I must not omit to mention that the Abipones publicly, and with the utmost effrontery, celebrated a slaughter they had formerly committed on the Spaniards, whose skulls they exhibited with songs and drinking, Fulgentio being present with his forces, and not daring to take the least exception at it. Since they durst do that in the face of the Governor, and four hundred soldiers, what respect would they pay to the threats or admonitions of a priest?
On the same day that the Abipones returned from the expedition, I visited all the tents of my people, to see and speak with the captives, and if they stood in need of medicine or assistance, to afford it them without delay: for either the terror excited by the sudden assault of the Spaniards, or grief at the loss of liberty and their native soil, or the burning heat of the sun in travelling, had affected them to such a degree, that we thought they were certainly going to be seized with some disease. But I found them all in good health except one woman, the skin of whose head had been grazed by a bullet. As the wound was only skin-deep, the Spaniards laid a piece of fresh wax on the place, by way of a plaster, and the flies which infest moist places gradually bred worms there, which, as they occupied a dangerous part of the head, threw the woman into a delirium; but by the timely application of tiger's fat the worms were destroyed.
A slight dispute arose between the Spaniards and Abipones on the subject of the captives; the former, in order to draw all eyes towards them on their return to the city, and to be congratulated with the greater applause, wanted to take both the captive youths and the Toba women out of the hands of the Abipones, and to adorn themselves, like the daw, with borrowed plumes; on the other hand, the Abipones obstinately maintained that what they themselves had taken with the danger of their lives, was their own property; but were induced, by a settled compensation, or liberal promises, to cede a very few of the Tobas to the Spaniards, the rest of the captives being retained in the colony. I did not look upon myself as authorized to decide this controversy, but silently hoped that none of the captives would remain with us, foreseeing that their presence would prove highly prejudicial to our colony. As we had no place for confining the captives, and as they enjoyed equal liberty of wandering with the rest, they every one escaped whilst their masters were absent or asleep. Some of the older Tobas returned home with stolen horses, and having become well acquainted with the whole of our neighbourhood, frequently returned to harass and plunder the colony.