Chap. Vill. A N T I E N T M E T A P H Y S I C S. S9 



well attefted. In the firft place, they had the greateft difficulty to 

 get accefs to feme of thefe nations, which never had been conquered 

 by the Spainards, and were hardly known to them. For this pur- 

 pofe, they were obliged to travel through pathlefs deferts for hun- 

 dreds of miles, and to cut their way with axes through forefts other- 

 wife unpenetrable even by foot pafTengers. And, when they came 

 among them, they iiad their language to learn, which was very dif- 

 ferent in the different nations. Then they had their Sorcerers and 

 Magicians to encounter, v. ho would very naturally oppofe fuch an 

 innovation in the religion of the country, as the Jefuits propofed to 

 make. But their greateft obftacle of all was the hatred of thofe 

 nations to the Spainards, who had made flaves of {q many of them, 

 after converting them to chriftianity, and who they fuppofed in- 

 tended to make flaves of them all when they were converted. It was 

 this chiefly which raifed the fpirit of the people againft them, who, 

 headed by their Caciques, perfecuted the Jefuits wherever they could 

 find them, and beftowed upon many of them, to the number of a- 

 bove 30, as Muratori fays, (more than a third I believe of all thofe 

 who were employed in thofe miffionsj, the crown of martyrdom, 

 which they appeared to defire rather than to fhun; and one of them, 

 mentioned by Charlevoix, of the name of Lizardi, was in a tranfport 

 of joy upon the hopes he had of ending his life in that way, and 

 which accordingly happened *. 



A greater obftacle I believe to the fuccefs of the Jefuits than any 

 I have mentioned, was the oppofition of the Spanifti Noblemen, 

 who governed in South America certain diftricts called Commande- 

 ries, in which they made thofe Indians, converted to chriftianity, ferve 

 them as flaves : Whereas the Jefuits made all thofe of their miflions, 

 or Redudions as they called them, free men as well as chriftlans, 

 knowing fo much of the difpofition of t"he Indians, that if they were 

 Vol. IV. M to 



• Charlevoix, vol. Ill, p. i68. 



