CHAP. VII.PROVINCE OF URUGUAY.
Foundation of Aldeias, called Missions, by the Spanish Jesuits for the Tappe Indians—Flourish till the Expulsion of that Sect—Subsequent Decay—War between the Spaniards and Portuguese—Conquest of the Seven Missions by the latter Power in 1801—Governor sent—Boundaries—Mountains—Rivers—Phytology—Zoology—Names and Population of the Seven Missions at their Conquest.
Foundation of Aldeias, called Missions, by the Spanish Jesuits for the Tappe Indians—Flourish till the Expulsion of that Sect—Subsequent Decay—War between the Spaniards and Portuguese—Conquest of the Seven Missions by the latter Power in 1801—Governor sent—Boundaries—Mountains—Rivers—Phytology—Zoology—Names and Population of the Seven Missions at their Conquest.
In the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Spanish Jesuits entered the territory to the east of the river Uruguay, and there founded seven large villages, calledreduçōes, for the habitation of various hordes of Tappes, the possessors of the country, in order the better to civilize and bring them to Christianity, by the same means as were practised with those of the Paranna. It has been already stated, that, in the treaty of limits of 1750, the exchange of these missions for Colonia do Sacramento was agreed upon by their Faithful and Catholic Majesties; and also, that the Jesuits frustrated its execution in the first instance, and that, on the sudden return to Rio de Janeiro, of Gomes Freyre d’Andrade, in 1756, things soon reverted to their anterior state.
Thesereduçōes, which made a part of the spiritual Jesuitical kingdom, flourished to the period of the expulsion of their founders, when they began to decay, and thirty-four years of deterioration, by imperceptible degrees, could not have transformed the whole more effectually; in which state they were, in effect, at the beginning of the present century, when the declaration of war between the two crowns in Europe, caused the arming of the inhabitants of the capitania of Rio Grande de St. Pedro, who, since the peace of 1777, had lived in tranquillity.
Almost at the same time that the Portuguese troops of the town of St. Pedro passed the river of St. Gonçalo, in 1801, against the Spanish posts, in the vicinity of the western margin of the lake of Patos, a corps of Portuguesemilitia and deserters, attracted by the amnesty, were put in motion upon the frontiers of the river Pardo; amongst the latter of which appeared Joze Borges do Canto, a native of the country, and who had deserted from a regiment of dragoons. He immediately offered to go and commence hostilities in the Spanish territories, on being granted some comrades and the necessary arms. Ammunition only was conceded to him, with the liberty of assembling such people together as would join his standard. Having formed a battalion of forty men, armed at their own expense, he marched direct to the missions of Uruguay, and, encountering on the road a known Indian, who was retiring discontented from the Spaniards, he received from him the certain intelligence that the Indians, on hearing of the war, would not hesitate to subject themselves to the crown of Portugal, as almost all the Indian population lived unhappily under their present government. Canto persuaded the Indian to return, and announce to his compatriots the opportunity which was now presented of freeing themselves from the Spanish yoke, and of passing under the protection of the Faithful Crown, and to inform them, that he would afford all necessary assistance. The Indian, convinced of this, accompanied them to within sight of St. Miguel, where there was a lieutenant-colonel, commanding a trench which he had formed in apprehension of an attack from the Portuguese.
Having arrived thus far at day-break, Canto sent the Indian forward by a bye-way, with orders to bring him what information he could, to a certain situation, whither he should continue to march. As the place was very near to the trench, Canto and his party were discovered by the sentinel, who called out to arms. Under these circumstances, Canto saw himself obliged to advance without order against the entrenched, who were in greater disorder; and after discharging a few shots they abandoned the fortification, retiring to the town, where the commandant was, and leaving this intrepid squadron masters of the trench, with ten pieces of artillery.
The commandant supposing himself to be attacked by a great number of another class of combatants, offered a capitulation to the chief of the conquerors, who willingly conceded almost all that was asked, in order that the Spaniards might leave the country before a reinforcement arrived, or before they knew that it was only forty adventurers, without any corps of reserve, from whom they had fled. The commandant was a good deal perplexed, at the execution of the articles of capitulation, when Canto, being asked for hisdegree of rank, replied that he was the lowest soldier in the Portuguese army. At this time the Indians of the place had already united with the Portuguese, and the adjustment of the treaty was indispensable.
The Spaniards on retiring experienced the misfortune of falling into the hands of a similar party, who took them prisoners, and all that was conceded to them, against which the commandant protested, and demanded the fulfilment of the capitulation. The Spanish officer called upon Canto for an adjustment, who replied, that he could not interfere, inasmuch as the party were not subordinate to him, but that he would report the affair to the governor of Rio Grande, and all that he ordered should be executed; the party in the mean time remaining prisoners.
The governor, on receiving the account, ordered Canto to fulfil the capitulation, excepting the article that gave up the artillery; which, he said, ought to belong to his Royal Highness, and to whom he had given a detail of Canto’s valorous deeds, in order that he might be rewarded. In the mean time he made him captain of a new company of militia; and the person who brought the standard a lieutenant, giving him too the liberty of naming for ensign one of his brave companions.
As soon as the people of the other missions had witnessed the comportment of Canto towards the first that had submitted to him, almost all hastened to acknowledge the Faithful Crown. The happy conqueror released them from some public contributions, which were the most heavy upon them, and, freely giving up to them the fruits of their labour, received the name of Liberator.
Shortly after the governor sent Major Joaquim Felis to govern the conquest, with orders to confer with Canto, upon the state of affairs. Having delivered the new province to the commandant, and received a good reinforcement of regular troops, with some militia and volunteers from the serra above, he obtained permission of the governor to pass to the other side of the Uruguay; for which purpose some barks of skins were made according to the fashion of the country.
In the night of the 1st of November, eighty men, chosen from the army, passed the river, amongst whom figured some grenadiers of the regiment of Estremoz; and whose chief was a brave ensign, well known by his surname of Padilha. Part of them took up a position in a wood; others proceeded a little way up the river, keeping near its banks, in order to give more prompt succour to the first on the signal of attack, which began in the morning, against thosewho first entered the plain. The assailants, together with thirty Spaniards, who came to their succour, were put to flight, but immediately returned in larger numbers, with three field pieces, with which they laboured to open out both their wings. However, the Portuguese did not give them time for a second discharge, but falling intrepidly upon them, they put them to the rout, taking their cannon, nine prisoners, and leaving fifteen dead upon the field.
On the 23d of the same month, almost at midnight, a cannon was discharged in the Passo dos Barros, which is about three leagues below St. Borja, where it was heard; and from whence afterwards arrived an Indian, living in that neighbourhood, with information to the Portuguese, that the Spaniards were stationed in the woods, near the same pass. They remained the rest of the night under arms. The following morning Captain Joze Borges do Canto put himself in march for this point, with his company and some others, amounting to one hundred and ten men; and finding the Spaniards entrenched in the woods on the banks of the river, and not discovering any advantageous mode of attacking them, sent his lieutenant with thirty men dressed in white according to the Indian fashion, which marching at a great distance from the Spaniards, and having gained their rear, began firing upon them. The first discharges were the signal for the captain to invest the fortification, which was abandoned without any resistance, the Spaniards leaving seventy-four prisoners.
Such was the success of the campaign, on the part of the Portuguese, in this district, and the mode by which the Portuguese crown possessed itself of the province of the Seven Missions, which made a part of that of Rio Grande de St. Pedro, until a governor was named to it. It is confined on the north by that of St. Paulo; on the west by that of Paranna; and on the south and east by the province of Rio Grande de St. Pedro.
Mountains.—St. Martinho, the most elevated portion of the serra, which serves for its eastern limits, and the mountain of St. Luiz, in the vicinity of the town of its name, are the most remarkable mountains.
Rivers.—Besides the Uruguay and Ibicui, already mentioned, is to be remarked the Hyjuhy, which originates at the base of the mountain of St. Martinho, traverses the province from east to west, empties itself into the Uruguay in front of Assumption, and a few leagues to the north of St. Nicolau, having passed near St. Angelo, a little below which the Hyjuhy-mirim enters it on the left side.
The Toropy rises in the same cordillera and falls into the Ibicui. The Jaquariwaters a considerable portion of this province, and falls into the Ibicui four or five leagues below the Forquilha. The Hibipita enters the Ibicui also twenty leagues below the preceding.
The Piratini forms itself in the vicinity of the said serra, passes a short distance from St. Miguel, and runs into the Uruguay a little below St. Nicolau.
Phytology.—The Brazilian pine and the cedar are not numerous. The cotton tree, thematte, and mandioca, also Indian corn, wheat, potatoes, with other edible roots, are cultivated; likewise, gourds, water-melons, pine-apples, and divers hortulans; and, among fruit trees, the orange,pitangua, and peach.
Zoology.—The animals, both domestic and wild, are the same as those of the adjoining provinces.
The Tappes are a horde of Guaranis, which separated from the latter in former times, and lived for a long period upon the banks of the higher Paranna, where they were at times invaded by the others. It is, however, certain that they occupied the southern part of this province when the Jesuits began to have a knowledge of them. They were esteemed a people, not only less vicious than all other tribes in South America, but the best disposed to receive the evangelical law, most constant after having embraced it, and the best adapted to honour Christianity. These people lived divided into various villages, of which the most populous had the name of the nation. It is not known what were the number of those villages, which the Jesuits reduced to seven; and on this account were denominatedreduçōes, or reductions, also missions. The names of these seven celebrated missions, are the following, with the number of inhabitants in each at the period of their conquest by the Portuguese in 1801:—
St. Francisco de Borja, which is the most southern, is two miles distant from the Uruguay, and five leagues from the confluence of Ibicui. It sufferedmuch by an invasion from the Minuanos, a little before changing its dominion. It has many white people.
St. Miguel, situated twenty-five leagues distant from the Uruguay, and thirty east-north-east from St. Borja, is the most easterly, and is considered the capital of the province. A great portion of it was consumed by fire, which its inhabitants set to it in 1756, when they saw the combined armies arriving in order to deliver the province up to the Portuguese crown.
St. Joam is three leagues north of St. Miguel. Its mother church is in the centre of a vast square. In the time of its prosperity it had forty streets.
St. Angelo, which is the most northerly, is six leagues to the north of St. Joam.
St. Nicolau, formerly capital of the various reductions upon the right bank of the Uruguay, is situated near that river and a small brook which falls into the Paratini.
St. Lourenço is six leagues to the west of St. Miguel.
St. Luiz is upon the road which goes from St. Lourenço to St. Nicolau, nine leagues to the east of the latter place, and ten to the west of the former. All these reductions, otherwise missions, and which we ought to call towns, as they have a senate, took the name of the patron of their mother churches. The whole were and yet are upon the same plan, the houses of earth, with straight streets, and verandas on the sides, which protect them against the rain and heat, similar to the missions of the Paranna, with which in equal steps they reached a flourishing condition, and fell with them into a state of decay.
Each place has its peculiar Guaranitic dialect, differing little from the others. Many of these Indians understand the Spanish and Portuguese, and express themselves tolerably well in both languages. They exercise almost all the requisite manual occupations and various mechanical arts with intelligence; likewise manufacture coarse woollens and cottons. Matte is the only article of exportation.
In each mission, when governed by the Jesuits, there was a school for reading, writing, and speaking the Spanish language by royal order. There were many Indians who could read Spanish books which they did not understand, as the masters or curates artfully refrained from uttering a word to them, but in Guaranitic. In consequence of which, these crafty preceptors were charged to fulfil the royal determination, by a decree of 1743, but which decree had not the desired effect.