History of the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres; containing the most accurate details relative to the topography, history, commerce, population, government, &c. &c. of that valuable colony

Preface

^HE conquest of the important colony, which forms the subject of the present volume, was hailed as a most auspicious event, and excited in the public mind not only a desire to participate in the benefits that might be expected from it in a commercial point of view, but also a wish to be minutely acquainted with every particular relative to the extended regions to which it gives access. Having been engaged in extensive mercantile pursuits, in the course of which he had opportunities of acquiring much interesting information respecting the Spanish colonies in South America, the author conceived he could not better employ some leisure-time which presented itself to him, than in digesting those materials, and combining and arranging them with others already before the public, so as to form a complete and authentic account of those territories, a thorough acquaintance with which was deemed so desirable an object to the statesman, to the merchant, and to the man of letters. He hopes that he will be found to have executed the task he has imposed on himself with some degree of ability, and trusts that his errors of arrangement, or of style, will be forgiven, when he states that, since his undertaking the work, occupations of other kinds have crowded on him in unexpected succession; and that, though at a former period of his- life, his pursuits were of a literary turn, they have for several years past

PREFACE,

flowed in the channel of commerce, whence he has experienced a deficiency in facility of expression, and fears that he may also be found wanting in propriety of language.

With respect to the accuracy of his work, the author dares not pledge himself for the truth of every particular, where so many sources of various degrees of credibility have, of necessity, been resorted to ; but he has exercised his judgment in selecting and arranging them, so as confidently to assert, that what he has written he himself believes to be true. He will feel highly obliged by any communications, either in addition to, or in confirmation or refutation of, any facts stated by him, from such of his countrymen who may visit Buenos Ayres; and having the pleasure of knowing several commercial men who have proceeded thither, he trusts that from the communications he has been promised by them, he will be able to correct such errors into which he may have fallen, in the event of a subsequent edition of his work being called for.

There remains only now for him to express his gratitude for the liberal and friendly aid he has experienced in compiling this work, from gentlemen both of literary and commercial eminence, whose stores of intelligence have been accessible in a degree as flattering to his personal feelings, as it has been conducive to any degree of merit which his performance may be found to possess.

THE

HISTORY

OF

BUENOS AYRES.

Chap. I

Introduction. — Difficulties of acquiring a knowledge of the Spanish colonies, — Outline of the plan pur~ sued in this zvork.'

r jpHE importance and interest attached tb those extensive and wealthy territories, that are either actually possessed by, or claimed as appendages to, the crown of Spain, in America, have always been acknowledged ; whilst the want of authentic and accurate information respecting them, has been equally deplored by the man of letters, by the merchant, and by the statesman. The jealousy with which the government of Spain has endeavoured to lock up from the rest of the world every species of information relative to its transatlantic possessions, is well known. Robertson, whose indefatigability of research, as an historian, was equivalent to his abilities as a writer, com-

B

Difficulties of acquiring a knowledge plains, in the Preface to his History of America, of being foiled in his attempts to obtain from the archives of Spain those documents relative to her colonies, with the contents of which he had formed the most sanguine expectations of being able to enrich his work. The papers regarding America, which are deposited amongst the records of the Spanish monarchy in the archivo of Simancas, near ValladoIid 5 one hunded and twenty miles from the seat of government, are stated to be so numerous as to fill the largest apartment in the archivo, and to compose eight hundred and seventythree large bundles. Yet this treasure of historical and colonial knowledge is wholly inaccessible, and no admission into the archivo of Simancas is ever granted without a particular order from the king. Some years ago, however, the Spanish government seem to have relaxed, in some degree, from so much of their illiberal system as to have given access to these archives to Don Antonio Munoz, then occupied in compiling a work called an History of the New W orld. Of this only one volume was completed, and Munoz was interrupted in the prosecution of his Work ; which contains some strictures upon the colonial policy of Spain, by which, probably, he gave orTence to the council of the Indies. He was debarred from all further access to the necessary documents, and interdicted from publishing any more of his history. Munoz is since dead, and the undertaking has perished with him.

of the Spanish Colonies, 3

That this system of concealment, than which nothing can be more illiberal, still predominates in the Spanish councils, is proved by a recent instance. The celebrated navigator Malespina, who, from the years 1792 to 1795, was employed by Spain to explore the Pacific Ocean, and her colonies washed by its waves, was, soon after his return to Cadiz, arrested and thrown into prison, as was the padre Gil> an ecclesiastic of a liberal and enlightened mind, who had undertaken the compilation of the voyage. All the papers and drawings belonging to the expedition were seized, and the botanists and other men of science, who accompanied Malespina, received orders to suspend their labours. Though part of the narrative was actually printed, the impression was suppressed ; and the details of that interesting voyage are buried, as so many others have before been, amongst the dusty archives, and in the mouldy recesses of the Spanish chancery.

Notwithstanding, however, this superabundant caution, much has been communicated to the public from time to time, respecting the rich and fertile districts of Spanish America, though but imperfectly, at detached periods, and in isolated portions. Whilst, amidst the information thus detailed, the propensity of mankind to the marvellous has been amply gratified by the relation of countries of El Dorado, nations of Amazons, and tribes of Patagonians, the inventions, or exaggerations, of such travellers as have traversed

b 2 the interior, or visited the coasts, of South America.

To a nation like the British, eminent in commercial opulence, in colonial grandeur, and in maritime enterprize, and at a conjuncture when the eyes of every one is turned towards South America ; an account of the Spanish Dominions in that continent, divested of fable, and faithfully delineated, cannot but be acceptable. And though materials are at hand for a full description of the whole of the countries subjected to the banners of Castile in the other hemisphere, the recent brilliant acquisition by the British forces under General Beresford and Sir Home Popham of the very important settlement of Buenos Ay res, renders an account of the extensive viceroyalty to which it gives its name doubly desirable.

This volume, which is compiled from the best sources in various languages, and from manuscript and private information, in the possession of the author, is therefore directed to the consideration of that part of South America which, since the year 1773, has constituted a separate province of Spanish America, under the denomination of the Viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres.

But it is not sufficient to collect materials ; it is necessary likewise to give them an arrangement, by which distinct objects may be grouped in perspicuous continuity : and the following plan will be observed, in order to attempt the attainment of a method equally free from abrupt transition, and from confused obscurity: —

After a few preliminary observations respecting the aboriginal population of America, the sources whence it has been conjectured to be derived, and the physical peculiarities of that part of the globe ; an enumeration will be given of all the Spanish possessions, and their geographical and political divisions ; and the attention of the reader will be more particularly directed to that portion now under consideration. A brief notice of the first discovery of the river La Plata, will be followed by such accounts as have come down to us relative to the appearance, the government, the customs, and the propensities, of the Indians who were found in the country on its first occupation by the Spaniards. Their religion, their language, and their arts, will all pass in review; yet, as in a future part the same particulars, as relating to the unsubdued Indians, bordering upon the Spanish settlements, will come under consideration, the space to be devoted to the aboriginal inhabitants, whose customs, &c. may be supposed to be perpetuated amongst the tribes still existing, will be proportionably curtailed. When treating of these, some details respecting the gigantic race, supposed to inhabit the southern extremity of America, will not be found irrelevant ; and it will appear probable that a species of men of more than ordinary stature does certainly exist in those parts^ but that their size has been much exaggerated by the reports of those who have been either deceived by the warmth of their imaginations, or infected with

B 3 the desire, too prevalent amongst travellers, of deceiving others.

The grand features of the country will form the succeeding object of consideration. The length of course, the. impetuous currents, and the wide expanse, of the mighty rivers that water the interior, and unite to form the immense sestuary of La Plata, will be prominent objects. The boundless plains, with their singular lakes, their natural salt-pans, and interminable prospects of verdure and fertility ; the stupendous mountains which, towards the western side of the country, rise from gentle eminences into hills, and from hills into the loftiest mountains of the world \ with their precipices, their volcanos, their torrents, their mines, and their impenetrable forests, will be successively described ; and an account of the various climates, and diversity of soils, to be observed in these extensive regions, will close this chapter.

The natural productions occupy the next place. In the vegetable kingdom, nature has been most lavish to South America; and countless tribes of useful plants and trees, intermingled with a few of deleterious quality, rise, flourish, and decay, little known and less sought after. Of the cultivated articles, little will here be said ; as they will be reserved till they come to be considered as objects of agriculture, or materials for commerce. Of the indigenous animals, few are of a ferocious or noxious kind ; whilst those imported from the old continent have multiplied to an incalculable extent, and form one of the principal sources of the riches of Buenos Ayres ; which is testified by the immense quantity of hides annually exported from that emporium, and the acknowledged superiority of their quality above that of all other hides known in trade. The abundance of fish in the rivers, and on the sea-coasts, is a resource of moment ; and the facility with which the whale and seal fisheries may be carried on, is an object of considerable importance. Though there are no mines of gold or of silver in the immediate vicinity of Buenos Ayres, or of the river La Plata, yet the rich and celebrated province of Potosi, formerly a part of Peru, but, from being on the hither side of the mountains of Cordillera, latterly annexed to the jurisdiction of Buenos Ayres, will of course form part of the picture now offered to the public; and will tend to give some general idea of the wealthy territory to which it was formerly attached.

After having thus given a general account of the country, a short history will be entered into of the first discovery of the river La Plata, of its original settlers, and progressive conquerors; of the gradual extension of discovery and conquest by which the province of Buenos Ayres came at length to border upon the dominions which the valour and ferocity of Pizarro and his companions had gained for Spain upon the shores of the Great South Sea ; after this will follow a brief account

B 4

S Outline of the plan of the work.

of the rise, the progress, and the dissolution of the famous establishments of the Jesuits in Paraguay, forming an imperium in imperio^ unparalleled in the annals of the world. The historical account of the colony will be brought down to the present time, and concluded by a narrative of the late capture of it by the British.

The cities, the harbours, the forts, the settlements, and the missions scattered over the country, will be next described ; and proceeding from these to the plains, the agriculture both of the natives and of their Spanish masters, will be noticed, together with their arts and manufactures.

An entire chapter will be devoted to the important subject of commerce. The trade as carried on between Buenos Ayres and Spain ; that with Africa ; the contraband trade with the Portuguese in Brazil, and with the North Americans who frequent those seas ; and the interior commerce between Peru and Chili, and the river La Plata, will be detailed. The various articles that are suited for the consumption of the country, and those produced, or found there calculated for exportation, will be enumerated and described. Sketches will be given of some commercial adventures connected with the colony of Buenos Ayres, proposed to the enterprising spirit of British Merchants ; and some latent commercial advantages to be derived from this colony will be pointed out to the nation.

The Spanish colonial government, their civil and military establishments, their fiscal regulations, the revenues of the colony, &c. will next appear in rotation, K The state of society, the manners, the customs, and religious ceremonies, as well of the Spaniards, as of the Creoles, the Indians, the negroes, the mulattoes,themestices, and the infinite ramifications of colour and of cast, arising from the intermixture of these various races, will be followed by an account of those unsubdued Indians, who are occasionally allies or enemies of their European neighbours, and who rove over the trackless plains that extend from Paraguay to the straits of Magellan.

If the limits of the work will admit, it is intended next to introduce succinct accounts of such of the adjacent countries, as, though not included in the political denomination of the Viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, have, nevertheless, natural relations towards it, which make them objects of interest at the present time. Brazil, and the country long called Amazonia in the maps, in which the fabulous region of El Dorado was supposed to exist, on the north; Peru and Chili on the west; and the unexplored districts of Patagonia to the south ; with the Falkland islands and others, scattered in the Atlantic ocean, on the east; are those alluded to.

In conclusion, some general reflections will be entered into, as to the advantages to be derived to this country by the possession of Buenos Ayres ; of itsimportance both in peace and in war; of the general .policy or impolicy of the extension of colonial acquisition ; of the propriety of attempting further conquests in South America; and of the resets to be expected in a political, a philosophical, and a moral point of view, in case the Spanish empire is rent asunder, and their American possessions, either severed from the metropolitan state by a foreign force, or by internal insurrection, rendered subject to another European power, or raised into independent existence.

Chap. II

How America first became peopled — Physical peculiarities of that continent — Spanish dominions — their extent and geographical divisions — Buenos Aijres one of the most extensive and important.

^ A RIO US have been the theories and speculations, some wild and fanciful, some ingenious, and a few rational and plausible, which have been promulgated by the learned, respecting the peopling of America. Infidelity long and obstinately looked to the distinct race of human beings that were found in that sequestered portion of the globe, as a proof that the whole of mankind could not have descended, as we are taught by the Mosaic account of the creation, from one common stock.* It was

* Independent of revelation, and reverting solely to natural principles, nothing can be more convincing of the descent of all mankind from one pair, than the cogent and logical arguments of the Jate Sir William Jones, in his discourse on the origin and families of nations. That nature, of which simplicity appears a distinguishing attribute, does nothing in vain, is a maxim in philosophy, and against those who deny maxims we cannot dispute; but, it is vain and superfluous, to do by many means what may be done by fewer ; and this is another axiom received into courts of judicature from the schools of philosophers : we must not therefore, says our great Newton, admit more causes of natural things than those which are true, and sufficiently account for natural phenomena ; but, it is true that one pair, at least, of every living species must at first have been created', and

12 How America jirst became peopled.

the sheet-anchor of scepticism, as to this article of our belief; but it has lost its hold, and sin^e the great proximity of the two continents of Asia. and America, at their north-eastern and north-western extremities has been ascertained, multiplied proofs have arisen, that the latter was originally wholly, or for the greatest part, peopled from the former. It will be sufficient to enumerate some of the conjectures formed on this subject to be convinced that it would be a waste of time to employ arguments for their confutation. Some have contended that the Americans are descended from the Antediluvian inhabitants of the earth, and that the destructive deluge, of which Noah and his family are stated to be the sole survivors, did not extend to the western hemisphere, thus preposterously supposing rude, uncivilized tribes, scattered over an uncultivated wilderness, to be the most ancient race on the face of the earth. Some have supposed that America was originally united to the that one human pair was sufficient for the population of our globe in a period of no considerable length (on the very moderate supposition of lawyers and political arithmeticians, that every pair of ancestors left, on an average, two children, and each of them two more), is evident from the rapid increase of numbers in geometrical progression, so well known to those, who have ever taken the trouble to sum a series of as may terms as they suppose generations of men in two or three thousand years. It follows that the author of nature created but one pair of our specie!}', yet, had it not been, amongst other reasons, for the devastations which history has recorded of water and of fire, of war, famine, and pestilence, this earth would not now have had room for its multiplied inhabitants. "

How America first hecame peopled. Ijf

old continent* but severed from it, with all its in° habitants, animals, and productions, by some violent concussion of nature, an earthquake, or a de-* luge. Others have attributed the commencement of its population to the chance aberration of a vessel from the shores of Europe or of Africa, driven by the violence of an easterly wind upon the American coast. There is hardly any nation to which some antiquary has not attributed the honour of peopling America. The ten tribes of Israel, after they were carried into captivity *; the Canaanites, the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, the Greeks, the Scythians, in ancient times, are supposed to have settled in this western world. The Chinese, the Japanese, the Swedes, the Norwegians, the Welsh f , the Spaniards, are said to have sent colonies thither in later times, at different periods, and on various occasions. Though the respective claims of these people re&t upon no better foundation than the casual resemblance of some customs, and the supposed affinity between a few words in their different languages, much

* In some old Dutch maps even, the north-west part of America is made to stretch over very near to the land of Jesso, and is called., " Country of the ten tribes of the children of Israel."

f Though there is no degree of probability in the conjecture that the Welsh contributed to the population of America; yet some weight appears due to the testimonies from which a conclusion has been formed that the Welsh prince Madoc discovered that continent about the year 1 1 70. The tradition is popular, and has lately become the subject of an epic poem by Mr. Southey, of considerable^ but very unequal, merit.

H How America first became peopled.

erudition and more zeal have been employed to little purpose in defence of these various systems.

Late discoveries, however, having determined the actual distance between the two continents, to be no more than thirteen leagues, and that nearly in the middle of the strait which separates them, lie two islands from which both continents may be discerned, it requires no greater latitude of conjecture, or fancifulness of system, to attribute the population of America to the excursions or emigrations of the north-eastern tribes of Asia, than to deduce the original settlement of Britain from the opposite coasts of Gaul. Add to this, that the continents of Asia and America are usually joined together by ice during the winter ; and when we further consider the numerous resemblances that have been found to exist, not alone in the manners, or religious rites, (which are vague and imperfect data, from the natural similarity that will arise in the customs and institutions of mankind when placed in similar climates and situations), but also in the physical conformity, physiognomy, mental faculties, and languages, of the inhabitants of both continents at their respective extremities, the most sceptic must acknowledge that no source of equal probability can be resorted to, to account for the population of America, than that here pointed out. It has been stated that neither the annals nor the traditions of nations reach back to those remote ages, in which they took possession of the different countries in

How America first became peopled, 1 5

which they are now settled ; and that the people who occupy those regions in America which approach nearest to the ancient continent, are so remarkably rude, that it is altogether vain to search among them for such information as might discover the place whence they came, or the ancestors from whom they are descended. A recent intelligent traveller, however, who has, with persevering assiduity, penetrated to the Pacific Ocean, across the immense continent of North-west America, has collected and detailed the traditions received amongst the Chipewyans, one of the most numerous and most widely dispersed, of the wandering nations that inhabit that country, in which the most evident traces of an Asiatic origin, at an early period after the deluge, are discernable. " They believe that at the first, the globe was one vast and entire ocean, inhabited by no living creature, except a mighty bird, whose eyes were fire, whose glances were lightning, and the clapping of whose wings was thunder. On his descent to the ocean and touching it, the earth instantly arose, and remained on the surface of the waters. This omnipotent bird then called forth all the variety of animals from the earth.* This tradition proceeds to relate, that the great bird having finished his work, made an arrow, which was to be preserved with great

* Compare this with the Mosaic account of the creation : — " And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon the waters." Genesis, c. i. 2, et seq.

16 Hoti America Jirst became peopled,

care, and to remain untouched, but that theChipewyans were so devoid of understanding as to carrv it away, and the sacrilege so enraged the great bird, that he has never since appeared.* They have also a tradition that they originally came from another country, inhabited by very wicked people, and had traversed a great lake, which was narrow, shallow, and full of islands, where they had suffered great misery, it being always winter with ice and deep snow. They believe also that in ancient times their ancestors lived till their feet were worn out with walking and their throats with eating. f They describe a deluge when the waters spread over the whole earth, except the highest mountains, on the tops of which they preserved themselves." Introduction to Mackenzie 1 s Travels, p. CVIII.

But although it appears probable that the major part of the inhabitants of America are derived from Tartar, or other Asiatic, origin, it is no less obvious that an intercourse between our continent and America might be carried on with facility from the north-west extremities of Europe. As early as the ninth century the Norwegians discovered Greenland, and planted colonies there. Greenland is separated from America by a very narrow strait ; the Esquimaux of Labrador per-

* This appears to be an imperfect tradition of the original interdiction of the apple, and the infringement of it by man.

f A tradition that seems to denote a recollection of antediluvian longevity.

How America first became peopled. 17

fectly resemble the Greenlanders in their aspect, dress, and mode of living; and a Moravian missionary, well acquainted with the language of Greenland, having visited the country of the Esquimaux, found, to his astonishment, that they spoke the same language with the Greenlanders. Thouo-h it is thus therefore to be conceded that the Esquimaux are, in all probability, descendants of the northern Europeans, yet, as they are the only people in America who bear any resemblance, either in their aspect or character, to their supposed progenitors, it is to them only that that ancestry can be ascribed. There is such a striking similarity amongst all the other inhabitants of America, from the southern confines of Labrador to Cape Horn, in their corporeal forms, and their mental qualities, that, notwithstanding the varieties occasioned by the influence of climate or the unequal progress of improvement, they must be pronounced to be descended from one stock. It is farther remarkable, that in every peculiarity which characterises the Americans, they have some resemblance to the tribes scattered over the north-east of Asia, but almost none to the nations settled in the northern parts of Europe. The Asiatic emigrants seem therefore to have dispersed in every. direction, and to have spread themselves gradually over the whole of America. This account of the progress of its population coincides also with the traditions of the Mexicans concerning their own origin. According to them, their

C

IS Physical peculiarities of America. -

ancestors came from a remote country, situated to the north-wet t of Mexico, They point out the various stations as they advanced from this into the interior provinces,- and it is precisely the same route which they must have pursued if they had been emigrants from Asia. In describing the appearance of their progenitors, their manners and habits of life at that period exactly delineate those of the rude Tartars, from whom they are here supposed to have sprung*-

Leaving, however, this subject of conjecture and of controversy, the physical peculiarities of the new continent next attract our attention. Nature seems here to have carried on her operations upon a larger scale, and with a bolder hand. The mountains in America are much superior in height to those in the other divisions of the globe. The stupendous ridge of the Andes, no less remarkable for extent than elevation, rises, in different places, more than one third above the pike of Teneriffe, the highest land in the ancient hemisphere. — The rivers,

to whose dread expanse

Continuous depth, and wondrous length of course Our floods are rills,

defy all comparison with the streams of the anfeksr continent. The Missisippi and St. Lawrence^ in trie northern, and the Maragnon, or Amazon,. >the Oronoco, and the Plata, in the southern portions of the new world, flow in such spacious channels, that, long before they feel the influence

Physical peculiarities of America* 19

of the tide, they resemble arms of the sea, rather than rivers of fresh water.

The new world is of a form extremely favourable to commercial intercourse, and possesses the same advantages for maritime communication as * the other hemisphere, without the intervening inconvenience of solid masses of continent unbroken by arms of the sea, and with few navigable rivers, such as present themselves in the immense peninsula of Africa, and the extended regions of Tartary and Siberia. The Gulph of Mexico may be considered as the counterpart of the Mediterranean, opening a maritime commerce with all the fertile countries by which it is encircled ; the West-India islands are inferior in number, in magnitude, and in value, only to those in the Indian Archipelago ; and if ever the progress of culture and of population should mitigate the extreme rigour of the climate in the more northern districts of America, Hudson^ Bay, and its extensive inlets, may become as conducive to commercial intercourse in that quarter of the globe as the Baltic is in Europe. But in the facilities for interior water-communication, both the northern and the southern portions of America have no parallel in the other hemisphere* The chain of Jakes and navigable rivers in North America have already been made subservient to an extended commerce. The interior parts of South America, which is encompassed on every side by the sea, except one narrow neck which divides the Atlantic