bours spread over so many more thousands of human bodies
would prove by comparison bearable, and would thus end in fewer
fatalities. It is certain enough that this introduction of the sturdy
negro tended considerably to this end, and that many thousands of lives
were prolonged, if nothing more, by this plan. For all that, it must be
admitted that the venture was a daring one to emanate from the mind of a
preacher who was fighting against the slave trade. But Las Casas, urged
by his own experience, took a broad view, and none even of his
contemporaries were able for one moment to impugn his motives.

Las Casas was as much a product of the period and place as were the wild
and daring _conquistadores_ themselves. The new Continent undoubtedly
exerted a curious influence over its visitors from the Old World. It
seemed to possess the knack of bringing out the virtues as well as the
defects with an amazing and frequently disconcerting prodigality.
Several of Las Casas' biographers have wondered at the reason why the
Apostle of the Indies was never made a saint. Certainly hundreds of
lesser heads have been kept warm by a halo which has never graced that
of Las Casas.

CHAPTER VII

THE COLONIZATION OF THE SOUTH

It was natural that after the first occupation of the New World the
tendency of the explorers should have been to turn their attention to
the south and to the still undiscovered lands. At the first glimpse the
aspect of the Atlantic coast to the south of Brazil gave little promise
of the wealth--that is to say, of the gold--sought by the pioneers,
since its shores were low, marshy, and alluvial.

In 1515 Juan de Solis sailed to the mouth of the River Plate, and landed
on the coast of Uruguay. His party were immediately attacked by Charrua
Indians, and the bodies of De Solis himself and of a number of his crew
were stretched dead on the sands. This ended the expedition, for the
survivors left the place in haste and returned to Spain.

In 1526 Sebastian Cabot explored the River Plate, and, sailing
up-stream, investigated the Parana, and discovered the waters of the
Paraguay River itself. In these inland waterways his fleet was met by
that of another pioneer, Diego Garcia. This latter, doubtless from
chivalrous motives, gave the _pas_ to Cabot, and turned the bows of his
vessels down-stream. It was Cabot's intention to establish himself
permanently on the shores of this great river system. Near the present
s