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 practical common sense.  Finding it impossible to establish a footing among the implacable natives of Uruguay, he caused a number of cattle, horses, and sheep to be sent across the great river, and to be let loose among the rich pastures of that country.  He knew, he said (and it was not long before the future proved him right), that this land would one day be the property of the Spaniards, and thus these cattle which he sent over would, when the time came, be found to have multiplied themselves to an infinite extent, which, of course, fell out as he had anticipated.

Hernandarias, moreover, led an expedition to the south, and endeavoured to take possession of Patagonia.  Here, after various disasters, he inflicted a severe defeat on the Indians; but few definite steps towards the practical colonization of the far south appear to have been taken at this period.

Hernandarias, enthusiastic soldier though he proved himself, by no means confined his energies to the arts of war; in statesmanship his ideas were progressive.  Having once subdued the wilder Indians, he led the way to peaceful co-operation.  According to Senor J.M.  Estrada—­