States Navy, described missions in the Mainas region that traded various goods with Brazil. He further noted:I know of no legal establishment in the Missions—the law proceeding out of the mouths of the governors. Indians are punished by flogging or confinement in the stocks; whites are sometimes imprisoned; but if their offence is of a grave nature, they are sent to be tried and judged by the courts of the capital.Herndon also observed that the indigenous inhabitants of the Mainas missions, unique among the 'Indians of Peru', had been exempted from the payment of a head tax, because 'these people had the forest to subdue, and were only able to wring a hard-earned support from the cultivation of the land'. He remarked that white settlers objected to this, and thought that 'some law compelling them to work' would be preferable. Effects Disease and slavery were common in the Mainas missions. Over the 129 years of Jesuit missionary activity in the Mainas region, numerous epidemics of smallpox and other diseases exacted a severe toll on indigenous peoples. Slave raids, whereby Portuguese colonialists, known as bandeirantes, would capture and enslave indigenous people, were frequent throughout the period. Fritz's tenure in the Mainas missions, in particular, was marked by a number of Portuguese slave raids. See also Reductions Chiquitania Jesuit Block and Estancias of Córdoba (Argentina) La Santisima Trinidad de Paraná and Jesús de Tavarangue (Paraguay) List of Jesuit sites Notes Explanatory notes References Sources Further reading An extended chronicle of the Mainas missions. Jesuit missions Jesuit history in South America History of indigenous peoples of South America Spanish missions in South America Spanish colonization of the Americas