ebastian de Leon, was appointed to Paraguay. Cardenas determined to
resist. He raised an army, and, claiming Divine inspiration, promised
his followers an undoubted victory, and ordered them to supply
themselves with cords in order to bind the prisoners which should fall
to their share. The rival forces met just outside Asuncion. The
unfortunate troops of Cardenas found no use for their cords, since,
totally defeated, they fled in haste. Judging mercy to be most
seasonable at this juncture, the new Governor commanded his men to march
to the capital, but to desist from pursuing the defeated forces.

In the meanwhile Cardenas had lost no time. Realizing his complete
defeat, he had fled secretly to Asuncion. Arriving there ahead of Don
Sebastian de Leon's forces, he had dressed himself in his finest robes
and seated himself on the throne of the cathedral. It was there that Don
Sebastian de Leon found him when he entered.

The new Governor acted with supreme courtesy; he kissed the Bishop's
hand, and ceremoniously requested him to spare him the baton of the
civil power. In silence Cardenas complied with his request, and then
retired, accompanied by his retinue. After this Asuncion knew him no
more. Naturally the days of his supreme power were over, but he was
still provided with an ecclesiastical office. He was made Bishop of La
Paz, a benefice he continued to hold until his death.

Owing largely to their situation, these provinces in the south-east of
the Continent continued from time to time to elude some of the stricter
regulations and restrictions which were supposed to be applied to the
whole Continent. Thus at the end of the sixteenth century the
Governorship of the River Plate was entrusted to Hernando Arias de
Saavedra, who is more familiarly known as Hernandarias. He was the first
colonial-born subject of Spain to be gratified by such an honour. The
appointment, as a matter of fact, was somewhat remarkable, as without a
doubt it was strictly against the spirit of the Laws of the Indies,
which utterly forbade any appointment of the kind to be entrusted to a
colonial-born person.

Hernandarias, it must be said, makes one of the most remarkable figures
of all the high officials of the River Plate. He proved himself a
strenuous warrior, and, anxious to extend his frontiers, he carried on a
tremendous warfare with the fierce Indians of the Pampa. The Governor,
moreover, was gifted with no little foresight and practic