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women captured to be reduced to slavery. These incursions disturb very frequently the Mission of the Reverend Catalan Capuchin Fathers, not quite so well established, enticing away their Indians who take to the woods at the least news of the approach of the Caribs, in spite of all steps taken by the Missioners to stop them, in consequence of their cowardly pusilanimous disposition, which may sometimes be overcome by the presence of Spanish escorts in the settlement to which they resort for protection and defence. The native Hollanders of those Colonies who accompany the Caribs, teach them how to manage the arms, and they are even more inhuman than the Caribs themselves, so that a close watch is necessary to stop them and defend the Missions which they procure to destroy in order to remove that obstacle from their Colonies, as shown in the map.

Settlements of the Guayana Province.

All this extensive Province contains no more Spanish settlement than the fortress, known under the name of the City of Santo Thomé de la Guayana, for although the Chief of squadron, Don Joseph de Iturriaga, tried to establish the cities of Real Corona and Ciudad Real, neither the one nor the other has been successful, as will be explained, but there are sixteen settlements of Missions under the Reverend Catalan Capuchin Fathers, four settlements likewise of Missions under the Reverend Jesuit Fathers, and three more under the Reverend Franciscan Fathers and Missioners of Piritu.

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Bodies of Missioners Spreading the Gospel in Guayana. Three bodies of Missioners spread the Gospel in this Province of Guayana. They belong to different orders, to wit: The Reverend Catalan Capuchin Fathers: the Reverend Father Jesuits of the Province of Santa Fe, and the Reverend Observant Fathers of Piritu, under whom are the Missions and ecclesiastical settlements of the Province of Barcelona, as heretofore explained.

These three bodies of Missioners and the settlements under their charge, as well as the progress obtained, will be the subject of a separate

note.

Catalan Capuchin Missioners.

The Capuchins of the Catalan Kingdom keep in this Province a community of Missioners, who at the expense of the Royal Treasury are transported from their Province, until incorporated in this Mission; all those existing in it appoint their Prelate every three years, under the name of Prefect, but neither the community nor the Prefect are subordinated to the Provincial Prelate of the Catalan kingdom, but to that of

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the Province of Andalusia, their only Superior Prelate. This community performs the duties of their ministry with wonderful diligence, good order, and success, without sparing labors, and due to these circumstances are the happy progresses accomplished by the Missions in their charge.

Beginning of the Missions.

They were established in the year 1724, notwithstanding that other Missioners had undertaken the same work before. This conclusion is derived from the contents of a book of baptisms, showing that from the year 1664 several other Priests at different times had tried the pacification and reduction of these Indians, such as Father Joseph Sanpayo, a Reverend Father of the Dominican order, and Father Manuel de la Purification, of the Bare-footed order (descalzos) of Saint Augustine; the Clergymen Don Francisco de Rojas, Don Miguel de Angulo, Don Joseph de Figueroa, and the ration canon, Don Andres Fernandez; the Father Jesuit Juan de Vergara, Dionisio Mestand, Francisco de Ellauri and Ignacio Cano, the Catalan Capuchin Father Angel de Mataro and Father Pablo de Blanes, the Capuchins and others. The Fathers of the Company made an assignment of said Missions, and the act was authorized by the Governor of Trinidad, Don Tiburcio de Harpe y Zuñiga, in the year 1681, as shown by the Royal Cedule of the 7th of February, 1686, and the 29th of April, 1687, by which His Majesty approves the assignment made by the Jesuits, and sends the Catalan Capuchin Fathers to attend the Missions of the Province of Guayana. These two Cedules are kept in the Archives of the Community. From said year 1687 they took charge of the Missions and commenced their work, but the miseries and deaths, without any help in their wants, were so discouraging, having nobody to replace those who died, many long interruptions of the Apostolic ministry followed, losing at the same time whatever advancement had been made previously for the good of the souls and the pacifition of the natives.

In the year 1723 the Mission of Guayana was in want of Father Missioners and without means to bring the few that might have been obtained, for want of provisions and the necessary alms for their support; but during that year several pious persons, especially the Missioners of Piritu, gave and facilitated the transportation of 100 head of cattle, which have kept on the increase and are to-day the support of the Missions in all the extreme necessities of the Indians, for want of meat, whenever they were to be attracted to the townships, as this element is an inducement securing exemption from famine and want.

First Settlement in 1724.

Upon this basis, in 1724, the first Mission was founded, under the name of Concepcion de Suay, two leagues inland from the City of

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Guayana, and to-day they have planted 16, as it will be shown, going inland about 40 leagues to the south of said city, situated at that distance from the Mission of Avechica, as it is shown in the map.

Besides the 16 Missions existing, 8 previously settled have been lost, on account of the misfortunes of the pestilence of smallpox and measles, besides the invasions of the Caribs, and the hostilities of the English in the year 1740, with the loss of over 1,000 Indians, several settlements and their furniture.

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The Sixteen Existing Mission Settlements.

The 16 Missions established at present are those of Capapui, Altagracia, Suay, Amaruca, Caroni, Arepuco, Aguacagua, Murucuri, San Joseph de Leonisa, Guarimna, Carapu, Miamo, Guazapati, Palmar, Avechica, and Piacoa, as shown in the map, in the corresponding statement of the men of arms, families, souls, houses, and churches existing in every one of the said 16 settlements.

Men of Arms, Families, and Souls.

One thousand and eighty-one men of arms; 1,031 families; 4,392 souls; 408 houses; and three churches.

Lands of the Missions.

These Missions are most of them situated in very fertile lands, fresh, salubrious, abounding in water and well provided of all the necessary products fit for the maintenance of the Indians, except those of Suay, Arepuco, Caroni, and Piacoa, that are not salubrious nor abundant in eatables on account of their proximity to the Orinoco river and sandy ground. The houses of all the settlements are built with symmetry in extension and sufficiently convenient for the Indians. The three churches, although poor, are very clean and capacious, the same as the house of the pastor close to the church. Near the patsor's house there is a sort of tower built of timber and mud, covered with straw, and they keep two or three swivel guns. The tower, house and church are defended by a round fence of stakes so as to take care of the Caribs if they do not come in company with the Hollanders, for whom the swivel guns, if there are experts in the population to handle them, the noise alone may impose fear on the Caribs, who would not dare to reach the settlement and much less the palisade defended by the tower, where the women and children and even the Indians take refuge, in case that the enemy's forces are superior and do not allow sufficient time for the use of arrows in their defence.

Education of the Indians.

The education of the Indians is not the same in all the settlements; in some of them they are not all baptized, when just taken out of the

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woods, incapable of a Christian education, and only in cases of need they are baptized, but this sacrament is administered to all their children born in the settlement and the infants arriving from the woods. Other Indians are already Christians, but without having forgotten the crowd of vices so common with them, and both sexes remaining naked, out of their natural rusticity and habit, as well as the impossibility to pay for clothing. The Fathers try their best to provide them with iron utensils for the cultivation of their fields. In four or five of the oldest settlements they are dressed, in keeping with the good government of the Missioners, who gather with the greatest care and keep an account of the casave, superabundant with them, send it to the city of Guayana where there is a demand, and out of the proceeds buy clothing for the people in return for their casaves. This recourse is not available for those who are at a greater distance from the fortress, on account of the cost of transportation wiping out any possibility of profit. The Indians of these five settlements are well instructed in the Christian doctrine and sufficiently conversant with the Castillian language. Many of them learn music and play several instruments skilfully, and most of them are applied to the service of the Church, where the solemn functions are carried out with really edifying ceremonies. Indeed, all these Missions are proportionately well established, and governed with very particular harmony, economy and education, so that in the visit of the same I had nothing to observe that was not highly laudable, a reason why, in the name of the King our Lord, the government rendered thanks to the community, encouraging them in the continuation of their holy ministry, as it is shown in part third of the acts of the visit to said Missions.

Reverend Fathers present at the time of the visit.

The fourteen Reverend fathers and one lay man, making in all fifteen, were present at the time of the visit. The layman attends to the sick, and this number is very limited, considering the amount of work they have to perform taking care of the settlement and new conversions for new establishments.

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The same certificate shows that the cattle estate of the Community contains from 14,000 to 16,000 head of bovine cattle for the maintenance of the settlements and the Missioners. The cattle has been placed on new grounds in proportion of its increase, and to-day it is kept in the Mission of Guarimna, where the fields and mountains are most abundant in grass and water, in a cool climate. On account of these circumstances, the multiplication of the cattle has been incredible.

High convenience of the expected help to this Community.

If His Majesty kindly assigns the payment of these alms to the Mis

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sioners at a Royal Treasury's Office, where they do effectively pay, enough to maintain 25 or 30 Fathers, allowing this Mission the bells and ornaments established by law, and an escort of 25 to 30 men, in a very few years a great increase should be noticed and many more, if as the Community desires, His Majesty applies similar alms for six or eight lay Brothers, good carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, and weavers, so as to teach these trades to the Indians, especially weavers, of which they might avail themselves for the use of the large amount of cotton which they may gather, and is not fully used in the manufacture of hammocks done by the Indians, and taking a long time and labor for want of instruments.

These Missions are most important to the service of God and the King. Besides the spiritual advantage obtained by the natives, they help the fortress of Guayana with their provisions and interposition between the same and the Hollanders, who by all means endeavor to enter inland in this Province and the mouth of the Orinoco, the key to these dominions—upon the subject of which the necessary reports are sent to His Majesty.

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Encaramada, Uruana, Carichana, and Raudal belong to the Province of Guayana, although they have been established and reared by the Jesuit Fathers. The four settlements are very poorly situated, on account of the sandy ground and little fertility of the banks of the Orinoco, and on account of its proximity they are not salubrious; but the necessity of temporizing with the Indians who are settled in them does not allow, for the present, anything better.

The distance of these settlements from the communication and treatment of the Spaniards keep them totally ignorant of the Castillian language, but they are in everything else well instructed with that profusion of the Missioners, as far as permitted by the recent date of these four Missions.

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Notes by Francisco Antonio Moreno Escandon, relating to Map of the Viceroyalty of Santa Fé, drawn by Juan Aparicio in 1762.

[Reprinted from Blue Book, No. 3, pp. 258-259.]

The statistical particulars that are on the margin of the map of the Government of Cumaná, drawn by Juan Aparicio in 1762. The said statistics show the actual position of the cities, towns, posts, and other

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