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Updated: May 25, 2025
His company, ambushed and cut up by a tribe of hostile Indians, perished to a man. It was months before Irala learned of the catastrophe. In the belief that his chief was still in the land of the living, he waited with his ships and men at the point where Ayolas had disembarked, varying his vigil from time to time by a cruise down-stream in search of provisions.
But in every case the lesson taught the Indians was a severe one, and, undeterred by the hostility shown him, Ayolas sailed inland until he came to Asuncion in Paraguay. At this spot the expedition came to a halt, and the weary pioneers landed, and immediately became lost in admiration of the fertile and delightful country in which they now found themselves.
About noon we passed the highest point which the old Spanish conquistadores and explorers, Irala and Ayolas, had reached in the course of their marvellous journeys in the first half of the sixteenth century at a time when there was not a settlement in what is now the United States, and when hardly a single English sea captain had ventured so much as to cross the Atlantic.
Much had happened since they had first landed on the shores of the River Plate, but the main object of the expedition still remained clear to them. This was the discovery of a road from the south-east to Peru. Ayolas determined to take up this fascinating quest in person.
It was to be his fate never to return to his native land, since he died on his way home. Juan de Ayolas was now left in command of the Spanish force. He was an able commander, and a man of determined character, eminently fitted to conduct an expedition such as this. Without hesitation, the new leader purposed to make his way farther up the stream.
Accompanied by a number of men, he sailed up the river until he came to a spot at which he judged that an attempt at the overland journey might well be attempted. Leaving Domingo Martinez de Irala, his lieutenant, in charge of the ships and of a force of men, Ayolas marched into the forest and disappeared into the unknown. It was his fate never to return.
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