Of all the Jesuits who, during the long period of their labours,
appeared in Paraguay, he was the most remarkable; one of the most learned men
of the age in which he lived, he yet united in himself
the qualities of a man of action to those of scholar and of missionary.
Without his presence most likely not a tenth part of the Indians
would have escaped after the destruction of the missions of Guayra
in 1630 and 1631 at the hands of the half-civilized hordes
known as Paulistas or Mamalucos, who from the city of San Paulo
carried fire and sword amongst the Guaranis.

It is easy to understand that the Spanish colonists,
who had looked on all the Indians as slaves, were rendered furious
by the advent of the Jesuits, who treated them as men.

To-day the European colonist in Africa labours less to enslave
than to exterminate the natives; but if a body of clergy of any sect
having the abnegation and disregard of consequences of the Jesuits of old
should arise, fancy the fury that would be evoked if they insisted
that it were as truly murder to slay a black man as it is to kill a man
whose skin is white. Most fortunately, our clergy of to-day,
especially those of the various churches militant in Uganda, think otherwise,
and hold that Christ was the first inventor of the `colour-line'.

At the first settlement of South America great semi-feudal fiefs
called `encomiendas' were granted to the conquerors. One of the conditions
of their tenure was that the `encomenderos' (the owners of the fiefs)
`should see to the religious education of the Indians'.
Much the same kind of thing as to enjoin kindness and Christian forbearance
upon the directors of a modern Chartered Company. But, in addition
to the `encomiendas', two other systems were in vogue called