as well as the gradual abandonment of their missions there,
towards the second half of the eighteenth century.

Certain it is that at various places in the Chaco, in the quaint old maps
the Jesuits have left us, one reads `Mission de Santa Cruz de los Vilelas',
`Mission de la Concepcion de los Frontones', and others; but much
more frequently their maps are studded with crosses, and some such legend
as `Hic occisi sunt PP. Antonius Salinus et Petrus Ortiz Zarate'.*
It was only when the Jesuits encountered the more peaceful Guaranis
that they met with real success.

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* See the curious map contained in the now rare work of P. Pedro Lozano,
entitled, `Descripcion Chorographica . . . del Gran Chaco, Gualamba', etc.
Also in the interesting collection of old maps published in 1872 at Madrid
by Francisco Javier Brabo.
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What was the nature of their success, how durable it was,
what were the reasons which caused the expulsion of the order from America,
and especially from Paraguay, and what has been the result upon
the remainder of the Indians, it is my object to endeavour to explain.

A long residence in the river Plate, together with two visits to Paraguay,
in one of which I saw almost all the remnants of the Paraguayan missions
and a few of those situated in the province of Corrientes,
and in the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul, have given me
some personal acquaintance with the subject.*

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