320 



TOPQGEAPHY. 



in restraining, by gentle means, a nation which had constantly 

 been the scourge of the province, on this very account, that 

 the inhabitants held the arm raised, not merely for their own 

 defence, but through motives of wrath and vengeance. These 

 Indians now blend with the songs of their past triumphs, en- 

 comiastic hymns to manifest their gratitude, and to record the 

 memory of those who have not only given them peace, but 

 have impressed on all sides the convi6lion, that it is not poli- 

 tic to break it. How flattering to the ears of the enlightened 

 Spaniards, of the monarch, and of all Europe, will be the 

 echo of the pacific strains the Chirihuano repeats, and the har- 

 monious concert with which they are answered, from the king- 

 dom of Chile, by the Araucanos, Pehuenches, and Wiliches, 

 who acknowledge that they are at this time indebted for equal 

 benefits, to their president Don Ambrosio Higgins ! Here our 

 imagination is exalted, and our pen can scarcely abstain from 

 enthusiasm ! Would that we could transmit to the public the 

 agitation of our spirit, and the vehement impulse of the divi- 

 nity which possesses us, to the end that it might view with 

 complacency the new episode we introduce, to inculcate the 

 sacred rights of man, the blessings of peace, the love the In- 

 dian claims from us, and the small share of merit which 

 attends the blood-stained triumph over men, untameable but 

 naked, who purchase their freedom at the dear price of living 

 in the rude forests, a prey to penury and want ! We now pro- 

 ceed to the chorographical description of the province of Chi- 

 chas y Tarija, that being our principal aim. 



Hitherto we have considered these two departments in the 

 same point of view, because they constitute one and the same 

 .government ; but in this sketch it is necessary to divide them 



topogra- 



