218

SWIMMING A RIVER.

keeping a bright look-out for the significant indications of good cheer, cattle, small fields of corn, and mandioca, a traveler may generally, without fear of disappointment, find enough to satisfy his appetite. We had been but a short time at the Señora's when an agitation among the chickens, and certain other unmistakable signs, gave a pleasant forewarning of dinner. The good woman soon placed it before us, then placidly seated herself at a table near, and continued her work, making cigars from tobacco which hung from the roof, and had only a month or two before been cut from the field. To all appearance the leaf was of a fine quality; and after rolling one up in the neatest manner, she gravely placed it by my plate, with a request that I would smoke it. I asked her to make me a few, and though so fresh they proved excellent.

Until the arrival of the American Company there was not, even at Asuncion, an appointed place for making or selling cigars, though many thousands were exported monthly. Individuals who bought for their own use, or merchants requiring them for domestic trade or exportation, ordered them from different country families, and they were always punctually delivered their shape and size varying according to order.

Twelve miles beyond Doña Clara's we reached the Taquari, a tributary of the Parana, and the dividing line between the partidos San Casmi and Carmen. It was so much swollen by the backing up of the waters of the Parana that we were obliged to cross in canoes; the horses swimming alongside and literally carrying us over by "horse power." After passing this river we came to our resting-place for the night, the "Capilla Carmen," where we were well received by the commandante, Mariano Senturian, at whose house we had been advised to stop.

The country from Villa Rica is generally campo, intersected by several streams and skirted by wooded ridges of rolling lands. The soil of the latter is argillaceous, while that of the plain is a rich dark loam. The estancias are not so numerous as between Asuncion and Villa Rica, the largest being those of the government; but the herds of cattle are superb.

There was no great variety in the articles cultivated. Every where we saw tobacco, corn, mandioca, pumpkins, onions, oranges, and melons. The latter, though small, were of delicious flavor. This poverty in the variety of fruits and vegetables arises only from the extreme indifference of the people, who have no market

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for such products, and care little for what we consider the luxuries of the table.

It is almost impossible to name a tropical fruit which, if planted here, does not thrive with the least possible care. Bananas, plantains, and pine-apples are cultivated on a limited scale; but in no country do they mature in greater perfection. So with coffee. I saw it growing in one place only, but it was particularly fine. Give the Paraguayans maté, beef, and mandioca, and they are satisfied. Their forests yield the first, and the native pastures support their cattle. Shut out, first by the policy of Spain, and again by the tyranny of Francia, from all communication with other lands, they neither know nor desire their luxuries. The climate is deliciously soft; and with the festivals of the Church, and an occasional "dance," to break the monotony of existence, they dream it away, imagining that the true and only Elysium is Paraguay.

We saw a few deer. Among the domestic animals are sheep, but no hogs. The woodlands are probably rich in flora and birds; but traveling almost continuously through a level open country, we saw very few. Jaguars are rarely seen in this part of Paraguay, but infest the forests bordering on the rivers. Among the birds, the most common was the small partridge.

As we approached the Parana the country continued fertile, populous and picturesque; beautifully diversified by plains and wooded ridges. Under beneficent legislation, with such a wealth of soil and climate, surely the happiness of a golden age might here be realized.

In all Paraguay I have not yet met a medical man. At Asuncion, and a few of the towns only, "curanderos" are found. These are men supposed to be skilled in the knowledge and application of the remedios drawn from the vegetation of the country. Falconer,* both physician and botanist, says: "Paraguay is enriched by the bounty of nature with so many wholesome plants, roots, gums, woods, and fruits, that whoever is skilled in the knowledge of these things would have no occasion for European druggists to cure any disease." Nearly all families of the country understand the power and use of these remedies.

We made this journey in February, the last summer month, the

* An English Jesuit. When he wrote, all La Plata was called Paraguay, but the Jesuits were particularly acquainted with all the northern and western provinces.

222

ENCARNACION.-CARMEN.

hottest of the year. In the course of each day and night we entered three or four different houses, and yet heard of no sick individuals or families. Malignant fevers are unknown. On several occasions we met with men over eighty, vigorous in mind and body, who assured us they had never experienced a day of indisposition. We generally slept under the projecting roof, and I remember no night that was not deliciously cool—so much so, that my blanket-shawl was always an essential covering.

The barometer and thermometer were both accidentally broken, which I regretted, as I wished to measure the height of Ytapuanow Encarnacion-with Asuncion, and continue meteorological observations. Our register of temperatures up to the 17th, inclusive, gave a maximum of heat, at 3 P.M., of 94°, minimum 86°; and yet, with the wind from the north-for it is only from that quarter that so high a range is produced-this temperature was not oppressive. The position of Carmen, latitude 27° 12' 30" S., longitude 56° 14′ 21′′ W., was determined by Lieutenant Powell at a subsequent period. In consequence of an accident to the pocket-chronometer before my return to Asuncion, which prevented a comparison and verification of its error and rate with our standard, I was unwilling to assume the results of our work as correct. Lieutenant Powell, who afterward visited the interior of the country, was directed in his returning to take the same route from and after his arrival at Villa Rica-a place satisfactorily determined and to make all necessary observations at each of the prominent points where they had been previously made, and the geographical positions of which I deemed it important to establish with every degree of accuracy.

The Puebla Carmen is a new place, built after the abandonment of Ytapua, and contains about one thousand inhabitants. Why was Encarnacion deserted? After considerable negotiation with foreign powers, Paraguay opened a port on the Parana. She regretted the concession; but there was only one way of avoiding the stipulations of the treaty and keeping the portals closed. This was by building up a new village twenty-one miles in the interior, and making it the centre of trade for all the neighboring country. President Lopez proved in this instance that if he can not move mountains he can change the position of towns. He who dares look back to Encarnacion will be turned into one of the pillars of the state-a soldier.

Nothing could have been kinder than our reception by Don