November. !n the neighbourhood, are kept clean, inflrufted, and have every necef-
»— v ' fery care taken o f them ; and in return for thefe advantages they mull
fubmit to certain regulations; amongft which, they are not fuffered to gp
out o f the interior fquare in the day time without permiffion j are never
to fleep out o f it at night; and to prevent elopements, this fquare has no
communication with the country but by one common door, which the
fathers themfelves take care of, and fee that it is well fecured every
evening, as alfo the apartments o f the women, who generally retire immediately
after fupper.
I f I am corre&ly informed by the different Spanifh gentlemen with
whom I converfed on this fubjeft, the uniform, mild, and kind-hearted
difpofition of this religious order, has never failed to attach to their in-
tereft the affeftions o f the natives, wherever they have fat down amongft
them ; this is a very happy cireumftance, for their fituation otherwife
would be exceflively precarious; as they are protected only by five foi-
diers who refide under the dire&ions o f a corporal, in the buildings o f
the million at fome diftance on the other fide o f the church.
The eftabhlhment muft certainly be confidered as liable to feme danger.
Should thefe children o f nature be ever induced to aa an ungrateful
and treacherous part, they might eafily conceal fufficient weapons
to effea any evil purpofe. There are only three fathers ; thefe live
by themfelves, and fhould any attempt be made upon them at night, the
Very means they have adopted for their fecurity might deprive them o f
any afliftance from the guard until it might be too late; and individually,
they could make but little refiftanee. Should a confpiraey for
their deftruSion take place, the miflion would foon fall, and there
would be little doubt o f the confpirators being joined by the Indians
of the village, which is in the vicinity o f the miffion, and was faid to
contain fix hundred perfons ; but on vifiting it, I confidered their number
greatly over-rated. The major part o f them, I underftood, were
converted to the Roman Catholic perfuafion; but I was afttinilhed to
oblerve how few advantages had attended their converfion.
They feemed to have treated with the mod perfeft indifference the
precepts, and laborious example, o f their truly worthy and benevolent
paftors;
paftors; whole objefil has been to allure them from their life of indolence, 1Wand
raife in them a fpirit of emulous induftry; which, by fecuring to '
them plenty of food and the common conveniences o f life, would necef-
farily augment their comforts, and encourage them to feek and embrace
the bleffings of civilized fociety. Deaf to the important leffons, and infen-
fible o f the promifed advantages, they ftill remained in the mod abjeft ftate
o f uneivilization; and if we except the inhabitants o f Terra del Fuego,
and thofe o f Van Dieman’s land, they are certainly a race of the moll mi-
ferable beings I ever faw, pofleffing the faculty of human reafon. Their
perfons, generally fpeaking, were under the middle fize, and very ill made;
their faces ugly, prefenting a dull, heavy, and ftupid countenance, devoid
of fenfibility or the leaft expreffion. One of their greateft averfions is
cleanlinefs, both in their perfons and habitations ; which, after the falhion
of their forefathers, were ftill without the mod trivial improvement.
Their houfes were of a conical form, about fix or leven feet in diameter
at their bafe (which is the ground), and are conftrufted by a number
o f ftakes, chiefly of the willow tribe, which are driven erect into the
earth in a circular manner, the upper ends of which being fmall and
pliable are brought nearly to join at the top, in the center of the circle;
and thefe being feeurely fattened, give the upper part or roof fomewhat
o f a flattilh appearance. Thinner twigs of the like fpecies are horizontally
interwoven between the uprights, forming a piece of balket work
about ten or twelve feet high ; at the top a fmall aperture is left, which
allows the fmoke of the fire made in the center of the hut to efcape,
and admits mod of the light they receive: the entrance is by a fmall hole
clofe to the ground, through which with difficulty one perfon at a time
can gain admittance. The whole is covered over with a thick thatch of
dried graft and rulhes.
Thefe miferable habitations, each of which was allotted for the refi-
denee of a whole family, were erefled with fome degree o f uniformity,
about three or four feet afunder, in ftrait rows, leaving lanes or paflages
at right angles between them; but thefe were fo abominably infefted
with every kind of filth and naftinefs, as to be rendered not lefs offenfive
than degrading to the human fpecies.
2 Clofe