THE MOJOS INDIANS. 
177 
while, those destined to field-work betook themselves to the scones of 
their activity, under the guidance of their overseers, and carrying the 
image of a saint with them, while the artisans went to their shops with 
then capitanos or masters. To every one was appointed his daily task ; 
and. with the perfect di-illmg and schooling they had undergone, we 
cannot suppose that it was often necessary to apply compidsion. 
Yet compulsion was applied sometimes ; and the whole scheme of 
education was so arranged as to emphasize the necessity of submitting 
to law, and to chastisement as the atonement inevitably due to the com- 
mission of an offence. On this head there stdl survives a tradition in 
the Missions, according to vv^hich one of the Padres themselves (pro- 
bably one of the younger ones) had to submit to the discipline of a 
severe punishment, it may be for some imaginary crime. The coiu’se of 
reflection designed to be impressed upon the astonished Indians evidently 
was this : If this can hajjpen with the green wood — the clever, 
reasonable white man, communing directly with the Divinity : how, in 
the like case, can the dry wood murmur’ and rebel — the poor sinful 
Indian ? 
Dark stoi’ies also are afloat of rebellious chieftains imprisoned for 
life, who, in their enforced leisure, pondered ovmr their fruitless 
endeavoiu’s to cross the plans of the Society of Jesus. 
And what were these plans ? 
Dad they really the intention of founding an independent realm of 
Guaranis? Was it to be a refuge for them in the event of some storm 
sweeping them out of Europe ? They have been charged with 
designedly excluding the Spanish language from the Missions (which 
is the more striking, as with that exception they devoted tolerable 
attention to the efficienoy of their schooling), with the vnew of securiag 
to themselves the monopoly of direction ; and by this prudent measure, 
indeed, they rendered any instigation of the Indians by their enemies 
exceedingly difficult, if not altogether impossible. However, though 
they were well able to resist the royal decree of their expulsion, and to 
detach themselves and their domains from a State incapable of oj>posing 
them energetically (as did their mental cousin, the memorable Francia, 
in Paraguay), they delivered up theii- Eedncciones (which in Eio Grande 
do Sul, Corrientes, and Paraguay alone, are said to havm numbered 
100,000 souls) to the Commissary, who was attended only by a few 
horsemen and a couple of Franciscan monks, with a calmness and 
X 
