In the eighteenth century, the Jesuits, instructing people in the faith, first established their mission in Paraguay and the Guaira region, and then crossed the Uruguay River and penetrated into the present state of Rio Grande do Sul. Thus, long before the Portuguese and Spaniards arrived in these parts, there were already seven settlements on the eastern coast of Uruguay, where the Jesuits gathered the Guarani tribe. These villages flourished and soon turned into real cities.
These were: Santo Angelo, San Miguel, San Lourenzo, San Luis Gonzaga, San Nicolau, San Joan Bautista and San Borja. In these Seven Villages the Jesuits managed to gather thirty thousand inhabitants. In those days, the Guarani built schools and churches - real monuments that still testify to their activities.
The city of San Miguel became the capital of this genuine Guarani empire. Its majestic cathedral with altars trimmed in gold and silver church utensils seemed to speak of wealth accumulated over decades.
Meanwhile, in the sertans - the dry interior regions of Brazil - new livestock haciendas and new warehouses of mate herb grew up. Livestock, mate and agricultural products were the foundation of the missionaries' economic dominance in that era. To put an end to this autocratic monarchy that had arisen in South America, which the missionaries had divided among themselves, Spain and Portugal united and first tried to expel both the clergy and the Indians by treaties.
The Indians did not want to leave their lands; the clergy did not want to leave their cities.
And then one of the most unequal wars of the century began - the war of Spain and Portugal with the Guarani of the Seven Villages!
Thousands of Guarani spearmen died as the two European armies advanced. And a short time later, the invaders’ troops were already breaking into the gates of San Miguel.
In the mournful hour of defeat, the clergy left their haciendas. With such a hasty flight, it could not take its wealth with it and entrusted it to the land and waters: it believed that this was the best way out of the situation.
However, these treasures did not become food for human greed. Indians devoted to the clergy were on guard. Two hundred years have passed since then, and they, true to their duty, grew old and died, but even after death they continued to treasure treasures.
Mborore was the guardian of the white houses.
This Indian was a friend of the holy fathers of the seven missions - the land from which rivers flow to Uruguay. In the forest, at the top of a steep slope, there stands a white house, white as lime, without windows, without doors. Its halls are filled with ingots of gold and silver, so heavy that two people can move one ingot. And between the ingots lie piles of precious stones. And on the walls, in front of the images of saints, there are candlesticks of cast gold. And there are also silver trays, censers and staves. And if we started listing all the treasures collected there, we would never finish.
When the clergy left, Mborore took charge of the white house, whose windows and doors were already walled up. He guarded this house in his youth, in his old age and after death, but after death he continues to guard it, turning into a ghost. He guards the house to this day, walking around the house without windows and without doors.
They say that in those days some of the gold and precious stones were transported from the cities to the mountains and hidden there.
For example, in Toca do Bugra, located in the current municipal district of Baje, near the Santa Tecla mountain range, there are caves in which countless treasures have been lying for two hundred years. These treasures are entrusted to the care of a young Indian loyal to Kumbaya.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru