114 



PROVINCE OF RIO GRANDE DO SUL. 



hae beiaere Mburubichaie 

 ta oman6 onga ape. 



A 4 de 

 Marzo p* oya pou ca 

 Angaco Cruz mtu D" 

 Miguel Moyri sold' 

 repa u{>e 



A little to the southward, in the plains of the Yapogua^A, the commissioners? 

 met with a field or space enclosed with wood capable of containing forty thou- 

 sand oxen. 



The certainty of war breaking out in 1762, having been received at Buenos 

 Ayres, the governor, Don Pedro Cevalhos, unexpectedly ordered a furious 

 attack upon Colonia. Vincente da Fonseca, its governor, after a vigorous^ 

 resistance of twenty-five days, seeing the horrible devastation which a pro* 

 digious discharge of artillery had caused, capitulated, and marched out with 

 his garrison on the 29th October. Two ships of war, with other smaller vessels 

 were sent from Rio de Janeiro, to reinforce the place ; and, on finding that it 

 had surrendered, they unavailingly endeavoured to regain it; and, in the 

 ardour of battle, one of their ships of war was burned. Cevalhos now pro- 

 ceeded against the forts of St. Mignel, St. Theresa, and Rio Grande de St. 

 Pedro, which surrendered in consequence of not having adequate force for 

 their protection. Little care had been taken for the security of this fine country 

 by the inhabitants. After reducing also a fortification on the southern part of 

 the peninsula, the Spaniards marched sixteen hundred men to the west of the 

 lake of Patos, against the fort of Rio Pardo. This corps fortified itself vdth 

 seven pieces of artillery by the side of a wood, in the vicinity of the pass of 

 Jacuhy, and waited for reinforcements. Intelligence being received of this 

 circumstance at the fort of Rio Pardo, a company of dragoons, with all the 

 Paulistas that could be assembled, making in all twelve hundred and thirty 

 men, left the fort with a view of cutting off the march of the Spaniards. Find- 

 ing, however, that their only mode of attack was from that side of the wood 

 which did not afford any transit for cavalry, they spent several days in opening 

 a narrow pathway through it. A passage being opened, and favoured by the 

 light of the moon, they fell unexpectedly upon the encampment, and threw it 

 into disorder. The Spaniards retired precipitately, with much loss in ammu- 

 nition, killed, and prisoners. 



The peace of 1763 put an end to the campaign. Cevalhos, in pursuance of 

 orders he received, was to deliver Colonia to Pedro de Sarmento, now 



