collision with the people of one of the “Reductions” outside of the ceded territory, and several skirmishes took place, in one of which a number of Jesuits were slain. In the meanwhile, Gomes Freyre had advanced from the coast towards _Ybicuy_, where he determined to watch the _Guaranís_ until he should receive some information respecting the proceedings of the Spaniards. He was short of provisions, and when the rainy season commenced his men were exposed to excessive hardships, being compelled to betake themselves to the trees, and the communication being carried on by means of canoes. It is said that they were quartered in this singular fashion for two months, but that they were prevented from deserting owing to the vigilance of the _Guaraní_ archers. At the end of this time, Gomes Freyre thought it expedient to treat with the _Guaranís_, who permitted him to retire without molestation. They then returned to their “Reductions,” thinking, like children, that the affair was at an end, and that all danger was over. [Sidenote: 1755.]