ISO A VOYAGE TO BookV 



pcrior of the missions, wlio is a dinercnt p'»rsoii 

 irom <lic superior of the Guaraiiies: and with the pro- 

 duce, a fresh stock of <i;oods is hiid in. The ])rinci- 

 pal intentioii of this is, that the Indians m:iy have 

 no occasion to leave their own country, in order to 

 be furnislied with necessaries ; and by tliis means are 

 kept from the contagion of Ihose vices, which they 

 would naturally contract in iheir intercourse with tire 

 inhabitants of other countries, where the depravity 

 of human nature is not corrected by such -good ex- 

 amples and la\vs. 



If the civil government of these towns be so ad- 

 mirably calculated for happiness, the ecclesiastical 

 government is still more so. Every town and vil- 

 lage has its particular priest, who in proportion to its 

 largeness, has an assistant or two of the same order. 

 'I hese priests, together with six boys who wait on 

 them, and also i^ing in the churches, form in every 

 village a kind of small college, where the hours are 

 under ihc same regulation, and the exercises succeed 

 tach other with the same formalities as in the great 

 colleges of cities. The most laborious part of iht-, 

 duty beiongiiigto the priest, is to visit personally the* 

 chácaras or plantations of the Indians; and. in this 

 they are remarkably sedulous, in order to prevent 

 the ill consequences of that slothful disposition so 

 natural ¿o the Guaranies ; wlio, were they not fre- 

 quently roused and stimulated by the presence ofth?: 

 priest, would abandon their work, or, at least, per- 

 form it in a very superficial manner. He also at- 

 tends at the public slaughter-house, where everyday 

 are killed some of the cattle; large herds of which 

 are k(;pt for the public use by the Indians. The flcfeh 

 of these beasts are dealt out by the priest, in lots pro- 

 portionable to the number of persons each family 

 consists of; so that every one has a suiTiciency u> 

 ^uj)ply the calls of nature, but nothing for waste. 

 He also visits the sick, to sec that they want for 



«-Othiiiii;-, 



