HUMAYTA TO ASUNCION.

.85

and chains across the river. This place was the key to the upper rivers, and the garrison, before the war, usually numbered 12,000 men: the fortress was constructed by French engineers in 1854, under the regime of the first Lopez.

A little above Humaitá, on the Chaco side, we come to the mouth of the Rio Vermejo, which is about 300 yards wide, and bordered by a dense thicket. Some of the Chaco Indians may often be seen about here, spearing fish.

Villa Pilar is a pretty little town, with numerous orange-groves and a handsome church, about a mile from the shore. It is the chief town of a district which shewed a census-return of 160,000 inhabitants. Under the rule of Francia it was the commercial emporium of Paraguay, the city of Asuncion being shut to all foreigners.

An hour's sail takes us to the mouth of the Tebicuari, a large river which rises in the Yerbales or mate-fields of Misiones, and after a course of 400 miles falls into the Paraguay at this place. Just before the war President Lopez had sent to Europe for two light steamers to navigate the Tebiquary.

Villa Franca is a village of no importance: the surrounding district has only 10,000 inhabitants.

Villa Oliva is another small place, with a church and public schools: here the steamers often take beef and firewood. And now we may observe shoals of alligators on either bank: sometimes as many as a dozen basking together in the sun, a few measuring seven or eight feet in length. They lie motionless, like a log of wood, with their jaws extended shewing two alarming rows of teeth. The body is scaly like a tortoise, with four short fin-like legs, and they glide into the water with great ease. Carpinchos may be seen in close proximity, apparently on good terms with the «Yacares,» for this South American crocodile confines his tastes to fish.

Villeta is a difficult pass of the river, about seven leagues below Asuncion. At times the water is so low that no vessels drawing over eighteen inches can pass. The banks on the Paraguayan side rise as we proceed up stream, and the Paraguayans used to have a battery of a few guns commanding a bend of the river. The scenery is very diversified and tranquil, with stately palm-trees that stand forth at intervals to remind us of the tropics.

The peak of Lambaré is enchanting, with its cone-like elevation clad in luxuriant foliage, raising its lofty form to the clouds. The adjacent village

of Lambaré is a suburb to the capital, remarkable for its church and cemetery.

On the left bank is the mouth of the Pilcomayo, which rises in Bolivia, near the city of Chuquisaca, traverses the Gran Chaco, and after a course of 1,500 miles, here falls into the Paraguay.

There are two batteries at the turn before we get view of the arsenal and city of Asuncion.

Asuncion, the Paraguayan metropolis, is a town of some 30,000 inhabitants; it was founded by a Spanish captain named Ayolas, on August 15, 1536. There are some splendid public buildings, and excellent hotel accommodation is found at the Club. The shops are poor, and all importéd articles very dear. The railway to Villa Rica runs through a country unsurpassed for scenery. The traveller will find many delightful rides in the environs of Asuncion, and he should take a bath before sunrise at the Chorro. A description of the city and people will be given at full in the section of this work devoted to Paraguay.

Ascending the river to Matto Grosso, the first place beyond Asuncion is Villa Occidental, on the Chaco side, where a French colony was established by Lopez, but resulted unfortunately. We next pass the towns of Rosario and San Pedro, and the mouths of the Confuso, Jejuy, and Ypape rivers, arriving at Concepcion, 180 miles from Asuncion. The depth of the river varies from twenty to seventy feet, its width being from half a mile to a mile, and the banks usually about fifteen feet high. Concepcion is a town of 2,000 inhabitants, and the great port of the yerba-máte trade.

Salvador is seventy miles above Concepcion, and has a population of 1,000 souls. From Salvador to Rio Appa is nearly 100 miles, the scenery being very beautiful near the ranges of Itapucu Guazú, and the country inhabited by warlike Indians. Here begins the disputed territory, which extends eighty miles north, as far as Rio Blanco, and is claimed by both Brazil and Paraguay on account of the important position of Fort Olympo. Fort Olympo is 420 miles above Asuncion, standing 45 feet above the river, which is here 600 yards wide: it forms a square of 100 feet, with bastions for cannon, the walls being fourteen feet high and two and a-half thick, without embrasures. It was built by the Spaniards in 1798, garrisoned by Francia in 1822, abandoned by Lopez in 1850, again occupied in 1856, and afterwards seized in turns by Brazil and Paraguay. Before reaching Olympo is the picturesque mountain called Pan-de-azucar, and five miles above the fort is Bahia Blanca, at the mouth of the Rio Blanco.

We enter Brazilian territory at Salinas, and here the left bank is claimed by Bolivia, while the right forms part of the province of Matto Grosso.

Fort Coimbra, in Lat. 19.55.43, and Long. 57.52.32, stands on a hill of the same name, which slopes to the river: it is forty feet above the water level, and is a solid stone structure, completely commanding the river which is here 600 yards wide. The officers' quarters within the fort consist of small stone houses. All supplies are obtained from Albuquerque or the neighbouring Indians. The low lands for some distance above Coimbra are subject to inundation, but there are also some pieces of firm land, covered with excellent woods and never overflowed except in seasons of extraordinary rise. The mountains are still insulated peaks or short ranges, probably spurs of the Bolivian sierras. The surrounding country is held by the Guaycurú Indians, whom the Brazilian Government treats with much conciliation. Coimbra is thirty-three miles above Fort Olympo. Albuquerque is an insignificant village of seventy houses, only useful for supplies of provisions, and 47 miles from Coimbra. Passing the mouth of the Tacuari we reach Corumbá, sixty miles from Albuquerque, and 560 from Asuncion. This place sprung into importance with the introduction of steam traffic: it produces some good cotton.

From Curumbá to Cuyabá is nearly 400 miles, the course changing in Lat. 18, Long. 57.30, from the upper Paraguay to the river Cuyabá. The city of Cuyabá is capital of the province of Matto Grosso, residence of the President, Bishop, and other Brazilian functionaries, and a place of much importance. This is the highest point navigable in a steamer. Captain Bossi, in 1862, attempted to cross over to the head-waters of the Amazonas, but failed. The distance overland to Rio Janeyro is 1200 miles, practicable on mules in about sixty days, but much infested by Indians, passing through a country of woods and mountains. The early Spaniards are known to have made the journey. A Brazilian expeditionary force left Rio Janeyro in 1865; most of the men perished on the route, the rest deserted to the woods.

UP THE URUGUAY.

The scenery of the Uruguay is the finest in these countries, and there is almost daily communication between Buenos Ayres and Salto: the steamers are elegant and commodious, and make the trip in 36 hours.

As we cross the La Plata to ascend the Uruguay, the fine estancias of Martin Chico and San Juan are pointed out to the traveller; they are beautifully situated, and must some day become immensely valuable. Passing the Cerro San Juan we sight the island of Martin Garcia, the Gibraltar of the River Plate, which has anything but an imposing appearance. Two new fortifications are seen on the S. E. point, but there

are no guns on them. Facing the Argentine coast is a battery of nine guns, with soldiers' quarters. The place almost looks deserted, and the old batteries used in the war of 1859 are dismantled. Between the island and the Oriental coast only small craft can pass. The Argentine Congress in 1867 voted a considerable sum for the fortification of the island. In the time of Rosas many of the prisoners confined here escaped by swimming a grey mare over to the mainland of Banda Oriental, the mare regularly swimming back again, till Rosas took her and shot her as an enemy to the State.

Carmelo is the first town we sight and looks very pretty, seated on a bend of the river, but a good view is not obtained till we pass upwards. A small steamer calls here in connection with Colonia or Higueritas. The next thing we see is an old convent now used for an estancia-house.

The scenery improves as we advance, the Entre-Riano coast being much lower than the Oriental.

Nueva Palmira or Higueritas is on the eastern bank; it is a small place, and has few attractions, except that it offers a convenient landing-place for passengers for the interior. There is a 'graseria,' for melting down sheep, belonging to Mr. Henry Zimmermann.

At the mouth of the Rio Negro the scenery is interesting: here a small steamer meets us to take the passengers for Mercedes. Higher up we meet the Gualeguaychú steamer, forming another branch-line of the Uruguay service.

As we proceed up the river the nature of the last great geological changes, that have occurred in this valley, becomes apparent from the facts noticeable. The Argentine side of the river is generally low, often marshy, as if recently redeemed from a deep lake, while the Uruguayan side is generally high and rocky. Along the bold rocky border of that old, immense lake, the waters were drained, and, washing the base of the bluff on its eastern border, at length formed the River Uruguay. On the Uruguayan shore the bed of the river is generally of granitic rocks, the channel is deeper, and, from the more solid formation, the ports are better. The rocks are chiefly granite, though in some parts, as for example near Salto, the action of the fire is more marked, and quartz is seen under all the modification made upon it by heating and cooling, and by slight admixtures of other rocks. In the interior of the country, 'geodes' are found in great abundance and of great beauty of structure. In the streams and along the rocky coasts, the sand is richly interspersed with pebbles of cornelian, agate, chalcedony, onyx, and jasper, all more or less pure, and some of them of great beauty. There is, probably, but one place

BUENOS AYRES TO PAYSANDŮ.

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where such pebbles are so abundant, or so beautiful, or so large, and that is at St. Anthony on the Mississippi river.

Fray Bentos is a new town on the same side of the river, containing about 1,000 inhabitants. It is called sixty leagues from Buenos Ayres: it is not attractive to the traveller, who only beholds it from the deck of the steamer, but is said to be a place of considerable business. It is chiefly noteworthy for the famous Liebig Extractum Carnis Factory, under the direction of Mr. Giebert, which was established in 1864, at a cost of £200,000. It gives constant employment to 600 or 800 persons, and can kill 500 head of cattle per day. The machinery was made in Glasgow, and cost £45,000: it is the most complete and elaborate that can be imagined. The beef extract is made up in boxes of 100% each, for shipment to Europe, where it is sold at £1 sterling perb weight, chiefly for hospital use.

Roman is the name of a landing place, and also of a saladero near it, about seventy leagues from Buenos Ayres. The saladero is owned by Don Felipe Iglesias, and the town is little else than a group of irregularly built houses to accommodate the workmen.

It is usually midnight when the steamer calls at Concepcion, the chief town of Entre Rios, which we shall visit on our return down the river. By daybreak we are at anchor in the port of Paysandú.

Paysandú, eighty leagues from Buenos Ayres, contained before the civil war in that country 7,700 inhabitants. So great has been the activity of business, since the restoration of peace, that it is believed that the population now exceeds 10,000. New houses are going up in all directions, and these are of a better class than the old ranchos battered down in the bombardment. In the Department of Paysandú are five saladeros, two of these are in the city, one at Casa Blanca, one at Roman, and one at Fray Bentos. At each of these there are killed annually 40,000 to 50,000 animals, making from this department 200,000 to 250,000 animals in the year. The beef is salted and dried in thin, large slices, and it finds a market in Brazil and the West Indies. Hides are salted and go to Europe, chiefly to Antwerp and Liverpool, and the tallow goes by cargoes, in pipes, to England. There are no manufactories in Paysandú but sundry stores, and shops of shoemakers, tailors, waggon-makers, blacksmiths, &c. Hotels, La Paz and La Francia; charge, $13 per day. Labor is dear both for house and farm service, the poorest laborer receiving, at the lowest, $16s. per month. And so rapid is the increase of population by immigration that all kinds of marketing are as dear as at Buenos Ayres. Don Miguel Horta, the principal shopkeeper, is Spanish vice-consul, and his house is the