Chapter XIII: On Paraguay

I. _Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca; Ulrich Schmidel._ II. _Early
sources of information about Paraguay; Nicolás de Techo._ III.
_Pedro Lozano._ IV. _José Guevara._ V. _Dobrizhoffer; Pauke;
Falkner; Orosz; Cardiel; Quiroga; Jolís; Peramás; Muriel;
Juárez; Sánchez Labrador._ VI. _Juan Patricio Fernández; Matías
de Anglés._

I

[Sidenote: Núñez Cabeza de Vaca]

[Sidenote: Nicolás de Techo]

The earliest important book on the south eastern part of Spanish South America, known as Paraguay, is _La relación y comentarios_ of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. It was published at Valladolid in 1555. It treats of the appointment of Alvar Núñez de Cabeza de Vaca to be the governor of the colony planted by Mendoza in that region; of the fitting out of the vessels, the voyage, and the landing at Santa Catalina; of the departure of the main body of the men overland; the sending of the women and children to the Río de la Plata by sea and the arrival at Asunción; of the events at Asunción, the return of Irala from an exploring expedition, the revolt of Irala and his followers, and the imprisonment and expulsion of the governor. Nicolás de Techo, in his _Historia Provinciae Paraquariae Societatis Jesu_, gives the following account of Alvar Núñez and his promotion to the governorship of Paraguay:

[Sidenote: Techo on Núñez Cabeza de Vaca]

“Emperor Charles the Fifth, having received the news of the death of James Mendoza, and the ill success of affairs at the river of Plate, and being of a spirit that ever struggled against adversity, he resolved to send thither another governor, with a supply of planters. Several aspiring to the command, Alvar Núñez Cabeça de Vaca carried it, on account of the great merits of his ancestors. For his grandfather, Peter de Vera, had subdued the Canary islands for King Ferdinand, and governed them; in which employment he behaved himself with such integrity, that having spent his own estate, he was reduced to such distress, that he gave his two sons in pawn to a Moor, for a sum of money to support his dignity and maintain his government, and the king afterwards redeemed them. One of these was father to Alvar we now speak of; who being in his youth educated in his father’s and grandfather’s virtues, going over into Florida under Pamphilo de Narvaez, to be the king’s treasurer there, was shipwrecked on the coast of America, and fell into the hands of the Indians; and authors of the first rank tell us, he was so virtuous, that during his ten years captivity among the people, he wrought several miracles, invoking the blessed trinity. This man being appointed governor, embarked seven hundred men besides women and children upon five ships, and sailing from Cadiz with a fair wind, when he came to twenty-eight degrees of south latitude, landed in that part of America with five hundred men, and sending the women and children with the rest by sea, travelled himself by land, almost the same way Alexius García had gone before, for three hundred leagues, discovering the country and, in the year 1541, happily arrived at the city of Asunción, and what is most remarkable, he lost not one soul in all that voyage and journey by sea and land.”[163]

[Sidenote: Views of the common man]

It is noteworthy that some of the most striking accounts of exploration in Spanish America were written by common soldiers. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Cieza de León, and Ulrich Schmidel are instances. They interpreted the thoughts and sentiments of the subordinate class, and help one to see how the private soldier or the common man viewed the enterprises in which he was engaged. The position of men of this class made a sharp contrast between their writings and the writings of leaders. Schmidel’s narrative of his twenty years in America was written in German, but in its Spanish translation it has been naturalized in the region of which he wrote, and in which he spent the effective years of his life.[164]

[Sidenote: Ulrich Schmidel]

[Sidenote: Mendoza’s Expedition]

The family of Schmidel has been known in Bavaria since 1364, and is said to have been ennobled. The author’s father, Wolfgang Schmidel, was held in high esteem by his townsmen, and was three times burgermeister of Straubing. He died in 1511, leaving three sons, of whom the youngest, Ulrich, was born in the first decade of the sixteenth century. Little or nothing is known of his boyhood or youth. His narrative indicates only a moderate degree of education. In 1534 he was at Antwerp, probably sent thither as a commercial agent or dependant, and in that year he enlisted as a soldier for service in the New World. At that time he was probably about twenty-five years of age. The same year he arrived at Cadiz, and departed for America with Mendoza’s expedition, destined for the Río de la Plata, that had been discovered by Solís and explored by Cabot. Mendoza’s fleet consisted of fourteen ships, having on board about two thousand five hundred persons; of these one hundred and fifty were soldiers. Two years after landing at the site of Buenos Aires a review of the colony showed five hundred and sixty survivors; the greater part had died of hunger. Schmidel witnessed the ravages of famine, the abandonment of the settlement at Buenos Aires, the founding of Asunción; was with Irala in the expedition towards Peru; served under Cabeza de Vaca, whom he characterized as an adventurer and unfit for the enterprise in which they were engaged; and took part in the rebellion of 1549. A letter from his brother Thomas, who had held the inheritance from his father, requested his return to Germany. His petition for a discharge was at first refused, but was finally granted with favourable commendation for the service he had rendered.[165]

[Sidenote: Schmidel and affairs of Paraguay]

It has been denied that Schmidel was a soldier, but that view appears hardly tenable in the face of his clear designation of himself as a soldier. He was loyal to Irala, and took part in the revolt against the governor. His relation to this undertaking sufficiently explains his opinion of Núñez, and prepares one to find in his book a partisan account of events in Paraguay during these troubled years. The following is Schmidel’s reference to Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca’s arrival in Asunción after the overland journey from the Atlantic coast:

[Sidenote: Arrival of Núñez Cabeza de Vaca]

“This commander was eight whole months on his way, for the distance is reckoned to be five hundred miles from Asunción to the place or harbour of Santa Catalina.

“He also brought with him from Spain his commission from H.I. Majesty, and required that Domingo Martínez de Irala should yield up the whole government to him, and that all the men should be obedient to him in every respect. The commander, Martínez de Irala, and all the people declared they were ready to obey, but with this understanding, that he, Cabeza de Vaca, should before show and lay before them documents to prove that he had received from His Imperial Majesty such powers and authority.

“But this the whole assembly could not obtain from him; only the priests and two or three of the captains affirmed it, that Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca ruled and commanded; but we shall see hereafter how things went with him.

“Now, this said Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca passed all the people in review, and found that there were eight hundred men. At the same time he made friendship with Martínez de Irala, and they became sworn brothers, so that he, Martínez de Irala, was no less than before commander of the people.”[166]

In another place Schmidel gives an account of the arrest and expulsion of Governor Núñez Cabeza de Vaca:

[Sidenote: Governor’s arrest and expulsion]

“Thereupon it was resolved by all, nobleman and commoner, to meet in council, with a view to take prisoner the chief commander, Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, and to send him to H.I. Majesty, and to report to His Majesty about his nice virtue, and how he had behaved towards us, and how, according to his reason, he had governed; and other things besides.

“According to the resolution come to, these three gentlemen, namely, the treasurer, or judge, the clerk, or master of the toll or custom, and the secretary ordered by H.I. Majesty, whose names were Alonso Cabrera, Francisco de Mendoza, García Vanegas, and Felipe Cáceres, taking with them two hundred soldiers, went to his lodging, and arrested our commander-in-chief, Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, when he least expected it. And this happened on St. Mark’s Day, 1543. They held prisoner the said Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca for a whole year, until a ship called a caravel, provided with victuals and a crew had been prepared. And on board this ship the often-mentioned Cabeza de Vaca, with two other officers on behalf of H.I. Majesty were conveyed to Spain.

[Sidenote: Irala’s election]

“After that we had to elect another who should rule and govern the country until H.I. Majesty had time to designate one himself. And we held it for good, as it was the meaning and the will of the community, to nominate as chief Martínez de Irala, not only because he had formerly governed the country, but especially because most of the soldiers were satisfied with him.”[167]

II

[Sidenote: Knowledge of Jesuits in Paraguay]

[Sidenote: Letters from the padres]

[Sidenote: _Anuas_]

Knowledge of the early experience of the Jesuits in Paraguay was communicated to Europeans exclusively by the Jesuits themselves; and the history of the beginning of the missions was written by persons who had been actually engaged in them, or on the basis of reports made by the missionaries. It was, therefore, to be expected that historical accounts framed under these conditions would show a strong partisan bias. The very flattering picture which they presented of the redemption of the Indians from the life of savage nomads naturally excited enthusiasm on the part of persons who knew little or nothing of the labours, difficulties, and discouragements of the missionaries in the wilderness. The first information concerning these labours that reached Europeans was derived from the letters of Padre Manuel de Ortega, Padre José de Catoldino, Padre Ruiz de Montoya, and Padre Roque González that were scattered about Europe. The _anuas_ were another source of information. These were the product of a regulation that required every Jesuit house or college to make a report on the work of its members for every period of four months. These reports, sent to other provinces or centres of missionary activity, were expected to serve as a stimulus for increasing the zeal of other members of the order. They increased in number to such an extent that it was found difficult to circulate them; it became necessary to make summaries of them to be printed. Sometimes individual _anuas_ were given special prominence. Those of 1626 and 1627, written by order of Padre Nicolás Durán and signed at Tucumán on the 12th of November 1628, were translated into Latin and printed at Antwerp in 1636. They were issued under the title _Litterae annuae Provinciae Paraquariae_. From time to time others were given equal distinction; some by Padre Schirmbeck were published at Munich in 1649 as _Messis paraquariensis_.

[Sidenote: Bollo’s _Breve relación_]

Additional information was derived from books written by missionaries. Padre Diego de Torres Bollo’s _Breve relación del fruto que se recoge en las Indias del Perú_ was a book of this kind. The author had been sent to the New World as procurador for the province of Peru. At this time little or no missionary work had been done among the Indians of Paraguay; the Jesuit province of Paraguay had not then been organized; this region and the pampas were still embraced in the province of Peru. Torres’ book was early translated into Italian, French, German, and Polish.

[Sidenote: Ruiz de Montoya]

A second book and of greater importance was that by Padre Antonio Ruiz de Montoya called _Conquista espiritual hecha por los religiosos de la Compañía de Jesús en las provincias del Paraguay, Paraná, Uruguay y Tape_. It was a volume of two hundred quarto pages, and was published in Madrid in 1639. Montoya, as if defending himself against criticism beforehand, on account of his style and lack of proper arrangement of his material, confesses his rusticity imposed by long residence among savages; and that he wrote from memory and without the documents that ought to have guided his pen, so that the result was a mass of information thrown together without system or order.

[Sidenote: Techo’s _Historia_]

[Sidenote: Gist of Techo’s book]

The project of writing a complete general history of the province of Paraguay had been variously considered when it was taken up energetically by Padre Juan Pastor, who had long been a missionary in Paraguay. He completed it in two folio volumes in manuscript, but, when he died in 1658, the work had not been published; and after Techo had made large use of the manuscript in his history of the province of Paraguay, the project to publish it was dropped. Nicolás de Techo was a native of France, born in Lille. His name was Nicolas de Toict, and his history bore the title _Historia Provinciae Paraquariae Societatis Jesu_. It is divided into fourteen books, and makes a folio volume of four hundred pages, beginning with a geographical description of the La Plata region. Entering upon his main subject the author gives an account of the mission of the first Jesuits from Peru and from Brazil in 1586. Then follows an account in chronological order of the events within his field until 1645. Techo probably intended to write another volume, but his plan was apparently not carried out.

An English translation of this book was published in Churchill’s _Collection of Voyages and Travels_ (IV, 638-749). The author, a Jesuit, was naturally especially interested in the history of his order’s missionary activity among the Indians, the foundation and growth of the Paraguayan missions. The translator, referring to the “abundance of miracles and other pious matters” with which the author had overloaded his book, announces that he has taken care to eliminate these things in his effort to make his translation “acceptable to the reader.” But in the account of the dreadful famine during the first settlement at Buenos Aires he seems to find no reason to expunge the story of the lioness, which Techo relates in all sobriety:

[Sidenote: Story of the lioness]

“The provisions they brought being spent, there followed such a terrible famine, that many fed upon man’s flesh, and things not to be mentioned.... The cruelty of the barbarous people, the fear of wild beasts, and the severity of the commanders suffered none to go out of the works. Yet there was a woman, who weighing the misery of famine, chose rather to expose herself to the inhumanity of the Indians and wild beasts, than to suffer the torture of hunger; and therefore stealing out, she wandered a long time about the fields, till at night she went into a cave, where finding a lioness ready to whelp, she renewed her ancient experience and had the boldness to play the midwife, much to her own advantage, for the lioness laying aside her fierceness, fairly divided her prey among her young ones and her midwife, till the latter fell into the hands of the barbarians; and being after many accidents redeemed by the Spaniards, was brought again to the fort. Being then condemned for her rashness and disobedience, she was exposed without the works, to be devoured by wild beasts, where she must have perished, had not God in His providence so ordered it, that the lioness she helped to whelp, came up to her first, and defended her innocent midwife against the rest.”[168]

[Sidenote: Andrés de León]

An early sketch of the south-eastern part of the Spanish possessions was written by Andrés de León y Garabito, who was born in Lima, became judge of the audiencia of Panama, and, in 1643, judge of the audiencia of Charcas. Subsequently he was appointed governor of Paraguay. This position he held until 1651, when he went to Buenos Aires as inspector of the royal treasury in that province. He wrote of the origin, the defence, the organization, and other particulars of that region.

III

[Sidenote: Pedro Lozano]

But the most prolific as well as the most trustworthy of the Jesuit historians of Paraguay was the famous Pedro Lozano. It has been possible to fix definite dates to but few events of his life. Very good reasons, however, have been advanced to show that his boyhood was spent in Madrid, and that he carried on his early studies there. As a youth, he became a Jesuit, and arrived in America in the second decade of the eighteenth century. In the New World he resided habitually at Córdoba, in the Colegio Máximo and at the hacienda Santa Catalina; but he visited Buenos Aires, the pampas, and the Andes; he examined the archives at Santiago del Estero, Tucumán, and Salta; and the amount and quality of his writings indicate that he could not have been much diverted from his literary activity. Neither the date nor the place of his death has been established beyond a question, but the evidence available points somewhat clearly to the year 1752.

[Sidenote: _Descripción del Gran Chaco_]

Lozano’s interest comprehended not merely the events in the history of his order, of which he was the official historian, but also the marvels of nature among which his life was cast, as well as the languages, the manners, the customs, and the religion of the natives. More than any of his predecessors he appreciated the importance of official documents, in the search for which he displayed remarkable zeal and energy. His disposition to consider the forms and events of nature found expression in his _Descripción corográfica ... del Gran Chaco_.

[Sidenote: _Conquista del Paraguay_]

[Sidenote: _Historia de la Compañía_]

In his _Historia de la conquista del Paraguay, Río de la Plata y Tucumán_ he brought together a vast amount of important material relating to the history of South America, and the documents which he either refers to or prints constitute a sound basis on which historians are able to build. This was edited by Lamas, and published in Buenos Aires in 1873. Lozano’s _Historia de la Compañía de Jesús en la Provincia del Paraguay_ was published in Madrid in 1754. It consists of two folio volumes, yet it covers only the first twenty-eight years of the province, and ends with 1614.[169] Padre Pablo Pastells refers to the reliability of its information, the justice of its criticism, and the character of demonstration given to its statements, and affirms that for these qualities Lozano stands above all others who have written on the history of Paraguay.

[Sidenote: _Las Revoluciones_]

Lozano’s _Historia de las revoluciones de la provincia del Paraguay_ is the history of the conflict between the supporters and the antagonists of the Jesuits in Paraguay, a conflict in which Antequera was the most conspicuous figure. It appears thus from one point of view as a part of the history of the Jesuits; from another point of view it is the history of the rebellion of the Comuneros against the viceregal authority. Lozano’s relation to one of the parties made it practically impossible for him to be entirely impartial in his account of it; still the large number of official documents introduced into the text of the narrative helps the reader to avoid the possibility of sharing the author’s prejudice.

[Sidenote: Lozano’s works]

The following is the list of Lozano’s works, printed and in manuscript, according to Andrés Lamas, José T. Medina and others:

_Descripción corográfica del terreno, árboles y animales de las dilatadísimas provincias del Chaco Gualamba._ 1733. In Córdoba (Spain), 4to, pp. 9 & 485, with map.

Copy of a letter written by a Jesuit missionary to Padre Juan J. Rico, 1740, 4to, pp. 59.

_Vida del P. Julián de Lizardi._ Printed in Salamanca in 1741; reprinted, Madrid, 1832; new edition, Buenos Aires, 1901.

Letter to Padre Bruno Morales, dated Córdoba, November 1, 1746.

Letter to Padre Bruno Morales, dated Córdoba, March 1, 1747, containing an account of the earthquake at Lima in 1746.

_Carta al Padre Juan de Alzola sobre los Césares._

_Meditaciones sobre la vida de nuestro señor Jesucristo_, written in Italian by Padre Fabio Ambrosio Espindola, translated by Lozano. Madrid, 1747, two volumes, pp. 569 & 531.

_Historia de la compañía de Jesús en la Provincia del Paraguay._ Madrid, 1754 & 1755. Two volumes, pp. 760 & 832.

_Historia de la conquista del Paraguay, Río de la Plata y Tucumán._ Buenos Aires, 1873 to 1875, five volumes, pp. 468, 396, 370, 489, 364.

_Máximas eternas puestas en lecciones_, written in Italian by Padre Carlos Ambrosio Cataneo, translated by Lozano, Madrid, 1754; Madrid, 1776 & 1788; Valencia, 1884.

_Exercicios espirituales de San Ignacio_, written in Italian by Padre Carlos Ambrosio Cataneo, translated by Lozano. Madrid, 1764, pp. 406; reprinted 1776 & 1788.

_Diario de un viaje a la Costa de la mar Magallánica en 1745._ Buenos Aires, 1836. Also published (in Latin) in Charlevoix, _Histoire du Paraguay_ and in Prévost, _Histoire des voyages_.

Various documents communicated to Charlevoix; see Padre Muriel, _Fasti novi Orbis_.

_Diccionario histórico-índico_, six volumes.

_Traslado de una carta dirigida al P. Luis Tavares_, Córdoba, June 12, 1739.

Letter on tithes, 1741.

_Observaciones sobre el manifiesto publicado por el P. Vargas Machuca._

_Representación hecha por la Provincia jesuítica del Paraguay al señor Virrey del Perú a propósito del tratado con Portugal sobre los siete Pueblos de las Misiones del Uruguay_, Córdoba, March 12, 1751 (MS. in the library at Lima).

_Representación que hace al Rey N.S. en su Real Consejo de Indias el Provincial de la Compañía de Jesús en la Provincia del Paraguay_, on the same subject as the preceding, Buenos Aires, April 29, 1752.

Letter to the Procurador General on events in the province of Paraguay, 1752; in the library of Valladolid.

_Historia de las revoluciones de la Provincia del Paraguay_, (1721-1735). Buenos Aires, 1905.

IV

[Sidenote: Padre José Guevara]

Padre José Guevara succeeded Lozano as the official historian of the province of Paraguay. He was a native of Spain, born at Recas in the archbishopric of Toledo on March 19, 1719. On December 31, 1732, he became a novice in the Society of Jesus, and two years later, April 25, 1734, he arrived at Buenos Aires. Almost immediately thereafter he entered upon his studies at Córdoba, and for many years this city continued to be the principal seat of his activity. In 1743 he was a teacher of Latin, and the next year he became a lecturer on theology. Eight years later he was appointed to the position that had been held by Lozano as historian of the province. After a residence of thirty-three years in America he was removed to Italy under the decree of 1767, by which the Jesuits were expelled from Spain and the Spanish dependencies. At first he established himself at Faenza, but subsequently he obtained the post of canon at Spello, near Perugia. Guevara died at Spello on February 23, 1806.

[Sidenote: Criticism in _Anales de la Biblioteca_]

[Sidenote: Guevara’s plagiarism]

The fifth volume of _Anales de la Biblioteca_ (Buenos Aires, 1908) contains a new and complete edition of Guevara’s _Historia del Paraguay, Río de la Plata y Tucumán_, superseding the incomplete copies issued by Angelis and by Lamas. In the preliminary essay of this publication Paul Groussac has subjected Guevara’s work to a severe critical examination, in which he makes clear Guevara’s dependence on Lozano’s writings, not merely the ordinary dependence of one writer on the results attained by other investigators in the same field, but the dependence of the plagiarist. The principal historical accounts of this south-eastern part of America in existence before Guevara wrote were those of Techo, Charlevoix, Lozano, and Centenera’s _Argentina_. Guevara’s dependence goes so far that the whole substance of his book is found in Lozano, except the final matter of the twelfth decade, which is drawn from Techo. “The ordinary character of Guevara’s imitation consists in reproducing more or less servilely the corresponding passage of Lozano. Especially in the parts referring to the flora and fauna, the transcription, either entire or fragmentary, is usually literal, without change of verb or adjective. On the other hand, there are numerous suppressed passages, arbitrary, brutal, really chopped out of the parts mutilated.” The critic finds the copying not the chief offence, since it was a practice generally observed in the Society, but the deceit of the preamble and the author’s injurious silence respecting the historian to whom he owed everything. But admitting that this severe judgment is well founded, emphasis may be laid on the fact that Guevara’s style represents a considerable advance over that of his predecessors in the same field. If it may be regarded as consciously laboured, it certainly has the great merit of clearness. The author does not give any indication of great learning, or as in possession of an extensive variety of knowledge, but, as Groussac suggests, he had nevertheless “sufficient attainments for the satisfactory accomplishment of his task.”[170]

V

[Sidenote: Effect of Jesuit expulsion]

[Sidenote: Dobrizhoffer and Pauke]

One of the consequences of the removal of the Jesuits from Río de la Plata was to deprive the world of much information concerning the early events of that region. Some manuscripts were lost and others were never written that would have been written if the members of the Society had been permitted to continue their work undisturbed. Still a small number of the exiles maintained an interest in subjects connected with the country of their earlier labours. Among these there were four noteworthy foreigners, men not of Spanish stock. Martin Dobrizhoffer, an Austrian, went to Paraguay in 1748, and was a missionary among the Guaranís eleven years, and among the Abipones for seven years. At Vienna he wrote a History of the Abipones, which was published in Latin in 1784. A German translation was published in 1783-4 and in 1822 an abridged translation in English was published in London. Florian Pauke went to Paraguay with Martin Dobrizhoffer in 1748. He was a missionary in the Chaco for fifteen years. An extract from his writings was published in Vienna in 1829, called _Padre Florian Paukes Reise_. In 1870 practically the whole of his manuscript was published with the title of _Padre Florian Pauke, ein Jesuit in Paraguay_.

[Sidenote: Thomas Falkner]

[Sidenote: _Description of Patagonia_]

[Sidenote: Gist of Falkner’s chapters]

Although Thomas Falkner was neither creole nor a Spaniard, his long residence of thirty-eight years in South America entitles his _Description of Patagonia and adjoining parts of South America_ to a place among the writings of colonial origin. He was an Englishman, born in Manchester in 1707. He was a surgeon, and embarked for South America on a slave ship belonging to the South Sea Company. At Buenos Aires he fell dangerously ill, and was cared for by Jesuits, who embraced the opportunity to bring about his conversion. He entered the Society of Jesus, and took his place as a missionary among the Indians in the region between the Strait of Magellan and the Río de la Plata. He returned to England in 1768, after the expulsion of the Jesuits. Six years later, in 1774, his _Description of Patagonia_, edited by William Combe, was published. It does not appear from the book itself what changes Combe made in Falkner’s papers, but the style suggests more experience and skill in writing than Falkner may be supposed to have had after nearly forty years among the Indians and other persons, where no opportunity presented itself for the use of the English language. The six chapters treat of the soil and products; describe the Indian country and the great river system of the south-east; Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands; the inhabitants of the country traversed; the religion, the government, the policy, and the customs of the Moluches and the Puelches, with some account of the Moluche language.

[Sidenote: Orosz’s writings]

Another member of this group was Ladislaus Orosz, an Hungarian. In 1727, at the age of thirty, he went to Río de la Plata, taught philosophy and theology in Córdoba, and after his expulsion from America returned to his native province of Tyrnau, where he died in 1773. Two principal manuscripts are ascribed to him. The first was _Decades quatuor virorum illustrium Paraquariae_. This was printed in Tyrnau in 1759, and made a folio volume of five hundred and fifty-two pages. The other work was called _Decades quatuor aliae virorum illustrium Paraquariae_, and was apparently printed but never circulated.

[Sidenote: Other expelled Jesuits]

There were many others who went into exile from the region of the Río de la Plata and Paraguay. The more conspicuous among them were José Cardiel, José Quiroga, José Jolís, José Manuel Peramás, Domingo Muriel, Gaspar Juárez, and José Sánchez Labrador.[171] Cardiel’s literary contributions include _Declaración de la verdad_ and _Breve relación de las misiones Guaraníes_. Quiroga became known for his attainments in mathematics; was a professor of mathematics in the college of San Ignacio in Buenos Aires; and made a large number of maps of the southern part of South America and, among others, a map of the viceroyalty of Buenos Aires. He left also a treatise called _Observaciones astronómicas para determinar el curso del río Paraguay_. Jolís was a Catalan, born in 1728. He was a missionary in the Gran Chaco for ten years. His most noted literary production was _Saggio sulla storia naturale della provincia del Gran Chaco_. José Manuel Peramás wrote _Vidas de varones ilustres_ and _Annus patiens_, the latter consisting of a diary of the journey of the exiles from Córdoba. Domingo Muriel (sometimes in Latin as Cyriacus Morelli) left _Fasti novi orbis_ and a continuation of Charlevoix’s _Paraguay_ under the title of _Historia del Paraguay desde 1747 hasta 1767_. Gaspar Juárez was born in Santiago del Estero in 1731, became a Jesuit in 1748, and died at Rome in 1804. His principal works are _Historia ecclesiástica del virreinato de Buenos Aires_ and _Historia natural_, treating of the same region.[172]

[Sidenote: José Sánchez Labrador]

In 1910 there was published at Buenos Aires a part of the writings of Padre José Sánchez Labrador. He was born at Guanda in the diocese of Toledo on September 19, 1717. At the age of fourteen he entered the Society of Jesus, October 5, 1731, and about the middle of the century went to America. Established as a professor of philosophy and theology at Córdoba, he won distinction and the high regard of his contemporaries, but the call from the wilds appealed to him, and, abandoning his professorship, he entered upon the life of a missionary to the Indians, with all of its privations and dangers. In the midst of this service he was overtaken by the decree of expulsion (1767). With hundreds of others affected by this act, he was transferred to Italy, where thirty-two years later (1799) he died at Ravenna.

[Sidenote: Labrador’s literary work]

During his travels and residence among the Indians Sánchez Labrador acquired considerable knowledge of their language, translated the catechism into the speech of the Mbayas, and began to compile a dictionary of that language, carrying his work to the letter P in a fair degree of completeness. The rest of his extensive writings treated of either the natural history of Paraguay under the title _Paraguay natural ilustrado_, or the progress of the missions in that region, this part of the work bearing the title _El Paraguay católico_.

The first of these divisions comprehends information on the nature of the country, the soil, the climate, the water, and the most prevalent diseases; the plants, the fields, and the forests with various kinds of trees; the animals, the birds, the fishes, the reptiles, and the insects. The two volumes entitled _El Paraguay católico_, printed in Buenos Aires in 1910, contain a great part of the important work left by Padre Sánchez Labrador concerning the Indians of Paraguay and its provinces, as well as accounts of his extensive journeys, his observations, and his reflections.

VI

[Sidenote: Juan Patricio Fernández]

The _Relación historial de las misiones de los Indios que llaman Chiquitos_, attributed to Padre Juan Patricio Fernández, was first published in Spanish in Madrid in 1726. It was republished in the _Colección de libros que tratan de América raros o curiosos_, in 1895. It treats briefly of the beginning and progress of missionary work in the province of Chiquitos; the geography of the province and the customs and character of the natives; the invasion and depredations by the Mamelucos; the removal of the settlements; and events in the lives of some of the leading missionaries.

The preface to the Buenos Aires edition of Pedro Lozano’s _Historia de las revoluciones de la provincia del Paraguay_ affirms that Lozano translated this work from the Italian original, by Padre Bandier, which appears under the name of Padre Patricio Fernández. A mild controversy has arisen about the authorship of this book, into which it is not necessary to enter. The latest utterance observed takes issue with Lozano, and supports the claim of Fernández.

[Sidenote: Matías de Anglés]

[Sidenote: Anglés’ _Informe_]

The report made by General Matías de Anglés y Gortari, commissioned by Viceroy Castel-Fuerte to inquire into the causes of the conflict between the Paraguay comuneros and the misiones, is a document of considerable importance for the history of the Jesuit missions in Paraguay and the rebellion led by Antequera. After the rebellion had run a certain course, and Antequera had been imprisoned in Lima, Anglés, who was the corregidor of Potosí, visited Asunción and undertook, in the capacity of judge, by personal investigation to gather information needed to fix the responsibility for the state of war that had existed in the province. He entered upon his inquiry with a mind measurably free from any partisan bias; he had never visited Paraguay before; he had no acquaintances among the inhabitants; and carried only a note of introduction from the viceroy to Bishop José de Palos. This introduction, on account of the Bishop’s partisanship, made it difficult for Anglés to maintain his proposed impartiality. But observing the evident partisan character of some of the evidence presented, he sought to correct it by testimony from other sources. Whether he was entirely successful or not in reaching an impartial conclusion, the _Informe_ remains a valuable contemporary view of a serious provincial war. It was completed at Potosí, in May, 1731, after the author’s return from Paraguay. Thirty-eight years later, in 1769, it was published in Madrid.