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THEIR RELIGIOUS OPINIONS.

fidelity to the Spanish monarchy that they participated in many of their wars, both against foreign and domestic foes, contributing largely to their victories, and saving them from injury, if not extirpation, by more than one wide-spread and well-designed Indian insurrection; services which were noticed in 1665 and 1666 by gracious letters from the "Catholic king," still preserved in the archives of Santa Fé. Amid all the humiliation and degradation of this aboriginal nation, one great triumph awaited it. In the western parts of Brazil, and in all Paraguay, their language was preserved, indeed substituted for that of the conquerors, and is to this day almost exclusively spoken in the latter country.

Though entertaining rather absurd ideas of a spiritual existence, some few of the La Plata Indians believed in the immortality of the soul; and we have seen that there was even a tradition, the origin of which the Spaniards ascribed to the Jesuits, that St. Thomas had labored on the American continent. But both laymen and Jesuits unite in telling us that among many tribes they discovered no traces of a knowledge of God. The contemplation of terrestrial or celestial objects had never inspired them with an idea of a creative Deity. Father Peñafiel declares that many Indians, when questioned as to whether they had ever thought of the existence of a Supreme Being, replied, "No, never." Dobrizhoffer, who completed his theological course in the University of Cordova, says, "I finished the four years of theology commenced at Gratz in Styria, and defended warmly the opinion that no man in the possession of his reason can, without a crime, remain ignorant of God for any length of time. On removing thence to a colony of Abipones, I found, to my astonishment, that the whole language of these savages did not contain a single word which expresses God or Divinity." And yet these Abipones watched with reverence the appearance and disappearance of the Pleiades, as the representative of the common ancestor of Spaniard and Indian, the grandfather Aharaigichi, who transmitted gold and silver to the one and valor to the other. The Guaranis alone had a word for God, "Tupa"-Tu, an expression of admiration; pa, of interrogation.

This may explain, but not excuse, the extraordinary prejudices and inhumanities of the conquerors toward the indigenous inhabitants of the south, whom they pretended to regard, notwithstanding their extraordinary physical beauty, as a species intermediate between man and brute. Such an opinion was not only obstinate

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ly upheld by laymen, but by many learned and respectable ecclesiastics, who passed over to the new continent. Thomas Ortez, bishop of Saint Martha, addressed an elaborate article on the subject to the Supreme Council of Madrid, stating that the experience derived from a long and frequent intercourse with the Indians led him to regard them "as stupid beings, incapable as brute beasts of comprehending our religion or observing its precepts." We know how able an apologist and defender rose up in the person of Bartolomeo de las Casas, who declared them fully capable of understanding all the truths of Christianity. Other ecclesiastics considered them an inferior creation, to whom could be accorded but one sacrament-baptism. Las Casas boldly alleged that both of these positions were assumed only as an excuse for the atrocities exercised against the aborigines by the conquerors, and obtained in 1537 a bull from Paul III., declaring them human beings, who could receive all the sacraments of the Church. Powerful as were the popes of the sixteenth century, both in temporal and spiritual affairs, they could not vanquish the prejudice, real or pretended, of priests and laymen. Elaborate treatises were written to prove the inferiority of the Indian race; and, for a century after the conquest of Peru, its curates, with the sanction of their bishops, persisted in refusing them the Eucharist, upon the pretext of incapacity to comprehend the great mystery of the Church. This prejudice vanished only with time, and before the authority of more than one ecclesiastical council, assembled in the cities of Peru and La Plata to decide the question. The. poor Indian obtained one advantage by this doubt-exemption from the fearful tribunals of the Inquisition.

160

RIO APPA.—A TAPIR.

CHAPTER X.

Rio Appa.-A Tapir.-Differences between Brazil and Paraguay as to the Boundaries.-Letter from Mr. Hudson.-Point Rock.-Sierra Siete Punta.-Pan de Azucar.-Ascent of the Mountain.-The View.-Speculations on the Future of this Country.-Round Top.-Fort Bourbon.-Claims of Bolivia and Paraguay. -Bahia Blanca.-Vuelta Pariquito.-Capon Chico.-A Boa.-Dorado, Pacu, and Palometa.-Ascent of the Bahia Blanca.-Camelotas.-Suspending of the Bottle to a Tree.-Proposition of Don Manuel Louis de Oliden.-Grant by the Congress of Bolivia.-Decree of the Supreme Government.-Importance attached to the Navigation of the Otuquis.-Extract from a Pamphlet by Mauricio Back.-Fort Coimbra.-Flattering Expressions of the Commandante.-The Guaycurus.-Policy of Brazil toward the Chaco Indians.-The Canoe.

"November 19th, 1853. Anchored off the mouth of the Rio Appa, known to the early Spanish settlers as the Corrientes, but changed to its present name by the Mbayas when they overran this entire region. It rises about thirty miles in the interior of Paraguay, in the Cordillera Amambay. On anchoring, took a boat, and, accompanied by several of the officers, pulled six miles up this river; found its general width about three hundred yards, with a depth of not less than nine feet; banks low. We were prepared to make additions to our collection of animals, birds, and plants, but met with no great success. Not a bird was to be seen of which we had not already procured a specimen. The plants were few, the flora consisting principally of the rich clusters of a variety of creepers, which, by their varied tinges, gave a gay relief to the dark foliage of a shrubby growth around which they were entwined.

"Saw several capibara and tapirs. The first we secured; the latter escaped us, for its tough skin defied a volley from our party that would have brought down a dozen ordinary animals. We first saw it swimming across the river, showing only its head. One pronounced it a log, another a tiger; but, soon discovering it to be a strange animal never before seen, every gun was pointed, and the men plied their oars in eager pursuit. It was impossible to intercept him before reaching the shore, where he disappeared in a thicket. We beached the boat, and each man, with his gun, made a rush to the nearest point. The animal was tracked for some distance, but the impenetrable thorny undergrowth formed

a barrier to the chase, but not to the escape of the tapir, who to a

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thick skin adds fleetness equal to that of the horse, and strength which enables him to break through any thicket, however matted, dense, or thorny."

I afterward procured one alive, which was shipped for home, but he died on the passage. We found two varieties of wild fruit, the "No hace," about the size of a large plum, growing on a lofty tree, and the "Evepina," similar in appearance to a cherry. The Rio Appa has been considered the northern boundary between Brazil and Paraguay; at least, the Imperial Government so regards it; but the Paraguayans protest against any such limitation of their territory, and claim to the Bahia Blanca. This question of limits has been for years one of diplomatic discussion, negotiation, and bad feeling between the two countries, and has, until very recently, excluded Brazil from all communication, by the lower waters of the Paraguay, with Matto Grosso. Paraguay, by what right does not appear, claims both banks up to Bahia Blanca, and, as a consequence, control over the navigation of the river; the very course the Imperial Government has pursued toward its hemmed-in neighbors, Peru and Bolivia.

President Lopez perfectly comprehends the importance of this highway to Brazil, and knows that it presses more and more upon her annually. In the management of this question he has displayed astuteness, foresight, and accomplished diplomacy; uniformly quoting to the Imperial Government its own policy in closing the Amazon and its confluents to the northwestern republics. It therefore can not consistently demur to the exercise of this right by another power. The territory in dispute would be of little value but for the points within it bordering upon the Paraguay, which are important as military positions, for they would give any nation holding them entire control over that river. Imperial guns mounted at the Pan de Azucar, or at Olimpo (Fort Bourbon), might well occasion uneasiness to Paraguay. They would not only command her frontier, but might prove the beginning of a system of inclosure, contracting its circle until there would appear an imperium in imperio; not a "sick man," who must, by reason of his infirmities, be put aside, but a weak child, needing for its safety and nurture a strong protecting arm. In short, Paraguay would be absorbed and incorporated as an integral part of the "Empire of South America." On one ground alone is President Lopez willing to settle this question: that is, to leave the territory in dispute entirely unoccupied by either country.

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ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY.

The exploration of the "Water Witch" demonstrated the practicability of sending large steamers up the river, beyond the limits of Paraguay, and probably induced Brazil in 1855 to push this question to an issue. It was then that she sent up the fleet to which I have alluded. On 'what grounds the concession was finally made I have not learned, but it has been granted, as I am informed by letter from Mr. Hudson, our consul at Buenos Ayres.*

"November 19th. A very remarkable change in the temperature has taken place within the last twenty-four hours. Yesterday, the 18th, wind north; at 3 P.M. thermometer stood at 97°. Today at same hour it has fallen to 79°, wind W.S.W., and at midnight to 68°, wind south. Although within the tropics, and approaching the mountainous regions of Brazil and Bolivia, we observe constantly the influence of south winds in lowering the temperature.

"The country, after leaving Rio Appa, to Point Rock, a distance of about fifty miles, is on both sides elevated but a few feet above the river, and has the usual growth of palm and grass. Point Rock, an isolated granitic hill, or mount, is on the left bank, and rises to the height of ninety feet, throwing out a rocky ledge half way across the river, and forcing the channel toward the west, where it forms the Paso Tarumà. Upon the same side we have had, since leaving "Rio Appa," a distant view of the "Sierra da Amarbay,” which stretches south about thirty miles inland. In the Chaco, the horizon is bounded by the Sierra Siete Puntas, its nearest point to the river being a detached, rounded, and wooded mount, which rises abruptly from the plain in latitude 21° 47' south.

"After leaving Point Rock the face of the country again changes; we have no longer the monotony of flat plains, but the most diversified and picturesque landscapes. On the east are many isolated mountains, some rising directly from the river banks, others at a distance in the interior, all overtopped by the giant Pan de Azucar, a conical volcanic peak 1350 feet high. The river is now divided by a wooded island which rises about eighty feet above the waterlevel. We passed through the west branch, which has a width of

* "January 27th, 1857. A steamer Corça, from Rio, has gone up to Matto Grosso, towing three vessels with cargoes. Lopez, in spite of his treaty with Brazil, is throwing every impediment in their way. The first cargo-the Madrugás-that went up to Matto Grosso paid four hundred per cent. profit. Salt sold for twenty-two silver dollars the fanega-three and a half bushels."