. The naturalist in La Plata. z de Guzman, in hishistory of the colonization of the Plata: he was aperson high in authority in the young colonies, andis regarded by students of South American historyas an accurate and sober-minded chronicler of theevents of his own times. He relates that in theyear 1536 the settlers at Buenos Ayres, havingexhausted their provisions, and being compelled byhostile Indians to keep within their pallisades, werereduced to the verge of starvation. The GovernorMendoza went off to seek help from the othercolonies up the river, deputing his authority to oneCaptain Ruiz
. The naturalist in La Plata. z de Guzman, in hishistory of the colonization of the Plata: he was aperson high in authority in the young colonies, andis regarded by students of South American historyas an accurate and sober-minded chronicler of theevents of his own times. He relates that in theyear 1536 the settlers at Buenos Ayres, havingexhausted their provisions, and being compelled byhostile Indians to keep within their pallisades, werereduced to the verge of starvation. The GovernorMendoza went off to seek help from the othercolonies up the river, deputing his authority to oneCaptain Ruiz, who, according to all accounts, dis-played an excessively tyrannous and truculentdisposition while in power. The people were finallyreduced to a ration of six ounces of flour per dayfor each person; but as the flour was putrid andonly, made them ill, they were forced to live on anysmall animals they could capture, including snakes,frogs and toads. Some horrible details are givenby Bui Diaz, and other writers; one, Del Barco. A Puma. The Puma, or Lion of America 57 Ceutenera, affirms that of two thousand persons inthe town eighteen hundred perished of this unhappy time, beasts of prey in largenumbers were attracted to the settlement by theeffluvium of the corpses, buried just outside thepallisades; and this made the condition of thesurvivors more miserable still, since they couldventure into the neighbouring woods only at therisk of a violent death. Nevertheless, many did soventure, and among these was the young womanMaldonada, who, losing herself in the forest, strayedto a distance, and was eventually found by a partyof Indians, and carried by them to their village. Some months later, Captain Ruiz discoveredher whereabouts, and persuaded the savages tobring her to the settlement; then, accusing her ofhaving gone to the Indian village in order to betraythe colony, he condemned her to be devoured bywild beasts. She was taken to a wood at a dis-tance of a league fr
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1922
