I will only copy out the section that deals with the account of a French Officer who in the year 1708 was shipwrecked in the entrance of the River Plate and managed to travel in what is now Paraguay but what was then out-posts of the Jesuit priest-hood [if you have seen the film "The Mission" this is of the same area]. This memoir appears in the Appendix of the book, if anyone is interested in this period and earlier try and obtain a copy from their Library.

"The Military Establishment is very considerable; each Parish has a considerable Body of Horse and Foot, exercised duly, as the Swiss are, every Sunday Evening. These Troops are divided into Regiments, consisting each of six companies, and every Company of fifty men. The Regiments of Cavalry consist of the same number of troops, that is, of six; but every Troop contains but forty men. These Regiments are regularly officered, and the whole Establishment is said to consist of about 60,000 men, under the Command of several General Officers; but whenever any body of these forces takes the field, one of the Holy Fathers always commands in chief; for it is a Maxim which they never depart from, not to permit their Indians either in Peace or in War, to acknowledge any Authority but their own.

This Indian Army is surprisingly well disciplined and know not only how to handle their Musket and Bayonet, like European Troops; but also how to use their Slings, out of which they throw Stones or Bullets of between 4 and 5 pound weights with prodigious force and wonderful dexterity. These forces, the Fathers pretend, are kept up to srcure their subjects against the Portuguese, who were formerly wont to make inroads upon them; but there is another use the Fathers make of their Troops, which seems to be at least as much their concern, and that is, scowering the Country, to prevent either Spaniards or Strangers from coming privately into the quarters of the Missions "

"Originally some forty or fifty Families of Indians having shewn a propensity to be instructed in the Christian Religion, some Jesuits went amongst them, accomplished that desirable work, and the Peace and Happiness in which these people lived after their conversion, had such an effect upon their neighbours, that by degrees the Mission spread, till it attained its present extent, which comprehends at least 300,000 families, who are in all things subject to the Fathers, and who revere them as much as it is possible to reverence Mortals.

These Indians are divided into 42 Parishes, all on the banks of the River Paraguay, and none above ten 'Leagues distance from another. In each Parish there is a Jesuit, who is supreme in all causes, as well civil as ecclesiastick, and from whose decision there lies no appeal. By him their Caciques, or chief officers, are nominated, as also are the inferior ones; and even their military commanders receive their orders from him.

Nothing can be better contrived than the Regulations under which they live; every family has its proportion of land and labour, of plenty and of rest. Industry is common to all, yet wealth is attained by none; the product of their harvest is carried into the Magazines of the Society, whence the Fathers dispense whatever to them appears necessary, to every family according to its degree.

The Surplus, which must be very considerable, the most judicious Spaniards at Buenos Aires conceive it little short of 4 million. pieces of eight per Annum, is sent either to Cordova, or Santa Fe, there being at each place a Procurator-General, who takes care of what belongs to the Society and as occasion offers, transports their wealth into Europe."