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THE SOUTH AMERICAN SERIES

Demy 8vo, cloth.
x. CHILE. By G. F. SCOTT ELLIOTT, F.R.G.S. With

an Introduction by Martin Hume, a Map, and 39 Illustrations.
(4th Impression.)

2. PERU. By C. REGINALD KNOCK, F.R.G.S. With

an Introduction by Martin Hume, a Map, and 72 Illustrations.
(3rd Impression.)

3. MEXICO. By C. REGINALD ENOCK, F.R.G.S. With

an Introduction by Martin Hume, a Map, and 64 Illustrations.
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Chapter by Bernard Miall, a Map, and 36 Illustrations. (2nd
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6. URUGUAY. ByW.H. KOEBEL. With a Map and

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11. ECUADOR. By C. REGINALD ENOCK, F.R.G.S.

12. BOLIVIA. By PAUL WALLB. With 62 Illustra-
tions and 4 Maps.

13. PARAGUAY. By W. H. KOEBEL.

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PARAGUAY

THE CATHEDRAL : ASUNCION.

W. H KOEBEL

AUTHOR OF "URUGUAY," "MODERN ARGENTINA," "THE SOUTH AMERICANS,"
"MODERN CHILE," ETC.

WITH 32 ILLUSTRATIONS AND A MAP

LONDON

T. FISHER UNWIN LTD

ADELPHI TERRACE

K77

First published in igi?

CONTENTS

PAGE

INTRODUCTION . . . . . • 23

Paraguay as the most romantic State in South America — A com-
parison with Bolivia — A fortunate Republic — Some political
conditions — The original centre of the south-eastern civilization
of the continent — Type of men who founded the State — Paraguay
as an early political storm-centre — Various natures of the con-
flicts—The rise of despotism— The " Inland Japan "—Paraguay
as a hermit State — Some extraordinary decrees — Reason for the
lack of historical detail— The Paraguayan War and the end of
the age of tyranny — A cycle of revolution — The intervention of
modem enterprise — Railways as extinguishers of political unrest
— Incentives to revolution in the past — Some pleasant features
of the Republic — Natural boons — The choice of the conquis-
tadorcs — The first up-stream journey — The site of Asuncion —
Robert Southey and Paraguay — Variety of products — Some
recent departures — The Paraguayan and modern ethics —
Promise of development — Influence of the climate

CHAPTER I
THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF PARAGUAY . . 32

An Indian tradition— The story of Tupi and Guarani— The
Guarani race — Some characteristics — Various tribes — General
Guarani methods of government — Evidences of a strong sense
of democracy — Diffuseness of the race — Disadvantages of this
circumstance in warfare — The Guarani as a warrior — Intel-
lectual status of the race— Lack of arts and crafts — Matters of
religion and medicine — Some results of a lack of imagination —
Painful ceremonies — Limited advantages enjoyed by the cacique
— Relation in which he stood towards the tribe — Duties of the
primitive Parliaments — Absence of an aristocracy — Physical
characteristics — A stoical people — The tribes of the Chaco —
Dividing force of the River Paraguay — Distinctions between
the inhabitants of the Chaco and the Guaranis — Some relics of
Inca rule in the Chaco — A lapse into barbarism — Some grim
events— A curious spectacle of isolation

8 CONTENTS

CHAPTER II

PAGE

THE ENTRY OF THE SPANIARDS . .40

Juan Diaz de Soils — The first mariner to sail the Rio de la Plata
— His fate — Return of the expedition — Magellan — Sebastian
Cabot — He explores the Parana River and founds the settlement
of Sancti Spiritus — Origin of the name Rio de la Plata — Cabot
sails up the Paraguay River — Unexpected meeting with Diego
Garcia — The latter relinquishes the field to Cabot — After pro-
longed waiting Cabot sails to Spain in order to seek assistance
— Fate of the garrison he left behind him — The tragedy of
Lucia Miranda and the caciques — The few survivors of the
garrison eventually reach the island of Santa Catharina — Don
Pedro de Mendoza's expedition — The founding of the township
of Nuestra Senora de los Buenos Aires — Outbreak of hostilities
with Guarani Indians — The settlement of Buena Esperanza is
founded on the site of Sancti Spiritus — Pedro de Mendoza,
leaving Ayolas in charge of the province, dies on^the homeward
voyage — Ayolas' voyage up the river — The chronicles of Ulrico
Schmidel and the commentaries of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca
— A comparison between the river systems of the Amazon and
the Rio de la Plata — Animals and tribes seen on the voyage —
Relations with the Indians — Landing near the site of Asuncion —
Defeat of the local Guarani Indians — Foundation of the city of
Asuncion — Advantages possessed by the spot — Results of its
remoteness from the ocean — Situation of the pioneers — Their
isolation

CHAPTER III
THE FOUNDING OF THE COLONY . . . -52

Relations between the Spaniards and Guaranis at Asuncion —
The friendly and hostile tribes of Indians — Principal object of
the Spanish conquistador es — The fame of the Peruvian mines —
Various routes to the mineral districts — Real significance of the
ascent of the Paraguay River — Ayolas proceeds farther up the
stream — He undertakes an overland expedition to Peru — Mas-
sacre of the party by the Indians — Domingo Martinez de Irala —
Arrival of Juan de Salazar de Espinosa — Permanent dwellings
constructed at Asuncion — Episode between Ruiz Galan and Irala
— Details received of the end of Ayolas and his men — Some elo-
quent coins — Abandonment of the lower river settlements —
Asuncion as the sole centre of Spanish civilization — Irala
becomes A del ant ado of the colony — His popularity — Adminis-
trative gifts displayed by him — Some circumstances of Guarani
servitude — Characteristics of the natives — The establishment of
Encomiendas — Yanaconas and mitayos — Regulations applying to

CONTENTS 9

PAGE

slave ownership — Development of Asuncion — Defences of the
town and election of officials — The urban arms — Circumstances
of the colonists — The birth of the modern Paraguayan nation

CHAPTER IV

THE GOVERNORSHIP OF ALVAR NUNEZ CABEZA DE VACA . 64

Some methods of Spanish colonial government — Difficulties in
legislation from a distance — Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca is
madeAdelantadoof Paraguay — Having landed at Santa Catalina,
he receives news of the abandonment of Buenos Aires — Effect
of this on Alvar Nunez' plans — He determines to make his way
overland from the coast to Asuncion — Discovery made by the
crews of his ships on the site of Buenos Aires — Alvar Nunez'
march to the west — His methods with the Indians — Incidents of
the journey — The party arrives in Asuncion — Attitude of the
colonists — Varying versions of events — First signs of a split in
the ranks — Colonizing methods adopted by Alvar Nunez — Alvar
Nunez sets out with a considerable force for Peru — Dealings with
Indians — How the Payaguas deceived the Adelantado — Small
results of the expedition — Return to Asuncion — A condition of
discontent culminates in a rising of the Spaniards — Alvar
Nunez is imprisoned and placed in irons — Hostilities in the
town — Harsh treatment of Alvar Nunez — His character and
circumstances — Influences at work — Irala is again elected Ade-
lantado— How Alvar Nunez was put on board the ship which
was to take him to Spain — A contemporary account — Incidents
of a dramatic departure

CHAPTER V

THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF DOMINGO MARTINEZ DE IRALA . 8l

10 CONTENTS

governorship— Negotiation s with Peru — Irala's strategic pre
cautions — The party reluctantly retraces its steps — Happenings
in Asuncion during the absence of the Adelantado — Francisco
de Mendoza's attempts to obtain the governorship lead to his
execution — Diego de Abreu is elected as temporary Adelantado
by the people — Abreu refuses to resign his post on Irala's arrival
— The majority of the townspeople join Irala — Abreu and his
remnant of followers flee to the woods — Arrival of Nuflo de
Chaves with men and livestock from Lima — Irala quells an
insurrection fomented by the intrigues of La Gasca — Death of
Abreu and the dispersal of his followers — Some failures and
successes in colonization — Official appointments made by the
Court of Spain — Salazar arrives in Paraguay, bringing with him
seven cows and a bull — Irala is officially nominated Adelantado
— Colonizing achievements of Nuflo de Chaves— Death of Irala

CHAPTER VI

SOME EARLY GOVERNORS AND COLONIAL DEVELOP-
MENTS ....... IOI

Irala's qualities as a Governor — A South American writer on the
Spanish conquistador — Gonzalo de Mendoza becomes Adelantado
— Death of Gonzalo de Mendoza — He is succeeded by Francisco
Ortiz de Vergara — Indian trouble — The ambitions of Nuflo de
Chaves — He determines to found a new province — His meeting
with a rival conquistador, Andres Manso— The decision of the
Peruvian authorities secures the advantage to Nuflo de Chaves
— The latter founds the town of Santa Cruz de la Sierra — The
first permanent link between Paraguay and Peru — Vergara sets
out for Peru — After having been detained by Nuflo de Chaves,
he arrives in Lima — Vergara's post is given by the Peruvian
authorities to Juan Ortiz de Zarate — Zarate appoints Felipe de
Caceres as his deputy — Unpopularity of Caceres in Asuncion —
He is opposed by Bishop Latorre — Caceres is imprisoned and
deprived of his office — Martin Suarez de Toledo becomes
temporary Governor — Colonizing feats of Juan de Garay —
Zarate, on arriving at the mouth of the River Plate after a
calamitous voyage, is attacked by the Charrua Indians — His
force is rescued by Juan de Garay — Zarate arrives in Asuncion
and takes charge of the Government — His death — Zarate's
daughter as heiress of the province — Mendieta appointed
temporary Governor — Mendieta, having failed in his office, is
sent back to Spain by the colonists — His death on the voyage
— Claimants of the hand of Dona Juana — Events which led up
to Juan de Garay's governorship of Paraguay — Hi* arrival in
Asuncion

CONTENTS 11

CHAPTER VII

PAGE

EVENTS PRECEDING THE SEPARATION OF PARAGUAY

FROM RIO DE LA PLATA . . . . Il6

Situation of Paraguay when Juan de Garay became Governor —
Nature and influence of the various settlements — Relations with
the Guaranis — Melgarejo assists Garay in the development of
the country — Attempts in the Chaco— Early mission work
among the Indians — The founding of Buenos Aires— Sig-
nificance of that centre — Death of Juan de Garay — He is
succeeded by Alonso de Vera y Aragon — Arrival in Paraguay
of Juan Torres de Vera y Aragon — Hernando Arias de Saavedra,
a Paraguayan by birth, becomes Addantado — An able ad-
ministrator and notable warrior — Fernando de Zarate arrives
, from Spain to take up the governorship — A succession Jof
Adelantados — Hernandarias is at length officially appointed to
the post — His colonizing enterprise — Warlike feats — A shrewd
move in Uruguay — Hernandarias, after his government has
been interrupted by the appointment of Diego Martinez Negron,
resumes the post of Adelantado — Difficulties in the administra-
tion of the great territory — The province of Paraguay is divided
into two — Death of Hernandarias — Geography of the provinces
of Paraguay and Rio de la Plata — Respective physical and
industrial characteristics — Amenities of Paraguay — Distinctions
between the inhabitants of the northern and southern stretches
of the great river system — Docility of the Guarani — The
Encomiendas

CHAPTER VIII

THE JESUIT MISSION ESTABLISHMENTS . . . 130

A subject of much controversy — Events which led up to the
founding of the Jesuit Government — Early Franciscan mis-
sionaries— Arrival of the first Jesuits — Hardships experienced
by the pioneers — Constitution of the State — Rigid seclusion of
the community — Situation of the mission country — Features of
its thirty towns — Uniformity of their pattern — General plan
of each — Description of the main buildings — The Tacuni stone
— Method of fortification — Administration of the Jesuit towns —
Guarani officials — Their titles and duties — Matters of costume —
The doctrine of equality — Questions of labour — Health of the
Guaranis — Administrative ability of the missionaries — Yerba
mate gathering and cattle-breeding — Numbers of the livestock
on the Jesuit farms — Agricultural pursuits — How labour was
made attractive — Various industries — Guarani craftsmen and
artists — Astonishing scope of their occupations — Actual status
of the Jesuits as Governors — The division of property—

12 CONTENTS

Economic success of the missionary establishments — How the
Guarani's day was mapped out — Description of some religious
ceremonies — The procession of Corpus — Allegations against the
Jesuits — Practical results achieved by their missions — Their
justification — The industrial side of the enterprise — Importance
of the mission produce — The Jesuits as a commercial force — The
Mamelucos and the mission settlements — Successful resistance
of the Indian militia — Relations of the Jesuits with their neigh-
bours— Expulsionjof the Jesuits — Fruitless attempts to continue
their settlements by others — End of the State

CHAPTER IX

THE LATER COLONIAL PERIOD .... 148

Manuel Frias becomes Governor of Paraguay — His domestic
affairs lead to a dispute with Bishop Torres — Conflict between
Church and State — The Peruvian authorities decide in favour of
Frias — Death of the Governor on his way back to Paraguay —
Luis de Cespedes Jeria contrives to obtain the post — Having
been in league with the Mamelucos, he is imprisoned — Subse-
quent Governors — Gregorio de Hinestrosa's conflict with Bishop
Bernardino de Cardenas — Character of the Bishop — Mr.
Cunninghame Graham's account of how he came into his
bishopric — A dramatic priest — The latter's quarrel with the
Jesuits — Some mutual expulsions — Diego Escobar de Osorio
succeeds Hinestrosa — Cardenas excommunicates the Jesuits —
Death of Escobar de Osorio — Cardenas is appointed to the
governorship — His measures against the Jesuits — Sebastian
de Leon y Zarate is made Governor — Revolt and defeat of
Cardenas — Further Governors — How Diego de los Reyes
Balmaseda became Governor — The revolt of Jose de Antequera
y Castro — Circumstances which led up to his execution —
Motives of the rebellion — Scenes at the scaffold — Antequera's
personality — Feuds in Asuncion — Bruno de Zavala restores
order — Carlos Morphi — Events in South America which pre-
ceded the War of Liberation — Paraguay's answer to the
message of Buenos Aires — Collision between the troops of
the two States— Victory of the Paraguayans — Belgrano's
propaganda — Stirred by this, Paraguay proclaims her inde-
pendence— She begins her career as a Sovereign State

CHAPTER X
THE DICTATOR FRANCIA ..... 164

Confusion attending the formation of the new States — Some
types of legislators — Paraguay's first dictator — Character of

CONTENTS 13

PAGE

Jose Caspar Rodriguez de Francia — Circumstances of his youth
— His success as a lawyer — He takes part in the government of
independent Paraguay — Work of the Junta — Robertson on
Francia — The latter's dealings with the Paraguayian Congress
— Various types of national representatives — Costumes — Uni-
forms of the Alcaldes — Quaint processions — Ceremonies of the
Indian officials — Francia is elected First Consul — The basis of
Francia's character — An anecdote concerning this — How
Francia caused an enemy to receive fair play — His measures
as First Consul — Condition of Paraguay — Despotism and tran-
quillity— Francia's first appointment as Dictator — His services to
agriculture and public order — He is elected Dictator for life —
How he asserted his authority — His dealings with the Church —
Destruction of the ecclesiastical power — The Dictator remedies
the ravages of the locusts — Circumstances which led up to a
conspiracy against Francia — Its repression by means of execu-
tion and torture — The Reign of Terror — Imprisonment of the
old Spaniards — The Supremo brings about the isolation of
Paraguay — Intercourse with foreigners prohibited — Fate of a
Frenchman — Francia rebuffs the neighbouring States — The
French naturalist Bonpland — His kidnapping at the hands of
Francia— -The death of Francia

CHAPTER XI

CARLOS ANTONIO LOPEZ AND FRANCISCO SOLANO LOPEZ . l8o

Condition of affairs at the death of Francia — The establishment
of a provisional Government — After various experiments Consuls
are appointed — The rise of Carlos Antonio Lopez — Liberal
measures adopted — Carlos Antonio Lopez becomes Consti-
tutional President of Paraguay — Rosas closes the river against
Paraguayan commerce — Carlos Antonio Lopez forms an alliance
with Brazil — Desultory warfare with Argentina — Further inter-
national complications — Intervention of England and France —
Action of the allied fleets — On the death of Rosas Paraguay
resumes her intercourse with the outer world — Arrival of foreign
Ministers — Treaties — Increasing power of Carlos Antonio Lopez
— Prosperity of the State — Death of Carlos Antonio Lopez — He
is succeeded by his son, Francisco Solano Lopez — Youth and
temperament of the latter — Madame Eloisa Lynch — An un-
official queen — Francisco Solano's attainments — He proves
himself a second Francia — Autocracy under a modern cloak —
Bizarre methods — His ambition — A description by Sir Richard
Burton — George Masterman on the Dictator — A fateful per-
sonality— Contemporary population and power of Paraguay

14 CONTENTS

CHAPTER XII
THE PARAGUAYAN WAR . * . . .

Origin of the struggle— Brazil and the States of the Rio de la
Plata— The intervention of Francisco Solano Lopez — Outbreak
of the war — Seizure of the Brazilian steamer Marquee de Olinda
— Paraguay invades the province of Matto Grosso — Curious
analogy between the Paraguayan War and the present European
struggle— Lopez as the prey of a wild ambition — His Heaven-
sent triumph — A parallel to the Belgian invasion — The capture
of Corrientes — The five campaigns of the Paraguayan War —
Chief events of the struggle — Bravery of the Paraguayan troops
— The river battles — Improvised war-steamers — Some gallant
actions — The motto of the Paraguayans — Francisco Solano
Lopez as generalissimo — How his men were squandered —
Defeat as a crime — Its penalties — The toll of human life —
Disappearance of the flower of Paraguay's manhood — Final
stages of the struggle — Fairness in terrorism — The fate of the
women workers — The death of Francisco Solano Lopez and the
conclusion of the war — Condition of Paraguay — Recovery of
the Republic

CHAPTER XIII

SOME SALIENT FEATURES OF THE REPUBLIC . . 202

Strategical situation of the Republic — Paraguay as a natural
centre of inland communications and commerce — Asuncion as
the mart of the interior — Future of the capital — Area of the
Republic — Frontier complications — The Pilcomayo as a bound-
ary river — Difficulties offered by the exploration of this stream
— Its international importance — The Paraguay-Bolivia frontier
—Bolivian claims — Constitution of the Paraguayan Republic —
Legislative bodies — Scantiness of the members — Method by
which elections are conducted — The Ministry — Population of
the Republic — Difficulties in the way of a census — Some esti-
mate of the inhabitants — The dwellers in Paraguay proper and
in the Chaco — Results of the Paraguayan War — Recent political
events — Disastrous effect on the population — Paraguay a bi-
lingual State — The Spanish and Guarani tongues — Government
of the Chaco — Departments of Paraguay proper — A comparison
between Asuncion and Montevideo — Paraguayan cities — Dis-
tribution of the population — The Army — Uniform and training
— Prussian officers in Paraguay — The River Navy of the
Republic — Past and present strength of the Paraguayan
flotilla

CONTENTS 16

CHAPTER XIV

MAS

THE PARAGUAYAN OF TO-DAY ." . . . 212

Respective proportions of the upper and lower classes of the
Republic — Some conservative indications — Taste in tea — The
triumph of yerba mate — The Paraguayan lady — Matters con-
cerning ease and comfort in costume — Mr. C. B. Mansfield on
Paraguay of the mid-nineteenth century — Patriarchal simplicity
of the contemporary society — Asuncion market as it used to be
— A picturesque spectacle — Visiting — Dress of the ladies — Hos-
pitality of the inhabitants of Asuncion — Some compliments in
Guarani — A comparison between the Paraguayan and the
Argentine gaucho — Influence of the Jesuits on the general
population — The Paraguayan as an agriculturist — His occasional
exuberance — Labour conditions of the Republic — Introduction
of the strike — Educational problems — Proportion of illiterates
to the population — Difficulties in the rural districts — Asuncion
as -the centre of journalism — Work of the South American
Missionary Society in the Chaco— The feat of Mr. W. Barbrooke
Grubb — Success of the enterprise — The currency of Paraguay
— Gold and paper dollars — Fluctuation of the paper dollar — The
effect of insignificant values upon the cleanliness of the paper

CHAPTER XV

PHYSICAL FEATURES ..... 221

Paraguayan mountains and forests — Rivers— Situation of the
Iguazu Falls — Principal natural characteristics — The Paraguay
River— Its source — The Lake of Xarayes — Quality of imagina-
tion as displayed in the ancient maps — The imagined and the
real importance of this sheet of water — Some features of the
Paraguay River— Navigable limit of the stream— Circumstances
which favour shipping — Differences between the Paraguay and
the Parana — Tributaries — Similar purposes served by the Afra
and the Pilcomayo — Importance of some of the affluents— The
Tebicuary— Characteristics of the western tributaries— The
Pilcomayo River — An ill-defined stream — A curious phe-
nomenon— The Alto Parana River — The Guayra Falls —
Tributaries of the Alto Parana — Paraguayan mountains-
Isolated hills in the Chaco— The chains of Amambay and
Mbaracayu — Characteristics of the hill country — Paraguayan
lakes — The Chaco inundations — Lakes Ypoa and Camba — Lake
Ipacarai — A beauty spot of Paraguay — The Estero Neembucu
— Climate of the Republic — A Paraguayan claim — Temperatures
— The annual monthly rainfall — Favourable distribution of rain
for agriculture — Minerals

CHAPTER XVI

PACK

TRAFFIC AND DEVELOPMENT .... 231

The establishment of the steam ferry across the Alto Parana — A
momentous link — The shadow of contemporary events — Results
of the Great War — Economic situation — A postponement of bene-
fits— Country traversed by the line — The garden of South
America — The journey by rail from Buenos Aires to Asuncion —
The ferry from Zarate to Ibicuy — From the Parana to the
Uruguay — Ramifications of the system — An enchanting land-
scape— Peculiarities of the Misiones earth — The passage of the
Alto Parana — Paraguay — Sub-tropical exuberance of the land-
scape— Effects of the international crisis on the time-table —
Influence of the railway — Political considerations — Industrial
impetus — Forthcoming railroad connection with Brazil — Exten-
sive international ramifications — A new southern line — Para-
guay's future as a tourist resort — The attractions of Asuncion
and San Bernardino — Other points of interest — Some waterfalls
and ruins — Local travelling — Difficulties of the by-ways —
Bullock carts — Inconveniences of the soil — Chaco inundations

CHAPTER XVII

BY RIVER TO PARAGUAY ..... 243

Up-stream journeys of a former age — The river schooners —
Some records of the mid-nineteenth century — A description by
Mansfield — Intricate navigation — Traffic of the present day —
Senor Nicolas Mihanovich — The Argentine Navigation Com-
pany— Charm of the journey from Buenos Aires to Asuncion —
The passage from the industrial to the picturesque — Aspects of
the landscape — Influence of the sub-tropics — The vegetation of
the banks— The Chaco shore — Insect pests — Superabundance
of mosquitos and bichos — Winged life of the river reaches — The
parting of the river ways— The Paraguay stream — Some ques-
tions of fluvial nomenclature— Beauties of the Paraguay River —
Characteristics of the Bermejo— Alligators— The first Para-
guayan port — Some features of Humaita — The ruined church —
Temperament of the Paraguayan — Recuperative force of the
nation — Evidence of Chaco industry — Quebracho logs— How
the timber is floated down the river— The mouth of the Pilco-
mayo — Asuncion — Nationalities concerned in the river traffic —
Steamship companies — Foreign warships — Motor craft — Chatas
and " dug-outs "

CONTENTS 17

CHAPTER XVIII

PAGE

THE CHIEF CITIES OF THE REPUBLIC . . . 254

Asuncion — Some attributes of the capital — Its atmosphere —
First impressions — Aspects of the town — Principal buildings —
Changing aspects of the Asuncion streets — The architecture of
to-day — The inhabitants of the capital — Amenities of the spot —
The " Belvedere" — Scenes in the garden — Tastes of the better-
class inhabitants— Influence of the modern spirit— Regattas and
sports — The progress of football — San Bernardino— Paraguay's
principal pleasure resort — Attractions of the spot — Villa Rica —
The second city of the Republic — Benefits accorded by the new
line— Villa Rica as the centre of an agricultural district — Origin
of the majority of its inhabitants — Encarnacion — An important
spot on the railway — History of the development brought about
by the railway — The Paraguayan situation compared with the
Argentine — Reasons for the absence of a " boom" in the former
country — Influence of the internal political situation and the
abnormal condition of Europe — Villa Concepcion — The
navigable limit of the Paraguay River — An important northern
centre — Some characteristics of the lesser cities

CHAPTER XIX

IMMIGRATION AND COLONIES .... 263

Terms offered to settlers by the Paraguayan Government-
Transport facilities — Some hints concerning these — Advice con-
cerning contracts of employment — Paraguay as the country of
the small agriculturist — Foreign immigrants— Some statistics —
Various nationalities concerned — Estimated foreign population of
Paraguay in 1913— British immigrants and trade— The colony
of " New Australia " — The great Australian strike — Its origin —
William Lane — "Where Socialism Failed" — Ideas of the
founder— The appeal to the workers— Paraguay as the home
of experiment in socialism — A comparison with the Jesuit
system — Land offered by the Paraguayan Government — Gene-
rosity of the authorities — The first colonists sail in the Royal Toy
— An admirable type of immigrant — The arrival in Paraguay —
Early symptoms of the breakdown of the system — Disillusioned
colonists — Grievances of those who left — The work of honest
visionaries — Lane seeks a remedy in autocracy — Definite split
among the colonists — Foundations of the settlement of
Cosme — Failure of the theories when put into practice — A
wrecked casket of lost visions — The scheme is abandoned
and the colony worked on a practical basis — Success brough
about by the change

18 CONTENTS

CHAPTER XX

PAGE

PARAGUAYAN CATTLE ..... 275

Effects of the Paraguayan War on the livestock of the country —
Figures showing the subsequent increase of cattle — Questions
of census and estimate — Cattle values — Favourable position of
the cattle-breeding industry — Prospects for the future — How
the demand for beef has affected the Paraguayan herds — The
Argentine market — The danger of over-selling — Export duty as
a preventive measure — Present methods of the Paraguayan
Estanciero — Pedigree stock — A comparison with Argentina —
Prices of land — Estates in Paraguay proper and in the Chaco —
Advantages and drawbacks of the latter district — Questions of
capital — Financial necessities incidental to cattle-breeding and
agriculture — Criollo cattle — Measures taken to improve the
breed — The introduction of Cebu cattle — European strains —
The Durham — Origin of the name Tarquino— Acclimatization
of pedigreej stock in Paraguay — Tristeza — A serious disease —
Land companies — The chief markets for Paraguayan cattle —
Influence of the railway — Some statistics — Exportation of hides
— Financial advantages and drawbacks of the present situation
— Horse-breeding — Mai de Cadera — Remaining domestic
animals

CHAPTER XXI

YERBA MATE AND TOBACCO

Part played by yerba mate in the early colonial history — Wide
popularity of the beverage — Seventeenth-century markets of the
Paraguayan tea — Area of its growth — Preparation of the yerba
mate — Method of drinking — Some expectations and actualities
of the industry — Export figures — Questions of appreciation —
Eastern teas and rivals — The fate of yerba mate as a national
beverage — Its merits as a stimulant — Its importance in the
Argentine campo — Future of the industry — Collection of the
leaf — Yerba plantation — Difficulties in propagation — New
method of planting out the seedlings — Yerba mate and the
possibilities of its "booming" — The tobacco industry — The
Paraguayans as smokers — The ubiquitous cigar — Gathering of
the crop — Shipments to Europe — A loss of individuality —
Amount of the average annual crop — Popularity of Paraguayan
tobacco in Argentina and Uruguay — Questions concerning
the development of the industry — The Paraguayan cigar in
Europe

CONTENTS 19

CHAPTER XXII

PAGE

TIMBER, FRUITS, AND CEREALS .... 294

The forests of Paraguay— Various types of timber — Demand
for this in the treeless south — Hard woods — Cabinet woods —
Medicinal growths and textile plants — Dye-plants — A curious
circumstance connected with rubber — The lumber industry —
Difficulties presented by the Paraguayan forests — Shortage of
local carpentry — The quebracho industry — Districts in which
the tree is found — Nature of the wood — Various uses to which
it is put — Its tannin properties — Advantages of these — A
comparison with oak-bark — The chief quebracho factories —
Important concerns — The light railways of the Chaco — The
Paraguayan fruit industry — The orange — Excellence of the
Paraguayan specimens — Orange-growing as an old-standing
industry — Theory concerning an indigenous variety — Proof by
nomenclature — Export of the fruit — Inadequate financial return
yielded by the industry — Some surprising figures — Banana-
growing — Increasing importance of the plantations — Pineapples
and lemons — Cereals, agricultural products, and vegetables —
Maize — Sugar-cane — Present limitations of the industry —
Probabilities of the future — Mandioca — Other growths

CHAPTER XXIII
THE TRADE OF PARAGUAY ..... 305

Circumstances which have influenced imports and exports —
Consequences of political unrest — Elasticity of the Paraguayan
Trade — Figures in proof of this — A table of imports and exports
— Paraguay's most important customers — British share of the
total imports — Proportion of British merchants in Paraguay —
A tribute to the quality of British goods — Questions concerning
commercial travellers — German competition — The German plan
of campaign — Great Britain's opportunity — Length of credit
extended by the British and Germans respectively — Tempta-
tions of the system — Necessity for first-class salesmen — The
importance of the Spanish language — How this reacts on com-
mercial travellers and catalogues — Questions of local weights,
measures, and currency — Unnecessary disadvantages under
which the sale of British goods has suffered in the past —
Sympathies of the Paraguayan

APPENDIX . . . . . . -313

Tables showing the recent progress of the chief Paraguayan
industries — Countries concerned in the imports — The principal
articles imported into Paraguay and their respective values —

20 CONTENTS

Consular hints concerning competition in trade — Paraguayan
State estimates for the year 1914 — Statistics of the Paraguay
Central Railway — The State Colonies of Paraguay — Depart-
ments of Paraguay with their districts — List of the Spanish
Governors of Paraguay from the time of the first settlement of
the country to the end of the Spanish dominion — Eighteenth-
century European ignorance concerning Paraguay — William
Hadfield on Carlos Antonio Lopez — Sufferings of the soldiers in
the Paraguayan War — The Paraguayan Press

INDEX ..... .343

ILLUSTRATIONS

THE CATHEDRAL, ASUNCION

MAP OF PARAGUAY ....

PLAZA INDEPENDENCE, ASUNCION

THE CHACO LUMBER INDUSTRY .

JESUIT ALTAR, SAN IGNACIO

CARLOS ANTONIO LOPEZ .

JESUIT DECORATION, SAN IGNACIO

RUINS OF HUMAITA CHURCH : FRONT VIEW

RUINS OF HUMAITA CHURCH : BACK VIEW

AN ASUNCION TRAMWAY FUNERAL

STEAM TRAMWAY, ASUNCION

GUAYRA FALLS ....

SCENE ON THE LINE TO PARAGUAY

A MILD CHACO FLOODING .

A TRIBUTARY STREAM

RIVER TRANSPORT ....

CUSTOM HOUSE, ASUNCION

WEAVING NANDUTI ....

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, ASUNCION .

Frontispiece

FACIMQ FAOK

• 23

. 29

• 39
. 132

. 183

• 195

• 195
. 197

• 215

• 223
. 227

• 233
. 241

• 249

• 253

• 257
. 261

ILLUSTRATIONS

ASUNCION .

HOUSE OF CONGRESS, ASUNCION .

A CORRAL ....

BRINGING HOME YERBA .

PACKING YERBA

A QUEBRACHO FACTORY

TIMBER FELLING IN THE CHACO .

THE TIMBER INDUSTRY

A PIONEER FACTORY

THE TRACK OF ENTERPRISE

BRICK KILN, CHACO

A RIVER SCENE

PIONEER INDUSTRIAL DWELLINGS

FACING PAGE

. 26l

. 265

• 279
. 287
. 287

• 2Q5

• 295
. 297
. 3OI
. 3OI

• 307

• 3U

• 3"

A number of the illustrations are reproduced by
kind permission of Alfred James, Esq., Paraguayan
Consul-General in London.

Scale -1:5,OOO.OOO

English Miles
o 20 4O 6O SO

Jolm Il.rfkolaine.ri Co..WmT

PARAGUAY

INTRODUCTION

Paraguay as the most romantic State in South America — A comparison
with Bolivia — A fortunate Republic— Some political conditions — The
original centre of the south-eastern civilization of the continent
—Types of men who founded the State — Paraguay as an early
political storm-centre — Various natures of the conflicts — The rise of
despotism — The "Inland Japan" — Paraguay as a hermit State —
Some extraordinary decrees — Reason for the lack of historical detail
—The Paraguayan War and the end of the age of tyranny — A cycle
of revolution — The intervention of modern enterprise — Railways as
extinguishers of political unrest — Incentives to revolution in the past
— Some pleasant features of the Republic — Natural boons — The choice
of the conquistadorcs — The first up-stream journey— The site of
Asuncion — Robert Southey and Paraguay — Variety of products —
Some recent departures — The Paraguayan and modern ethics —
Promise of development — Influence of the climate.

FROM the point of view of both history and nature
Paraguay is in many respects the most romantic
State in South America. In common with Bolivia
it shares the rather unenviable distinction of being
one of the two inland republics of that continent.
The disadvantage of this situation has been felt by
both. Nevertheless the lot of Paraguay is more
fortunate than that of its neighbour to the west.

Paraguay, having never possessed a sea coast, has
accommodated her inclinations and industries in con-
formity with that lack, for which she has always
enjoyed ample compensation in the magnificent
system of rivers that wash her territories and that
afford such wide and serviceable highways to the
ocean.

24 PARAGUAY

Bolivia, on the other hand, is, so far as the ocean
is concerned, in the position of a bereaved nation.
She mourns the loss, not only of a seaboard that was
once hers, but of a wide frontage on the Paraguay,
River, which in an unhappy moment she exchanged
for other territory which has since proved itself of
far less value than she had anticipated.

So much for Bolivia. But if Bolivia can lay
claim to sympathy as one of the unlucky nations of
this world, Paraguay has no right to any pretension
of the kind. In all other respects but that of her
politics Paraguay is essentially a fortunate land — a
lotus-land if you will, but none the less fortunate
for that. It is possible enough that the countries
provided with the most bountiful wealth of Nature
are responsible for the fewest human feats. It would
in any case seem more or less of an axiom that the
hot sunlight streaming1 through palm-leaves and
brilliant tropical flowers produces just the same degree
of languor as the frosty air of the chilly latitudes
does of energy — this latter, moreover, not merely
for energy's sake, but rather as the result of the
search for warmth.

There may be some who fail to see that Paraguay
is to be congratulated on its lot. Doubtless there
are many loyal and ambitious Paraguayans who
would hotly deny their country's faintest claim to
the title of fortunate land. Hemmed in by neigh-
bours now more powerful than herself, all but ex-
terminated just after the middle of the nineteenth
century by the combined forces of Argentina, Brazil,
and Uruguay — these, after all, are only a couple of
the woeful circumstances which have fallen to the
lot of the Paraguayan race. From the first settle-
ment of the land by the Europeans the inland State
became, and remained, the sport of despotism, civil
war, and revolutions.

None of the great names which are associated

INTRODUCTION 25

with the founding of the colony — Pedro de Mendoza,
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, Irala, and the rest
of the conquistador es — are to be dissociated with
deeds of violence, whether worked by themselves
upon others or by others upon them. At the dawn
of the New World history was necessarily made in
a rough-and-ready fashion, and the history which
was made in Paraguay could only be compared
in importance with that hammered out at white
heat in Peru and Bolivia by Pizarro and Almagro.

Upon the early history of Paraguay hung that of
the entire south-eastern portion of the continent.
From the force of circumstances which are prob-
ably unique in the tale of the world Asuncion,
the young capital of Paraguay, situated on the banks
of its great river at a distance of no less than a
thousand miles from the coast, became the first head-
quarters of Spanish civilization, and from this point
the colonizing force radiated outwards in all
directions.

As a result of all this, Asuncion became as per-
turbed as any other vortex. So great was its distance
from the mother country that the dreaded might of
Spain, by the time that it had filtered across the
ocean, along the coast, and up the great river system
far inland, had lost much of its terror. The com-
munity which comprised the early white population
of Paraguay was essentially of a daredevil order,
otherwise it had never penetrated to that remote
spot. It comprised men sufficiently reckless to flout
an Imperial Governor or a Bishop of Rome, both of
which acts, undertaken at that period, were eloquent
of extreme daring.

Starting from this basis, it is perhaps a matter of
little wonder that the early history of the inland
State should have been unusually turbulent, and that
it should have been marred by a degree of internal
conflict against which many of the great and wise

26 PARAGUAY

men that the country has produced have struggled
in vain. In Paraguay, moreover, the storm-centres of
the various contests have tended to shift in a
most giddy fashion. The direction of the various
antagonisms would seem to have altered almost as
rapidly as the level of the great rivers in flood-
time or drought. Almost every conceivable kind
of struggle occurred between Church and State,
governors and bishops, rival clerical orders, and
between conflicting civil powers.

So deeply did' these elements of discord permeate
the social life of Paraguay that even one of the
greatest feats of civilization in the history of the
world — the organization of the Guarani Indians in
the settlements prepared for them by the Jesuits —
was not carried out without considerable opposition,
not only on the part of those laymen who were
incensed at the withdrawal from their power of so
many potential human chattels, but from dignitaries
of the Church itself, who relentlessly busied them-
selves in attempting to destroy an essentially humane
work.

In this respect Paraguayan history has been
curiously consistent. Even when, at the beginning
of the nineteenth century, the victorious war of libera-
tion had flung wide open to the outer world the
frontiers of the other South American States, the
rise of a new despotism in Paraguay shut off her
inhabitants completely from her neighbours. At this
period for year after year all those foreigners who
attempted to pass her forbidden boundaries were
excluded with a rigour which gained for the country
the name of the " Inland Japan " — a title which is
meaningless now but which was sufficiently eloquent
then.

For the greater part of the first half of the nine-
teenth century Paraguay was a hermit State. For
some decades after the decay of the Spanish rule

INTRODUCTION 27

so intense was the despotism that oppressed the
country that its inhabitants only dared breathe out
the name of the first tyrant, Caspar Rodriguez
Francia, in the muttered whisper of utter dread.

In the Middle Ages themselves what would have
been thought and written of a monarch who decreed
that all his male subjects, even the most impoverished,
should wear a hat — if the headgear were to consist
of nothing but a twisted wisp of straw — solely in
order that the man might sweep it off with a suffi-
ciently obsequious flourish if the dreaded chief of
the State should happen to pass him by in the
street ! Yet this — and much that was not in the least
humorous and utterly grim — occurred in Paraguay of
the early nineteenth century.

The more intimate records of this period of
Paraguayan history are lamentably meagre. But the
reasons for this lack are sufficiently explicit. The
Paraguayans themselves — haunted by a continual fear
of lese majeste — dared not compile any notes or
formulate any opinions concerning the events of the
day : the foreigners — save for a few favoured excep-
tions whose impressions are dealt with later on—
could not, for the simple reason that the Paraguayan
guards along the river banks kept unceasing watch
and ward in order to prevent the treading of the
hermit soil by an unauthorized and unwelcome foot !

It was not until 1870, at the end of the com-
pletely exhausting war with her neighbours, that
Paraguay, faint, bleeding at every pore, and in-
credibly diminished in population, was delivered from
the iron rule of the last of her three tyrants. Even
then the political troubles of the country were not
at an end ; it was scarcely to be expected that
after so giddy a career a firm balance could be
obtained without a number of preliminary stagger-
ings. A cycle of revolutions followed, a series of
internal upheavals that were separated the one from

28 PARAGUAY

the other by intervals of a peace sufficiently pro-
ductive to demonstrate with astonishing clearness the
agricultural and industrial possibilities of the country.

It does not necessarily savour of any undue
optimism to assert that this period of intermittent
revolution may be looked upon as heralding the
settled prosperity of the country. It is possible
enough that it has served a somewhat drastic
purpose in permitting the effervescence which was
only natural after so lengthy a condition of un-
healthy repression. As it is, moreover, industrial
circumstances have now stepped in to play a part
which had been denied them before. The railway
has been at work, not only to link up Paraguay with
its neighbours but to open up communication between
many of the interior districts which had before been
widely separated by the difficulties of travel. The
lines, moreover, are about to extend themselves still
farther.

Now, throughout the history of South America it
has been proved that the chief enemies of revolu-
tion are railways in the first place and prosperity in
the second, the second usually being the corollary of
the first. From the mere strategic point of view it
is beyond question that the intercommunication re-
sulting from the spread of the railway lines tends to
render less and less possible the existence of those
isolated hotbeds of disaffection which have worked
so much mischief — and occasional good ! — in the past.
A factor which has so greatly favoured many South
American revolutions is precisely this want of rapid
communications, which, combined with a sparse
population, has enabled insurgents to seize a province,
hold it, and to establish a new Government within
it almost before the central authorities of the State
had an inkling that anything out of the usual was
happening. With the prosperity, moreover, which
has invariably been found to follow in the track of

INTRODUCTION 29

the railway lines the more sordid incentive towards
political disorder disappears.

These circumstances have held good in the case
of all Paraguay's neighbours, and it will be strange
if the proof be not forthcoming once again in
Paraguay itself.

So far we have been looking on merely the dark
side of Paraguayan affairs. Indeed, there is no
disguising the fact that from the political point of
view the bright side of life undoubtedly lies in the
future. Nevertheless, affairs of state, although
they carry far, are not all-embracing. The inland
Republic is not lacking in consolations. From the
domestic and everyday point of view the present
amply suffices for its inhabitants. It is in these
most important respects that Paraguay shows herself
as a most fortunate land.

The average Paraguayan, as a matter of fact, is
accustomed to live amid surroundings such as the
inhabitants of very, few other countries could afford
not to envy. His land is one of exquisite natural
beauty, of abundant fruits and flowers, and of soft
airs. It has a soil that gives with a generosity so
lavish as to tend to discourage too violent a human
effort or too ambitious an enterprise ! The boons
of too kind a Nature are inevitably accompanied
by a certain process of enervation.

So it is that, in a sense, Paraguay represents the
Midi, the Riviera of the country of the great southern
streams. It is a land where the guitar-strings still
thrum, and where the blue cigar smoke floats up
dreamily against a far bluer sky from the placid
lips of young and old, male and female.

If Paraguay were an important tourist resort — as
at some future time it cannot well fail to become —
an advertising agent of enterprise could glean one
of its finest testimonials from the very earliest Spanish
history of the land. For the conquistadores of the

30 PARAGUAY

Rio de la Plata, after vainly endeavouring to make
head against the famine and hostile Indians that
haunted the mouth of the great river, toiled for a
thousand miles up-stream, doubtless pausing in per-
plexity a hundred times amid the maze of islands and
the complexities of the waters, until they came abreast
of the spot where Asuncion, the capital, now stands.
During the whole course of their inland voyage the
banks had been growing more varied in beauty, richer
in woodland, and more brilliant in flowers, birds,
and butterflies. The promise of the landscape had
called upon the adventurers many times to halt. But
they had gone on, hesitating at times, until they
came abreast of the site of Asuncion. There they
doubted no longer. They hauled their brigantines
and caravels to the pleasant bank, landed, and —
after an everyday and commonplace victory over
the very mild-tempered Indians of the district — they
prepared to establish themselves at the beautiful spot
they had chosen.

From that day to this Paraguay has never entirely
shed its soft glamour. Robert Southey himself must
have been keenly appreciative of this. For, though
he chose Brazil as a subject for the best history that
has ever been written on that country, he selected Para-
guay as the most appropriate setting for a romance !

So far the clatter of the Asuncion electric trams
and the rumble of the occasional trains which pass
through the country have shaken up very few particles
of the sunny and slumberous Paraguayan air, though
they will undoubtedly cause an incalculable disturb-
ance before they have done. There can be little
doubt, indeed, that Paraguay has already begun to
be alive to the value of the industrial and com-
mercial assets which have for so long lain to a
large extent latent within her frontiers. For the
country is fortunate in that its products already show
a considerable variety, which cannot fail to be

INTRODUCTION 31

increased considerably further when the full force
of modern invention and machinery is brought to bear.

Thus it is that, in addition to its important pastoral
and agricultural industries — in both of which notable
strides have recently been made — a number of
factories have of late years arisen, brought into being,
not at the casual command of one of the nation's
despots, which in the old days was practically the
only species of beginning which an industry was
permitted, but by an enterprise brought about by
an awakening to the exigencies of supply and
demand. There seems no doubt that the trend of
this beginning will, apart from its own success, be
accelerated by the enormously increased importance
of the r61e which South America is now assuredly
destined to fill in the affairs of the continents.

It is certain that amidst the hills, valleys, and
rivers of her beautiful landscape Paraguay has a
sufficiency of material assets to ensure her material
wealth. To what extent its light-hearted and
temperamentally easy-going1 populace will themselves
enter into the up-to-date, and not invariably pleasant,
process of money -making remains to be seen. Clearly
such a revolution would entail the shattering of so
many comfortable principles that have had their birth
and existence under the blue cigar smoke and bluer sky
which are themselves part and parcel of Paraguay !
All things considered, two circumstances would seem
to promise comparative certainties in the inland
Republic : in the first place that its resources will
be amazingly developed within the next ten years ;
in the second that this development will be con-
ducted, not necessarily on the hard-and-fast Northern
principles, but rather in conformity with the ways
of a land that has much history and many traditions
behind it, and that has for its everyday use a soft
and languorous climate, the influence of which will
never consent to be set entirely aside.

CHAPTER I

THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF PARAGUAY

An Indian tradition — The story of Tupi and Guarani — The Guarani race —
Some characteristics — Various tribes — General Guarani methods of
Government — Evidences of a strong sense of democracy — Diffuseness
of the race — Disadvantages of this circumstance in warfare — The
Guarani as a warrior — Intellectual status of the race — Lack of arts
and crafts — Matters of religion and medicine — Some results of a want
of imagination — Painful ceremonies — Limited advantages enjoyed by
the cacique— Relation in which he stood towards the tribes — Duties
of the primitive Parliaments — Absence of an aristocracy — Physical
characteristics — A stoical people — The tribes of the Chaco— Dividing
force of the River Paraguay — Distinction between the inhabitants of
the Chaco and the Guaranis — Some relics of Inca rule in the Chaco
— A lapse into barbarism — Some grim events — A curious spectacle
of isolation.

VERY little is known of the history of the Guarani
Indians who inhabited Paraguay at the period when
the Spaniards first arrived in that country. There is a
vague traditioa to the effect that the forefathers of two
of the great native races of the east of the continent
were two brothers who in some mysterious fashion
arrived in Brazil from overseas. Taking to them-
selves wives in the country, their offspring multiplied
rapidly.

At length a dispute occurred between the wives
of the two brothers who at the time happened to
be the leaders of the young race. In consequence
of this they resolved to separate. Tupi, the elder
brother, remained in Brazil, while Guaranf, the
younger, led his people to the south-west, until they
came to Paraguay, where they settled, and increased,

THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 33

until from their descendants sprang the great nation
of the Guaranfs.

If it possesses no other merits, this legend has at
all events that extreme simplicity which was to be
expected from so unsophisticated a folk. The ethics
of the Guarani race, as a matter of fact, were crude
to a degree when the conquistador mes first pene-
trated into their midst. The various nations of this
great race occupied not only Paraguay — exclusive
of the low-lying stretches of the Chaco country on
the right bank of the Paraguay River — but extended
through many portions of Brazil, practically as far
as the northern shores of the continent.

Occupying so large a tract of territory, it was
only natural that the various sections of the great
Guarani family should have developed rather widely
differing characteristics. Indeed, at the time of the
European advent into South America the main stock
of the race had become split up into a countless
confusion of lesser tribes, which varied, the one from
the other, not only in customs and appearance but in
language itself.

Some of these tribes were nomadic. These lived
principally upon the abundance of fish with which
the rivers were stocked, and to a lesser degree upon
the game which their notched, wooden-tipped arrows
brought down for them. Other tribes were of the
stationary order, and these, occupying their moderate
energy with some primitive forms of agriculture,
found themselves able to support existence by a far
less strenuous fishing and hunting than was the case
with the nomadic branches of the race.

In matters of government the Guaranis of
Paraguay resembled all the other aboriginal races
of South America, with the exception of the imperial
Incas and of the more northern Chibchas. As a
people they were essentially diffuse. Not only did
they recognize no central authority, they yielded a

34 PARAGUAY

mere conditional obedience to the chiefs set directly,
above each tribe. They consented to be governed
by a chief only for so long as they were convinced
that he was fitted to fill the chieftain's post. An
inefficient leader was almost invariably replaced by
another. No violence occurred in this change of
authority, moreover. It took place by mutual con-
sent, and afforded only one more proof of that very
strong inborn sense of democracy which pervaded
all the South American races, with the exception of
the Incas.

The situation of the Guarani race had served its
own purposes well enough in aboriginal South
America. But it was the very diffuseness of the great
family that constituted its greatest peril, when
menaced by a conquering force from without. This
loosely knit collection of tribes was completely un-
able to offer any effective resistance to the small
bands of well-armed and highly trained Spaniards
who invaded their lands, and who were able to deal
with the various tribes singly, or in twos or threes,
in a fashion that to a great extent neutralized the
overwhelming masses of the Guarani population,
which in these instances served as a mere dead-
weight .

The average Guarani, moreover — though many of
his number proved themselves possessed of admirable
courage — was not a natural-born warrior of the type
of the unusually fierce Indians of Uruguay, Argen-
tina, and Southern Chile. Had he proved himself
so, the influence of climate would have spent itself
in vain — a circumstance which does not seem ever
yet to have arisen in the history of nations and their
natural surroundings.

On the whole, the Guarani was a primitive and
contented person who, being well satisfied with the
particular territory in which he happened to find
himself, scarcely ever troubled to invade his neigh-

THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 35

hour's soil or to commit any acts . of organized
and premeditated aggression. This being so, war
was rare among the various Guarani tribes. But it
cannot be said that the benefits of comparative peace
had brought about any notable advance in the arts
and crafts of civilization. On the contrary, the intel-
lectual development of these natives had remained at
a very low ebb.

Music, even of the most barbarous order, was
practically unknown among them. Of such crude
picture-writings on rock as were discovered by
Wallace in the Amazon basin not a trace has, I
believe, been met with in Paraguay. Indeed, the
Guaranfs appear to have been remarkably deficient
even in those superstitions which would seem the
birthright of almost every, savage race. It is true
that they were provided with priests of a kind. But
the duties of these were very, little concerned with
worship in any shape or form, and ceremonial ritual
was practically unknown to them : they served rather
as medicine-men, and their most notable perform-
ances lay in the alleged curing of sufferers. Even
here their methods were as crude as in all else, one
of their most frequent forms of treatment being to
apply their lips to the part affected and to endeavour
to suck the pain away !

Probably few races have been gifted with a lesser
degree of imagination than the original stock of the
Guarani. Among his good qualities, of course, were
those of his defects. He was tenacious and patient,
and was capable of bearing pain and suffering to
a point which very few other mortals could have
endured. The mutilations which the men were
accustomed to inflict on themselves on attaining to
maturity were alone of so severe an order as to be
borne only by those of the most resolute nature.
Yet these were the common lot, and had to be
undergone by every single man before he could be

36 PARAGUAY

permitted to enter the state of matrimony or the
councils of his tribe.

These tribal councils, as a matter of fact, repre-
sented very important institutions. It has already
been explained that the power of the various Guaranf
chiefs was limited in the extreme. In these naturally
democratic communities the cacique possessed no
insignia. His attire — or his lack of it — was exactly
similar to that of all the rest of the people. In
the majority of cases the sole advantage he enjoyed
over the common tribesmen was the right to order
these to till and sow his fields, to gather in his
harvests, and to build his primitive hut for him.

This chief's authority, moreover, was at all times
subservient to that of the tribal council — to which
he seems to have stood much in the same relation
as the modern manager of a limited company stands
towards his board of directors ! These tribal councils
were composed of the various male heads of the
families, who would gather together of an evening,
when the last rays of the brilliant sun were about
to die away and the first fire -beetles were about
to appear, and would discuss the affairs of their
primitive State. In the case of war it was this same
council which would appoint the commander of the
warriors — an office which the chosen leader would
hold only for as long as the war lasted, after which
he would revert to his status as an ordinary tribes-
man. It will be seen from all this that an aristocracy
of any kind was absolutely wanting in the aboriginal
people of Paraguay, a condition of affairs which
obtained throughout the continent, with the excep-
tion of the Inca and Chibcha races. Since it is the
descendants of this original Guarani race which form
so large a part of the present-day Paraguayan nation,
they assume an importance which is practically lack-
ing in the almost extinct southern warrior tribes
of Argentina and Uruguay, and which justifies a

THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 37

share of attention which these others — according to
the hard-and-fast tragedy of the extinct !— have no
longer the right to claim.

In person the Guarani of Paraguay was of a light
brown complexion, of average height, and was almost
invariably well built. Indeed, with their small eyes
and long, straight, black hair, the aboriginals were
typical American natives, representatives of the " red-
skin " race which once flourished from Hudson's Bay
to Cape Horn.

In temperament they were equally true to type.
We have already seen that they were stoical in the
bearing of pain. Grief and joy they encountered in
this same frame of mind. They refused stubbornly
to groan at the first, or to laugh aloud at the second.
It was their grim pride to maintain an impassive
countenance in the face of every happening which
their world had in its power to offer them, and
among themselves they maintained their conversations
in low and monotonous voices.

It may be imagined that this people, blended with
that of the fiery, chivalrous, and emotional Spaniard,
would be productive of a sufficiently virile race. Such
has proved to be the case, and, from the anthro-
pological point of view, none can find themselves
disposed to criticize the Paraguayan of to-day un-
favourably. But this topic has brought us far in
advance of the aboriginal period with which we are
at present concerned.

On the right bank of the Paraguay River were
the Chaco tribes, nations which differed as much
from the Guaranis as does the landscape of one
bank from that of the other. As a dividing force
there can be few streams which rival the Paraguay.
As a barrier between nations, moreover, its influence
has remained almost unbroken from the dawn of
history to the present day.

Save for a few raiding parties which would cross

38 PARAGUAY

the stream from time to time the left bank' of the
Paraguay River was as unknown to the Chaoo tribes
as was the right bank to the Guaranis. But the
cause of such infrequent and desultory hostilities as
occurred must without a doubt be laid at the door
of the Tobas, Matacos, Lenguas, and the rest of
the Chaco tribes. For these truculent Indians were
at all times only too ready to assume the offensive.
The Guaranf, when brought into contact with civiliza-
tion, showed himself willing to take advantage of
its benefits. The Chaco tribes, on the other hand,
steadily refused to enter into any intercourse with
the whites except that provided by ambushes and
flights of arrows.

There seems to be no doubt that in the north-
west of that strange Chaco district of wood, swamp,
and pasture which includes such important terri-
tories of Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia, many of
the Indian tribes are concerned witjh a tragic romance,
of which they themselves probably suspect nothing
at all. In the days of the Inca Empire great portions
of the Chaco were controlled by these Children of
the Sun, and evidence abounds to support the fact
that, on the extinction of the Inca rule by the
Spaniards, large numbers of these ill-fated people
took refuge in the Chaco.

It is this flight on a large scale which accounts
for the marked Quichua features of many of the
remoter Chaco tribesmen ; for the Incas of Peru
and Bolivia were of the Quichua race. Other traces
are to be met with in the headgear of some of the
tribes, which is clearly patterned on that of the
ancient Incas. But in the present-day habits and
customs of these men nothing whatever of the old
Inca remains. They have lapsed entirely into the
barbarism of the Chaco, and have no idea that any
of their ancestors existed in anything more solid
than the woodland totdos, the huts of branches hastily

THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 39

flung up, or that they had ever lived any other life
but that of fishers and hunters in the Chaco plains.

However this may be, the Chaco Indians enter
very little into the history of Paraguay. Unlike
the Guaranis, they have played no part in the build-
ing up of the modern Paraguayan race. The only
part contributed by them towards the early history
was the grim tale of the murders which they worked
upon those clerics, laymen, and soldiers whose ill-
fate had caused them to attempt to explore that
mysterious land which lay on the other side of the
great river.

It is only during the past few years that this
isolated condition of affairs has tended to alter. In
the beginning and middle of the nineteenth century
it was responsible for a complication in the strange
political situation of that period. For, whereas
Paraguay then shut herself off from the outer world,
and became what was known at the time as the
" Inland Japan," the Paraguayan Chaco, with its
hordes of fierce Indians, kept itself as remote as
ever from Paraguay proper on the other side. The
spectacle afforded in consequence was unique — that
of a hermit State within a hermit State I But at
the time these conditions prevailed there were very
few foreign spectators on the spot to take disinterested
note of these remarkable circumstances.

CHAPTER II

THE ENTRY OF THE SPANIARDS

Juan Diaz de Soils — The first mariner to sail the Rio de la Plata — His fate
— Return of the expedition — Magellan — Sebastian Cabot — He explores
the Parana River and founds the settlement of Sancti Spiritus —
Origin of the name Rio de la Plata — Cabot sails up the Paraguay
River — Unexpected meeting with Diego Garcia — The latter relin-
quishes the field to Cabot — After prolonged waiting Cabot sails to
Spain in order to seek assistance — Fate of the garrison he left behind
him — The tragedy of Lucia Miranda and the caciques — The few sur-
vivors of the garrison eventually reach the island of Santa Catalina —
Don Pedro de Mendoza's expedition — The founding of the township
of Nuestra Senora de los Buenos Aires — Outbreak of hostilities with
the Guarani Indians — The settlement of Buena Esperanza is founded
on the site of Sancti Spiritus — Pedro de Mendoza, leaving Ayolas
in charge of the province, dies on the homeward voyage — Ayolas'
voyage up the river — The chronicles of Ulrico Schmidel and the
commentaries of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca — A comparison
between the river systems of the Amazon and of the Rio de la
Plata — Animals and tribes seen on the voyage — Relations with the
Indians — Landing near the site of Asuncion — Defeat of the local
Guarani Indians — Foundation of the City of Asuncion — Advantages
possessed by the spot — Results of its remoteness from the ocean —
Situation of the pioneers — Their isolation.

THE earliest chronicles of Spanish Paraguay are
inextricably bound up with the history of Argentina
and of the territories of the Rio de 1'a Plata in
general. It was only in the nature of things that
the mouth of the river should have been discovered
before the upper reaches ! Why it was that a spot
a thousand miles from the ocean should have been
definitely settled before the lands at the great river's
mouth involves some far more complicated reasons.
Juan Diaz de Solis, Grand Pilot of Spain, was

THE ENTRY OF THE SPANIARDS 41

the first mariner to sail the waters of the Rio de la
Plata. Setting sail from the port of Sanlucar on
the 8th of October, 1515, he went southwards with
three ships until1 he came to the wide and sandy
mouth of the Plata. It was his fate to proceed a
very short distance up the stream. On |one of the low-
lying islands in the river, covered with willow, ceibo,
and rushes, were a number of fierce Charrua Indians.

These, staring in amazement at the strange new
vessels that were sailing up their stream, made signals
for the sailors to come ashore. Solis and his men,
anxious to open communications with these inhabit-
ants of a hitherto unsuspected world, rowed in a
small boat to the baiik. But no sooner had the party
landed than it was attacked and massacred by the
Charruas. The dismayed European sailors, who had
witnessed the tragedy from their ships, pulled up
their anchors, and set sail forthwith for Spain to
carry back the melancholy tidings.

On his southward way to the Straits which bear his
name, the famous Magellan sailed into the mouth of
the Rio de la Plata in 1520, but made no attempt to
explore the actual waters of the stream. The next
really important feat of this kind was reserved for
Sebastian Cabot. As a matter of fact this was
brought about in the first place by accidental causes.
Cabot, who had set out from Spain bound for the
Moluccas, was compelled by the loss of some of his
ships and by the scarcity of provisions to alter his
plans — a circumstance which was very common in
the experience of the early sea-captains ! Finding
himself off the mouth of the stream which was then
known by the name of the River of Solis, he
determined to explore its waters.

In the first place he detached a vessel under Juan
Alvarez Ramon to sail up the Uruguay branch
of the great river system. Ramon's vessel having
run ashore, he was making his way back as best

42 PARAGUAY

he couM, when he was murdered by the Yaros
Indians. Enough, however, had been gleaned con-
cerning the Uruguay River to show that, for purposes
of navigation, the stretch of waters it offered was
comparatively limited.

Cabot himself now determined to investigate the
other branch, and, proceeding up the Parand River
as far as the mouth of its tributary stream, the
Carcarana, he established at the spot a settlement
and a fort, which he christened by the name of
Sancti Spiritus. It was just about this time, it may
be said, that the name of the great estuary of the
river system became changed. The reason of this
was that Cabot was brought into contact with a
certain number of natives on the banks of the stream,
who were decorated with silver ornaments. Cabot
had yet to learn that these pieces of metal had been
brought across country from the mountains hundreds
of leagues to the west. At the time he made certain
that the silver had emanated from the country through
which the river passed. Rejoicing greatly at this
supposed discoverly of his, he sent the news back
to Spain, and thenceforward the Rio de Solis became
the Rio de la Plata, or the River of Silver — a metal
of which its banks have always remained entirely
innocent .

We now arrive at the first cleaving of the waters
of the Paraguay by European vessels. It was at
the end of December, and consequently midsummer
below the equator, of 1527 that Cabot set out from
his new settlement of Sancti Spiritus, determined to
explore the upper waters. Having arrived at the
point Where, proceeding up-stream, his path became
divided into the Paraguay and the Alto Parana, he
first of all chose the latter, and forced his way up it,
the current becoming swifter and the fairylike forests
drawing in on either hand, until the rocky bed and
the cataracts forbade further progress.

THE ENTRY OF THE SPANIARDS 43

On this, Cabot turned the bows of his ships, and
sped down to the junction of the two rivers. Having
reached this, he swung his craft round up-stream,
and thus found himself sailing up the waters of the
Paraguay River. Here he is said to have reached
the point where the red and muddy waters of the
Bermejo River flow into the main stream to discolour
its tide, when Indian messengers brought him the news
that the vessels of a second European expedition had
made their appearance! in the Parana. This news
was as disturbing as any could well be to an explorer
in the first flush of his success, loath to share his
triumph with any new-comer. Cabot turned his bows
down-stream again, and about ninety miles below the
junction of the Paraguay and Parang he met with
the ships of Diego Garcia.

Diego Garcia is said to have been an old shipmate
of the unfortunate Juan Diaz de Solis. Convinced
apparently of the opportunities which lay farther
along the river on the banks of which his leader
had perished, Garcia had persuaded some Spanish
merchants to finance an expedition. Hence his meet-
ing, many hundreds of miles from the mouth, with
the man who had forestalled him, and who, in the
first instance, had found himself in those latitudes
by the merest chance.

The two captains sailed down in company to Sancti
Spiritus. At that spot there undoubtedly ensued con-
siderable argument. Cabot's personality was not one
to be lightly set aside. The matter was an unfortu-
nate one for Diego Garcia, who had planned what
the other had obtained by a stroke of fortune — but
it was Diego Garcia who had to go. Yielding
the point, he sailed out of sight down the stream
on his way to Spain, leaving Cabot in possession of
the field of his discoveries.

After this Cabot remained for some time in the
neighbourhood of Sancti Spiritus awaiting the assist-

44 PARAGUAY

ance for which he had appealed to Spain, and which,
as was not altogether unusual in affairs handled by
the Castilian Government, was suffering a practically
indefinite delay. In 1530 Cabot, weary of waiting
for the ships that did not arrive, determined that
he himself would seek in Spain the assistance neces-
sary for the success of his colonial plans. Leaving
Sancti Spiritus, he sailed down the river, across the
ocean, and arrived safely in Spain. Here circum-
stances intervened to prevent him returning to the
Rio de la Plata — a dislocation that was by no means
unusual in the affairs of the sixteenth-century
founders of States and colonial governors !

Sebastian Cabot left behind him at Sancti
Spiritus a garrison of 120 men, under the com-
mand of one of his officers, Nuno de Lara. The
fate of the majority of this garrison was tragic in
the extreme. To all intents and purposes abandoned
by the authorities in Spain, they subsisted as best
they could, and succeeded in opening up a more
or less friendly intercourse with the truculent Indians
in the neighbourhood. *

Unfortunately for the garrison, the handsome wife
of one of the Spanish officers, Sebastian Hurtado,
aroused the desire of the cacique Mangore", and this
savage eventually led a treacherous attack on the
unsuspecting Europeans with the object of securing
the person of Lucia Miranda. Mangor6 himself was
slain in the fight, but his brother Siripo, as victor,
took the unfortunate lady prisoner. Beyond this ipoint
the accounts are; conflicting. Some have it that Lucia
Miranda was left in possession of Siripo, others
that she and her husband remained together to the
end, and died the death of martyrs.

However this may have been, when a small party
of the garrison, who had been absent during the
Indian attack, returned to Sancti Spiritus, they were
horrified to find nothing beyond the corpses of their

THE ENTRY OF THE SPANIARDS 45

companions littering the bloodstained soil. These
they buried, after which the remnant of the force
made its way to the neighbourhood of the small
Portuguese settlement of San Vicente on the Atlantic,
from which spot they passed in 1534 to the island
of Santa Catalina.

In that same year great preparations were com-
pleted for an expedition which should be of sufficient
power to undertake in an adequate fashion the
colonization of the countries of the Rio de la; Plata,
the importance of which was now acknowledged. In
the late summer an imposing fleet of fourteen vessels
sailed from Spain. In supreme command was
Don Pedro de Mendoza, a sufficiently gallant and
adventurous soldier of fortune, who had bargained
with the King, and who, according to the usage
of the period, had demonstrated to his Majesty in
a pecuniary, as well as a practical fashion his ability
to act as Governor of this new district of the Southern
world which he had the royal permission to conquer.

Mendoza's bargain, though it was indirectly of
considerable use to his successors in South America,
turned out to be far less profitable to himself than
he had imagined. The expedition was destined to
cause him the loss of his money, health, and, even-
tually, of his life. After a voyage filled with incident
he arrived at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata. A
tentative landing on the left bank of the estuary
determined him to attempt his settlement on the
opposite side. Having re-embarked his men and
sailed across, he founded a township, Nuestra Sefiora
de los Buenos Aires, on the spot where the present
capital of Argentina is situated. Here he landed his
people and horses, and erected a stockade about the
dwellings .

From its very inception the circumstances of this
place were unfavourable. In a very short time
hostilities broke out between the Guarani Indians of

46 PARAGUAY

the neighbourhood and the European settlers. As,
moreover, the Spaniards were largely dependent upon
these Indians for such meat and fish as they could
obtain, the outbreak of these quarrels meant the
beginning of a serious famine.

After a time it became evident from the straits to
which the garrison was reduced that a continuance of
the situation must end in complete disaster. Juan de
Ayolas, Mendoza's second in command, set sail up
the river, and founded a new settlement at the mouth
of the Carcarana on the site of the original stronghold
which had been destroyed by the caciques "Mangore"
and Siripo.

This was now christened Buena Esperanza ; but
the ray of hope that this new development brought
to Pedro de Mendoza was but fleeting. That un-
fortunate Governor — the Adelc^itado of all these new
and difficult lands — was now not only discouraged
but seriously ailing. After a stay of some time at
Buena Esperanza he departed for Spain, leaving Juan
de Ayolas in charge of the enterprise, with Francisco
Ruiz Galan as his second in command. Mendoza
never reached the coast of Spain. He died on the
homeward voyage, doubtless after much bitter wonder
as to what he had gained by this arduous adventure,
for the privilege of which he had paid1 so heavily !

We are now at the threshold of the history of
Paraguay proper. Juan de Ayolas, whose imagination
had been stirred by the tales of the prosperity and
abundance to be met with in the lands bordering the
upper reaches of the river, now prepared to take an
important force up-stream, in order to search for a
more genial headquarters for the scheme of coloniza-
tion which it had now fallen to him to carry on.

The fullest account of this momentous voyage has
been given by a certain Ulrich Schmidt, known to
the Spaniards as Ulrico Schmidel, who accompanied
Mendoza as the representative of some merchants

THE ENTRY OF THE SPANIARDS 47

who must have been of a' decidedly enterprising turn
of mind.

Schmidel's chronicles, together with the Com-
mentaries of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, have
been translated from the original Spanish into English
by that fine Argentine scholar the late Don Luis L.
Dominguez, formerly Argentine Minister Plenipoten-
tiary in London. The value of these works is not to
be over-estimated, since they throw into strong relief a
branch of South American history which had failed
until then to receive anything like its proper share
of attention.

There is, unfortunately, no space available here
for the full details of this notable inland voyage.
As an experience, few events of the kind could have
been more thrilling, quite apart from' the added excite-
ment caused by the occasional Indian attacks. There
is no doubt that, from the explorer's point of view,
the River Plate system compared favourably with
that of the Amazon. In the first place the great
breadth of the latter gigantic stream suggests a turbid
sea rather than a river, and discourages any really
intimate acquaintance with the banks. Even in the
narrower stretches, too, the monotony of the land-
scape very soon tends to destroy all appreciation of
a nearer view. The Amazon landscape has been
justly described as of three unending colours, yellow,
green, and blue. The yellow paints the stream, the
green the interminable forest walls, and the blue, of
course, the sky. There is nothing to break the
monotony, save an occasional thunderstorm.

It is altogether different with the mounting of
the Rio de la Plata system, and with the passage from
the Parana River into the Paraguay. Here, ascend-
ing little by little from the temperate latitudes into
the sub-tropical, every score of miles adds just a
little to the richness and to the variety of the scene.
Surely there can be nothing more enchanting than

48 PARAGUAY

entering into the full brilliancy and wealth of the
realms of the most abundant Nature in this deliberate
and leisurely fashion.

The Spaniards found much to wonder at on their
upward journey. They noticed, not only the growing
beauty of the blossoms and birds, but the increasing
variety of the curious creatures which abounded on the
shore and in the stream. After a time they became
accustomed to the innumerable small alligators that
dozed sluggishly on the exposed sand-banks, although
they never ceased to wonder at the far rarer sight
of a giant boa-constrictor coiling his brown and
yellow length in the lassitude of repletion or in the
alert expectancy that preceded a; meal.

The names of the various tribes with which the
expedition came into contact on its voyage up-stream
need not be given here. As rendered by Schmidel,
who, with the best of intentions, could not be expected
to be accurate in the matter of nomenclature, very
few of these are in any way recognizable, from the
point of view of modern knowledge. When he refers
to such people as the ' Guaycurus, Timbues, and other
known tribes of the kind, the affair becomes plain
sailing ; but more often the old chronicler's desig-
nations are more or less untraceable.

Putting all such details aside, it is quite certain
that Ayolas' ships, on going up the river, had the
various Guarani tribes on their right and the natives
of the Chaco on their left. The most important and
•most highly organized resistance with which the expe-
dition met was from the Mepenes, who are said to
have mustered no fewer than five hundred canoes in
order to oppose his progress up the river. Neverthe-
less, the disparity in arms and vessels very soon told
its tale. When the action was over a number of
capsized canoes and brown corpses went floating down
the stream, while the heavy craft of the Spaniards,
undamaged, continued their way slowly up the current.

THE ENTRY OF THE SPANIARDS 49

The relations of Ayolas' men with the Indians were
not invariably of a bellicose nature. Occasionally,
the intercourse was friendly enough. Sometimes, in-
deed, the Indians proved themselves willing, not only
to barter, but to make presents of fish, beans, and
liquors to these lighter- skinned strangers. As the
Spaniards proceeded farther into the more bountiful
land, and as the bows of the vessels drove into the
clear waters above where the muddy red torrent
of the Bermejo poured itself into the main river, the
docility of the Indians on the right hand became
more marked.

At length on this side of the river appeared a
mountain, the first real mountain on which the adven-
turers had set their eyes since they had entered the
great river system ! Red, verdure-covered cliffs now
bordered the stream, to fall away just beyond the
mountain, giving way to a delightful little bay.

Here it was determined to effect a landing. The
anchors splashed down with a new sense of finality
into the stream, and the small boats bore the pioneers
to the shore. Scarcely was the disembarkation at an
end when it was discovered that there were Indians
in the neighbourhood who had to be reckoned with.
At the sight of the strangers two local caciques,
Lambare' and Nandua, had gathered together a
formidable Guarani army. An engagement ensued
between the Europeans and these, in which the latter
were signally worsted. The mauled Guaranf host
fled in dismay to the wooded slopes of the mountain —
itself subsequently known as Lambare' — where they
took refuge in a primitive stockaded fort.

The virile Ayolas, determined to force a decision
at all costs, followed on the heels of the Guaranis,
and closely besieged them in their stronghold. These
energetic measures produced just that result for which
the Spanish leader had hoped. Within three days
the Guaranis, dismayed at the organization and

50 PARAGUAY

efficiency of the force opposed to them1 — qualities which
were in themselves a revelation to the untutored
Indians — surrendered within three days, and a com-
pact of peace was for the first time drawn up between
the two nations. After this Ayolas and his men
returned to the pleasant little bay, and on the shore
laid the first foundation of the city >of Asuncion, the
capital of Paraguay.

Had the river been explored for years, instead of
having been ascended for the first time amid so
many distracting incidents, it is doubtful whether
a more favourable site could have been lit upon
for a centre from which the eddies of civilization
should flow outwards in Paraguay. In this respect
chance favoured this bold company of conquistadores
to an unusual degree. As it happened, Asuncion
lay at the end of that stretch of the river system which1
was conveniently navigable for the ocean-going sailing
craft of the sixteenth century. In addition to this,
and to numerous other strategic advantages which it
enjoyed, the climate of the place was distinctly
healthy, being practically innocent of the malarial
fevers common to many of the more swampy dis-
tricts. Further, the advantages of the neighbourhood
itself were not confined to a remarkably pleasant
landscape. The soil was peculiarly fruitful, and,
beyond the native flora, it soon demonstrated its
wonderful fertility in the growth of many of the
Southern European fruits and vegetables introduced
into it.

So much for the advantages offered' by Asuncion
in the first half of the sixteenth century. It must
be admitted that these were counterbalanced by
many circumstances of an adverse order. The small
and precarious establishments on the great rivers
of the south-east of the Continent of South America
were entirely dependent on Europe for their main-
tenance in all else 'but actual food — and even this

THE ENTRY OF THE SPANIARDS 61

latter commodity had to be included in the case o'f
the settlements at the mouth of the river. The
remoteness of Asuncion's situation from Europe was
a matter of less consequence 'so long as these latter
ports continued. But when the force of circumstances
— the chief of which were famine and continuous
Indian hostility — forced the abandonment of the
Settlements of Buenos Aires and Buena Esperanza,
and the transfer of their garrisons to Asuncion, the
position became changed very much for the worse,
and the remoteness of the 'daring Paraguayan town-
ship infinitely increased.

Indeed, few pioneers can ever have been so com-
pletely cut off from their countrymen as were those
of Asuncion at one period. Between them and the
sea ran a thousand miles of river, the current of which
was beset by a maze of islands, sandbanks, and
shifting shoals. Along this whole distance, more-
over, existed no single European upon the banks
who could give aid to a party in need of assistance.
On the other hand, every danger point along the
stream was infested by natives only too anxious to
render utterly complete any misfortune which the
intricate moods of the river might have in store for
the navigators. Finally, once arrived even at the
mouth of the great river, Spain was still on the
wrong side of the equator, many thousands of miles
away 1

Such was the almost overwhelming isolation with
which the first colonists of Paraguay had to contend.

CHAPTER III

THE FOUNDING OF THE COLONY

Relations between the Spaniards and Guaranis at Asuncion — The friendly
and hostile tribes of Indians — Principal object of the Spanish con-
quistadores — The fame of the Peruvian mines — Various routes to the
mineral districts — Real significance of the ascent of the Paraguay
River — Ayolas proceeds farther up-stream — He undertakes an over-
land expedition to Peru — Massacre of the party by the Indians —
Domingo Martinez de Irala — Arrival of Juan de Salazar de Espinosa
— Permanent dwellings constructed at Asuncion — Episode between
Ruiz Galan and Irala — Details received of the end of Ayolas and his
men — Some eloquent coins — Abandonment of the lower river settle-
ments— Asuncion as the sole centre of Spanish civilization — Irala
becomes Adelantado of the colony — His popularity — Administrative
gifts displayed by him — Some circumstances of Guarani servitude —
Characteristics of the natives — The establishment of encotniendas —
Yanaconas and mitayos — Regulations applying to slave ownership —
Development of Asuncion — Defences of the town and election of
officials — The urban arms — Circumstances of the colonists — The birth
of the modern Paraguayan nation.

THE energetic temperament of Juan de Ayolas did
not permit him to rest for any length of time on his
laurels at Asuncion. At this latter spot it soon
became evident that the prospects of a permanent
settlement were favourable in the extreme. In the
first place, the relations of the Spaniards with the
Indians were far more satisfactory than had been
their experience at any of the lower reaches of the
river.

This, of course, is regarding; the matter from the
Spanish point of view. From the purely native stand-
point the prospects were less bright, since there was
no doubt that tlte docile character of these Indians

THE FOUNDING OF THE COLONY 53

was already giving1 the Spaniards an ascendancy over
them which was rapidly preparing the way for a
complete European domination of the district. Start-
ing from the initial triumph of the conquistador es on
the mountain slopes of Lambare, the policy of the
new-comers, as it developed, involved the Indians more
and more in the state of inferior allies, whose business
it was, not only to fetch and carry for the Spaniard,
but to render him military assistance in his cam-
paigns against the less docile of their dusky brethren.

These latter were almost entirely met with on the
opposite bank of the river. The fierce inhabitants
of the Chaco took every opportunity of displaying
their resentment at the presence of the white man,
and the result was many fierce brushes with the tribes
of the Lenguas, Tobas and others. Indeed, during
his brief stay at Asuncion, Ayolas found leisure to
take a force down -stream, and inflict a severe lesson
on the tribe of the Agazes that had attacked his
ships on their upward way. Another hostile tribe,
it may be said, was that of the Guaycurus, consider-
ably to the north of Asuncion.

At the end of six months Ayol'as prepared him-
self for a further journey. His restlessness was not
without its object. In the mind of a sixteenth-century
conquistador townships such as Asuncion were merely
a means to an end. An Adelantado who sailed out
from Spain at that period to conquer and administer
the great stretch of territory allotted to him was
very little concerned with such prosaic matters as
spadework and agricultural development — so little,
indeed, that the Imperial Council of the Indies found
it necessary after a time to bind him by covenant
to take out with him & specified number of agri-
cultural and pastoral assets in order to ensure the
solidity of his venture.

It was usually with some reluctance that an
Adelantado complied with such conditions. That

54 PARAGUAY

which was before his eyes when he sailed from his
Spanish port for the fair south was gold, and it was
this gold that continued as his sole eventual aim and
object all the time, until, occasionally fabulously rich,
but more often impoverished and disillusioned, he
returned to Europe, or laid his bones in some corner
or other of the gilded continent of mystery.

Thanks to Pizarro, Almagro, and their doughty
colleagues, the fame of the Peruvian mines had been
spread widely abroad. To approach this dazzling
country from the west and the north was an impos-
sibility. Every route in that direction had been
secured by the grim and determined conquistadores
who had first boldly Challenged the force of the Inca
Empire. There remained the approach from the
south-east, and, it was supposed, the discovery of
lands adjoining that of the Inca — lands as rich in
precious metals as the other.

In the early sixteenth century all the South
American roads led to Peru and to its mountains of
metal ! Hence the great importance of the ascent of
this Paraguay River, whose source, the Spaniards
of this expedition felt assured, rose in those very
highlands among some; of which the conquistador ~es
of the north-west were reaping rich yellow harvests.

With a mental1 picture such as this floating
entrancingly before him, it was out of the question
for a man of Ayolas* temperament to remain quietly
at Asuncion and to superintend the steady growth
of the new settlement. Once again he assembled
his men and his ships, and, after six months1'
stay at Asuncion he set out once more up-stream in
search of the route to Paraguay, and to all those
mountains that he pictured, each as rich as Potosi.

On this occasion the navigation was still more com-
plicated than before, and the comparatively shallow
waters of the upper reaches were a ceaseless source
of anxiety. Nevertheless, on the 2nd of February,

THE FOUNDING OF THE COLONY 55

1537, the expedition arrived safely at a little natural
river port which Ayolas christened by the name of
La Candelaria.

The site of this place does not appear on any
modern map, nor on any ancient one with which I
am acquainted. But it was certainly on the Chaco
bank of the stream, and its aspect must have promised
a favourable starting-off point for the mountains —
for it had now become clear to the explorers that
the promise of the river had been specious, and
that, after all, its upper waters were fringed by. no
metal-bearing hills. It was at this point, at all
events, that Ayolas decided that the river expedition
should end and the journey by land should begin.

He left his ships in the care of that stout and
trusty Biscayan, Domingo Martinez de Irak, and,
accompanied 'by 250 Spaniards and 100 Indians,
he struck out boldly to the west through the
woodlands and swamps of the Chaco. Another
account has it that before he plunged inland
Ayolas married the daughter of the local cacique—
more as a precautionary measure in the way ojf
securing an alliance than for any other reason — and
set out with 127 men, leaving 33 in charge of Irala.

Neither Ayolas nor any of his men were ever seen
by Europeans again. There is no doubt that this
resolute conquistador, after suffering intense priva-
tions in common with his men, did actually succeed
in reaching the eastern borders of the mountainous
land of Peru, and, having secured many specimens
of minerals, was returning with such of his men
as had survived the intense hardships of the voyage,
when the party was treacherously set upon by the
Indians, and a massacre ensued which left not a
single white man alive.

Up to this point the history of these colonizing
ventures of the south-east has been simple enough ;
but within half a year after Ayolas and his men had

56 PARAGUAY

disappeared into the forest of the Chaco arose the
first of those complications of State and of those
jealousies between leaders from which Paraguay was
destined to suffer, not only for generations but for
centuries .

Irala, having waited for several months at La
Candelaria, and having in vain maintained a vigilant
watch on the Chaco bank, found that he had practi-
cally come to an end of his provisions. In order
to revictual his vessels he determined to sa.il down
to Asuncion, where the Indians were friendly aiid
where the fruits of the earth were plentiful.

His departure was delayed by the totally unex-
pected appearance of Juan de Salazar de Espinosa,
a royal official who had sailed up the river to render
what assistance he could to Ayolas. This meeting
occurred at a point a little to the north of La
Candelaria on the 23rd of June, and was naturally the
occasion of gre&t rejoicing. After having remained
for a time in Irala's company, Juan de Salazar
dropped down in his vessels to Asuncion, where on
the i 5th of August he began to build the fort and
the first permanent houses at this spot.

When, in the continued absence of Ayolas, Irala in
his turn sailed down the stream to Asuncion, in order
to revictual his vessels, he was amazed to find a
far more numerous body of Spaniards than the
followers of Juan de Salazar established at that place.

Ruiz Galan, who had originally been appointed
by Pedro de Mendoza as second in command to
Ayolas, had now come up-stream to the spot with a
number of his followers. Galan, anxious to assert
his authority, charged Irala with having deserted
his post — a ludicrously unsound accusation — and
detained him for a time at Asuncion on this charge.

Presently, however, Irala was free again to return to
his thankless station of expectancy at La Candelaria,
while Ruiz Galan went down-stream from Asuncion to

THE FOUNDING OF THE COLONY 57

attend to the affairs of the few Spaniards who
remained to the south of the Paraguayan settlement.

Irala waited in vain in the neighbourhood of La
Candelaria. The relations with the Indians in the
neighbourhood of the river appear to have been
entirely broken off at this period. Such inter-
course as existed appears to have been almost
entirely limited to the taunting cries of the natives,
who, from their places of concealment in the dense
vegetation which fringed the river, yelled out cries
of defiance, and shouted the news of a triumph which,
they said, had been obtained over the white men who
had dared to enter the Chaco.

At length two Payagud Indians were captured,
and, in accordance with the callous procedure of
the age, they were put to the torture in order that
the truth of what had occurred might be wrung
from them — a process which as often as not resulted
in the extraction of a number of details invented by
the sufferer on the spur of the moment in the hope
of putting an end to his agonies. In this case the
circumstances were clear enough. The end of Ayolas
and his men had come about just as, utterly spent,
they were wearily passing through a thick forest
patch. All at once the leaves and lianas on either
side had become alive with dusky faces, and a
horde of savages had crashed through the under-
growth and slaughtered the surprised and helpless
Spaniards until not one was left alive.

In connection with this massacre it is worth while
to branch off for a few lines into some circum-
stances which are only indirectly concerned with this
part of the history of Paraguay. They are, at all
events, eloquent of the strange manner in which the
almost forgotten fa.cts of one age are apt to be
linked with those of another. As late as the end
of the nineteenth century those travellers who dared
— occasionally at the risk of their lives— to penetrate

58 PARAGUAY

into parts of the Chaco have frequently met with
a strange collection of Spanish coins used as orna-
ments by certain tribes of Indians, some of them
bearing dates which carry back very nearly to the
first ages of the Spanish colonization in South
America. It is not only possible, but probable, that
these coins were first spxead abroad in the Chaco,
and, bloodstained, were taken from the bodies of
the Spaniards on the occasions of massacres such
as that of Ayolas and his men.

When Irala, doubt no longer existing1 concerning
the death of his chief, returned to Asuncion, it was
to find the place now definitely accepted as the
headquarters of the Spanish colonization in the south-
east of the continent, and shortly after his return
from that place the surviving Spaniards were brought
up to it from the harassed settlement of Buenos
Aires, thus leaving, as has been previously remarked,
no link of civilization in all the thousand miles that
intervened between Asuncion and the ocean.

In the meantime a struggle for supremacy among
the leaders had ensued in which Irala had proved
himself the victor. His rivals for the post of
Adelantado were Ruiz Galan, Alonso Cabrera, and
Juan de Salazar. The fact that he succeeded in
upholding his cause in the face of such candidates
as these is eloquent of the strength of Irala's
personality. For Salazar, as we have seen, was an
important imperial official ; Ruiz Galan had been
definitely picked out by Pedro de Mendoza before
his departure from South America ; and Alonso
Cabrera, who had come out from Spain with rein-
forcements, had actually in his possession a royal
document appointing him Adelantado of the new
colonies and licensing him to hold this post in any
eventuality save that of the return of Ayolas, supposed
dead, in which case Cabrera was to hand over his
offices and titles to Ayolas.

THE FOUNDING OF THE COLONY 59

The rank and file of the Spaniards, however, were
almost to a man devoted to the cause of Irala, and
Asuncion was sufficiently remote from the Court of
Spain for popular clamour of this kind to be a
thing of importance. Thus we see Irala established
by the vote of the people as the first Governor of
Paraguay — or at all events as the first Governor
who was in a position actually to administer Jiis
province.

Irala lost little time in proving himself a born
administrator. It is true that his methods were those
of the age, and that the means he employed were
wont to be utterly relentless so long as the object
he had in view was achieved. But he possessed all
the qualities of a leader of men and a builder of
empire.

The forces which he had at his command at the
beginning of his governorship were far from impres-
sive. Out of the two thousand Spaniards which
Pedro de Mendoza had brought with him from
Europe no more than six hundred remained.

These, however, were now tried men, veterans in
colonial experience who had become inured to the
hardships of the pioneer, and who had become accus-
tomed to the climate and circumstances of the new
land. They were now to enjoy the reward of their
fortitude, according to the simple views and easy
morality of those days. Irala was determined that
there should be no doubt as to which race was the
dominating one on the banks of the Paraguay River.
To this end he instituted a species of servitude which
tended towards turning the docile Guaranfs into little
beyond the chattels of the white men.

It is true that this servitude differed widely from
the species of slave trade which was carried on
elsewhere in the case of the African, who was bought
and sold and consigned from any one part of the
world to another in accordance with the circumstances

60 PARAGUAY

connected with the labour markets and the price
of slaves. It is true that at one time there was a
tendency to ship Guaranis as slaves to Spain. But
this traffic never attained to any important propor-
tions. In Paraguay the basis of the Indian servitude
was that each native should take part in the develop-
ment of his country — incidentally, to the benefit of
the white man, at whose disposal the riches of the
country now lay.

It must be admitted that from the Spaniard's point
of view this solution of a formidable difficulty was
the simplest and most practical of all. Left to
his own devices, the labour of the Guaranf Indian
would have been too trivial to affect the face of
the country in any noticeable fashion. The native
had no intention of straining his muscles hi any un-
comfortable fashion, so long as the fruits of a
bountiful Nature fell into his mouth, so long as the
rivers continued to give out fish, and so long as
his wife had strength to cook for him and to carry
out the simple menial offices which her lord and
master demanded of her.

But now came the Spaniard, dominant, and com-
pletely unsympathetic in his determination that the
land of Paraguay should be made productive — even
if for no other reason than for the sustenance of
the European at one of his rallying-points in his
quest after gold, although, so far as Paraguay was
concerned, the spot was rapidly developing a separate
importance of its own.

The steps taken by Irala in order to bring the
native labour into force were simple enough.
Encomiendas, or settlements, were established, into
which numbers of the Guaranfs were brought. Here
they were made amenable to discipline, and were
taught an industry which they accepted only with
the deepest reluctance.

It was natural that the first establishment of these

THE FOUNDING OF THE COLONY 61

encomiendas should have been carried out in a tenta-
tive and somewhat rough-and-ready fashion. The
main result was that Irala's men, the majority suffi-
ciently humble soldiers of fortune, found themselves
in a position of employers of unpaid labour, such
as could not fail to appeal to the material side of
adventurers such as they.

As the rule of the European developed and his
hold grew stronger upon the land two distinct kind
of encomiendas were brought into being, known re-
spectively as the yanaconas and the mitayos. Con-
cerning these settlements, I may repeat here the
description I have given of them in a previous book
dealing with the Jesuit missions of a later age.

By the name of yanaconas were known those
collections of Indians who had been subjugated by
private warlike enterprise, a term which doubtless
euphemistically covered slave-raiding in neighbour-
ing countries. These were to all intents and purposes
slaves. According to the laws, their masters were
obliged to protect them and to teach them Chris-
tianity. These owners were also forbidden by the
authorities to sell, maltreat, or abandon their Indians
on account of bad conduct, illness, or old age. It
must be admitted that these regulations were excel-
lent in themselves. At the same time, it is evident
enough that the men to whom they applied, and
who were undisputed lords of all they surveyed, were
in an ideal position to take their responsibilities
just as lightly as happened to suit their convenience.

The mitayos were made up of those tribes who
had submitted voluntarily or who had been conquered
by the royal forces. Their lot, compared with that
of the yanaconas, was favourable, and they were
supposed to enjoy not a few privileges. For instance,
each native company of the kind was permitted to
choose the site it desired for its settlement. Its
members, moreover, were divided into various

62 PARAGUAY

sections, each of which was governed by a chief
of its own selection. Every male here between the
ages of eighteen and fifty was obliged to labour
for two months of the year for the benefit of the
proprietor of the mitayo, and to each settlement of
the kind a teacher of the Christian faith was
appointed. In the interests of the natives each
province was visited annually by an official whose
duty it was to hear complaints and to remedy abuses.

So much for a first glimpse into the Indian settle-
ments of Paraguay — settlements which are of great
historical importance, since on more than one occa-
sion they proved themselves bound up with the
destinies of the inland State itself.

One of the first tasks of a chosen number of
these Guaranis was to assist in the building of
Asuncion, which was now beginning to take to itself
the character of a regular town. Irala watched
over this urban venture with all the energetic care
of which his temperament was capable, and he did
not rest until the spot was strongly fortified with
stockades and placed in an efficient condition of
defence against an improbable rising of Guaranis,
or a surprise attack by hordes of Chaco Indians
who might cross the river in their canoes — a con-
tingency which was by far the more likely of
the two.

After this Irala himself named the Alcaldes and
the other officials of the very youthful city, which
was soon to receive its coat-of-arms from Charles V,
a compliment which, if often entirely overlooked now,
was of the greatest importance then. The emblems
of these arms seem to have been the figures of
St. Blaise and the Assumption, as well as a castle
and a coconut-tree. This latter, by the way, appears
subsequently to have been changed for the figure
of a European lion, sitting in a natural and perfectly
unheraldic attitude in the shade of an ordinary tree 1

THE FOUNDING OF THE COLONY 63

With this firm establishment of Asuncion began
the founding of a number of small townships in
various spots. Clergy now arrived from Spain, and
churches were established in these places as well as
in the capital. As for the majority of the Spaniards,
though it was occasionally necessary to take to arms
and to set out on the march to punish some truculent
and hostile tribe, their character as soldiers tended
slowly but surely to merge itself into, that of the
colonist .

Almost to a man they took to themselves Guarani
wives, and the union was celebrated by the rising
generation of tawny young1 sons of the soil who
scampered under the brilliant forest blossoms that
the country had always known, and by the side of
the crops which now were sprouting' where before
none had been. It was this which marked the first
birth of the modern Paraguayan nation.

CHAPTER IV

THE GOVERNORSHIP OF ALVAR NUNEZ CABEZA DE VACA

Some methods of Spanish colonial government — Difficulties in legis-
lation from a distance — Alvar Nufiez Cabeza de Vaca is made
Adelantado of Paraguay — Having landed at Santa Catalina, he
receives news of the abandonment of Buenos Aires — Effect of this
on Alvar Nunez' plans — He determines to make his way overland
from the coast to Asuncion — Discovery made by the crews of his
ships on the site of Buenos Aires — Alvar Nunez' march to the west —
His methods with the Indians — Incidents of the journey — The party
arrives in Asuncion — Attitude of the colonists — Varying versions of
events — First signs of a split in the ranks — Colonizing methods
adopted by Alvar Nunez — Alvar Nunez sets out with a considerable
force for Peru — Dealings with Indians — How the Payaguas deceived
the Adelantado — Small results of the expedition — Return to Asuncion —
A condition of discontent culminates in a rising of the Spaniards —
Alvar Nunez is imprisoned and placed in irons — Hostilities in the
town — Harsh treatment of Alvar Nunez — His character and circum-
stances— Influences at work — Irala is again elected Adelantado — How
Alvar Nunez was put on board the ship which was to take him to
Spain — A contemporary account — Incidents of a dramatic departure.

IT was altogether in accordance with the uneasy
destiny of Asuncion that only a few years after the
foundation of the city the first of the many political
storm-clouds which were destined to burst over the
city was already gathering. From the point of view
of Spain there was decidedly nothing in the acts
which initiated the later troubles in Paraguay which
could in any way have been considered as ill-omened.
On the contrary, when in 1540 so gallant a nobleman
and so experienced a pioneer as Alvar Nunez Cabeza
de Vaca, who had already distinguished himself in
Florida, was entrusted with the governorship of the

ALVAR NUNEZ CABEZA DE VACA 65

great river country on the south-east of South
America, it was generally held in Madrid and in the
ports of Southern Spain that the prospects of the
appointment were bright both for Alvar Nunez him-
self and for Paraguay.

Had Paraguay lain next door to Spain no doubt
all would have been as well as the most optimistic
member of the Court of the Indies predicted. It
was the thousands of miles which intervened between
Spain and her colonies that alone were at fault on
countless occasions in upsetting plans which at the
time of their making in Spain appeared essentially
wise and reasonable. The Royal Council had a
persistent and unfortunate habit of failing to take into
consideration the fact that by the time their leisurely
deliberations had been concluded, the situation in
distant South America to which they referred had
probably changed altogether ! In this circumstance
undoubtedly lay one of the greatest disadvantages of
Spanish colonial government, and it was here that
lurked the greatest enemy of that jealous central
rule which insisted on letting no other authority but
itself control the executive decisions of a colony which
might have been supposed to be at a distance of
a few days' journey from Seville instead of that of a
voyage of many months I

Alvar Nunez left the port of Sanlucar in Spain in
1840, bearing the royal authority which appointed
him Adelantado of Paraguay. In this instrument
there occurred again the stipulation that, should
Ayolas prove to be still alive and should he return
to Paraguay, Alvar Nunez himself and all his men
and ships should be at the disposal of Ayolas.

Alvar Nunez proceeded to Santa Catalina in
Southern Brazil. Here he landed, and took posses-
sion of the spot in the name of his imperial master.
This he had been authorized to do, as at that time
the Spaniards maintained that the Santos River

66 PARAGUAY

constituted the southern frontier of the Portuguese
possessions in the continent.

The new Adelantado then made preparations to
proceed southwards to Buenos Aires, when a boat
arrived at Santa Catalina. In it were nine Spaniards
who had deserted from the ill-provisioned settlement
of Buenos Aires just before its abandonment, and
who had since learned of the complete desertion
of the place by their comrades.

In the face of this news it was necessary for Alvar
Nunez to revise his plans. He had expected to
find the frontiers of his province washed by the salt
waves ; now he learned for the first time in this
unceremonious fashion that they had been spirited
away many hundreds of miles inland ! The altered
state of affairs on the banks of the great rivers
made him all the more anxious to reach the head-
quarters of the Spanish colonization with as little
delay as possible. To effect the journey from Santa
Catalina by way of the ocean and of the rivers
would be in the first place to cover two sides of a
triangle, since he would have to proceed southwards
to the abandoned settlement of Buenos Aires, whence,
after a short westerly stretch, he would have to turn
his vessels' heads due north. Beyond these considera-
tions of actual distance, the thousand miles of toil
against the great stream would swallow months of
effort before the buildings of Asuncion could be
expected to heave in sight.

At his halting-place of Santa Catalina Alvar Nunez
found himself very little to the south of the latitude
of Asuncion. It was clear to him that if he struck
out to the west across the intervening and unknown
stretch of country which separated ,him from Asuncion,
he would arrive at that remote spot in a far shorter
space of time than would be possible in the case
of a voyage by ocean and river — all this, of course,
provided that no unusually serious obstacle should

ALVAR NUNEZ CABEZA DE VACA 67

crop up out of the unexplored to lie across his
path.

Alvar Nunez determined to take the risk of this
latter possibility, and he prepared himself to under-
take the long land journey from Santa Catalina to
Asuncion, the second important expedition of the
kind ever attempted in Spanish South-Eastern
America, the first, of course, having been the
daring but disastrous march of Ayolas from La
Candelaria to the borders of Peru, in the course of
which every man of the force was slain.

The new Adelantado left 140 of his men at
Santa Catalina, under the command of Pedro
Estropifian Cabeza de Vaca. These were given
charge of the ships, which they were ordered to
bring on to Asuncion. They set out in due course,
and arrived at the abandoned settlement of Buenos
Aires, on the site of which they found a ship's mast
sticking upright out of the deserted soil. Closer
inspection revealed the legend carved in Spanish on
the wood, " Here is a letter." The promised letter,
hidden in a hole in the mast, explained the circum-
stances of the abandonment of Buenos Aires, and
told how the Spaniards had proceeded up-stream
to Asuncion — a fact with which, as it happened,
these crews of Alvar Nunez' ships were already
acquainted. These latter then began their long
journey up the river, and eventually arrived at
Asuncion many months after the Adelantado had
reached the young city.

Having sent out an advance party, who explored
the most promising and feasible routes to the west,
and returned with fairly encouraging accounts, Alvar
Nunez himself set out on his momentous journey,
accompanied by all his men with the exception of
those who had been left at the sea coast in charge
of the ships. Authorities would seem to differ as
to whether the date of his departure from the coast

68 PARAGUAY

was the i8th of October or the 2nd of November,
1841. In any case it is a matter of small conse-
quence. A very full account of this journey has
been given by Pedro Hernandez, Alvar Nunez' secre-
tary, who conscientiously and minutely describes the
chief events of the expedition and the various
Guaranf tribes through whose country the march to
the west took the Spanish force.

Decidedly the circumstances of the expedition
must have been such as to cause an amazement in
the breasts of the majority of the Spaniards as lively
as that which their appearance evoked in the electri-
fied collections of dusky folk who for the first time
set eyes on the white man, and that terrifying servant
of his — or part of himself, as it was frequently
supposed — the horse^ !

Seeing that Hernandez was a devoted secretary,
it is but natural that Alvar Nunez' character, as
portrayed by his pen, should shine forth — occasionally
in a way that suggests a heavenly temperament rather
than one attached to a mere human body ! The
Adelantado, on the other hand, has by no means
been without his detractors, and, were it possible to
strike a mean between the verdicts of the two
opposing camps, no doubt a tolerably accurate
estimate of Alvar Nunez' character would result.

One thing would seem certain enough : his methods
with the Indians were admirable. From the day
when he and his men climbed up through the dense
forest that covers the coast range to that other day,
more than half a year later, when he came in sight
of the modest buildings of Asuncion by the side of
the bay just beyond where the red cliffs jutted out
into the stream, he appears to have undertaken no
aggressive measures whatever towards the Guaranis,
and, moreover, to have taken genuine pains to restrain
the more turbulent of his followers from unnecessary
violence .

ALVAR NUNEZ CABEZA DE VACA 69

As a result of this humane policy the greater part
of the Adelantado's inarch partook of the nature
of a peaceful progress. Presents were exchanged
between the Europeans and the Guaranis ; crude and
rustic feastings were arranged ; endeavours were
made to explain the might of the Spanish Empire
and the benefits from it that its Guarani subjects
might now expect, while now and again the shuddering
natives were persuaded to approach the horses, in
order that their minds might be impressed by a sight
of these dreaded animals. As a matter of fact, a
peaceable journey of the kind was essential for the
success of an expedition such as that which Alvar
Nunez had undertaken. The natural difficulties of
the march were quite sufficient in themselves to de-
mand all the energies of the most resolute conquis-
tador, without the added difficulties entailed by the
presence of hostile tribes. The passage of untracked
mountains, forests, plains and rivers and swamps is by
no means a mere matter of history to this day in
many of the remote portions of South America. But
the modern pioneers in these remaining tracts, with
the inventions and instruments of modern science at
their disposal, have an easy task compared with that
which confronted Alvar Nunez and his men, bearing
their crude paraphernalia and their cumbrous armour
and weapons.

As a set-off against these hardships might have
been placed the fact that the country through which
the expedition passed was one of the most beautiful
in the world. But very soon the Spaniards took to
regarding this with a comparatively jaded eye. It
was not for the sake of landscape that they had left
their native country and had voyaged over so many
watery miles ! There was sufficient of that in Castile
and Andalusia : it was in quest of more material
benefits that the pioneers were now tramping reso-
lutely inland.

70 PARAGUAY

After rather more than a couple of months of travel
the party reached' the "banks of the Iguazu River,
which ultimately gives into the Alto Parana, and thus
leads the way to the river communication with
Paraguay. Alvar Nunez, of course, had no means
of knowing this, but, hoping for the best, he followed
the stream, until the amazed pioneers came upon the
vast and thundering cataract of the Iguazu. Having
carried their canoes round, and embarked on the
lower stream, his men were now wtell upon the river
high-road to Paraguay.

It was a curious circumstance, and doubtless not
without a certain significance of its own, that it was
only as the expedition began to draw within the
influence of the new Spanish settlements in Paraguay
that attacks on the part of the Indians occurred.
These, however, were repulsed with little difficulty,
and Alvar Nunez safely completed the remaining
stages of his journey, arriving at his capital of
Asuncion on the i ith of March, 1542.

It was a very long time since the colonists of
Asuncion had received news of any kind from Spain.
Although their position as settlers had become firmly
established, this total break in the intercourse with
the mother country had had the effect, not only of
depriving them of many of the conveniences of civi-
lization, but also of creating a certain mental depres-
sion such as cannot fail to be the lot of those who
imagine themselves abandoned, or at least neglected,
by the men of their 'own race. The advent of Alvar
Nunez and his men, therefore, was the signal for
great rejoicing. The men of Asuncion ransacked
the neighbourhood for the wherewithal to feast the
new-comers with all the modest splendour that they
could contrive, and as for the members of the
Ad elant ado's party, they were openly thankful to have
arrived at their journey's end.

The ceremonies of welcome once at an end, it was

ALVAR NUNEZ CABEZA DE VAC A 71

necessary to take in hand the State business of
Asuncion. Here it became clear from the start that
the position of Alvar Nunez was an invidious one.
At the first meeting of the representatives of the old
and the new governorships Irala acknowledged the
Adelantado's authority, although it has been said
that he conceded this point only on the condition that
Alvar Nunez should produce the full proofs of his
appointment. In the first instance, indeed, no friction
whatever was perceptible between the pair. Never-
theless the colonists themselves, ardent admirers of
the sturdy and resolute Irala, that born leader of
men whom their own insistent vote had raised to his
position of power, could not fail to see in Alvar
Nunez an interloper whose arrival bade fair to intro-
duce numberless complications, to say nothing of
an unwelcome clashing with their own interests. This
attitude became more and more perceptible as time
went on, and it was this alone which was responsible
for the subsequent outburst of anarchy in Asuncion.
It is, indeed, no easy matter to obtain an unbiased
picture of the Paraguayan history of this period.
The contemporary chroniclers have shown themselves
partisans either of Alvar Nunez or of his opponents
to an enthusiastic degree sufficient to render doubtful
the accuracy of their testimony. One or the other
of these opposing causes, however, would seem to
have been espoused even by later historians, with
the result that the confusion, instead of becoming
cleared, has tended to grow yet more involved. How
difficult it is to arrive at the truth in this matter may
be judged from one single example of the host of
conflicting statements. Irala's adherents protested
that the Adelantado had earned the hatred of the
Indians through the unnecessarily cruel measures he
employed towards them : Alvar Nunez' supporters
protested that their chief's unpopularity among many
of the Spaniards was owing to the fact that he

72 PARAGUAY

protected the natives against the harsh oppression of
the colonists I

The latter solution would seem by far the more
probable of the two ; but however this may have
been, Irala gave no open sign of discontent for a
considerable time after the arrival of Alvar Nunez.
The Adelantado first of all occupied himself in
endeavouring to cement the relations between the
Spaniards and some of the outlying tribes of the
Indians. Finding the "Guaycurus irreconcilable, he
undertook a campaign against these tribesmen, and,
his European troops supported by numerous com-
panies of friendly Guaranis, he totally defeated the
fierce hostile warriors in a pitched battle, the victory
gaining him the allegiance of several tribes that had
been awaiting its result in order to decide which
cause to espouse.

Alvar Nunez now sent various parties of Spaniards
to explore the banks of the great rivers to the south
and north. Among these was a company who set
out in three brigantines under the command of Irala.
It was the latter's mission to proceed as far as he
could up the Paraguay River, and to take notes of
all the tribes and natural features of the country he
should meet with. Here again the chief incentive of
the journey seems to have been the desire to find
the nearest road to Peru.

On the 20th of October, 1542, Irala set out, and
when he had arrived at a spot that he chiristened
Las Piedras, some 2 1 o miles above Asuncion, he sent
an embassy accompanied by about eight hundred
Indians to ask information of Aracare", a powerful
chief of the neighbourhood. But Aracare" proved
himself hostile. Not only did he refuse his assist-
ance, but he endeavoured to stir up animosity against
the Spaniards by every means in his power, causing
fire to be set to the dry summer vegetation of the
country through which the pioneers had to pass.

ALVAR NUNEZ CABEZA DE VACA 73

As a result of this the chief was executed by the
orders of Alvar Nunez, an act which subsequently
caused an uprising of this tribe, led by two caciques
named respectively Guarambare' and Tabare\

Irala, however, succeeded in quelling this rising
in July 1543. Soon after this he returned to
Asuncion, having penetrated inland for a considerable
distance, and brought back much information con-
cerning the nature of the country to the west of the
Upper Paraguay River.

Alvar Nunez, encouraged by this preliminary feat
of exploration, now determined to take up the great
quest himself. The force he organized for this
purpose was a sufficiently formidable one, including,
it is said, some four hundred arquebusiers and twelve
hundred bowmen. These latter, of course, comprised
the Guaranf auxiliaries, many of whom were re-
splendent in their crude and barbaric pomp of war,
brilliant in war-paint, and " adorned with plumes
and feathers, and wearing on their brows plates of
metal, so that when the sun shone they glittered
marvellously."

The expedition set out up-stream in September
1543. The rapidity with which the conquest had
been effected is proved clearly enough by this date
alone. Scarcely six years had elapsed since the
Spaniards had definitely founded the little settlement
of Asuncion — a pin-point of civilization in the midst
of a vast stretch of totally unknown country, in-
habited by many scores of tribes who at the time
were almost equally unknown. Now, after this short
space of time, here was the Adelantado starting on
a journey which would occupy many weeks before the
now comparatively familiar country would be passed
over — a Governor who left behind him Juan de Salazar
as deputy with a whole hierarchy of officials beneath
him, and who was about to be accompanied in his
travels by European and native forces such as might

74 PARAGUAY

have furnished a suitable escort for a Viceroy ! For
it was not ships and river-craft alone which on this
occasion conveyed Alvar Nunez' small army. Armed
horsemen now forced their steeds along the difficult
country in the neighbourhood of the banks, and either
plunged on their way parallel with the fleet, or pricked
ahead of the craft that laboured against the current.

Arrived at La Candelaria, Alvar Nunez called a
halt. The reason for this would in modern days be
termed a strict matter of business. La Candelaria
had been Ayolas' headquarters on his last expedi-
tion. It was to La Candelaria that that ill-fated
conquistador was returning when he and his men
had been massacred. Report, moreover, had it very
confidently that Ayolas' party had been laden with
precious metals. It was clear, then, that this treasure.,
if it existed at all, must be in the hands of the
Payagua Indians in the neighbourhood of La Cande-
laria, who, it was now known, had been chiefly
responsible for the attack on the Europeans.

It was on this account that Alvar Nunez decided
to treat the Payaguas with all the courtesy due to
capitalists ! There were undoubtedly times when this
conquistador was moved by lofty ideals — but this was
not one of them. He was fully prepared to waive
any justice towards the murderers of the dead Ayolas,
at the price of the dead Ayolas' gold ! This he
signified to the tribe, in as dignified a fashion as
could be managed, and to his delight it seemed that
the Payagud Indians were quite ready to come to
business on these terms. In their apparently artless
fashion they spoke of sixty-six loads of treasure,
which they professed themselves prepared to hand
over in exchange for immunity from such unpleasant
things as European bullets and steel swords. Alvar
Nunez eagerly awaited the delivery of these valuable
loads, until he discovered, after lingering for an un-
reasonable time, that he had been hoaxed, and that

ALVAR NUftEZ CABEZA DE VAC A 75

the tempting offer had been made merely in order
to allow the tri'be to move quietly away from the
neighbourhood of La Candelaria without being
molested.

Disillusioned, the Adelantado continued on his way,
after some vain attempts had been made to come
up with the disingenuous Payaguas., The expedi-
tion then proceeded northwards as far as Los Reyes,
a spot which had already been explored by Irala.
From this point many excursions were made among
the surrounding tribes of Indians, whose sentiments
varied from the friendly and the neutral to an actively
hostile state of mind.

Towards the end of March 1544 the Adelantado
decided to return to Asuncion. The expedition had
been productive of very little that was good, and of
much that was unfavourable. Their wanderings
among so many of the northern swamps had seriously
impaired the health of a large number of the
Spaniards. The sufferings of fever had seriously
added to the natural discontent engendered by a
series of journeys which had caused intense hardships
without any visible proportionate gain. Alvar Nunez,
moreover, had intervened in the intercourse between
his men and the Indian women in a fashion which,
amply justified though it probably was, turned out
to be the cause of a deep irritation on the part of
his followers.

It was, indeed, a mortified and embittered com-
pany that glided down with the current between the
enchanting banks of the stream to Asuncion. Had
the voyage occupied the two months that the up-
stream navigation had demanded, an outburst would
probably have occurred before the journey's end ; but
as, going with the tide, they were swept to their
destination in eight days, the threatened explosion
was postponed until the houses of Asuncion itself
could witness the disturbance.

76 PARAGUAY

As a matter of fact, no sooner had the
men of the expedition stepped ashore than the
atmosphere of plot and counterplot enveloped
the capital of Paraguay — a town that was alto-
gether too young; to be placed at the mercy of
such hardened intrigues ! So far we have dealt
almost entirely with the salient personalities of Irala
and Alvar Nunez, but now a number of others inter-
vene, and take up a large share of the canvas.

The chief of these are Saliazar de Espinosa, who
has already been referred to ; Garcia Venegas, Royal
Treasurer, a native of Cordoba and an especially
violent opponent of Alvar Nunez ; Felipe de Caceres,
an intriguing and treacherous official ; and Francisco
de Mendoza, who was apparently a natural son of
Pedro de Mendoza, the first Governor of the new
provinces .

The vigorous individualities of all these men, save
the first, were bitterly opposed to the rule of Alvar
Nunez, and as the latter lay ill in bed a coup de
main was arranged. A body of armed men burst
without warning into the house of the Adelantado,
dragged him from his couch, and proclaimed the
unfortunate official a prisoner of State. After this
Alvar Nunez was placed in irons, and a company
of revolutionists marched along the few streets of
the town, proclaiming the downfall of the Governor,
and terrorizing those who showed any inclination to
espouse his cause.

It was in this way, that occurred the first revolu-
tion in Paraguay — the fierce herald of a tragically
long list (of $imilar events to come ! But the insurgents
were by no means destined to haVe matters all their
own way. When the confusion attending the first
rising diminished to the extent of permitting the
strength of the rival parties to be seen, it became
evident that the adherents of Alvar Nunez were
practically as numerous as the insurgents. But the

ALVAR NUNEZ CABEZA DE VACA 77

strategic advantage of the situation lay with the latter,
since they had in their power the person of the
Governor, and had control of the greater part of
the available arms.

Some skirmishes occurred in the streets of Asun-
cion ; but the partisans of the imprisoned Governor
failed to rescue him from his confinement. The
unfortunate man was now detained in a small and
gloomy fort which had been especially erected for
this purpose, and his captors amply demonstrated
the lengths they were prepared to go by their harsh
treatment of the prisoner, and by their vows that
his body should never be rescued alive by his friends.

As has already been said, the details of this period
of Paraguayan history are so confused and contra-
dictory that it is unusually difficult to come to any
definite conclusion concerning the rival claims of
the respective parties. Perhaps the best method
of obtaining any comprehension of the whirlpool of
events will be to analyse the situation itself and the
personalities of the chief actors.

There seems no doubt that the temperament of
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was. too finely consti-
tuted for the task which he had in hand— save at
such moments as when he was tempted by Ayolas'
gold ! If his ideals were not too lofty for the age,
they would, at all events, seem to have been out of
place in the latitudes to which he had brought them !
Although his courag'e and energy were undoubted,
he appears to have been a man of theories rather than
of those rough-and-ready and opportunist precepts
which were characteristic of the typical conquistador.

It was against the nature of things that a per-
sonality of this sort could maintain its authority
in the circumstances in which Alvar Nunez found
himself in Paraguay. The reckless set of officials
with which he was surrounded fiercely resented these
views of the Adelantado's, more especially on those

78 PARAGUAY

occasions when his theories gave birth to regula-
tions which threatened the liberty of action of those
officials— who, almost to a man, had axes of their
own to grind. The rank and file of the Spaniards,
even those who were loyally prepared to uphold the
legitimate Governor's cause, were vastly impressed by
the personality of Irala, whose gallant figure resolutely
dominated the horizon of Paraguay. As to Irala
himself, until the discontent flamed out into open
revolt he appears to have given no sign. Perhaps
he knew that none was necessary, and that the trend
of affairs was turning in his direction as inevitably
as the sturdy sunflower turns towards the sun.

If this were so, Irala's expectations had been
fulfilled. He was now again elected to the post
of Adelantado 'by the acclamation of the inhabit-
ants of Asuncion, and Alvar Nunez was confined in
his cell by the condemnation of a certain number of
these. In this noisome spot the unfortunate Adelan-
tado was kept for some twelve months before the
new authorities saw fit to put an end to his captivity.
Even then his release was only affected in the midst
of scenes of violence, in the course of which Alvar
Nunez was dragged in secret to the bank of the
river lest his appearance among the people of
Asuncion should arouse an inconvenient sympathy.

I have already had occasion in another place to
quote Hernandez* account of the manner in which
the ex.- Adelantado was placed on board ship to be
conveyed to Spain in the Charge of his implacable
enemy Garcia Venegas, but the matter is well
worthy of introduction here : —

" One night, towards midnight, Albnso Cabrera,
the supervisor, and Pedro Dorantes, his factor,
accompanied by a large number of arquebusiers,
presented themselves before the Governor's prison ;
each arquebusier carried three lighted fuses in his
hand, so as to make their number appear greater

ALVAR NUNEZ CABEZA DE VACA 79

than it was in reality. Then Alonso Cabrera and
Pedro Dorantes entered the room in which he lay ;
they seized him by the arm and lifted him out of
the bed with the chains round his feet ; he was
very ill, almost unto death. They carried him in
this state tp the gate leading into the street, and when
he saw the sky, which he had not seen till then,
he entreated them to let him render thanks to God.
When he rose from his knees, two soldiers placed
their arms under his and carried him on board the
brigantine, for he was extremely weak and crippled.
When he saw himself in the midst of these people,
he said to them: 'Sirs, be my witnesses that I
appoint, as my deputy, Juan de Salazar de Espinosa,
that he may govern this province in the name of
his Majesty instead of me, maintaining order and
justice till the King shall have been pleased to make
other dispositions.' Hardly had he finished speaking
when Garcia Vanegas, deputy treasurer, rushed upon
him with dagger in hand, saying, ' I do not recognize
what you say ; retract, or I will tear your soul from
your body ! ' But the Governor had been advised
not to speak as he did, because they were determined
to kill him, and these words might have occasioned
a great disturbance among4 them, and the party of
the King might have snatched him from the hands
of the others, as everybody was then in the street.
Garcia Vanegas withdrew a little, and the Governor
repeated the same words ; then Garcia sprang upon
him with great fury, and placed a dagger to his
temple, saying as before : ' ^Withdraw what you say,
or I will tear your soul from your body ! ' At the
same time he inflicted a slight wound on his temple,
and pushed the people who were carrying the
Governor with so much violence that they fell with
him, and one of them dropped his cap. After this
they quickly raised him again, and carried him
precipitately on board the brigantine. They closed

80 PARAGUAY

the poop of the vessel with planks, and put chains
on the Governor, which prevented him from moving.
Then they unmoored and descended the river."

This description of the dramatic departure of poor
Alvar Nunez from the scene of what had once been
his governorship is, of course, from the pen of a
devoted adherent who was unlikely in the extreme
to make the least of any wrongs suffered by the
Adelantado. Nevertheless it is probable that this
account, though a 'little coloured, is accurate enough
in the main.

It was in this fashion, then, that AlVar Nunez
set out on his voyage to Spain, where he arrived
after many sufferings, and where he was first
imprisoned and subsequently released, without, how-
ever, receiving any compensation for his wrongs.

CHAPTER V

THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF DOMINGO MARTINEZ DE IRALA

Political unrest in Asuncion — The Indians take advantage of the situation
to rise in insurrection — Irala defeats a combined force of Guaranis and
Agaces — A period of peace follows the subduing of the natives —
Asuncion is made the seat of a bishopric — Solitary situation of the
Province of Paraguay — The rumours of Peruvian gold — Irala con-
templates a journey to Peru — His followers receive the proposal with
enthusiasm — Irala sets out with a chosen party — Encounter with the
Indian tribe that had massacred Ayolas and his people — Difficulties
and hardships of the journey — Arrived at the borders of Peru, the
expedition receives a communication from Lima forbidding a farther
advance — Irala sends an embassy to Lima, begging 'official confirma-
tion of his governorship — Negotiations with Peru — Irala's strategic
precautions — The party reluctantly retraces its steps — Happenings in
Asuncion during the absence of the Adclantado — Francisco de
Mendoza's attempts to obtain the governorship lead to his execu-
tion— Diego de Abreu is elected as temporary Adelantado by the
people — Abreu refuses to resign his post on Irala's arrival — The
majority of the townspeople join Irala — Abreu and his remnant of
followers flee to the woods— Arrival of Nuflo de Chaves with men
and livestock from Lima — Irala quells an insurrection fomented by
the intrigues of La Gasca — Death of Abreu and the dispersal of his
followers — Some failures and successes in colonization — Official
appointments made by the Court of Spain — Salazar arrives in
Paraguay, bringing with him seven cows and a bull — Irala is
officially nominated Adelantado — Colonizing achievements of Nuflo
de Chaves — Death of Irala.

IRALA was now again at the helm of this young
ship of State that had plunged into tormented waters
so early in its voyage. As has already been seen,
he had a brusque way of dealing with rivals, and
was troubled with few samples concerning the order
of their going. So a couple of days after the de-

82 PARAGUAY

parture of the ex-Governor two of the latter's friends,
Juan de Salazar and Pedro de Estropinan Cabeza
de Vaca, were seized in their turn, and were sent
in chains down the river to overtake the vessel which
was carrying Alvar Nunez.

But all Irak's resolution could not slay that spirit
of unrest which the arbitrary deposing of the late
Adelantado had called into being. Neither was the
spirit of opposition to the new state of affairs per-
ceptibly weakened by the further banishing of Salazar
and Pedro de Estropinan Cabeza de Vaca. The
smiling surroundings of Asuncion now resounded to
the clashing of intermittent civil war, a condition
of affairs which endured for a couple of years.
Needless to say that during this time the new agri-
cultural ventures suffered from neglect, and that the
rapid growth of the subtropical vegetation swept
again in green triumph over many of the toilfully
cleared fields.

As to the Indians, they remained for a time in
passive amazement at the spectacle of these strange
white foreigners who, having swooped down upon
the land and taken possession of it, had suddenly
taken to fighting among themselves, and thus to
expending on the persons of their brethren that force
of theirs which had seemed so irresistible. The
sight of this fratricidal struggle in which the motive
did not seem to be even the conquest of land but
was concerned rather with the efforts to attain the
chieftainship, was one which the aborigines did not
in the least understand. Their own democratic com-
munities would never have troubled themselves to
waste a single ounce of energy in a fight for one of
those posts of leadership, which to them conveyed
no more of honour, glory, or profit than they would
have sold to the first comer for a very modest
bowlful of their native spirit.

As a natural result their respect for the wisdom of

DOMINGO MARTINEZ DE IRALA 83

the conquistador fell as rapidly as the mercury in
a barometer before a tropical tornado — and with very,
similar consequences. As preparation for a storm
of their own brewing they began to busy them-
selves with their war pigments and ornamentations,
and with their bows, arrows, slings, and spears. If
ever there was a time to rid themselves of these new-
comers, they argued not without reason, it was surely
now, when every nerve of the one-half of these
amazing people was being strained to work mischief
to the other.

Messengers, gallant in feathers and ambassadorial
decorations, passed between the tribes of the Guaranis
and the Agaces. A treaty of aggression followed,
and very soon a large army of hostile Indians had
gathered in the woods near Asuncion, and from their
point of vantage threatened the disturbed young
capital of Paraguay. But they had counted with-
out Irala's resolution and power of initiative. When
once the situation had become plain to him, that
able leader made haste to utilize the peril from
without to destroy the dissensions which were eating
into the life of the settlement from within.

Throwing himself into the breach, Irala, having
persuaded the Spaniards to abandon their differences
for the time being, rapidly infused fresh discipline
and order into the demoralized force, and then led
his men out against the Indians. In the neighbour-
hood of the woodlands of Aregua he met the com-
bined armies of the Guaranfs and the Agaces. The
combat that ensued was very brief. The Indians
had only time to hurl a few spears and let fly ta
few volleys of arrows before the mailed Europeans
were upon them, sword in hand.

The Indian forces were quite unable to withstand
the shock. In a few minutes those who had escaped
death or hampering wounds were fleeing for their
lives, their flimsy finery bedraggled and bloody, the

84 PARAGUAY

heavily equipped Spaniards straining in pursuit after
them.

The pursuit was continued across league after
league of the fair Paraguayan country until the
survivors of the fugitives, at the end of their resources
and strength, found themselves in the remote territory
of the chief Tabare". This Tabare had been a friend
of Aracare", the chief who had been slain some years
before by command of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca.
Having inherited his dead comrade's hostility towards
the Spaniards, Tabare" welcomed the fugitives, and
withdrew with them and his own men into the shelter
of his most distant glades.

On this the Spaniards had no choice but to
abandon the pursuit. Irala's object had been com-
pletely served by now, as a matter of fact, and the
recent aggressive mood of the Indians had been
thoroughly chastened into the humility born of terror.
So in the winter of 1546 he returned in triumph to
Asuncion at the head of his men, where he once
again took up the reins of government.

After this occurred one of those rare lulls which
it was the fate of Asuncion at this stage of its exist-
ence to enjoy only between tremendous intervals of
turmoil and strife. For two years an absence of
discord in the city itself and a practical truce with
the outlying and hostile tribes of Indians g'ave the
young town the opportunity of thrusting its roots
more deeply into the soil. The number of houses
increased by the side of the broad river, and the
crops multiplied in the spreading agricultural land.

A number of priests had been residing at the
spot from the time of the governorship of Alvar
Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, and, indeed, the city of
Asuncion had been raised to the dignity of a
bishopric in 1539. But the first ecclesiastic nomi-
nated to the see, Juan Barrios, did not once put
in an appearance within the boundaries of his diocese,

DOMINGO MARTINEZ DE IRALA 86

which quite possibly he may have considered as being
altogether too remote from the world to expect the
actual presence of so exalted a dignitary as a bishop.
So he contented himself with sending an order that
the status of the Asuncion church should be raised
to that of a cathedral. This was done, and Juan
Barrios appears to have remained thoroughly content
with the result of his vicarious labours, continuing
to let the hearts of the inhabitants of Asuncion
grow fonder by an absence which continued un-
broken to the end I

During the two years of peace which ensued after
Irala's victory over the Guaranfs and the Agaces,
not only did no bishop arrive, but neither priest
nor even layman of any kind came to the spot from
Spain. Not a single vessel from Europe was blown,
poled, or hauled up the current of the great river.
It appeared very much as though the Paraguayan
province were destined to sink into an eternal
slumber, for which, as a matter of fact, its soft and
languorous climate fitted it most admirably.

But, whether forgotten by Spain or not, the
temperament of Irala was far too energetic to permit
him to let this condition of affairs continue indefi-
nitely. The call of the Peruvian mountains had
penetrated again to the beautiful valleys of Paraguay.
It is true that no news concerning the conquistadores
of the north-west had come for a very long time
from Spain, the centre of the Empire. But accurate
intelligence, as well as chance rumour, has always
had a habit of travelling across aboriginal South
America at a pace which, even in these days, seems
little short of marvellous, considering the enormous
distances and the primitive methods and appliances
of the Indians.

Thus report came down from the rarefied atmo-
sphere of the lofty and bare Peruvian and Brazilian
mountains, and, travelling east with the headwaters

86 PARAGUAY

of the great rivers below through the forests, went
from tribe to tribe across the vast expanse of the
lowlands, and, emerging from the mysterious Chaco
upon the river bank, swept across the stream and
thus into Paraguay. These told of the drama that
was being played on the sunburned and windswept
highlands, where lay the mines that had provided
the aboriginal inhabitants with the glittering armour
and ornaments that proved their ruin. They hinted,
too, of the tragedy of the Incas, and of the stream
of gold and silver that was being poured out from
that suffering empire with an abundance which even
the mind of the most credulous and optimistic con-
quistador knew could not continue for ever.

It was doubtless this state of anxious uncertainty
that urged Irala to link up his efforts with those of
the conquistador es of the north-west before the richest
sheaves of the golden harvest had been torn away
by the eager and avaricious hands of his distant
rivals. So, rising one morning and gazing with
gratuitous discontent on the broad river running
smoothly between its green banks, on the palms of
the copses, and the glowing blossoms and butterflies
of the clearings, he decided to abandon this soft
and sluggish peace and to make a more determined
effort than ever before to gain the bleak, fortune-
bearing heights of Peru. But before definitely
embarking on this enterprise Irala thought it well
to test his men's opinions on the subject ; for among
the Adelantado 's numerous good points was his
custom of treating his followers as comrades and
friends rather than as mere subordinates told off
to come and go with the precision of soulless
automatons. So Irala summoned a gathering of his
people in the shade of the flowering trees, and fairly
and squarely put the question to them : Would they
prefer to start upon an expedition to Peru or to remain
in this Paraguay which had now become their home?

DOMINGO MARTINEZ DE IKALA 87

The enthusiasm with which the men of Asuncion re-
ceived the first suggestion plainly showed their leader
that they might be relied on to stand by him to the
last in his venture . How arduous and perilous was the
nature of this had been amply proved by those who
had previously attempted it. But, not in the least
discouraged by the prospect before them, a picked
party of men made preparations for the voyage, and
in August 1548 Irala set out at the head of these,
having left the governorship of Asuncion during his
absence in the hands of Don Francisco de Mendoza.

Irala made his way up-stream until he arrived at
a spot — which seems to appear in no modern maps —
known at the time as San Fernando. Here he left
the two ships which had carried his force, leaving
orders with their commanders to wait for him at
that spot for two years. From this circumstance
alone something of the nature of these early journeys
across the Chaco may be gleaned. Although they
have made so small a stir in history, they are only
comparable with the nineteenth-century expeditions
through the heart of Africa or with polar explora-
tion of all ages. Sometimes the men who made
them returned to civilization ; at other times they
failed — but in a journey such as that on which Irala
was setting out nothing short of two years would
leave a reasonable margin of safety.

In one point at least Irala's conduct of his expedi-
tion compares favourably with that of Alvar Nunez
when in the same neighbourhood. Irala seems to have
made no attempt to traffic with the slayers of Ayolas.
These latter, as a matter of fact, lay in ambush
for him ; but he defeated the tribesmen utterly in
their own forest haunts, thus avenging the death of
his old leader. As he proceeded on his westward
way he encountered other tribes, some hostile and
others with whom he succeeded in making friend's.
As Irala, however, drew farther from the neigh-

88 PARAGUAY

bourhood of the great streams the natural difficulties
which beset his path tended to increase. The swamps
and rivulets died away, water became scarce, and
at one period it failed altogether, a number of men
perishing from thirst as the result.

In the end, pushing his way resolutely forward,
Irala arrived at the frontiers of Peru. As was
invariably the case, the report of his coming, borne
from one Indian tribe to another, had long preceded
him. As he and his men were resting on the bank
of a river, a messenger came to him from Lima,
bearing a letter from the Licentiate La Gasca. This
ordered him not to advance any farther into Peru,
but to remain where he was and to await further
orders.

A welcome so completely lacking in warmth might
well have dismayed a leader less resolute than Irala.
As a matter of fact, a man of his force of character
was the very last person whom the distracted authori-
ties of Peru wished to see in their dominion just
then, fearing much lest the advent of a personality
of that kind should stir up again the smouldering
embers of the rebellion from which the State had
suffered. It is even alleged by some that La Gasca
sent a heavy bribe to the conquistador from the
east, in order to induce him to remain absent from
the land of the Incas.

Whether this was the case or not, Irala's circum-
stances must have made him1 sufficiently anxious not
to offend the powers at Lima, without the extra
incentive of a bribe being necessary. If the vision
of gold now seemed to recede a little, there was a
second, and very practical, object of his expedition
which might now well be established. The high
colonial authorities had tacitly agreed to his election
by the local Spanish inhabitants to the post of
Adelantado of Paraguay. But they had never con-
firmed this officially, and from the legal point of

DOMINGO MARTINEZ DE IRALA 89

view Irala was left at the mercy of any adventurer
sent out by the Court of Spain with a proper licence
to take charge of affairs in Paraguay. We may
emphasize the fact that this is regarding the matter
from the legal point of view, since in actual practice
the power of the colonists had shown itself clearly
enough in the case of the unfortunate Alvar Nunez I

At the same time, Irala was well aware that his
position would be greatly strengthened by a regular
imperial licence. He now sent an embassy to Lima,
bearing this petition in his name. The mission con-
sisted of Nuflo de Chaves — of whom more will be
heard later — Miguel de Rutia, Agustin de Ocampo,
and Ruy Garcia. The four Spaniards succeeded in
reaching Lima in safety. The wily La Gasca, how-
ever, showed himself little disposed to forward the
interests of a conquistador whose waxing power he
imagined he had reason to dread. In the light of
after events, moreover, it is extremely doubtful if
Irala's cause was supported with ardour by any of
his four messengers — one of whom, at all events,
subsequently proved himself hostile to the
Adelantado .

Owing to this, the official reply from Lima, sent
to Irala by other hands than those of his own
followers, was purposely framed in a non-committal
and vague s"tyle. Indeed, the only really definite
matter it contained was a still more urgent in-
junction that Irala should advance no farther
into Peru.

In those wild days of early adventure he who
was incapable of pursuing a policy of reckless oppor-
tunism was lost. No one appreciated this more
than Irala, though he would seem to have been
originally fashioned by Nature in a sufficiently bluff
and straightforward mould. As it happened, Irala
placed just that same amount of trust in La Gasca
as did La Gasca in him. Irala had anticipated

90 PARAGUAY

this second epistle from La Gasca, and, after review-
ing the contents of the first, he felt himself scarcely
justified in speculating in an optimistic fashion
concerning its tenor.

So Irala had taken his precautions. He organized
a gang of supposedly hostile Indians, who lay in
wait for La Gasca's messengers. At a given moment
they sprang out upon these, seized the letter, and
it is highly improbable that any of these unfortunate
folk were left alive. It was a simple but cunning
stroke. Had La Gasca's letter contained any
peculiarly inconvenient commands or the news of
any adverse decision, Irala could convincingly
demonstrate to the Peruvian authorities that, since
the messengers had been waylaid by hostile Indians,
he had never received it — a sufficiently weighty official
excuse for the steps which he might subsequently feel
himself forced to take ! As the epistle was found to
contain no awkward matter of the kind, Irala's striking
precautionary measure proved superfluous. But it
affords a sufficiently eloquent instance of the methods
employed by these cynically adventurous conquista-
dores in their dealings among themselves.

As it was, Irala now recognized with some
reluctance that no purpose would be served by his
dallying any longer on the borders of Peru. It
became plain to him that all that would result to
his credit out of the long and very strenuous journey
was the important geographical knowledge and the
honour and glory of the feat. His men were even
less interested than he in such abstract gains, as
Irala discovered for himself when he permitted them
to obtain some insight into the situation, and pro-
posed that the party should now turn its steps towards
Paraguay again.

When they received this news an uproar arose
among the Adelantado's followers. It must be
admitted that, from their point of view, they had

DOMINGO MARTINEZ DE IRALA 91

every reason to be incensed. For day after day,
week after week, and month after month they had
forced their way through the tearing spikes of the
tropical jungle and the clinging mud and stagnant
waters of the swamps and pools. They had forded
rivers, toiled across waterless deserts, fought with
fever and the sun's great heat — they had done all
this, and much beyond, only to be turned back when
once they had gained the outskirts of the promised
land !

The resolute men from Paraguay were not in the
least inclined to submit tamely to this chilling rebuff
which came down across the bare mountains into
the land of forests and young streams, where they
lay recuperating after the wearing toil of their
marches. They clamoured to go on in the face of
any official prohibition. They were strong enough
to play their part like men in Paraguay, they urged.
Let them go on, and, if necessary, assert by the
sword their right to take their share in the great
game of gain that was proceeding at such a pace
in Peru'il

Under any other leader but Irala these wild and
resolute spirits would undoubtedly have had their
way. It was one of the clearest proofs of the power-
ful influence over his people enjoyed by this con-
summate leader of men that he was able to reconcile
them to the disappointment of having this much-
desired cup snatched from their lips. Then he led
them back by the way they had come, and the
expedition arrived in sight of San Fernando, where
the vessels were awaiting it, at the end of 1549,
having been absent very nearly eighteen months.

The men left in charge of the two ships had
some fragments of news to tell which might well
have destroyed the equanimity of a less seasoned
conquistador than the one who had just led his
force to the borders of Peru and back. Lacking

92 PARAGUAY

his firm control, the affairs in Asuncion had become
tangled into a confusion of violence and blood. It
appeared that, when twelve months had elapsed with-
out any news of Irala having penetrated to Asuncion,
Francisco de Mendoza, the deputy Governor, grew
restive. He may actually have believed in the prob-
ability of the news, which he gave out to the
inhabitants of Asuncion in the light of a certainty,
that Irala and his people had perished. In any case,
whether this was so or not, he judged the moment
a propitious one to obtain for himself the permanent
power of the governorship.

Before committing himself to any, definite action
he conferred with a number of his intimates, who
assured him, not only of their own support but of that
of the general populace of the town in addition.
Thus convinced of the certain success of his plans,
Francisco de Mendoza called a meeting of the towns-
people, repeated to them the assurances concerning
the death of Irala and his men, and announced that
the time had now arrived for the election of a new
Governor, which was to be the work of the suffrage
of Paraguay's Spanish inhabitants.

Having prepared the way for his accession to the
post of Adelantado, he awaited with confidence the
result of the voting. This was by no means as he
had anticipated. It is doubtful to what extent his
own intimates had misled the temporary Governor
concerning their promised support ; but it is certain
enough that many of the lesser officials, resenting the
election in the absence of any satisfactory proof of
Irala's death, had made up their minds that, if a
ballot were forced upon them, Francisco de Mendoza
should, at all events, not have the benefit of their votes.

It was owing largely to this adverse current of
sentiment that Francisco de Mendoza, the natural
son of the first Adelantado of the provinces of the
Rio de la Plata, found in due course, much to his

DOMINGO MARTINEZ DE IRALA 93

surprise and dismay, that the unappreciative in-
habitants of Asuncion had not elected him as their
Governor after all. The votes of the Spaniards had
given that much-coveted honour to a sufficiently bold
and resourceful man, Diego de Abreu, or Abreg'o
as it was sometimes rendered.

According to the methods of reckless opportunism
which were characteristic of the age, only one course
remained to Francisco de Mendoza — to declare the
election illegal, and, having thus ignored its verdict,
to hoist himself boldly into the Adelantado's chair
by the force of arms. This he was preparing to do,
when he found for the second, and last, time that he
had misjudged the power of initiative of those
opposed to him. While Mendoza's plans were still
in the act of maturing, Diego de Abreu struck !
A number of armed men poured into the house of
the official whom Irala had appointed his deputy.
Francisco de Mendoza was arrested, led away, and
executed without an instant's unnecessary delay — all
this at the instance of Diego de Abreu, the new
Adelantado elected by the people.

In order that this act of poetic justice should
be followed by appropriate developments, there is
no doubt that Diego de Abreu, having played an
honest, if bloodthirsty, part up to this point, should
have governed in the spirit of Irala, and that he
should have handed over his authority with a loyal
alacrity when in due course the news of that notable
conquistador's safe return reached Asuncion.

Diego de Abreu, however, having tasted power,
was determined that he would not abandon its joys
without a struggle. When a letter, sent down -stream
to him by Irala, pointed out the illegality of his
election, and demanded that he should resign his post,
Abreu's only reply was to strengthen the fortifications
and palisades of Asuncion.

As Abreu might well have foreseen, Irala was the

94 PARAGUAY

last man to submit tamely to this attempt to shut
him out from his own dominion. Very soon he and
his force came down the river, and their landing
abreast of Asuncion was a very grim reminder that
Irala's letter had evoked no satisfactory reply. The
returned Adelantado had no intention of wasting his
force in a general attack on the town. He merely
set up an encampment just outside its closed gates,
and waited. Doubtless he knew his people well, and
in any case this policy of waiting proved the simplest
and most efficacious means of success.

In little groups of twos and threes the townsmen
slipped out through the defences of the place, and
joined the popular conquistador. Every day, as
Abreu's garrison grew less, Irala's forces increased
steadily in proportion. Every day that passed, more-
over, without a blow being struck, assisted to con-
solidate the remarkable triumph of the man who had
brought his followers safely back from the borders
of Peru.

At length no more than some fifty men remained1
to Abreu within the walls of Asuncion. These were
stalwarts, bound to the cause of their dismayed leader
by blood or by closer ties of friendship than the
rest. Sallying out suddenly one day, they fled in a
body to the woods, where they prepared to maintain
a desultory warfare against the powerful conquistador,
who now celebrated his delayed entrance into
Asuncion.

Although Irala had now fully recovered his power
so far as Asuncion itself was concerned, the situation
was less satisfactory in the surrounding country, where
Abreu and his men remained lurking in their forest
refuges, to spring out upon any small party that
might incautiously venture within their reach. Some
fresh developments, however, were destined to put
this state of affairs into the background for the time
being.

DOMINGO MARTINEZ DE IRALA 95

These developments were heralded by the arrival
of Nuflo de Chaves from Lima. This enterprising
official brought in his train some sheep and goats,
and thus provided the new country with the first
headls of domestic livestock that it had ever known.
With Chaves' party, too, came forty soldiers, sent
from Lima by La Gasca ostensibly as an escort for
the travellers, and as an addition to the Asuncion
garrison, but in reality to undermine Irala's authority
and to stir up a rebellion against him. It is suffici-
ently obvious that a man who might object to the
opposing of such crafty and unscrupulous methods
as these by such casual delinquencies as the way-
laying of occasional messengers and other counter-
strokes of the kind would very speedily have gone
down beneath the ,grim wiles of the jealous and
intriguing La Gasca !

The military party began its appointed and sinister
work within a 'few days of its arrival at Asuncion.
Secretly approaching those whom they suspected of
being least well disposed towards the Adelantado,
they broached their plan for a conspiracy which was
to include the murder of Irala. Accustomed as these
new-comers were to the endless cabals and bitter-
nesses of Lima, they had failed to reckon with the
genuine respect and affection with which the person-
ality of the chief of Paraguay had inspired his
followers. The plot had barely time to hatch itself
into a definite conspiracy, when word was brought
to Irala of what was occurring.

The Adelantado acted with the promptness and
resolution that had never failed him. Taken by
surprise, the heads of the movement found themselves
seized and imprisoned, while measures were taken to
render harmless their humbler followers. These
latter, indeed, were granted a free pardon ; for Irala
had no desire to stain the soil of his province with
the blood of those who had been dragged into the

96 PARAGUAY

affair merely as the dupes of others. The only
two who suffered death as a consequence of the
conspiracy were the ringleaders, a certain Captain
Camargo, and that Miguel Rutia who hail made
one of the four messengers originally sent by the
Adelantado from the borders of Peru to Lima. Nuflo
de Chaves himself appears to have been innocent of
any complicity in the plot. Soon after the disturbance
attending this had died down he married the daughter
of Francisco de Mendoza. On this, the influence
of his new family ties caused him to petition Irala
that justice should be done to the murderers of his
father-in-law — that is to say, to Diego de Abreu and
the remnants of his followers who were still lurking
without in the forest.

From Irala's own point of view there can have
been little to choose between the past conduct of
Abreu and Mendoza. Nevertheless, probably from
the combined motives of obliging Nuflo de Chaves
and of stamping out the discordant elements in his
province, he sent out various armed forces into the
forest country, and pursued Abreu's band from point
to point, until the desperate leader himself was left
almost without followers. While this was occurring
Irala continued his policy of strict moderation. Not
only did he pardon the rank and file of the rebels ;
but he married his daughters to those leaders — one
account gives their number as two, another increases
it to four — who surrendered with a good grace, and
showed themselves really desirous of securing his
friendship.

While this was occurring Diego de Abreu, de-
fiant to the last, was slain by his pursuers in
one of his woodland retreats. Although one or two
of his followers endeavoured in vain for a short time
to keep the embers of strife at red heat, this to all
intents and purposes ended the revolt.

Irala now had leisure to attend to the practical

development of his State. Realizing the great ad-
vantages which must accrue from the possession of
a port nearer the ocean, at the beginning of 1553
he founded the settlement of San Juan at a strategic
point admirably chosen in the neighbourhood of the
confluence of the Uruguay and Parand rivers. Here,
however, he met with the same difficulty that had
confronted the original Adelantadb, Pedro de
Mendoza, when he had founded the township of
Buenos Aires nearly twenty years before. The fierce
and intractable Indians of the open plains near the
great estuary were very different folk to deal with
from the comparatively docile Guaranis of the upper
reaches. These warriors, moreover, treated the
arrival of the Spaniards at San Juan with the same
implacable hostility that they had demonstrated
towards the ill-fated settlement of Buenos Aires, still
nearer the river's mouth. So incessant were their
attacks that in less than two years' time San Juan
had to be abandoned. After this Irala reluctantly
yielded to the necessity of postponing any enter-
prise of the kind, and, instead, employed his energies
in opening up some of the country in the Province
of La Guaira — through which Alvar Nunez Cabeza
de Vaca had passed on his famous journey from the
sea — and on the banks of the Alto Parana River he
founded the town of Ontiveros.

While all this was occurring the Court of Spain
had not suffered the affairs of the remote province
of Paraguay to slip entirely from its mind. Un-
doubtedly one of the salient faults of the Spanish
Empire was the too conscientious manner in which il
insisted on regulating the details of the government
of a number of its colonies, of the circumstances and
inclinations of which it was profoundly ignorant. This
was now exampled in the case of Paraguay.

As early as 1547, when that far-away State was
enjoying its first interlude of peace under the wise

98 PARAGUAY

governorship of Irala, the authorities in Madrid and
Seville were already occupying themselves with the
question of appointing another Adelantado. In the
first place their choice fell on Jaime Resquin. This
official, indeed, had actually been nominated for the
post, when a more powerful rival appeared on the
scene in the person of Juan de Sanabria. To under-
take the governorship of a colony in those days was
in a sense to enter into a partnership with His
Majesty the . King. No salary entered into the
bargain ; the appointment depended largely on the
amount of hard cash and the nature of the promises
which the applicant was in a position to offer in
exchange for the right to exploit the new country.
Thus, of the two partners, the conquistador was
wont to have considerably more at stake than
the King.

It was this system which induced Juan de Sanabria
to come forward with offers which finally extinguished
Jaime Resquin's chances for the governorship of
Paraguay. On the 27th of July, 1547, the title of
Adelantado was conferred on him ; but, although he
received the distinction, he was unable to avail him-
self of its material benefits, for he died very shortly
after the appointment was made. His son, who
claimed the reversion of his father's post, was officially
granted this in 1549. It will be evident from this,
and from the sequel, that matters were not accustomed
to be hurried in Spain of the sixteenth century.

The younger Sanabria, as a matter of fact, appears
to have been far less attracted by the prospects of
a residence in South America than had been his
father. After much deliberation he decided on send-
ing, in the light of an advance guard, no other than
that Juan de Salazar de Espinosa who had opposed
Irala in Asuncion in the course of the turmoil which
marked the unfortunate Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca's
short term of governorship. It was his intention, the

younger Sanabria announced, to follow Juan de
Salazar in due course ; but this he never did.

The proceedings of Salazar himself appear to have
been fairly leisurely. He set out from Sanlucar in
1552. Arriving at San Vicente, in the neighbourhood
of where the Brazilian town of Santos now stands,
he occupied himself with the settlement and coloniza-
tion of this j>lace. It was not until the beginning
of 1555 that he set out with his men on the over-
land journey to Paraguay, arriving safely in Asuncion,
where he was amicably received by Irala, who appears
to have been generously willing to bury the hatchet,
and to reciprocate the friendship which Salazar was
now anxious to extend to him.

If Salazar brought friendship on this occasion, he
was at least accompanied in addition by something
more material. He had brought with him from Spain
seven cows and a bull — or perhaps it would be more
accurate to say that seven cows and a bull were
safely introduced into Paraguay as the survivors of
the body of cattle with which Salazar had embarked
at Sanlucar. Few cattle can ever have undertaken
a more momentous journey than this. Indeed, it is
not a little curious to remark the fashion in which
the various varieties of domestic livestock were intro-
duced into Paraguay. The first sheep and goats,
as we have seen, came from Peru in the west ; these
first cattle came from the east by way of Brazil ,-
and the first horses were destined to come from the
south, making their way northwards from the
enormous stretches of pasture-land which now com-
prise a part of Argentina. The north alone sent
Paraguay nothing, and this for the simple reason
that from that direction there lay no road — an absence
that continues to this day — by which man or beast
could travel to or from the outside centres of
civilization.

This year, 1555, was a notable one in the early

100 PARAGUAY

history of Paraguay. In that year arrived two vessels
from Spain, one of which bore Bishop Latorre, nomi-
nally the second Bishop of Paraguay, but in reality
the first to enter within the frontiers of the province.
These ships also bore the Royal decree appointing
Irala as Adelantado of Paraguay, thus at length en-
dowing him with the official sanction for the office
which he had actually held for so many years.

Among the other measures which Irala now took
was that of sending Nuflo de Chaves, whom he
regarded as one of his most capable lieutenants, on
an expedition to the La Guaira Province, where a
number of new townships were founded. After this
Nuflo de Chaves was sent to the north-west, in order
to establish in the country which he had already,
travelled a settlement that should' serve as a link
between Paraguay and Peru.

To the south there still remained much to be done;
and, had Irala lived, he would undoubtedly have
seen to it that fresh efforts were made in this direc-
tion. But old age had crept on that conquistador,
though his energies remained unimpaired to the end,
and at the beginning of the ^year 1557, he died at the
age of seventy.

CHAPTER VI

SOME EARLY GOVERNORS AND COLONIAL DEVELOPMENTS

Irala's qualities as a Governor — A South American writer on the Spanish
conquistador — Gonzalo de Mendoza becomes Adclantado — Death of
Gonzalo de Mendoza — He is succeeded by Francisco Ortiz de Vergara
— Indian trouble — The ambitions of Nuflo de Chaves — He determines
to found a new province — His meeting with a rival conquistador,
Andres Manso — The decision of the Peruvian authorities secures the
advantage to Nuflo de Chaves — The latter founds the town of Santa
Cruz de la Sierra — The first permanent link between Paraguay and
Peru — Vergara sets out for Peru — After having been detained by
Nuflo de Chaves he arrives in Lima — Vergara's post is given by the
Peruvian authorities to Juan Ortiz de Zarate — Zarate appoints Felipe
de Caceres as his deputy — Unpopularity of Caceres in Asuncion —
He is opposed by Bishop Latorre — Caceres is imprisoned and deprived
of his office — Martin Suarez de Toledo becomes temporary Governor
— Colonizing feats of Juan de Garay — Zarate, on arriving at the
mouth of the River Plate after a calamitous voyage, is attacked by
the Charrua Indians — His force is rescued by Juan de Garay — Zarate
arrives in Asuncion and takes charge of the Government — His death
— Zarate's daughter as heiress of the province — Mendieta appointed
temporary Governor — Mendieta, having failed in his office, is sent
back to Spain by the colonists — His death on the voyage — Claimants
for the hand of Dona Juana — Events which lead up to Juan de Garay's
governorship of Paraguay — His arrival in Asuncion.

IN the minds of the majority of the Paraguayans
Irala stands as the first national hero of that country.
The majority of such Latin-American historians as
have dealt with his personality have ascribed his
faults to the age in which he lived, and have thus
caused him to emerge from the Paraguayan historical
dust of the sixteenth century as a magnificent and
almost immaculate figure.

Although a certain amount of inevitable exaggera-

101

102 PARAGUAY

tion has accompanied this process, there seems little
doubt that Irala deserves in the main the praises
that have been showered on him. The great strides
which the youthful State of Paraguay made under
his governorship were due to his unaided vigour and
foresight ; for during the greater part of his term
of office the help which he received from the Court
of Spain was of the passive — and frequently nega-
tive !— order. Irala, in short, worked as a freelance
for the benefit of Paraguay, and his powerful lead
was followed by the people of his own province,
and in the end by the Spanish Imperial authorities
themselves .

Many of his measures, of course, will not bear
the light of twentieth - century criticism. Here
again we are brought face to face with the claim
of the Latin-American historians, who assert that
Irala's faults were merely those of his age. And
concerning this age, no one, I think, has written
with a more eloquent lucidity than Dr. Lugones,
who, a South American himself, has had much to
say that is valuable on this subject. Two or three
of his paragraphs will suffice to demonstrate this.
Dr. Lugones has it that —

" The sixteenth century was the century of the
conquistador. He it was who, when the modern
period began, continued in the spirit of the Middle
Ages. His obligation was merely to be brave, since
he was the defender of society, which worked beneath
the protection of his arms. Exempt as he was from
all other effort or contribution save that of his blood,
for the spilling of which the labourers and artisans
were only too glad to pay, all things worked
together to render him a privileged being. . . .His
cult was that fierce bravery on which his under-
takings were based and on which their success
depended, and this fierceness easily degenerated into
cruelty. . . .

SOME EARLY GOVERNORS 103

14 In order to open up the New World conquista-
dores were necessary — adventurers, that is to say, who
would accomplish in a single year that which the phleg-
matic colonist would have taken a century to bring
about. And Spain alone produced conquistadores.
The other countries, becoming industrial and com-
mercial, produced colonists, colonies and representa-
tive institutions being the natural results of an
industrial age. It is thus explained how it came
about that, although it was Spain that opened up
the continent, it was the other nations that attained
the actual fruits of its riches."

Judged by his surroundings of this reckless age,
when almost any means were held to justify the
end, and when the sword was the only weapon under-
stood by the strong and deceit the only defence of
the weak, Irala's character does, indeed, seem to
stand out far above that of the average man of his
time.

The absence of his strong hand from the helm
of State was felt almost at once. It is true that in
the first instance the man whom the conquistador's
testament had appointed as his successor, his son-in-
law Gonzalo de Mendoza, met with the general
approval of the Spaniards in Paraguay. Gonzalo
de Mendoza displayed considerable energy. He con-
ducted a successful campaign against the Agaces,
and, indeed, began in a most promising fashion a
career which was cut short by his death in July
1558, rather more than a year after he had assumed
the post of Adelantado.

Francisco Ortiz de Vergara, another son-in-law
of Irala's, was then elected by common consent to
the governorship. This Vergara, as a matter of fact,
had been one of the supporters of Irala's rival Diego
de Abreu, and his eventual submission had been
rewarded by the hand of one of Irala's daughters.
From the very beginning of his governorship Vergara

104 PARAGUAY

found himself faced with Indian trouble. Risings
occurred among the Guaranfs both in Paraguay
proper and in the new province of La Guaird to
the east.

Vergara succeeded in suppressing these revolts with-
out very much trouble ; but in the meantime affairs
in the west had been moving at a considerable pace.
The attitude of Nuflo de Chaves, for one, had com-
pletely changed since Irala's death. In the great
stretch of almost untrodden country that lay between
Paraguay and Peru he had served Irala with a loyalty
which he did not feel himself in the least bound to
hand on to Irala's successors — least of all to Vergara,
between whom and himself there existed sufficient
cause for a feud. For Nuflo de Chaves seems to
have played a leading part in the pursuit and death
of Abreu — a fact that he supposed would still be
actively resented by Vergara, notwithstanding the
circumstances which had since arisen to make the
latter the son-in-law of the great conquistador.

So Nuflo de Chaves, who considered, not without
reason, that his work as a pioneer had been second
only to that of Irala himself, determined to separate
himself from the control of Paraguay and to found
a State of his own in these strategically important
territories between Peru and Paraguay. It was a
conception that in its daring was worthy of any
conquistador. Such a1 man as Irala, having pnce
taken the plunge, would undoubtedly have swept all
before him. But, unfortunately for himself, Nuflo
de Chaves, though he yielded to none in audacity,
lacked that broad spark of magnetism which had
been so marked a feature in Irak's personality. No
doubt, when he announced his intention, the conduct
of his men proved a bitter disappointment to Nuflo
de Chaves. The great majority refused to see in
him an inspired leader: in their eyes he was merely
a rebel, to follow whom would be not only perilous

SOME EARLY GOVERNORS 105

but distinctly unprofitable. So the greater part of
Chaves' men made their way back to Asuncion,
leaving him with no more than seventy followers.

But in those days seventy Spaniards counted for
something, even when apparently stranded in the
remote wilds of Central South America, surrounded on
all hands by hordes of Indians that only awaited the
first definite sign of weakness to fall upon them and
slay them to a man, just as they had slain Ayolas' men
rather more than twenty years before. As it hap-
pened, Nuflo de Chaves soon discovered that he was
not to be permitted to work undisturbed even in
this remote field which he had selected for his pion-
eering enterprise. To his surprise and disgust he
found himself presently face tp face with Andres
Manso, a conquistador who had arrived from the
west with a full licence, granted by no less a person-
age than Hurtado de Mendoza, Viceroy of Peru, to
colonize these very territories. Whether Nuflo de
Chaves or Andres Manso were the more disconcerted
by this meeting is difficult to determine. Neither
would consent to give way to the other, and for a time
it looked as though an armed collision might ensue
between these two companies of pioneers who had
met in this strange fashion so far from the borders of
civilization. As good fortune would have it, sober
councils prevailed. The leaders, leaving their men
on the spot, hastened to Lima to set their respective
claims before the .Viceroy.

Once arrived at the Viceregal palace, Nuflo de
Chaves laid his case before the highest colonial
powers with so much ability that in the end — although
the result was only arrived at by slow and devious
methods — a compromise was arrived at which practi-
cally gave him the advantage over Andres Manso's
more regular claims . Then with the few men remain-
ing to him Nuflo de Chaves established himself on the
spot, and in 1560 founded the town of Santa Cruz

106 PARAGUAY

dc la Sierra— a city which, according to the geography
of the present day, now finds itself in the centre of
Bolivia.

The founding of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, although
it was effected in this casual and somewhat haphazard
fashion, in reality constituted the most important
event which had occurred in the south-eastern tide
of South American colonization since the establish-
ment of the town of Asuncion. It was the first real
link that connected the work of the Spaniards who
had entered the continent by way of the River Plate
with that of those others who had descended from
the north along the Pacific coast. From the point
of view of the practical traveller its existence meant
the possibility of passing for the first time across
the centre of South America without the suffering
of all the difficulties, dangers, and uncertainties
which had inevitably accompanied every previous
journey.

All this, of course, was taking it for granted that
the occupants of the new township of Santa Cruz
de la Sierra were amicably disposed towards any
such travellers. If this were not so, the case of
these latter would undoubtedly be considerably worse
even than before. A problem connected with
questions of this kind now confronted Francisco Ortiz
de Vergara. Realizing the need of official support
for his post, he determined to make the journey to
Lima in person in order that he might obtain the
confirmation of his office from the Viceroy. Leaving
Asuncion in charge of Juan Ortega and La Guaira
in that of Alonso Riquelme, Vergara set out on
his mission, accompanied by Bishop Latorre, and
Felipe de Caceres, a wily official of intriguing
propensities.

Vergara was at first accompanied by an important
force of his men ; but he would seem to have
approached Nuflo de Chaves' new headquarters with

SOME EARLY GOVERNORS 107

nothing beyond a small escort, for Chaves, doubtless
meditating some wild coup in his restless mind, caused
him to be detained. It was only a sharp command
from Peru which set the Adelantado of Paraguay
free, and on the road to continue his journey.

Judging from the precedent set by Ayolas and
Irala, those who journeyed from Paraguay to Peru
in the middle of the sixteenth century were destined
to meet with ill-fortune. Vergara's experience went
to confirm this. Arrived in Lima, the welcome he
received there after his long and strenuous journey
was unsympathetic. His petition, moreover, concern-
ing his governorship was so coldly regarded that
he soon found out that there were other candidates
besides himself in the field for that office. After aL
certain delay this was handed over to a wealthy
nobleman, Juan Ortiz de Zarate, a connection of
the Viceroy's, and the unfortunate Vergara found
that all that his journey had done for him was to
hasten his dismissal from his post, a proceeding that
would otherwise have come about in a far more
leisurely and roundabout fashion.

After this Vergara figured no longer in the affairs
of Paraguay. Zlrate, who was destined to play a
considerable part in the history of that country, imme-
diately departed for Spain in order that his nomina-
tion should be confirmed by the King himself. He
appointed as his deputy until he should arrive in
person the same Felipe de Caceres who had accom-
panied Vergara on his westward journey, and who
seems to have played a subterranean but not un-
important part in the intrigues which ended in the
discomfiture of Vergara. It was perhaps largely
as a result of this that he was now returning to
Asuncion, having greatly waxed in importance, while
his former chief was making his way in dejected
abandonment to Spain. Bishop Latorre, who does
not seem to have taken an active share in these

108 PARAGUAY

secular affairs, was again of the party, among which,
it should be said, was a nephew of Zarate's, whose
name was fated to become familiar throughout all
the south-east of the continent, Juan de Garay.

There seems no doubt that the returning officials
and their escort would have had to do with Nuflo
de Chaves on their homeward journey, for the
ambitions of this lonely conquistador were mount-
ing rapidly, and, as they grew, his methods became s
morie reckless. Fate intervened in the shape of
marauding Indians, and Nuflo de Chaves met his
death in the course of a punitive expedition. But
for this it is quite possible that Felipe de Caceres
might not have returned safely, to Asuncion, as he
did at the beginning of 1569, when he took over
the governorship of that place.

Even now Asuncion was not destined to enjoy the
peace that it might have expected. The under-
currents of intrigue which had been set in motion
were easier to start than to arrest. This triumphant
return of Felipe de Caceres was bitterly resented by
a large number of the settlers who had reason to
suspect the role of betrayer which that astute
functionary had played in Peru, and which was
responsible for his occupation of the banished
Vergara's post. Bishop Latorre now seems to have
entered the arena of material politics for the
first time. Being doubtless fully convinced of
Caceres' duplicity, he gave his support to the party
opposed to the deputy Governor, and Caceres thus
found himself opposed, not only by an important
number of the inhabitants of Asuncion, but by the
secular power of the Church as well, a force which
in the sixteenth century no ruler of any kind could
afford to overlook.

Asuncion, in fact, was once more entirely given
up to faction warfare. It would be wearisome to
attempt to follow the various vicissitudes of the

SOME EARLY GOVERNORS 109

struggle, the details of which so closely resembled
those of too many others of the kind from! which the
youthful State of Paraguay suffered. Bishop Latorre
excommunicated Caceres ; Caceres retorted by seizing
the cathedral and closing its doors. But the current
of public opinion ran with ever-increasing strength
against Caceres, until at length his unpopularity
attained to such a pitch that he dared not trust
himself out of doors without a guard of fifty men.

Even this precaution did not avail him in the
end. One day in 1572 as he was on his way to
Mass in the midst of his escort 150 of the opposing
party set upon his men, who, after a brisk resist-
ance, were routed, leaving Caceres a prisoner in
the hands of his enemies. The deputy Adelantado
was hurried off to prison, where he was chained and
closely guarded. Thus was the drama of Alvar
Nunez Cabeza de Vaca repeated, with this differ-
ence, that, whereas the former was the victim o£
circumstances which had arisen through no fault
of his own, the latter found himself caught in one
of the meshes of that net which he had laid for
others. The treatment accorded to Caceres, as a
matter of fact, appears to have been lenient com-
pared with that which was meted out to the
unfortunate Alvar Nunez ; nevertheless, he was
forced to submit to taunts and jeers and a
sufficiency of harsh measures.

It will be seen from all this that the inhabitants
of Asuncion would seem to have been infected
already by the independence-loving atmosphere of
the Americas ; for this was the second time that
they had intervened in the affairs of Governors
appointed by the constituted authorities from with-
out. They demonstrated their views once again when
Martin Suarez de Toledo, who at the beginning of
the deputy Adelantado 's rule had been appointed
by Caceres as second-in-command, came forward to

110 PARAGUAY

take up his post. They then pointed out to him
that, although they accepted him as Governor of
Paraguay, it was only as a locum tenens for Zarate,
to whom, on his arrival from Spain, the office must
be immediately surrendered.

On this understanding Suarez took charge of the
government of Paraguay, and one of his first acts
was to rid himself of the imprisoned Caceres, sending
that disappointed official back to Spain.

There was now leisure to extend the ramifications
of colonization, and in this Zarate's nephew, Juan de
Garay, rapidly proved himself an unusually able
pioneer. The trend was now towards the south
again, and in the middle of the year 1573 this con-
quistador founded the city of Santa Fe de la Vera
Cruz, which now finds itself in Argentina. By a
curious coincidence on the very day that witnessed
the establishment of this town, another pioneer,
Ge*ronimo Luis Cabrera, was founding that of
C6rdoba del Tucuman to the west.

This latter pioneer, who represented the Spanish
stream of invasion from the north-west, now came
boldly down to the banks of the Parana itself, and
began to establish a new settlement at Sancti Spiritus
on the ruins of the old fort which had been con-
structed by the conqaistadores of the south-east, and
had been maintained by them until their abandon-
ment of the lower settlements and their retreat up-
stream to Paraguay. Juan de Garay, however, who
had likewise made his way to the south, protested
energetically against this move, claiming that Sancti
Spiritus was in the province of Rio de la Plata,
and that therefore its occupation by any others than
those concerned in the colonization of the great river
lands was an act of aggression. The dispute was
referred to the royal audience in Peru, who eventually
decided in favour of Juan de Garay, as representing
the colonists of the Rio de la Plata.

SOME EARLY GOVERNORS 111

It was a fortunate circumstance for Juan Ortiz
de Zarate that on his return from Spain to his
province his nephew, Juan de Garay, happened to
be within reasonable distance of the great estuary.
Zdrate's mission to the Court of Spain had been
entirely successful. Not so his subsequent voyage
to South America. In the course of this so battered
and driven were his ships by the sea that out of the
six hundred men that the Adelantado was bring-
ing with him as reinforcements no fewer than three
hundred perished before the remnants of his fleet
caught sight of the low alluvial shores of the River
Plate.

There was no respite for the men even when,
worn out by the hardships and terrors of the voyage,
they betook themselves on shore. Here they were
immediately beset by the implacable Charrua Indians,
and the numbers which the unfortunate expedition
lost in the course of these attacks has been esti-
mated at between 80 and 120. Indeed, but for
the timely arrival of Juan de Garay with his force of
seasoned men, it is likely enough that Zdrate and
his followers would have left their bones on the
level pastures of the estuary, as many a Spaniard
had done before them.

As it was, the combined Spanish parties inflicted
a severe defeat on the hostile Indians, and, with
the assistance of Garay, Zarate eventually arrived in
safety at his capital after a journey from Europe
which rivalled in hardship any of those undertaken
by his predecessors in the days when the waters of
the Southern Atlantic and of the Rio de la Plata had
only been cloven by a few of the most daring Spanish
keels.

With the arrival in Asuncion of Zarate, the royal
Adelantado himself, it might have been thought that
all would now be smooth sailing in connection with
the development of Paraguay. But this was far

112 PARAGUAY

from proving the case. In many respects Zarate
was sufficiently able. It was, for instance, un-
doubtedly a wise stroke of policy to send that most
efficient conquistador Juan de Garay to take full
charge of the region he had settled at Santa Fe\
But in some other respects he appears to have shown
less judgment, and a radical measure which he under-
took in 1575, cancelling all the decrees and arrange-
ments of Suarez, appears to have rendered him un-
popular— so much so, indeed, in some quarters that
his death, which occurred in 1576, is said to have
been the result of poisoning. Decidedly, with the
notable exception of Irala, the rule of the Adelan-
tados of Paraguay appeared destined to be short !

So far as the affairs of its Government were
concerned, the outlook for Paraguay was more
gloomy than ever. .When the terms of Zarate's
will came to be spread abroad, they revealed a degree
of family affection in the late Governor which had
overcome any grain of political foresight that he
might have possessed. The governorship of
Paraguay was vested in his only daughter, Dona
Juana, who was at the time residing in Peru. A
clause in her father's will, that is to say, appointed
as Governor the man who should succeed in winning
her hand.

Dona Juana, on her mother's side, was a
descendant of the famous Inca, Atahualpa, and
Zarate in his last testament had made it plain enough
that no suitor would be acceptable unless his lineage
were reasonably exalted. In the meantime Juan de
Garay and another of Zarate's nephews, Diego Ortiz
de Zarate y Mendieta, were appointed as the girl's
guardians. Until her marriage had appointed the
regular Adelantado, moreover, the governorship of
Paraguay was to be left in the hands of Mendieta,
who was to be assisted in his task by a certain
Martin Dure*.

SOME EARLY GOVERNORS 113

No choice of a temporary, Governor could havq
been more unfortunate. The only reasonable action
committed by Mendieta during his short but
eventful tenure of office was the confirmation of
Garay's governorship of Santa Fe*. .With the excep-
tion of this, the conduct of this utterly vain, vicious,
and foolish person very soon aroused the active
resentment of the Spanish inhabitants of Paraguay.
Having dismissed Martin Dur£ from his advisory
post, his arrogance and misgovernment provoked into
active rebellion a people who had never shown them-
selves backward in asserting their own views. The
result was short and sharp, since Mendieta had so
alienated the sympathies of his people that prac-
tically no following whatever was left to him.
Mendieta, having been made prisoner, was sent back
to Spain to be judged by the Court of the Indies
— the third Governor, it should be remarked, who
had already been thus sent away from the country
in the short history of Paraguay.

Mendieta's predecessors in misfortune, however,
had at least reached Spain in safety, if not in com-
fort. Such was not Mendieta's fate. The behaviour
of this unfortunate young man appears so to have
incensed the sailors of the ship which was bearing
him to Spain that they landed him on the Brazilian
coast — where he was discovered and slain by the
Indians — and continued their voyage. I have no
record of what explanation the sailors gave, after
their arrival in Spain, concerning the absence of
their passenger. In those days of perilous travel
the matter would have been considerably easier than
now !

All this occurred in the absence of Juan de Garay,
who, as one of his cousin Dona Juana's guardians,
had proceeded to Peru in order to be at hand to
watch over her interests in the fateful position in
which she found herself. It was as well for the

114 PARAGUAY

lady's sake that so staunch a champion was on the
spot ; for numberless claimants were sprouting up
from all sides for the hand of a lady whose dowry
was a land which was known to be more or less
the size of half Europe I There was scarcely a
conqulstfldor or official in iall Peru, of whatever
age or degree, who did not prink himself with
care and rack his brain with toil to win the
admiration of an heiress such as this. The Viceroy
himself entered the lists, to throw in his overwhelm-
ing weight in favour of one of his intimate friends.
Having written a letter to Garay acquainting him
with his desires, which were in reality commands,
he awaited the maturing of his plans with a con-
fidence that was destined to be rudely shattered.

Indeed, when the Viceroy learned that, in flagrant
contempt of his wishes, Dona Juana had been quietly
married to the man of her choice, Juan Torres de
Vera y Arag6n, his anger knew no bounds. His
wrath, moreover, was not diminished when he heard
how Juan de Garay had graced the ceremony with
his approval and his presence, and how the grateful
Arag6n had voluntarily handed over to Juan de Garay
the governorship of Paraguay.

A genuine love match of this kind had not entered
in the least into the calculations of the highest
imperial official in South America. The marriage
had now taken place — an unalterable fact. But the
mortified Viceroy was determined to teach1 Juan de
Garay a lesson. So h'e sent a body of men to arrest
the official who had been bold enough to oppose the
Viceroy's will. Garay, however, was not to be caught
napping. He was already well on his way home when
the officials came up with him. The result was
that he arrested them — thus reversing the intended
process — and eventually sent them back to the still
more deeply mortified Viceroy.

As fate would have it, Juan de Garay arrived at

SOME EARLY GOVERNORS 115

Santa F£ only a few days after the ill-fated Mendieta
had been sent down the river and out of the country.
On hearing this news he proceeded at once to
Asuncion, where the ovation with which the inhabit-
ants received him set the public seal of approval
on his nomination as Adelantado at the hands of
Juan Torres de Vera y Arag6n.

CHAPTER VII

EVENTS PRECEDING THE SEPARATION OF PARAGUAY
FROM RIO DE LA PLATA

Situation of Paraguay when Juan de Garay became Governor — Nature
and influence of the various settlements — Relations with the Guaranis
— Melgarejo assists Garay in the development of the country —
— Attempts in the Chaco — Early mission work among the Indians —
The founding of Buenos Aires — Significance of that centre — Death of
Juan de Garay — He is succeeded by Alonso de Vera y Aragon —
Arrival in Paraguay of Juan Torres de Vera y Aragon — Hernando
Arias de Saavedra, a Paraguayan by birth, becomes Adelantado
— An able administrator and notable warrior— Fernando de Zarate
arrives from Spain to take up the governorship — A succession
of Adelantados — Hernandarias is at length officially appointed
to the post — His colonizing enterprise — Warlike feats — A shrewd
move in Uruguay — Hernandarias, after his government has been
interrupted by the appointment of Diego Martinez Negron, resumes
the post of Adelantado — Difficulties in the administration of the great
territory — The province of Paraguay is divided into two — Death of
Hernandarias — Geography of the provinces of Paraguay and Rio
de la Plata — Respective physical and industrial characteristics —
Amenities of Paraguay — Distinctions between the inhabitants of
the northern and southern stretches of the great river system —
Docility of the Guarani — The encotnicndas,

WITH the advent to power of Juan de Garay the
Spanish colonization in the south-east of the con-
tinent received an extraordinary impulse. No man,
indeed, could have been better fitted to carry on
the work which Irala had begun, and which had
been interrupted by the innumerable jealousies and
intrigues of those subordinates which less determined
hands had been unable to control.

Juan de Garay, indeed, possessed a resolution equal
to that of Irala, and a colonizing genius that was

116

SEPARATION FROM LA PLATA 117

probably even greater. In one sense, moreover, he
had an easier field to work, as when he assumed the
governorship of Paraguay the map of great forests
and stretches of open country was no longer totally
unknown and a complete blank so far as Spanish
settlements were concerned. With the assistance of
his bold lieutenant, Nuflo de Chaves, Irala is said
to have founded no fewer than thirteen townships
both to the east and north-west of Asuncion in the
course of his governorship.

It may well be difficult to understand how all
this was effected when the ridiculously small number
of men at the disposal of Irala is taken into con-
sideration. There is no doubt that these sixteenth-
century Paraguayan centres of civilization would have
made small appeal in the way of urban importance
to critical twentieth-century eyes. The settlements
that sprang up in the natural clearings of the forest
seldom consisted of anything beyond a few primi-
tive huts, inhabited by some half-dozen Spaniards
with their Guaranf wives and children.

Each of these settlements, however, represented an
influence that rapidly had its effect on the surround-
ing country. Whatever might be the sentiments of
the tribes to the west of the great river, the Guaranfs,
as a whole, were no longer hostile. The mere
flourishing of such remote and tiny Spanish centres
in their midst is sufficient proof of this. As time
went on, and the numbers of these small townships
increased, the Guaranfs began to accept the presence
of the European as a matter of course, and to regard
him first of all in the light of a protector and sub-
sequently in the duller glow of a somewhat severe
taskmaster.

It has already been seen that when Garay began
to govern the province some more important centres
had already come into being, such as that of Santa
Cruz de la Sierra, founded by Nuflo de Chaves,

118 PARAGUAY

and Santa F£, that he himself had established. Thus
sufficient had already been achieved to afford an
admirable basis of action for a man who was deter-
mined to attain to still greater things.

Juan de Garay lost no time in starting on the
work that lay before him. He found an able assistant
in Melgarejo, a brother of that Vergara who had
once temporarily held the governorship of Paraguay.
Melgarejo was now to Juan de Garay what Nuflo
de Chaves had been to Irala, and what Garay, him-
self had been to Zdrate. Setting out to the east
and crossing the mountain range of the Cadguazu,
Melgarejo founded in 1576 the town of Villa Rica
del Espiritu Santo, which is described as being two
leagues from the eastern bank of the Alto Parand
River, and was thus far removed from the site of
the modern Paraguayan town of Villa Rica.

At this period, too, some less successful attempts
at settlements were made in the Chaco, whose forests,
swamps, and hostile Indians resisted the approach
of the white man with characteristic obstinacy. Thus,
although the bank's of the mysterious and elusive
River Pilcomayo were explored up to a certain point,
no material result was obtained from the expedition.
The failure of such attempts as these, however, did
not in the least affect the progress in Paraguay
proper — that is to say, on the left bank of the river,
where lived the various tribes of the less vindictive
Guaranis.

It is at this period that we first hear of (some
material results of the labours of the priests who,
with' their headquarters at Asuncion, had begun a
certain amount of mission work among the Guaranfs.
It is said that in 1880, in the neighbourhood of
the Alto Parand River, two towns were constructed
in which were collected a large number of Indians
who had been induced to accept the Christian religion
by Fathers Alonso and Bolanos. In view of the

later important events of this kind, the move was a
sufficiently important one. But at the time it created
comparatively little notice, largely owing1 to an enter-
prise on a very much larger scale, which came to
a head at just about the same period.

It had long been clear to Garay's mind that for
the proper development of this great colony of his
a port on the shores of the estuary itself of the great
river system was essential. Irala in his day had
been equally convinced of this necessity, and had
bequeathed to his successors emphatic advice on the
subject. Juan de Garay, as a matter of fact, seeing
eye to eye with his great predecessor, had no need
of any such stimulus. It was with the idea of estab-
lishing strategical ramifications on the lower reaches
of the stream that he was journeying in the south at
the time of his uncle Zarate's arrival at the shores
of the Rio de la Plata — a circumstance that, as has
been explained, was fortunate for Zarate.

(With this object in view, he had been extending
his influence little by little towards the south, until
he decided that the time had arrived for him to
strike out boldly. Then, sailing down-stream with
a powerful force of men to a point on the right
bank, below the confluence of the Parand and the
Uruguay, he founded the town of Buenos Aires in
1580.

The importance of this move was realized and
applauded at the time. Nevertheless there were very
few inhabitants of Asuncion in the sixteenth century
— or in the seventeenth either, for the matter of
that — who could foresee the enormous influence which
this port on the southern side of the estuary was to
wield over the entire river system. At the time of
its founding Buenos Aires was naturally regarded
by Asuncion as a most useful subsidiary town that
should supply that link between Paraguay, the ocean,
and Europe, the absence of which had been so acutely

120 PARAGUAY

felt. None dreamed that by the remorseless and
unbreakable laws of development this small new
urban venture, plumped down in the midst of the
treeless pastures among the hostile Indians, would
one day swell to a size and importance that could
not fail to stand between Asuncion itself and the
light of the outer world, thus overshadowing the
first capital of the south-east of the continent. To
the Spaniards of the sixteenth century in these regions
Asuncion, their centre, meant all things. But, had
they hesitated from reasons of sixteenth-century senti-
ment, the stupendous growth on the banks of the
estuary, though it might have begun later, would
have been as certain and inevitable I

Having seen that Buenos Aires was firmly estab-
lished, Juan de Garay remained for a considerable
time in the south, busily occupied with the opening
up of the vast stretches of pasture on which were
found grazing many thousands of the descendants
of those few horses which Pedro de Mendoza had
brought with him on his original expedition and
which had been turned loose on the plain. Unfortu-
nately for the provinces of the Rio de la Plata, his
career was cut short. In 1584 he was surprised
by the Minuanes Indians, and, together with forty
of his men, was slain.

Had Juan de Garay lived for a score of years
longer there is little doubt that the early history of
Paraguay would have had to be written very
differently, and that many pages of disorder would
have been altered to a story of active progress.
As it was, his loss proved practically irreparable.
Once again in the course of its short but tormented
history Paraguay found itself faced with the problem
of who should govern it, and, incidentally, of how
it should be governed.

The matter was referred to Spain, where resided
Juan Torres de Vera y Aragon, who all this time,

SEPARATION FROM LA PLATA 121

although he had handed over the governorship to
Garay, had actually retained the title of Adelantado.
Appealed to to indicate a successor, he appointed
his nephew, Alonso de Vera y Arag6n. The
governorship of this latter was signalled by some
attempts at forming settlements in the Chaco,
ventures which were undertaken at the instigation
of Juan Torres de Vera y Aragon, but which proved
as fruitless as any of the previous enterprises in this
direction. In 1587. the Adelantado himself, Juan
Torres de Vera y Arag6n, came out from Spain,
apparently with considerable reluctance. His prin-
cipal achievement was the founding of the town of
San Juan de Vera de las Siete Corrientes at a point
just to the south of the confluence of the Paraguay
and the Alto Parand rivers. His foresight in this
is fully justified by the importance of the modern
Argentine city of Corrientes, now just to the south
of the Paraguayan frontier.

Four years, however, sufficed to prove to Juan
Torres de Vera y Arag6n that the cares and hard-
ships of the personal governorship of a, State as
new as that of Paraguay were little to his taste.
He would seem to have been an amiable personage
of sufficiently easy-going tendencies, so it was doubt-
less with some relief that in 1591 he bade farewell
to the ruddy soil, palms, and trackless forests of
Paraguay, to set sail for the ease and olives of the
older and statelier Spain.

It was left to the inhabitants of Paraguay to choose
their own Adelantado — a procedure in which they
were probably sufficiently well versed by this time.
Their choice was a significant one, for the man
whom they elected to 'be their Governor was Hernando
Arias de Saavedra, who, the son of Suarez de Toledo,
was a Paraguayan by birth. This occurred in 1591,
and it is a little curious to remark that, although the
centenary of the discovery of America was already

12 PARAGUAY

at hand, this was the first occasion in the course
of all this time that one of the governorships
of the Spanish provinces throughout the two conti-
nents, from Mexico southwards, had been held by
an American-born man, one moreover, who knew
practically nothing of the Court of Spain, and was
thus debarred from its favours.

Nevertheless, the electors of Paraguay had chosen
wisely. Hernando Arias de Saavedra ranks as the
third great man to govern that province. His fortune
and circumstances resembled those of Irala rather
than those o'f Garay. As the chosen of the people,
Hernandarias, by which name the new Adelantado
was popularly known, enjoyed the support of the
Paraguayans throughout. On the other hand, possess-
ing no influence at Court, he was subject, just as Irala
in his time had been, to those acts of neglect anci
slights which were frequently enough the lot of one
not in favour with the grandees of Spain.

Hernandarias very soon proved himself to be not
only an able administrator but a most notable warrior.
His personal prowess in the field has been the subject
of innumerable stories, and of a wealth of legend,
of a kind which has frequently approached the
fantastic. It seems certain enough, however, that
during his first period of government he performed
some notable feats in subduing an uprising of the
Indians. Among these was a single combat with a
gigantic and far-famed cacique, whom Hernandarias,
after a fierce duel, slew.

But Hernandarias' gifts were not only of a war-
like order. Before his governorship had been in
being for many months he had founded several town-
ships to the east of Asuncion, including Tarei and
Caaguazu. He paid keen attention, too, to the new
industry which had now sprung up in Paraguayan tea
—the yerba mat6 which grew in the virgin forests,
and of which more will be heard iater. His firm'

SEPARATION FROM LA PLATA 123

hand, indeed, was steering a smooth course, and the
future once again began to grow rose-coloured.

Nevertheless, at the end of two years Hernandarias
had to stand aside, and watch another occupy his
place, and govern with far less wisdom than he.
Fernando de Zarate had arrived upon the scene,
bearing his royal nomination as Adelantado of Para-
guay. Zarate died in 1595, and was succeeded by
his lieutenant, Bartolome Sandoval Ocampo. Very
shortly after his accession to the post this officer was
killed while leading 'an expedition against the Guay-
curus, and he in his turn was succeeded by Juan
Ramirez de Velasco. This latter 's uneventful period
of government came to an end in 1598, and, after
Hernandarias had been called to power to act as
stopgap, Diego Rodriguez Valdez de la Banda be-
came Adelantado in July 1599.

Even now this extraordinarily rapid succession of
Governors was not at an end'. Valdez de la Banda
had scarcely had time to do mere than grasp the)
reins of his office — and, incidentally, to fall foul of
the ecclesiastical body, represented by 'Bishop Vazquez
de Liano — when he died in the town of Santa F6.
His second in command, France's de Beaumont y
Navarfa, stepped into the breach, and had governed
for eighteen months or so, when word was brought
to Paraguay that the royal authorities in Spain had
at length confirmed the people's election of Hernan-
darias as Adelantado of Paraguay.

For the third time Hernandarias assumed this office,
and on this occasion Jie acted with even greater energy
than before. His judgment, indeed, would seem to
have yielded to his enthusiasm ; for he daringly
sailed down with a force of men right through the
" roaring forties " to the Straits of Magellan.

Attacked by the Indians, every man of his expe-
dition who remained alive fell a prisoner into the
hands of the southern savages. Hernandarias had

124 PARAGUAY

been captured with the rest, but that resourceful leader
succeeded in making his escape and in bringing to
the spot a second force of Spaniards, who liberated
their comrades, and returned with them to the sunnier
regions of the Rio de la Plata.

It will be seen from all this that Hernandarias
was no ordinary man. Undismayed by the ill-success
of this southern venture, he next led his men into
the country of the Banda Oriental, or Uruguay, where
the fierce tribesmen of the Charruas had, until then,
resisted all intercourse with the white man. Here
Hernandarias met with foemen even more worthy
of his metal. In the first fight with these formidable
savages he lost a great number of his followers, and
in the second he wfould appear to have been practi-
cally the only survivor out of a company of five
hundred. This, although it did not lower Hernan-
darias' spirit by one jot, had the effect of steadying
his policy. After much reflection he came to the
conclusion that the conquest of Uruguay by force of
arms would cost him far more men than he could
afford to lose, since it was clear now that the Charruas
of Uruguay were among; the bravest even of the
indomitable warrior tribes of the great estuary.

This fact once acknowledged, the measures under-
taken by the Adelantado reveal the remarkable
elasticity of his mind. He determined that Uruguay
should be conquered in quite another fashion — by
far surer, if slower, methods. With this aim he
introduced into the country two widely differing sets
of allies — missionaries and cattle 1 The missionaries
were to tame the minds of the fierce Charruas, and
the cattle were to run free on the rich pastures of
the Banda Oriental and to multiply — just as horses
and cattle were multiplying in the neighbourhood
of Buenos Aires — in order that their herds might
be in readiness for the colonist when the tune arrived
for him to enter the country. In the end both these

SEPARATION FROM LA PLATA 125

measures proved eminently successful ; but of course
much water flowed down the Uruguay River before
their full development was brought about. In the
meantime Hernandarias was perfectly content to plant
the seed, even if the fruits were to be reaped only
by his successors.

This great Adelantado, as a matter of fact, was
destined to have one more successor during the term
of his own frequently interrupted governorship. In
1609 the Spanish authorities — who apparently had a
rooted prejudice against leaving well alone — appointed
Diego Martinez Negr6n to be Adelantado of Para-
guay. In the sturdy character of Hernandarias there
seems to have been no room for that selfish and
rebellious spirit which was characteristic in the dis-
appointed of that violent age. Again he stood back,
and with admirable fortitude took up his modest
position in the background while Negr6n ruled.

But Hernandarias' turn was to come again, and
with it some of the greatest opportunities of his
career. The shortness of life, or at all events of
the tenure of office, was somewhat remarkable in
those whose governmental interventions continually
interrupted Hernandarias' rule. At the beginning of
1615 Negr6n died at Buenos Aires, and, although
he was succeeded for a few months by his lieutenant,
Francisco Gonzalez de Santa Cruz, the Court of Spain
appointed Hernandarias to be Adelantado in that
same year.

This time the appointment was definite and
permanent, and Hernandarias was at last permitted
to give his uninterrupted1 energies to the province of
which he was in charge. Under his wise guardianship
its development proceeded. Nevertheless, its rate of
progress, the Adelantado urged, was not so rapid as
it should be. Hernandarias represented strongly to
the Court of Spain that this progress was hampered
by the mere bulk of Paraguay.

126 PARAGUAY

How much truth there was in this contention the
most cursory glance at a map will show. Paraguay
of the early seventeenth century, comprised the entire
south-eastern portion of South America. Explained
by the geographical divisions of the twentieth century,
this included all Argentina, Uruguay, and nearly all
Paraguay, and in addition to this, parts of Bolivia
and Brazil. It is true that at the beginning of
the seventeenth century a very small part of this
vast region had been explored, and that, of course,
only a much smaller part had been settled. Towns
were few, and the distances which separated them
may be judged from the fact that Asuncion is ai
thousand miles by river from Buenos Aires ! And
the stretch of country that extends in Paraguay to
the north of Asuncion, and in Argentina to the south
of Buenos Aires, is more than three times as great
as the distance which separates the two towns 1

That all these thousands of leagues, sparsely popu-
lated as they were, should be politically lumped
together into a single province was clearly unreason-
able. Had Hernandarias been a less conscientious
Governor, he might have been expected to leave affairs
as they were, since it is reasonable to suppose that,
the larger the territory governed, the greater were
the opportunities of profit. But Hernandarias was
swayed by no considerations of that kind. So strongly
did he urge the cutting in twain of this giguntic and
unwieldy infant of empire that the authorities in
Spain were eventually induced to agree to this.

Thus in '1617 it was decreed that the Province
of Paraguay should be divided into two, and that
the southern half should be known 'as the Province
of the Rio de la Plata. Shortly after this had been
effected Hernandarias resigned his office, and went
to live in retirement at Santa FC", where he died in
1634, as a modern Paraguayan historian has it,
" poor, but with much glory." Glory was a mode-

SEPARATION FROM LA PLATA 127

rately common possession in those days ; but it was
a rare occurrence for one who had governed a Spanish
South American province for as long as Hernandarias
had ruled Paraguay to die poor !

The provinces of Rio de la Plata and Paraguay
were now entirely distinct the one from the other.
Nevertheless, the frontiers which divided the two
would seem to have been seldom understood by
English writers, even down to a period as late as
the beginning of the nineteenth century.1 The result
was a confusing amount of very loose nomenclature,
the term Rio de la Plata frequently being made to
serve for Southern Paraguay, and that of Paraguay,
being held to cover the northern parts of the province
of Rio de la Plata, which latter, of course, is to-day
the Argentine Republic. Very roughly speaking, the
frontiers which divided the province of the Rio de la
Plata from that of Paraguay, or Guaird, as it was
then also called, were the same as those which now
separate Argentina from Paraguay.

This readjustment of territory, as a matter of fact,
was one of the most important of the colonizing steps
of the south-east of the continent. The move, after
all, was only in conformity with the physical and
climatic conditions of the two provinces. Regarded
from these important points of view, the two were
never intended to form a single country, although,
as neighbours, the one was admirably adapted to
supply that which the other lacked.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century the
province of the Rio de la Plata had already come
to be acknowledged as one of the finest pastoral
countries in the world. Countless herds of cattle,
companies of horses, and flocks of sheep wandered
across the face of its level green stretches, having
multiplied in the most amazing fashion from out
of the few head which had been originally turned

1 See Appendix.

128 PARAGUAY

loose on the plains. And as these continually in-
creased, the race of wild riders, the virile gauchos,
came into existence, to dominate this new wealth of
livestock and to gallop across the flat campo, on
which they might ride for league after league with-
out seeing so much as a single tree. Sun-swept and
wind-swept, moreover, the climate of the Rio de la
Plata province was -what might have been expected
from the nature of the gaucho. There the summer's
heat was wont to be tempered by the winter's frost,
and a biting blast would invigorate the jaded plains-
man when autumn gave way to the short winter of
the Pampa.

Very different from this was the landscape of
Paraguay, where one half of the country was dense
forest, and where, in the other, alternate woodland
gl'ades and open stretches marked a land that was
generally undulating, (and here and there mountainous .
The soft Paraguayan air and the rich Paraguayan
soil, moreover, readily gave back a most surprising
return for the seeds that had been entrusted to the
land from abroad. Once introduced, the oranges
and subtropical plants and fruits flourished in so
marked a fashion that very soon such towns as
Asuncion, Ciudad Real, Villa Rica, and Jerez — the
four principal1 urban centres at the beginning of
the seventeenth century — became most delightfully
embowered in orchards, vineyards, fields of sugar-
cane and banana, and all the remainder of such
abundant growths. In the River Plata mankind had
to gallop for its living* ; in Paraguay a few seeds,
carelessly flung, raised a harvest of fruit that was
generously ready to drop into the outstretched hand.

From the time of the first advent of the Spaniard
into the south-east of the continent, the great
difference between the countries of Paraguay and
Rio de la Plata had been evidenced by the types of
aboriginal humanity by which they were respectively

inhabited. Thus, white, the fierce Indians of the south
seized the horses which the Spaniards allowed to
roam over the plains, and made themselves among
the most expert horsemen in the world, chiefly in
order that they might attack the intruders with still
greater fury than before, the Guaranf, after the first
struggle to preserve his land from the invader, con-
sented to dwell in peace side by side with the white
man, and even to assist him in his labours to open
up the country.

So tractable, indeed, did the Guaranf prove in
this respect that it was not long before he began
to pay the price of the human imperfections and greed
of the new-comers. The system of the encomienda
introduced by Irala has already been referred to.
But this, although unpleasant enough, was in the
first instance by no means the most severe hardship
to be suffered by the unfortunate natives of Paraguay.
Even as far back as 1526 Diego Garcia, in his
expedition up the great rivers, is said to have
captured a number of Guaranis, whom he carried
away with him as slaves. This procedure, more-
over, had been repeated at intervals on a larger
scale, until the horrors of a regularly organized
slave-trade seemed to threaten the Guaranis.

All this, of course, was in addition to the inevitable
wrongs inflicted by the establishment of the encomi-
endas in Paraguay itself. It was in Hernandarias'
rule that an active intervention in these matters was
undertaken by the Jesuits, who sent out to Paraguay
a number of missionaries with the view of opening
up relations with the Guaranfs in their own forests.
The ultimate consequences of this move were so
momentous, and had so much influence on the general
history of Paraguay that a separate chapter must
be devoted to the Jesuit Missions.

CHAPTER VIII

THE JESUIT. MISSION ESTABLISHMENTS

A subject of much controversy — Events which led up to the founding of
the Jesuit Government — Early Franciscan missionaries — Arrival of
the first Jesuits — Hardships experienced by the pioneers — Constitu-
tion of the State — Rigid seclusion of the community — Situation of the
mission country — Features of its thirty towns — Uniformity of their
pattern — General plan of each — Description of the main buildings —
The Tacurii stone — Method of fortification — Administration of the
Jesuit towns — Guarani officials — Their titles and duties — Matters of
costume — The doctrine of equality — Questions of labour — Health of
the Guaranis — Administrative ability of the missionaries — Yerba
mate gathering and cattle-breeding — Numbers of the livestock on
the Jesuit farms— Agricultural pursuits — How labour was made
attractive — Various industries — Guarani craftsmen and artists —
Astonishing scope of their occupations — Actual status of the Jesuits
as Governors — The division of property — Economic success of the
missionary establishments — How the Guarani's day was mapped out —
Description of some religious ceremonies — The procession of Corpus
— Allegations against the Jesuits — Practical results achieved by their
missions — Their justification — The industrial side of the enterprise —
Importance of the mission produce — The Jesuits as a commercial
force — The Mamelucos and the mission settlements — Successful
resistance of the Indian militia — Relations of the Jesuits with their
neighbours — Expulsion of the Jesuits—- Fruitless attempts to continue
their settlements by others — End of the State.

THE Jesuit missionary settlements in Paraguay have
for some centuries now been the subject of discussion,
which has from time to time waxed sufficiently bitter.
Curiously enough, these arguments have been con-
cerned, not only with the ethics of colonization, and
with the rights and wrongs of the Jesuit Fathers,
the Indians, and the Spanish colonists. Many ques-
tions of actual fact have been in dispute, and as many

130

JESUIT MISSION ESTABLISHMENTS 131

more remain only dimly solved to this day. Briefly
the contending claims were these. The Jesuits
maintained that their work in Paraguay was for
the benefit of the Guaranfs, whom they desired to
protect from the harsh oppression they suffered at
the hands of the Spaniards. The Spanish colonists,
on the other hand, alleged that this was merely a
pretext snatched toy the Jesuits in order that they
might arrogate to themselves the labour of the
Guaranfs, and thus grow fat upon those services
which by right ought to have been at the disposal
of the conquist adores.

Before attempting, however, to enter into any of
these controversial points it would be as well to
glance hurriedly at the events which led up to the
establishment of the Jesuit Government and to the
founding of the famous thirty towns on which
the Guarani converts lived their rigidly ordered
lives.

The Jesuits, as a matter of fact, were by no means
the first missionaries to enter the Paraguayan field.
Various priests had come out in the train of the
earliest conquistador es, and from out of the groups
of the subsequent clergy a certain number of daring
and devoted men had ventured among the Indians,
laying here and there foundations of a future civi-
lization. The first missionaries who went out into
the forests to preach among the Guaranfs are said
to have been the Franciscan Fathers Armenia and
Lebr6n (which latter name is probably a Spanish
rendering of the French patronymic Lebrun), whom
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca seems to have found
already established in Santa Catalina in 1541. But
such efforts, noteworthy as they were, occurred on
a scale that was entirely diminutive compared with
the extraordinary developments of the subsequent
missionary scheme of the Jesuits.

It was in 1588 that the first Jesuits arrived in

PARAGUAY

Paraguay, where they met with a warm welcome at
the hands of the colonists, between whom and the
missionary Fathers a bitter feud was eventually des-
tined to spring up. These early workers made a
cosmopolitan company, counting among their number
Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, and Scots, besides
other nationalities. Setting dauntlessly out into the
forests of Paraguay, they passed from tribe to tribe,
making converts of the Indians in a fashion suffi-
ciently wholesale to receive some condemnation at
the hands of their detractors. However much or
however little the average Guarani may have under-
stood of his actual reception into the Christian faith,
the perils and hardships of the early missionaries
remained the same, and these were undoubtedly
sufficient to tax the resolution of any but the most
single-hearted pioneer.

Little by little, as more Jesuits arrived from abroad
to assist in the work, and as the numbers of the
Guarani converts grew, began the definite founda-
tions of that society of the Paraguayan missions
which was feared and hated by those Spaniards
outside its borders who imagined, rightly or wrongly,
that its presence was the cause of much material
wrong to themselves. This country of the Jesuits
had every right to be known""~"as a State. It
administered its own laws and authority, and was
subject to none of the local colonial officials, a
circumstance that undoubtedly gave rise to numerous
outbursts of jealousy. It was, moreover, rigidly shut
off. from the outer world, and, although travellers
were permitted to pass, closely watched, from one
of its towns to another, none but the Jesuit adminis-
trators were in the least conversant with the affairs
of the community, and with the events which were
happening in the State. It is this Jatter circumstance,
of course, which has been responsible for so many
of the disputes concerning actual facts — arguments

JKSfIT AI.TAK : SAX IGN'ACIO.

JESUIT MISSION ESTABLISHMENTS 133

which have arisen both during the period of the
Jesuit dominion and after the expulsion of the
Fathers. But in any case no dispute has ever arisen
concerning the fact that this land of the Jesuits
was a self-governing State, whether it be known by
any of the various names which have been applied
to it — a republic, an empire, or a socialistic com-
munity pure and simple.

The mission country of the Jesuits was situated
amid those delightful tracts of land where the mjodern
Republics of Paraguay, Brazil, and Uruguay now
meet. From north to south it lay, roughly, between
the parallels of 25° and 30°, and thus it comprised a
stretch of territory the open spaces of which may
rightfully be called " the Garden of South America."
We may now survey this spot in the height of its
prosperity, beginning with some aspects of its thirty
towns, which, of course, include some of the most
salient features of all.

The Jesuits of Paraguay were nothing if not con-
sistent, and their policy was eloquently shown in the
construction of their towns. None of their converts,
decreed the missionaries, should be permitted to
outdo his, or her, neighbour in the matter of dress and
outward appearance. The priests did their best to
ensure equality and the absence of heartburning by a
regulation that every Indian should be garbed exactly
the same, both in material and cut, as were his
brethren and sisters. This same theory was made to
apply in the case of the dwelling-places of the
Guaranfs. It has been remarked that these resembled
each other as closely as one drop of water resembles
another. " The arrangement of these," says Alvear,
who wrote from personal experience, "is so uniform
that when you have seen one you may say that you
have seen them all. Some tiny freak of architecture
or some Mttle touch of private adornment— that is
the only difference that may be remarked. Essen-

134 PARAGUAY

tial'ly they are all the same, and this has been brought
to such a pitch that those who travel1 through
them are apt to begin to wonder if they are not
being accompanied by the same enchanted town, the
eyes of a lynx being needed to tell the difference
between the inhabitants and clothes of one of these
places and those of another. The plan of them
all is rectangular, the streets stretching from north
to south and from east to west, and the Plaza, which
is always roomy and level, in the middle. The
church, college, and cemetery, occupy that side of
the Plaza that faces north."

This description affords, at all events, a rough
and general1 outline of one of the Jesuit towns.
It leaves, however, many details of interest to be
filled in. The aspect of one of these places, it
may be said, was extremely pleasant, the Jesuits,
who understood these matters very thoroughly, having
introduced orange-groves and other such growths
with consummate skill among the buildings. The
church would be a most solidly built edifice, con-
taining three or five naves, as the case might be.
Its interior, moreover, was richly decorated by the
Indian craftsmen and workers in metal, and here, one
imagines, some distinguishing originality must have
occurred, although no doubt this was avoided as
much as possible.

Attached to the college, which was usually a very
large building, were the workshops and storehouses
of the town, which were thus under the immediate eye
of the Fathers. The buildings in which the Indians
themselves were accommodated were very extensive
but low-roofed structures, being some sixty yards
in length and ten in breadth. The majority of the
buildings were contrived of great blocks of the
locally found Tacuru stone, which for the purpose
of cutting possesses the very unusual advantage of
being comparatively soft when first taken from the

JESUIT MISSION ESTABLISHMENTS 135

earth, hardening little by little as it is exposed to
the air. The magnificent woods of the neighbouring
forests were frequently employed in addition, and
the ubiquitous adobe was made to serve here and
there. AH the buildings were very solidly tiled.

So much for the general description of one of
those Jesuit towns of which only the ruins now
remain, all but swallowed up by the encroaching
verdure of the forest. In their neighbourhood was
nearly always a stone-lined spring, welling out
into a pool planted about with palms, and thus
presenting a most agreeable appearance. Near this
would be the chapels of the " Stations of the
Cross."

Finally, it must be said that many of these centres
which were most exposed to the raids of the hostile
Brazilian inhabitants of Sao Paulo were strongly
fortified, being surrounded by a deep ditch and a
solid wall of hardened mud.

Each of these towns was in charge of two Jesuits,
not too large a number, it must be admitted, to have
control of a town the population of which was prob-
ably about four thousand. These, however, were
assisted by numerous Guaranf officials, and their
management appears to have been conducted with
exemplary smoothness.

Having now obtained a glimpse of the plan
and aspects of a Jesuit mission town, it is time to
consider some attributes that are at least as important
— its inhabitants. Proceeding downwards along its
hierarchy from the two Jesuit Fathers in charge —
who were responsible only to a superior of their own
order who travelled continually to and fro between
the various towns — we arrive at the higher Guaranf
officials. At the head of these was a cacique, who
in a sense acted as Governor of the place, although
his office wasv under the closest supervision of the
two Jesuits in charge. There were also corregidores,

136 PARAGUAY

regldores, alcaldes, and many other officials, whose
posts corresponded more or less with those held by
Spaniards in the somewhat cumbrous municipal
scheme that obtained in the peninsula.

In order that the position of these dusky digni-
taries should be properly emphasized they were
raised above the law which decreed perfect equality
of dress for all, and on feast days their uniforms were
wont to be sufficiently gorgieous to distinguish them
from the rest.

The dress of the rank and file of the inhabitants
was simple to a degree. The material employed
for that of both men and women was white cotton.
The men wore a species of shirt above short breeches,
while the women were dressed in petticoats, above
which was an armless chemise known as the iypoi.
The hair was plaited into one or two tails, and was
generally adorned with a crimson flower. To such
a degree had this doctrine of similarity of costume
become implanted into the minds of the Indians that,
after the expulsion of the Jesuits, those who suc-
ceeded the missionaries — and endeavoured in vain to
carry on the work — were astonished at the tenacity
with which they clung to it. Desirous of rooting
out entirely the influence of the Jesuits, they
assiduously pointed out to the Indians the advantages
of individuality in dress. But it was a very long
time before one of these could bring himself to
distinguish his person from the rest by means of
any of those added touches which are usually so
eagerly sought after by the dusky races.

The supposition that Satan finds work for idle
hands to do was acknowledged by the Jesuits with
an enthusiasm on which was founded the principal
tenets of their communities. In the mission towns
any risk of this kind was quite infinitesimal ! Indeed,
one of the charges levelled by the opponents of
the missionaries has been to the effect that they

JESUIT MISSION ESTABLISHMENTS 137

harnessed the Guaranfs from the age of five years
upwards to an endless and grinding routine of toil.
Indeed, in estimating the benefits derived by the
company of the Jesuits from this fount of labour,
a very gifted modern Argentine writer estimates
the eighteenth-century Guarani population of the
Paraguayan missions at some 150,000, adding
that, so healthy was the climate of their country
that almost the entire force of this community was
available, invalids being almost unknown. In this
he unconsciously pays a notable tribute to the methods
employed in the " Reductions " — by which name these
mission towns were also known. For this remark-
able lack of invalids may well be compatible with
the circumstances attending ordinary hard work, but
they suggest nothing of that grinding toil such as
the conquistador -es were only too frequently accus-
tomed to inflict on the aborigines — labour involving
broken health and premature death.

The admittedly healthy condition of the Jesuitical
Guaranfs is in itself sufficient to refute such a charge
as this.

The various kinds of work carried on in the mission
towns were of an amazingly comprehensive nature.
Even their most hostile critics have never attempted
to dispute the administrative abilities of the mis-
sionaries. These found a full opportunity in the
fertile soil and varied products of the country. One
of the first industries they took up was that of
collecting the famous Paraguayan tea, the yerba
mate", from the forests in which it grew. Un-
doubtedly this was one of the severest tasks which
the Guaranis had to undertake, since the yerba-
tree, the Ildx Paraguayensis, favours the denser
forests that are the haunt of the jaguar, the venomous
snake, and countless noxious insects. Moreover, as
the yerba mat£-trees in the neighbourhood of the
settlements became used up, the journeys of the

138 PARAGUAY

Indians grew longer and more difficult, and the return
marches, under the burden of the yerba loads, still
more strenuous.

Another industry which rapidly attained to great
importance was that of cattle-breeding. It is diffi-
cult to picture the Jesuit Fathers galloping with
flying robes after the scampering herds of cattle,
gathering them into rodeos, and " parting1 " them
after the fashion of the gaucho — and this they un-
doubtedly did not do I At the same time, it is
certain that they must have closely supervised their
dusky herdsmen ; for the numbers of their cattle
rapidly increased to an extent which could only have
been possible under an efficient, and comparatively
scientific, management. This will be evident when
it is explained that more than thirty thousand head
of cattle grazed on one of their estates alone, and
that at the time of the expulsion of the company
their pastures were found to contain nearly
800,000 cattle, nearly 100,000 horses and mules,
and over 200,000 sheep and goats.

Beyond this there were the fields of cotton, maize,
rice, sugar - cane, tobacco, and all those cereals
which went to make up the store of the mission
towns, as well as the spreading groves of orange-
trees, and all the fruits of the sub-tropics and of
Southern Europe which were cultivated with immense
success in the rich red soil of Paraguay. It is a
tribute to the energy of the Jesuits, moreover, that
sufficient wheat was grown within the missions to
render them self-supporting in this respect, when
the small amount of wheat is taken into considera-
tion that is at present produced within the Republic
of Paraguay.

It was in these pastoral and agricultural pursuits
that the main supply of Guarani labour was
employed. The Jesuits saw to it that the tasks
of the Indians were made as attractive as possible.

JESUIT MISSION ESTABLISHMENTS 139

Thus they would march to the fields singing chants
and preceded by a small band of instruments, and
they would return in the same impressive fashion
when the labours of the day were done. In all
such ways as this the work of the Indians was
lightened, and undoubtedly the policy possessed its
practical side in that far more satisfactory agricultural
results were obtained from these contented people
than would have been the case had they been dejected
and apathetic.

The scope of the mission work, however, was by
no means confined to the pastoral and agricultural
pursuits. The community was entirely self-support-
ing, and it was thus necessary to quarry the stone
of which the town buildings were constructed, to
build the small vessels in which much of the produce
was sent to be sold in the large cities lower down
the river, and even to found the cannons and to
produce the gunpowder which were necessary in order
to defend the settlements from the slave- raiding
attacks of those arch-enemies of the missions, the
Matnelucos, who came out with fire and sword from
the Brazilian town of Sao Paulo.

But, when the disposition and attainments of the
original Guarani tribe are taken into consideration,
some of the most remarkable achievements of the
missionaries were in connection with the finer arts
and crafts rather than with the cruder labours of
the main industries. It is true that at the head of
each of these branches was a Jesuit who was a
complete master of his particular art or craft. But
this alone does not suffice to explain the astonish-
ing progress made in these directions by a race
that a generation or two before had represented
one of the most primitive types of Indian in the
world — naked savages without the faculty of hiero-
glyphics, unable to count beyond the few first
numbers, ignorant of the very rudiments of music,

140 PARAGUAY

and lacking sufficient imagination to provide them-
selves even with a reasonable supply of that
superstition which stands for the religion of the
savage.

Yet it was from these very folk that were pro-
duced craftsmen of a really able type. It was they
who, under the coaching of the missionaries, learned
to become carpenters, to carve stone with profes-
sional cunning, and who became expert locksmiths,
gunsmiths, and workers in metal. There were many
weavers and printers, and among them were a certain
number who had actually attained to the expert art
of watchmaking. Among the most astonishing walks
of life, however, to which the Guarani was transported
was that of painter — in the artistic sense of the
vocation. Hand in hand with this art went that of
music. Indeed, one of the proofs of how thoroughly
these matters were undertaken lies in the fact of
the bringing over from Europe, with a view to teach-
ing the Guaranis music and singing', of Padre Juan
Basco, who had previously been at the head of an
archducal institution of music.

A school and a hospital were attached to each
Reduction, and each of these, in addition, was pro-
vided with an asylum for the aged and infirm. Even
here a certain amount of work' was carried on, and
the inmates of this institution were given such light
tasks as they could perform.

These settlements of the Jesuits have frequently
been said to constitute a state of pure socialism — or
rather communism. But this is true only up to a
certain point. A condition of equality existed among
the Indians, and the total absence of money in any
shape or form made it possible to render this equality
more perfect than would have been possible in the
outer world. But in the ideal communistic country
no persons can exist who do not bow to the common
law. Admitting such theories, it was the Jesuits

JESUIT MISSION ESTABLISHMENTS 141

themselves who had no right in such settlements,
for the laws which applied to the Indians did not
— and in the nature of things never could — apply
to them ! The Jesuits, then, were actually officers, of
an autocracy which governed a people on commu-
nistic principles.

The constitution of the Jesuit missions demanded
that all property — that is to say, all the harvests and
the agricultural and pastoral products in general —
should be divided into three parts. Special lands
were set apart for each. The first of these was
known as the Tabambae. This was for the benefit
of the general community, and in order to produce
this all the Indians worked three days in the week.
The rest of the time was devoted to the Abambae,
a portion reserved for the heads of families, and to
the Tupatnbae, which share was known as the
property of God. The harvests were stored in the
various public granaries, and dealt with according
to the orders of the missionaries.

The economic success of these Paraguayan missions
was undoubted. At the time of their dominion many
unfounded rumours were spread concerning a vast
amount of wealth that was supposed to be derived
by these from local mines which, it is now clear
enough, never had any existence. As a matter of
fact, as regards mere wealth, any such procedure
would have been unnecessary — or, at all events, super-
fluous— considering the enormous riches which the
Jesuits held in their pastoral and agricultural
possessions.

The day of the Jesuit Guarani was mapped out
for him with the same care with which a navigator
might prick out his chart before starting on a voyage.
Not only was every hour of his labours and restings
worked out to the minute with meticulous care, but
even the intervals of his recreation were planned
with the same exactitude. The Guaranf was told

142 PARAGUAY

when and how to play just as he was told when
and how to work. And this procedure, which could
not have failed to be resented by more sophisticated
folk, was undoubtedly the best adapted to awaken
the irresponsible mind of the Guarani, notorious as
he was for his lack of the power of initiative.

Many of the feast days were kept in a truly
gorgeous fashion in the Paraguayan mission towns.
I have already described these fully elsewhere, and,
in order that the less favourable side of the picture
may be seen, I will quote a couple of paragraphs
from Sefior Lugones, whose masterly work cannot
be said to err in leniency towards the Jesuits : —

" All was, of course, religious. The embroidered
ornaments glittered in the sun ; perfumed waters
served in the ceremonies. There was a profusion
of incense and of chiming bells ; and, above all,
there was that supreme bond between primitive grati-
tude and religion that occasioned these feasts. The
feast day was the day of banqueting and of fine
clothes. Entire families strutted with pride in the
cloak and shoes of an acolyte. The people applauded
with enthusiasm the performances of children who
recited eulogies, or who danced, forming mystical
ciphers with their figures to the beat of resounding
orchestras. Bombs, rattles, trumpets, and hand-bells
sent out their sonorous volume of sound to bring
the fanfare to the point of delirium. Military
spectacles aroused the fighting atavism in blood that
was still wild ; tilting at the ring, acting in Guarani,
clumsy comedies, entered into the programme, which
was concluded by a banquet in the open air under
the galleries which surrounded the plaza.

" The procession of Corpus was especially
sumptuous. This procession would go winding
about the plaza, halting at many places, where birds
of the most brilliant colours fluttered in the midst
of the arranged foliage, and where handsome fishes

JESUIT MISSION ESTABLISHMENTS 143

floating in bowls served as an additional spectacle.
As the acolytes passed along they strewed the ground
with grains of roasted maize, contrived so as to
imitate small white flowers, while the softness of
the air, perfumed by the neighbouring1 orange-groves,
set the seal of tender unction on the ceremony."

These are the words of a brilliant modern writer
who holds, as do the majority of other contemporary
South American authors, that the methods of the
Jesuit proselytism comprised a mere appeal to the
senses which had nothing in common with the true
ethics of religion. That it was necessary to attract
the Guarani by an appeal of the kind is incontro-
vertible. No doubt, too, there was some slight
foundation for the charges made against the members
of the company in Paraguay to the effect that they
made a practice of bribing the secular Governors of
the province ; that, when opposed, they made suffi-
ciently bitter enemies ; that there were times when
the industrial importance of the community tended
to swamp the spiritual side, and that, in fact, they
preserved the Guaranis from the conquistadores
merely in order that they might exploit the un-
fortunate natives for their own purposes.

Even if all these charges — the majority of which
rest on very precarious foundations — were admitted,
the practical results achieved by the Jesuit missions
would have amply justified their existence. It has
been brought against them that, while they charged
the conquistadores with treating the Guaranis as
beasts of burden, they themselves treated them as
children, thus arrogating to themselves unending
tutelary powers. I hold no brief for the Jesuits,
but this accusation alone seems to hold their com-
plete vindication. Under the merciless tyranny of
the early Spanish system the melancholy natives died
before their time in countless thousands. Under the
benevolent despotism of the Jesuits they passed

144 PARAGUAY

through smiling lives to a satisfied old age. Is it
necessary to say more?

There is no doubt that, from the industrial and
political point of view of secular Paraguay, the
presence of the Jesuits was anything but an un-
mitigated blessing. The Spanish colonist — who, in
common with the majority of other folk of that
period, was entirely devoid of sentiment so far as
Indians were concerned — had in the first place to
thank the interference of the missionaries for the
loss of a considerable portion of his profitable field
of free labour. But this was merely the foretaste
of what was to come. When the vast Jesuit
organization began to assume its definite shape, it
became evident to the colonists that here was a
force with which they could not hope to compete.

This development, of course, did not occur all
at once. It was only at the beginning of the seven-
teenth century, when the mission settlements received
the permission of the Spanish Government to trade
in yerba mate outside the borders of their provinces,
that the full significance of the industrial side of
the great enterprise became apparent. In due course
the commercial ramifications were extended, a per-
fectly amazing genius being displayed in this. After
a time the river fleets of the Jesuits took to sailing
down- stream deeply laden with yerba, hides, linseed,
sugar-cane, wheat, tobacco, maize, and all the rest
of the produce of the missions. These found a
ready market in Buenos Aires, Santa FC", Brazil,
Chile, and even as far afield as Peru. After a
time the officials of the missions opened stores, not
only in Paraguay but in Buenos Aires as well, with
the result that the supremacy of their products became
even more marked than before, and that many of
those very laymen who were most bitterly opposed
to the presence of the missionaries went shamefacedly
as purchasers into their stores.

JESUIT MISSION ESTABLISHMENTS 145

The fact that no body of laymen could be found!
with a sufficient power of organization to compete
with the Jesuits did not, needless to say, add to the
popularity of the latter. Nor did their prohibition
of the employment of any other tongue but Guaranf
— though in itself a sufficiently sound precaution —
fail to be hurtful to the Spanish pride. On their
eastern frontier they, had no reason to expect good-
will. On the contrary, it was from that quarter that
threatened the deepest danger of all to the Jesuit
establishments ; for the hardy Mamelucos of SSo
Paulo, having cleared all their own part of Brazil
of the Guaranfs whom they had enslaved, had taken
to slave-raiding farther afield, until they were brought
face to face with the Jesuit settlements, and their
labours were thus rudely interrupted.

Finding that the missionaries were determined to
maintain their rights, the Mamelucos began a merci-
less series of onslaughts on the easternmost of the
mission settlements, driving away into captivity many
tens of thousands of the unfortunate converts. This
condition of affairs continued until, having obtained
special permission from the Court of Spain, the
Jesuits armed and drilled their native followers. By,
this means a force was soon obtained which at
first succeeded in resisting the attacks of the
Mamelucos, and afterwards in inflicting upon them
defeats serious enough to cause them to abandon
their raids. The militia of the missions, it may be
said, ultimately became something in the nature of
a permanent force, and was lent on several occasions
for service with the Spanish authorities.

There is no space here to enter into the various
quarrels of the Jesuits with the lay and ecclesiastical
bodies of their own country. The main features of
these are closely bound up with the general history
of Paraguay, and such disputes as that between the
Company and Bishop Cardenas — which has been

146 PARAGUAY

admirably described by Mr. R. B. Cunninghams
Graham in his " Vanished Arcadia " — must appear
in their proper chronological order.

Indeed, it is the important influence which these
settlements of the Jesuits have had upon the general
history of Paraguay which alone justifies the length
of this description of their communities. For with-
out some idea of the ramifications of these truly
amazing Reductions it is impossible to understand
much of the history of Paraguay in the seventeenth
and early eighteenth centuries.

The expulsion of the Jesuits from Paraguay
occurred in 1768. The settlements in Paraguay
were the last to be broken up. In the previous
year the establishments in Corrientes, C6rdoba, Santa
F6, and Montevideo had been closed and the officials
of the Company deported. In Paraguay — where the
Governor, Don Carlos Morphi, was held to be favour-
ably disposed towards the Company — considerable
opposition had been expected, and the Governor of
Buenos Aires, Don Francisco de Paula Bucareli y
Ursua, to whom the uncongenial task of the expul-
sion had been entrusted, was accompanied on his
journey to the Reduction by a considerable military
force.

Save for a few isolated and spasmodic bursts of
resentment on the part of the Indians, the expul-
sion was effected almost without incident, the influ-
ence of the Jesuits, exerted in favour of peace,
overcoming the indignation of the Guaranis — a resent-
ment which, had it been allowed full play, would
undoubtedly have set all those districts of South
America into a blaze.

On the departure of the Jesuits the Spanish
authorities strove to continue the work that the mis-
sionaries had carried on, and at the same time to
destroy every trace of their influence and of their
rule. It is almost needless to say that their attempts

JESUIT MISSION ESTABLISHMENTS 147

were a complete failure. Even with' the best will
in the world it was clearly impossible for men with
no experience of Guarani mission Indians and their
ways to take up the task of generations of wise
and skilled experts who had devoted the whole of
their lives to the study.

The failure of this attempt of the Spanish colonial
authorities became evident almost at once. In a
few years political causes had all but depopulated;
the mission towns. In 1785 the total population of
these had fallen to 70,000, and in 1797 the number
had been reduced to just over 50,000 Guaranis.
After this the end was rapid. The herds were carried
off, the fields became overgrown, and in the end
the tremendous vigour of the subtropical forests
smothered even the buildings of the Jesuit towns
themselves. As a result, very little more remains
than a few ruins dotted here and there about the
forests .

CHAPTER IX

THE LATER COLONIAL PERIOD

Manuel Frias becomes Governor of Paraguay — His domestic affairs lead
to a dispute with Bishop Torres — Conflict between Church and State
— The Peruvian authorities decide in favour of Frias — Death of the
Governor on his way back to Paraguay — Luis de Cespedes Jeria con-
trives to obtain the post — Having been in league with the Mamelucos,
he is imprisoned — Subsequent Governors — Gregorio de Hinestrosa's
conflict with Bishop Bernadino de Cardenas — Character of the
Bishop — Mr. Cunninghame Graham's account of how he came into
his bishopric — A dramatic priest — The latter's quarrel with the
Jesuits — Some mutual expulsions — Diego Escobar de Osorio suc-
ceeds Hinestrosa — Cardenas excommunicates the Jesuits — Death of
Escobar de Osorio — Cardenas is appointed to the governorship — His
measures against the Jesuits — Sebastian de Leon y Zarate is made
Governor — Revolt and defeat of Cardenas — Further Governors— How
Diego de los Reyes Balmaseda became Governor — The revolt of Jose
de Antequera y Castro — Circumstances which led up to his execution
— Motives of the rebellion — Scenes at the scaffold — Antequera's per-
sonality— Feuds in Asuncion — Bruno de Zavala restores order —
Carlos Morphi — Events in South America which preceded the War
of Liberation — Paraguay's answer to the message of Buenos Aires —
Collision between the troops of the two States — Victory of the Para-
guayans— Belgrano's propaganda — Stirred by this, Paraguay proclaims
her independence — She begins her career as a sovereign State.

HAVING dealt with some of the more salient features
of the Jesuit missions, it is necessary to resume the
sketch of the general history of Paraguay, which
was interrupted at the division of that province
into two.

The first Governor of the northern of these two
provinces — known then both by the name of Paraguay
and Guaird — was Manuel Frias, who assumed charge
of his post very nearly three years after the new

148

THE LATER COLONIAL PERIOD 149

provinces had been created. According to many
authorities, Manuel Frias gave promise of being a
most able Governor ; but the condition of his
domestic affairs appears to have wrecked his chief
opportunities of displaying statesmanship.

When he was appointed to the governorship of
Paraguay, Frias had been separated from his wife
for some ten years. This state of affairs was re-
garded with considerable disfavour by Tomds de
Torres, then Bishop of Paraguay. In order that
an end should be put to what he regarded as a
public scandal, the Bishop determined that he him-
self would bring about a reconciliation between the
Governor and his wife. Frias proved himself so
obstinate in the matter that the Bishop was goaded
to more and more strenuous efforts. In the end
so enthusiastic did these become that the Bishop
quarrelled violently with the Governor in his efforts
to bring about peace between the latter and his
wife 1

Owing to this gratuitous interference in a domestic
matter, all Asuncion found itself once again obliged
to take sides with one party or the other in a bitter
dispute between the authorities. As had already
happened on several previous occasions in that
town, the affair soon resolved itself into a conflict
between Church and State. The great majority of
the people, as a matter of fact, were in sympathy
with the Governor. But Bishop Torres was an ardent
fighter, and, having flung about decrees of excom-
munication as freely as raindrops fall in a tropical
storm, he succeeded in drawing the serious attention
of the high authorities in Peru to the case.

As a result of this Frias was summoned to
Chuquisaca by the Royal Audience of Charcas. An
order of the kind was not to be disregarded. Manuel
Frias, leaving Diego de Rego y Mendoza in charge
of Paraguay, set out for the west, and in the foot-

150 PARAGUAY

steps of his party there followed soon afterwards a
petition in favour of the Governor, numerously signed
by the inhabitants of Asuncion. Having heard all
this weighty case, and doubtless wondering not a
little at the private nature of the basis on which it
rested, the Royal Audience gave its decision in favour
of Frias. Whatever steps the Governor might have
taken to "mark his triumph in Asuncion were frus-
trated by his death at Salta on his return journey
in 1627.

Once again the government of Paraguay was left
in a state of suspense, which was somewhat violently
interrupted by Luis de Cespedes Jeria. This adven-
turous person entered the country in 1628 by way
of Brazil, and, although unsupported by any royal
authority, managed to obtain control of the State.
He is said to have been bribed by the Mamelucos
of Sao Paulo, in whose country he had been before
entering Paraguay, and it is certain enough that
he was in league with these s la ve-r aiders . As a
result of this the incursions of the latter grew more
and more serious, and it is said that at this period no
fewer than sixty thousand unfortunate Guarani
Indians were captured by them in the eastern Jesuit
settlements and were led away to be sold in the
Brazilian slave markets.

It was not until 1631 that some beginnings of
order were evolved out of the chaos into which
Paraguay had fallen. In that year Cespedes was
arrested and imprisoned, and in 1633 Martin de
Ledesma Valderrama was made Governor by the
royal authority. This latter, after having carried
out some able colonizing work, was replaced in
1636 by Pedro Lugo de Navarra, who, having led
a Guarani army against the Mamelucos, abandoned
them in the early stages of the battle, notwith-
standing which the Indians succeeded in gaining an
unexpected victory. It was largely owing to this

THE LATER COLONIAL PERIOD 151

conduct that he was recalled to Spain, but failed
to reach the peninsula, dying on the voyage.

In 1641 Gregorio de Hinestrosa took charge of
the governorship. During his term of office occurred
some of the most amazing episodes in the early
history of Paraguay. It was his lot, indeed, to be
one of the protagonists in a struggle between the
sacred and the secular power, which varied in
incident from the tragic to the sheerly ludicrous.
Hinestrosa's great opponent was the Bishop Berna-
dino de Cardenas, one of the most extraordinary
characters of his time, and the product of a period
which encouraged adventurers among the ranks of
the clergy as well as among those of the laymen.
From his early days Cardenas had displayed great
dramatic power, and he had succeeded in obtaining
considerable influence among certain of the Indians
of Peru, an influence which he occasionally appears
to have turned to his own pecuniary advantage. Mr.
Cunninghame Graham has an admirable account of
the way in which he came into his bishopric :—

" Cardenas specially inculcated, in his memorial
to the Council of the Indies, that it was not expedient
to place the Indians under the regular clergy, a
theory of which he himself was destined to become
a great antagonist. Promotion, as we know, cometh
neither from the east nor from the west ; so it fell
out that during his retreat, through the influence of
his friend Don Juan de Solorzano, a celebrated lawyer,
who had heard him preach when Governor of
Guancavelico, he found himself named Bishop of
Asuncion del Paraguay. This piece of luck opened
the doors of his convent to him, and he repaired at
once to Potosi to wait the arrival of the papal Bull
authorizing him to take possession of his bishopric.
There he appeared in the habit of his Order, a little
wooden cross upon his breast, and a green hat upon
his head, a costume which, if not quite fitting to

152 PARAGUAY

his new dignity, was at least suited! to the Indian
taste.

"His biographer informs us that, without a word to
any one, he began to preach and hear confessions.
Being absolutely without resources, he was reduced
to distribute indulgences and little objects of piety,
and at the end of every sermon to send his green
hat round the audience. His talent for preaching
stood him in good stead, and after every sermon
gifts were showere'd upon him, and a crowd accom-
panied him home."

Arrived in Paraguay, the Bishop made the most
of his intensely dramatic gifts, and even went in
for a mild course of miracles admirably calculated
to fill the minds of his more ingenuous parishioners
with awe. It was not long before the Governor,
Gregorio de Hinestrosa, found out how dangerous an
antagonist a man such as this could be. Indeed, there
could be no doubt that neither Asuncion, nor any
other capital in the world, was large enough to hold at
the same time the Bishop Bernadino de Cardenas and
any secular Governor, whatever views the latter might
hold. Notwithstanding the curious fact that on one
occasion the pair simultaneously went down upon
their knees to beg each other's pardon, the quarrels
between the two mounted steadily in bitterness.

When he felt that his power had sufficiently in-
creased, Cardenas added a new element of discord to
the strife already existing by falling out with the
Jesuits. From that moment he intrigued without
cease with a view to the expelling of the Order, but,
as it happened, the Governor being entirely opposed
to him, he himself was expelled in 1644. But
this was by no means the end of Bernadino de
Cardenas.

In 1647 Gregorio Hinestrosa was replaced in his
governorship by Diego Escobar de Osorio. Cardenas
immediately seized the opportunity of returning to

THE LATER COLONIAL PERIOD 153

Asuncion. Contriving to ingratiate himself with the
new Governor, Cardenas launched a thunderbolt by
excommunicating the whole Company of the Jesuits in
Paraguay ! It is said that, after this, Escobar de
Osorio, realizing something of the hornet's nest that
he had suffered to be introduced into Paraguay,
was about to adopt strong measures agamst Cardenas.
Just then, however, he died. So suddenly did his
end come about that it has been strongly suspected
that poison was employed to that end.

However this may have been, Cardenas himself
was now appointed to the vacant governorship by
popular vote. From this it will be seen how great a
hold he had obtained over the public imagination.
One of his first acts was to expel the Jesuits from
their college in Asuncion, and to command them to
evacuate all their mission settlements throughout
Paraguay. On this the Jesuits appealed to the Royal
Audience at Charcas, with the result that this Court
decreed the restitution of the rights of the Jesuits
and the dismissal of Cardenas from the governorship,
which was confided to Sebastian de Le6n y Zarate.
Cardenas was in no mood to accept this decision
passively. He revealed the desperate nature of the
measures he was prepared to undertake by collecting
an army in order to oppose de Le6n when he arrived
in Paraguay. A battle was fought on the outskirts
of Asuncion, in which the followers of Cardenas —
who had been so confident of victory that they bore
into the battle ropes with which to bind the Guaranls
of de Le6n's army after they had been captured ! —
were totally defeated.

After this Cardenas disappears entirely front Para-
guayan history. It is a marvellous tribute to his
personality that, after many adventures and vicissi-
tudes, he succeeded in 'getting himself made Bishop
of Santa Cruz in 1665.

In 1650 Andre's de Le6n Gabarito arrived in

154 PARAGUAY

Paraguay as interim Governor. He was also charge'd
with a commission to inquire into the circumstances
attending the repression of Cardenas' rebellion.
Whether he had been too thorough in his punitive
measures or not, it seems certain enough that the
unfortunate Zarate had powerful enemies, for he spent
twenty years in prison as an atonement for what
may, or may not, have been faults.

A link with an important personage in the past
history of Paraguay occurred in 1653, when Cristobal
de Garay y Saavedra, a grandson of that Juan de
Garay who had founded Buenos Aires, was appointed
Governor of the province. He appears to have been
an able official ; but little of serious importance
seems to have occurred during his period of office,
nor in that of his successor, Juan Antonio Blasquez.

The next Governor to be appointed to Paraguay
was Alonso Sarmiento de Sotomayor y Figueroa.
This official appears to have conducted himself bravely
in stemming an Indian rebellion. He nevertheless
suffered a term of two years' imprisonment before he
was acquitted of charges brought against him in
this respect. He subsequently obtained the post of
Corregidor in Lipes, and it is recorded, much to his
honour, that he died so poor that he did not leave
enough money to bury him !

After this followed a succession of Governors, who
were occupied chiefly in coping with the warlike
tendencies of the fierce Guaycurus to the north, by
far the most implacable tribesmen in the province,
and in restraining the periodical aggressions of
the 'Mamelucos, to say nothing of playing their
share in the intrigues which were only too frequent
in Asuncion itself.

The next period of interest began with the year
1717, when Antonio Victoria, who had been nomi-
nated as Governor of Paraguay, sold his office, with
the consent of the Court of Spain, to Diego de los

THE LATER COLONIAL PERIOD 155

Reyes Balmaseda, who had until then occupied the
comparatively modest post of Alcalde of Asuncion.
This sudden elevation to power appears to have
turned the head of the former Alcalde. In the
manner of upstarts he took to persecuting those who
failed to admire his genius of administration. It must
be admitted that all this is denied by Balmaseda's
friends, who put the blame of a.ll that occurred on
his enemies. These latter assert that some of the
members of the leading families of Asuncion were
imprisoned and treated with considerable harshness.
The inhabitants of Asuncion, from the days of the
very first establishment of that capital, had never
shown themselves inclined to submit to treatment of
this kind, and very soon complaints from that town
were ringing loudly in the ears of the high Peruvian
officials. The Royal Audience in order to investi-
gate the case sent to Asuncion Jose* de Antequera y
Castro. In due course the Royal Audience relieved
Reyes Balmaseda from his post, to which succeeded
their own judge-inquisitor, Jose" de Antequera.

Concerning the period of confusion that followed
there is an amount of conflicting testimony that is
extraordinary even for the history of Paraguay. To
this day diametrically conflicting accounts are
published of the events which led up to the exe-
cution of Antequera. There are some who insist
that Antequera was regularly appointed to his post
by the Royal Audience, while others maintain that he
merely seized a favourable opportunity to arrogate
to himself the power. In any ca^e it is certain that
shortly after this occurred Baltasar Garcia Ros, acting
Governor of Buenos Aires, came up the river to
Asuncion with orders from the Peruvian authorities
either to replace Reyes Balmaseda in the governorship
of Paraguay or to assume this post himself. The
people of Asuncion, however, declared themselves in
favour of Antequera, and Garcia Ros was obliged

156 PARAGUAY

to return to Buenos Aires without having accomplished
anything.

After this Asuncion found itself in a state of armed
resistance to practically all the might of Spain in
South America. Seeing that he was being opposed
by the Jesuits, Antequera ordered their expulsion
from Paraguay. It will already have been seen with
what monotonous persistency decrees of expulsion,
excommunication, and similar thunderings — occa-
sionally quite innocuous — played their part in the
Central State. As a matter of fact the Jesuits in the
College of Asuncion were actually expelled for a
time ; but as these seem to have had little to do
with the mission settlements the situation remained
practically unaltered.

In the meantime Antequera was making a resolute
stand against the edicts of the Royal Audience and
against the troops which the central Government sent
against him. The personality of Antequera naturally
makes a strong appeal to the Paraguayan imagina-
tion. There was sufficient force in his rebellion to
give it an almost national touch, and there are many
who see in it some of the spiritual elements which
characterized the Spanish-American War of Inde-
pendence which broke out almost ninety years later.

If anything of this really entered into the motives
of Antequera's rebellion, the undertaking was alto-
gether too premature for any hope of success. The
spectacle of early eighteenth-century Paraguay in
arms against the world was a very gallant, but a
very fleeting, one. Nevertheless various Imperial
forces were defeated before the end came. Then
the Viceroy of Peru rose up in ponderous wrath, and
sent Bruno de Zavala at the head of an army of
six thousand mission Indians to end the matter. There
was no resisting a force such as this. Antequera;
fled first to C6rdoba, and then to Charcas, where he
was arrested. It is typical of the dilatory methods

THE LATER COLONIAL PERIOD 157

of the Spanish contemporary justice that it was not
until four years later that the order for his execution
arrived from Spain.

Antequera was executed in Charcas in 1731, and
on that occasion the uproar was considerable even
in that town, one of the chief centres of the vice-
royalty. On the fateful day the plaza — in the centre
of which, as usual, the scaffold had been prepared —
was filled with a hostile crowd. On the appearance
of Antequera, in charge of his guards, the excitement
of the throng reached a feverish pitch. In order
to prevent a collision between the populace and the
troops the Viceroy himself made his appearance in
the square. But the time had passed for even his
exalted personality to quell the tumult. A volley of
stones sped at his mounted figure, and the crowd
surged towards the scaffold to which Antequera had
by that time been brought.

An attempt at rescue seemed imminent. There was
no time for the executioner to perform his duty with
the grim and deliberate ceremony proper to such
an event. The Viceroy called to his guards to fire
at Antequera, and as the reports of the cumbrous
arquebuses died away Antequera fell, shot in four
places. According to some accounts, two priests who
accompanied him were wounded by the volley.

In this way fell Antequera, a man of striking
personality, and undoubtedly a sufficiently gallant
man. His figure is difficult to extricate from the
confusion of events that enveloped it. The circum-
stances would seem to point to the fact that it was
one of those historical cases in which every person
concerned, being a little bit in the right, made certain
that he was altogether justified, and completely
ignored the fact that he and all the rest were a great
deal in the wrong at the same time !

.When the news of Antequera's execution reached
the Paraguayans their rage knew no bounds. Rightly.

158 PARAGUAY

or wrongly, they vented this on the Jesuits, whose
native troops had been so directly instrumental in the
downfall of Antequera. Once again, it was the
Fathers in the College of Asuncion who suffered
chiefly from the vengeance which the people wreaked
for the fate of one whom they considered a martyr.

Asuncion was once again in a state of complete
anarchy. Apart from the bitterness which the
followers of Antequera felt towards the Jesuits on
account of the supposed wrongs they had suffered
at the hands of the Company, they now cherished
grievances against the regular supporters of the
Spanish Empire, and a feud raged between these
latter two ^parties, which from time to time broke
out into open hostilities, in the course of which was
killed Agustin de Ruiloba, who had been appointed
to govern the disturbed province. All the world
over it would be difficult to light upon a more peace-
ful and placid spot than the town of Asuncion and
its neighbouring gentle slopes and valleys. Yet this
pleasant red soil, with its smiling profusion of
blossoms, palms, and verdure, would seem to have
borne strangely restless men in those days — men who
were always ready to flash out the sword in defence
of their rights, whether real or imaginary, and of
the strongly democratic principles which the build-
ings of Asuncion would seem to have nourished from
their first foundation.

It was not until 1735, when Bruno de Zavala, now
Governor of Buenos Aires, arrived in Paraguay by
order of the Reyal Audience, that an end was put to
this state o'f affairs. Zavala, an aged but energetic
official, first visited the Jesuit missions, and having
obtained from these a powerful army of trained
Guarani soldiers, he marched on Asuncion for the
second time. Having routed a force of rebels that
attempted to oppose his progress, he entered the
capital in 1735, an(l at length restored order. As

THE LATER COLONIAL PERIOD 159

a result of this particular revolt, Asuncion found
itself deprived! of a much prized privilege — that of
electing its own Governors.

After this ensued a considerable period of rest,
so far as internal affairs were concerned, although
two or three of the succeeding Governors found their
energy sufficiently occupied, not only in subduing the
bellicose tendencies of some of the northern warrior
tribes, but also in supporting the cause of the
domesticated Guaranis against the aggression of the
Portuguese from the east. It may be remarked that
in 1766 an Irishman, whose name is locally rendered
as Carlos Morphi, was appointed as Governor of Para-
guay. This official had been educated in Spain,
where he had attained to the rank of Lieutenant-
Colonel. It was during his period of office that
the Jesuits were expelled from Paraguay, and Morphi
is alleged to have done his best to smooth matters
for the Company, of whom he seems to have been a
partisan. The governorship of Morphi — or Murphy
—lasted until 1771, when he was recalled to Spain.

From this time until the end of the eighteenth
century the chief events in Paraguay were connected
with the settlement of the outlying provinces, which
naturally became farther and farther afield from the
centre as the tide of colonization spread outwards.
The Guaycurus, however, and their neighbouring
tribesmen still showed themselves hostile whenever
the opportunity arose. Such attempts at colonization^
moreover, as were undertaken in the Chaco were
productive of a practically unbroken series of failures
as a result, the Indians of this district remaining in
as savage and as crude a condition as their fore-
fathers had been when they set eyes on the first
Spaniards who sailed up the Parand and the Paraguay
rivers.

Having passed from the eighteenth to the nine-
teenth century, it is necessary to take a hasty survey

16 PARAGUAY

of matters outside the frontiers of Paraguay in order
to obtain a clear insight into the happenings within
the inland State. Even before the close of the
eighteenth century the desire for freedom from the
yoke of Spain had been largely inculcated into South
America. This had received an enormous impetus
from the circumstances of the British Expedition to
the River Plate, which occurred in 1806, and lasted
until well into the following year.

It was clear to the Spanish colonials that the
ultimate repulse of the invading forces was not in
the least due to the might of Spain. This latter
had been represented by the Viceroy Sobremonte,
who fled precipitately on the advance of the British
troops, and who thus served as an involuntary symbol
of the weakness which had replaced the former power
of the Spanish South American Government.

;Very soon after this the efforts of Miranda,
Bolivar, and those other South American patriots
who iwere first in the field of the struggle for
independence, had set the flames of battle alight
in the southern continent. On the 2 5th of May,
1810, the Viceroy Cisneros was deposed in Buenos
Aires, and his post was occupied by a Junta, or
committee, of patriots. (Very shortly after this, the
new Junta of Buenos Aires sent word to Paraguay
of its institution, and invited the co-operation of the
inland province. The Spanish Governor of the latter
at the tune was Don Bernardo de Velasco. On the
receipt of the communication from the south he
summoned a general meeting of the Paraguayan
notabilities, and placed the case before them.

It was evident from the opinions expressed at this
meeting that the full significance of the events in
the outside world had not penetrated into Paraguay —
for which situation the remote province had once
again to thank the thousand mites that lay between
its capital and the ocean. Imbued with a sense

THE LATER COLONIAL PERIOD 161

of loyalty that was admirable enough in itself, the
Paraguayans decided to support the cause of Spain,
and in accordance with this resolution Bernardo de
Velasco began to prepare the Paraguayan forces for
the part they were to play in the struggle, placing
the rivers and territories in the south of the country
in a state of defence.

In the autumn of 1810 the republican authorities
in the south sent up one of their most famous
leaders, Manuel Belgrano, in order to treat with
the Paraguayans, and, if they should remain firmly
attached to the royalist cause, to exercise sufficient
pressure to make them yield. Negotiations having
failed, it became evident that a hostile collision was
inevitable between the troops of Paraguay and Rio
de la Plata. This came about at Paraguari on the
1 9th of January, 1811. In the early hours of
the morning of that day the Buenos Aires forces
advanced on the Paraguayan position, and surprised
it before the break of dawn. In the first confusion
of the battle the cause of the Paraguayan arms
appeared totally lost. Indeed, so convinced of this
was the Governor, Bernardo de Velasco, that he made
his way hi haste from the field, stripping himself
of his uniform as he went.

Thus the first news of the engagement that arrived
at Asuncion announced a total defeat, with the result
that the inhabitants of that town were filled with
consternation. Later reports showed that the sub-
sequent phases of the action had reversed the results
of the first. The Paraguayan forces, true to their
traditions, had proved themselves soldiers as sturdy
as their opponents. Although their centre had been
driven in, their wings had rallied, and after four
hours or so of hard fighting, the patriot forces found
themselves obliged to retire, leaving the field in
possession of the Paraguayans.

Belgrano made his way with his diminished forces

162 PARAGUAY

to Tacuari. Here a fresh battle was fought on the
9th of March, and, the patriot troops again suffering
defeat, Belgrano had no choice but to remove the
remnants of his army to the south and to abandon
the enterprise. Before his departure, however, an
armistice had been arranged, and of this the able
Belgrano made the fullest use to further the propa-
ganda of the patriot cause. Not only did he make
use of all his persuasive power in his conversations
with the Paraguayans, but he actually caused his
policy to be proclaimed in the articles of the
armistice. He arranged for it to be inserted here
that " the object of his expedition had been to assist
the natives of Paraguay in order that, supported
by the forces of the Junta, they might recover their
rights, and that they might appoint a deputy who
should take part in the deliberations of the
General Congress on the common policy to be
adopted."

In another clause he proposed that there should
be from that day " peace, union, entire confidence,
and free and liberal commerce in all the products of
the province "Paraguay] induding that of tobacco,
with the States of the Rio de la Plata, and particularly
that of Buenos Aires."

The famous Argentine historian, General Barto-
lome Mitre, has some interesting comments on this
proposal. He observes: " This was putting the
finger on the wound. Tobacco was the monopoly
of the Government in Paraguay, and the planters
might not export or sell their crops until the needs
of the monopoly had been satisfied. Any one who
infringed this regulation was punished as a smuggler.
The factory established in Asuncion was accustomed
to pay two pesos for each arroba of tobacco selected
by it, which it sold again for nine pesos two reales.
Moreover, it would buy at the lowest prices those
lots of tobacco which it had rejected in the first

THE LATER COLONIAL PERIOD 163

instance— prices which the planter found himself under
the necessity of accepting."

Thus, in addition to a fresh political outlook, an
entirely new commercial vista was opened up.
This expedition of Belgrano's, as a matter of fact,
was curiously paradoxical in its results. Although
he had suffered a military repulse at the hands of
the Paraguayans, the Argentine General had never-
theless largely attained the objects of his expedition.
Indeed, so fruitful was the soil in which he had
sown the seed, that on the I4th of May of
the same year Paraguay formally proclaimed her
independence 1

The Spanish Governor, Bernardo de Velasco,1 had
to content himself with making a weak resistance.
The Paraguayan parties, headed by Doctor Francia,
Pedro Juan Caballero, Juan Valeriano Zeballos,
Antonio Tomas Yegros, and Vicente Ignacio Iturbe,
swept all before them. A fruitless attempt at a
counter-revolution resulted merely in the imprison-
ment of the Spanish ringleaders and in the
strengthening of the Paraguayan nationalist party.

Thus we have now arrived at the period of
Paraguay's independence, which was officially pro-
claimed on the 1 2th of October, 1811, when she
entered upon her career as a sovereign State.

1 The list of Spanish Governors during the colonial period of Paraguay
will be found in the Appendix.

CHAPTER X

THE DICTATOR FRANCIA

Confusion attending the formation of the new States — Some types of
legislators — Paraguay's first dictator — Character of Jose Gaspar
Rodriguez de Francia — Circumstances of his youth — His success as
a lawyer — He takes part in the government of independent Paraguay
— Work of the Junta — Robertson on Francia — The latter's dealings
with the Paraguayan Congress — Various types of national representa-
tives— Costumes — Uniforms of the Alcaldes — Quaint processions —
Ceremonies of the Indian officials — Francia is elected First Consul —
The basis of Francia's character — An anecdote concerning this — How
Francia caused an enemy to receive fair play — His measures as
First Consul — Condition of Paraguay — Despotism and tranquillity —
Francia's first appointment as Dictator — His services to agriculture
and public order — He is elected Dictator for life — How he asserted
his authority — His dealings with the Church — Destruction of the
ecclesiastical power — The Dictator remedies the ravages of the
locusts — Circumstances which led up to a conspiracy against Francia
— Its repression by means of execution and torture — The Reign of
Terror — Imprisonment of the old Spaniards — The " Supremo " brings
about the isolation of Paraguay — Intercourse with foreigners pro-
hibited— Fate of a Frenchman — Francia rebuffs the neighbouring
States — The French naturalist Bonpland — His kidnapping at the
hands of Francia — The death of Francia.

ONE of the most remarkable circumstances in the
War of Liberation in Spanish America was the
tendency of that genuine and honourable love of
independence which had given birth to the struggle
to resolve itself into a state of tyranny when the
objects of the war itself had been achieved. One
of the chief reasons of this was undoubtedly the
backward intellectual state of the South American
masses — a condition of affairs which had been arti-
ficially kept in being by the policy of the Spaniards,

164

THE DICTATOR FRANCIA 165

who, dreading the results of intellectual progress
on the part of its colonists, had used every endeavour
to obstruct any attempts in this direction.

Thus many of the new States, when the time came
for them to govern themselves, found themselves in
possession of an intellectual nucleus of humanity that,
however brilliant may have been the members of its
group, was small — altogether out of proportion to
the masses of the general populace. Sometimes, in
the course of the inevitable confusion which occurred
in the formation of one of these new States, the
intellectual group would be swept aside, and some
rough-and-ready legislator would snatch the reins
of government in a heavy hand, and would drive
the young country on the curb, plying the whip
unsparingly at the faintest sign of a restlessness that
was inevitable in the circumstances. No young State
had a more drastic experience of these autocratic
measures than Paraguay. In her case the cause
was not the seizure of power by crude hands. On
the contrary, the intellectual ability of her first
Dictator was undoubted ; but, since he had chosen
an autocratic path, his tyranny was none the less
thorough for that.

The name of Jose Caspar Rodriguez de Francia
is one of the most notable in the annals of Paraguay,
as, indeed, it may well be, considering that it was
this very extraordinary and fateful personality that
was alone responsible for the launching of the young
State upon a career unique in the history of the
South American Republic. It was undoubtedly sheer
force of character which dispersed Francia's col-
leagues, and drove its possessor to what was virtually
the throne of Paraguay almost before the echoes of the
last decree of the Spanish Government had died away.

Doctor Francia; was no longer a young man when
the Spanish rule came to an end in Paraguay. He
is said to have been born in the year 1757, and

166 PARAGUAY

would therefore have been in his fifty-fifth year when
the time came for the Paraguayans to take their
own government in hand. The details of his early
career are somewhat vague — a circumstance which
is not extraordinary when it is considered that in
the colonial days of his youth there was no reason
to suppose that any particular importance would
attach to Francia's personality. In the period of
his dictatorship, moreover, Francia was not inclined
to be communicative concerning his private affairs,
and there were none who dared risk his displeasure
by plying him with questions which the dreaded
Supremo might deem impertinent.

It is generally said that Francia was originally
intended for the Church, and that he studied for a
considerable time at the University of Cordoba, after
which he gave up the career of the Church for that of
the law, which he eventually practised with no little
success. Even in those days there was a spice of
romance in the lean, dark, and rather sinister figure
of the man who was beginning to be notable for
his justice and integrity, and at the same time for his
haughty aloofness and for the austerity of his life.

Francia's qualities had not remained unrecognized
during the last period of the colonial era, and he
had received more than one Government appointment
before the wounded Spanish imperial eagle winged
its way from South America. He himself had taken
a prominent part in the events which led up to
the independence of his country, and, this achieved,
he was among those chosen to control the destinies
of the new State.

The first two representatives of this Government
were chosen on the 1 5th of May, 1 8 1 1 . They
consisted of Dr. Francia and Don Juan Valeriano
Zeballos. Two months later was inaugurated the
first of the sessions of the Paraguayan Congress.
The members of this elected a Junta, or govern-

THE DICTATOR FRANCIA 167

ing body, composed of four officials. The president
of these was Don Fulgencio Yegros, and the others
were Francia, Dr. Francisco Javier Bogarin, and
Fernando de la Mora. One of the first decrees of
this body prohibited the holding of any public office
by a Spaniard. After this they opened up negotia-
tions with the State of Buenos Aires, and, although no
amalgamation of the new countries ensued, a modus
vivendi was arrived at.

The existence of this Junta was not destined to
run smoothly — there were very few objects or institu-
tions in Spanish America which were destined to
enjoy a smooth course just then I No doubt Francia's
master mind was already fixed on its goal. He
resigned from the Junta on the ist of August, only
two and a half months after the formation of that
body. The pretext that he employed for his retire-
ment was the spirit of military autocracy into which
he alleged that the Junta was in danger of falling.

Having regard to Francia's career, it is probable
that the dread of autocracy alone obsessed him when
the power was in danger of falling into any other
hands but his own. Francia, therefore, despite his
resignation, did not remain idle, and he was soon
back in the Junta, enjoying increased influence.
This policy was continued by Francia until, on the
1 2th of October, he and Yegros were nominated as
joint Consuls of Paraguay.

For a sketch of the career of the future Dictator
at this period I will quote at length from Mr.
J. P. Robertson, who was personally acquainted with
him. In fairness to Francia, however, it must be
said that Robertson's opinion of one of the most
remarkable men that South America ever produced
did not err on the side of leniency. But Robertson
shall speak for himself: —

" Having now evidently determined to get rid of
all competitors for power, and the epoch approach-

168 PARAGUAY

ing for the decision of the questions which the Buenos
Aires' envoy was to open, Francia made all affected
haste to call a Congress of Deputies, which, from
the different sections of Paraguay, should assemble
within three months at Assumption.

" In the meantime arrives Mr. Herrera, the Buenos
Ay res Ambassador. He is lodged in the old custom-
house, at once under the surveillance and steward-
ship of the collector of customs. He remains a
week there, dining by himself, before he has an
interview with a single member of the Government ;
suspicion and vigilance attend his every step ; he
hears vague rumours of danger to his person, and
sees indubitable indications of the folly of hoping
for any alliance with a country over which, even
now, Francia exercised so potent a sway. . . .

" The time intermediate between the issuing of
the writs for election of the deputies to Congress,
and of their meeting in the capital, Francia success-
fully employed in encouraging and increasing the
enmity of his countrymen to Buenos Ayres. He
gained over to his interest the officers in command
of the troops, and made himself personally and
familiarly acquainted with the humblest deputy that
came into town. The wily doctor flattered the vanity
and stimulated the cupidity of them all. The Indian
alcalde, the small fanner, the cattle-grazier, the petty
shopkeeper, the more wealthy merchant, and the sub-
stantial hacendado all became his prey. By large
and undefined promises of protection and encourage-
ment to the order of men to which they respectively
belonged, by one delay after another, never appear-
ing to originate with Francia, he fostered the ambition
of aspirants to power, and protracted the meeting of
Congress for two months beyond the appointed time.
All this took place after each deputy had arrived
in Assumption. Francia had thus an opportunity,
not only of increasing adherents, fortifying converts,

THE DICTATOR FRANCIA 169

and deciding waverers, but of entailing upon the
impoverished deputies such inconvenience and expense
as needed scarcely the aid of the Consul's suggestions
to determine them to come to a final settlement of
all their business on the first day of the meeting of
the Congress.

" Such a motley- group of national representatives
was never, perhaps, before assembled to deliberate,
or rather to decide without deliberation, on the fate
of a nation.

" Here was a ' tdpe ' Indian alcalde, with an anti-
quated three-cornered cocked hat, and an old red
or brown wig that had been worn under the said
hat from its earliest days. The latter, too, was
father brown, but so well adorned with ribands,
^•ed, blue, yellow, pink, that not much of the real
colour was discernible. Black velvet breeches, open
at the knees, with silver buttons in long and close
array, and a finely embroidered pair of drawers hang-
ing out under them, like the ruffles of a gentleman's
shirt from under his coat-sleeves, were supported
by a red sash tied round the waist. To correspond
with this the alcalde had garters of the same hue
tied in visible display round discoloured silk
stockings, and large silver shoe-buckles completed
this part of his attire.

" His horse was caparisoned in a fashion no less
unique. The ribands upon his tail, mane, ears, and
pendent from the peaks of an antiquated Court saddle,
covered with what had once been red or blue velvet,
streamed in variegated luxuriance from each and
every point.

" Mounted upon a charger thus adorned and
trained to dance, the Indian alcalde, with a brass,
and sometimes gold-headed, cane, emblematic of
his civic authority, would ever and anon set forth to
parade the streets, pending the obstacles and delay
which preceded the actual meeting of the Congress.

170 PARAGUAY

His horse, attended by two pages, one on either
side of the now mounted deputy, and both as much
in want of the mere decencies of dress as their
master abounded in the superfluity of it, began a
little preliminary dance ; while the musicians, no
better arrayed than the pages, essayed to play the
overture of a tune to which the procession was to
move on. The alcalde's friends and dependents kept
assembling on horseback during this overture ; and
with such remnants of Court finery as they could
borrow from the priest, or gather from the debris of
their chief's decorations — an odd bit of riband, parts
of the alcalde's Sunday suit, a red handkerchief
bought expressly for the occasion, a small hat, and
a poncho — did a follower of the first rank fall into
the procession. The gradations of importance of
those who followed him were easily to be inferred
by persons skilled in Indian costume, from the
gradual diminution as you descended the scale of
rank of some courtly badge or ornamental device.

" Thus escorted, the deputy moved on, till he
came in front of the Government House, where Carai
Francia was. Increasing there the rigidity of his
upright posture on horseback, with his eyes im-
movably fixed on his horse's ears, he gave the Carai
a horse-dance, a calabash tune, and finally made his
reverential act of obeisance. All this he performed
on horseback, and then took his departure in the
same dancing, though slow and measured, solemnity
of state in which he had arrived in front of the
Consul's window. Processions of this kind, some
of a better but none of a less grotesque class, as
you advanced from the Indian deputy to the more
considerable landholder, crowded the streets during
the time that elapsed between the assembling of
the deputies and the actual meeting of the Congress.

" It may be conceived with what anxious desire
this meeting was expected by the members elect,

THE DICTATOR FRANCIA 171

all more or less encumbered with attendants, away
from their families, and short of money, house room,
and provisions. When at last the day of meeting
was by Francia permitted to arrive, that which every
one had anticipated took place. In a few hours
after Congress met the day's deliberations were closed
by a rejection of all proposals for an amicable inter-
course with Buenos Ayres. Then one of Francia's
colleagues in the Government, Cavallero, was dis-
missed, and Francia was elected First Consul, with
Yegros (a mere cipher) as second, for one year.
This was in 1814 ; and the burlesque of national
representation being performed, the Buenos Ayres
deputy left Assumption in fear and trembling the
next day, the congregational body dissolved itself,
and curates, country gentlemen, yerba collectors,
wood-cutters, Indian alcaldes, shopkeepers, lawyers,
traders, all joyfully resigned their legislative
functions. Every man arose, and, saddling his
beast, took his way to his respective home.

" From this moment Francia became de facto the
absolute and undisputed despot. Yet did he not
institute his system of terror all at once. It was by
gradual process and slow degrees that his heart got
chilled, and that his measures, first characterized by
callousness, became at length stained with blood.

" The following anecdotes will tend to show what
was the basis of Francia's character ; and subse-
quent records will elucidate how easily stern integrity
may turn to sullen despotism, inflexible determina-
tion be warped to unrelenting barbarity.

" It has been already observed that Francia's
reputation, as a lawyer, was not only unsullied by
venality, but conspicuous for rectitude.

" He had a friend in Assumption of the name of
Domingo Rodriguez. This man had cast a covetous
eye upon a Naboth's vineyard, and this Naboth, of
whom Francia was the open enemy, was called

172 PAKAGUAY

Estanislao Machain. Never doubting that the young
doctor, like other lawyers, would undertake his un-
righteous cause, Rodriguez opened up to him his
case, and requested, with a handsome retainer, his
advocacy of it. Francia saw at once that his friend's
pretensions were founded in fraud and injustice ; and
he not only refused to act as his counsel, but plainly
told him that much as he hated his antagonist
» Machain, yet if he (Rodriguez) persisted in his
iniquitous suit that antagonist should have his
(Francia's) most zealous support. But covetousness,
as Ahab's story shows us, is not so easily driven
from its pretensions ; and in spite of Francia's warn-
ing, Rodriguez persisted. As he was a potent man,
in point of fortune, all was going against Machain
and his devoted vineyard.

" At this stage of the question Francia wrapped
himself up one night in his cloak and walked to
the house of his inveterate enemy, Machain. The
slave who opened the door, knowing that his master
and the doctor, like the houses of Montagu and
Capulet, were smoke in each other's eyes, refused the
lawyer admittance, and ran to inform his master
of the strange and unexpected visit. Machain, no
less struck by the circumstance than his slave, for
some time hesitated, but at length determined to
admit Francia. In walked the silent doctor to
Machain's chamber. All the papers connected with
the law plea — voluminous enough, I have been
assured — were outspread upon the defendant's
escritoire.

' Machain,' said the lawyer, addressing him, ' you
know I am your enemy. But I know that my friend
Rodriguez meditates, and will certainly, unless I inter-
fere, carry against you an act of gross and lawless
aggression ; I have come to offer my services in
your defence.1

" The astonished Machain could scarcely credit

THE DICTATOR FRANCIA 173

his senses, but poured forth the ebullition of his
gratitude in terms of thankful acquiescence. . . .

" Alas ! that an action so magnanimous in itself
should be blighted by the record which historical
truth exacts — that no sooner had Francia vindicated
the law and justice of his enemy's case than old
antipathy revived ; and one of the many victims, at
a subsequent period, of the Dictator's displeasure
was the very Machain whom he had so nobly
served. . . .

" No sooner, by the tumultuous and unanimous
voice of Congress, was Francia seated in the First
Consul's chair than his air gradually gathered more
of austerity, his measures were more divested of
conciliation, his address became more abrupt, his
tone more imperative ; and it was evident to me, as
well as to many others, that he was already beginning
to lift the mask which he had too long reluctantly
allowed to cover his ambitious projects and designs.
One ominous feature of despotism began to display
itself in Paraguay : every man feared to open his
lips to another on politics. Among the first of
Francia's legislative enactments was one of singular
degradation to the old Spaniards."

I have quoted Robertson at the foregoing con-
siderable length because the interest of this matter
of his seems to me to be twofold. In the first place
it throws an eloquent light on the life and customs
of a place and period which are among the most
interesting that the entire history of South America
has to show. Secondly, there is nothing inappropriate
in devoting all this space to Francia ; for, when
once he had secured his dictatorship, Francia was
Paraguay, and Paraguay was Francia.

The results of this extraordinary man's iron rule
were by no means all disadvantageous to the country.
While anarchy reigned in the neighbouring States a
perfect tranquillity obtained in Paraguay, where, after

a time, the title by which Francia chose to be known,
" El Supremo," was scarcely breathed above a
whisper by the awestruck populace. Whatever may
be thought of the methods by which they were
obtained, the advantages which the State derived
from such benefits are not to be denied.

Francia, moreover, incarnate despot though he was,
was an upright despot with a strict code of morality
and honour of his own. Thus, when on the 3rd of
October, 1814, he was named Dictator for the
period of five years, an annual remuneration of nine
thousand pesos was attached to the office. Francia,
considering that the resources of the country did
not warrant an expenditure such as this, refused to
accept more than a third of the sum, an act of self-
abnegation which was quite consistent with his
character.

Having once obtained the power of Dictator,
Francia soon gave proof that he intended to be no
mere figurehead. In a very short time he had made
an efficient force of the new Paraguayan Army. With
these troops he saw to it that the frontiers were
properly guarded, and by this means the incursions
from Corrientes in the south of marauding bands of
irregulars were soon put a stop to. According to
his own lights, he encouraged agriculture and mining,
adding duties and applying export restrictions where
he thought fit.

It became evident to the easy-going Paraguayans
that here, at all events, was a ruler who knew his
own mind, and whose powerful personality was suffi-
cient to assure them that he would permit no civil
conflict so long as he remained head of the State.
As for the Dictator, he contented himself with feeling
the pulse of the populace until he became assured
that the last doubt as to their sentiments had
vanished. Then, on the 3oth of May, 1816, when he
had been in office for little more than eighteen

months, he convened the Congress again, and
gathered in its members from the countryside to
Asuncion. All fell out in accordance with his plans.
Receiving with enthusiasm the idea which Francia
had been careful to disseminate, the Congress
unanimously elected him to the post of Dictator
for life.

After this the gathering dispersed, and its members
went back to their homes, having endowed Francia
with an authority so limitless as to be comparable
only to that of a Nero or an African chief of a
bygone generation. Francia, in fact, had been invited
to be a despot, and when he accepted the invitation
he accepted it in the full and thoroughgoing fashion
that was to be expected from a person of his
temperament.

It very soon became clear throughout the length
and breadth of the land that it was intended to
brook not even a shadow of authority other than
that of Francia. At the time of his accession to
the perpetual dictatorship the only institution which
could possibly rival the influence of his own person
was the Church. Francia very soon put an end
to all chance of such danger in that direction. First
of all he shore it of all the ceremonial which went
so far towards impressing the populace. Then he
took possession of the clerical wealth for the State,
declared any marriage illegal for which his per-
mission had not been obtained beforehand, and, in
short, caused the few priests whom he suffered to
remain in Paraguay to become his passive creatures,
and thus became as much the governing power of
the Church as he was of the State.

Few rulers all the world over have shown them-
selves possessed of more power of initiative than
Francia. In 1819 occurred a serious visitation of
locusts, which destroyed the crops. The only person
who remained undismayed in the face of the

176 PARAGUAY

threatened famine was Francia. Calling together
the agriculturists, he commanded them without the
slightest delay to resow their devastated lands with
crops similar to those that had been destroyed. The
landowners received the order with astonishment and
doubt ; but when Francia spoke, to hear was to
obey. The seeds were sown, the harvests sprang
up afresh, and the threatened catastrophe was averted.
It is actually said that it was owing to this piece of
legislation that the discovery was made for the first
time that the soil and climate of Paraguay were
capable of producing more than one crop in the
course of the year.

In 1820 the Uruguayan chief Artigas — who had
played somewhat the same part in the Banda Oriental
that Francia had in Paraguay — sought refuge in the
inland State, and was hospitably received by Francia.
Ramirez, Artigas' successor in Uruguay, having tried
in vain to cultivate Francia's friendship, joined the
ranks of his enemies. As a result of this a plot
was hatched to invade Paraguay from the south.
This was discovered by Francia, and he immediately
adopted measures calculated through sheer terror to
banish the idea of any future attempt of the kind
from the minds of the Paraguayans. A period of
torture and execution followed. Francia's old col-
league, Fulgencio Yegros, was one of the first to
be executed, and on nine consecutive days the
Dictator executed each day eight of the leading con-
spirators— or, at all events, persons who were accused
of being the leading conspirators.

This was the beginning of the actual reign of
terror, and the dread of Francia's name now grew
more intense almost with every day that passed. The
executions did not end with the first seventy-two
victims, and under the continual tortures accusations,
whether true or false, were launched in all directions.
The Dictator's hatred of the old Spaniards, more-

THE DICTATOR FRANCIA 177

over, now spurred him to acts of increased oppres-
sion. On the Qth of June, 1821, he flung no fewer
than three hundred of these into prison, and only
released those who survived after an eighteen months'
confinement on the payment of a collective fine of
i 50,000 pesos.

It is impossible to say to what extent the
embittering of Francia's policy was due to this con-
spiracy. In any case, from this time onwards his
policy became still more definite. His keenest desire
was that Paraguay should become self-supporting
and independent of all other nations. To this end
he gradually did away with all trading and intercourse
between the inland State and its neighbours. The
law which set the seal on the isolation of Paraguay
was the one which not only forbade the entrance
of any foreigner into that country, but prevented
the departure of any foreigner who happened to
be domiciled in Paraguay at the time. Among the
latter was an unfortunate Frenchman of the name
of Escomer, who twice endeavoured to evade this
law by attempting to escape by way of the Chaco,
the non-success of the second venture costing him
his life.

To do him justice, Francia was perfectly con-
sistent in the manner in which he carried out this
policy of isolation. If he would not allow his subjects
to trade outside his frontiers, neither did he allow
himself to hold any communication with the heads
of other States or their envoys. In 1824 Argentina
sent to him an Ambassador whom he flatly refused
to receive. The following year Bolivar himself con-
trived to get a letter sent across the Chaco to Asun-
cion, proposing to Francia that Paraguay should
emerge from its retirement to take its rightful place
among the other States. Francia, with an Arcadian
simplicity, replied that Paraguay was perfectly satis-
fied with its lot, and saw no reason to change it.

178 PARAGUAY

As a matter of fact, Paraguay — and in all these
matters Paraguay meant Francia — had probably
greater political reason to remain on good terms with
the royal and united State of Brazil than with any
other of its neighbours ; for Brazil was powerful,
and the length of frontier between the two countries
was formidable. But when in 1824 the Brazilian
Government sent a Consul to Asuncion, Francia re-
fused to have anything to do with that official, until
the Brazilians had made good their aggressions in
territories and cattle. As a result of this the Consul
returned to Brazil to set in motion some fruitless
negotiations .

Three years before this Francia had given proofs
of the lengths to which he was prepared to carry
the policy inspired by a somewhat morbid dread of
interference from the outer world. The famous
French botanist Aime" Bonpland had taken up his
abode on Argentine territory on the bank of the
Alto Parana River, having thus Paraguayan territory
facing him on the opposite shore of the stream.
In this haunt of exuberant Nature his enthusiasm
found full vent, and, among other things, he set
himself to make experiments in the propagation of
yerba mate\ This soon came to the ears of Francia,
and the latter's dread lest an undue rivalry should
be set up to an industry that he regarded as purely
Paraguayan led him to commit an act that showed
his contempt for anybody and anything without the
borders of his own State.

On the 3rd of December, 1821, a party of four
hundred Paraguayan soldiers crossed the Alto Parand
suddenly and swiftly in canoes ."""' Falling upon the
unfortunate Bonpland's establishment, they bore him
a prisoner back to their own country. There the kid-
napped naturalist had to remain for ten years, not-
withstanding the European and South American
protests with which Paraguay became flooded.

THE DICTATOR FRANCIA 179

Francia completely ignored these, and it must
be admitted that Bonpland himself soon became so
enamoured with the floral wealth of his new quarters
that he lost all desire to return to Europe, and,
indeed, when his liberation was actually effected, he
seems to have greeted his change of scene with
some regret. But it was certainly from no considera-
tions of this kind that Francia had kidnapped the
distinguished French scientist 1

Beyond such salient episodes as these it may be
said that very little occurred during Francia's
dictatorship upon which any historian can lay his
hand as being of any special interest beyond the
rest. With his abandonment of foreign relations he
avoided all foreign complications ; for he had made
Paraguay strong enough to discourage all attempt
at aggression from outside. Indeed, until 1840 it
may be said that Francia ruled — by no means un-
wisely, after his own lights — and the people obeyed,
as people naturally would when they knew that the
penalty of disobedience was death. And if all this
ceased in 1840, it was for the sole reason that in
that year the unutterably dreaded Supremo died, at
the advanced age of seventy-four.

CHAPTER XI

CARLOS ANTONIO LOPEZ AND FRANCISCO SOLANO LOPEZ

Condition of affairs at the death ot Francia — The establishment of a pro-
visional Government — After various experiments Consuls are appointed
— The rise of Carlos Antonio Lopez — Liberal measures adopted —
Carlos Antonio Lopez becomes Constitutional President of Paraguay —
Rosas closes the river against Paraguayan commerce — Carlos Antonio
Lopez forms an alliance with Brazil — Desultory warfare with Argentina
— Further international complications — Intervention of England and
France — Action of the allied fleets — On the death of Rosas Paraguay
resumes her intercourse with the outer world — Arrival of foreign
Ministers — Treaties — Increasing power of Carlos Antonio Lopez —
Prosperity of the State — Death of Carlos Antonio Lopez — He is suc-
ceeded by his son Francisco Solano Lopez — Youth and temperament
of the latter — Madame Eloisa Lynch — An unofficial Queen — Francisco
Solano's attainments — He proves himself a second Francia — Autocracy
under a modern cloak — Bizarre methods — His ambition — A descrip-
tion by Sir Richard Burton — George Masterman on the dictator —
A fateful personality — Contemporary population and power of
Paraguay.

FRANCIA'S lengthy autocracy had had its inevitable
effect. So long had the power of initiative and
command been his alone that his death left the
State, not only without a leader but without any
political programme or definite national ideals. Had
a man of the deceased Dictator's temperament been
at hand, he could have stridden without the faintest
opposition to Francia's vacant throne. Indeed, his
seizing of the reins of power would undoubtedly have
been welcomed with a sigh of relief by the
Paraguayans as the simplest solution of the legislative
difficulties which now faced them.

But no such man came forward. If he existed,

380

THE LOPEZ' 181

it was in too humble a capacity to enable him to
take advantage of the situation. The Paraguayans
found themselves obliged to have recourse to a form
of government which in reality represented something
of a compromise. A Junta was hurriedly formed,
and by the instrumentality of this was established
a provisional Government, consisting of the alcalde
of Asuncion and of the four military commandants
of that city.

The provisional nature of the Government will
be sufficiently evident from its elements. The men
to whom the direction of Paraguay was confided
were those officials who had been trained to yield
implicit and unquestioning obedience to Francia. As
might have been expected, they displayed not only
a want of genius but a lack of initiative which soon
roused an active sense of discontent among the people.
This discontent was responsible for a rapidly mount-
ing political confusion and strife of a kind to which
Paraguay had long been a stranger. Officials such
as senators and deputies, the very existence of whose
offices had been overlooked for many years, came
into being once again.

Various experiments resulted, in the beginning of
1841, in the nomination of a Commandant-General,
Don Mariano Roque Alonso, who was to take tem-
porary charge of the State and who was to be
assisted by a secretary, Don Carlos Antonio Lopez.
This form of government had scarcely been in exist-
ence for a month when the titles of its officials were
changed, and their order of rank was reversed.
Consuls were now again the order of the day.
Carlos Antonio Lopez was named First Consul and
Mariano Roque Alonso was made Second Consul.

These officials showed a liberal spirit. They
introduced many progressive measures, opened up
political and commercial relations with the Argentine
Province of Corrientes, and released from gaol most

182 PARAGUAY

of those victims of Francia's tyranny who had not
already been freed by the Junta.

In 1844 occurred another change in the form of
government. Carlos Antonio Lopez then became con-
stitutional President of Paraguay.1 < The beginning
of his term of office was complicated by disputes with
the Argentine province of Corrientes-^xiisputes that
did not prove themselves the easier to settle owing
to the firm conviction on the part of the River
Plate authorities that Paraguay should in the natural
order of affairs form an integral portion of the
Argentine Confederation.

Rosas, the most despotic ruler that the southern
State had ever known, was now at the head of
affairs in Argentina, and when this Dictator, in the
arbitrary fashion that distinguished so many of his
acts, closed the river against Paraguayan commerce
it was clear that the strain of the situation had
arrived at breaking-point. It was one thing for
Francia to forbid the entrance of foreigners into
his State, but it was quite another affair for Rosas
to place a barrier across the river at a point below
the Paraguayan frontier, and thus to isolate the in-
land Republic again, whether she would or no.

Carlos Antonio Lopez had no intention of sub-
mitting to any procedure of this sort. He made his
peace with the province of Corrientes, and, entirely
reversing the theories of Francia, he formed an
alliance with Brazil. Then, in December 1845, he
declared war on the Argentine Confederation. After
some inconclusive fighting, however, hostilities were
suspended. The United States endeavoured to
mediate, but their intervention failed, and a desultory
species of warfare broke out again between Paraguay
and Argentina, while relations soon became strained
between the former State and the Empire of Brazil.
Disputed territory in this case was the cause of a
1 See Appendix.

CARLOS ANTONIO LOPEZ.

To face p. 183.

THE LOPEZ' 183

situation which perilously approached open warfare ;
but energetic action by the Paraguayans resulted in
the cessation of what they considered a policy of
territorial aggrandizement on the part of the Imperial
Government.

All this time, owing to the hostility of the Argen-
tine Dictator Rosas, access to and from the Atlantic
along the great river had been closed to Paraguay.
England and France, appealed to by Brazil, had
come to the aid of Paraguay and of the province
of Corrientes, which was suffering the same isolation
as Paraguay. The combined British and French
fleets had invested Buenos Aires, and a squadron
of war steamers, escorting a number of heavily laden
merchantmen, had succeeded, after some heavy
engagements, in forcing their way up the stream.
The vessels, however, did not get beyond Corrientes,
and this province absorbed practically all the
merchandise carried by the fleet. Owing to this,
Paraguay was left in much the same situation as
before. Further assistance, moreover, was not forth-
coming from Europe ; for it was soon discovered
that, from the practical point of view, the very
closest blockade could make no difference to the
town of Buenos Aires with the vast pastoral and
agricultural wealth of the interior at its back. In
1848 Great Britain withdrew from the blockade, and
in 1849 France followed her example.

At the beginning of 1852 Rosas was deposed, and
with his flight to England disappeared the antagonism
that had barred the lower reaches of the great river
to the Paraguayans. Carlos Antonio Lopez now
signified his intention of resuming the intercourse
with the outer world, or, rather, of initiating this ;
for it is a remarkable fact that now for the first
time since Paraguay had been an independent State
was any general intercourse with other nations
undertaken.

184 PARAGUAY

On the 22nd of December, 1852, the British war-
steamer Locust arrived at Asuncion, having on board
Sir C. Hotham, the British Minister — and, inci-
dentally, the first European official of the kind who
had ever set foot in Paraguay — and the United States
Minister. A few days later the French Minister
arrived, and this latter was followed by the repre-
sentative of a Power of considerably less importance,
Sardinia.

Treaties were drawn up between Paraguay and
the various countries whose ministers now repre-
sented them in Asuncion, and by this act Paraguay
at length asserted her intention of occupying her
proper place in the world. The first definite com-
mercial relations had been established just before
the diplomatic steps had been taken ; for on
November the 23rd had arrived the first British
trading steamer.

The influx of all these foreigners — whether of an
official or commercial standing — was naturally an
event of the first importance so far as Paraguay was
concerned. The visit of the ministers of the foreign
Powers, moreover, was equivalent to an official recog-
nition on the part of Europe and the United States
of the independence of the State of Paraguay. The
official and social world of Asuncion was lit up by
a blaze of festivities, and the following year (1853)
Don Francisco Solano Lopez proceeded to Europe
as special Envoy to visit various of its Courts.

In the course of time the power of Don Carlos
Antonio Lopez increased. For Paraguay of that
period he had proved himself a sufficiently liberal
legislator ; yet a certain atmosphere of autocracy
seemed inseparable from the State in the mid-nine-
teenth century. Thus in 1857 he was named chief
of the State for a period of no less than ten years ;
he was given authority to nominate his successor —
which, of course, had the practical effect of making

THE LOPEZ' 185

his office hereditary — and the number of national
deputies was reduced to one hundred/ the power of
this remnant being diminished to vanishing point.

Nevertheless, although the might of the President
had now increased to within measurable distance of
that formerly wielded by the Dictator Francia, Loj>ez
showed himself averse to employ it in the manner of
the deceased Supremo. His personality was regarded
with considerable awe by his Paraguayan entourage ;
but this was on account rather of the powers with
which he was vested than because of any deeds of
" frightfulness." Carlos Antonio Lopez, moreover,
showed himself well disposed towards foreigners,
although he proved himself not entirely devoid of his
predecessor's arbitrary theories when it came to a
point of international dispute. This brought him
more than once into diplomatic conflict with the
United States, and on one occasion an actual collision
occurred between the U.S. war steamer Waterwitch
and a Paraguayan battery.

Paraguay, as a matter of fact, had to accustom
itself little by little to a free and liberal intercourse
with the outer world, and at this period numerous
international incidents took place in connection with
the grievances suffered not only by subjects of
European States, but by the South Americans of
the neighbouring countries. In each instance, how-
ever, the matter was settled without the outbreak
of war. Thus the population and strength of
Paraguay grew rapidly, until, from one of the
most negligible of republics, she had advanced
in military power to the position of one of the
strongest.

The commerce of the country, moreover, had
grown from practically nothing into a source of con-
siderable national wealth. This altered condition of
affairs was, of course, due almost entirely to the
efforts of Carlos Antonio Lopez. His death, in 1862,

186 PARAGUAY

put an end to a period of government which had
lasted eighteen years, and which, as has been said,
was tending more and more to become of the absolute
order.

Carlos Antonio Lopez had named as his successor
his eldest son, Francisco Solano Lopez, and the affairs
of the nation duly passed into this latter 's control.
The future of Paraguay now appeared promising in
the extreme. Francisco Solano Lopez had had the
advantages of a liberal education and of the invalu-
able experience with which his travels in Europe had
provided him. He had won golden opinions in
London and Paris, and it was confidently hoped that
to his father's prudent methods of legislation he
would add the enterprise and progressive spirit which
were to be expected from a man of his attainments.
To what extent Francisco Solano Lopez justified these
hopes will shortly be seen.

It is certain that from the very beginning of his
rule Francisco Solano Lopez was eaten up by that
most mischievous form of ambition that haunts the
love of power. In this he was undoubtedly en-
couraged by the woman who had elected to share his
life. This handsome and remarkable person was
Madame Eloi'sa Lynch, an Irish - Parisian whom
Francisco Solano had met in the French capital,
and whom he had apparently found small difficulty
in persuading to join him in Paraguay.

The ceremony of marriage was never undergone
by the pair. But Eloi'sa Lynch seems to have been
accepted as more or less a member of the family
by the relatives of Francisco Solano, and when the
latter became absolute King of Paraguay in all but
name, Eloi'sa Lynch reigned by his side as his queen,
and, moreover, succeeded in retaining his affection
to the last.

Francisco Solano Lopez was thirty-six years of
age when he became " Jefe Supremo y General de

THE LOPEZ' 187

los Exercitos de la Republica del Paraguay " As
has been said, so far as his education was concerned,
he was admirably equipped for his post. In addition
to his own national tongues of Spanish and Guarani,
he spoke fluent French, and was thus in a position
to converse without the cumbersome aid of an in-
terpreter with any distinguished travellers 'who might
enter his country. He had, moreover, drunk at
the generous fountain of Paris, one of the mainsprings
of the Latin race, to which his own nation in part
belonged, and, for the rest, was attached.

The uses to which Francisco Solano Lopez put his
talents constitute one of the greatest tragedies of
South America. At the same time, responsible though
he was for so many outrages and for so deep a sea
of blood, it cannot be said that he was averse to
progress of the purely material order. He was one
of the first in South America to start railway enter-
prise ; he introduced some Parisian notions of archi-
tecture into the Asuncion streets and plazas, and
was responsible for a considerable amount of altera-
tion in the local manners and costume. His chief
attention, however, was directed towards the Army,
and the pains he took to make this already efficient
service still more formidable was sufficiently ominous
in itself.

Once firmly established in the Dictator's seat,
Francisco Solano Lopez wasted no time in asserting
his power. So far as autocracy was concerned it
very soon became evident to the Paraguayans that
here was a second Francia, prepared to go all the
lengths — and even farther — of the harsh measures
inaugurated by the original Supremo. It was not
long before his adherents found themselves inculcated
with a dread such as those of Francia had known
only too well. This condition of affairs, nevertheless,
was veiled under a modern cloak, for there were
now foreigners — and among them a number of

188

PARAGUAY

English — in Paraguay, whose influence had already
become notable up to a certain point.

Lopez followed the example of Francia in refusing
to tolerate any authority whatever save his own
throughout the length and breadth of Paraguay.
Considering the Church as by far the most formid-
able of any potential rivals, he made a tool of the
Bishop, Palacio, who soon undertook the offices of
a personal attendant. Mr. Thompson, one of the
Englishmen who was residing in Paraguay at this
period, remarks of him that : " The Bishop used to
go and wait in Lopez' corridor with his hat in his
hand. When Lopez came out, the Bishop shuffled
up towards him with a deprecating look, and made
a deep bow, to which Lopez would return a nod,
without touching his cap."

As time went on Lopez' methods tended to grow
more bizarre. He designed magnificent uniforms for
himself, taking care at the same time that his suite
should be provided with garments of the most sober
tints. At meals, his wines and dishes were distinct
even from those of his own family and immediate
entourage. Lopez, in fact, was determined to neglect
no means which could emphasize the fact that Para-
guay's Dictator stood quite alone on the pedestal of
his own making.

Unfortunately for himself, for his country, and for
the southern half of South America in general,
Francisco Solano Lopez was imbued with the idea
that he possessed many of the qualities of the great
Napoleon. Obsessed by this theory, he endeavoured to
have as much as possible in common with the great
European conquistador. This is incidentally referred
to in a description of him by Sir Richard Burton :
"His appearance is not unfavourable, though of late
he has become very corpulent, after having been a
slim and active youth. He is about five feet seven
inches in height, of bilious, nervous temperament,

THE LOPEZ' 189

and darker than Spaniards. ... His hands and feet
are small, and his legs bandy with early riding. His
features are somewhat Indian, his hair is thick, and
his beard, worn in the form which was once called
' Newgate frill,' is by no means so full and thick as
his portraits show. . . . He still affects the white
charger and the Napoleonic grenadier boots and
spurs, the rest of his toilet being a kepi, a frock-
coat, and a scarlet poncho with gold fringe and collar ;
in fact, he has a passion for finery. Dignified in
manner, he has a penetrating, impressive look, which
shows the overwhelming pride and self-confidence
that form the peculiar features of his personality."

The impression made by Lopez on George Master-
man, an apothecary attached to the Paraguayan forces
during the great war, was less favourable, as was,
perhaps, only to be expected, seeing that Masterman
had suffered severely at the hands of the autocrat.
He thus describes this remarkable man :—

" Personally he is not a man of very commanding
stature, being but five foot four in height, and ex-
tremely stout — latterly most unwieldily so. His face
is very flat, with but little nobility of feature, head
rather good, but narrow in front and greatly de-
veloped posteriorly. There is a very ominous
breadth and solidity in the lower part of his face,
a peculiarity derived from his Guaycuru ancestry,
and which gives the index to his character — a cruel,
sensual face, which the eyes, placed rather too close
together, do not improve. His manners, when he
was pleased, were remarkably gracious, but when
enraged — and I have twice seen him so — his expres-
sion was perfectly ferocious."

I have devoted this considerable space to the
personality of Francisco Solano Lopez for the reason
that this extraordinary man was at this period more
closely connected than any other with the destinies
of three republics and one empire. Under his rule

190

PARAGUAY

the military force of Paraguay attained to its zenith.
At that time the population of the country was far
greater in proportion to that of the neighbouring
States than it has ever been since. It is, indeed,
somewhat difficult to realize now that at so recent a
date as the middle of the nineteenth century the
inhabitants of Paraguay outnumbered those of each
of the other River Plate republics. Yet so it was,
and Brazil and Argentina, knowing something of the
temperament of Francisco Solano Lopez, watched with
no little anxiety the further rapid increases in the
strength of the already formidable Paraguayan Army.
Less than two years after the advent to power of
Francisco Solano Lopez the Army of the inland State
had attained to a strength of no less than eighty
thousand men. These, moreover, had been trained to
a point of efficiency which rendered the force without
rival in the continent as a striking power. Such
an instrument in the hands of a man of such passions
as consumed Lopez was akin to a powder-magazine
in the too close neighbourhood of a lighted match.
In due course the explosion occurred.

CHAPTER XII

THE PARAGUAYAN WAR

Origin of the struggle — Brazil and the States of the Rio de la Plata —
The intervention of Francisco Solano Lopez — Outbreak of the war —
Seizure of the Brazilian steamer Marqucz de Olinda — Paraguay
invades the province of Matto Grosso — Curious analogy between
the Paraguayan War and the present European struggle — Lopez as
the prey of a wild ambition — His Heaven-sent triumphs — A parallel
to the Belgian invasion — The capture of Corrientes — The five cam-
paigns of the Paraguayan War — Chief events of the struggle —
Bravery of the Paraguayan troops — The river battles — Improvised
war-steamers — Some gallant actions — The motto of the Paraguayans —
Francisco Solano Lopez as Generalissimo — How his men were
squandered — Defeat as a crime — Its penalties — The toll of human
life — Disappearance of the flower of Paraguay's manhood — Final
stages of the struggle — Fairness in terrorism — The fate of the women
workers — The death of Francisco Solano Lopez and the conclusion of
the war — Condition of Paraguay — Recovery of the Republic.

THE actual origin of the struggle which is generally
known in South America as the Paraguayan War
still remains food for considerable controversy. Those
Paraguayans who associate the interests of Francisco
Solano Lopez with those of the nation at large are
given to assert that the Dictator took up his post at
a critical moment, when the treaties of peace with
Brazil and Argentina were about to expire, and when
the various frontier questions had become too vexed
and too urgent to be settled by any other means than
a recourse to arms.

It is true that the political situation was by no
means without its difficulties. It would seem certain
enough, nevertheless, that, had not Francisco Solano
Lopez found himself at the head of so fine an Army,

191

192 PARAGUAY

this call to arms would never have sounded. It is
certainly not to be conceded that Brazil, the first of
the neighbouring States to be concerned in the matter,
was entirely without blame. Neither as a colony, a
kingdom, or an empire had Brazil been able entirely
to withstand the temptations of territorial aggrandize-
ment offered by the chaotic political condition which
characterized the early days of the youthful republics
of Spanish extraction.

In this matter Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay
all nursed grievances of their own. Struggles — the
majority of which were more or less local — had
occurred from time to time, and at others mutual con-
cessions had tided over the threat of hostilities. On
the whole, however, it was not to be denied that the
advantage in territory rested with Brazil.

There was thus sufficient motive for war, for the
Dictator of a State possessed of the finest Army in
South America. As is so frequently the case in
such matters, the actual outbreak of hostilities was
based on no such direct question. The germs of the
struggle had their being in Uruguay, where revolu-
tion prevailed, and where Brazilian intrigues were
undoubtedly at work to benefit one of the Uruguayan
parties at the expense of the other.

It is probable that when Francisco Solano Lopez
intervened in the matter he was by no means without
justification. It very soon became evident, however,
that this intervention of his was being carried out
in a manner which could only end in war. The
outbreak of this was not long delayed. On
the roth of November, 1864, the Brazilian steamer
Marquez de Olinda arrived at Asuncion on her way
from Rio de Janeiro to the upper reaches of the
Paraguay River, where she would again find herself
alongside Brazilian soil.

This particular voyage of the Marquez de Olinda
happened to be somewhat unusually notable, for she

THE PARAGUAYAN WAR 193

had on boaYd the new Governor of the province
of Matto Grosso, who was travelling up-stream to
take up his post. The Marquez de Olinda had
actually left Asuncion, and was proceeding on her
northern way, when the Paraguayan war steamer
Tacuari, smoke pouring from her funnel, appeared
in chase. The Brazilian vessel was overhauled,
captured, and brought back to Asuncion, where
she was detained, and her passengers and crew
made prisoners .

This, of course, was equivalent to a declaration
of war, and Brazil prepared itself for a collision.
Lopez allowed the Empire little time for this. Less
than three weeks after the seizure of the Marquez de
Olinda he sent his brother-in-law, Colonel Barrios,
in command of a flotilla, conveying troops in
order to attack the Brazilian possessions to the
north.

The first point assailed was the Brazilian fort
situated on the river bank at Coimbra. Menaced
by three thousand fine Paraguayan troops, the
Brazilian garrison escaped by river to the north,
leaving behind it a considerable store of munitions
of war. Proceeding farther up-stream, the Para-
guayan force then captured Albuquerque and
Corumba, the Brazilians retreating before them
as they went, and very soon an important stretch
of Brazilian territory had been occupied by the
invading army.

Viewed in the light of contemporary events, there
is a curious wealth of analogy between the events
of the Paraguayan War and of the great European
struggle of to-day. Francisco Solano Lopez stood
very much in the same relation to his people as
does William of Prussia to-day. At the head of a
powerful and well-trained army which the nation had
been taught to revere as a superhuman force, Lopez
found himself the prey of a wild ambition, to which

194 PARAGUAY

he sacrificed conscience, humanity, and the lives of
countless thousands of people. Thanks to their com-
plete preparedness, his armies swept outwards on
all sides, driving back the enemy before them, until
the growing numbers and stiffening resistance of the
opposing forces caused the tide to halt, and then
to turn.

But all was victory with Lopez. His proclamations
made it so, and to question one of the autocrat's
Heaven-sent triumphs was to earn the wages of sudden
death. A mere reference to the numbers of the
Paraguayan losses sufficed to cause the execution
of a soldier. There was even a parallel to the
tragedy of Belgium in the South America of half a
century ago. Desirous of attacking Brazil in the
south as well as in the north, Lopez sent to the
Argentine Government a high-handed demand for
the passage of his troops across the Argentine
province of Corrientes. When the inevitable refusal
was returned, the autocrat of Paraguay fell upon the
province, and succeeded in capturing for a time
the important port of Corrientes. Thus, in a sense,
the province of Corrientes may stand for Belgium.
There is, however, one immeasurably wide differ-
ence between the two invasions. To the honour of
the Paraguayans be it said that they left the soil
of Corrientes free from those atrocities by means of
which the Prussians so deeply stained the Belgian
earth and their own name.

This invasion of Corrientes naturally brought about
war with the Argentine Republic, which country,
owing to this threat from without, found its provinces
consolidating themselves into a compact set of
national units. But this was not the end of the
complications which the irresponsible rashness of
Lopez had brought upon himself. Seeing that the
party hostile to him was now in power in Uruguay,
he found himself at war with that little State,

JESUIT DECORATION : SAN IGNACIO.

Kl'INS OF HUMA1TA CHURCH: FRONT VIEW.

To face p. 193.

THE PARAGUAYAN WAR 195

as well as with the powerful Empire of Brazil and
the great Republic of Argentina.

It is, of course, impossible in the space avail-
able here to go fully into the details of what was
in some respects one of the most remarkable wars
that the world has ever witnessed. A Paraguayan
authority has divided the struggle into five cam-
paigns— those of Matto Grosso, Uruguay, Humaita,
Pikycyry, and las Cordilleras. By a brief separate
reference to each of these we may obtain a rough
insight into the general course of the war.

The first of these campaigns comprised the invasion
of the Brazilian province of Matto Grosso, to which
reference has already been made.

The second campaign was that of Uruguay. This
was ako fought on foreign soil, and was the blow
delivered to the south which corresponded with the
northern stroke which had Matto Grosso for its
aim.

The third campaign was that of Humaita. Here
for the first time the Paraguayans found themselves
on the defensive, the object of the allies being to
dislodge them from the strong post of Humaita,
which commanded the reaches of the great river
in the neighbourhood' of the southern Paraguayan
frontier.

The fourth campaign, that of Pikycyry, represented
the second stage of the Paraguayan defensive opera-
tions, when the tide had already definitely turned
against the arms of the inland State.

The fifth, and last, of the campaigns, was that
of the Cordilleras. This was fought out in the north
of the Republic, and in the course of this occurred
some of the most desperate fighting of all, the
remnants of the heroic Paraguayan army fighting
battle after battle to prevent themselves being
hemmed in by their continually advancing foes.
With the collapse of the last worn and attenuated

196 PARAGUAY

companies and the death of Francisco Solano Lopez
the war ended.

This will suffice to give a rough idea1 of the main
events of this remarkable campaign. A full and
detailed description of this is still lacking in the
English language, and the sooner this omission is
rectified the better it will be for those students
interested in this particular phase of South American
history, for the warlike feats and political circum-
stances of this period are unusually notable, and
deserve a wider acquaintance outside South America
than they have so far obtained.

One of the most remarkable features of the war
was the intense bravery which the Paraguayan troops
showed in the face of greatly superior forces. This
was demonstrated, not only on land but on the river,
where some of the most important combats took
place . On the water, as a matter of fact, the pre-
parations had not been nearly so complete as those
on shore. It is probable that Lopez had not fully
foreseen the vital part which the great inland water-
way was to play in the grim struggle ; for, while
his army was provided with the most up-to-date
warlike contrivances, his arsenals and munition
factories being provided with British supervisors, his
fresh-water fleet was of an improvised order.

The vessels composing this were, indeed, small
passenger or cargo steamers, ranging in size from
some six hundred tons downwards, which had been
armed with converted field-guns, or even with field-
guns that still retained their wheeled carriages. A
number of these vessels were commanded by English-
men ; but, whether in charge of these or of
Paraguayan officers, the gallantry displayed was
identical, and these frail craft would go charging
down the stream to encounter the heavily armed and
armoured Brazilian warships and monitors. A more
unequal combat can scarcely be imagined, but on

RUINS OF HUMAITA CHURCH : BACK VIEW.

THE PARAGUAYAN WAR 197

more occasions than one the desperate Paraguayans
drove the enemy from their decks down into the
protected bowel's of their vessels, and caused the
opposing flotilla to retreat.

Notwithstanding this, it was, of course, a matter
of impossibility for the unarmoured sides of the
Paraguayan vessels to withstand for long the rain
of shot poured into them from the enemy vessels,
and their number gradually diminished as, one by one,
they sank. To this day the iron remnants of some
of these may be seen, and on the banks of
the Tributary Yhagiiy there still rest the ruins of a
burned Paraguayan flotilla, vegetation sprouting from
the forsaken decks and stranded boilers.

This river fighting was equalled in fury by the
battles on land. JWihen the Paraguayan forces had
spent their strength in the attack it was only after
the most desperate resistance that they yielded ground
before the masses of the allies. The motto 0>f the
Paraguayans was Veneer o Morir — " Conquest or
Death." These words were inscribed even on the
drums of the army, and they seem to have found)
an echo in the heart of almost every soldier of the
inland State ; for the losses they sustained, and in
the face of which they continued to fight, were
phenomenal.

It was Francisco Solano ' Lopez, of course, who
assumed supreme command of the Paraguayan army,
and who relied with confidence upon his strategy
to obtain the victory over the allied leaders, Marshal
Caxias, of Brazil, and General Bartolom£ Mitre, who
commanded the Argentine troops. Francisco Solano
Lopez' methods, as si matter of fact, were sufficiently
crude. One of his chief military axioms seem to have
been that his men should never retire under anyi
circumstances, and in order to enforce this he would
frequently place companies of men just to the rear
of the fighting line, who had orders to shoot down

198 PARAGUAY

any soldier who demonstrated the slightest inclination
to yield his place.

It is not surprising; in these circumstances that
the slaughter of the Paraguayan troops should have
been terrible. The mere dash, moreover, of the
Paraguayans was in itself frequently fatal. On more
than one occasion a too, headlong pursuit of a
shattered wing of the hostile forces brought them
under a crushing fire from the main army that
changed victory into defeat. Lopez* generalship,
however, was of the kind which troubled itself very
little about the losses suffered by his rank and file.
As long as he could obtain the vicarious glory of some
brilliant but unprofitable feat achieved by his troops,
he cared little how many thousands of men fell in
the operation.

It was this enormous wastage of life, of course,
which contributed so largely to the final defeat of
Lopez. iWhen his affairs became desperate, more-
over, he assumed an attitude of mind which more
than fitted the wildest situation. Defeat at the hands
even of a completely overwhelming force of the
enemy became a. crime which had to be expiated
by torture or death, frequently by both. A system
of espionage was established which added a new
source of dread to the sufferings of the soldiers,
and as the war drew towards its end the conditions
under which the Paraguayans fought became more
and more terrible.1

As a matter of fact, the losses in human life
sustained by the Paraguayan nation in the course of
this war were altogether phenomenal when the total
contemporary population of the Republic is taken
into consideration. Paraguayan authority has esti-
mated the population of the State at the beginning
of the war at some 900,000 souls. This same
authority has calculated that at the conclusion of the

1 See Appendix.

THE PARAGUAYAN WAR 199

war no less than 450,000 persons had died. 35,000
soldiers had fallen on the field of battle, and 1 1 5,000
had perished from, disease and hunger. Owing to
these latter causes, moreover, more than 300,000
old folk, women, and children had lost their lives.

Owing to the condition of want and privation which
obtained at the end of the struggle the mischief
did not end here, and thus in the course of five years
the unfortunate Republic had lost two -thirds of
the number of its entire population. As a matter of
fact, this loss was far greater in reality than is
expressed by these mere figures. For the flower
of the Paraguayan manhood had completely dis-
appeared, to say nothing of those boys who in tens
of thousands had filled the places of the grown men
who had fallen in the struggle. Thus Paraguay found
itself populated by old men and women, and by
children of both sexes, the handful of surviving adult
males being so meagre as to be quite negligible in
quantity .

But the contemplation of this tragic spectacle
has led us onwards too rapidly, since we have not
yet referred to the manner in which the war was
concluded. As has ialready been said, the final stages
were marked by a steadily mounting series of
tragedies. As the defeats grew more numerous, so
did the number of executions ordered by Lopez. Not
only did the officers themselves, whose gallantry had
been unable to prevail against superior numbers,
suffer in this respect. The vengeance of the Supremo
was frequently visited on their wives and womenfolk,
who paid the penalty of torture and death for supposed
faults which were not only not their own, but which
in reality had no existence at all. It may, however,
be put to the credit of Lopez' sense of fairness in
terrorism that he spared his own family in this respect
no more than the rest 1

It was only natural that after a year or two of this

200

PARAGUAY

grim struggle, the battle-ridden soil of Paraguay
should have failed to yield its crops, and that the
spectre of starvation should have loomed large over
the land. Even then the State was not at an end
of its resources. Companies of women were sent
out to till and sow fresh fields. It was frequently
necessary for them to march for several weeks on
end before the chosen spot was reached, and in
the course of these terrible journeys many hundreds
of delicately nurtured ladies expired from want of
nourishment and from sheer exhaustion.

This state of affairs continued even after the allied
armies, advancing from the south, had taken pos-
session of Asuncion, the capital. For some time
the Argentine and Brazilian authorities had caused
to be officially proclaimed that which was the mere
plain truth — that they were not at war with the
Paraguayan nation, but with Francisco Solano Lopez,
whom they held to ibe as much the enemy of Paraguay,
as of their own Stages. Nevertheless Lopez, followed
now by the scanty band that alone survived from
his once numerous army, contrived to keep up the
struggle among the northern woodlands, and, con-
tinually, harassed, made a desperate running fight
of it from point to point.

It was in the midst of the forest on the bank of
the River Aquidaban tjiat the end came. By that
time the ragged remnant of the, autocrat's troops
were almost naked and on the verge of starvation.
The Brazilian pursuit had continually grown closer.
On the is.t of March, 1870, occurred the surprise
that shattered the final stand, and that cost Fjrancisco
Solano Lopez his life. As the autocrat fell, trans-
fixed by a Brazilian lance, the war ended, and the
arms of both Paraguayans and allies were simul-
taneously lowered.

The condition in which Paraguay was Jeft at the
conclusion of the great war almost beggars de-

THE PARAGUAYAN WAR 201

scription. Nothing beyond the wreck of a once
powerful State remained to its diminished inhabitants.
It was left almost entirely to the old people, the
women, and the children to make good those material
benefits which had been lost by the death of the
nation's manhood. How this was achieved un-
doubtedly stands for one of the chief glories of the
history of Paraguay;.

The conclusion of the war, moreover, left the
inland State in possession of a genuinely con-
stitutional Government. Although this has since
only too frequently been the cause of civil strife,
the ideals of a liberal and democratic Government
have never been iabandoned from that time.

CHAPTER XIII

SOME SALIENT FEATURES OF THE REPUBLIC

Strategical situation of the Republic — Paraguay as a natural centre of
inland communications and commerce — Asuncion as the mart of the
interior — Future of the capital — Area of the Republic — Frontier
complications — The Pilcomayo as a boundary river — Difficulties
offered by the exploration of this stream — Its international importance
— The Paraguay-Bolivia frontier — Bolivian claims — Constitution of the
Paraguayan Republic — Legislative bodies — Scantiness of the members
— Method in which elections are conducted — The Ministry — Population
of the Republic — Difficulties in the way of a census — Some estimates
of the inhabitants — The dwellers in Paraguay proper and in the
Chaco — Results of the Paraguayan War — Recent political events
— Disastrous effect on the population — Paraguay a bilingual State
— The Spanish and Guarani tongues — Government of the Chaco —
Departments of Paraguay proper — A comparison between Asuncion
and Montevideo — Paraguayan cities — Distribution of the population —
The Army — Uniform and training — Prussian officers in Paraguay —
The River Navy of the Republic — Past and present strength of the
Paraguayan flotilla.

PARAGUAY may be said to represent the heart of
South America. If the metaphor be continued and
the continent be compared to the anatomy of a man,
it might even be said that the lowly position in latitude
of Paraguay would cause it to stand1 for the stomach
rather than the heart of South America. This, again,
is appropriate enough, for one of Paraguay's chief
occupations is in supplying foodstuffs to itself and to
its neighbours 1

In any case from a strategical point of view the
geographical situation of Paraguay is not a little
remarkable. Bisected, roughly, by Capricorn, the
inland Republic stands at the gate of the tropics.

202

SOME SALIENT FEATURES 203

To the north and east lie the forests of Brazil ; to
the west stretches the Chaco of Bolivia and Argentina,
while to the south extend the great pastures and
agricultural lands of Argentina.

Aided by the waters of those magnificent rivers
that wash her territories, the Paraguay and the Alto
Parana, Paraguay represents one of the great natural
centres of the inland communications and commerce
of South America. Indeed, were a junction possible
between the head waters of the Paraguay and those
of the southern tributaries of the Amazon, separated
as these are by such a comparatively insignificant
extent of territory, Asuncion might well rank as the
most important future mart of the interior, where
the tropical products of the north might be exchanged
for the meat and corn of the south, and where the
minerals of Bolivia and' Peru might be bartered
against the sugar and coffee of Brazil.

It is possible that at some rather dim and distant
date science may bring about some such consumma-
tion as this. But, even without anticipating any
such grandiose development, the situation which Para-
guay must occupy when the industries of the interior
of the continent begin to assume their proper dimen-
sions cannot well fail to be favourable to a point
which must largely compensate for such disadvan-
tages as arise from that country's remoteness from the
ocean.

From the point of view of area Paraguay is among
the smallest of the South American Republics,
Uruguay and Ecuador alone out of the ten occupying
less area. Even so, the exact size of Paraguay is
not known, although it is estimated roughly at one
hundred thousand square miles. The reason for this
uncertainty is that in some districts the frontiers of
Paraguay pass through unexplored country, while in
others the exact position of this frontier has still to
be established.

204

PARAGUAY

Probably some of the most curious circumstances
which ever complicated the negotiations concerning
a frontier line occurred in connection with the River
Pilcomayo, which forms the boundary between Argen-
tina and Paraguay to the west of the Paraguay River.
In the ordinary course of events no boundary could
be more definite than a river. But this was not so
in the case of the Pilcomayo. Certain stretches of
this had long defied the efforts of all who endeavoured
to explore them. Thus when, in recent years, an
expedition under Messrs. Olaf Storm and F. Freund
were occupied in following the course of the river
from west to east, the party was brought to a halt
by the waters of a great swamp in which the river
lost itself, the shallowness of the lake forbidding
further navigation.

I have referred in a previous book to a laten
expedition which eventually was the cause of the
modifying of the Argentine Paraguayan frontier.; but
the matter demands inclusion again here.

This later expedition made the important discovery
that a previously little known river, that was given
the name of the Confuso, branched off from the
Pilcomayo in the neighbourhood of longitude 60°,
and, running north of the other stream, was navigable
at intervals to the point where it joined the Paraguay
at Villa Hayes, midway, between Asuncion and Con-
cepcion.

This new river was held, in fact, to be the true
Pilcomayo, and its discovery gave rise to a certain
amount of political confusion that went to justify
its name. Indeed, the bringing to light of the swampy
Confuso raked up an important historical question.
At the conclusion of the Paraguayan War the United
States, accepting the office of arbitrator, had awarded
to Argentina the whole of the Chaco as far north
as the Pilcomayo River. On the discovery, there-
fore, of the actual course of the stream which

SOME SALIENT FEATURES 205

until then had been known as the Confuso, Argen-
tina, alleging that river to be the Pilcomayo,
laid claim to the strip of territory between the two
rivers. As, however, the United States award had
decreed the Argentine- Paraguayan frontier to lie
along the Pilcomayo that gave into the Paraguay
opposite Asuncion, the joint committee of the two
republics appointed to deal with the matter agreed
that the southern branch of the river must continue
to divide the two countries. Thus another of those
numerous but inevitable international questions was
settled in that essentially reasonable fashion which
has now become characteristic of the Latin continent.

Many difficulties in connection with the north-
western frontier which divides Paraguay from Bolivia
have still to be overcome. So far the numerous
negotiations which have taken place on the subject
have been comparatively barren of result. The posi-
tion, roughly, would seem to be that Bolivia — although
that country admits that by the Guijarro-Decoud
treaty of 1879 it resigned the Chaco Boreal to Para-
guay in return for the latter's renunciation of claims
north of the latitude of the Apa — claims that the
arrangement fell through. Bolivia asserts, moreover,
that the later draft agreements of 1887, 1894, and
1907 were never ratified, and, in short, that a situation
which the general public for many years has taken
for granted never actually had any existence in fact 1
Whatever its rights and wrongs may be, no doubt
the question will be settled with that same temperate
wisdom which characterized the arrangement of the
similar question in the south.

The Constitution of the Republic of Paraguay is
quite one of the latest evolved in South America,
having been drawn up in 1870, when the fall of the
younger Lopez freed the country from an autocratic
dominion. As in the great majority of republics,
the chief Paraguayan legislative bodies are divided

206

into two houses, a chamber of senators airid a chamber
of deputies. It cannot be said that these offices are
too numerously filled, as the senators are no more
than thirteen in number and the deputies are limited
to twenty. This somewhat scanty provision of legis-
lators is explained by the fact that the numbers were
originally arranged in order to represent a total
population of some 300,000 — which, in 1870, is said
to have been all that the Paraguayan War had left of
the heroic inhabitants of the inland State. Since that
time, of course, the population of the Republic has
steadily increased, but the number of senators and
deputies has remained unaltered.

The elections in Paraguay are conducted on a
model which is popular in South America, and which
has this in its favour, that the dislocation of the
political machinery is less acute than in the case of
general elections carried on in the British fashion.
An election is held every two years. But this el ction
concerns the seats of only one-half of the deputies
and one-third of the senators** the remainder retaining
their seats until their turn arrives to contest them.

The President is elected for a term of four years,
and the Vice- President holds office for the same
period. The ministers of state are limited to five,
their portfolios being those of the Interior, Agri-
culture, Justice, Instruction, and Army and Navy.
It will be evident from this that the Ministry is fully
as compact in its way as are the chambers of the
senators and deputies.

An estimate of the population of most of the South
American republics is apt to present a certain amount
of difficulty, more especially when, as in the case of
Paraguay, the native population is large. In the
Paraguayan Chaco, for instance, where many of the
tribes are still in a condition of savagery, it is clear
that in a census of their numbers guesswork must
play a very large part. Even in many parts of civi-

SOME SALIENT FEATURES 207

lized Paraguay, to the east of the great river, it is
practically impossible to take count of the Guaranfs
in the remoter forest country. Hence the astonish-
ing differences in the figures given by the various
authorities.

The larger estimates of these are rendered by the
Paraguayans themselves, in which predilection they
only conform to a popular weakness throughout the
continent — where land is still sufficiently abundant
for the various States to watch with pride the increas-
ing number of inhabitants ! Some of these estimates
undoubtedly overshoot the mark, and need not be
taken quite seriously here. Of the reasonable figures
put forward Don Arsenio Lopez Decoud suggests a
population of 1,000,000, which may be accepted as
moderately accurate, although the numbers given by
the more cautious fall rather below this.

Of this total 950,000 are held to reside in Paraguay
proper, and the remaining 50,000 in the Chaco, these
latter, of course, comprising the various tribes of
Indians, the great majority of which still remain
uncivilized. If the accuracy of this estimate be
granted — although it must be said that the census of
1909 was responsible for a total of no more than
633,000 — the population of Paraguay approaches that
of Uruguay, notwithstanding the fact that the latter
Republic possesses a town of the really imposing size
of Montevideo. It must be remembered, though, that
Paraguay was originally one of the countries in South
America most thickly populated with Indians, and
that in 1865, just before the Paraguayan War, the
population had already attained to nearly a million.
But for this desperate campaign, which left alive no
more than a third of the Paraguayans, there is no
doubt but that the numbers of the inhabitants of the
harried State would have amounted to a really impor-
tant figure. [ , I | i |
In considering this matter, moreover, it is impos-

208 PARAGUAY

sible to leave out of the question the more recent
political events. Even in the twentieth century civil
strife has claimed an astonishing number of victims,
the most disastrous years in this respect having been
1904, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, and 1912. Indeed,
Don Arsenio '-Lopez Decoud states that it is probable
that the revolutions have cost the Republic 30 per
cent, of its population in the period alone between the
years 1904 and 1912. These figures are sufficiently
startling I However, there can be no question here
of deaths alone ; for the loss to the State, calculated
in this way, must include those who have emigrated
from the land for political reasons. In any case no
argument beyond such figures as these is needed as
an incentive to the Paraguayans to conclude their
internal differences as rapidly as possible 1

Of these inhabitants of Paraguay the whites and
a considerable number of the Indians employ the
Spanish language. The Guarani tongue is neverthe-
less the popular speech of the masses, and the
educated classes are wont to employ it as a sub-
sidiary language to Castilian, Paraguay being thus
a bilingual State.

Among its other innumerable uses the all-impor-
tant Paraguay River serves as a boundary between
the two political sections of the State. The western
section is that of the Chaco, the level Indian country
with its one centre of commercial importance, Villa
Hayes, on the bank of the great river. This great
district is parcelled out into military commands,
although the influence of these does not yet penetrate
into the interior, which is still largely unknown.

The eastern section constitutes Paraguay proper,
and is made up of twelve departments, each con-
taining a certain number of districts. As the list
of these departments and districts makes somewhat
lengthy reading I will refer the reader to the
Appendix for their perusal.

SOME SALIENT FEATURES 209

Unlike that of a number of other South American
republics, the population of Paraguay has not tended
to cluster together in any particularly large centres.
In this respect it is instructive to compare its capital
with the Uruguayan metropolis. Whereas Monte-
video possesses more than a third of a million
inhabitants, it is probable that the population of
Asuncion does not exceed 80,000. The sole
remaining Paraguayan towns, moreover, which run
into five figures are those of Villa Rica and Concep-
cion, the populations of which are respectively esti-
mated at 30,000 and 16,000.

A country such as Paraguay, however, is by no
means necessarily the worse off for the lack of any
notably swollen urban centres. Indeed, there is little
doubt but that many of the other republics would
find their economic conditions not a little improved
by a dispersal over the land of a certain number
of the superfluous inhabitants who have flocked
together to some of the great cities. So far as
Paraguay is concerned, being so far little in-
terested in manufactures on a large scale, the
present distribution of the population would seem
to be the most favourable for her staple in-
dustries.

To conclude the first general survey at the more
salient features of Paraguay, we may take a glimpse
at the army and navy of the Republic. It will
have been seen from the foregoing historical pages
that the traditions of the Paraguayan army have
continued high throughout its history. Never did
they stand higher than in the great Paraguayan War
which ended in the death of the younger Lopez.
Very long, however, before that struggle was brought
to a conclusion the Paraguayan regular army had
ceased to be, and its ranks had been filled up by
the ordinary inhabitants of the country, who con-
tinued to step into the rapid breaches until scarcely

210

any others but old men and young boys were left
in the ranks.

At the present time the standing! army of Paraguay
is not numerous, comprising as it does some two
thousand men of all arms. Owing to the nature of
the occupations of a large portion of the Paraguayan
populace, however, it would be easy to add rapidly
to this number in time of war. In recent years
Paraguay has followed the example of various other
South American republics in choosing Germany as
the model upon which to build up her army. As a
result of this the uniform of the Paraguayan troops
is to all intents and purposes German, and the in-
struction and organization of the men carried on
according to the precepts of Potsdam. In order
to attend to the organization of this a number of
Prussian office'rs have been at work in Asuncion, while
at the same time Paraguayan officers have been
atatched to the German Army in Europe. A regular
military college, moreover, was founded in Asuncion
in 1905.

The question of the future 'status of these numerous
Prussian military officials in South America after the
European War is a sufficiently interesting one, though
it is, at the time of writing, too early, to venture even
a supposition on this subject. It is certain that the
unpopularity of Germany at the present time through-
out the continent is very marked. What effect this
will eventually exert upon the South American armies
trained on the German model remains to be seen.
In the meantime it must be said that, in the eyes of
those not trained to admire it, the aspect of the
leather helmet and the Prussian frock-coat is com-
pletely out of place in the sunny latitudes of the
Southern continent.

Considering that Paraguay possesses no ocean
coastline, an imposing Paraguayan navy is not to
be looked for. It may even be a matter of some

SOME SALIENT FEATURES 211

surprise to a good many people to hear that Paraguay
possesses a navy at all ! It must be remembered,
however, that the waters of the great River Paraguay
constitute an international highway, and that from
the port of Asuncion the frontiers of Bolivia, Brazil,
Argentina, and Uruguay may be reached without
penetrating as far as the ocean. Indeed, the import-
ance of a river navy was fully demonstrated in the
Paraguayan .War, when a regular campaign was
fought on the waters of the Paraguay, and when
more than one pitched battle occurred between the
Paraguayan war vessels and those of the Brazilians
and the Argentines. But all this has been fully told
in a previous chapter.

At the present time the maritime power of
Paraguay is insignificant compared even with the
river fleet she possessed at the period of the great
war. She possesses, indeed, one or two gunboats,
which are in reality little more than converted tugs,
and, although these would doubtless put up a gallant
enough fight, they could not, in the nature of things,
offer any effective resistance to the modern armed
vessels with which some of the other republics patrol
the great rivers. Fortunately, there would seem very
little chance at the present day of any collision
of the kind occurring. It must be said, however,
that the career of these small vessels has by no
means been uneventful, as they have played a lead-
ing part in several of the revolutions, and on more
than one occasion have been instrumental in turning
the scale of power.

CHAPTER XIV

THE PARAGUAYAN OF TO-DAY

Respective proportions of the upper and lower classes of the Republic —
Some conservative indications — Taste in tea — The triumph of yerba
mate — The Paraguayan lady — Matters concerning ease and comfort
in costume — Mr. C. B. Mansfield on Paraguay of the mid-nine-
teenth century — Patriarchal simplicity of the contemporary society —
Asuncion market as it used to be — A picturesque spectacle — Visiting —
— Dress of the ladies — Hospitality of the inhabitants of Asuncion
— Some compliments in Guarani — A comparison between the Para-
guayan and the Argentine gaucho — Influence of the Jesuits on the
general population — The Paraguayan as an agriculturist — His
occasional exuberance — Labour conditions of the Republic — Intro-
duction of the strike — Educational problems — Proportion of
illiterates to the population — Difficulties in the rural districts —
Asuncion as the centre of journalism — Work of the South American
Missionary Society in the Chaco — The feat of Mr. W. Barbrooke
Grubb — Success of the enterprise — The currency of Paraguay — Gold
and paper dollars — Fluctuations of the paper dollar — The effect of
insignificant values upon the cleanliness of the paper.

IT would, of course, be unreasonable to expect that
the inhabitants of a land that, apart from all other
circumstances, has suffered from such long periods
of political isolation in the past, and the remoteness
of whose geographical situation is only now in the
act of being overcome, should resemble in the matter
of social ethics the dwellers in the neighbouring
republics who have now for generations enjoyed the
closest contact with the other civilized centres of
the world. This naturally does not apply to the
topmost layers of society, which in Paraguay, as
elsewhere throughout the globe, conform to the

THE PARAGUAYAN OF TO-DAY 213

standards and conventions of London, Paris, New
York, and Buenos Aires.

But — again in Paraguay as elsewhere — the actual
bulk of this particular stratum is sufficiently slender,
and from the point of view of mere numbers it is
quite insignificant compared with the mass of the
general population. In any case, sandwiched in
between the rapidly increasing evidences of the pro-
gressive spirit is much that is old-fashioned! — and
that does not necessarily lose in the least from that
condition. This is to be judged from matters which
may appear — and generally are — quite unimportant in
themselves. The teas, for instance, of India, Ceylon,
and China have not yet succeeded in making any
appreciable headway against the popular yerba mate*
— and it would be strange had they done so, con-
sidering that the chief source of Paraguayan tea is,
after all, Paraguay, which must be expected tp sup-
port its home industries. Paraguayan ladies of the
twentieth century will not disdain to be photographed
in an attitude which depicts them as leaning on so
out of date an instrument as a harp I This attitude,
as a matter of fact, suits many of the handsome
Paraguayan ladies most admirably, and, as I
do not think that many of them actually take
the trouble to play these harps, it does not
follow that they are in reality so Early Victorian
as the romantic photographers would have them
appear !

Perhaps I can put such matters as these in a
nutshell by explaining that the average Paraguayan
lady has not yet consented to affect the tailor-made
fashions. In this she is in all probability wise,
since the flowing garments that she prefers are un-
doubtedly better adapted, not only to her own par-
ticular type of beauty but to the climate. There
is no doubt, indeed, that the suspicion of the lotus
which enters into the Paraguayan atmosphere permits

214

PARAGUAY

a certain unconventionally of costume that is by
no means without its advantages.

This, as a matter of fact, is particularly evident
among the poorer classes, and even among some
of the less flourishing of the bourgeoisie. These,
having more regard for matters of ease and comfort
than for the straiter-laced ethics of costume, do not
disdain to walk the warm earth on their bare feet,
while their women will contentedly puff smoke
from at least as many cigars during; the day as
the men.

Even in the days when Paraguay languished under
the heel of her dictators, the Paraguayans would seem
to have made the most of their free-and-easy lives.
No one has borne more striking* testimony to this
than Mr. C. B. Mansfield, who visited the country
in the early i85o's, when its inhabitants had by
the decrees of their tyrants been so long shut off
from the outer world that their society had attained
to a state of patriarchal simplicity. Surely no modern
Paraguayan need think the worse of his ancestors
for the intellectual ignorance which was thus strangely
forced upon them for those generations. Similar
results must have occurred in whatever corner of
the world such measures might have been applied.

These remarks of Mansfield's concerning the
general social atmosphere of Asuncion in the middle
of the nineteenth century are undoubtedly invalu-
able, and I will quote from them at some length.

" It is curious," he says, " to see some of the
countrymen of the better sort coming into town on
horseback, with no shoes or stockings, the long fringte
of their calzoncillos dangling about their bare legs,
and their toes stuck in massive silver stirrups,
silver also decorating their bridles and headstalls
with a considerable weight of metal. But the market
itself, as I said, is a very pretty sight, being crowded
all the week round, Sundays included, with women

THE PARAGUAYAN OF TO-DAY 215

in white (as snow) cotton dresses, their petticoats
flounced with lace, coarse or fine according to the
wearer, about a foot deep, and above the flounce a
broad band of embroidery in black wool like that
of the chemise, not to speak of the scarlet girdle ;
with here and there a man, equally in white, but
with a scarlet or blue poncho slung over one
shoulder."

Asuncion market, with its crowding buyers and
sellers, its fruits, cakes, sweetmeats, live animals, and
all other merchandise, is still a sufficiently picturesque
spot ; but it can no longer, alas ! present as glowing
a picture as this.

Mansfield was on friendly terms with many
Paraguayans of the higher orders of that period,
and his description of the state of society just
then is more or less what would be expected
from its long period of artificial isolation. Mansfield
says : —

" The more I see of these simple people the more
I like them : there are three or fcur families whom,
though I have only known them a month, I should
be sorry to see for the last time, if I were going
away to-morrow. The artlessness of the young ladies
is particularly pleasing ; of course, they are utterly
devoid of education, beyond reading and writing.
An elderly lady of one of the best families asked
me confidentially the other day whether people went
by land or by sea from Buenos Aires to the United
States, displaying an amount of ignorance of the
state of the country in their own vicinity which
perhaps you will not at once appreciate. The
ladies are always visible from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.,
except between twelve and three ; in the morning
one commonly has to wait a little while till they
are dressed ; in the evening they generally sit in
state to receive visitors in the patios of their houses,
or on the causeway in the street, under the corridor :

216 PARAGUAY

their morning dress is about the style of an English
housemaid on a workday, and that for the evening
like ditto on Sunday ; their ball and holiday costumes
about the same as that of an English lady of the
sensible sort. One or two families, who are a little
ahead of their neighbours in following the estito de
abaj\o (the * style of below '—down the river, which
includes Buenos Aires and ail the rest of the world),
I suspect have even introduced stays.

" A great deal of my time is consumed in
visiting. The oftener you come to see any family
the better they are pleased, and no length of time
is too long for one to stay. . . . The Guaranf forms
a never-failing source of talk and fun ; for I makei
them tell me words, and when they have repeated
them a sufficient number of timjes for me to be
satisfied of the phonetics I write them down. ..."

Mansfield was justly proud of the knowledge of
the Guarani tongue which he picked up in this
fashion, and of his power of rendering his thanks
in such Guarani compliments as, " Nde pugweughpe
capiipe'cha, ndep6pe rosapotricha " — " I am under
your feet like the g'rass, and in your hand like a
rose." No doubt so distinguished1 a scholar as Mans-
field took care that this rendering of Guarani should
be accurate. There cannot fail to exist a certain
number of Englishmen whose opinion on this point
must be invaluable — but the author cannot claim to
be one of these !

Dealing with the populace of the country en masse
— a somewhat perilous procedure! — it may be said
that the Paraguayan chacrero is a milder and more
peaceable man than was the Argentine gaucho: it
is necessary to use the past tense in referring to
the latter, for the simple reason that the genuine
wild son of the southern Campo is now to all intents
and purposes extinct.

The Paraguayan paisano, on the other hand,

THE PARAGUAYAN OF TO-DAY 217

remains much what he has been since the time when
the country became definitely settled. A circum-
stance which perhaps influenced the general popula-
tion of Paraguay more than any other was the
dispersal of the Jesuit establishments that have
already been referred to, and the distribution through-
out the province of all those Guarani agriculturists
who had until then been retained in their communities
apart from the main populace.

Thus the difference between the Paraguayan
paisano and the Argentine gaucho is largely owing
to the fact that the Indian strain of the former
springs from a much more peaceable ancestry than
such native blood as the true gaucho possessed.
The temperament of the Paraguayan is rather that of
an agriculturist, while the gaucho has never
deigned to fill any, less adventurous r61e than that
of a stockrider.

It must not be imagined from this, however, that
the character of the Paraguayan populace is neces-
sarily lamblike. Generally speaking, the Paraguayan
of the masses is amiable and easy-going ; but there
is a wild strain in him that is apt to reveal itself
with some exuberance at times. On such occasions
he is rather apt to be handy with firearms, not
necessarily from malicious motives, or even with the
settled intention of damaging any one, but rather
from a surfeit of animal spirits and cana, the native
rum. In these days, however, when it is the fashion
for almost every peon to carry a revolver, there are
doubtless many employers of labour who sigh for the
comparatively good old days of the less comprehen-
sive knife !

Of late years the Paraguayan has made strenuous
endeavours to bring his labour conditions up to the
level of those of the neighbouring republics. To this
end the strike has been introduced — a weapon of
labour which the old-timer would find it extremely

218 PARAGUAY

difficult to associate with the atmosphere of the inland
State. Nevertheless, the strike has arrived — a more
significant sign of the times even than the recently
constructed houses of modern architecture in
Asuncion.

Notable progress has been made in the educational
problems of the Republic. The simplest forms of
education are apt to present some difficulties in a
country whose population is as sparse and scattered
as that of Paraguay. In 1908 it was estimated that
the number of the inhabitants of Paraguay oveir the
age of six years was 411,131, out of which total
254,171 were illiterate. In Asuncion itself is a
university, as well as a number of secondary schools.
It is in the remoter rural districts that the most
difficult educational problems present themselves ;
but in the natural course of events these must auto-
matically disappear when the districts in question
' are more fully opened up.

That which applies to education in Paraguay holds
good in the case of journalism. In common with
every other Latin-American centre, Asuncion is
generously supplied with newspapers and periodicals,
and the journalist here enjoys the high standing that
is the right of his profession. The journalistic enter-
prise, however, is almost entirely, confined to the
capital.1

The religion of the country is, of course, Roman
Catholic ; but all creeds are tolerated in accord-
ance with the liberality of the age. In connection
with this, mention may be made of the Anglican
mission establishments in the Chaco. This move-
ment was begun in 1889, when the Church of
England South American Missionary Society sent a
pioneer, Mr. W. Barbrooke Grubb, into the then
completely unknown wilds of that part of the Chaco
inhabited by the Lengua Indians.

1 See Appendix. >

THE PARAGUAYAN OF TO-DAY 219

Barbrooke Grubb's feats among the Indians are
now becoming familiar to many whose interests are
not directly connected with South America. At the
same time, the fame of this f' Livingstone of South
America " is not yet as widespread as it deserves
to be. The story of his first entry into the Chaco,
of his self-introduction to the savage and menacing
natives, and of his almost miraculous escapes from
death at their hands, is to be excelled in none of
the missionary annals throughout the world. Its
results are plain to see — to all those who care
to take the trouble to enter the Chaco I — in the
church, schools, and in the centre of intellectual
and industrial progress that now flourishes as
a bright spot in the midst of the strange Chaco
country.

In order to end this chapter on a less exalted note,
we may turn to a topic which has so far possessed
very little interest in the Chaco, the currency of
Paraguay. The dollar here is arranged, as in Argen-
tina, on a double basis. The gold dollar is the
equivalent of the gold dollar throughout South
America and of that of the United States. But the
paper dollar — the national dollar of the Republic-
fluctuates with the vicissitudes of the State. Of late
years it must be admitted that the tendency of this
paper money has been to deteriorate. Thus in 1910
the average rate of exchange was just under 70
dollars to the pound sterling. In 1912 the average
was nearly 76 dollars ; in 1913 it was just below
77, and during 1914 the rate of exchange shot up
to 100 dollars to the pound !

The effect of this is evident in small Otters as
well as in large. As nickel coins appear to be
no longer in circulation, the wear and tear to which
the paper money is now subjected will be evident
when it is explained that, at this last rate, a dollar
note is worth a fraction more than twopence, and

220

PARAGUAY

a fifty-centavos note stands as the equivalent of a
a shade more than a penny ! Representing such
insignificant values, they pass from hand to hand
as freely as do copper coins in England, and the
lamentable result, so far as the surface and cleanli-
ness of the note is concerned, can easily be imagined !

CHAPTER XV

PHYSICAL FEATURES

Paraguayan mountains and forests — Rivers — Situation of the Iguazu Falls
Principal natural characteristics — The Paraguay River — Its source —
The Lake of Xarayes — Quality of imagination as displayed in the
ancient maps — The imagined and the real importance of this sheet of
water — Some features of the Paraguay River — Navigable limit of the
stream — Circumstances which favour shipping — Differences between
the Paraguay and the Parana — Tributaries — Similar purposes served
by the Apa and the Pilcomayo — Importance of some of the affluents —
The Tebicuary — Characteristics of the western tributaries — The
Pilcomayo River — An ill-defined stream— A curious phenomenon —
The Alto Parana River— The Guayra Falls— Tributaries of the Alto
Parana — Paraguayan mountains — Isolated hills in the Chaco — The
chains of Amambay and Mbaracayu — Characteristics of the hill
country — Paraguayan lakes — The Chaco inundations — Lakes Ypoa
and Camba — Lake Ipacarai — A beauty spot of Paraguay — The
Estero Neembucu — Climate of the Republic — A Paraguayan claim
— Temperatures — The annual monthly rainfall — Favourable distribu-
bution of rain for agriculture — Minerals.

SPEAKING generally, it may be said that the physical
aspects of Paraguay are of an agreeable, rather than
of a grand, nature. The inland State, for instance,
lacks any mountains comparable with those of Brazil
to the east, or with those of Bolivia to the west,
very few Paraguayan ranges — even on the eastern
frontier, where they are boldest — exceeding fifteen
hundred feet in height.

Paraguay, moreover, possesses nothing gigantic in
the way of deserts, lakes, or plains, though it is
true that the wealth of forest which covers the rolling
country is sufficiently notable. In rivers alone can
the Republic pride itself on possessing something

321

222 PARAGUAY

phenomenal, although even here it has, strictly
speaking, been deprived of one of the most notable
features in the world ; for the famous Falls of Iguazu,
which occur where the three States of Paraguay,
Argentina, and Brazil meet, are actually bounded
on the one side by Argentina and on the other by
Brazil, the Paraguayan shore being just beyond the
reach of the troubled waters.

The principal natural characteristics of Paraguay,
then, are lightly rolling, forest-covered hills and
valleys, two magnificent rivers fed by innumerable
streams, the curious plains of the Chaco, and a
few definite mountain ranges of quite inconsiderable
height.

Since in many respects its rivers constitute
Paraguay's most important natural features, we may
deal with these first. The more important of the
two main streams which water the Paraguayan soil
is, naturally, the Paraguay River. The source of
this stream is well to the north of the frontier of
the inland Republic. It rises, in fact, in the Matto
Grosso plateau, within a metaphorical stone's-throw
of the headwaters of some of the southern streams
of the Amazon system. Its actual source is a
Brazilian district known as Las Siete Lagunas, or
"The Seven Lakes," in latitude 14° 35' south.

The Paraguay River begins by running due
south, coursing with considerable velocity as far as
latitude 16° south. After this its slackening speed
is marked by a series of strongly defined curves,
which continue until the swampy Lake of Xarayes
is reached. This Lake of Xarayes, it should be
said, has played a much greater part in ancient
records than was its right. Up to a certain point
it has a good deal in common with Raleigh's mythical
lake on the banks of which stood the golden city
of Manoa. It is true that, although this latter lake
has now been completely wiped off the earth by

PHYSICAL FEATURES 223

the modern map-makers, the waters of Xarayes still
make their appearance in the atlases of to-day. But
the process of shrinking which they have undergone
is of a sensational order I

In the ancient maps — when the quality of imagina-
tion was of a more practical value than it is to-day
— the Lake of Xarayes appears as a vast sheet of
water in the centre of the continent. In the eyes
of the seventeenth and early eighteenth century
geographer this amazing expanse of water dwarfed
Titicaca — just as, incidentally, the stream of the
Paraguay River was made to appear considerably
broader than that of the Amazon. There it lay —
pea connu, as a less sanguine Frenchman admitted
in a legend beneath its name — with its arms stretching
out towards some imaginary mountains, a thing that
could not fail to catch the eye at once, being one of
the most salient objects of the map.

To-day he who is unfamiliar with the situation
of Lake Xarayes will have some difficulty in tracing
its modest outline. In any case it is through these
shallow waters of reduced fame that the Paraguay
River makes its way, and, after Tiaving received
a number of tributaries on its left bank, flows into
the Paraguayan Republic a little to the south of
latitude 22°.

Before referring to the numerous tributaries which
enter the Paraguay River during its passage through
the inland Republic, it would be as weU to observe
some of the features of the main stream. Although
to the north of Asuncion it is customary to employ
vessels of less draught than those which ply between
the Paraguayan capital and the Atlantic, neverthe-
less the stream is navigable for moderate- sized steam
vessels for considerable stretches beyond the northern
frontier. Indeed, it is claimed that the river is
navigable to a point as far to the north as latitude 1 6°
south. In any case the species of craft which can

224 PARAGUAY

ascend so far as this comprises nothing beyond steam
launches.

So far * as the Paraguayan shore is concerned,
however, the stream that washes the entire length
of this territory is navigable by important vessels.
The river, moreover, is entirely unbroken by rapids,
and the current is inclined to be less at the mercy
of shifting sandbanks than that of the lower reaches
constituting the Parana. One of the circumstances,
indeed, which chiefly strike the traveller, ascending
the river system, is the absence in the Paraguay
of those innumerable lowly islands — many of which
come into being and die away in the course of a
few decades — that dot the waters of the Parand.
Seeing, moreover, that the current is moderate, the
Paraguayan is fortunate in having an almost ideal
river to navigate.

The majority of the tributaries of the Paraguay
River flow in from the east by way of its left bank.
From north to south, the first of these is the Apa.
This stream, though diametrically opposed in its
direction, serves an almost exactly similar purpose
in the north to that which the Pilcomayo does in the
south. The Pilcomayo comes across from the west
to cut off Argentina, which has encroached for some
hundreds of miles on the western bank of the river,
facing Paraguayan soil1 on the east. The Apa runs
from the east to cut off Brazil1, which has encroached
for some hundreds of miles on the eastern bank of
the river, facing1 Paraguayan soil in the west.

Leaving the subject of these two curiously con-
sistent rivers, we arrive at the River Aquidaban,
and, farther to the south again, the I pane. Some
idea of the importance of the Paraguay even in these
upper stretches may be gathered from the fact that
both these tributaries are of a length approaching
two hundred miles .

In commercial importance, however, these two

PHYSICAL FEATURES 225

streams are outdone by the next tributary to the
south, the Jejui, which is an important navigable
river. But it is the last tributary on this bank to be
noted which is the most important of all. This is
the Tebicuary, which joins the main river to the
south of Asuncion, between the ports of Villa Franca
and Villa del Filar. The Tebicuary, which possesses
a number of tributaries of its own, rises in
the Sierra de Cadpucu. Its dimensions will be evi-
dent when it is explained that it enters the main
stream by two mouths, the breadth of the first of
these being over half a mile, and that of the second
exceeding a third of a mile.

These constitute practically all the tributaries of
the great river that are Paraguayan on both banks.
Nothing of the kind is received from the opposite
bank of the main river, where the dead level of the
Chaco with its loose soil tends to encourage such
streams as exist to overflow their low shores, and
to transform all the neighbouring country into a
vast lake. The effect of the countless trunks of
palm-trees as they emerge in their groves from the
waters is most curious.

This is the case, too, even in parts of the impor-
tant Pilcomayo River which divides Paraguay from
Argentina. The source of the Pilcomayo is in
Bolivia, in the neighbourhood of that of the Rio
Grande, and, considering its great length, the stream
is most curiously ill-defined in many of the districts
through which it passes. Even in those parts where
the depth is sufficient for small steamers the abun-
dance of snags which infest the current frequently
make navigation difficult in the extreme.

Needless to say, the cause of all this waterlogged
timber is the loose alluvial soil, which, when eaten
into by the waters, crumbles into the stream, bear-
ing with it the trees that had been rooted in it.
The author has himself seen the effect of a storm

226 PARAGUAY

which raised considerable waves on one of these
streams. As the waves beat upon the low shore
one great length of the bank fell in after another,
and the effect of the lines of tropical trees toppling
forward into the water was not a little extraordinary.

A very different state of affairs is to be met with
in the Alto Parana, the second of Paraguay's main
streams. The Alto Parana, which rises in the State
of Goyaz in Brazil, is essentially a rocky stream,
although here and there it swells out into large
lake-like expanses, one of the chief of which,
extending itself just above the Guayra Falls, is five
miles or so in width. These Guayra Falls occur
at the point where the Parand River begins to wash
Paraguayan territory. They are said to be two
hundred feet or so short of the height of the Iguazu
Falls ; but the volume of water projected by the
Guayra Falls is considerably greater. The first pas-
sage of the Alto Parand along the Paraguayan shore
is extremely rapid, and the current, which has carved
a deep bed for itself, is much disturbed by rocks
and broken waters.

It is true that as the river approaches its junction
with the Paraguay it becomes navigable for light
draught stern-wheel steamers. Nevertheless the
stream may be said to be remarkable for its grand
and picturesque scenery rather than for any particular
navigable qualities, considering the size of the river.
As may be supposed, the Alto Parana possesses no
tributaries which may be compared with the principal
affluents of the Paraguay. The chief of those which
traverse Paraguayan soil are the Acaray, the Tacuari,
and the Monday, the last stream being rather more
than a hundred miles in length.

It has already been remarked in this chapter that
Paraguay possesses no mountains of the kind which
would be considered of the slightest importance in
Bolivia or Brazil. -The plains of the Chaco region are,

PHYSICAL FEATURES 227

of course, broken by no elevation worthy of anything
approaching the name of mountain, although one
or two isolated elevations are to be met with here and
there, and although on the Bolivian border to the
north the well-defined 'range of the Cordilleras de
Chochis springs up. But these mountains occur in
a district where the features of the Chaco proper
do not obtain.

Two of the principal mountain chains to the east
of the Paraguay River are those of Amambay and
Mbaracayu, both of which are prolongations of that
very extensive Brazilian range which runs parallel
with the coast. It is unnecessary to enter here into
the ramifications of these hills, or even into a dis-
quisition concerning1 the various names by which their
subdivisions are known, for the nomenclature here is
apt to be a little confusing.

It may be taken that these elevations lack that
significance which appertains to so many of the South
American chains. In themselves they constitute no
barrier to the opening up of the country. As a
rule they are easy to traverse, the gradient of the
slopes being in most parts moderately gentle. That
which is apt to form an obstacle to the traveller
is the thick vegetation which in many districts covers
these somewhat lowly mountains from their summits
to the banks of the little stream which so frequently
goes plashing along the valley. The timber of these
forests is dealt with elsewhere.

Paraguay is sparsely provided with lakes. There
are times when a new-comer to the Chaco, seeing
himself surrounded by enormous stretches of inland
water, must receive with incredulity the information
that the Chaco does not contain a single lake. Yet
this is true enough, and the great sheets of water
which abound there at different periods are merely
the result of inundations, and must not be regarded
as permanent.

228 PARAGUAY

This, of course, is not the case in Paraguay
proper, where exist several lakes of comparatively
modest dimensions. One of the most curious of these
is Lake Ypoa in the neighbourhood of the Paraguay
River, a little to the north of the River Tebicuary.
This sheet of water is situated in an unusually flat
region, and is somewhat difficult to be adapted to
practical purposes, being surrounded by swamps
which are frequently so extensive as to make the
true shores of the lake difficult of approach. A
smaller lake, Camba, to the south of Ypoa, is situated
in similar country ; but the swamps here are by
no means so extensive.

A far more beautiful1 sheet of water is Lake Ipa-
carai, situated to the east of Asuncion. The shores
of this, as a matter of fact, constitute one of the
popular beauty spots of Paraguay, and are dotted
with pleasure resorts such as San Bernardino.

Beyond this there is a vast extent of swampy water
in the south-western corner of the Republic, the
Estero Neembucu, which is sometimes known by
courtesy as a lake, and a few true lakes in the
centre of the country such as those of Aguaracaty,
Mandivu, and Ypita..

As regards the climate of Paraguay, an enthu-
siastic Paraguayan makes the following claim: " Let
us begin with a categorical1 statement, dictated by
almost six lustra of meticulous observation, and by.
an ample comparison with alj the climates of the
earth : Within the limits of ' practical possibilities
the climate of Paraguay realizes the conditions of
an ideal climate ."

This is a bold claim, but it is justified to a far
greater degree than is usually the case with such
assertions. In the first place, it may be said that,
considering its situation, the summer heat of Paraguay
is by no means excessive. In the neighbourhood
of Asuncion, at all events, it is rare even in

PHYSICAL FEATURES 229

December, January, and February for the thermo-
meter to register over 100° Fahrenheit. In winter
the record will occasionally fall nearly as low as
40° Fahrenheit, but in the daytime it is nothing un-
usual for the reading to exceed 80° even in July
or August.

The rainy season, moreover, occurs in the summer,
a circumstance that, from the visitor's point of view —
since Paraguay is a winter rather than a summer
resort — is much to be commended.

The figures below give the average monthly
rainfall throughout the year, as calculated by a
Paraguayan authority. The quantities are worked
out in millimetres: — '

January ... ...

mm.
106

Tuly .

mm.
08

February
March

151

137
181

August
September ..
October

63
125
196

May ..

14.2

November ..

163

Tune ..

106

December .

160

It will be seen from this that, if the distribution
of the rainfall be convenient for the tourist, it is also
favourable for an infinitely more important object,
the agricultural growths of the country. For it is
a matter of the utmost interest to these industries
that the seasons should not be divided into alternate
periods of drought and downpour as is the case
in so many tropical1 countries. In Paraguay a certain
amount of moisture is always at hand from one year's
end to another, to compensate for the desiccating
effects of the brilliant sunshine. It is largely owing
to this, of course, that such an unusual luxuriance
is evident in the vegetation of the Republic.

Very few of the more precious minerals, it may
be said, are met with in Paraguay. Iron abounds in
many parts, but has not yet been subjected to any
industrial tests of importance. Much copper is said

230 PARAGUAY

to exist in Encarnaci6n and Caapucii. Manganese,
too, is said to be abundant in various parts, more
especially in the Cordillerita, and marble is also
found. In 1779 important desposits of mercury were
supposed to have been discovered in some district or
other situated at a distance of 150 miles from Asun-
cion. The record of the exact locality, however, would
seem to have been lost. It is, indeed, probable
enough that, since no measures were suggested from
Spain — to which country samples of the mineral were
sent in 1779— much was lacking in either the quality
or the quantity of the supposed deposit.

CHAPTER XVI

TRAFFIC AND DEVELOPMENT

The establishment of the steam ferry across the Alto Parana — A momen-
tous link — The shadow of contemporary events — Results of the Great
War — Economic situation — A postponement of benefits — Country
traversed by the line — The garden of South America — The journey
by rail from Buenos Aires to Asuncion — The ferry from Zarate to
Ibicuy — From the Parana to the Uruguay — Ramifications of the
system — An enchanting landscape — Peculiarities of the Misiones
earth — The passage of the Alto Parana — Paraguay — Sub-tropical
exuberance of the landscape — Effects of the international crisis on
the time-table — Influence of the railway — Political considerations —
Industrial impetus — Forthcoming railroad connection with Brazil —
Extensive international ramifications — A new southern line — Para-
guay's future as a tourist resort — The attractions of Asuncion and
San Bernardino — Other points of interest — Some waterfalls and
ruins — Local travelling — Difficulties of the by-ways — Bullock carts —
Inconveniences of the soil — Chaco inundations.

IT was in 1913 that occurred one of the most impor-
tant events in the history of Paraguay. It is true
that this was in no way connected with politics,
presidents, or constitutions. All that actually
occurred, in fact, was the establishment of the
steam ferry across the Alto Parand River, by means
of which communication was opened up between the
Paraguay Central Railway and the Argentine North
Eastern Railway. But the link was actually of the
most momentous order ; for it was the last in the
lengthy chain by which the inland State of Paraguay
for the first time in its history was given a direct
road to the sea independent of the watery highway
offered by its great river.

231

232 PARAGUAY

By means of this steam ferry, which bodily trans-
ports the trains between Posadas on the Argentine
shore and Encarnaci6n on the opposite Paraguayan
bank, Asuncion is now in direct railway communi-
cation not only with Buenos Aires, but with the
Uruguayan capital of Montevideo in addition. The
true importance of this achievement has been con-
siderably obscured by the shadow of contemporary
events. From the point of worldwide acknowledg-
ment it was certainly unfortunate that the fruit of
all the years of work and preparation should have
come to maturity just at a period when the countries
of the Rio de la Plata — suffering from the European
complications hatched in the Balkans — were under-
going a financial crisis. This in itself was sufficient
to depress the spirits of the most resolute share-
holders ; but when in the following year the great
European War broke out, scarcely a ray of light
seemed to be left on the horizon.

It was inevitable, of course, that this gigantic
catastrophe should lead to an unprecedented situa-
tion in Paraguay. Thus, instead of the " bumper "
freights and financial profit which in ordinary circum-
stances could scarcely have failed to attend the
enterprise, a far less satisfactory situation had to
be faced. This has been admirably explained in
the Paraguay Central Railway's report for the year
ending on the 3Oth of June, 1915 : —

" The situation of Paraguay has been entirely
abnormal : the economic life of the country passed
through a period of rapid changes. Much of the
business effected during the past year has been inci-
dental to this abnormal condition ; that is to say, is
perhaps due less to a healthy increase in the output
of produce, where increase has occurred, than to
efforts to adjust changing values to the new con-
ditions.

" For example, produce has in some cases been

TRAFFIC AND DEVELOPMENT 233

exported in satisfaction of debts abroad, whereas in
normal times money payments would have been made.
In some cases the depreciation of the currency enabled
exporters to purchase native products at unusually
favourable prices, but the rise in freights, etc., and
the congestion of ocean traffic soon tended to make
these profits illusory. The depreciation of the currency,
enabled the timber companies to save on wages and
to sell in Argentina, where a stock of Paraguayan
timber has accumulated. On the other hand, the
same cause affected the internal cattle trade adversely,
and the depreciation of the paper money has, perhaps
more than anything else, contributed to the im-
poverishment of the people."

It is clear enough that a situation such as this could
not fail to result in a fall in traffic receipts. But,
although the vastly increased commerce that had been
anticipated with so much' reason has not yet
materialized, there is no question whatever but that
its advent is merely postponed, and that when once
the normal situation has been re-established in South
America and throughout the world, the benefits of
this most important railway communication must be
experienced to the full. In the meantime some of the
results of the traffic workings of recent years will
be found in the Appendix.

It has practically become an axiom now among
the railway experts of South America that a railway
line makes its own traffic. This has proved the
case even where the lines have been flung out into
a desert and unpopulated country. As it happens, the
region through which this new line passes, both to
the north and south of the Alto Parana River, is
neither desert nor unpopulated. It is, in fact, that
very garden of South America in which the Jesuits
of old raised their varied and very abundant crops.
All that has been required to invest these districts
with their former smiling fertility has been the touch

234 PARAGUAY

of a railway line, and a few whiffs of smoke from
an engine ! But for this matter-of-fact magic the
neighbourhood has cried out in vain until now
— and even now, as has been explained, the magic
touch cannot become operative until the return of
normal conditions.

The journey by rail from the Atlantic coast to
Asuncion is a sufficiently remarkable one, and affords
a notable instance of the triumph of the engineer
over natural obstacles. Should the traveller start
from Buenos Aires he will soon discover that, in the
ramifications of the railway route, the stream of the
Alto Parana is not the only one which separates him
from Asuncion. Less than three hours' run, as a
matter of fact, brings him to the bank of the mighty
main river itself, the Parana proper. Here, at the
port of Zarate waits the giant steam ferry-boat that
receives the long train in three divisions on its deck,
and that sets out on her voyage along the waters of
the river. To those who choose to remain within
the railway carriages the sensations of this completely
noiseless progress, void, moreover, of any vibration,
is , sufficiently strange.

A far more interesting plan, however, is to alight
from the railway carriage and to mount to the
spacious upper deck, whence the ramifications of the
various channels of the river can be observed. After
four hours or so of this passage of the still waters,
the square bow of the ferry fits itself into the groove
prepared for it at Ibicuy on the Entre-Rios shore.
After this the train rumbles off on to the land lines,
forms itself again into a single row of carriages, and
makes its way to the north through the Argentine
province of Entre-Rios.

At the important railway centre of Concordia the
waters of another great South American river, the
Uruguay, come in sight. At this point, by ferrying
across the stream — but on this occasion independently

TRAFFIC AND DEVELOPMENT 235

of the railway carriages — and entering the train at the
Uruguayan city of Salto on the opposite bank, direct
communication is available with Montevideo, the
Uruguayan capital that reposes on the northern bank
of the great estuary, just where the Atlantic Ocean
ends and the river begins.

From this point onwards the interest of the journey
waxes with an almost bewildering rapidity. By the
time that the junction of Monte Caseros has been
reached, the wealth of verdure and blossom that
comes pressing forward to the line at intervals has
notably increased. Here and there is caught a
glimpse of the upper waters of the Uruguay River
— clear and sparkling reaches, these, that differ
completely from the broad yellow flood nearer the
mouth.

As the train enters the northernmost Argentine
province of Misiones — the northernmost, that is to say,
so far as these eastern territories are concerned — the
enchanting slopes, valleys, and patches of woodland
make it perfectly clear that the garden of South
America chosen of old by the Jesuits has been entered.
The soil has become a rich red — a tint that in its
way suggests the Devon earth. This ruddy shade is
characteristic of these regions that still largely await
development, of the coffee lands of Brazil, and of
a great part of Paraguay itself.

It is undoubtedly fertile to a degree, this warm,
bright earth of these favoured neighbourhoods. It
possesses, moreover, various peculiarities of its own.
In periods of drought its dust clouds are formidable,
and in times of heavy rain the mud into which it
resolves itself is not only unusually deep, but at the
same time most extraordinarily tenacious. He who
takes an involuntary roll in the mud of Paraguay
and of these neighbouring districts must make up
his mind to bear the ruddy stains on his clothes for
a very long time to come ; for it is no more to be

236 PARAGUAY

banished by a casual application of the ordinary
brush than is a host of swamp mosquitoes to be
discouraged by such inefficient opponents as a pair
of human hands. But, so far as the Paraguayan soil
is concerned, it is easy to put up with such minor
inconveniences in view of its most generous services
as a producing agent.

Advancing steadily northwards over the new line,
once again the waters of a great stream come in sight.
Embowered in a more luxuriant screen of verdure
than those other waters to the south, the beautiful
Alto Parana River endeavours to bar with its stream
the way into Paraguay. It now entirely lacks that
success it enjoyed in the past. The railway companies
have seen to that, and the steam ferry which awaits
the train lies against the bank in massive proof of
their triumph.

The great vessel which takes the train upon its
deck at this port of Posadas is modelled on exactly
the same lines as the one which plied between the
southern ports of Zdrate and Ibicuy, and sets out
upon the waters with a similar conviction of tre-
mendous power, which, for some reason or other,
seems far more apparent here than it does in the
ordinary steam vessel. In one respect, however, this
second passage is more momentous than was the
first. It is an international one, and its conclusion
lands the traveller in the Paraguayan port of Villa
Encarnaci6n.

From this point ten hours or so of railway travel
take the passenger to the end of his journey. But
there will be much to see before he arrives at the
town of Asuncion. It is true that, on the whole, the
landscape closely resembles the smiling country of
Misiones ; but with every northward mile the sub-
tropical exuberance becomes more manifest. The
lapacho -trees grow taller, and the spreading clusters
of their pink blossom still more abundant. The

TRAFFIC AND DEVELOPMENT 237

forest patches that alternate with the rolling open
country become denser, while the clearings in the
woodland are more closely populated with a dancing
flight of gorgeous butterflies, and carpeted with an
added profusion of brilliant flowers.

The speech of the populace is now Guarani — a
proof that we have really and truly left the cosmo-
politan ethics of the south far behind. We are,
in fact, among the landscape, people, and fruits
of Paraguay. Since these are described in other
places, we may leave them for the present, and
turn to some of the practical considerations of
the railway.

The disadvantageous circumstances which prevailed
when the junction with the Argentine railways was
effected have already been referred to. These have
naturally affected the time-tables of the international
trains. In the first place it had been intended to
run three international trains each way in the week ;
but the present crisis has caused the number of
these to be reduced to one each week.

As I have already endeavoured to point out, it
would be absurd to estimate the prospects of the
railway from this. The mere possibility of reach-
ing Asuncion in fifty hours from Buenos Aires must
in normal times offer an outlook sufficiently tempting
to be resisted by very few who have the means to
afford the trip, whether they be commercial folk or
tourists. But before dealing with these latter the
larger political and industrial situation, as influenced
by the railway, must be considered.

The tendency of lines such as this to reduce dis-
turbed populations to a condition of ordered and
occupied tranquillity has already been referred to.
That this influence will be exerted in Paraguay before
long is, humanly speaking, as inevitable as that the
country through which the line passes must receive
an industrial impetus such as it has never before

238 PARAGUAY

experienced. As it is, both the cattle and the orange
traffic from Paraguay are showing signs of consider-
able development. But the future of the railway is
bound up with the future of the Republic — it is a
platitude, this — and no rapid progress can be looked
for until a normal situation has come about again in
the world.

The next important feature of the railway de-
velopment in Paraguay will be the connection
by rail of the inland Republic with Brazil : this
line will run from Asuncion to the east, tending very
slightly to the north. The railway will enter Brazil
in the close neighbourhood of the famous Falls of
Iguazu, where it will be linked up with the Brazilian
systems connecting with Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo,
Santos, and all the principal ports and cities of the
centre and south. By this means, indeed, an alternate
railway connection with the Uruguayan capital of
Montevideo will be offered.

The first sections of the line, starting from
Asuncion, have already been completed. The topo-
graphical difficulties of the further sections, where
the line enters the mountainous country, are naturally
very much greater than those of the first, and the
progress here cannot be expected to proceed with
the same rapidity. When this work, however, has
been completed the strategical situation of the inland
Republic, instead of being disadvantageous, will have
much to commend it. Asuncion, in fact, will form
one point of a great railroad triangle, the other
two points being respectively Buenos Aires and
Rio de Janeiro. This will mark the completion
of the main railway ramifications of the inter-
national system of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay,
and Brazil.

Another railroad which in course of time must
prove of great interest has been begun, running south-
ward from Paraguari station on the Central Paraguay

TRAFFIC AND DEVELOPMENT 239

railway. It is possible that this may be eventually
carried to the south as far as the Parana River.

It is difficult to see, when political circumstances
have once permanently adjusted themselves in Para-
guay, what conditions can arise to interfere with the
prosperity of the country. Speaking from the in-
dustrial point of view, the great variety of the
Paraguayan products in itself constitutes a safeguard
against a comprehensive financial depression. More-
over, the roles which Paraguay is destined to play
in the future must necessarily increase as the true
importance of the neighbouring countries begins to
assert itself.

Thus, apart from all question of pastoral and
agricultural products, there is no doubt that Paraguay
has a considerable future before it as a pleasure
resort. Twenty years ago a prediction such as this
would have been received with complete incredulity ;
but things move quickly in the south-east of the
continent. The ease with which, in normal times,
riches are accumulated in Argentina has already pro-
duced a very well-defined demand for pleasure resorts
in the convenient neighbourhood of that great
Republic .

In response to this have sprung into being such
bathing -places as Mar del Plata in Argentina itself,
Pogitos in the neighbourhood of the Uruguayan
capital, and half a dozen similar pleasure towns
where the salt breezes of the Atlantic tend to counter-
act the summer heat of the interior. All such resorts,
however, are designed for the warm months only, and
there are many who are by no means loath to slip
away during a few weeks of the short, but fairly
sharp, mid- Argentine winter.

The new Brazilian resort of Guarujd, in the neigh-
bourhood of Santos, has begun to cater for a demand
such as this. But it must be admitted that,
although the relations between the Argentines and

240 PARAGUAY

the Brazilians are now most satisfactory, the Argen-
tine as a general rule prefers to take his pleasure
in a spot where his own speech prevails. That
Paraguay is admirably adapted for this purpose has
already been proved by the increasing numbers of
Argentines who have taken to visiting its balmy
lands in the winter.

Up to the present the two chief resorts of this
kind have been Asuncion and San Bernardino, a
very pleasant spot on a picturesque lake to the east
of Asuncion, situated at two or three hours' journey
from the capital. But in that future which the march
of the great southern continent should — with a very
moderate degree of optimism — 'be expected to bring
about, these two pleasant spots could only rank as
the headquarters of a wide field of places of notable
interest. The magnificent Falls of the Iguazu are
in themselves sufficient to draw all the way from
Europe and North America visitors who would see
a cascade of water the volume of which is exceeded
by no other, and the natural beauties of which are
probably unique in the world.

It requires very little imagination, moreover, to
picture the power of attraction which the Jesuit ruins
must exercise when once their situation becomes
generally known. In actual size they are, of course,
small affairs when compared with the gigantic piles
of Inca remains that obtain in Peru and Bolivia.
But their intrinsic interest is at least as great, and
the haunting charm of their situation is of a kind
which it would be difficult to match elsewhere.
Perhaps it is part of the tragedy of their existence
that such objects as these should constitute an asset
of these modern days when regarded from the point
of view of tourist traffic !

It must be admitted that, once away from the
track of the railway or the main water highways,
the travelling facilities in Paraguay are of a primi-

TRAFFIC AND DEVELOPMENT 241

tive order. The ubiquitous horse is, of course, always
at the disposal of the wayfarer ; but this necessitates
travelling " light," and where much baggage is con-
cerned the complications of the way are not to be
under-estimated in many districts.

The homely bullock-cart, as a matter of fact, is
the chief stand-by of the heavily laden traveller in
the rural districts, and on journeys of any length he
must accommodate the pace of his horse to that
of the slow and ponderous oxen. These carts are
provided with extraordinarily high wheels, which
prove an efficient preventative against the disaster of
being bogged, although, even with this precaution,
such a fate as this is by no means unknown.

As may be imagined, the. country roads in
Paraguay leave not a little to be desired in the way
of surface. Although the soil in many districts is
far more favourable for the purposes of road-making
than that of the southern alluvial provinces of Argen-
tina, the depth of mud which is apt to be churned
up in the rainy seasons and the volume of the dust-
clouds which the wheels call into being during the
dry periods are on a sufficiently wholesale scale to
astonish the new-comer to the land.

In the Chaco, moreover, such drawbacks as these
are accentuated by the very peculiar nature of the
lower strata of the earth. The top soil here con-
sents to drink in the periodical inundations ; but
when this has once been thoroughly permeated, the
waters find themselves barred from a further descent
by a curiously hard substratum. This is one of
the principal reasons why for long periods great
stretches of country resemble a vast but extra-
ordinarily shallow lake, being entirely covered with
water to the depth, perhaps, of two or three feet.
It is necessary for the traveller to make his way,
through this, just as though he were proceeding along
a dry road, and, in consequence, horses and oxen

242

PARAGUAY

have to splash their way across an apparently inter-
minable stretch of water. Something of this sort
is to be met with in two or three regions of Paraguay
proper ; but the conditions are much more those of
true marsh land than those which prevail in the
Chaco.

CHAPTER XVII

BY RIVER TO PARAGUAY

Up-stream journeys of a former age — The river schooners — Some records
of the mid-nineteenth century — A description by Mansfield — Intricate
navigation — Traffic of the present day — Senor Nicolas Mihanovich —
The Argentine Navigation Company — Charm of the journey from
Buenos Aires to Asuncion — The passage from the industrial to the
picturesque — Aspects of the landscape — Influence of the sub-tropics
— The vegetation of the banks — The Chaco shore — Insect pests —
Superabundance of mosquitoes and bichos — Winged life of the river
reaches — The parting of the river ways — The Paraguay stream —
Some questions of fluvial nomenclature — Beauties of the Paraguay
River — Characteristics of the Bermejo — Alligators — The first Para-
guayan port — Some features of Humaita — The ruined church — Tem-
perament of the Paraguayan — Recuperative force of the nation —
Evidence of Chaco industry — Quebracho logs — How the timber is
floated down the river — The mouth of the Pilcomayo — Asuncion —
Nationalities concerned in the river traffic — Steamship companies —
Foreign warships — Motor craft — Chatas and " dug-outs."

THE most leisurely, and in some respects the most
picturesque, method of reaching Paraguay is by way
of the great river system. This, moreover, is the
time-honoured way, although in the age of sailing-
vessels the journey was wont to occupy almost as
many months as the modern steamer employs days.
Indeed, the accounts of many of these up-stream
journeys — dating backwards from the mid-nineteenth
century — in small river schooners afford fascinating
reading to all who are interested in this species of
travel. In those days the vessels did not plough
their way up the waters with the comparative regu-
larity of the twentieth-century steamer, that only
runs foul of a sandbank on rare occasions in the

243

244 PARAGUAY

seasons of low water, and that, when completely
held up in this fashion, is wont to back and to
charge her way across the obstacle much in the
way that a horse takes a stiff fence.

The topsail river schooners made a more varied
trip of it than this. In their day the Robertsons,
Hinchliffe, Mansfield, and a dozen others have left
some interesting records of this. Having already
introduced horse metaphor into these aquatic matters,
it may be said that when the coveys of small craft
went sailing up to Paraguay their course resembled
that of a steeplechase I Certainly the accidents of
the way — mostly connected with v bumping the mud "
— were sufficiently numerous to render precarious the
situation of every boat in the flotilla.

Here are some paragraphs from Mansfield, written
after nearly a month on board, when the vessel
on which he was a passenger was approaching
Corrientes : —

" This whole voyage has been a race between us
and the Neptuno (she is close to us now) and several
others — a regatta of a thousand miles 1 The Adelaide
was left behind at Parand, distanced ; she lost the
best south gale by some passengers having gone
ashore for whom she had to wait ; of the other
vessels we have left behind all but one, which has
regularly sailed away from us to-day. No doubt
we shall leave the Neptuno behind to-night, if the
wind keep up, as our captain is much the most
plucky. . . . The channel we were now sailing up
is a fine wide reach, apparently, one would suppose,
the main trunk of the river ; the reason that we
did not take it this morning was that there is very
rarely water enough over the bank at its mouth, at
the place where the other small channel forks from
it, to allow any vessel to pass ; while ordinarily all
the ships pass up the little narrow channel in which
we had stuck. By accident, however, the usual

BY RIVER TO PARAGUAY 245

channel had got silted up shallow, and stopped us,
so that instead of being ahead of all the others we
were now last ; but by accident the other channel
was opener than usual, and we found it out, though
not till after the other ships had gone by us up
the small channel ; so we alone got the benefit of
the discovery. The consequence of this is, that if
this breeze continues we shall make a good run
of eight or nine leagues before we come to another
turn in the river, through which it will not carry
us, while the rest of the squadron (except two little
vessels who preceded us this way in the morning) will
have been obliged to anchor again a mile or two
above, where they gave us the go-by, on account
of the turning of the channel slightly towards the
wind in one place. Such is river navigation in
sailing-boats : running aground is a great bore, but
it must be remembered that in all our voyage we
have only been really stuck three times."

This will give some idea of the intricacies with
which the sailing-vessels of those days had to con-
tend. As a matter of fact, their course is no less
complicated at the present time ; but, as they are
now wont to be innocent of passengers, these troubles
of the trips very rarely meet the public eye.

The steamers which ply to-day between Paraguay
and the mouth of the Rio de la Plata belong to a
company which is now in the third stage of its
development. Originally a British company, it was
taken over by Seftor Nicolas Mihanovich, who became
famous as a king of the navigation of the great river
system. Within recent years, however, the enter-
prise has again become British, and is now known
as t'he Argentine Navigation Company.

He who can afford time for an up-river journey
from Buenos Aires to Asuncion will find the experi-
ence as instructive as anything else of the kind
throughout South America. It is true that the flat

246 PARAGUAY

pastures which go to make up the earlier stretches of
the landscape lack a good deal from the picturesque
point of view. But it is this very distribution of
the scenery which adds to the charm of the trip, for,
as the sub-tropical regions begin to exert their influ-
ence, and as the banks approach each other more
nearly, the charm of the surroundings increases
steadily.

After a certain point has been reached there are
very few hours or dozens of miles which are not
productive of some new feature or other to captivate
the eye of the traveller. But not until that famous
wheat centre, the Argentine town of Rosario, has
been reached does this phase of the journey begin.
There for the first time the flat, reed-covered banks
of the river fall away, to give place to definite
barrancas, or cliffs, that boldly mark the edge of
the great stream. When the grain-shoots and line
of moored steamers that mark this thriving town
have been passed, the sandstone cliff continues at
intervals on alternate banks ; the vivid scarlet of
the ceibo-tree becomes more frequent, and the clumps
of camelota, the floating water hyacinth, tend to
increase in size. The districts, moreover, are obey-
ing one of the primal laws of the world in that, as
the blossoms, birds, and butterflies increase in
brilliancy, so does the human complexion tend to
grow duskier. But here this applies only to the
humbler people on the banks and to the fisherfolk and
watermen who sit in their crude dugout canoes. The
more important persons continue white-skinned, the
sole distinction between them and their brethren of
the lower reaches of the river being that they now
begin to form the aristocracy of the land instead
of standing as the mere representatives of the
wealthier classes.

When the roofs and parks and gardens of Parana"
have been passed and the buildings of Colastine",

BY RIVER TO PARAGUAY 247

the river port of Santa Fe', have been left behind,
the warmer airs already give a foretaste of what is
to come farther to the north. All this time the
vegetation has been increasing on the banks. The
wide stretches of open, treeless pastures have long
ago fallen away. The country where the cattle graze
is now pleasantly interspersed with clumps of indi-
genous trees, and the line of the banks is obscured
in parts by dense clusters of verdure, in which the
palms begin to occupy a more and more important
space.

Presently on the right bank of the river, and
thus to the left of the steamer's bow, appears that
curious low-lying country of the Chaco, the alternate
forests, swamps, and pastures that extend from here
northwards through the entire length of Paraguay
and well into Bolivia on the other side. There are
orchids hanging up aloft among the foliage now, and
doubtless a monkey or two among the denser clumps
of woodland. But these pioneer creatures of the
tropics to the north are rare enough here, and in any
case are invisible. Their presence thus is generally
unsuspected by the new-comer, which is not the case
with the mosquitoes and those clouds of other bichos,
whose numbers increase in the most amazing fashion
with almost every hour that goes by.

Indeed, did one judge of the winged pests of these
neighbourhoods by the myriads which abound above
the fervid waters, the outlook would be sufficiently
unpromising even to the most mosquito-hardened of
men. The song of this plague is continuous
of an evening now, and when the daylight has
vanished in the abrupt fashion in which it is wont
to fade away in these latitudes, the electric globes
of the steamer are all but obscured by the insects
that dance about them so thickly as to resemble
dense clouds of smoke that roll in confused masses
about a half-seen flame 1 Fortunately, these river

248 PARAGUAY

reaches— most beloved of all the haunts of the
winged creatures — do not afford a fair and moderate
sample of the insect life of these latitudes, quite
considerable enough though the usual run of this is
wont to be.

Arrived at the Argentine town of Corrientes, one
of the most important strategic spots in the whole
river system has been reached. To one bound up-
stream this is the parting of the river ways. A
few miles to the north of the town the choice is
open to the traveller whether he will turn to the
right and ascend the waters of the Alto Parand,
with Argentina on his right hand and Paraguay on
his left, or whether he will keep straight on to the
north and reverse this territorial situation, having
Argentina on his left and Paraguay on his right.

The main line of the waters, with Asuncion as
its object, lies straight to the north, and almost
immediately after leaving Corrientes the steamer has
entered the Paraguay River. It is at this point
that the somewhat curious nomenclature of the
various streams becomes most evident. It is the
remarkable fate of the Paraguayan when bound from
his home to the Atlantic Ocean to have to descend
three different rivers, or, if you prefer it, various
stretches of the same river known by three different
names. From the point of view of fluvial equity,
there is no doubt that considerable wrong has been
done to the River Paraguay in the way of nomen-
clature. Why this splendid navigable stream, at
its junction with the cascade-broken and far shorter
Alto Parand, should yield its name to that of the
lesser current, and should continue to flow south-
wards as the Parand, is a sufficiently incomprehen-
sible matter to most geographers. And then, when
it has all but run its course, the river performs ia
second wedding, with the Uruguay this time, and
again changes its name. But on this occasion neither

BY RIVER TO PARAGUAY 249

stream obtains the advantage over the other, for
both roll their few remaining miles to the sea under
the entirely fresh name of La Plata. Neverthe-
less, there does not seem to be a doubt that, from
the point of view of importance, the name of the
great stream which rises to the north of the inland
Republic should be the Paraguay for its entire course
as far as the ocean.

This digression, however, has led us away from
the up-stream journey to Asuncion. Once in the
Paraguay River, the beauties of the scene would
seem to have become more marked. The banks
have drawn sufficiently near to each other for their
increasing charms to become plain. No longer does
the steamer steer a tortuous course through a maze
of low and reedy islands that never permit the
stranger to be certain whether he is gazing on
the mainland or whether further channels at the
back lie between him and the actual shore.

Now the banks of the stream, with their flower-
starred vegetation, are plainly defined. Once to the
north of the mouth of the Bermejo tributary, more-
over, which pours its amazingly red and muddy waters
into the main stream, the river has become com-
paratively limpid. Alligators had already made their
appearance in the Parand ; but such banks of
sand and mud as emerge here and there from
the waters of the Paraguay are far more thickly
covered with the sluggish bodies of the small
saurians, that in these latitudes seldom exceed six
or seven feet.

Presently, as the steamer drops her anchor before
a port to her right, there is a significant touch of
colour about the small official boat which puts out
to her from the shore. Hitherto the light blue and
white of Argentina has flown at the stern of these
craft. But from this one for the first time floats
the red, white, and blue of Paraguay. The steamer

250 PARAGUAY

has" arrived at Humaita, the first port of the inland
Republic.

This alone would suffice to render the port a
sufficiently significant spot. But Humaita has more
to show than this. On the bank are the massive
ruins of a church pricking up gauntly against the
deep-blue sky. The battle record of Humaita has
been told in a previous chapter ; but here is a visible
reminder of that extraordinarily fierce war, when
Paraguay took the field against the combined forces
of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. Ruined though
it is, the great dull-red structure, battered and holed,
is very much the largest in the place — a fitting
monument for so great a tragedy as was the
Paraguayan .War.

But if the ruined church of Humaitd affords a
somewhat grim welcome to Paraguay, the matter is
more than atoned for by the tranquil beauty of the
surroundings and by the placid and smiling air of
the Paraguayans themselves. They, at all events,
are not in the least obsessed by the past shadow of
that great war which wrecked the lives of so many
thousands of their parents and grandparents. The
pessimist might argue, of course, that the number
of internal struggles which have occurred in the
interval between 1870 and the present day have been
sufficient to drive the memories of a dozen great
wars from the minds of people possessed of even
the most brooding temperament !

The average Paraguayan is certainly of no brood-
ing1 temperament, as the sight of their tranquil faces
will assure the new-comer. If he has escaped the
obsession of the great war, it is certainly not on
account of the later troubles which have visited his
country ; for these he would seem to have taken
as lightly as he did the first. The atmosphere of
Paraguay may not be of the kind which stimulates
a remarkable degree of energy ; on the other hand.

BY RIVER TO PARAGUAY 251

it is clear that it contains no element of depression.
The recuperative force of the Paraguayan is suffi-
ciently eloquent on this head. The manner in which
the country recovered from the blows from without
which all but annihilated its inhabitants was the
amazement pf all who witnessed it. People such
as this may be trusted to throw off as rapidly jthe
aftermath of their internal political troubles when
the time comes for these to be regarded definitely
as fragments of history left well behind.

With such comforting reflections we may continue
to make our way up-stream towards Asuncion. On
the right hand the plantations grow more varied
as the fields of tobacco, sugar-cane, ancl banana-
trees come to take their place among the maize and
the other growths that from time to time have adorned
the banks from the start of the voyage. Here the
reed huts grow more frequent, and the groups
of swarthy labourers — or loungers — become more
numerous .

On the Chaco shore the scene remains much the
same throughout. The casual traveller would find
it difficult to hazard a guess as to what was going
on behind the dense fringe of vegetation that covers
the low and mysterious shore. Here and there, how-
ever, a spacious clearing, and the sight of a small
engine that goes puffing along its light rails, effec-
tually prove that there are already important tracts
of the Chaco which are no longer given over to the
savage Indian, the tapir, and the innumerable other
beasts, birds, and insects of that strange region.

It is possible that you may even see a raft putting
out from this shore, a double- decked arrangement
with light timbers beneath and the valuable quebracho
logs on top. So weighty are these latter that, un-
aided, they absolutely refuse to float in water. In
order that they may make their river journey, there-
fore, it is essential to support them on a substructure

252 PARAGUAY

of timber of lighter gravity, and, thus carried, they
float down to the factories that are waiting to extract
the much-prized tannin which they contain.

In this particular region, although its attributes
remain much the same throughout, the Chaco happens
to be Argentine territory. Not until the mouth of
the Pilcomayo River appears on the port bow of
the steamer is the point reached at which the
northernmost stretch of Argentina falls away, and
Paraguayan territory extends on either hand. This
important spot, as a matter of fact, is by no means
easy to distinguish from the rest, for the main river
is broad here, and the banks of the Pilcomayo are
so low as to render its mouth difficult to make
out.

To one who is familiar with maps of the country
a much clearer indication of the geography of the
place is afforded by the roofs and spires of Asun-
cion pricking upwards from the imposing mass of
buildings that spreads itself widely over the rolling
ground in the midst of the pleasant verdure that
abounds at the spot.

To turn to the commercial aspects of the stream,
river traffic on the Paraguay, it may be said, is
carried on almost entirely by Paraguayan, Argentine,
Brazilian, and Uruguayan vessels, some variety being
occasionally afforded by a few small Bolivian and
Italian ships. For a considerable number of years
there is no record, I believe, of vessels of any other
nationality having penetrated as far as Asuncion, the
navigable limit for ocean-going vessels being Colas-
tine', on the Parana, the port of the Argentine city
of Santa Fe\ The two chief shipping companies
connected with the Paraguay River are the Mi-
hanovich Steamship Company, now known as the
Argentine Navigation Company, and the Lloyd
Brasileiro. The latter company runs its steamers
direct as far as Corumba, in the Brazilian province

• f fl

BY RIVER TO PARAGUAY 253

f Matto Grosso, and the Argentine Navigation Com-
pany now follows suit, performing two direct journeys
each month from Buenos Aires to Corumba.

Towards the middle of the nineteenth century,
when small paddle-steamers were in vogue as gun-
boats, several warships of British, French, and United
States nationality steamed up-stream to visit Asun-
cion, one of these cruises— that of the U.S. war
teamer Waterwitch — being especially notable on
account of the valuable description of the country
iven by the American Lieutenant Thomas Page.
The practice on the part of foreign Governments of
proceeding so far up-stream as Asuncion has been
abandoned from sheer necessity, no vessels of suffi-
iently light draught being available among the
modern vessels of the kind. The visits of Argentine
ind Brazilian gunboats, however, are frequent enough,
tnd it is no uncommon sight to see these craft,
pecially adapted for the river, anchored off
Asuncion.

This latter port, by the way, is most liberally
provided with motor-launches, and this type of vessel
5 now tending to grow common throughout the entire
:ngth of the river. There is no doubt that in course
f time these great streams must provide one of
ic chief markets in the world for this type of
raft, many of the ordinary boats used for carrying
ruit, firewood, and other such goods to market being
already provided with an auxiliary motor-engine. The
nimbler craft which ply the waters of the Paraguay,
dodging in and out of the large and small tributaries,
are the rafts, or chatas, laden with cargoes of all
cinds, and the dugout canoes, these latter used prin-
ipally by the Indians.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE CHIEF CITIES OF THE REPUBLIC

Asuncion — Some attributes of the capital — Its atmosphere — First impres-
sions— Aspects of the town — Principal buildings — Changing aspects
of the Asuncion streets — The architecture of to-day — The inhabitants
of the capital — Amenities of the spot — The " Belvedere" — Scenes in
the garden — Tastes of the better-class inhabitants — Influence of the
modern spirit — Regattas and sports — The progress of football — San
Bernardino — Paraguay's principal pleasure resort — Attractions of the
spot — Villa Rica— The second city of the Republic — Benefits accorded
by the new line — Villa Rica as the centre of an agricultural district —
Origin of the majority of its inhabitants — Encarnacion — An important
spot on the railway — History of the development brought about by
the railway — The Paraguayan situation compared with the Argentine
— Reasons for the absence of a "boom" in the former country —
Influence of the internal political situation and the abnormal con-
dition of Europe — Villa Conception — The navigable limit of the Para-
guay River — An important northern centre — Some characteristics of
the lesser cities.

PARAGUAY possesses few towns which can lay claim
to much importance in the way of population. It
is probable, indeed, that there are only seven in the
Republic— Asuncion, Villa Rica, Concepci6n, Cara-
pegua, Villa del Pilar, Paraguari, and San Pedro— the
number of whose inhabitants run well into five figures.
The first of the three is infinitely the most important.
Asuncion, in fact, which holds a population of some
eighty thousand, is the only city in Paraguay which
can be called large from the modern South American
point of view.

The next town in point of size is Villa Rica, to
the south-east of the capital, on the Central Paraguay

354

CHIEF CITIES OF THE REPUBLIC 255

Railway, which probably numbers thirty thousand
inhabitants or so. The Port of Concepci6n, away
to the north on the Paraguay River, contains little
more than half this population, and the remaining
towns fall below this again in point of numbers.
It will be evident from these figures that the urban
population of the inland Republic is by no means
overwhelming, a circumstance which is not neces-
sarily in the least detrimental to the interests of the
country.

Asuncion, the capital of the Republic, would be
a notable spot in a far more populous country than
Paraguay. Apart from its industrial and commercial
significance, it is an unusually pleasant town situated
among charming surroundings. Those who expect to
find in the capital of Paraguay the bustle and anima-
tion that characterizes such cities as Buenos Aires,
Montevideo, and Rosario will very soon find them-
selves mistaken.

Notwithstanding the fact that it is now provided
with an electric service of tramways, and that the
traveller may now enter his compartment at the rail-
way station and remain undisturbed until he alights
in Buenos Aires, the atmosphere of Asuncion is still
deliberate and mildly antagonistic to anything in the
nature of real hurry.

As is the case with the majority of ports, the
entrance to Asuncion is effected in a more imposing
fashion by water than by land. The Customs House,
alongside which the steamer draws up, is a stately
enough edifice, and the broad stone stairway which
leads upwards to the arched entrance produces a
curiously classical effect, notwithstanding the modern
architecture of the building.

The houses of Asuncion rise with the bold upward
sweep of the shore. They are dominated in the fore-
ground by the great edifice, constructed by the
dictator Francisco Solano Lopez for his palace, which

256 PARAGUAY

now contains the various ministerial and public offices
of the State. Other buildings of note are the House
of Congress, the Cathedral, the Oratory, and the
extensive lowly building which in colonial days was
the residence of the Spanish Governors. The Museum
of Fine^Arts, founded by a distinguished Paraguayan,
D6rTjuan Silvano Godoi, is of more modest dimen-
sions, but among its treasures is a genuine Murillo —
a Virgin and Child. The National Library, too, can
boast a large collection of priceless historical docu-
ments. The theatre is a lowljy and somewhat unim-
pressive building, recalling the days when the archi-
tectural efforts of the South Americans ran to length
and breadth rather than height.

Notwithstanding the existence of such old-fashionedl
buildings as these, there is no doubt that the aspects
of the Asuncion streets have begun to undergo a
revolution which can only end in the complete meta-
morphosis of the city — for the atmosphere of both the
Americas would seem loath to tolerate half -measures
between the ruins of a completely past age and the
very latest inventions of the most modern town-
planner ! In the Asuncion streets have already
sprung up many of those rather florid erections with
which the inhabitants of Buenos Aires and Monte-
video have by this time become familiar.

It is true that these houses of the new Asuncion
have not yet attained to anything approaching the
height of those of the southern capitals. Never-
theless, down to their stone and stucco ornaments,
they are in all other respects practically identical.
It is these erections that are sounding the doom of
the lowly and simple buildings, of the fiatios with
their cool shade and flowering shrubs, and perhaps
eventually of the evening love-songs and even of the
guitar itself 1

But, although things are apt to move quickly in
the South America of to-day, it is difficult to conceive

WEAVING XANDUTI.

To face p. 257.

CHIEF CITIES OF THE REPUBLIC 257

any such poetical catastrophe as occurring to the
inhabitants of Asuncion who have sprung from the
old stock. Indeed, nothing short of an overwhelming
influx of foreigners is likely to achieve such an end ;
but, since such incursions have taken place else-
where, there is no reason why something of the kind
should not occur sooner or later in Asuncion.

In the meantime — at all events during those periods
when the city is free from political convulsion — the
rank and file of the inhabitants of Asuncion stroll
about in supreme content. Bare-footed men chat
at the street corners ; bare-footed women go by,
by no means lacking in loquacity, and many with
baskets poised upon their heads. Here and there
you may see sellers of the Nandutf, that famous
Paraguayan lace of a texture so elaborate and filmy
as to require an infinite patience in its making. Many
of these honest and happy-go-lucky folk are to be
met with in the public gardens such as the Plaza
Constituci6n and the Plaza Independencia. Spots
such as these are easily made beautiful in a climate
such as that of Paraguay, and the effects of the
wealth of blossoms and flowering shrubs may be
imagined.

Some time ago — whether the situation remains the
same since those tremendous events which have
happened outside Paraguay I cannot say — one of
the chief meeting-places for the Asuncion society
was the " Belvedere," an open-air cafe" on the out-
skirts of the capital, which was reached by means
of the tramcar that went rumbling along the tree-
shaded street. In the pleasant garden of the " Belve-
dere " Paraguayan ladies, ministers, officers, and
civilians in general would gather in the cool of the
late afternoon to sip their refreshment, and to chat
concerning the events of the day. In its own way
it was a sufficiently notable spot, and there is, after
all, no reason to suppose that the recent catastrophes

258 PARAGUAY

have altered the circumstances of the *' Belvedere "
to any appreciable extent.

The tastes of the better-class inhabitants of
Asuncion have remained simple enough up to the
present time. Perhaps some of the most salient
evidence of the new spirit with which the country
has become imbued is that afforded by the attention
which is now paid to sports and games. At the
present moment this is chiefly devoted to regattas
on the magnificent stretches of river available, and
to football of the Association variety, various clubs
being in existence in Asuncion. This game, as a
matter of fact, has made astonishing progress, con-
sidering that the first club to be formed in the
country was only founded some sixteen years ago.
Now there exist two football leagues in Asuncion
which are said to comprise twenty clubs, with a total
membership of almost a thousand. There is a certain
amount of horseracingi ; but this, as might be ex-
pected, is run in a very modest fashion compared
with the manner in which the sport is conducted in
the great centres in the south of the continent. When
the inhabitant of Asuncion desires a change of scene
he takes the train to Patino, which he reaches in a
little over an hour. From this point launches bear
him across the charming waters of Lake Ipacarai
to San Bernardino, the chief pleasure resort in
Paraguay.

San Bernardino, as a matter of fact, is no parvenu
in the way of pleasure resorts. It has enjoyed its
own quiet and modest fame for many decades now,
and there were many Paraguayans who, even before
that, proved themselves by no means insensible to
its beauties. But the future of San Bernardino can-
not well fail to eclipse its past. It is now provided
with a large hotel built in the modern style, and it
is probable enough that, when the conditions of the
world have returned to something approaching a

CHIEF CITIES OF THE REPUBLIC 259

normal state, this hotel will not be long without
rivals of its own kind.

San Bernardino, of course, has to thank the link-
ing up of the Paraguayan and Argentine railways
for the opportunity of exchanging its local repute for
a cosmopolitan fame. Until the mutual extension
was effected the only route by which the foreigner
could attain to San Bernardino was that involving the
up-river trip to Asuncion, whence the excursion could
be made. Now, San Bernardino lies on the main
railway route from either Buenos Aires or Montevideo
to Asuncion, and it is needless to dilate here upon
the difference which this must make as regards its
popularity before long.

That which applies to the pleasure resort of San
Bernardino holds good in a wider sense all along the
new line. The industrial and commercial advantages,
which this new means of communication must bring
to the districts through which it passes are sufficiently
obvious. One of the Paraguayan centres which bids
fair to reap its full share of the benefits of this is
Villa Rica, the second city of the Republic. Before
the completion of the line the best part of a week
might have been allowed for the journey from Buenos
Aires to Villa Rica. Now, barely forty hours separate
the two towns 1

No town is more worthy of these advantages than
Villa Rica. The centre of one of the most fertile
agricultural districts in South America, the stimulus
to the surrounding industries which has now come
into being will very soon react on the town itself :
it needs no special inspiration to prophesy that much.
A rapid increase of population here may be antici-
pated with some certainty. Its inhabitants, it may
be said, are supposed to consist very largely of the
descendants of the Guaranis of the Jesuit mission
settlements ; and this is probable enough, as Villa;
Rica came within the boundaries of the Jesuit rule.

260 PARAGUAY

Another town that must benefit from this new
order of affairs is Encarnacion, on the northern bank
of the Alto Parana River. It is true that Encaf-
naci6n has always been a port ; but, so far as river
traffic was concerned, it was unlikely ever to have
attained to any position of special importance, seeing
that the Alto Parand can only take rank as a second-
rate river from the point of view of navigation. Now
that it represents the junction between thte steam-
ferry and the land lines, it has become a spot of no
little present significance, which gives out great
promise for the future.

The history of this railway development, as a
matter of fact, presents one of the most extraordinary
features out of even that collection of unusual events
that goes to make up the chequered history of Para-
guayi The opening up of railway lines in the neigh-
bouring countries, more especially in Argentina, met
with an almost instantaneous response. Not only
did the industries concerned give an immediate
promise of a prosperity on a scale which had been
unimagined until them ; but, as a natural conse-
quence, the values of the lands affected began to rise
by leaps and bounds. Indeed, the pace of this
advance produced the effect of staggering many of
the old stagers, who found it difficult to believe that
a legitimate and inevitable advance to the higher
values of the new era was not largely the result of a
temporary " boom," which would one day shatter
the hopes and finances of those who had confided
in it.

It is not too much to say that in the south-east of
Paraguay every attribute is at hand which con-
tributed to the former immense rise in land values to
the south. If nothing approaching this has occurred
to the north of the Alto Parana^ the fault does not
lie with the Paraguayan soil, crops, or cattle. As
has been pointed out elsewhere, the reason for such

comparative stagnation as has followed the railway
extension is purely artificial. Every industrial con-
sideration has been governed by the internal political
situation of the Republic, and by the abnormal con-
dition of Europe. But if the full progressive force
of this railway has been so far curbed, it can be
permanently restrained no more . than could the
Guayra Falls be dammed ! But this is a fact with
which the majority of financiers are already familiar
enough.

Villa Concepci6n, the third city of Paraguay,
occupies an important strategic position on the banks
of the great river, seeing that it is situated at the
point which marks the end of the navigation by
steamers proper. Putting aside launches and such
minor craft, therefore, it may be said that Concepci6n
is the navigable limit of the River Paraguay. The
spot is served both by the steamers of the Argentine
Navigation Company and those of the Lloyd
Brasileiro.

The architectural pretensions of Concepci6n are
very moderate ; but at the same time the^ commercial
importance of the town as a dep6t for the produce
of northern Paraguay is considerable. Situated just
to the north of the tropic of Capricorn, it is the
northernmost Spanish town of importance on the
south-eastern river system. Its only rival to the
north, as a matter of fact, is the Brazilian town of
Cuyaba, situated on the Cuyabd affluent of the Para-
guay as far away as the neighbourhood of latitude
15° S., and thus not very remote from the spot
where the headwaters of the Amazon and of the
Paraguay begin to move on their respective north-
ward and southward courses. Such a tremendous
gap as this between the notable commercial centres
on the river bank will serve to demonstrate the im-
portance of Concepci6n.

The lesser cities of Paraguay have much to recom-

262

mend them, but as a rule their merits incline rather
towards the picturesque than towards any striking
features of architecture or of urban design. Descend-
ing again to the hamlets, many of these consist of
little more than a collection of reed huts, the principal
building of the majority of which1 is a long", low
church with its slanting roof and line of outside
cloisters. The belfry of many of these churches,
erected at the side of the main edifice, usually stands
apart as an independent, lightly erected tower of
wood.

CHAPTER XIX

IMMIGRATION AND COLONIES

Terms offered to settlers by the Paraguayan Government — Transport
facilities — Some hints concerning these — Advice concerning contracts
of employment — Paraguay as the country of the small agriculturist
— Foreign immigrants — Some statistics — Various nationalities con-
cerned— Estimated foreign population of Paraguay in 1913 — British
immigrants and trade — The colony of "New Australia'1 — The great
Australian strike — Its origin — William Lane — " Where Socialism
Failed" — Ideas of the founder — The appeal to the workers — Paraguay
as the home of experiment in socialism — A comparison with the
Jesuit system — Land offered by the Paraguayan Government — Gene-
rosity of the authorities — The first colonists sail in the Royal Tar —
An admirable type of immigrant — The arrival in Paraguay — Early
symptoms of the breakdown of the system — Disillusioned colonists —
Grievances of those who left — The work of honest visionaries — Lane
seeks a remedy in autocracy — Definite split among the colonists —
Foundations of the settlement of Cosme — Failure of the theories
when put into practice — A wrecked casket of lost visions — The
scheme is abandoned and the colony worked on a practical basis —
Success brought by the change.

IMMIGRATION into Paraguay has naturally occurred
on a far smaller scale than has been the case in
the countries nearer the mouth of the great river.
The Paraguayan Government has, from 1870
onwards, shown itself keenly alive to the value
of competent foreign settlers, and the terms which
it offers are liberal, every new arrival who elects
to go on the land being entitled to an allotment of
nearly forty acres, if a married man, and of about
twenty, acres if a bachelor. These lands are granted

in various settlements, or colonies, established by

264 PARAGUAY

the Paraguayan Government, of which a full list
will be found in the Appendix.

The Paraguayan Government, however, goes
beyond this in its encouragement of immigrants.
It provides a free second-class passage on the river
steamers from the port of Montevideo to Asuncion.
Arrived in Asuncion, they are maintained for a week
at the expense of the Republic, and, provided that
there is room available for them, they have the right
to choose the colony which they prefer. Moreover,
they are conveyed by rail or boat at the public
expense to the nearest possible point to this.

These terms, of course, are sufficiently generous,
but it is necessary for any British emigrant who might
have the intention of proceeding to Paraguay to
realize that the meaning of words in this part of
the world does not always coincide with1 their signifi-
cance in the homeland. Thus second class on
the river steamer really means steerage, and, splendid
as is the ordinary accommodation on these fine
vessels, the quarters and company of their steerage
are decidedly not of the kind which would suit an
average family of British artisans or agriculturists.
But the solution of such matters as these is generally
merely a matter of arrangement, and it is certainly
a wise hint that is given in one of those admirable
recent consular reports on Paraguay to the effect
that any intending British settlers in that country
should apply to the Emigrants' Information Office,
'34, Broadway, London, S.Wi. Another valuable piece
of advice given in this report is that persons seeking
employment in Paraguay should have a clear under-
standing as to the exchange, and that it is desirable
that the contract should be made in gold, or in
paper at the ruling commercial rate of exchange.

The advantages offered have not, however, so
far had the effect of overcoming that reluctance
on the part of the average foreigner to make his

way to a country which' is only now being exalted
out of its state of isolation. With the important
opening up of the railways which is now taking
place, it is certain enough that this condition of
affairs will undergo a rapid alteration in the future.

There is probably no country in the world which,
from the point of view of soil and climate, is better
adapted to the agriculturist of small capital than
Paraguay. Indeed, when the public of the over-
populous countries shall have been convinced that
the benefits of stable government are likely to prove
permanent, the influx of settlers from abroad cannot
well fail to exceed very many times over the modest
numbers who now annually enter Paraguay.

The number of fofeign immigrants who entered
Paraguay in 1908 was 1,024. In I9°9 it had fallen
to 830, and in 1910 to 578. In 1911 no more
than 430 arrived. For 1912 no figures seem to
be available, but in 1913 the total of immigrants
had mounted to 1,448.

It must be admitted that these are suffici-
ently insignificant figures. As has been the case
in thfe neighbouring Spanish - speaking republics,
the Italians have led the way in immigration from
the point of view of numbers. The Paraguayan
statistics, however, reveal a somewhat unusual circum-
stance in the number of Argentines who have estab-
lished themselves in the northern Republic. The
proportion of German immigration, too, has been
unusually large. The following figures are in-
structive :—

In 1908 the immigrants into Paraguay comprised
'304 Spaniards, 27$ Italians, 146 Germans, 106
Argentines, 40 Hungarians, 33 Uruguayans, 31
French, 23 Russians, 10 Brazilians, and 52 members
of other nationalities. The figures given for the
reduced number which arrived in 1911 would seem
to show a rather less heterogeneous gathering. They

266 PARAGUAY

were : Italy 97, Spain 96, Argentine 94, Germany
6 1, United Kingdom 9, other countries 73.

The following figures will show the estimated
foreign populations of Paraguay in 1913. It must
be understood, of course, that the reliability of these
can only be comparative, no census having been
taken for twelve years : —

Population.

Italian ... ... ... ... 20,000

Argentine ... ... ... 10,000

German... ... ... ... 3,ooo

Brazilian ... ... ... 1,300

Spanish ... ... ... ... 1,000

French ... ... ... ... 1,000

Uruguayan ... ... ... 600

British ... ... ... ... 500

Other Nationalities ... ... 2,500

It will be seen that the numerical part played by
the British here is very modest. But it seems to
me that there need be no ground for uneasiness on
this head. The mere predominance of her agri-
culturists in a foreign country surely does not of
necessity improve the strategic position of the country
that sent them out. In this particular instance, too,
notwithstanding that the German residents in
Paraguay exceed the British sixfold, the trade
of the latter country, would seem to be holding its
own in quite a satisfactory fashion.

From the British point of view, the most notable
colony ever established in Paraguay was that known
as " New Australia " — to which! was subsequently
added the one known as " Cosme." The history
of this affords one of the most remarkable examples
of the various experiments carried out in socialistic
theories.

The colony of New Australia in Paraguay had
its birth in the uproar and confusion of the great
Australian general strike, that for the time being

IMMIGRATION AND COLONIES 267

shattered the. forces of capital and labour and of
the Commonwealth itself. At the end of the long-
drawn-out industrial battle, when the labourers, lick-
ing their financial wounds and surveying the empty
coffers of their uniens, were beginning to question
the efficacy of the strike as a final remedy, a pro-
posal was put to them by a large-hearted journalist,
William Lane, who was wholly and honestly devoting
his lifework to the cause of labour and to the better-
ment of the lot of the labourers.

The most able work dealing with William Lane
and his momentous experiment is undoubtedly Mr.
Stewart Grahame's *' .Where Socialism Failed," and
for a sketch of the striking personality of this leader
of men I will draw upon his remarks. Lane became
one of the most successful free-lances on the
Australian Press, and, says Mr. Grahame, " Wherever
there was an over-crowded slum or a case of sweated
labour William Lane would ferret it out and hold
up to public scorn those who were responsible for
such evil conditions. There probably never lived a
more single-minded man, and his honesty, of purpose
was so clearly recognized that he won the confidence
of the working classes completely.

*•' It was Lane's fervent desire ' to idealize labour,
to conquer want, and hate, and greed, and vice,
and establish peace on earth and good-will towards
men.'

v Thousands of other thinkers have desired to see
the same beautiful programme realized, though most
have despaired of its possibility on this planet. iWith
his optimistic temperament, however, AValliam Lane
was convinced that there really did exist, ready to
hand, a simple remedy for all the ills that mar
the civilized world. It was his firm conviction that,
if capitalism and the wages system1 were utterly,
abolished, and a state established in accordance with
socialistic theories, envy, hatred, malice, and all un-

268 PARAGUAY

charitableness would utterly disappear from the
earth ; crime would be no more, human nature would
be automatically purged of all its unlovely features,
heaven on earth would be a fact for every man,
woman, and child."

It was this man who, suffering intensely in spirit
from the weight of the combined wrongs and hard-
ships of the Australian workers, determined that their
salvation could be brought about only by some daring
feat of initiative and originality. He made up his
mind to lead them1 into some new country, innocent
of the capitalist, where an ideal community might
be established, that should be subservient to no other
law but that of its brotherly instincts, and that should
suffer from no interference frorn! without. Again I
must quote from Mr. Grahame : —

v To tempt them: to join his scheme he recognized
that the appeal must be a personal one, and that
the missionary of his movement must possess the
enthusiasm and personal magnetism of an inspired
prophet.

"'Is not the only hope in the rising of a better
Napoleon? ' he demanded. * In the elevation of a
leader with' the brain of a Jay Gould and the heart
of a Christ? '

" After careful consideration /William Lane decided
to undertake the work himself.

" Turning over the editorship of the Worker to
other hands, he set forth upon his whirlwind mission,
sustained by a perfect faith in the righteousness of
his cause — for Lane believed every word of what
he preached."

It is a remarkable thing1 that Paraguay should
have been chosen as the home of this experiment in
socialism. For it has already been shown in this
book that the history of probably no other country
of its size can produce such curious and whole-
hearted examples both of co-operation in labour and

IMMIGRATION AND COLONIES 269

of State isolation. Neither of these, however, whether
brought into being by the Jesuits or by Francia,
resembled in reality a condition of affairs such as
William Lane wished to inaugurate. The Jesuits
were at the head of a community that divided its
goods in specified shares among the various divisions
of the State and of the populace. But the Guaranis
who supplied the manual labour did not for one
instant dream of asserting their equality with the
Fathers who taught and led them. As for Francia,
the reason why he erected barriers round Paraguay
to shut it off from the outer world was decidedly
not in order that an equal division of property,
rights, and liberty should ensue. The process which
actually occurred was quite the contrary.

It is of small consequence, however, whether
William Lane was moved to select Paraguay for his
venture by motives of sentiment or of expediency.
As it happened, the choice could scarcely have been
bettered from the practical point of view. The
Paraguayan Government, when approached, showed
itself cordially alive to the benefits which were to
be expected from an influx of such settlers as those
whom Lane had it in mind to bring. It promised
every assistance in its power, including a free gift
of land. How fully it redeemed its word may be
gathered by a subsequent report issued from the
British Legation in Buenos Aires:—

" The settlement is situated on some rising ground,
and looks over a long stretch of pasture land
bounded by forest and dotted by clumps of trees.
There is something very, English in the landscape,
and this is true of other parts of Paraguay. It
appeared to my companion and myself that the
Government had treated the association very well,
not only as regards the quantity but as regards
the quality of the land conceded. The association
has secured lop leagues (they, have already received

270 PARAGUAY

the titles for 67, leagues) of what I believe to !be
the best land in Paraguay. It is well watered
and well wooded, and in Paraguay wherever there
is forest the soil is very fertile, and will grow almost
anything. The pasture land is also excellent, and
I was informed, on good1 authority, that the district
now occupied by the association was requisitioned
by the Dictator Lopez during the Paraguayan >War
for 50,000 head of cattle — and met the demand."

The deeds of the Paraguayan Government proved
even better than their words, for they spent a large
sum of money in buying out some local people who
had settled in one or two corners of this vast tract
of land, thus securing to the new-comers that abso-
lute freedom from outside interference of which they
were in search. The site of the settlement, it may
be said, was rather more than a hundred miles
distant from Asuncion. It was, as a matter
of fact, in the neighbourhood of Villa Rica, and
its frontiers were within fifteen miles of the rail-
way line.

It was to this spot that came William Lane's
pilgrims, the first party of which crossed the ocean
in the specially chartered 6oo-ton sailing-vessel the
Royal Tar. Even to the minds of the most critical
the prospects of the venfture seemed sufficiently rosy.
The colonists were most eminently respectable folk,
none of them fearful of hard work, and all of them
skilled in the working of the land or in their own
special trades. Their womenfolk, equally experienced
in their particular walks of life, were prepared to
back them up through thick and thin, and their
children were as self-reliant as the average child
of the colonies is wont to be. Each member of
the community, moreover, set out from Australia
imbued with the honest determination to do his duty
by his neighbour — the maxim on which rested the
entire foundations of the association.

IMMIGRATION AND COLONIES 271

Nevertheless, the colony of New Australia met
with difficulties from the very start. The reason
of this, it became clear after a while, lay neither
with the people nor the land on which they worked.
It was the system which, when applied to practical
persons and to solid land, was found to leak almost
at every pore. Granted that some reasonable form
of socialism may well enough — and, indeed, surely
must — form the ideal State of the future, this crude
attempt at the equal division of labour and its fruits
was rapidly seen to be productive of nothing beyond
dissension and heartburning.

Very nearly 250 persons had taken passage in
the Royal Tar, and it was estimated that with the
arrival in Paraguay of the later parties the numbers
of the community would soon become imposing. As
it happened, the stream of the returning and dis-
illusioned colonists began almost before the second
batch of Australian enthusiasts had made its appear-
ance in Paraguay. As a matter of fact, the seceders
were deserving of quite as much commiseration as
any of the rest. One of the primary rules of the
association had been that a man, on joining the
community, must hold nothing back. He had to
throw into the common stock every bit of property
and every penny of money he possessed', thus wedding
himself — as it was thought, finally — to the fortunes
of his brethren. When, bitterly disappointed or
antagonized, he left, or was cast out, as the case
might be, he found himself in a foreign country,
thousands of miles from his home, with two or three
pounds in his pocket that had been flung to him
with something of the harshness of a grudging
charity.

As an object-lesson the enterprise was certainly
well worthy of every ray of light that has been
cast on it — most especially in view of the fact that
it was the work of honest visionaries who were acting

272 PARAGUAY

in complete good faith. But scarcely had the com-
munity been established when it was found that
nothing short of autocracy had to be applied to
those whose only acknowledged law was that they
should serve each other. In how many ways this
apparently simple doctrine could be applied to real
life was only discovered by actual experience, when
William Lane, who had rebelled against the sordid
laws of prosaic humanity, found himself under the
dire and "bitter necessity of making his own — and
a fairly rigorous set, moreover — which should control
the idiosyncrasies of his respectable, but obstinate
and argumentative, colonists.

The outward stream of humanity continued from
New Australia. William Lane himself, saddened and
broken, finally left the place. A split occurred among
the remaining colonists, and the settlement of Cosine
was founded some miles from New Australia in oppo-
sition to the senior colony. But all this was to no
purpose. The most vigorous theories, the most
arduous dissensions, planted no seeds, nor cleared
an acre of forest. Perhaps it is a tragic testimonial
to human nature to find that both in New Australia
and in Cosme a quite negligible amount of work
was done by those very folk who in the circumstances
of their everyday life had' been notable for their
industry. Nevertheless, so it was I It seems to be
a fact that so frail was the incentive of working for
the benefit of the community at large that its co-
operative results in a fertile land failed1 to support the
community.

Only one end, of course, was possible to this ;
for not only had the theory failed to work out, it
had sown dislikes and feuds among the various
members, bound together by artificial rules, such
as could only be softened by the snapping of the
ties. It was necessary to throw up the sponge, and
to abandon the wrecked casket of lost visions. For

the ending of this curious drama I will once again
quote Mr. Stewart Grahame, whose experience of
the affair was a first-hand one, and therefore
especially valuable : —

" As soon as the resolution, abolishing socialism,
was carried, Frederick Kidd, under whose sane and
practical administration the change was brought
about, set off to Asuncion to interview the Govern-
ment, whom he found sympathetically disposed and
prepared to do all in their power to assist the
colonists. Withdrawing the original grant of terri-
tory, the President confirmed them in possession of
the twenty-five square miles on which they were
actually settled, and approved a scheme whereby
every man was entitled to select for himself an allot-
ment of sixty squares of agricultural ground, for
which he would be given title-deeds when he had
built a house and complied with the usual conditions.
The right of grazing over the grass lands was
reserved in common for all, so that it was possible
for every individual colonist to become a big cattle
farmer if he could find the necessary capital. This
fact created fresh ambition in the heart of every
family, and there was a general exodus of able-
bodied men to the railway works at Sapucay, to
Asuncion, or Buenos Aires — anywhere where good
wages could be earned by a man willing to work
his fingers to the bone.

" One colonist, who now owns many hundred head
of cattle, worked as a butcher in an Argentine meat
works, where wages are high, living on the odd
halfpence of his pay and remitting the balance to
his wife, to be carefully invested in lean cattle,
for which a ready market could be found when
fattened. The administrator himself looked for work
as a bootmaker's assistant in Asuncion (he had once
had a prosperous business of his own), but, to his
delight, a leather merchant set him up with a stock

274 PARAGUAY

of leather, and even became responsible to a third
party for the value of the necessary tools. Being
a good workman, he soon made headway and became
a cattle owner also, though it was principally on his
trade that he relied for a living. The story of
other colonists was similar."

CHAPTER XX

PARAGUAYAN CATTLE

Effects of the Paraguayan War on the livestock of the country — Figures
showing the subsequent increase of cattle — Questions of census and
estimates — Cattle values — Favourable position of the cattle-breeding
industry — Prospects for the future — How the demand for beef has
affected the Paraguayan herds — The Argentine market — The danger
of over-selling — Export duty as a preventitive measure — Present
methods of the Paraguayan estanciero — Pedigree stock — A comparison
with Argentina — Prices of land — Estates in Paraguay proper and in
the Chaco — Advantages and drawbacks of the latter district — Ques-
tions of capital — Financial necessities incidental to cattle-breeding
and agriculture — Criollo cattle — Measures taken to improve the breed
— The introduction of Cebu cattle — European strains — The Durham
— Origin of the name Tarquino — Acclimatization of pedigree stock in
Paraguay — Trisleza — A serious disease — Land companies — The chief
markets for Paraguayan cattle — Influence of the railway — Some
statistics — Exportation of hides — Financial advances and drawbacks
of the present situation — Horse-breeding — Mai de Cadera — Remain-
ing domestic animals.

THE Paraguayan War played much the same havoc
with the cattle of the inland Republic as it did with
the human population of the country. At the end
of that very strenuous struggle the few herds of
horned survivors found themselves roaming over
destroyed pastures and the overgrown surface of what
had once been arable land.

The war once at an end, however, the numbers of
the cattle rapidly increased again, as the following
figures, taken from a Paraguayan source, will
show : —

Y«ar. Number of Cattle.

1870 ... ... ... ... 15,000

1877 .. ... ... ... 200,000

275

276 PARAGUAY

Year. Number of Cattle.

1886 729,836

1899 2,625,496

1900 2,850,000

1901 2,950,000

1902 3,104,453

1003 ... ... — -. 3,425,343

1904 3,800,000

1905 ... ... — ... 4,400,000

1906 ... ... ... — 4,900,000

1907 ... ... — — 5,400,000

1908 ... ... .- •.• 5,900,000

1909 ... ... ... — 6,500,000

1910 ... ... ... ... 7,200,000

The later figures, it must be said, are not official,
and their compilation is based to a certain extent
on estimates. Of recent years it must be admitted
that the internal unrest in Paraguay has made almost
impossible anything in the nature of a reliable cattle
census. These estimates would seem to have been
calculated on a gross increase of 20 per cent,
annually, from which the normal proportion of losses
has to be deducted — a calculation which would seem
sound enough.

According to the same authority, the value of the
Paraguayan cattle in 1906 was estimated at some
$46,000,000 (gold), the equivalent of £9,200,000.
Five years later, however, the inc'rease both in the
numbers of the herds and1 the price of the cattle
caused this estimate to be advanced1 to some
£14,000,000.

It will be evident from this that the cattle industry
in Paraguay is an important and increasing one.
Surveying it first of all from an international point
of view, there has probably never been a period
when its future appeared more assured, or when
the demand for beef and hides on the part of other
countries was so keen. At the present moment the
cattle-owner in Paraguay, as is the case too in the
neighbouring countries, is in the fortunate posi-

PARAGUAYAN CATTLE 377

tion of possessing that for which the demand
is greater than the output. In the past the
greatest fortunes in southern South America have
been made out of cattle, and there is no reason
to suppose that history will not repeat itself in
this matter

It is, indeed, this great demand which has been
instrumental of quite recent years in reducing the
numbers of the Paraguayan herds. In 1912 the
Argentine Republic, which had been a closed field
to Paraguayan livestock, threw open its markets
to the cattle from the north, with the result that
the rapid rise in price began to show a tendency
to strip the country of an undue proportion of its
cattle. This phase, as a matter of fact, is one
which has been undergone by all the cattle countries
of South America. The temptation to dispose of
enormous quantities of livestock at a vastly favour-
able price is, of course, difficult to be withstood
by the breeder. The process, nevertheless, cannot
fail to be detrimental to the industry in the long
run, and in the majority of cases it has been checked
by legislation.

In Paraguay the effect of this movement,
accentuated by the losses sustained in the course
of a visitation of foot-and-mouth disease, has been
considerable, and there are some who maintain that
the present numbers of cattle in the Republic do
not much exceed the half of the 7,200,000 esti-
mated (perhaps somewhat generously) as the numbers
of fhe animals in 1910. In order to prevent a
further undue depletion of its herds the Paraguayan
has now placed an export duty on each beast sent
over the frontier. By this means it is hoped
eventually to bring the cattle population of the
Republic up to a reasonable numerical basis, and
to give the recently established local saladeros that
full scope of working which the very marked

278 PARAGUAY

shortage of cattle had hitherto denied these estab-
lishments .

Of recent years great strides have been made in
Paraguayan cattle-breeding. But he who travels
north from the mouth of the great river to inspect
the cattle farms of Paraguay must not expect to
find there a condition of affairs such as now prevails
in Argentina and, to a lesser extent, in Uruguay.
In Paraguay there has so far been no attempt to
compete with those great cabanas of the south, where
almost priceless Durham bulls, and aristocratic
brethren of other strains, live in the pampered luxury
that is due to their importance and cost, waited
on by assiduous experts, and provided with every
convenience for health that modern hygienic science
can devise.

In Paraguay it is possible to launch out into the
breeding of cattle on a much smaller capital than
is now required in the southern republics. In the
first place the cost of the land is very much cheaper, ;
and in the second place, although an increasing
amount of cross-breeding with foreign stock is now
being carried on, such valuable importations of
pedigree cattle as are the rule in the Argentine
and Uruguayan Republics are not yet known in
Paraguay.

To pay two or three thousand pounds for a league
of land in the latter country would mean the acquiring
of some of the finest pastures in the whole Republic,
while some of the less promising estates are to be
obtained at rates descending to a cost of about a
quarter of this. This applies to Paraguay proper,
of course ; for in the Chaco it is possible to obtain
land far more cheaply. But in many of the districts
here the disadvantages of periodical inundations have
to be reckoned, with. On the other hand, the Chaco
offers rather special opportunities in that many of
the districts which are suitable for cattle are in

PARAGUAYAN CATTLE 279

parts covered with marketable timber, including the
valuable quebracho, and thus offer at the same time a
double field of importance.

It must be said, however, that the majority of
lands such as these have already been snapped up
by large companies, that have themselves erected
factories on their estates for the extraction of the
tannin from the quebracho. In fact, any attempt
at the combined industries is not to be dreamed of
without capital. The pastoral occupation itself,
indeed, should on no account be entered into, even
in a small way, without a capital approaching a
thousand pounds or so. In agriculture, of course,
the circumstances are very different, and here the
new-comer, if he be prepared to rough it for a
considerable time, and if he be reasonably proficient
at his calling, may cheerfully settle himself upon a
small holding if he possess two or three hundred
pounds at his disposal.

Cattle-breeding in Paraguay, as a matter of fact,
is fairly simple work, and, comparatively few of
the more complicated methods having been introduced
as yet, the cattle roam more or less at their own
will over the pastures. Thus a periodical round-
up, or rodeo, is made to suffice for the needs of
supervision in the majority of estates. The prin-
cipal basis of all the Paraguayan herds is formed
by the criollo cattle, the descendants of the
original stock brought over by the Spaniards. These,
under the influence of the climate, have naturally
degenerated to a considerable extent from the stamp
of beast represented by their forefathers when fresh
from Europe. Rather bony and lean, and with a
surprisingly large spread of horn, they fell for the
most part considerably beneath the standard now
demanded by the meat -chilling companies. When
the increasing demand for meat demonstrated the
necessity of bringing the type of cattle up to modern

280 PARAGUAY

requirements a certain amount of livestock was
introduced from Europe, and another course was
adopted, moreover, which was in a sense a com-
promise and a concession to the climate.

This, occurring almost entirely to the north of
Asuncion, took the form of the introduction of the
Cebu cattle from Brazil. This Cebu, or Zebu, stock
was in turn originally, introduced into Brazil by the
Portuguese from India. Although lacking the bulk
and the admirable butcher qualities of the European
cattle, the importation of the Cebu strain has had
the effect of levelling up the criollo to a certain
extent in the northern half of Paraguay. In the
southern half of the Republic the European breeds
have made their appearance, and the most important
of these is almost certainly the Durham', often locally
known as the Tarquino or Talquino — a somewhat
curious feat of nomenclature arising from the
generally forgotten fact that the first pure-bred
Durham bull to be introduced into the provinces of
the Rio de la Plata, about the middle of the nine-
teenth century, was named " Tarquin," a name that
became a generic term and that still obtains among
the gauchos and others in the remoter spots.

Unfortunately, the acclimatization of pedigree stock
is not such a simple matter in Paraguay as it iis
farther to the south. In the case of this imported
stock a disease prevails in the inland Republic which
is also the cause of considerable concern in the
northernmost districts of Argentina. This is a fever
known as tristeza, the illness being brought about
by the garrapata, or tick. The disease is a very
serious one, and the imported animal generally dies
of it. Tristeza is said frequently to attack its victim
in three different seizures. If the animal survive the
first, he appears to have a fair chance of pulling
through altogether, for each attack is less violent
than the last.

PARAGUAYAN CATTLE 281

Notwithstanding such disadvantages as these, the
type of Paraguayan cattle tends steadily, if slowly,
to improve. It is, of course, impossible to speak
with any certainty of the situation at the present
moment, but it may be said that the general tendency
in the inland Republic is for the pastoral lands to
pass into stronger financial hands than those which
were accustomed to own them in the past. Several
important companies have now interested themselves
in this particular branch of industry, and some North
American cattle-breeders, moreover, have taken a
hand in the enterprise.

Turning to the commercial side of the industry,
a study of the markets at the present time is by
no means without interest. Briefly, there are three
main outlets for Paraguayan cattle. The first is
the exportation of the live animals to Argentina ;
the second is their sale to the Paraguayan packing
companies, and the third is their disposal to the local
jerked-beef factories, which deal with the meat in
the old-fashioned and obsolescent way.

As regards the first method, the exportation of
the live animals to Argentina, the new railway line
has now been called into requisition, and there is
no doubt that this particular form of traffic must
increase very much in the future. The following
figures are sufficiently instructive on this point. It
is impossible to ascertain the destination of all the
animals carried ; but it may be taken for granted
that they were all good animals in killing condition
destined for a saladero, or important market, other-
wise their carcases would not have been worth the
freight. In 1913, 5,554 heads were carried; in
1914, 10,048 head; and in 1915, 15,919 head.
In a period such as the present, when all things
militate against the development of the general run
of industries, these figures, though modest, are by
no means unsatisfactory.

PARAGUAY

A Paraguayan authority gives the undermentioned
figures as those representing the numbers of hides
exported from the Republic in the course of the
first ten years of the nineteenth century : —

Salted Hides.

Dried Hides.

128,501

104,831

147,001

00,941

177,990

65,931

184,580

64,103

200,685

81,678

193,712

60,172

185,589

58,691

177,872

79,921

213,060

90,014

211,835

77,005

The present dislocation of the world's commerce
provides a peculiarly unfavourable moment to discuss
the future. of any ordinary industry. Yet that of
cattle-breeding differs from the majority in that it
is not necessarily affected adversely by war or any
other social upheaval. Neither is it one of those
other industries which, having benefited by inter-
national struggles, finds itself in a depressed con-
dition when the period of normal living is resumed.
To the Paraguayan cattle-breeders the European War
has been productive of a certain amount of financial
advantages, which have been counteracted to a large
extent by a corresponding set of drawbacks.

Thus against the benefits brought about by the
increased demand and the rise in price must be set
the dislocation of the ordinary markets, the difficul-
ties which for the time being attend the new method
of transport to the coast, and the temporary shortage
in the available ocean tonnage. Regarded, however,
apart from all such artificial influences, the future
of the Paraguayan cattle industry may be regarded
with all that confidence which is due to a favour-
able field that has not yet been fully developed.

PARAGUAYAN CATTLE 283

Cattle-breeding, as a matter of fact, is the only
Paraguayan livestock industry of importance. Suffi-
cient horses, of course, are bred for the local needs ;
but the numbers of these are by no means imposing,
and occasionally considerable loss is experienced from
the disease known as Mai de Cadera. Few attempts
have as yet been made to introduce sires of a really
aristocratic stamp ; and, indeed, the conditions which
prevail make any such enterprise improbable, save
in the southernmost districts of the Republic. Mules,
it may be said, are to be met with in small numbers.

The remaining domestic animals which are bred
in Paraguay are sheep, goats, and pigs. The (numbers
of none of these are in the least important. This
is readily understood in the case of sheep, which
never consent to thrive to any appreciable extent
in the latitudes approaching the heat of the sub-
tropics. But this is by no means the case with
goats and pigs, and the breeding of these will no
doubt increase very largely in time to come.

CHAPTER XXI

YERBA MATE AND TOBACCO

Part played by yerba mate in the early colonial history — Wide popularity
of the beverage — Seventeenth-century markets of the Paraguayan
tea — Area of its growth — Preparation of the yerba mate — Method of
drinking — Some expectations and actualities of the industry — Export
figures — Questions of appreciation — Eastern teas as rivals — The
fate of yerba mate as a national beverage — Its merits as a stimulant —
Its importance in the Argentine " camps " — Future of the industry —
Collection of the leaf — Yerba plantation — Difficulties in propagation
— New method of planting out the seedlings — Yerba mate and the
possibilities of its " booming " — The tobacco industry — The Para-
guayans as smokers — The ubiquitous cigar — Gathering of the crop —
Shipments to Europe — A loss of individuality — Amount of the average
annual crop — Popularity of Paraguayan tobacco in Argentina and
Uruguay — Questions concerning the development of the industry—
The Paraguayan cigar in Europe.

THE industry in yerba mate" is the one of oldest
standing in Paraguay. Very shortly after the Spanish
conquistador es had first made their way by river
to the inland province there are records of the
gathering and marketing* of yerba mate", more com-
monly known in England as Paraguayan tea.

Yerba mate", as a matter of fact, played a very
important part in the early colonial history of the
south-east of the continent. So rapidly did the
dried, fermented, and pounded leaves of the Hex
Paraguayensis attain to popularity that even in the
early part of the seventeenth century the beverage
had penetrated to provinces of South America quite
remote from the forests where the tree flourished,
and in consequence the value of this national product

284

YERBA MATE AND TOBACCO 285

became greatly, enhanced. As has been seen, too,
the collection of yerba mate formed one of the chief
industries of the Jesuit mission settlements, and many
a barge or raft which went floating down from Asun-
cion to the market of Buenos Aires was deeply laden
with Paraguayan tea that had been picked and
prepared by the Indians.

According to the geography of modern times,
Paraguay, is by no means the only country in which
the Ilex Paraguay ensis flourishes. In extensive
portions of Brazil it is equally abundant, while in
the north of Uruguay and in the north-eastern corner
of Argentina are lesser areas where the yerba mate"
obtains.

Of recent decades the felling1 of considerable
stretches of forest has tended to alter the yerba
mat£ area somewhat ; but the districts in which it
has always flourished may, very roughly speaking,
be said to be bounded on the north by a line running
from the neighbourhood of the estuary of the Rio
Grande River, in southern Brazil, to a point not
far from the town of Villa Rica, in southern
Paraguay. To the south the corresponding line
would pass through the north of the Republic of
Uruguay and the centre of the Argentine province of
Corrientes. To the west the tree would not seem
to flourish to any extent in its natural state when
the banks of the rivers Parana or Paraguay are
approached, and, once across the stream, in the
Chaco, the Ilex Paraguayensis does not seem to have
been met with at all. On the other hand, the soil
of the country as far west as the Argentine province
of Salta has proved itself eminently suitable for the
growth of the tree, and it is likely enough that
further experiments will reveal a considerably wider
field adapted to its plantation. Before going further
into such matters as these, it may be as well to
consider the actual nature of this Paraguayan tea and

286 PARAGUAY

the manner in which it is drunk. The leaves of the
yerba, when ground and prepared, are placed in
the mate1, or gourd, boiling water is poured upon
them, and the infusion is then drawn up through the
bombilta, a silver tube.

Many of these gourds, it may be said, being heavily
ornamented with silver, present a very handsome
appearance, and a collection of mate" bowls, such
as the author has seen in more than one household,
can be made to afford an object-lesson in the art
which can be introduced into these vessels. Exten-
sive collections such as these, as a matter of fact,
are wont to be gathered together as a hobby rather
than for practical use. For the ethics of mate drink-
ing are of the simplest. If the ceremony be con-
ducted in the accepted and time-honoured fashion,
the same mate and the same bombilla will be made
to serve for two drinkers or for a dozen. Like
the pipe of peace of the departed redskin warriors,
it is passed from hand to hand, and each sips his
fill, while the bowl is replenished as often as may
be necessary. In the more populous centres of these
modern days it may occur that two or three
mate" enthusiasts, drinking together, m'ay each be
provided with a separate bowl and bombilla. But
this, from the hardened mate" toper's point of view,
is the rankest degeneracy. It is most emphatically
against all the ethics of mate sociability — as deep a
crime as it would be for a guest at a Livery,
Company's dinner of the City of London to attempt
to introduce a new method of imbibing the loving-
cup ! But perhaps it is needless to explain that in
many of the out-of-the-way corners of the southern
half of South America the convivial groups are of
a rather more heterogeneous order than those which
sit about a white tablecloth somewhere to the east
of Temple Bar.

From the commercial point of view, yerba mate"

BRINGING HOME YEKBA.

To face p. 28;.

YERBA MATti AND TOBACCO 287

has not been without its disappointments. From
the beginning of the nineteenth century it has always
been supposed that, when once the merits of the
Paraguayan tea became widely known outside the
boundaries of South America, the increase in the trade
of yerba mat6 would increase by leaps and
bounds. That the industry has grown to a certain
extent will be evident from a glance at the figures
representing the annual quantities exported in certain
years from Paraguay.

In the 1820*3 the average export of yerba mat£
from Paraguay was estimated by the famous French
naturalist Aime Bonpland at about 2,500 tons. Bon-
pland, as a matter of fact, was in a situation which
enabled him to judge of this with1 unusual accuracy,
for, owing to a whim of the Dictator Francia's, he was
held a prisoner within the yerba mat6 districts for
ten years.

iWe may pass from this period to the year 1886,
when the Paraguayan exports of the tea amounted
to 5,500 tons. In 1887, they had risen to 7,000
tons ; but ten years later they had fallen to 4,000
tons, and in 191 1 the total had dropped to ,3,000 tons,
although it rose again in 1913 to 4,000 tons.

It must be admitted that this advance in the course
of nearly a century is a very modest one, in view
of the confident predictions that have been so
frequently made to the effect that the future of the
Paraguayan tea industry could not fail to be of
world-wide importance. The two principal reasons
for its comparative want of progress are concerned
purely with demand. So far it must be admitted
that yerba mat6 has not met with that appreciation
outside of South America that was anticipated for
it. Secondly, the disagreeable fact has to be faced
by the yerba mat£ exporters that in some of the
large southern centres of South America itself thej
habit of mat6 drinking has yielded largely to

288 PARAGUAY

the imbibing of ordinary tea in the European fashion,
a circumstance which has gone far to neutralize the
benefits which the large increase in these popula-
tions must otherwise have assured to the industry.
In capitals such as Buenos Aires, for instance, where
the hotel and domestic life now begins to challenge
comparison with London, Paris, and New York, yerba
matd as a national beverage has practically ceased
to, exist ; although many good Argentines, not-
withstanding their cosmopolitan surroundings, refuse
to surrender their taste for a beverage which in a
few years' time promises to become a rarity in a
town where it once reigned supreme.

A situation such! as this, it should be said, is not
in the least commensurate with the real merits of
yerba mate*. It is true that the beverage is seldom,
if ever, appreciated at its first drinking, and that it
falls within the category of those things that claim
an acquired taste. Nevertheless, it is by, no means
only South Americans who are addicted to the drink.
There are very few British estancieros throughout
the entire south-eastern extent of the continent who
have not grown to regard it as their staunchest
liquid friend, and who do not greet with affection
that fault bitterness of taste whiichl is generally
resented by those who try it for thfe first two or
three times. There are probably no other men,
as a matter of fact, who give such enthusiastic testi-
mony to the power of yerba mate* as a recuperative
agent as these estancieros, whose lot it frequently,
is to gallop for dozens of leagues in the broiling
summer's heat.

Curiously enough, it is to the south of its own
proper home that the benefits of yerba mate have
been chiefly felt. In the glades of Paraguay itself
vegetables and fruit have never been lacking to any
appreciable extent, and, indeed, have generally been
remarkable for their abundance. In the treeless

YERBA MAT& AND TOBACCO 289

pastoral plains of Argentina it has been otherwise.
There, where the real gaucho — who is now to all
intents and purposes extinct — would no more have
troubled to pliant a vegetable than he would have
bothered to pare the hoofs of despised, foot-rotted
sheep, the continuous and unbroken diet of meat,
and nothing but meat, could scarcely fail to have
been followed by lamentable consequences to the
health of the cattlemen, had it not been for the
frequent sippings at the mate", which proved itself a
most admirable corrective and health preserver.

The stimulating properties of yerba mate", more-
over, would seem to serve their purpose without being
followed by that reaction which! inevitably accom-
panies the indulgence in so many beverages of the
kind. There may be cases where an over-indulgence
in the yerba has been followed by disastrous con-
sequences— the Jesuits of old appear to have issued
a number of warnings to this effect — but, if so, these
must be very rare. Indeed, their proportion must
be less than that of those coffee-drinkers who partake
of that sufficiently harmless bean with detrimental
enthusiasm.

Considering the real esteem in which this yerba
mate* is held by all nationalities in South America,
it is indeed difficult to understand the reason why the
taste for it should still be confined to the southern
continent. I have no doubt that, sooner or later,
the day will arrive when all those predictions of the
past — as well as the rather less confident assertions
of the present— will be justified, and that the period
will arrive when yerba mate" will be shipped from
Paraguay in tens of thousands, instead of simple
thousands, of tons.

An expansion of this kind could be contemplated
by Paraguayans with a greater equanimity now than
ever before. For the history of yerba mate re-
sembles that of many other forest growths of' the

290

kind. Attacked in the first place with that waste-
ful energy which its very abundance provoked, the
plant soon grew rare in the neighbourhood of the
settled centres, and it became necessary for the Indian
collectors to proceed to its groves, the yerbales,
farther and farther afield. In the end these distances
became so great that the missionaries determined
to attempt the plantation of the Ilex Paraguayensis
in order that the commodity might again be at
hand in the neighbourhood of their towns. They
succeeded in this, and ultimately the yerba derived
from these plantations turned out to be the finest
that grew, realizing in price double that obtained
for the ordinary forest leaves.

But this propagation of the yerba mate* was always
a difficult matter, and during the disturbed period
through which the country passed this naturally
suffered from a good deal of neglect. The chief
difficulties experienced occur during the first eighteen
months or two years of the plant's life. Modern
science has now, however, been brought to bear on
this subject, and the employment of pasteboard pots
has greatly reduced the dangers attending1 the plant-
ing out of the seedlings, for it enables this to ibe
effected without any disturbance of the roots.

Thus, whenever the long-expected '''• boom " in
yerba mate* comes about, the countries of its origin
will be prepared for it. In the meantime, from the
point of view of the gigantic advertisers, here is a
beverage lying fallow that would afford an almost
unique opportunity to one accustomed to deal in
such matters on a world-wide scale. It is no
exaggeration whatever to say that yerba mate* con-
tains all the qualifications and essentials for this.
The only thing that it lacks is a place on the
hoardings and in the pages of the Press !

The tobacco industry is as essentially a part and
parcel of Paraguay as is that of yerba mate.

YERBA MATti AND TOBACCO 291

Paraguay without tobacco would resemble the
Burgundy district without grapes, or Kent shorn
of its hops ! As a matter of fact, the goddess of
nicotine is worshipped by almost every Paraguayan,
irrespective of sex and age. A picturesquely clothed
young girl of the inland Republic, whether she be
riding across the countryside or plodding, barefooted,
along the Asuncion streets on her way to the market,
will almost certainly be puffing smoke from a lengthy
dark cigar stuck jauntily between her lips. Babes
in their mothers' arms will begin life enveloped in
this same blue smoke, and having thus been cured
of any tendency to cough at it in their tenderest
years — or months ! — they will begin to take a cigar
within their own lips at an incredibly early age. In
this respect I suppose that the race most akin to
the Paraguayans are the Burmese ; and, indeed, in
some respects the Paraguayan cigars are not unlike
the cheroots of the East.

The Paraguayan tobacco crop is gathered in the
months of February and March — which are, of course,
equivalent to the northern periods of August and
September — and the seven different classes of leaves,
having been dried and fermented, are then made
up into the various types of cigars, or retained in their
crude form to be sent to the larger factories or to
be shipped abroad.

It is not generally known that rather more than
half of the entire Paraguayan tobacco crop has been
wont to be shipped to Europe, Germany in the past
having been the principal recipient of this article.
Once arrived on the soil of this latter country, it
seems to have lost its individuality — so far as nomen-
clature is concerned. Paraguayan cigars, in the
minds of the general public, are, I believe, an un-
known luxury in Europe, where the leaf from the
South American inland State doubtless masquerades
under many a supposed, or actual, Cuban name.

292 PARAGUAY

Perhaps there is more justification for this than
appears on the surface ; for Havana seed was intro-
duced into Paraguay in 1900, and has been brought
more and more into use ever since.

That the amount of this Paraguayan leaf is suffi-
ciently important may be gleaned from the fact that
the average Paraguayan crop of tobacco is estimated
at some 7,000 tons, of which about 4,000 tons
find their way to Europe. In Argentina and Uruguay,
on the other hand, Paraguayan cigars and cigarettes
are permitted to sail under their rightful colours,
and in these countries they enjoy a wide and deserved
popularity.

Given internal peace and a modern system! of
organization, there would seem no doubt but that
a most flourishing future must await this tobacco
industry of Paraguay. At the present moment, as
we have seen, this stream of nicotine, on entering
Europe, disappears as completely as do the waters
of a river on entering the sea. At this rate it is,
of course, clearly out of the question that Paraguayan
tobacco should ever attain that fame on this side
of the Atlantic which it enjoys in Argentina and
Uruguay, to say nothing of its own country.

There would, as a matter of fact, seem no reason
why Paraguayan tobacco should not eventually take
its place among the noted growths of the world.
As regards this, however, it will undoubtedly be
necessary first of all to overcome certain disadvan-
tages which have been put in the way of the growth
by the bountiful climate itself of the country. For one
of the numerous paradoxes applying to Paraguay lies
in the fact that the more liberal the gifts of Nature,
the less strenuous are wont to be the efforts of
man. It is undeniable that a greater amount of
attention paid to the seeding and cultivation of the
tobacco plants here would result in an improvement
in quality such as might well result in the com-

\
YERBA MATfi AND TOBACCO 293

pelling of a hitherto unconscious world to acknow-
ledge the merits of the nicotine weed' of the inland
State.

But until some enterprising beings come forward
to found a regular Paraguayan brand' of cigars it
is only the unreasonably optimistic! who would look
forward to any such development as this. Here
again, as in the case of yerba mate*, is an oppor-
tunity to assist a deserving article, which undoubtedly
has a right to a greater amount of publicity than
it obtains. Nothing is more profitable than a
sufficiently studied charity of the kind !

CHAPTER XXII

TIMBER, FRUITS, AND CEREALS

The forests of Paraguay — Various types of timber — Demand for this in
the treeless south — Hard woods — Cabinet woods — Medicinal growths
and textile plants — Dye-plants — A curious circumstance connected
with rubber — The lumber industry — Difficulties presented by the
Paraguayan forests — Shortage of local carpentry — The quebracho
industry — Districts in which the tree is found — Nature of the wood
— Various uses to which it is put — Its tannin properties — Advantages
of these — A comparison with oak bark — The chief quebracho fac-
tories— Important concerns — The light railways of the Chaco — The
Paraguayan fruit industry — The orange — Excellence of the Para-
guayan specimens — Orange-growing as an old-standing industry —
Theory concerning an indigenous variety — Proof by nomenclature —
Export of the fruit — Inadequate financial return yielded by the
industry — Some surprising figures — Banana-growing — Increasing
importance of the plantations — Pineapples and lemons — Cereals,
agricultural products, and vegetables — Maize — Sugar-cane — Present
limitations of the industry — Probabilities of the future — Mandioca —
Other growths.

THE forests of Paraguay are undoubtedly one of
the chief assets with which a bountiful Nature has
supplied the inland Republic. Paraguay, moreover,
is fortunate in her forest possessions in more senses
than one. There are many countries, both in South
America and in other continents, where the great
wealth of timber is to a large extent wasted owing
to the lack of facilities for transporting the lumber
to centres where it can be dealt with from a com-
mercial point of view.

Paraguay — with half its total area forest-covered
— not only possesses an abounding wealth of mag-
nificent cabinet woods and useful coarser timber, but

904

TIMBER, FRUITS, AND CEREALS 295

she has the means of transporting them most con-
veniently at hand. No finer highway for this purpose
could be met with than the Paraguay, assisted by,
its numerous affluents, to say nothing of the Alto
Parand and its lesser tributaries. It is true that many
of the hardest and most valuable of these woods are
of a specific gravity which does not allow them to
float on the surface of the water. But here again
the variety of her products comes to the aid of the
State. For Paraguay produces great quantities of
lighter timber such as the cedar, and it is this which
serves as the foundation of those rafts which go
floating down the Paraguay and the other streams.
On this buoyant surface are placed those marvellously,
hard and heavy logs, which have been so eagerly
imported by the central pastoral plains of Argen-
tina, that at one time were for all practical purposes
treeless, and that even now refuse to grow any
timber of a harder texture than the eucalyptus,
poplar, paraiso, and similar light woods. Of late
years, however, owing to the increasing use of rein-
forced concrete for building and of iron sleepers for
railroad permanent ways, the demand for the coarser
timbers has somewhat slackened in the south, although
that for the finer kinds remains as keen as ever.

Among the principal hardwoods of Paraguay are
the quebracho, palo santo, lapacho, caranday, fiandu-
bay, curupay, guayacan, peteriby, urunday, ibira-
pyta, and palo bianco. Some of the chief of the
cabinet woods are various species of laurel, the palo
de rosa, a black laurel which closely resembles ebony,
the yacaranda, and the tatayba.

There are in addition many medicinal trees and
plants such as the castor oil, papaw, coca, jaborandi,
ipecacuanha, sarsaparilla, and many others. The
textile plants are very important, including as they
do various kinds of cotton, the majority of a very,
fine quality, ramie, caraguata— a species of pine-

296 PARAGUAY

apple, the leaves of which', it may be said, hold rain-
water within them1 for very long periods, and' thus
in some of the more arid districts are apt to prove;
of the greatest benefit to travellers ; the ibyra— a
plant closely resembling the caraguata— the silk-
cotton tree, and many beyond these.

Paraguay, moreover, is very rich in dye -plants,
of which some thirty different species would seem
to exist. The rubber-tree is found to a certain
extent, more especially in the northern parts of the
Republic. A rather curious circumstance in connec-
tion with this product is that, although the tree is
indigenous to Paraguay, the manufactured rubber
would seem to degenerate and rot with quite an
unusual rapidity in various districts. Of this fact,
at all events, I have been assured by various residents
of Asuncion who had had considerable personal
experience of the matter.

As regards the general lumber trade of Paraguay,
it may be said that this — apart from the quebracho
industry, to which 'reference is made later — is only
now beginning to arrive at its first stage of infancy.
There is no dloubt whatever that in the near future
much progress will be made in this. There are,
nevertheless, some features in the more luxuriant of
the Paraguayan forests which present certain diffi-
culties to those who desire to exploit them. From
the lumberman's point of view the enormous variety
of the trees here constitutes a disadvantage. A
lumberman, for instance, who happens to be in search
of a thousand or so nandubay trees has naturally
no interest at the moment in any other timber but
nand'ubay. But in the densest forests of the Republic
a single fiandubay-tree may be separated from its
nearest brother by two, twenty, or any number of
growths of 'other species. This circumstance would
offer fewer difficulties were the timber trade here
conducted on a scale which will undoubtedly occur

TIMBER FELLING IN THE CHACO.

To face p. 297.

TIMBER, FRUITS, AND CEREALS 297

in the future ; but in the meantime its effect on a;
budding industry is somewhat discouraging. At the
same time, it must be said that this condition of
affairs is not universal throughout the forests
of Paraguay, and does not apply to the quebracho
lands.

Notwithstanding this abundance of magnificent
timber, Paraguay has been accustomed to import
practically the entirety of its manufactured wooden
goods from Europe or North America. It is need-
less to explain that the cause of this has been the
local shortage both of skilled labour and of machinery.
A start has now been made, however, in the business
of joining, turning, and carpentry in general. This
has so far been largely confined to the cars and
fittings of the tramway and railway companies, but
no doubt an opportunity for the manufacture of
general furniture will occur before long. Decidedly
for this purpose no timber could be better suited than
some of the extraordinarily handsome cabinet woods
of these sub-tropical forests.

The quebracho industry differs entirely from that
of any other kind of Paraguayan timber, in that it
has already undergone a very marked development,
and already gives work to a number of important
factories and to many thousands of hands.
Quebracho timber abounds only in the Chaco, on
the western side of the great river. The area of its
growth here is, however, very great, since it is to be
met with in Argentine territory, and it abounds as
far south even as the province of Santa Fe\

The nature of quebracho wood may be gathered
from its name, which signifies " break-axe." It is,
indeed, one of the toughest even of the numerous hard
Paraguayan woods, and was formerly in great demand
in Argentina for such purposes as fence posts,
cor rales, and other agricultural uses. But its most
popular employment was for railway sleepers, owing

298 PARAGUAY

to the extraordinary length of time which this timber
can remain in the earth without rotting.

In such guises as this quebracho timber has long;
been familiar to the estancieros and railway officials
of the Argentine Catnpo. Towards the end of the
last century, however, the extent of the very valuable
tannin properties of this wood began to be realized,
and after 1890 the quantities which were available
for agricultural and railway uses rapidly diminished.
The demand for this, in consequence, has exceeded
the supply since then, although as many logs as could
be spared for the purpose have been shipped not
only to the southern republics of South America, but
to Europe and the United States as well.

The latest development of the quebracho industry
is, however, the most important of all. This is the
manufacture from the timber of an extract which
contains those tanning substances for which the timber
is now so famous. It is claimed for this quebracho
tannin that it is unique in quality, and that its power
is far gneater than that of oak bark. The quebracho
experts maintain on its behalf that a single tree,
weighing a ton, will yield 600 Ibs. of extract, and
that this extract will tan as much leather as almost
double its quantity of oak bark — for the growing of
which latter, by the way, about half an acre of land
is reuqired. In fact, to quote from a pamphlet issued
by one of the chief companies concerned with this
industry : " the high quality and enormous quantity
of tanning substances contained in the wood of the
quebracho -tree make it at once both the best and
cheapest tanning material in the world, giving to the
leather a fine colour which cannot be secured from
any other known ingredient."

The process of extracting tannin from1 the
quebracho contrasts rather curiously with the method
employed for extracting the similar substance from
the oak. In the case of the oak the bark is relied

TIMBER, FRUITS, AND CEREALS 299

on for the purpose ; the bark of the quebracho, on
the other hand, is not used at all in this process.;
Here the wood itself is reduced to sawdust, and the
tannin is extracted front this. It is then made up.
into solid cakes, in 'which shape its commercial form
is complete, and delivered to the tanneries, where it
is rendered liquid in preparation for actual use.

Some of the chief of these quebracho factories are
situated at Puertos Galileo, Casado, Sastre, and Max
and Maria. Some years ago these factories were
said to employ a capital of some three million pounds,
and to be responsible for a monthly output of three
thousand tons of extract. It will be evident from
this that the industry is now worked on a large scale.
The factories, as a matter of fact, are important
concerns containing an imposing bulk of machinery,
and each is supplied with a certain mileage of light
railway for the transport of the timber, either to the
factories for the purpose of tannin extraction, or to
one of the small river ports to be shipped abroad*

These light railways, it should be said, are now
playing a leading part in the development of the
Chaco, and have already demonstrated to what an
extent they are able to counteract the difficulties of
transport for which the peculiar soil of this district
is responsible. It has been said, and no doubt
correctly, that these light railways will in course of
time prove more useful in the alluvial soil of Argen-
tina than the ordinary highways of a country entirely
innocent of stone. That this same remedy applies to
the Chaco there is no doubt, as, indeed, has already
been proved by the number of light railways that
are already in use there.

From the popular point of view one of the most
fascinating national assets of Paraguay is represented
by its fruit industry. Although the soil of the inland
Republic has proved itself so admirably adapted to
so many other purposes, it is nevertheless for the

300 PARAGUAY

growing of its numerous and luscious fruits that the
red earth and the balmy airs would seem most of all
suitable.

The most notable fruit of Paraguay is undoubtedly
the orange. Those who are interested in the industry
claim that the orange yields finer results both in
quantity and quality in Paraguay than in any other
part of the world. This is perhaps rather a bold
statement, since, as regards quantity there are some
districts in the north of the continent where ,the
wealth of the fruit is perhaps even more phenomenal,
and in the matter of quality some of the central;
Brazilian specimens of these golden globes are alto-
gether remarkable and quite unsurpassed.

But it may safely be said that Paraguay is second
to no other country in the world in orange production.
The Republic, indeed, is peculiarly fortunate in that
its fruit possesses that somewhat rare combination
of both quantity and quality. Orange-growing, as
a matter of fact, is one of the oldest occupations of
the kind in Paraguay. It is generally supposed
that the Jesuits brought with them from Europe the
ancestors of those countless orange groves which
to-day flourish in Paraguay. Dr. E. "de Bourgade
La Dardye, however, who paid much attention to this
subject during his stay in Paraguay, stoutly main-
tains that one species, a very pleasant one, is indi-
genous to Paraguay. He remarks concerning this : —

" I have met with it in the most remote places,
in the unexplored valleys of the Ygatimi, and on the
margin of the Upper Parana, where it could certainly
never have been introduced by human agency. So
abundantly does it grow on the Parana above the
Salto de Guayra, that during a flood I have seen
numbers of them drifting down the stream.

" The Guaranis call it apepu, which is a very
ancient word in their language, and in my opinion
carries with it an argument for the tree being of

TIMBER, FRUITS, AND CEREALS 301

American origin, for all other varieties of the orange,
without exception, are distinguished by Spanish
names. It may, I think, be taken as almost an
invariable rule, that whatever has been imported into
the country by the invaders has retained its Spanish
name, the aborigines not having been at the pains
to assign it any name of their own. At most, the
final syllable has undergone a slight change to suit
local phonetic laws."

Whether it be accurate or not, this is, at all events,
a very interesting theory on the part of a writer well
qualified to speak on the subject.

The orange has from the earliest days of Paraguay
formed part and parcel of the European settlements
in the country, and the dark-green foliage of the
trees helped to beautify both the lay centres and the
Jesuit townships. The site of many of these latter,
ruined and demolished, is marked to this day by
these spreading groves that still continue to yield
their fruit.

In the commercial Appendix will be found a table
showing the export of oranges. From this it will
be seen that the average annual export of this fruit
from Paraguay during the past few years has been
in the neighbourhood of twelve millions of dozens.
This is a sufficiently striking total ; but at the same
time it must be explained that it only represents a
fraction of the produce of the country, as those
enormous quantities grown at an inconvenient dis-
tance from rail or steamer are not exported. Were
these available to be sent across the frontier the
revelation concerning the numbers of Paraguayan
oranges would undoubtedly astonish the world.

It is fortunate for the industry that orange-growing
in the inland Republic can be carried on at the
expense of so little time and trouble, for the financial
return of the fruit is at the present moment altogether
inadequate to its quality. It was recorded, for

302 PARAGUAY

instance, that in 1913 the growers at Villa Rica ob-
tained an average price of the equivalent of 135. 4<1.
for a cartload of five thousand oranges ! It is true
that the price for the same quantity of selected fruit
at the port of San Antonio on the River Paraguay,
was £i 175. 6d. On the other hand there were many
less favoured points where the fruit fetched a lower
price even than the one first quoted. In 1914 matters
were much the same, and at the port of Villeta on
the Paraguay River the price per cartload of five
thousand oranges varied between £i IDS. and £i 155.

Figures such as these are not likely to induce many
agriculturists to leave Europe in order to take up
orange-farming in Paraguay. One of the main
reasons why such astonishingly low prices prevail
is that the growers, widely scattered and for the
most part individually of minor financial importance,
have not yet been able to organize their industry so
as to make a stand against a fruit trust, which at
the present time appears to be able to buy practically
at its own figure. It is probable, of course, that
the increasing facilities will eventually come to the
aid of the growers — if they themselves have failed to
solve the problem in the meantime — and will place
the industry on that proper economical basis which
its importance deserves.

From the point of view of export the fruit which
comes next to the orange in order of importance is
the banana. But the gap between the bulk of the
two is very great — so marked, indeed, that no official
account is kept of the consignments of bananas to
the south by rail or river. Nevertheless Paraguay
is admirably suited for the culture of the banana,
and some of the plantations are now of considerable
importance. It is probable, as a matter of fact,
that some millions of bunches are now exported from
the Republic, and, since the fruit ripens all the year
round, the trade should be a remunerative one. The

TIMBER, FRUITS, AND CEREALS 303

species of banana, it may be said, which thrives best
of all in Paraguay is known as the " Banana de
Oro."

The only other Paraguayan fruits which are ex-
ported are the pineapple and the lemon.

Among the main cereals and agricultural products
of Paraguay are maize, sugar-cane, mandioca, cotton,
rice, coffee, beans, pea-nuts, millet, and a consider-
able number of European vegetables. The alfalfa,
it should be said, which is such a feature of the agri-
cultural lands of the south of the continent refuses to
thrive in Paraguay, and the lack of this magnificent
fodder is not a little regrettable so far as the cattle
industry is concerned.

Two varieties of maize are cultivated' in the
Republic, where this cereal is made to do the duty
as much as possible of wheat. The climate and
soil would seem to suit the growth very well, and
it is regarded as a staple food.

It is a somewhat remarkable circumstance that,
although the sugar-cane flourishes so freely in
Paraguay, it is not cultivated on a sufficiently large
scale to meet the local demand. The total area of
land under sugar-cane is estimated at less than ten
thousand acres. By no means the entirety, of this,
moreover, is used for the manufacture of sugar, as
the majority of the smaller growers turn their produce
into cana, or rum. Thus it comes about that Para-
guay, an ideal sugar-producing country, imports sugar
occasionally to the annual tune of over four million
tons from Germany, Austria- Hungary, Spain, and
France. It is needless to point out that, as soon as
the population of the inland Republic increases to any
reasonable extent, this anomalous situation must alter.

Mandioca is a staple product of Paraguay. This
root has proved itself invaluable both as a vegetable
and for the by-products derived from it. Care, of
course, has to be taken to distinguish the poisonous

304 PARAGUAY

varieties of this growth from the edible, a feat which
is not invariably easy.

Cotton, rice, and coffee are not yet produced in any
notable quantities, and, from the commercial point of
view, these products are still in their experimental
stage. It is unlikely, indeed, that any really impor-
tant advances will be made in these growths until
the increase ,in population and communications warrant
them. , i

The cultivation of beans, pea-nuts, millet, and' other
minor growths is at present carried on on a small
scale.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE TRADE OF PARAGUAY

Circumstances which have influenced imports and exports— Consequences
of political unrest — Elasticity of the Paraguayan trade — Figures in
proof of this — A table of imports and exports — Paraguay's most
important customers — British share of the total imports — Proportion
of British merchants in Paraguay — A tribute to the quality of British
goods — Questions concerning commercial travellers — German com-
petition— The German plan of campaign — Great Britain's oppor-
tunity— Length of credit extended by the British and Germans
respectively — Temptations of the system — Necessity for first-class
salesmen — The importance of the Spanish language — How this
reacts on commercial travellers and catalogues — Questions of local
weights, measures, and currency — Unnecessary disadvantages under
which the sale of British goods has suffered in the past — Sympathies
of the Paraguayan.

IN reviewing the trade of Paraguay it is necessary
to take into account many circumstances the exist-
ence of which is not revealed in the mere tables
of statistics. In Paraguay it is not matters of
commerce alone which have affected the various tables
of imports and exports. The most patriotic inhabi-
tant of the inland Republic will not attempt to dis-
guise the fact that the political unrest which front
time to time has made its appearance in that fertile
and rich land has been responsible for an infinitely
greater amount of commercial depression than any
drought, flood, disease, or any other catastrophe of
nature from which it has ever suffered.

It is these circumstances of revolution and civil
war which have so often upset the calculations of
Paraguayan and foreigner alike, and which have more

20 wo

306 PARAGUAY

than once produced such strange and disconcerting
results, at a time, perhaps, when all other circum-
stances promised an industrial harvest of the first
water. The sum totals of only too many years of
Paraguayan trade show signs of "in and out run-
ning," when these under steadier circumstances could
not well have failed to maintain a steady increase.
For all that, it cannot be said that the condition
of Paraguayan trade is in the least unhealthy. The
following figures, if they show little else, will at least
demonstrate its elasticity and recuperative power.
They represent the combined' value of the imports
and exports, and thus giVe the grand totals of Para-
guayan foreign trade.

Value of Foreign Trade.
£

1907 2,149,722

1908 ... ... ... 1,588,010

1909 1,784,918

1910 ... ... ... 2,267,258

iIQII ... ... ... 2,261,481

1912 1,917,265

1913 2,750,185

Even to one totally unacquainted with the affairs
of the country these figures will explain themselves
to a certain extent, while to one familiar with Para-
guayan circumstances such fluctuations can come as
no surprise. It is essential to note, nevertheless, that
the general tendency is an upward one.

Dissected into imports and exports, these totals
stand as follows : —

1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913

Imports.

Exports.

1,502,500

647,222

814,591

773,419

757,590

1,027,328

1,283,877

983,381

1,295,699

965,782

I,070,I2O

847,145

1,623,999

1,126,186

THE TRADE OF PARAGUAY 307

So far as exports are concerned, it may be said
that Paraguay's most important customers in the recent
past have been Argentina, Germany, and Uruguay.
The proportions for which these were respectively
responsible in 1912 were : —

Argentina
Germany
Uruguay

703,283
247,151
138,924

These figures, it should be explained, do not show
the complete process in connection with Paraguay's
exports, for a very large proportion of the goods
sent to Argentina as well as to Uruguay are reshipped
to their ultimate destination, whether this be Great
Britain, the United States, or any of the European
countries.

The above figures are quoted from the report of
Mr. F. Oliver, the British Consul in Paraguay,
published in 1914. The detailed figures of the total
imports for the years 1911, 1912, and 1913, taken
from the same source, are : —

Country.

1911.

1912.

1913.

United Kingdom

370,040

268,341

464,806

Germany .

363,533

3",079

448,785

Argentina

154.992

140,622

218,031

France

86,300

75,622

107,419

Italy

70,371

63,546

98,959

United Stat

77,005

63,189

97,665

Spain .

82,725

66,571

86,005

Belgium

22,086

26,588

37,086

Uruguay

10,227

7,328

12,033

Brazil

11,674

8,699

9,244

Austria-Hungary

21,863

25,793

17,549

Other countries

23,983

12,742

25,537

Total

1,295,699

1,070,120

1,623,999

Thus it will be seen that out of these totals the
British share was 28 per cent, in 1.911, 25 per cent.

308 PARAGUAY

in 1912, and 28*6 per cent, in 1913. In 1908 it
may be remarked that the British share was only,
21 per cent., while that of Germany amounted to
29 per cent. These figures afford considerably more
satisfactory reading than those concerning many,
other parts of South America, where the tendency
of the respective shares of Great Britain and Germany
has tended only too frequently to develop in the oppo-
site direction.

It is, indeed, a matter for considerable wonder, not
that the British trade with Paraguay be not greater
than it is, but rather that its volume should have
attained to its present dimensions. It is said — I be-
lieve with perfect accuracy — that out of nearly seven
hundred commercial firms — nearly all owned by,
Germans, Italians, Spaniards, and French — only two
firms are British I

To emphasize this point I will quote from a recent
report of Mr. Consul Oliver's a paragraph which
seems to me conspicuous for its soundness: —

" That British trade is not (so far as can be
gathered from the available figures) on the increase
is, however, not surprising ; it is, on the contrary,
somewhat remarkable that it maintains its present
level, because in the whole Republic there are only
two British importing firms. It may be regarded'
as a tribute to the quality of the British goods that
they are largely imported by foreign houses and
foreign agents, but at the same time the conclusion
is irresistible that the British share in the total import
trade might be still larger if a larger number of
British houses were established in this country. Many
more travellers and representatives are said to have
been sent during the last year or two to Paraguay,
from other European countries such as Germany,
France, Italy, etc., than from the United Kingdom,
and British firms are also said not to give such easy
terms of credit as the foreign ones. In cases where

THE TRADE OF PARAGUAY 309

goods are bought from1 satriples, some Continental
firms are said to send out larger assortments of
samples (which, other than those of textiles, are bought
by the importers, subject to a large discount) than
is customary with British firms, thereby facilitating
a selection and affording a more precise indication
to the exporter of the class of articles desired in
this market. These small points are mentioned be-
cause Continental competition appears to be likely
to grow still keener than at present. The German
community is said to be continually increasing its
numbers. They are occupied in trade and in many
other ways, having apparently satisfied themselves
that Paraguay offers a good field for their enterprise
and activity. . . . The United Kingdom imports
practically no products of Paraguay, presumably
because there are no British firms in the country
exporting hides, tobacco, etc., like the German and
Spanish firms."

Undoubtedly the case has been accurately and
fairly put here. The reason why British trade with
Paraguay has not grown as it should is owing rather
to a shortage of British merchants in the inland
Republic than to the want of enterprise on the part
of those already engaged in this branch of commerce.
British interests, however, cannot permit the situation
to remain as it is when the real development of
Paraguay occurs, an operation that must come about
with a surprising rapidity on the resumption of a
normal general commercial situation.

There is no doubt that this development had been
very shrewdly anticipated by our rivals the Germans,
and that they had' taken very comprehensive measures
to obtain control of that great increase in Paraguayan
commerce which they foresaw. The outbreak of
hostilities in Europe has, of course, delayed this de-
velopment of the inland Republic. Beyond this, the
new situation cannot well fail to disconcert the pre-

310 PARAGUAY

arranged German commercial plan, and should there-
fore allow sufficient breathing space for Great Britain
to organize her commercial resources on an improved
basis, and thus make up the ground1 she has lost in
this direction.

To enter into a trade technicality, among the
matters in which our chief rivals have shown an
elasticity that much exceeds our own bias been that
of the granting of credit. Of recent years the length
of the credit offered by the British to their Para-
guayan customers has frequently been extended to
six months. The Germans, on the other hand, would
seem to be prepared' to extend this credit to a term
of eighteen months. This is a subject which depends,
of course, entirely on the finances of each individual
merchant or company, and on the standing and needs
of their customers. No doubt a too lengthy system
of credit may bring about an unhealthy situation — in
such matters it is clearly impossible to generalize.
At the same time the tempting influence on the
purchaser of so long a credit as this must carry an
enormous weight in the competition between British
and Germans, and the matter is one to which manu-
facturers and merchants at home should give a far
closer attention than they have in the past.

Another matter to which it seems to me that the
British manufacturers and merchants should devote
themselves with an enthusiasm which has been notori-
ously lacking in the past is the manner in which
their goods are offered to their customers in Para-
guay. The subject is one to which I have referred
before now, but its importance is such as to warrant
not one but a thousand repetitions if any, good would
arise from the process.

;In the first place, then, really first-class salesm'en
are now essential to cope with the commercial situa-
tion in South America. Moreover, not only must
these salesmen possess ac sound knowledge of thein

THE TRADE OF PARAGUAY 311

business and a certain social standing, but they must
be conversant with the Spanish language if any really
notable success is to be obtained in these days of
increasing competition. Too much stress cannot be
laid on the handicap suffered by even the most
efficient salesman who is ignorant of Spanish. To
be at the mercy of an interpreter in the course of
important business conversations is equivalent to
physical fighting with an arm tied behind one's back,
and the advantage in securing; an order under these
conditions must inevitably lie with a rival who is
proficient in Spanish, even if his actual commercial
backing were a trifle less sound'.

It is a matter of only slightly less importance that
the catalogues of the various British 'goods sent out
to South America should be printed in Spanish, and
that the quotations should be made out in the weights,
measures, and currency of the country to the inhabi-
tants of which it is desired to sell. I have noticed
of late with no little satisfaction that these maxims
have been laid down with emphasis by the British
consular body not only in Paraguay, but in many
other States of South America. In maintaining trade
against competitors who are completely free from
any scruple so long as their end be attained,
it is surely the worst policy willingly to leave
gaps of this kind in the commercial armjaur of the
nation !

It is now, however, probably becoming clear to
British merchants and manufacturers to what an
extent their trade has suffered in the past front
circumstances of this kind — disadvantages under
which the sale of their goods has laboured quite
unnecessarily. It is clearly essential that they should
be removed before the commercial campaign in
Paraguay is fully resumed on the basis which must
now prevail. Notwithstanding its considerable
German commercial population, the sympathies of

312 PARAGUAY

Paraguay in general run as strongly, as elsewhere
in the continent in favour of the Allies. Great
Britain has never known a more favourable moment
to consolidate her business relations with the inland
Republic. It is to be hoped that she will see to
it that the opportunity be not lost.

APPENDIX

Tables showing the recent progress of the chief Paraguayan industries —
Countries concerned in the imports — The principal articles imported
into Paraguay and their respective values — Consular hints concern-
ing competition in trade — Paraguayan State estimates for the year
1914 — Statistics of the Paraguay Central Railway — The State
Colonies of Paraguay — Departments of Paraguay with their districts
— List of the Spanish Governors of Paraguay from the time of the first
settlement of the country to the end of the Spanish dominion —
Eighteenth-century European ignorance concerning Paraguay —
William Hadfield on Carlos Antonio Lopez — Sufferings of the
soldiers in the Paraguayan War — The Paraguayan Press.

Ill

314

APPENDIX

COMMERCIAL STATISTICS

THE following tables will show the recent progress of the chief
Paraguayan industries. The cause of many of the fluctuations has
been explained in the earlier part of the book, and it is merely necessary
to repeat here that it is in most instances political rather than industrial.
Many of the higher totals is these tables are therefore striking, in that
they demonstrate the capabilities of the Paraguayan industries in
circumstances which are in themselves discouraging, and which, in
fairness to the State, cannot reasonably be regarded as permanent.

EXPORTS OF DRIED BEEF

1907

1908 '"

1909

1910

1911

1912

1913

1910
1911
1912
1913

EXPORTS OF BEEF EXTRACT

Cwts.
20,340
19,040
12,100
17,481
34,269
37,547
20,102

Lb.
8,960

10,616

3,863

31,629

EXPORTS OF QUEBRACHO EXTRACT

Metric Tons.
9,209

1908 ... ... ... ... ... 13,136

1909 ... ... ... ... ... 10,680

1910 11,538

1911 ... ... ... ... ... 8,121

1912 7,298

1913 11,721

EXPORT OF HIDES

DRIED. SALTED.

Pieces. Pieces.

1907 58,691 185,589

1908 79,921 177,872

1909 ... ... ... ... 90,014 213,060

1910 77,005 223,877'

1911 ... ... ... ... 66,572 194,132

1912 ... ... ... ... 114,570 183,308

1913 93,554 218,978

1 It will be noticed that this figure, which, taken from Consular sources, we may assume
to be correct, differs slightly from that given in the table in the chapter on cattle,

APPENDIX

315

EXPORTS OF ORANGES

1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913

Dozens.

4-307,550
10,682,466
14,139,441

10,895,379
12,137,247

10,529,575
13,689,716

TANGERINES

1909
1910
1911
1912
1913

Dozen*.
289,654
442,340
2,259,333
505,687
314,012

EXPORTS OF TOBACCO

Par*.

Pito.

Negro.

All kinds.

Cwta.

Cwts.

1907

—

30,500

1908

—

I00,28o

1909

20,500

73,98o

1, 660

—

1910

22,942

77,587

109

—

1911

23,3&>

103,659

746

—

1912

13,333

62,253

135

—

1913

18,681

87,545

287

EXPORTS OF YERBA MATE

1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913

GROUND.

UNOROUKD.

Lb.

504,000

8,713,600

508,480

8,749,440

336,000

6,569,920

237,263

6,106,159

204,044

6,594,478

192,143

2,592,167

184,172

9,053,932

316

APPENDIX

EXPORTS OF TIMBER

Logs
(Rough).

Logs
(Trimmed).

Posts.

Stakes.

Sleepers.

Boards.

General.

1907

Mttric
Tons.

Pieces.

Square
Metres.

3,515,637

1908

—

2,709,666

1909

22,213

—

51,398

—

169,582

735,310

—

1910
1911

94,431
6,712

87,446

58,543
51,158

718,007
618,484

133,488
10, 1 88

Metric
Tons.
4,958

1912

10,633

6l,330

68,962

536,706

3i,55o

2,637

—

1913

8,074

70,088

93,821

685,734

23,995

4,685

—

1907
1908
1910
1911
1912

1913

9,000
18,106
14,888

3,689
12,970

EXPORTS OF PETIT GRAIN OIL

1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912

1913

Lb.

34,640
64,960

41,143
50,394
72,286

APPENDIX

317

COUNTRIES CONCERNED IN THE IMPORTS

Articles and Countries'
from which Imported.

1911.

'1912.

1913.

Remarks.

Food-stuffs
United Kingdom

£
5,8o6

7,200

£
10,323

Flour, grains, potatoes,
sugar, petroleum, pre-

Germany

55,167

42,667

72,954

served fruits, vege-

Argentina

98,819

92,974

127,429

tables and fish, butter,

France

8,895

8,419

11,073

cheese, hams, tea,

Italy

20,530

13,456

20,997

coffee, cocoa, maca-

United States ...

16,340

16,952

18,871

roni, biscuits, sweets,

Spain

28,475

21,915

23,745

candles, soap (toilet),

Belgium

— x

1,457

3,325

oil, olives, condiments,

Uruguay

3,oi9

2,386

4,750

etc.

Brazil

10,663

8,000

8,207

Austria-Hungary

21,188

22,071

15,905

Portugal

1,647

— *

1,979

Netherlands ...

1,044

2,597

Other countries

9,975

4,273

7,276

Textiles
United Kingdom

199,833

173,195

268,920

Prints, greys, whites,
blankets, woollen and

Germany

90,829

82,158

99,165

cotton cashmeres,

Argentina

2,086

2,578

cloths, sheetings, flan-

France

14,286

13,355

23,967

nels, silks, fancy dress

Italy

18,293

17,227

32,077

stuffs, linen goods, etc.

Spain

8,327

7,5ii

15,793

United States ...

1,455

1,665

Belgium

4,211

5,041

5,192

Other countries

5,299

2,508

3,226

Hardware

Tools, wire, ships'

United Kingdom
Germany

36J37

55,728
76,329

129,011
99,473

fittings, corrugated tin,
household and kitchen

Argentina

2,848

6,847

9,974

utensils, etc.

France

4,564

5,272

4,704

Italy

2,157

1,417

United States ...

18,597

21,444

43,122

Belgium

6,514

16,910

20,022

Spain

5,ioi

— «

1,107

Other countries

3,"7

3,925

2,192

Wines, etc. —

United Kingdom

i,767

2,318

3,159

Germany

3,674

2,379

3,103

France

11,887

12,567

14,272

Italy

13,266

12,685

15,588

Spain

26,667

25,631

37,054

Portugal

1,339

1,887

Other countries

2,093

1,452

2,725

* Included under " Other countries."

318 APPENDIX

COUNTRIES CONCERNED IN THE IMPORTS— Continued

Articles and Countries
from which Imported.

1911.

1912.

1913-

Remarks.

£,

Fancy goods

Haberdashery, station-

United Kingdom
Germany
France

16,551
31,528
24,145

12,616
35,605
17,432

22,824
52,772
21,317

ery, perfumery, dolls,
ornaments, plated
goods, buttons, arti-

Italy

4,399

3,376

5,621

ficial flowers, etc.

Spain

1,425

3,867

2,626

Argentina

1,726

4,"7

5,372

United States ...

i,328

1,079

Other countries

313

1,851

3,431

Drugs and chemi-

cals

• ••

...

Medicines, chemicals,

United Kingdom

4,795

9,i6i

10,725

oils and colours, sur-

Germany

15,567

10,142

14,811

gical instruments, etc.

Argentina

2,468

2,941

3,6o5

France

7,410

6,856

12,726

Italy

2,203

1,176

2,038

United States ...

4,973

8,753

14,543

Other countries

2,908

5,556

3,293

Hats

European styles of

United Kingdom

2,676

1,676

1,110

hard and soft felts,

Germany

i,387

i,705

2,472

straws, Panamas,

France

1,825

__ *

2,318

tropical hats and

Italy

7,237

7,589

17,432

helmets

Uruguay

3,H3

I,8l8

1,797

Other countries

717

2,236

442

Fire-arms

Revolvers, shot guns,

United Kingdom

2,495

2,75i

accessories and ammu-

Germany

3,489

4,574

4,186

nition

France

_ i

2,165

_ i

United States ...

5,90i

6,276

3,992

Spain

2,343

1,463

975

Belgium

1,672

1,206

Other countries

1,127

104

443

Clothing

...

Chiefly underwear (the

United Kingdom

2,278

2,760

4,036

import duty on ready-

Germany

5,345

7,559

10,446

made clothes is high)

Argentina

10,194

4,208

12,988

France

2,104

2,526

5,3i8

Italy

2,016

1,008

i,375

Spain

5,744

1,661

1,291

Other countries

104

134

890

Included under " Other countries."

APPENDIX

319

COUNTRIES CONCERNED IN THE IMPORTS— Continued

Articles and Countries
from which Imported.

1911.

IQI2.

1913.

Remarks.

£,

China and glass-

ware —

United Kingdom

1,183

1,441

1,327

Germany

10,620

13,431

15,820

France

— x

1,538

992

Argentina

1,582

Other countries

2,540

1,465

i,355

Boots and shoes —

United Kingdom

—

1,303

Germany

—

2,211

Argentina

—

3475

United States ...

•

—

4,H7

Other countries

•

—

2,822

Cattle-

Argentina

26,757

Uruguay

—~ •

128

Free of duty

273,933

— .1

__ j

Railway materials, agri-

cultural machinery and

implements, machin-

ery for industrial

purposes and ships,

telegraph wire, wire

fencing (barbed and

plain), windmills,

stock cattle, naphtha,

calcium carbide.

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