642 ULLOA's voyage to south AMERICA, 



infed a whole country. And who could pretend to fay, that, if free admiffion were 

 allowed to foreigners, there might not come in, among a multitude of virtuous, one 

 of fuch peftilent difpofidons ? Who can fay that he might not be even the very 

 firfl ? Hence it is that the Jefuits have inflexibly adhered to the maxim of not admitting 

 any foreigners among them ; and in this they are certainly juftified by the melancholy 

 example of the other miflions of Peru, whofe decline from their former happinefs and 

 piety is the effed of an open intercourfe. 



Though in the feveral parts of Paraguay, where the miflions have been always 

 fettled, there are no mines of gold and filver ; feveral are to be found in fome adjacent 

 countries under the dominion of the King of Spain ; but the Portuguefe reap the whole 

 benefit of them : for having encroached as far as the lake Xarayes, near which, about 

 twenty years ago, a rich mine of gold was difcovered, they, without any other right than 

 pofTeffion, turned it to their own ufe ; the miniftry in Spain, in confideration of the har- 

 mony fubfifting between the two nations, and their joint intereft, forbearing to make 

 ufe of apy forcible methods. 



V. Biftioprick of the Audience of Charcas. — Buenos Ayres» 

 The ecclefiaftical jurifdi£tion of the bifhop of Buenos Ayres extends to all the coun- 

 tries under the temporal government of the fame name ; and this begins on the oriental 

 coaft of that part of America, and extends weflward as far as Tucuman ; on the north it 

 terminates on Paraguay, and is bounded towards the fouth by the land of Magellan. 

 Its countries are watered by the great river De la Plata, the difcovery of which was 

 owing to Juan Dias de Solis, who, in 1 5 1 5, having failed from Spain with two veflels to 

 make difcoveries, arrived at the mouth of this river, and took pofleflion of it in the name 

 of the King of Spain. But being unhappily deluded by the figns of joy and friendfhip 

 made by the Indians, he landed, and was immediately killed, together with his few at- 

 tendants. The fame voyage was repeated in 1526, under Sebaftian Cabot, who, enter- 

 ing the river, difcovered an ifland, which he called St. Gabriel ; and advancing further, 

 came to another river, which emptied itfelf into that of La Plata ; to this he gave the 

 name of St. Salvador, caufmg his fleet to enter the river, and there difembark their 

 troops. Here he built a fort, and leaving in it a part of his men, he failed above two 

 hundred leagues up the river Parana, difcovering alfo that of Paraguay. Cabot, having 

 purchafed fome ingots of filver from the Indians he met with, and particularly from the 

 Guaranies, who brought the metal from the other parts of Peru, imagined that they 

 had found it in the neighbourhood of the river, and thence called the river Rio de la 

 Plata, or Silver River, which has fuperfeded that of Solis, as it was before called from 

 its firft difcoverer, whofe memory is fl^ill prelerved by the little river Solis, about feven 

 or eight leagues wefl: of Maldonado bay. 



The capital of this government is called Nuefl:ra Senora de Buenos Ayres. It was 

 founded in the year 1535 by Don Pedro de Mendoza, purfuant to his orders, which 

 alfo appointed him governor. He chofe for it a place called Cape Blanco, on the fouth 

 fide of Rio de la Plata, clofe by a fmall river. Its latitude, according to Father Feville, 

 is 34*^ 34' 38" S. He gave it the name of Buenos Ayres, on account of the extreme fa- 

 lubrity ojF the air. The city is built on a large plain, gently rifmg from the little river. 

 It is far from being fmall, having at leaft three thoufand houfes, inhabited by Spaniards 

 and different cafl:s. Like moft: towns fituated on rivers, its breadth is not proportional 

 to its length. The ftreets are, however, fliraight, and of a proper breadth. The prin- 

 cipal fquare is very large, and built near the little river ; the front anfwering to it being 

 a caftle, where the governor conftantly refides ; and, with the other forts, has a garrifon 



of a 



