With respect to commerce. By the canons of the church, it is forbidden to ecclesiastics, and, certainly, for good reasons. Commerce is a profession, a pursuit, to which men devote their time, for the purpose of obtaining a livelihood, and of amassing fortunes. It is a pursuit inconsistent with the habits and duties of the ministers of religion. This is the imputation meant to be thrown on the Jesuits, and which Pombal, their great enemy, and the enemy of every virtue, endeavoured to fix upon them. It was not difficult for them to repel this charge. They had a depôt at Lisbon, where {156} they kept effects, which served them instead of money. These things were sold, as a proprietor of land would sell his corn, to support the brothers of the order in America, who, having no income, could only be supplied with commodities, in those savage countries. If this did not militate against the spirit that prohibits commerce to priests, as little did the kind of traffic which was superintended by the missionaries in Paraguay, and which was, in fact, a species of piety. With what delight does one read the account of it, in the Voyage of Juan and Ulloa. "The Jesuits take upon them the sole care of disposing of the manufactures and products of the Guaranies Indians, designed for commerce; these people being naturally careless and indolent, and, doubtless, without the diligent inspection and pathetic exhortations of the fathers, would be buried in sloth and indigence. The case is very different in the missions of the Chiquitos, who are industrious, careful, and frugal; and their genius so happily adapted to commerce, as not to stand in need of any factors. {157} The priests in the villages of this nation are of no expense to the crown, the Indians themselves rejoicing in maintaining them, and join in cultivating a plantation, filled with all kinds of grain and fruits, for the priest; the remainder, after this decent support, being applied to purchase ornaments for the churches. That the Indians may never be in any want of necessaries, it is one part of the minister's care to have always in readiness a stock of different kinds of tools, stuffs, and other goods; so that all who are in want repair to him, bringing, by way of exchange, wax, of which there are here great quantities, and other products. And this barter is made with the strictest integrity, that the Indians may have no reason to complain of oppression, and that the high character of the priests, for justice and sanctity, may be studiously preserved. The goods received in exchange are, by the priests, sent to the superior of the missions, who is a different person from the superior of the Guaranies; and, with the produce, a fresh stock of goods is laid in. The {158} principal intention of this is, that the Indians may have no occasion to leave their own country, in order to be furnished with necessaries; and, by this means, are kept from the contagion of those vices, which they would