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Gift of the
HONORABLE HIRAM BINGHAM
YALE 1898

A
SUMMARY ACCOUNT
OF
THE VICEROYALTY OF
UENOS-AYRES, OR,
LA PLATA:
INCLUDING ITS
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION, CLIMATE,
ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY,
NATURAL PRODUCTIONS, COMMERCE, GOVERNMENT,
AND
STATE OF SOCIETY AND MANNERS.

EXTRACTED FROM
THE BEST AUTHORITIES.

Honnon :
SPRINTED AND SOLD BY E. DUTTON, 45, GEACECHURCH-StEEET.

PRICE THREE SHILLINGS.

A SUMMARY ACCOUNT

OF the

PROVINCE AND VICEROYALTY

OF

BUENOS-AYRES.

Spanish America — how generally divided,
JL HE whole of the Spanish dominions in Ame
rica are comprehended under the fourviceroyalties
of Mexico, Peru, New Grenada, and Buenos-
Ayres. They were at first divided into two im
mense governments, the one subject to the viceroy
of Mexico, and the other to the viceroy of Peru.
The jurisdiction of the former extended over all
the provinces belonging to Spain in the northern
division of the American Continent, and that of
the latter over all that she possessed in the southern
B division.

division. But while the people in the more re
mote provinces suffered many inconvenience
from their distance from the seat of government
in a country so little cultivated, and even imper
fectly explored, the authority of the viceroy over
districts so far removed from his own inspection,
was always feeble, and often improperly exer
cised. To remedy these evils, a third viceroy-
alty was established in 178 , at Santa- Fe de Bo
gota, in the new kingdom of Grenada, the juris
diction of which extends over all Tierra Firma,
and the province of Quito. Yet, even after the
establishment of this third viceroyalty, so vast is
the extent of Spanish America, that several places
subject to the jurisdiction of one or other of the
viceroys, were still at such an enormous distance
from the capital in which they resided, that they
were almost entirely precluded from the seat of !
regular government. Some provinces subordi
nate to the viceroy, lay above two thousand miles
from Mexico; while others, subordinate to the
viceroy of Peru, lay at still a greater distance
from Lima. The people in those remote dis
tricts, rather than involve themselves in the
trouble and expence in resorting to the different
capitals of Mexico, Lima, or Bogota; where only
they could obtain redress, commonly submitted to
the

the insolence and oppression of the inferior mem
bers of government in silence.

City, Province, and Viceroyalty of Buenos*
Ayres.
On these accounts a fourth viceroyalty, in 1776,
was erected at Buenos- Ayres, on the Rio de la
Plata. This viceroyalty has under its jurisdic
tion the provinces of Buenos- Ayres, Rio de la
Plata, Paraguay, Tucuman, Potosi, Santa-Cruz
de la Sierra, Charcas, and the towns of Men-
doza and St, Juan.

Their Geographical Position or Situation.
The provinces that compose the viceroyalty of
Buenos-Ayres are situated on the various, and
some of them vast rivers that fall, one after ano
ther, into the same channel, and form the mighty
stream of La Plata. Of these rivers the prin
cipal are tlje Pilocomayo, the Parena, the Para
guay, and the Uraguay. The Pilocomayo takes its
rise from the Andes or Cordilleras, near Potosi :
the Parena from the mountains of Brazil, about
the 18th. degree of south latitude, and joins the
B % Paraguay

Paraguay in the 28th. The Paraguay issues from
the mountains of Amazonia, between the 5th and
6th degree of south latitude. The courses ofthe
Uraguay lie in the province of Paraguay, and
unites with the rivers just mentioned, to form the
sea-like Plata. It is afterwards joined by some
other rivers, and falls into the sea in the 35th
degree of south latitude, with such force and ra
pidity, that the water continues fresh for several
leagues. Like the Nile, the Burrampooter, the
Ganges, and other rivers fed by tropical rains, it
sometimes overflows its banks and fertilizes the
plain on either side, to a great extent : it is at
such seasons only that it is at its "mouth only two
hundred and ten miles broad. Its waters are not
muddy and brackish, but clear and sweet; and
it abounds with such plenty as well as variety of
fish, that the inhabitants of its banks are said to
take them sometimes with their hands without
nets. In some places also its waters petrify wood,

Climate.
Of countries lying under such different lati
tudes there must needs be a diversity of climate.
On the whole, the climate of the viceroyalty of
Buenos-Ayres is mild, genial, and benignant. Even

Even the districts situated under the torrid zone
are of a temperature mild and benignant, when
compared with that of places lying under the
same degrees of latitude on the opposite coast of
Africa. The Andes and the Cordilleras, stretch
ing along the western side of the southern divi^
sion of the American Continent, infinitely supe
rior in height to those of the other divisions of
the globe, covered, though in the torrid Zone,
with everlasting snow, send forth refreshing gales
over ,all the land. In some parts of the vice-
royalty, and those of the most importance, as
being in the vicinity of the capital, a great em
porium as well as the seat of government, the
land by nature is free from those woods which
cover, darken, and annoy with pestilent vapours
so great a portion of the globe in both hemi
spheres. It is also to be considered, that the
countries on the south side of the equator are
by no means so hot as those lying in the same de
grees of northern latitude. The whole southern
temperate Zone is colder than the northern.
There are different tribes and nations of men
under the Artie-Circle — the whole of the An-
tartic Circle is uninhabited, and uninhabitable.

Aspect

Aspect of the Country.
The whole Continent of America presents the
appearance of nature operating on a scale of
sublimity, magnificence, and grandeur above
that of her conduct in any other part of the world
— vast savannahs ; woods extending over whole
districts and regions of the country, in which are
seen new shoots, amidst trees of immense size,
and shrubs in full vigour and maturity; and others
decaying and sinking into dust through old age ;
rivers in comparison of which those of Europe,
and even Africa and Asia are but rills ; moun
tains, rising to the height of more than twenty
thousand feet above the level of the sea. — All
these objects impress the mind with something
majestic and awful, and which is nearly allied to
our ideas of infinite space, universal agency, and
eternal duration. These ideas are excited whe
ther ave direct our views to the lofty and stupend
ous chains of mountains, or from those moun
tains, to the immense rivers, or widely extended
vallies and savannahs below. But the St. Lau
rence, and the first stages of the Missisippi are
connected in the imagination with severity and
rigour, both physical and moral. The great ri
vers

7
vers of South America are associated in the
mind with ideas of peace, plenty, and pleasure.
To compare great things to small, the rivers and
lakes in North America are to those pf the
southern division of the Continent as the lakes
of Scotland are to those of Westmoreland and
Cumberland. But of the great vistas opened
into South America by the. two matchless rivers of
the Amazons and La Plata, the latter is the most.
delightful. The river of the Amazons flows within
a few degrees, and parallel to the equator, in a
burning climate : the Plata, from north to south,
and south east, from the 12th to the 37th degree
of southern latitude, through regions more varie
gated, more abundant in the riches of nature, and
under a more pleasing and salubrious climate.
But, to take a more particular view of the vice-
royalty of Buenos- Ayres : Of the nine provinces
into which this is divided, it is not compatible
with the present design to lay much of Potosi,
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Charcas, and the
towns of Mendoza and St. Juan ; all of them re
mote from Buenos-Avres, and the navigation of
the Plata : though these too, as well as many
other provinces, are in some measure connected
with that seat of government, both by the physical
e 4 contour

8
contour of the country, and political and civil
relations. Climates, and Latitudes continued, — Natural
Productions, 8$c.
The city of Potosi is situated in the 19th degree
45 minutes of south latitude, longitude 49 degrees
54 minutes west of Terra. It stands at the foot
of what is called the Silver Mountains, is about
six miles in circumference, and contains above
60,000 Indians and 10,000 Spaniards ; among
whom are several persons of rank, and the
greatest part of these possessed of immense for
tunes. The air of the mountains being extremely
cold and dry, the adjacent country, annexed to
the government of Potosi, is remarkably barren ;
indeed it has been often remarked, that there is
something in mineral ores extremely inimical to
vegetation. The town of Potosi, however, is
plentifully supplied with the best provisions. —
Thither some districts and whole provinces send
the choicest of their grains and fruits, some their
cattle, and others their manufactures ; while those
who trade in European goods resort to Potosi, as
to a market where there is a great demand, and
plenty of silver to give in exchange. The famous
mountain of Potosi, at the foot of which the
mountain

9
ihoutain is situated, raises its head above the
neighbouring mountains in the form of a sucrar
loaf. The colour of thie soil here is a reddish
bi-own, like that of ochre. The distance from
its roots, which are nearly three miles in circuit,
to the summit, is about a mile. The discovery
of the immense mines contained iii this mountain
was made in 1545. From these mines, as ap
pears from the public accounts, there has beeft
taken annually silver to the value of £'9,<2,8&,38&
sterling. In the neighbourhood they have dis
covered some warm mineral baths, to which are
ascribed considerable virtues. The town pf
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, is. situated in 7 deg. 30
latitude, west longitude from Ferro 47 deg.
32 min. In 1605 it was erected into a bishopric.
The houses are of stone, and thatched with the
leaves of the palm tree. It is but thinly inha
bited, and has only a small trade. The valley in
which it stands produces all kinds of grain and
tropical fruits; and the woods and cultivated
mountains attached to this government afford
great quantities of honey and wax, which consti
tute the principal part of its exports in com
merce. Gharcas is very rich in silver mines. The
town and territory of Mendoza is situated on
the east side of the Cordilleras, in south lait-
c ¦ tude

10
tude 33 degrees 25 ; longitude 54 degrees 53
west from Ferro. It contains about an hundred
families, half Spaniards half Indians. Of St.
Juan we know nothing. These five governments
are as yet of little importance, and appear to
have been established partly with a view to that
increase of population which may be expected in
the natural progress of society, as well as for the
conveniency ofthe present inhabitants, thinly scat
tered over extensive and naturally fertile districts.
The other four provinces which compose the
far greater, and, with the exception perhaps of
Potosi, the most valuable part of the vice-royalty
of Peru are Rio de la Plata, Buenos-Ayres,
Paraquay, and Tucuman. The whole of these
four regions, which extend from north to south
near fifteen hundred miles, and more than a
thousand in breadth, were formerly called- by the
name of Rio de la Plata, and sometimes Para
guay. To an immense extent every way it is one
continued level; but beyond this vast expanse, di
versified with mountains, forests, and marshes.
This country, which is larger than most Euro
pean kingdoms, is naturally parted into two great
divisions: one on the north and east, and the
other on the south and west side of tlTe river
La Plata. That on the north and east is not yet
delineated in our maps, as forming any more than

11
the province of Paraguay, renowned for the reli
gious and civil establishments of the Jesuits ; un
der which hundreds of thousands of the natives
were induced, by the mild influence of instruction
and moral example, to yield themselves up to the
direction and control of their spiritual fathers in
all the concerns of life. They laboured for the
production of a common stock, out of which the
wants of each family or individual were supplied.
They lived in primitive simplicity, and submitted
not only to the direction of the Jesuits, but cor
poreal chastisement, being Convinced that it was
administered for their good. Never since the
first and second centuries of the Christian church
was so beautiful a proof of example exhibited to
the world of the vital influence and power of the
doctrines of Jesus Christ and his apostles, when
these doctrines are inculcated with sincerity and
zeal, and enforced by the lives of their teachers !
Three hundred and fifty thousand families lived
in voluntary obedience to the fathers, in a filial
awe and love bordering upon adoration. They
lived together in villages and towns. They were
regularly clothed. They cultivated the ground.
They carried on some manufactures. Some of
them even displayed a turn for the elegant arts.
Yet it was not the pure and divine love of the
first of the Christian fathers that moved and
c 2 directed

12
directed the conduct of the Jesuits ; though they
shewed their wisdom, at least, and no doubt a re-
¦ c .. ¦ - J -r
yerence al§o for those pure and sublime princi
ples, by assuming their appearance. Their pre
dominant passion was, as usual, the aggrandize
ment of their order. The priests themselves,
while their different missions or congregations had
all things in common, possessed great property.
All manufactories were theirs. The natural pro
duce of the country too was all laid at their feet,
and they remitted annually large sums to the su
perior of their order.
All wise legislators who have set themselves to
govern men chiefly by the coustraints and re
straints of education, have been careful in their
institusions to guard against the introduction of
strangers. Confucius fenced his laws by the
prohibition of strangers. So did the Egyptian
priests. So did Plato in his Ideal republic. The
Jesuits would not permit any one of the inhabi
tants of Peru, or any other province, or even of
the other parts of Paraguay, whether Spaniards,
Indians, or of a mixed race, to come within their
missions or parishes. They cut off all inter
course between their convents and subjects, and
the Spanish and Portuguese settlements. For
this end, among other measures, they were care ful

13
ful not to give the Indians any knowledge of the
Spanish or any other European language, but en
couraged the different tribes which they had civi
lized to acquire a certain dialect of the Indian
tongue, and laboured to make that the universal
language throughout their dominions. To render
their empire secure and permanent, they in
structed their subjects in the European arts of
war. They formed them into bodies pf cavalry
and infantry, completely armed and regularly dis
ciplined. They provided a great train of artil
lery, as weir as magazines stored with all the im
plements of Avar.
The courts of Europe had observed the ambi
tion and power of the Jesuits for centuries, but
they were unacquainted with many of the singu
lar regulations which formed the enterprising
spirit and intrigue that distinguished this order,
and elevated it to such a pitch of power and con
sequence. It was a fundamental maxim with the
Jesuits not to publish the rules of their order.
They never communicated them to strangers, nor
even to the greater part of their own members.
They refused to produce them when required by
courts of justice. And, by a strange solecism in
policy, the civil power in different countries au
thorized or connived at the establishment of an
order

14
order of men, whose constitution and laws were
concealed with a solicitude which alone was a good
reason for excluding them.
Prosecutions were at length carried on against
the Jesuits in both Portugal and France. During
the course of these they impudently produced the
volumes of their institutes. By these authentic
records the principles of their government were
discovered, and the sources .of their power inves
tigated with a degree of certainty, which, previ
ously to that period, it was impossible to attain.
But, before this time, the pernicious tendency of
the principles of the Jesuits had become apparent
to some of the principal powers of Europe. The
Emperor Charles V. saw it was expedient to
check their progress in his dominions. They
were expelled from England in 1604 ; from Ve
nice in 1606; from Portugal in 1759; from
France in 1764 ; from Spain and Naples in 1767 ;
and totally suppressed and abolished by Pope
Clement XIV. in 1773.
When that part of Paraguay where the Jesuits
had their establishments was exchanged with
Portugal, by Spain, for the mutual compactness
of their respective empires, an event which took
place after 1759, the acra ofthe Jesuits' downfall and

15
and disgrace in Portugal, the Jesuits refused to
comply with the new arrangement, or to suffer
themselves to be transferred like cattle, from one
hand to another, without their own consent. The
nations under their government actually took up
arms in their defence ; they braved and defied the
battalions of both them and Spain in those parts,
which were indeed neither healthy or vigorous, nor
well disciplined; and they werenotsubduedbutby
troops sent fresh from Europe. Though history
forms no part of the present plan, this sketch of
the establishments of the Jesuits in Paraguay is
not wholly digressive, as will by and by appear.
The province of Rio de la Plata, which is di
vided into fourteen districts or departments, is
extended on each side ofthe Plata : it is two hun
dred leagues in length from north to south, and
about one hundred in breadth from east to west
The boundaries of this province, however, are not
to be considered as absolutely fixed ; large por
tions of them being uninhabited, and some abso
lutely unknown. The climate is temperate and
healthy. The winter months are those of May,
June, and July, when the nights are very cold,
but the days moderately warm. The frost is
neither intense nor lasting, and the snows very
inconsiderable. The country, especially on the
banks

16
banks of the Plata, is said to be greatly infested
by serpents. The city of La Plata, the capital of
the province, and see of an archbishop, is situated
in 19 degrees 30 minutes south latitude — longi
tude west Ferro [9 degrees : it stands in a plain
environed by rising grounds, which screen it from
all winds. The temperature of the air in summer
is very mild ; nor is there any considerable diffe
rence in this throughout the year, except in the
winter, when tempests of thunder and lightning
are common, and the rains of pretty long conti
nuance : for the rest of the whole year the air is
serene and bright. The houses have only one
story besides the ground floor ; they are covered
with tiles, and are very roomy and convenient,
with delightful gardens planted with European
fruit trees ; but water is so scarce, that they have
hardly enough for the riecessary purposes of life ;
and the little they have is fetched from the several
public fountains dispersed in different parts of the
city. The inhabitants, Indians and Spaniards,
amount to fourteen thousand. There is an uni
versity in La Plata.
Leaving the governments of Rio de la Plata
and Paraguay on the north and east of the river,
let us cross the river to the provinces of Buenos-
Ayres and Tucuman, lying on the south and the
west

17
West, which are at present of far more considera
tion and importance, and with which, also, we ar0
better acquainted; Buenos Ayres.
The city of Buenos Ayres, the capital of the
viceroyalty to which it gives name, is situated on
the south-west side, and on a peninsula formed
by, the River La Plata, in 34 degrees 40 minutes
south latitude — longitude 42 degrees 5 minutes
west of Ferro, very nearly in the same latitude,
only a little further removed from the equator,
with the Cape of Good Hope. The situation of
Buenos Ayres is equally salubrious and pleasant.
In the environs verdant lawns, meadPws, and
arable land, extended fbr more' thati an hundred
miles on either side of the river, yielding, or offer
ing to the hand of industry, all the riches ofthe ve
getable world, are1 terminated by mountains whose
sides are Covered with forests, and heads in some
parts literally hid in the clouds. It was in 1620
erected into a bishopric. The cathedral Church
is a beautiful and large building, and serves as a
place of worship for the Spaniards. At the end
of the town is another church, for the Use of the
Indians. It contains about thrde thousand houses,
and thirty thousand inhabitants.
d . The

The Spaniards, when they first entered this part
of the country were discouraged in their attempts
to make a settlement, and establish their dominion
by a succession of cruel disasters. But they were
encouraged to persist in the design, at first by the
hopes of discovering mints in the interior of the
country, and afterwards by the necessity of occu
pying it, in order to prevent any other nation
from settling there, and penetrating, by the Rio
de la Plata, into their rich possessions in Peru.
Except, however, Buenos-Ayres, they have not
made settlements of any consequence in all the
vast space which is watered and rendered acces
sible by that magnificent river. There are,
indeed, scattered here and there, in the vice-
royalty of Buenos Ayres, a few places, about
twelve in number, besides those already men
tioned, on which they have bestowed the name of
towns, and on which they have endeavoured to
bestow some dignity, by erecting them into
bishoprics ; but they are in general little better
than paltry villages, having each two or three
hundred inhabitants. They consist of a number
of houses, not arranged into streets, but separated
from one another by groves of trees, which give
them an air of solitude and melancholy. These
villages are surrounded with huts of Indians who
have submitted to the Spanish government. The rest

19
rest ofthe country is either wholly desert, or oc
cupied by tribes or colonies of independent
Indians. There is, however, a circumstance, which shall
presently be noticed, not originally foresee^
which has contributed to render this region, though
thinly peopled, of Considerable importance.
Tucuman, and the Province of Plata, on the
South and West of the Rivera
The province of Tucuman, together with that
part of the province of Rio de la Plata which lies
to the south and west of the river, instead of
being covered with woods, like the rest of Ame
rica, forms one vast and open plain, almost with
out a tree. The soil is a deep and fertile mould,,
watered by many streams descending from the
Andes, and covered with perpetual verdure.
Animals of Buenos Ayres.
In the rich pasturage of Buenos-Ayres horses
and cattle imported by the Spaniards from Europe
have multiplied in an astonishing degree. This has
enabled the inhabitants not only to open a lucra
tive trade with Peru, by supplying it with cattle,
horses, and mules but to carry on a commerce
not less beneficial, in -the exportation of hides and
tallow to Europe.
The price of hides was at one period so low as
about fourteen or fifteen pence a piece. The herds
P 2 of

£0
of cattle that ran wild in the forests and woods,
owning no master's stall, were diminished by de
grees, or driven farther from the haunts of men,
and hides became dearer. They were not only
killed, or exterminated from their most accessible
resorts, by men whose only business it Avas to hunt
them, chiefly, if not entirely, for the sake of their
skins, but by wild dogs, which, having learnt that
they might be subsisted in a manner so agreeable
to their taste, Avithout submitting to any domestic
restraints, renounced all connexion Avith human
society, and lived like Avolves in the woods. —
War was therefore declared against those destruc
tive animals, and parties of soldiers were sent out
to shoot them. The ridicule that was thrown on
those men, after their return from this kind of
Avarfare, by their companions, gave respite to the
dogs from military detachments. But other means
Avere adopted, and are still employed, for destroy
ing the dogs, and protecting the cattle. •
In this country they have all kinds of fruit-
trees, and garden stuffs known in Europe, im
ported by the Spaniards, besides those peculiar
to their own climate. They have also all sorts of
European animals, both fowls and quadrupeds
imported by the Spaniards. Among the ani
mals indigenous to the country, the most remark
able, is, the Lama or Pacos. This animal was
at first thought to be a sheep, and it was consi dered.

21
dered as a matter of great curiosity ; and in Peru,
some districts of Avhich are now annexed to
Buenos-Ayres, it was used as a beast of
burden. Cluverius, the celebrated geographer,
Avho published his work towards the end of the
17th century, mentions this circumstance. But
the Lama has since been ranked by Zoologists
among the species of Camels. It -was called a
sheep because it is but a small animal, not higher
than three and an half or four feet, and because
its hair is so long and thick as to resemble avqoI.
It may be called a Avoolly hair. Its head and
neck alone has more of this substance on them,
than the Avhole body of our largest sheep. Its
body is clothed in the same proportion, Avith a
Avoolly hair, equally fine. This wool or Avoolly
hair is in great request in South America. Stuffs
suitable to the climate are made of it, similar to
those made of camel's hair mixed with the wool
of Thibet sheep in India.
The manner in Avhich the hunters carry on their
attacks on the cattle is as folloAvs. A number of
hunters, in company, repair on horseback to the
places to which the Avild cattle chiefly resort,
armed with a long pole or shaft, the extremity of
which is mounted with a sharp iron blade, which
crosses the shaft obliquely. With this weapon the
hunter cuts the throat of the bullock : by piercing
their bodies with spears, darts, arrows, or bullets, they

2L2
they might' spoil the skins. When the animal
falls, the hunter leaves it for the time, to pursue
another, which he reduces in the same manner.
When fatigued Avitli this violent exercise, he re
turns on his steps, finds out the spots where his
bullocks lie by certain marks, Avhich he takes care
to fix in his mind, skins them, and carrying off
the suet, and sometimes the tongue, leaves the
carcase to vultures and other ravenous birds.
Vegetable Productions.
The viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres produces
sugar-canes, indigo, pimento, ipecacuanah, Peru
vian bark, cochineal, and cotton and tobacco in
great abundance — rice, corn, flax, hemp, maze,
manioe, potatoes, and a vast variety of other fruits
and vegetables unknoAvn to Europe ; and the
forests flow Avith honey.
Tea of Paraguay.
But what is accounted by the Indians, or native
Americans the most valuable of all the natural
productions of Buenos Ayres, is the herb called
by Europeans the Tea of Paraguay, and consi
dered by the Indians as a delicious species of food
or refreshment, and an excellent medicine. It is
a middle-sized tree, resembling an orancre tree
and the juice of it tastes somewhat like mallows.
The part chiefly used is the leav;es. The natives
make three gatherings of it annually. First there is

23
is a gathering of the buds, before they expand
into leaves ; and these are reckoned the best, but
they soonest decay : secondly, of the full-grown
leaves, at their first expansion ; and thirdly, of
the leaves, when they have remained on the trees
for some time after they are fully blown. These
leaves are roasted, and kept in pits under ground
for sale. Quantities of this Paraguay Tea, to the
value of from an hundred to an hundred and
twenty thousand pounds sterling, are exported to
Chili and Peru annually.
These trees grow in the morasses, or marshy
ground, on the east side of the Paraguay, natu
rally; but they are now dispersed, and cultivated
all over the country. The leaves are used thus :
Being dried, beaten, or bruised, and reduced
almost to powder, they are put into a cup, with
sugar and lemon-juice; boiling water is then
poured on the whole, and the infusion drank like
tea or coffee. They are said to be of eminent
service in all disorders of the head, breast, or
stomach ; to allay hunger, to purify all kinds of
Avater, to preserve the miners from the noxious
effects of the minerals, and to be a sovereign
remedy in scurvy ahd putrid fevers.
Commerce.
The colony of Buenos-Ayres, from its trade
with Peru on the one side, in horses, mules, and

24
and Paraguay Tea ; and with Europe on the other iri
hides, talloAv, and bees wax, has no doubt derived
great advantages ; but the chief source of its
prosperity is its commodious situation for carry
ing on a contraband trade.
While the court of Madrid adhered to its an-
tient system of galleons, flotas, and guarda cos-
tas, and other modes of watching the commerce
between Spain and her American colonies with a
jealous eye, and restrained it with a strict hand,
the river de la Plata lay so much out of the
course of Spanish navigation, that interlopers,
almost Avilhout any risque of being either ob
served or obstructed, could pour in European
manufactures in such qualities, that they not only
supplied the Avants of the colony, but were con--
veyed into all the eastern districts of Peru. When
the Portuguese in Brazil extended their settle
ments to the banks of the Rio de la Plata, a neAT
channel was opened by which prohibited com
modities flowed into the Spanish territories with
still more facility, and in greater abundance.
This illegal traffic, however detrimental to the
parent state, contributed to the increase of the
settlement Avhich had the immediate benefit of it,
and Buenos-Ayres became gradually, from all
these

25
these circumstances, a place of great opulence,
as well as very considerable population.
But the rigour with which the Court of Madrid
Avatched and circumscribed trade, in the pro
gress of events, and the liberality which attends
the intercourse of minds, and the increase of
knoAvledge, Avas gradually relaxed.
The encroachments of the English on the trade
with America, discovered to the Spaniards the
vast consumption of European goods in their co
lonies, and they perceived the necessity of devising
some method of supplying them, different from
that of periodical fleets. The scarcity of Euro
pean goods in the Spanish settlements frequently
became excessive : their price rose to an enor
mous height; and, this being observed, an ample
supply Avas smuggled in from the English, Dutch,
and French islands. And when the galleons at
length arrived, they found the markets so glutted
by this illicit commerce, that there was scarcely
any demand for the commodities Avith which they
were loaded.
In order to remedy this evil, Spain permitted
a considerable part of her commerce Avith her
colonies to be carried on in register ships. In
e proportion

26
proportion as the advantages of carrying on trade
in this manner were displayed the number of re
gister ships was increased ; and, at length, in the
year 1748, the galleons and flotas, perio
dical fleets called by these different names accord
ing to the different places of their destination,
were finally abolished. From that period there
has not been any intercourse with South America
but by single ships, dispatched from time to time,
as occasions require, and Avhen the merchants
expect to find a ready market.

Improvements in the Spanish Trade with America.
While Spain adhered with rigour to her an
cient maxims respecting her American commerce,
there was not any establishment for a regular
communication of either public or private intel
ligence Avith America. From the want of this,
the business of both the state and individuals
Avas retarded, and othenvise mismanaged. At
length, in 1764, it Avas established that packet-
boats should be dispatched on the first day of
every month, Avind and Aveather serving, from
Corunna to the Havannah, or Porto Rico From
thence letters are now conveyed in smaller vessels
to Vera Cruz, and Porto Bello, and transmitted by

27
by post to the kingdoms of Tierra Firme, Gre
nada, Peru, and Mexico. Packets also sail with
equal regularity once in two months to Buenos-
Ayres, for the accommodation of the provinces
to the east of the Andes. Each of the packet-
boats, which are vessels of some considerable
burthen, is allowed to take in half a load of such
commodities as are the produce of Spain. This
may be considered as the first relaxation of those
rigid laws which confined the trade of Spain with
the neAv world to a single port, and the first at
tempt to admit the rest of the kingdom to seme
share in it.
This relaxation Avas soon followed by another
of greater consequence — in 1765, the trade was
laid open to the windward islands of Cuba, St.
Domingo, Porto Rico, Margarita, and Trinidad.
Ships were permitted to sail from certain ports in
each of these, at any season, and with whatever
cargoes they thought proper, without any other
warrant than a simple clearance from the custom
house of the place Avhere they took their depar
ture. They were released from the numerous
duties imposed on goods exported to America,
and in place of the Avhole, there Avas substituted
a moderate tax of six per cent, on all commodi
ties sent from Spain. They Avere alloAved to re-
e 2 tufn

28
turn either to the same port, or to any other Avhere
they might expect to find a better market, and
there to enter the homeAvard cargoes, on payment
of the usual duties. This ample privilege, which
at once broke through all the restraints with
which the jealous policy of Spain had been la
bouring for two centuries and a half, to fetter its
commercial intercourse with the new Avorld, Avas
soon after extended to Louisiana, and the pro
vinces of Yucatan and Campeachy.
Before the edict in favour of free trade, Spain,
from her neglected colonies in St. Domingo,
Porto Rico, Margarita, and Trinidad, derived
very little, and scarcely any advantage. With
Cuba her commerce was but inconsiderable, and
that of Yucaton and Campeachy Avas engrossed
almost entirely by interlopers. But no sooner
was a general liberty of trade permitted, than the
intercourse between Spain and those provinces
was revived; and it has since gone on with a pro
gressive rapidity — in less than ten years the trade
of Cuba has been almost tripled. It is com
puted that such a number of ships is already
employed in the free trade, that the tonnage of
them far exceeds that of the galleons and flotas,
at the most flourishing period of their commerce.

By

29
By one of the jealous maxims of the old system,
all communication between the various provinces
of Spain, situated on tbe South Sea, was pro
hibited under the severest penalties ; though each
of these yields peculiar productions, the reci
procal exchange of Avhich might have added to
the happiness of their respective inhabitants, and
facilitated their progress in industry, which would
have redounded so greatly to the Avealth and
prosperity of the empire. This evil, coeval with
the settlements of Spain in the new world, was at
last redressed. In 1774, an edict Avas published,
granting to the four vast provinces of Peru,
Mexico, Guatimala, and Grenada, the privilege
of a free trade Avith one another.
From this relaxation from the ancient jealousy
and rigorous restrictions, and a more liberal and
wiser commercial system, it may be presumed
that the contraband trade, one of the principal
sources of the prosperity of Buenos-Ayres, Avas
greatly diminished. It may also be presumed
that it received a farther check by the establish
ment of the new viceroyalty at, Buenos-Ayres;
Avhere the supreme magistrate, from his vicinity
to the places Avhere it Avas carried on, could view
its progress and effects Avith his oavii eyes, and in
terpose Avith promptitude and effect for its sup
pression.

30
pression. But the industry and prosperity of one
place quickens the industry and promotes the
prosperity of another; and Buenos-A}res has
derived from the general excitement that has been
given to the intercourse betAveen the mother-
country and the colonies, and that of the colonies
Avith one another, encouragement and advantages,
Avhich appear to have fully compensated the
loss of its illegal commerce. The superior ad
vantages, the prerogatives, as it Avere in com
merce, Avhich Buenos-Ayres derives from the
hand of nature, must remain unchanged by any
regulations, or any political events. It flourished
even under the torpor of an absolute, jealous,
rigorous, and narroAv-spirited government. Under
a free government, in a period of the most ex
tended and liberal intercourse among nations ever
known, it Avould no doubt rise to a higher o
pitch of opulence and population Avith pro
gressive rapidity. The great river of La Plata,
Avith its numerous bays and lakes, and tributary
streams, offer great facilities for spreading a most
beneficial commerce far and wide into an im
mense country. It is not only to the provinces
composing the viceroyalty that the possession of
Buenos-Ayres and the command of the river will
open access, but to those also of Chili and Peru.
It does not appear that they have yet opened any
considerable

31
considerable mines in any of the provinces of
Buenos-Ayres, except those of Charcas, dis
membered, as has been observed above, from
the viceroyalty of Pegu. It is, however affirmed,
on very probable grounds, that silver is to be
found on the banks of most of the rivers, whose
united streams form the great La Plata; but al
most certainly from such of them as descend from
the Andes. But probably the Avealth of Buenos-
Ayres is not to be increased by the working of any
mines, so much as by the cultivation and improve
ment of those advantages which bountiful nature
has presented on the surface ofthe earth. Silver
and gold, insufficient quantities for all the purposes
of commerce, are already brought from Chili and
Peru, in exchange for mules, cattle, Paraguay
tea, and the European commodities Avhich make
their way even to those regions on the west side of
the continent by the course of the Plata. This
gold and silver from Chili and Peru, as well as
that from the mines of Charcas is sent, for the
most part by land-carriage. But there is, besides,
means of carriage by water ; for the large River
Pilcomayo, already noticed, not far from the
mines of Potosi, winding amidst the defiles of the
Cordilleras or Andes, and discharging itself at
last into the Paraguay, the principal channel of
the Plata, is navigable to the very source, allowing for

32
for the interruption of some falls. But falls in
some places interrupt the navigation of the Plata
itself, as well as that of the St. Laurence, Ohio,
and other great rivers. When the articles carried
are not very bulky or heavy, continued land car
riage is preferred, naturally, to water carriage,
clogged with interruptions : but when the com
modities are bulky and heavy, water carriage,
though interrupted in some places by falls, is
greatly to be preferred, as, indeed, it generally is
wherever it is to be found.
It is proper to remark at the same time, and it
Avould be wrong, and even blameable, to conceal,
or pass over without notice, that the navigation of
the Rio de la Plata is not so easy as that of the
Thames. Though of an amazing width,it is in many
parts but very shalloAv, a circumstance connected
with its extreme Avidth. It is interspersed, like
the Ganges, IrraAvardy, and other great rivers,
Avith many islands, islets, and sand banks ; and on
the Plata the mariner has to encounter storms
and squalls of Avind more dangerous some
times than any on the ocean. Attention must be
paid to proper seasons and accurate pilotage.
The port where ships of great, or even consider
able burthen, must lie, is about seven or eight
miles' distance from Buenos-Ayres. From this
port

33
port ships, though moored at double anchor, with tti£
strongest cables, have been sometimes set a-drift
bv the fury of winds blowing from the mountains
on the frontiers of Chili, and meeting Avith no
thing to impede their course over a plain extend
ing in length for eight or nine hundred miles.
Exchange of Commodities between Buenos Ayres
and Europe.
For hides, talloAv, bees Avax, and of late, it is
said, some sugar and tobacco, Buenos-Ayres
takes from Europe manufactures in iron and
steel, carriages, sadlery, cabinet-work and glass
AA'are, trinkets of all kinds and toys, muslins, and
the lighter cotton stuffs; India silks, ornamental
feathers,linens,laAvnsand cambrics ; ribbons,shoes,
especially ladies' fancy shoes — the more gaudily
ornamented, the better ; and, in a Avprd, every
thing that is light and shewy. The favonrite co
lours in that part of the Avorld are, purple, sky-
blue, pea-green, and a bright yellow^ Scissors,
knives, razors, and other articles of iron ma
nufacture, particularly, find always a ready
market, and have been knoAvn, on some occa
sions, to fetch a price that almost exceeds the
bounds of credibility. There are some other
articles, no doubt, that are, or would be, very ac^
ceptable at Buenos-Ayres. These it k not ^the
f present

34
present design fully and particularly to enumerate:
nor is it necessary ; for Avhat suits the market in
the other Spanish provinces and viceroyalties in
America, also suits Buenos-Ayres ; and these are
generally known. There is, however, one manu
facture, of late, only carried to any considerable
perfection, or extent of circulation in this country,
Avhich, as it may not readily noAv be recollected
by every one, may be here mentioned. This is
no other than the manufacture of straAV hats, and
that also, just beginning to be introduced, oi
straAV shoes for ladies. StraAV, it is well knoAvn,
is plaited into all possible shapes of bonnets, from
the old-fashioned gypsey-hats, worn by our sol
diers' Avives, to the small helmet, or head-piece,
resembling a barber's bason. The large gypsey-
hats, a little enlarged perhaps, and variegated by
different colours, could not fail of being very ac
ceptable to the dames of Buenos-Ayres, as they
Avould at once serve as umbrellas to shelter their
faces from the sun, and gratify their taste for what
ever has a gaudy and brilliant appearance. Shoes
of straw have been wrought of a very neat and
elegant, as well as shewy, appearance. They have
been Avorn by some English ladies, who are all of
them wonderfully delighted Avith their extreme
lightness in the summer season. Straw shoes will
probably be nipped in the bud, in our island, by
th# variableness and severity ofthe seasons- but it

35
it is scarcely possible to conceive any thing better
adapted to serene, clear, warm, or hot climates.
It is to be hoped that some speculator will take
and improve this hint, for his own sake, and for
that of the numbers of helpless females Avhose
means of living by industry are miserably reduced
by the invasion of their provinces by men-milli
ners, ladies' hair-dressers, haberdashers, ladies'
shoe-makers, &c. &c.
It was, perhaps, with a view to a participation
in the vei;y lucrative though clandestine trade of
Buenos-Ayres, as much as the conveniency of the
British navigation round Cape, Horn, that the
British government took possession of Falkland
Islands on the coast of Patagonia ; at least our
people Avould not have failed to make such an
use of them. When these islands were unoccu
pied by the Spaniards, or any European power,
an attempt Avas made to establish an English
colony there — but the settlers Avere driven
out by the Spaniards in 1770 — Britain fitted
out an armament — the islands Were restored
by the Spaniards — but soon after evacuated by
the English, .according to a private agreement,
it was generally supposed between the English
minister and the court of Spain, when, it was
restored, after it had been taken, to the English.
, f 2 The

36
The Spaniards now use them as a place of exile,
to Avhich they banish criminals to their American
settlements. There is not a doubt but, had Ave retained and
colonized Falkland's Islands, Ave might have fully
shared the contraband trade to Buenos-Ayres
with the Portuguese. It remains to be seen whe
ther, from any state policy, or court intrigue,
Buenos-Ayres is to be restored to the Spaniards,
as Falkland's Islands were under the administra
tion of the Duke of Grafton and Lord Egmont.
jit cannot be affirmed that no case or conjuncture
may occur, in Avhich it may not be good policy,
and consequently the duty of the minister, Avho-
ever he may be, to sacrifice the great and impor
tant, though easy conquest of Buenos-Ayres to the
general interests of the state. | But it must be
some great consideration, some mighty equivalent,
that shall justify the cession or restoration of that
emporium, which is undoubtedly of as much im
portance to the commercial interest and naval
power of the nation, as the fortress of Gibraltar.
Such it seems to be considered at the present
moment by the nation. While politicians and
philosophers justify the retention of Buenos-
Ayres, not only on the ground of the immense
advantages it holds out, in various respects, to
this

37
this country, but also on the ground of such mo
rality as alone has any actual share in the councils
of states and princes of the present day, men
of business and mercantile speculation and
adventure are already at work, tb turn the
acquisition of Buenos-Ayres, and the course
of the Rio de la Plata, to useful, that is
gainful, purposes. It is indeed an immense ac
quisition — an acquisition of incalculable value ;
for the vast regions of Avhich the La Plata is the
inlet or key are by no means fully explored. A
great part of them is absolutely unknown, and the
value of what is knoAvn is not to be computed by
Avhat it yielded to indolence, and a policy but
beginning to break through the dark clouds of
jealousy and ignorance, and to be guided by the
light of reason and experience. |The narroAv
policy of Spain has suppressed all accounts of the
interior of the country : but British industry and
enterprize, if it remains long in the possession of
Britain, will explore all its vast resources, physi
cal, moral, and political, and improve them to
the advantage of individuals, and the wealth,
power, and security of the empire.!

{<'•¦;.-.

38

Advantages which Great Britain may draw fram
the Possession of Buenos Ayres.
¦ jBuenos-Ayres will be an asylum and refreshing
and refitting station to our ships, sailing round by
Cape Horn, into the South Seas, and to Chrnaj:
nor will it be much less inconvenient, on some
occasions, than Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, to our
East India fleets. '
Whilst Ave retain possession of this station, Ave
can protect or command the whole of the south
continent of America. By maintaining a large
force there, naval and military, we can at all
times dictate to the southern part of the trans-
Atlantic world. Southern America might be made
a station for seasoning our soldiers for the Avest ;
as the Cape of Good Hope also is, or may be
made for the east. The Cape and Buenos-
Ayres,. as above observed, lie in the same degree
of south latitude : and no tAvo places can be ima
gined more convenient, as half-Avay-houses and
resting-places ; the one on our voyage to hither
India; the other on our voyages round Cape
Horn, to New South Wales and China. The
salubrity of the climate, though warm, Avould
form our regiments gradually to such habits of
constitution

39
constitution as would bear the hot climates of our
West-India Islands, and secure them from the
ravages Avhich too often accompany their direct
importation into Jamaica and other islands, from
Great Britain.
A flourishing British colony, on the Rio de la
Plata, would supply our West India colonies
Avith many of those necessary articles that it has
occasionally been found necessary to draw from
America, even at the expence of an alarming sus
pension of our navigation laws; Avhile the in
crease of our shipping, in that quarter, Avould
enable us to carry what farther supplies might be
necessary to our islands, on our OAvn bottoms,
from Europe.
The North American states are every day be
coming a manufacturing nation ; and the more they
fabricate for themselves, the less they will take from
us. ) South America, on the contrary, has no
fabrics, and by taking ours, Avill give an addi
tional spring to our manufactures, trade, and
general industry and exertionj; at the same time
that it Avill obtain every article of which it stands
in need, on better terms than heretofore, and be
encouragod to an active exertion of its own
industry. It

40
It is a truth not to be denied or concealed,
that Ave are, at the present moment, if certain
resolutions passed last session of parliament, are
to be followed up into any practical effects or
consequences, in. the most imminent danger of
losing our West India islands. If the slave trade
be abolished, either the population of the islands
Avill support itself or it will not : if it supports
itself it will encrease ; for nothing in human af
fairs is absolutely fixed or stationary. In this
case the blacks will become so numerous, and be
at the same time so united among themselves,
that- they Avill become the masters, and the whites
the slaves if not massacreed : if, on the contrary,.
our negro population does not support itself but
dwindles and dies away ; then the islands are lost
for want of hands to cultivate them, and resume
their original appearance of Avoods and morasses.
As this plain dilemma seems to be utterly unan-
SAverable, the abolition of the trade in slaves, and
ultimate loss or ruin of our West Indian settle
ments are connected by the bond of cause and
effect, which nothing less than a miracle, or an
immediate interposition of Divine Providence
could break asunder. (Now, in this event, the
possession of so vast and noble a country, would
be a resource, and in the process of time a com
pensation to the state, though not to individuals, for

41
for the sacrifice of our islands to Avhat is perhaps
conceived by some to be a religious duty.| There
is no article of colonial produce Avhich Buenos-
Ayres, and the other provinces, which, through
this are accessible to our policy and arms, do not
yield, or by due culture might be made to yield
in the utmost abundance : land the temperature of
the climate is such as to supersede the necessity
of cultivating the land by African labourers. Free
and voluntary labourers could be employed, be
cause the mildness and serenity ofthe climate would
ensure health even to European cultivators, and
afford abundant returns. With capitals. activity, and
a spirit of adventure, none of which, on so inviting
and tempting an occasion Avould be wanting, the
plains of the Riode la Plata might be made to yield
an ample profit to the capital ist, comfort and pros
perity to the inhabitants and a large revenue to the
governmentj (Here the poor emigrants from the
highlands and islands of Scotland, and from Ire
land, would find a real asylum from poverty,
want, oppression, and slavery \ The hardships
and horrors Avhich they often, nay, commonly en?
counter, when they go under indentures to Ame
rica, are such as to inspire regret, and a longing
after their bleak and howling mountains, though
now converted into sheep-walks. g The

42
The plains of La Plata would appear to those
unfortunate men, Avhat in reality it would be, a
perfect paradise. In this wide and almost bound
less expanse of fertile, and easily- laboured
soil, portions of land might be assigned, as
among the Romans, to soldiers who should have
served their time in the army, and to others,
either gratuitously, and as reAvards of merit, or
for small quit rents to government, iln these vast
plains, where the climate is so sweet and serene ;
the soil so kindly-fertile ; and the facilities for a
commercial intercourse with the whole Avorld so
great and extraordinary, a colony might be formed
under the auspices pf a free government, and an
enlightened and poAverful nation, that should ad
vance human society to a pitch of felicity and
grandeur not known * in authentic history. Un
fortunately, the fine and fertile plains of the
softest and sweetest climates, yielding all the ne
cessaries, and many of the luxuries of life, with
very little and almost no labour, have ahvay been
the seats of despotism; and the human mind,
humbled and stupified by slavery, and sunk in
inaction and enervation, has never aAvakened to
those exertions of genius and invention that
have
* Whatever may be dreamt by Mr. Bailly, or others, concerning;
the Atlantides, or other lost nations.

43
have distinguished Europe, and rendered this
little portion of the globe mistress of the worldj
A people inhabiting Rio de La Plata, and enjoy
ing at the same time the blessings of a free go
vernment, would be a new and grand experiment
in human nature : an experiment from which Ave
might reasonably augur the happiest and the most
glorious effects. But the subject in hand, is, npt
to anticipate the future state of Buenos-Ayres,
hut to describe the present.

Government, State of Society and Manners, cj'c.
The viceroyalties of Spain in America are mi
nutely divided into tribunals called A udiencias, or
audiencies, provinces, governments, . partidos or
departments, and missions or parishes, estab
lished among the native Indians. This order of
affairs evidently originates in that vigilant
jealousy with Avhich the Court of Madrid set itself,
and not in vain, by a system of checks and divi
sion::, to prevent combination and union, and
prolong and perpetuate the dependence of the
colonies on the mother country. The viceroy,
who represents the king, receives his instructions
immediately from the junta appointed from time
G 2 to

44
to time for the government of the colonies of
Spain, called in the language of that state, the
Indies. This junta, or council, consists of a
governor, four secretaries, and twenty-two
counsellors, besides officers. Their decisions
in matters relating to America, and also the La-
zarones, Philippine islands, and Ladrones in
Asia, is final. The members of this council are
generally chosen from the viceroys, and other ma
gistrates, who have served in the American pro
vinces. The viceroyalties in America are seldom
trusted to one person for more than three or four
years. Whether there be distinct and different species
of mankind springing from different soils, and
propagated from different stocks, is a question,
which, though much agitated, ought to be pre
cluded by the divine revelation, that all mankind
are descended from one pair, their common pa
rents. Yet, among the different tribes and nations
of men inhabiting this terraqueous globe there
are certain striking diversities of colour and con
figuration, that abundantly justify the arrange
ment of them into different classes or orders.
These are -the whites; the blacks of India, Avith
long

45
long hair; the blacks of Africa, Avith woolley hair
and the foetid smell, and a peculiar formation and
colour of the rete mucosum; the samoyede ; and
the beardless, copper- coloured man of America.
Of these beardless and copper-coloured men, the
aboriginal inhabitants of America, commonly
called indians, there are tAvo divisions though not
kinds ; the Indian of the North and the Indian of
South America, are influenced by diversity of cli
mate more in their moral nature, than in either fi
gure or complexion. The nations of North America
partake of the rudeness and energy of northern
latitudes. The Indians of South America are
more tame, gentle, and tractable in their dispo
sition: a most conspicuous proof and example of
Avhich was exhibited in their voluntary submission
to the discipline and controul of the Jesuits,
of whose patriarchal commonwealth in Paraguay
a brief account has already been given in these
pages. The Indians or aboriginal Americans may be
considered as forming the great basis of popula
tion in those parts; though society, according to
our ideas of the term, is confined to the higher
circles that take the lead in government, opinions,
fashions, customs, and manners, and all that is
looked up to by inferiors to superiors in civilized and

46
and polished life. Under this view of the sub
ject, therefore, it might suffice to give a sketch
of the Spaniards in South America : but, taking
society in its most comprehensive sense, Ave shall
here give a sketch not only of these, but the
other classes ; Avhich, together, may be reduced
to five.
The first in rank, as in power and consequence,
are, the Spaniards, Avho arrive from Europe, dis
tinguished by the name of Cha pet ones, and in
whose hands alone are intrusted all departments,
of any consequence in the administration of go
vernment. In order to prevent any one of dubi
ous fidelity from being employed in any political
department, each must bring a proof of a clear
descent from a family of old Christians, un
tainted with any mixture of Jewish or of Saracenic
blood, and never disgraced by any censure of the
inquisition. Any one who, by his birth, or even
residence, maybe suspected of any attachment or
interest adverse to the mother country, is the ob
ject of distrust to such a degree, as amounts nearly
to an exclusion from all offices of trust or autho
rity. Hence the Chapetones look doAvn Avith dis
dain on every other order of men.
The second class is the Creoles, or descendants of

47
ef Europeans settled in Europe. Though some
of these be descended from the conquerors ofthe
New World ; though others be sprung from the
noblest families of Spain, and many others pos
sessed of ample fortunes, yet in many parts, from
the enervating influence of a sultry climate, and in
all, from the despair of ever attaining to that dis
tinction in society to which mankind naturally
aspire, their spirit is depressed and broken, and
most of them waste life in luxurious indigencies,
or the ceremonies and freaks of an illiberal super
stition. They are so languid and unenterprising
in most parts of Spanish America, as even to de
cline engaging in trade, which is carried on chiefly
by the Chapetones, Avho amass immense wealth,
while the Creoles, sunk in sloth, are contented
Avith the revenues of thejr paternal estates. From
the invidious distinction established between the
Chapetones and the Creoles, they mutually hate
one another, and on many occasions, some of them
frivolous, their mutual antipathy and aversion
breaks out in contemptuous appellations and bitter
revilinss. The court of Madrid foments this
mutual jealousy and discord, which not only pre
vents the two most powerful classes of its subjects
in the New World from combining against the
parent state, but prompts each Avith the most vigi lant

48
tant zeal, to observe the motions and to coun
teract the jschemes of each other.
The third class of inhabitants in the Spanish
colonies in America, is a mixed race, the offspring
either of an European and a Negro, or an
European and an Indian ; the former called
Mulattoes, the latter Mestizos. This mixed
race has multiplied so greatly, as to const
itute a considerable part of the population
ih the Spauish settlements. It is chiefly by
this mixed race, Avhose corporeal frame is re
markably robust and hardy, that the mechani
cal arts are carried on, and the other active
functions in society performed, Avhich are dis
dained by the two higher classes from pride, or
shunned from indolence.
The fourth rank among the inhabitants of
the Spanish colonies is held by the negroes, who
are either employed in domestic service, or
field-Avork. In Mexico they are chiefly employed
in the former, in Buenos Ayres, as avcII as the
other two viceroyalties, chiefly in the latter.
When employed in domestic service, their dress
and appearance is hardly less splendid than that
of their masters, whose manners they imitate,-
and whose example they follow. From their
finery

49
finery, and domestic connection with their mas*
ters, the household Negroes assume such a tone-
of superiority over the Indians, and treat them
with such insolence and scorn, that the antipathy
between the tAvo races has become inveterate and
implacable. This disposition of the Negroes
to impute the greatness of their master, from
being constantly about their persons, and the
company they keep to themselves, is, it seems, very
natural to mankind. The livery servants of our
own nobility and gentry, though in a state of sub
jection for the time they are in their places,
little short of domestic slavery, give themselves
airs of superiority over labouring men, who
earn more money, in a more independant
manner. Even the Negroes employed in field-
work, taught perhaps by their brethren Avho live
in splendour in opulent families, assume, and
maintain an ascendancy over the Indians ; and
their mutual antipathy and hatred is excessive.
The jealous policy of Spain foments an antipathy
which sprung from accident, and endeavoured
to preventall intercourse that might form a~bond
of union between the races, by the most rigorous
laws and injunctions.
The Indians, in a country which belonged to
their forefather form the fifth, last, and most
h depressed

50
depressed order of mortals. The first con
querors ofthe New World considered its inhabi
tants as slaves, to whose services they had ac
quired a full right of property. ' Their high and
inhuman pretensions Avere finally abrogated by a
regulation of Charles V. in J 5*2. From that
period the Indians have been reputed freemen.
-It Avas deemed just that, Avhen admitted to this
rank, they should contribute tOAvards the sup
port and improvement of the society Avho had
adopted them as members. An annual tax
was imposed on every male, from the age of
fifteen to eighty ; they Avere also required to per
form certain services, Avhich were ascertained Avith
due precision. The tax amounts, on an average
of the different provinces, annually, to about four
shillings a-head. In Spanish America every In
dian is either an immediate vassal of the crown,
or depends on some sui ject to whom the district
in which he resides has been granted for a limited
-time, under the title of Encomienda ; of the same
nature, it appears, from the denomination as well
as the thing signified, with the revenues of eccle
siastical benefices, given to laymen, to to be held
as deposits for a certain term. In the former
case, about three fourths of the tax is paid into
the royal treasury ; in the latter, the same propor
tion to the holder of the grant. From frequent

$1
annexations, or rather re-annexations of. grants^
the number of Indians depending immediately on
the crown is much greater than in the first age
after the conquest.
The benefit arising from the service of the In
dians accrues in like manner either to the crown
or to the holder of the Encomienda, according to.
the proportion observed in the payment of tribute..
The stated services demanded of the Indians may
be divided into two kinds: they are either em
ployed in works of primary necessity, or are com
pelled to labour in the mines. They are obliged
to assist in the culture of maize or other grain, in
tending cattle, in building bridges, forming roads,
or erecting edifices of public utility. To the
mines, as well as to the other kind of labour, they
are called out alternately, in divisions, termed,
mitas, and no person can be compelled to go tQ
either but in his turn. In Peru and Buenos-
Ayres, tJ-ie number called out to the service of
government must not exceed the seventh part of
the inhabitants in any district : in Mexico and.
Grenada, where the Indians are more numerous,
it is fixed at four in the hundred. Each mita o?
division labours in the mines for six months at a
time, till it be their turn to be called out again.
During this service they are allowed the pittance
$f half-a-crown a day, equal to about sixpence
h 2 in

52
in England. No- Indian residing at a greater
distance than thirty miles from a mine is included
in the mita. The Indians who live in the princi
pal tPAvns, or the suburbs, are entirely subject to
the Spanish laws and magistrates; but in their
own villages they are governed by caziques, some
of whom are descended from their ancient lords ;
others are named by the Spanish viceroys. The
caziques regulate the petty affairs of the people,
according to the maxims of justice transmitted
by tradition from their ancestors.
For the farther relief of men so much exposed
to oppression, the Spanish court has appointed
rn every department an officer Avith the title of
Protector of the Indians. It is his function, as
the name implies, to appear in their defence at
the courts of justice, and, by the interposition of
his authority, to restrain the encroachments and
exactions of his countrymen. Of the reserved
fourth of the annual tribute, a certain portion is
applied as a salary for the caziques and protec
tors, and another as stipends to the clergy em
ployed for the instruction of the Indians in the
different missions.
Besides all this, provision is made by sundry laws

53
laws for the establishment of Hospitals, for the
reception of Indians.
Notwithstanding the superstitious veneration
Avith which the Spaniards are, and were still more
devoted formerly to the Holy See, Ferdinand, with
his usual policy and foresight, took precautions
against the introduction of the Popal dominion
into .America. From pope Alexander VI. he ob
tained a grant of the tythes in the newly disco
vered countries, on the condition of his making
provision for the. religious instruction of the na
tives : from Julius II. the right of patronage, and
tiie absolute disposal of all ecclesiastical benefices
there. Thus in the whole of Spanish America
authority of every kind centres in the crown.
In America the hierarchy is established in the
same form, or order as in Spain, with all its train
of Archbishops, Bishops, Deans, and other dig
nitaries. The inferior clergy are divided into
three classes, under the denomination of euros,
docterinos, and missioneros. The first are parish
priests in those parts of the country where the
Spaniards have settled. The second have the
charge of such districts as are inhabited by-
Indians, subjected to the Spanish government and
being under its protection. The third are em
ployed

54,
ployed in converting and instructing those poorer
tribes which disdain submission to the Spanish
yoke, and have retired to remote or inaccessible
regions, to which the Spanish arms have not pe-
netrated* A considerable part of the secular clergy in
Mexico and Peru are natives of Spain. These
secular priests are still less distinguished than
their brethren in Spain, for literary accom
plishments of any kind. The body of the,
secular clergy in Spanish America, has hardly,
during tAvo centuries and a half, produced one
author worthy of enlightened Europeans. The
highest ecclesiastical honours, and most lucratiA'e
preferments, are often in the hands of regulars;
and to these chiefly America and the Avorld is
indebted for any rays of science that have issued
from South America; yet some of them though
deeply tinctured with the indelible superstition
oftheir professions, have published books which
give no unfaA'Ourable idea of their abilities.
The natural and moral History of the New
World by the Jesuits, contains more accurate
observations, and more sound science than are
to be found in any description of remote coun
tries published in the sixteenth century. The

55
The same disgust with a monastic life to which
South America is indebted for some instructions
of Avorth and abilities, has filled it with others of
a different character. There are some who, un
der the influence of all the worldly and sensual
passions, consider a mission to America as a re*
lease from mortification and bondage. These
soon obtain some such parochial change, and, far
removed, by their situation, from the inspection
of their monastic superiors, and exempt by their
character from the jurisdiction oftheir diocesan,
are hardly subject to any control. They are not
only destitute of the virtues becoming their pro
fession, but regardless of that external decorum
and respect for the opinions of mankind, which
preserves a semblance of worth where the reality
is wanting.
These remarks on the government and man*
ners of South America are not confined to Buenos
Ayres, the matter immediately in hand, but refer
to the whole of Spanish America : yet they are
not the less applicable to the present subject;
Between Buenos Ayres and the other vice-
royalties and provinces, there are no doubt,
shades of discrimination and difference, per^-
ceptible to an observer minutely acquainted
with the different provinces; but these, wew they

56
they fully ascertained, might be omitted, in so
general a sketch of the -present condition
and character of, the five classes, or orders of
men that compose the population, or society.
Of Spanish America, some idea may be formed
from the preceding observations : yet it may
be naturally enough expected that something
more should be said ofthe Spaniards that form
the first and ruling class ; and also of the In
dians, the most numerous, though the lower
class of society in Buenos Ayres, or in the other
provinces. The Spaniards in America carry
the vices of pride and indolence of their mother
country to a greater and more intolerable excess.
On this point let this general remark suffice. Of
the Aboriginal Americans of the southern Spanish
Provinces, particularly those of Buenos Ayres,
it will be proper to be more particular. The
Aboriginal, natives of South America, Avandering
in woods and forests, are described by Father
Sepp, a Jesuit, and others, to be big-boned,
strong, and Avell-set men; their legs usually
pretty thick, and muscular or brawny ; their
faces flattish, rather round than oval; and
their complexion a medium between olive and
copper, but more inclined to the latter than the
former: their hair is black, Avaving in long
ringlets, and as strong as horse-hair, which be
fore

57
fore they profess the Christian Religion, and are
brought into submission to the Spanish Govern
ment, they wear very long ; Avhen they are con
verted and civilized, they are obliged to wear it
shorter. Men, Avomen, and children go almost
naked, Avearing only the skin of some beast about
the middle of their bodies.* For their sub
sistence they depend on fishing, hunting, and
honey Avhich abounds in the woods and forests.
Some of them add to these Maize and Manioe,
or sweet Cassada. The roots ofthe Manioe being
Avashed and scraped clean, are grated into a tub
or trough. After this, they are put into a hair
bag, the juice squeezed out, and the meal or
Fraina dried in a hot stone bason over the fire,
and made into cakes. It also makes excellent
puddings. They eat all manner of fish, flesh,
and fowl, and are the greatest gluttons in the
world. They are extremely indolent, and dull
of invention, but will imitate any thing, of
Avhich you give them a pattern — In this respect they
* The better sort wear another skin, which serves for a cloa^
and mantle. The ordinary women have their arms bare, and no
covering on their heads but their hair; which they wear of an
immoderate length. Their ornaments are glittering fish bones^
which they wear in their ear?, and about their arms Md necks in
chains. Their chiefs have a kind of triple crowns upon their
heads. Boys and girls go perfectly naked.
J

58
they resemble the natives of the East Indies-
Several of them are such excellent mechanics,
that they make organs and other musical instru
ments, as good as those that are brought from
Europe. Others are watch-makers and painters
—In what arts they know, they have been in
structed chiefly by the Jesuite Missionaries.
The exercises and diversions of those people are
rural sports; such as hunting, fishing and fowl-
jug, or dancing, and feasting as in other coun
tries. But their principal amusement, or rather
business, before the Spaniards came among
them, was, to rove about the country, and to
explore new scenes for fishing, fowling, and
hunting. They are in the habit of continually shifting
their abodes. They every Avhere find branches
of trees for constructing their huts ; and have
only to carry along with them some pottery and
earthen-ware. — Though every individual, or at
least every father of a family, considers himself
as perfectly free and independent of all govern
ment, the necessity of common defence has form
ed them into a kind of society. A number of fa
milies associate together, under the direction
and controul of a chief of their own chusing.
Their associations or communities are more or
less

59
less numerous, according to the genius and re
putation of the chief. And they AvithdraAv from
them as easily and readily as they enter into
them. On the whole, the number of AA'ajidering and
free Indians is daily diminished, and that of
those who, for the benefits of civilization, submit
to the restraints of regular government, in
creased.

FINIS.

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