--
* Though in this respect Charlevoix is not so credulous
as Padre Ruiz de Montoya and the older writers, he yet repeats
the story of the bird that cleans the alligator's teeth,
the magic virtues of the tapir's nails, and many others.
See Charlevoix, vol. i., bk. i., p. 27, Paris, 1756.
[The story of the bird that cleans the teeth of alligators
is very nearly true -- `Pluvianus aegyptius' has a symbiotic relationship
with crocodiles in parts of Africa, and similar relationships exist
throughout the natural world. -- A. L., 1998.]
--

Many other French writers, as Raynal, Montesquieu, and Voltaire,
have treated of Paraguay under Jesuit rule, but their writings are founded
on hearsay evidence. A German, Father Dobrizhoffer, stands alone.*
His delightful `History of the Abipones, an Equestrian People of Paraguay',
is perhaps the most charming book dealing with the subject.
A simple and easy style, a keen habit of observation,
long acquaintance with the country, a zeal for the conversion of the infidel,
not only to Christianity, but to a more comfortable mode of life,
to which he adds a faith sufficient to move the Cordillera of the Andes,
but at the same time restricted by a common-sense and veracity
not always observable in religious writers, render Dobrizhoffer
a personal friend after the perusal of his writings.

--
* Dobrizhoffer's book was written in Latin, and printed in Vienna in 1784
under the title of `Historia de Abiponibus', etc. A German translation
by Professor Keil was published at Pesth in the same year.