and the influence of the foreigners upon the
Chileans in time became marked, and was largely responsible for the
broad-minded views which prevailed among the colonials.

CHAPTER XIII

THE COLONIES OF PARAGUAY AND THE RIVER PLATE

We have seen how the Spaniards, having in the first instance attempted
without success to establish themselves in Buenos Aires, had made their
way up the great river system to Asuncion, and, having become firmly
settled there, had in the end extended their dominions to the south
again, and had founded the town of Buenos Aires for the second time. In
the early days of these particular settlements, notwithstanding this
extension to the south-east, Asuncion remained the capital of the
province, which was known as that of Paraguay. The two currents of
civilization, the one advancing from the south-east, and the other
proceeding from the north-west, at length met in the territory which is
now occupied by the north-western Territories of Argentina.

It may be said that Argentina of to-day was colonized from three
directions--the first by means of the River Plate and its tributaries,
the second by the passage of the Andes from the west, and the third by
an advance from the direction of Bolivia. Thus the north-western section
of present-day Argentina had become, as it were, the centre towards
which all the Castilian forces were converging.

As time went on, the balance of importance tended to assert itself in
the direction of Buenos Aires. Little by little the city of Asuncion,
although remaining notable from the administrative point of view, became
of less and less standing as a commercial centre. That which
undoubtedly helped to retard the progress of Asuncion was the almost
continual strife which prevailed in that town between the Jesuits and
the members, not only of the laity, but of the rival clergy as well. The
Jesuits, moreover, were the reverse of popular with the Spanish
landowners of Paraguay, for the reason that the missionaries had
collected together the Indians in self-supporting communities and towns,
thus depriving the colonists of the enforced labour which they now
looked upon as one of their rights.

These Jesuit settlements in Paraguay have been too fully dealt with to
need anything in the way of an elaborate description here. Let it
suffice to say that the famous communities were in many respects
socialistic. The land, for instance, throughout the mission areas was
hel