The same unconquerable inveteracy against Euro peans prevails among the numerous independent nations which rove over the plains of Chaco. They are in general of a robust and lofty stature, are immoderately addicted to chica, and often terminate their carousings by sanguinary quarrels. War and pillage is their only occupation. They are excellent horsemen, and their principal weapon is a wooden javelin with a barbed point made of deer's horn, which they use with great strength and dexterity. They take off the scalps from their enemies, and display them at their entertainments, as memorials of their victory. North of Chaco are the Chiquitos, who are by far the most civilized and indus trious nation of independent Indians. They sow maize and rice, and plant sugar canes, tobacco, and cotton. The dress both of men and women, consists simply of a kind of cotton shirt, and both wear the hair long, by way of ornament. They are brave, and dextrous in war, and treat their prisoners with great humanity, adopting them into their families, and giving them their daughters in marriage. Drunkenness, however, is their ruling passion, to which they are habituated from their infancy ; and from the great heat and of the climate, they are subject to several dangerous diseases, which often appear among them like a pes tilence.
The Moxos are a numerous nation, extending towards the north west. They imbue the points ..)f their arrows with the most active vegetable poisons, and sell their prisoners taken in war for slaves. A barbarousprac tice prevails among them, young children with their dead mother, as no other woman can be found to take charge of them ; and when twins arc born, one of them is always destroyed. They are more jealous of the honour of their wives, than any of the other American nations ; and with them adultery is often punished with death. Among the ,Ianoa tribes, the same custom prevails of poisoning their weapons ; and when a male child is born with distorted limbs, or any other remarkable defect, he is instantly deprived of life. They cultivate a kind of root called yuea, of which they make their principal beverage, as they seldom taste water ; which, in consequence of the heat, and of the innumerable morasses, is of a noxious quality. They also raise cotton for the manufacture of their garments. Their towns are generally built against the side of a hill, in the form of a half moon, and are fortified with con siderable art.
The unsubdued Indians who dwell along the frontiers of Tucuman and Chili, and south of the provinces of Cuyo and Buenos Ayres, go under the general denomina tion of Aloluches and Puddles. These, however, are divided into a variety of independent tribes, concerning which our information is yet very defective. The Pampas are the most powerful, and best known to Euro peans. They inhabit the immense plains which stretch between the Rio de la Plata and the Chilian Cordillera, and long disputed, with admirable constancy and valour, the first establishment of a colony at Buenos Ayres. They compelled the Spaniards to abandon, for a time, their intended settlement ; and though this was after wards accomplished, and many fierce and bloody wars were the consequence of it, yet they have still maintain ed their independence. They are now at peace, and
carry on a kind of commercial intercourse with the inhabitants of Buenos Ayres. They bring hides and ostrich feathers, which they exchange for brandy, Para guay tea, sugar, spurs, knives, &c ; and their caciques sometimes pay a visit to the viceroy, who receives them with kindness, and generally dismisses them with a small present. The men seldom wear any covering, except when they come to visit the Spanish settle ments ; but the women are fond of ornaments. They have necklaces and ear rings, and a great profusion of jewels, which, however, are seldom of any value, and their ponchos are sometimes studded all over with thin circular pieces of copper, of about four inches in diameter.
Much has been said about the religion of the Ameri can Indians, but nothing is known with certainty on this point. Their languages have so little affinity to those of Europeans, that it is almost impossible to express, by any letters, their words and sounds ; and equally difficult to define, with any degree of exactness, their absurd and incongruous ideas. For information on this subject, however, we may refer our readers to Wit cocke's history of this viceroyalty ; and for a more par ticular account of the manners, customs, &c. of the independent Indians, we refer to Azara, who lived several years among some of these nations, and who was an eye-witness of many of the circumstances which he describ.-s. In his Travels in South America, will also be found much valuable information respecting the natural histcry and statistics of this country.
We shall now proceed to give a short narrative of the discovery and conquest of the viceroyalty, with a hasty sketch of its modern history.
The accidental discovery of Brasil by the Portuguese Admiral, Cabral, on his way to the East Indies, in 1500, was the first circumstance which led to the exploration of the South American continent. In the year, Americus Vespucius coasted along its eastern shore as far as the 52d degree of south latitude ; but was compelled, by the coldness and tempestuousness of the weather, to return to Portugal, without making any discovery of importance. In 1516, Juan Dias de Solis, grand pilot of Castile, who had been entrusted, by the court of Spain, with an expedition, consisting of three vessels, for continuing the discovery of Brasil, first entered the Rio de la Plata, to which he gave his own name. Fearful, however, of venturing far up the river with his squadron, on account of the difficulty and danger of the navigation, he sailed along its northern coast in his long-boat ; and discovering some savages on the beach, who, by their gestures and signs, seemed to invite him on shore, he imprudently landed with a few men, and without taking any precautions for his safety. Ile and his followers were immediately massacred and devoured by the Indians, within sight or their com panions, who remained in the boat, hut who were unable to afford them any assistance. The expedition returned to Spain, and this discovery was for some years neglect ed or forgotten.