Important Argentine Cities

Among the nations of the ancient or the modern world, not one do we know with a history in some respects so extraordinary as that of Paraguay. Yet of the thousands annually who will soon be making the South American Tour, scarcely one would be tempted by historic interest to journey 1000 miles from the beaten track. But the greatest waterfall in the world! Ah, that is another matter! A waterfall bigger than Niagara, as high and with more water? Truly, that is the tale! So while the majority, who wish to make the trip in three months or so, or who have come in the wrong season, may go directly on from Buenos Aires to Montevideo, some will decide to visit the IguassÚ Falls, and then, being near, will cross over to AsunciÓn, the capital of Paraguay.

To a few it would be pleasant to make the entire journey upward in the fine steamers of Mihanovich. Although the banks of the wide ParanÁ are too distant and too flat to afford much scenic beauty, there is some interest in calling at various cities along the way, and in noting the gradual change from a temperate to a tropical clime, with the variation in verdure and animal life, especially of birds; higher up between narrowing shores or islands are fascinating stretches of forest, interspersed with pretty pastoral scenes. All the way to AsunciÓn, a week’s journey, one may sail in the same commodious steamer; but if first visiting the Falls, a change will be made at Corrientes; for the Alto ParanÁ on which Posadas is situated is more shallow than the Paraguay on whose bank is AsunciÓn.

The shorter way, appealing to the greater number, is to go by rail to Posadas, thence by steamer to the Falls and return, continuing by rail from Posadas to AsunciÓn. The river route, obviously shorter coming down, may be taken for the return to Buenos Aires, or the rail route through Posadas.

The cross-country ride through the provinces of Entre Rios and Corrientes on the way to Posadas will give a view of the fertile pampas and their rich agricultural products, of enormous herds of cattle, and of the wooded banks of the Uruguay; through Misiones, of a pretty rolling country. The towns are generally small. At last accounts a day and a half was required for the journey.

Posadas, capital of the territory Misiones, is a thriving town of 10,000 inhabitants, destined to more rapid growth, now that it has through railway connection with Buenos Aires, and, after crossing the ParanÁ, with AsunciÓn; the whole section will share in the prosperity promoted by better transportation facilities. The three hotels of Posadas, one of which, terms, $2.00 a day, is called fairly comfortable, will be sure to improve. There is a fine Government Building on the principal plaza and other public edifices, a beautiful promenade with native and exotic trees. The river is here about a mile and a quarter in width.

IguassÚ Falls. To visit the IguassÚ Falls one sails from Posadas in a boat of moderate size 100 miles up the ParanÁ to the mouth of the IguassÚ, and half a mile up that stream to Port Aguirre, where a building, called a hut, serves as hotel, store, and post office. As the Alto ParanÁ separates Argentina from Paraguay, the IguassÚ separates it from Brazil, flowing from the east, from its source in the mountains near the Atlantic. Twelve miles more one proceeds on mule or horseback, a four hours’ ride. By 1915, so rapidly are improvements made, doubtless there will be an automobile traveling a good road; and a primitive establishment on the edge of a rocky gorge will have been transformed for the globe trotters into a large hotel with luxurious accommodations. Perhaps, however, the tourist who arrives before the pristine beauty of the wild surroundings are converted into artificial adornment may enjoy equally well the magnificence of the spectacle. From the inn near the Falls, a public spirited and wealthy lady of Argentina has had a roadway constructed, 65 feet wide, more than half a mile along the bank of the stream to the top of the Argentine Fall. For the river, here a mile and a half in width, double that of Niagara, also has two falls, the Brazilian farther up nearer the other shore. In the midst of this primeval tropical forest, the roar of the great cataract is startling; on the other hand it may seem still more startling to approach through an absolutely silent forest quite to the edge of this tremendous cataract, the wind sometimes unaccountably carrying the noise in an opposite direction. Above the Falls the river is very wide; taking a sharp turn it makes three leaps, the last about 200 feet, where unequal erosion has given something of a horseshoe shape. Zigzag paths cut in the cliff lead down to several beautiful view-points. When the stream is low, it may be crossed above the Falls by canoe and wading, to a point called the Garganta del Diablo, the Throat of the Devil, close to the Brazilian Falls; the traveler with steady nerves leaning over the precipice, in the midst of howling waters and showers of spray, may there have a glorious view of the foaming abyss beneath. In low water the Brazilian and Argentine Falls each measure a quarter of a mile along the edge. Separated by masses of rock in some places covered with forest, they are then quite distinct; but when the river is high they are practically one, the whole measuring nearly two miles across, indeed a worthy rival of Niagara, as figures show, in the midst of wild and delightful scenery.

Comparing this with the other two great cataracts of the world, Victoria and Niagara, the African fall leads in height with a leap from 210 to 360 feet, that of the IguassÚ is 196-210 feet, and Niagara but 150-164. The width of the Victoria is slightly more than Niagara’s; the IguassÚ with its 13,123 feet has more than double the breadth. In the volume of water also the IguassÚ is greater with 28 million cubic feet a minute to 18 million for each of the others. Our great Niagara thus seems outdone by both, while in the magical beauty of the surroundings there is no comparison. The Argentine Government is already awake to the necessity of preserving from spoliation by the greedy and destructive hands of men this one of the world’s marvels for the admiration and enjoyment of posterity, and is planning for the development here of a great National Park, foreseeing that visitors will come from all parts of Europe and America when aware of the attractions and that the comforts of travel will be supplied.

One having the spirit of the true explorer may continue up the Alto ParanÁ River, now dividing Paraguay from Brazil, 125 miles farther, to the foaming cataracts of La Guayra, sometimes called the Seven Falls and said to be the mightiest on earth. Above these is a great lake from which the water emerging comes down over precipices through a narrow gorge at one point but 250 feet wide. The waters drop in one leap after another 310 feet, descending into the gorge below with a force so tremendous as to form a maelstrom by the side of which the Niagara whirlpool is a quiet spot. They are calculated all together to have a force of 4.3 million horsepower, from a mass of 13,000,000 cubic feet a minute. Four hundred miles farther up stream are the Uberaponga Falls.

Ruins. One who delights in these will find a further attraction in the territory of Misiones. Not so ancient as the Inca and other remains in Peru and Bolivia, they still have an interesting history. Here in Misiones, and in neighboring regions of Brazil, occurred the earliest and most successful attempt yet made for the civilization of native tribes, instead of their extermination or exploitation, ruthlessly practiced for centuries in most parts of North and South America. The earliest settlements of the Indians made by the Jesuits were in the countries of Paraguay and Brazil; but as a result of the attacks of the Portuguese, who carried the Indians off into slavery, the Jesuits migrated to the south shores of the Alto ParanÁ and to the region along the Uruguay, taking with them their protÉgÉs, who through humane treatment had become submissive to their influence. Thirty villages were ultimately established, which in 1732 were in a prosperous condition with 30,362 families. Envy thus arose from which and other reasons the Jesuits were expelled from the colonies as also from Spain in 1768. Bereft of their leaders the Indians, happily domesticated and employed, soon began to scatter, and in 1817 the villages were destroyed. The ruins of these large establishments, surrounded and overgrown by thick woods, are mute, impressive witnesses of the criminal folly of man and of the destructive power of nature.

Such ruins exist at Apostoles, a railway station 35 miles from Posadas, though the best preserved are at San Ignacio Mini, 11 miles from Santa Ana, 1½ miles from the bank of the ParanÁ.

Historical

Before crossing the river into Paraguay, a glance at its strange history is in order. Wonderful indeed it appears, that almost in the center of this great continent, eight hundred miles from the sea, a city was founded August 15, 1536, by three hundred Spaniards, a full century before Roger Williams made a settlement on the shores of Narragansett Bay and seventy-one years prior to the first English colony established in North America. The names of Juan de Ayolas and his faithful aid, Captain Martinez de Irala, should stand out more prominently in the list of American pioneers. A land route to the newly discovered rich gold country of Peru was what they were seeking. With this end in view Ayolas established a fortified settlement on the site of AsunciÓn; then having made peace with the Indians he pursued his way north and west in the hope of winning through to Peru. For this purpose he had been sent by Pedro de Mendoza, after that leader had established a small colony at Buenos Aires. Sailing up the river to a natural port which he called La Candelaria, he left here the ships with Irala and forty men, with orders to wait for him four months. Then he plunged into the vast and gloomy forest.

Somewhat later the Governor of Buenos Aires, Francisco Ruiz Galen, hearing of Ayolas’ disappearance, with six ships and two hundred men, sailed up to AsunciÓn, arriving about when Irala for the second time returned from La Candelaria for necessary supplies. Galen, asserting authority, refused Irala a vessel to go back. Months elapsed before the faithful Irala with angry urging at length obtained the vessel. It was now the autumn of 1538, long after the time set for Ayolas’ return. Still Irala waited, ignorant that Ayolas and all his followers were lying dead in the forest not far distant. For while Irala had been urging his demand for the vessel and supplies, Ayolas, who had journeyed among hostile Indians, swamps, and forests to the mountains of Charcas, had returned unscathed with gold and silver to find the banks of the river deserted and no vessel in waiting. The tragedy was complete when the Indians fell upon the little band and slaughtered every one. Again Irala descended to AsunciÓn and again returned to wait, till at last he learned from the Indians of the unhappy fate of his chief and sadly went back to AsunciÓn. There he was enthusiastically acclaimed Governor and Captain-General of the colony.

Although his subsequent career was far from smooth he was more fortunate, as well as more faithful and able, than most of the conquistadores, at last, while still in office, dying peacefully, in 1557, at the age of seventy. Years of jealousy and strife followed. Meanwhile the settlement at Buenos Aires had been abandoned. Though re-established in 1580, AsunciÓn remained the chief Spanish city on the eastern slope of South America until near the close of the eighteenth century. When, however, in 1776 a Viceroy was appointed for the region of La Plata, he had his seat in Buenos Aires. Some time after the revolution there of May 25, 1810, a small army was sent from Buenos Aires to Paraguay with the expectation that they too would revolt. Instead, the Argentines were defeated; but a little later the people of Paraguay demanded the resignation of Governor Velazco. It was given and a new government was peacefully organized, to be followed by many changes, until in 1844 Carlos Antonio Lopez was elected President. This office he held until his death in 1862 when he was succeeded by his son, Francisco, both men being really dictators. Unfortunately the son, who had visited Europe, conceived the idea of becoming a second Napoleon, and at once began to strengthen and discipline the army and to fortify the country. Uruguay, as usual involved in difficulties, appealed to Lopez for assistance against Brazil. Lopez, on his way to invade that country crossed Argentine territory although permission had been refused. Uruguay meanwhile becoming reconciled with Brazil, Paraguay became involved in a war against these three countries. Presumably, a war between one small country and the two greatest of South America would be of short duration. Not so! Six years the war continued, inflicting upon the little country, through slaughter and disease, loss and suffering unparalleled, costing the allies also severe distress. No more heroic struggle is recorded in history. Though with a splendid army of fighters, the resources of Paraguay gradually diminished, a victory winning no lasting good. A chain barrier fixed across the river, with fortifications, long kept the enemy out. Wooden cannon were constructed from the hardwood of the forest; but at last the forts were passed. In December, 1868, after a severe defeat, Lopez abandoned AsunciÓn to continue his struggle in the interior. Defeated in August, 1869, in a last battle, he fled farther into the forest, till finally, March, 1870, his horse becoming mired in a swamp, he was killed by a spear thrust after refusing to surrender.

Freed at last from his ruthless domination the country had peace; but alas! of the population of nearly a million and a half six years earlier, but 280,000 it is said remained. An army decimated is supposed to suffer terrible loss. Here five-sixths of the entire population perished, the cattle and agricultural resources were destroyed. Few able-bodied men had survived; boys even to the age of ten had been impressed into the army; delicate women had been compelled to work in the fields for the production of grain to sustain life, and had suffered many unspeakable hardships. The struggle of the Greeks against the Persians was not so desperate, or prolonged to so bitter an end. This, moreover, was wholly unnecessary, the Dictator Lopez being the culpable aggressor; none the less, this story of the unparalleled heroism of a people should be more familiar to the world outside.

A season of recuperation and freedom followed, but many years were needed for the nation to retrieve in population and resources the position it held before the war. Not yet indeed are the inhabitants so numerous, nor have they learned the advantages of peace. No longer ago than November, 1911, an insurrection broke out, which for six months or more caused devastation and bloodshed. It is to be hoped that peace will now be preserved.

Curiously enough, the people of Paraguay pride themselves upon being the most homogeneous and united of all the South American Republics, as they are among the best fighters. Not that they are of pure Spanish descent! They are an amalgamation of the early Spanish settlers with the GuaranÍs, the most numerous and intelligent of the Indian tribes in the neighborhood. An illustration of the fallacy of certain theories, the result is a strong and handsome white race, preserving with Spanish culture and virtues the warlike nature of the GuaranÍs and unusual virility for a people on the edge of the tropics.

From Posadas across the river to Villa EncarnaciÓn the through trains are now carried on large ferry boats as planned. The journey to AsunciÓn may therefore be made by through cars from Buenos Aires, the road having recently been widened, and iron bridges erected over the various streams. It is a pretty, rolling country, still sparsely settled, with forests, open grass lands, and occasional small villages and farms.

By River to AsunciÓn. Should one prefer to sail up the river to AsunciÓn and return by land, which on some accounts might be the more pleasurable, one would drive in the early morning to the docks of the Darsena Sud, whence the great steamers of the Mihanovich Lines ply to Montevideo and to the north. Also there are boats of the Lloyd Braziliero twice a month. Excellent steamers provide every essential comfort, and the person for whom the sea is too boisterous may find pleasure in this experience. Unless with a considerable party one should be something of a linguist to enjoy fully the excursion, as the crowd will be cosmopolitan, representing perhaps a dozen different countries.

A multitude of vessels will be passed ere the ship sails freely on the great brown stream, so like the sea except in color. It first seems like a river, only on the entrance to the ParanÁ, where the steamer winds in and out among low islands, fringed with rushes and willows. Several ports are passed on the left bank, but most of the way now, as far as Corrientes, the stream is so wide that only one bank is visible. The water swirls along 2½ knots an hour. There are vistas of green and silver, occasional sails, and gradually higher banks.

Rosario. The first call is made next morning at this, the second city in Argentina, with nearly 200,000 population, founded by Francisco Godoy in 1725, but having small prosperity until, in 1859, General Urquiza made it a port of entry. Ocean steamers drawing 24 feet come to its docks, for as a grain port it leads Buenos Aires. The city is situated on bluffs, one says 60, another, 300 feet high. An expensive system of docks has been arranged to suit the varying height of the river. Sacks of grain are sent down through chutes into the holds of the vessels. The river here is said to be 20 miles wide, though with numerous islands it does not so appear.

Rosario is a great railway center, roads leading to Mendoza and the Trans-Andine, to Bolivia, of course to the Capital and to other cities; it is expected that a road soon will extend to the Amazon basin. Rosario compares with Buenos Aires somewhat as Chicago with New York; it may have a similar if less rapid development. On higher land, with wider streets than Buenos Aires, in other respects it is naturally inferior. There are several hotels, the Grand, Central, Royal, Britannia, and Frascati called comfortable, with prices more moderate, as they should be; the new Victoria Restaurant is good enough for any one. There are excellent public buildings, especially a magnificent Custom House, the Palace of Justice, a busy Bolsa (Exchange) on calle CÓrdoba, a handsome street with good shops; a beautiful park, boulevards, and fine dwellings. Electric cars supply adequate service. There are many English here, who have a pleasant Club; also there is a Strangers’ Club.

ParanÁ. Above Rosario a call on the other side is made at Diamante, then one at ParanÁ, capital of the Entre Rios Province, a pleasant town of 30,000, founded in 1730 by a colony from Santa FÉ. On the Plaza de Mayo is an imposing Government Building, and a Cathedral whose twin white towers are seen afar. The Plaza Alvear near the river is more beautiful, with graceful palms and flowering trees, above which rise the towers of a fine church, the San Miguel. The Paseo Rivadavia, a broad, shaded promenade, conducts to the Urquiza Gardens. Here broad walks and stone stairways, among blossoming shrubs and flowers, and handsome trees, lead down to the river or to the top of gentle slopes, which afford a panorama of the winding river and of a broad expanse of rolling country, especially admirable after the flat plain. A large new theater offers entertainment. We have doubtless all heard that “If wishes were horses, beggars might ride,” and in ParanÁ they really do. The city has electric cars, the workshops of the Entre Rios railway, and is a distributing and shipping point of importance, also an educational center. One interested in this phase of Argentine life may visit the School Alberdi, seven miles distant, a Normal College of Agriculture, the only one in the Republic. It aims to furnish all the learning necessary for rural managers, the knowledge requisite for the administration of an estancia, both for cattle raising and agriculture, to give information as to suitable exploitation of especial sites, and, besides furnishing technical knowledge, to develop initiative, perseverance, and ability for direction and organization. The estate covers 1000 acres, cultivating wheat, flax, corn, oats, alfalfa, potatoes, besides 5000 trees of choice varieties.

Santa FÉ. Opposite ParanÁ is Colastine, the port of Santa FÉ, the former for ocean vessels, smaller river steamers only sailing up the tributary, Quiloaza, to the capital city, seven years older than Buenos Aires. This also was founded by Juan de Garay, a short distance from the larger river, as in those days of smaller vessels a quieter port was desirable than the unruly ParanÁ. Once a rival of Rosario, it has now with a population of 50,000 been left far in the rear.

One of the public buildings, the Casa de Senadores, is a historic place where in troublous times five National conventions have been held, 1828-31-53-60-66; many provincial assemblies have met here for constitutional reforms of the Province. From the lofty tower there is a fine view of the city and surrounding country. Among other important buildings are schools, a Public Asylum, and several churches, the Metropolitan erected 1741 originally with a single nave, two being added in 1834. Some historic relics within are four splendid marble basins for holy water, gift of the Tyrant Rosas, a chasuble of richly embroidered satin made at Misiones about the middle of the last century, a painting from Cuzco, of date 1751, representing the beheading of Saint Firmin, a Christ sculptured in relief on a block of fine white marble framed in Corinthian bronze, and a portrait of Saint Peter. The Church of St. Domingo, corner 3rd of February and 9th of July, commenced in 1786, now entirely renewed, contains a silver tabernacle with Byzantine design, a diadem of the patriarch Santo Domingo, and other valuable relics. San Francisco Church, Comercio and Ecuador streets, begun in 1652, completed 1680, has relics of the noted general, Stanislas Lopez, who is buried under the cupola, and a remarkable Jesus of Nazareth. La Merced, on Comercio and Gen. Lopez streets, built in 1728, contains a fine oil painting of the Virgin. The Cathedral now in construction, in the form of a Latin cross, will be a monumental work. A statue of San Martin, like the one in B. A., adorns the plaza of his name, the pedestal representing a condor, the symbol of strength and of the victories of the great General contributing to the Independence. A municipal theater which cost $125,000 has a handsomely decorated foyer. The hotels, Grand, Central, etc., are all rather poor.

Higher up the ParanÁ, towns are more scattered but calls are more frequent. Santa Elena is a town with a large saladero, a meat-curing factory. At La Paz wood and charcoal are an important element of trade. The scenery becomes more pleasing. A severe thunderstorm may afford temporary excitement. Crude native boats floating down stream are met, bamboo laden schooners, rafts of quebracho timber. These, too heavy to float, are supported by common wood placed beneath. The ports Bella Vista and Piraguacito are centers of the quebracho industry. This remarkable wood, the name meaning hatchet-breaker, one of the hardest known species, is largely used for railway ties throughout South America, and to some extent for furniture. From the red colored variety tannin is extracted, so valuable in the tanning of hides. This was first effected in France in 1874. In 1889 the first factory for tannin manufacture was erected at Puerto Casado, Paraguay, the country where it is most largely produced.

Corrientes, founded April 3, 1588, with 25,000 population, is an important and busy place, exporting rich woods for building and cabinet making, sugar, cotton, and tobacco, horses, sheep, and cattle. The city, three days from Buenos Aires, is 25 miles from the junction of the two great rivers, the Alto ParanÁ and the Paraguay, and from the frontier. To visit by this route Posadas and the IguassÚ Falls one would here change to a boat of lighter draft, as rapids below Posadas allow passage in the dry season of steamers drawing no more than three feet.

To AsunciÓn one continues in the same steamer, as the Paraguay River, though considerably narrower, permits steamers of 12 feet draft up to that city. Floating islands are frequent, orchids and parrots are numerous; alligators in profusion bask in the sun, disdaining to move at the occasional crack of a rifle aimed in their direction. Islands of green with flowers of lavender float upon the stream. Blossoms of purple and of white depend from the creepers which embrace the trees of the forest. Giant scarlet flowers a foot in diameter spring from a green cactus. Human life is rare.

The first halt in Paraguay, now on the right bank, while Argentina continues on the left, is HumaytÁ where the familiar colors red, white, and blue, appear instead of the Argentine blue and white only. This being a garrison town, low barracks are visible and soldiers in khaki. A conspicuous object is a great red brick church, battered and rent from top to bottom, a mute and mournful witness of that strange six years’ war. Attacked by the allies, the defensive army under Col. Martinez made long and suitable resistance, at length retreating to the church which was bombarded from the boats. Surrender was at last compelled. Lopez at this was so enraged that, as Martinez was not at hand, he seized his wife and dragged her along with his army. After suffering frightful tortures, her hair mostly torn from her head, she suffered death from merciful bullets. That she was a relative of Lopez was nothing to the monster of cruelty who caused a brother to be shot and his own mother to be flogged.

The country on the left with low banks is called the Chaco, first the Argentine, and above AsunciÓn the Paraguayan; it is a wonderful section many times traversed, but not yet thoroughly explored; with the region to the north one of the least known parts of the earth. From the highlands of Bolivia at the northwest the slope is extremely gradual causing many swamps. With some poor land there is more with rich vegetation, immense forests, wild animals of many kinds, including boa constrictors. And there is a tale of a creature called Mboya Jagwa, dog snake, a water serpent unknown to science, 60 or 70 feet long with a head like a dog and a hooked tail. The Indians all agree in their description of it, and one village moved to another part of the country because one of these creatures had settled near by.

Two days have passed on the clearer waters of the Paraguay when a strange sight appears in this alluvial land; some large stone buildings and great boulders of red stone along the bank, then a rocky sugar loaf mountain, not very high, a mere babe of a mountain, but a pleasing sight in this flat land. A different country is here; red cliffs, honeycombed with caves, rise from the shore. One more corner, and the city of AsunciÓn appears, after so much wilderness, an imposing display of white walls, roofs and spires, facing not only the stream up which we have sailed, but the broad Pilcomayo, flowing in from the northwest, which marks on that side the boundary between Argentina and Paraguay.

AsunciÓn, capital of Paraguay, is called by one English writer the cleanest, nicest town on the river above Buenos Aires. Situated on a hillside above the stream, it has fine natural drainage; and good air and sunshine make it a healthy place, to which many come from the south to recover from tuberculosis. A thousand miles from the sea it is only 203 feet above the ocean’s level. With a population of 80,000 it is still a quiet, sleepy town; for several hours at noon in summer the streets are practically deserted. The Gran Hotel del Paraguay is supplied with baths, has French cooking, and English is spoken. A Paraguayan peso is said to be worth 8 cents gold, so it may be well not to have too many.

On the main Plaza, of course, is the Government Palace, which was built by Lopez just before the war and is now used for the offices of the President and the Members of his Cabinet; the second story windows afford a splendid view; here a breeze is ever blowing. The National Library deserves a visit, for it contains the finest existing collection of old Spanish documents connected with the history of the Plata region, and Jesuit annals from 1534 to 1600; interesting accounts also of what was nearly a condition of State Socialism under Dr. Francia and the elder Lopez. These documents, carried off by the younger Lopez when he abandoned the capital, were for many years in peasants’ houses at Piribebuy, where many valuable manuscripts were used as waste paper.

The Museo de Bellas Artes boasts of at least one Murillo and half a dozen other paintings which would adorn any European collection; portraits too of many historical personages. The streets, paved with stone and lined with whitewashed walls, well reflect the sun; here is repeated the saying that only the English and mad dogs walk on the sunny side of the street, although the climate even in summer is not marked by extreme heat. From Tacumbu, the summit of the ridge above the town, a beautiful view will be had of long stretches of winding river up and down, and leagues over the Chaco forests opposite as well as the rolling country to the east. The forests are not of one or a few kinds of trees. Out of a number of 163, in a space 100 yards square, there were 47 (not 57) varieties. The land is well adapted to intensive cultivation, on account of the great variety of products which may be raised. There is good hunting, boar, jaguar, monkeys, red wolf, etc., and a great field for scientists in both vegetable and animal worlds. Also there is a chance for the treasure seeker; for when Lopez fled from the capital he took with him seven cartloads of specie, at least $5,000,000. One cartload, on account of hot pursuit, was dumped over the bank into a river. The rest was carried on and buried in the midst of a swamp where it was marked by a wooden cross. This cross was burned in a prairie fire, Lopez and all of his men perished, the records were lost; but one man is reported as living who followed the wheel tracks to the end. However, the money obviously belonged to the Government of Paraguay and if found, which is improbable, a good portion at least would have to be forfeited to the Government.

Every one who comes to AsunciÓn will wish to purchase a bit of Nanduty lace, as it is called, a specialty of Paraguayan handiwork, some of it very fine and beautiful. It bears resemblance in patterns to Mexican drawn work; it is not, however, drawn, but is genuine lace. It may be purchased also in Buenos Aires; perhaps sometimes in Montevideo, but none could be found there in 1912 in spite of a strenuous hunt, nor in Rio either. The prices are moderate, and no man need hesitate about purchasing a piece. No woman will.

Another specialty of Paraguay is the yerba mate, sometimes called Paraguay tea, which is raised also in neighboring parts of Argentina and Brazil. This herb, Ilex paraguayensis, or South American holly, grows as a bush or tree resembling the orange. The leaves, which are bright green, are used to make a tea, in these three countries very popular with natives, and with many immigrants; it is being gradually introduced into Europe. The leaf is smoked and powdered. The beverage is made by putting some of this powder into a small gourd called a mate, and pouring on boiling water. After it has steeped a while, flavored with lemon or sugar, it is drunk through a bombilla, a tube enlarged at the end to a sort of oval ball, with small holes which admit the liquid, but are supposed to keep out the powdered tea. The natives and others drink this on all occasions. Taken in moderation it is very wholesome, of more or less the same class as tea and coffee, but containing less tannin than either; of caffein or thein it has less than tea but about the same as coffee. It does not irritate but soothes the nervous system, and is beneficial to the digestion unless used to excess. When used instead of food it becomes injurious. Thus a gentleman, Scotch, who had been in the habit of taking 12 or 14 cups in the morning and eating nothing until noon, at length found himself in a bad way. Placed by his doctor on a sensible diet, a good breakfast with only 2 or 3 cups of mate, he found his health soon restored. It is estimated that in South America, despite the great coffee production, 10,000,000 persons drink mate. It is sold in England, France, Germany, and other countries of Europe, the United States being slowest in learning to appreciate its excellence. In 1909 more than 2 million pounds were produced. Plantations are now being set out and its production and consumption are certain to increase amazingly.