Paraguay

“ The attractions of Paraguay are its agricultural and pastoral resources; and the timber-lands are said to be the finest in the world, the forests being situated in the northern part of the republic, and reaching an unmeasured distance into the heart of Brazil—as far as the Amazon River to the northward, and far into the mountain regions of Bolivia to the eastward. ”

“ PARAGUAY Paraguay is in the longitudinal center of South America, and, with the exception of Bolivia, is the only country on the continent that does not border on the sea. Next to Uruguay it is the smallest of the South American republics, possessing a territory of 196,000 square miles. Until the break with Spain, in 1813, it was, like Uruguay, part and parcel of La Plata colony, under the jurisdiction of the Viceroy of Buenos Aires, and was known as the Province of Paraguay. ”

“ Paraguay is a country that does not change outwardly, whatever political upheavals may disturb the routine of the life of its inhabitants.{240}
CHAPTER XX
A South American Dictator THE early history of Paraguay is almost identical with that of other South American States. Spain, its conqueror and coloniser, chose a psychological moment for the work—that enchanted period in the history of mankind when the world was opening grand visions to poets and inspiring warlike adventurers on mighty quests through uncharted seas and in lands unmarked by the footsteps of civilisation. ”

“ Directly south of the Brazils, between Parana on the east and Paraguay on the west, is the republic of Paraguay, lately ruled over by the two savage dictators, Francia and Lopez. It is a thickly-wooded region, with numerous streams running through it, and a lofty range—the Cordillera de Caáguazu—at the northern end. The inhabitants are mostly a mixed race of Spaniards and Indians. To the west of the Paraguay river is a wide-extended level region, bounded on the north by Bolivia, and interspersed with lakes and marshes known as the Gran Chaco, and inhabited by tribes of still savage Indians. ”

“ Commerce.—The trade of Paraguay consists in the export of its tea, tobacco, sugar, cotton, hides, tallow, wax, honey, cattle, horses, mules, wool, leather, &c. It is chiefly carried on by the river Paraguay; the journey to Buenos Ayres by land, being seldom performed excepting by couriers, who are then obliged to wade and swim over many rivers, and are exposed to the attacks of the wandering Indians, even the navigation of the Great River not being free from them ”

“ The Guarani peoples who are found to-day in Paraguay are distributed over a large area, extending from the main waters of the Amazon and Madeira rivers through the heart of the continent. Amidst the forests and in the dense chaco of the Paraguay and Parana rivers many still wander in a primitive condition, whilst others but little higher in the scale of civilisation who have come under the influence of the Jesuit missionaries, occupy villages and towns scattered throughout the country. ”

“ From this centre Spanish adventurers pushed east to La Guayra, beyond the Paraná, and west into the Gran Chaco; and before long vast numbers of the less warlike natives were reduced to serfdom. The name Paraguay was applied not only to the country between the Paraguay and the Paraná, but to the whole Spanish territory, which now comprises parts of Brazil, Uruguay and the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, Entre Rios, Corrientes, Misiones, and part of Santa Fé. ”

“ Paraguay, of all countries, has been most under the teaching of the Jesuit priest, and the people in consequence are found to be the most superstitious. Being an inland republic, its nearest point a thousand miles from the sea-coast, it has been held in undisputed possession. ”

“ In 1839-40, the census of Paraguay, ordered by Dr. Francia before his death, numbers 220,000 souls, and this estimate is probably the most reliable. In 1848 General Pacheco y Obes* suggests 600,000 to 700,000 souls. In 1857 Colonel du Graty, probably including the Indians, exaggerates it to 1,337,449, whereas the vast Argentine Confederation had at that time about one and a-half millions. Since 1856 all children of strangers born in Paraguay have become by law citizens, but they are too few to be of any importance. ”

“ On the western side these highlands terminate with a more or less sharply defined edge, the country sloping gradually up to their bases in gentle undulations with open, ill-defined valleys; on the eastern side they send out broad spurs enclosing deep-cut valleys, and the whole country retains more of an upland character. The tributaries that flow westward to the Paraguay are consequently to some extent navigable, while those that run eastward to the Parana are interrupted by rapids and falls, often of a formidable description. ”

“ Paraguay is one of the few South American countries which has iron but as yet it is not exploited, although in the period of the Five Years' War it furnished material from which the cannon were manufactured in Asuncion. The language of the country is Guarani, phonetic, expressive and rich in vowels. Foreigners learn it easily and it is the vernacular of all excepting those people dealing with strangers. ”

“ Of these vast areas, only 2500 square leagues are supposed to be inhabited, cultivated, or used for cattle breeding.
We may concisely lay down the limits of Paraguay thus : the river of that name and the Gran Chaco limit the west, the Parana bounds the east and south, separating her from the Argentine Confederation; and northwards begins the Brazilian Empire. The parallelogram admits of two great divisions : the northern is a mountainous mass averaging, as far as is known, 1200 metres above sea level ; the southern is a delta or doab, in places lower than the two rivers which form it. ”

“ Independent it has since then remained, having, however, lost in an unfortunate war with Chile a large slice of territory adjoining the Pacific. It is now, except Paraguay, the only entirely inland state in South America. And just as on no side has it anything that can be called a natural frontier, neither have its inhabitants any distinctive quality or character to distinguish them sharply from other peoples. They differ but little from the Andean Peruvians, being of similarly mixed Spanish and Indian blood and living under similar physical conditions. ”

“ The country has 98,000 square miles of territory, but a population of only 800,000. Paraguay may almost be called an Indian republic, for the traveller hears nothing but the soft Guarani language spoken all over the country. It is in this republic that the yerba máté grows. That is the chief article of commerce, for at least fifteen millions of South Americans drink this tea, already frequently referred to. Thousands of tons of the best oranges are grown, and its orange groves are world-famed. ”

“ My sympathies are with the Brazil, as far at least as her " mission" is literally, not liberally, to unlock the great Southern Mississippi; to “keep open and develop the magnificent water system of the Paraguay-Parana-Plate,” and to sweep away from the shores of its main arteries the Guardias and Piquetes, the batteries and the ridiculous little stockades which served to keep its waters comparatively desert, and to convert a highway belonging to the world into a mere monopoly of Paraguay. ”

“ Many parts of the country sloping to the Paraná are nearly covered with dense forest, and have been left in possession of the sparsely scattered native tribes. But the country sloping to the Paraguay, and comprising the greater part of the settled districts, is, in keeping with its proximity to the vast plains of Argentina, grassy and open, though the hills are usually covered with forest and clumps of trees are frequent in the lowlands. ”

“ During his reign Paraguay remained undisturbed, wrapped in a profound peace; the population rapidly increased, and, though commerce and manufactures did not flourish, nor the new ideas that were transforming the face of the civilized world penetrate, food and clothing were plentiful and cheap and the Paraguayans prospered in their own humble fashion. ”

“ As a correct plan of the river had to be drawn, the steamer only travelled by day, when we were able to admire the grandeur of the scenery, which daily grew wilder as the mountains vied with each other in lifting their rugged peaks toward heaven. From time to time we passed one of the numerous islands the Paraguay is noted for. These are clothed with such luxuriant vegetation that nothing less than an army of men with axes could penetrate them. ”

“ The fact is that nothing about Paraguay is known outside the country, and of its government very little is known even inside its limits. The foreign employés themselves must generally speak from hearsay, and some of them have not failed to supplement their facts by fancies, theories, and fictions. ”

“ The Republic of Paraguay is forever free and independent. It constitutes itself as a social State of law, unitary, indivisible, and decentralized in the form established by this Constitution and the laws. ”

“ Almost the whole of Paraguay proper has forests of valuable woods with occasional clear places, where settlers have made serviceable the marvelous fertility and luxuriance of the soil. For centuries this region has been the barrier between the two distinct phases of Spanish civilization in South America—the golden empire of Peru and the agricultural colonies on the Plata and its tributaries—just as Uruguay has been the buffer state between the Portuguese and Spanish peoples. ”

“ The Paraguay was known to men of European birth, bore soldiers and priests and merchants as they sailed and rowed up and down the current of its stream, and beheld little towns and forts rise on its banks, long before the Mississippi had become the white man's highway. ”

“ By the river Paraguay itself ships of 200 tons can ascend to Cuiaba, the capital of the Brazilian province of Matto-Grosso; while the interior of Paraguay is interlaced all over with navigable streams emptying themselves into the great fluvial artery after which the province is named—thus facilitating the transport, in the manner of the Chinese canals, of its produce to the markets of Assumption and the thriving town of Pilar.
[110] The natives of Paraguay are docile to their superiors, vigorous, inured to hardship, and intelligent ”

“ Francia faded away, Paraguay had dropped clean out of general vision. Many, indeed, were uncertain whether it formed part of North or of South America; and it is, I need hardly say, impossible to take any interest about the fortunes of a race whose habitat is unknown. Moreover, the periodicals of Europe, wanting, like their public, accurate topographical knowledge of the scene of action, managed to invest a campaign whose grand movements are simple in the extreme however complicated by terrain may be its details, with a confusion that lacked even the interest of mystery. ”

“ The inhabitants are extremely lazy, and on the estancias the men live in indolent ease, their many concubines doing the real labor. Strangers living in Paraguay become in time like the natives, taking their siesta at noon and putting off all work until the morrow. The business is in the hands of the Spaniards, Germans, and Italians. There are over five thousand Germans in the republic but like the Spaniard they are unpopular with the natives. There is much wealth in Asuncion according to the Paraguayan standard but very little according to the European standard. ”

“ The men were trained to arms, and all the elements of an independent empire were fast coming into being. In 1632, thirty years after the starting of this system, Paraguay had twenty reductions, averaging 1,000 families each, which at a moderate estimate, would give a population of 100,000, and they still went on prospering until three times this number are, by some, said to have been reached. ”

“ It is not easy to treat of the topography and geography of Paraguay. Some portions, — for instance, the Paraguay river and the Parana to the parallel of Villa Rica, and even to the rapids of La Guayra — have for three centuries been travelled over and surveyed. ”

“ Very little is known of it except small areas along the Bermejo and Paraguay rivers, where attempts have been made to form settlements. The unexplored interior is still occupied by tribes of wild Indians. The climate is hot, the summer temperature rising to a maximum of 104° F. Timber-cutting is the principal occupation of the settlers, though stock-raising and agriculture engage some attention in the settlements on the Paraguay. The capital, Formosa (founded 1879) , is a small settlement on the Paraguay with a population of about 1000 in 1900. ”

“ From the river Xexuy, downwards, the Paraguay takes its general course southwards for thirty-two leagues to the city of Assumpcion, the capital of Paraguay, and the residence of its governor. This city is situated on an obtuse angle made by the eastern bank of the river; the population [440] is by no means trifling, and there are some Portuguese among the inhabitants. ”

“ The history of every country is to a great extent moulded by the character of its inhabitants, and in the case of Paraguay it is not difficult to understand the causes of the interminable and ever-recurrent revolutions which are almost synonymous with the name of the republic. ”

“ It was in Paraguay that the first conquerors of the country fixed their abode and the seat of their government:—it was there also, attracted by the same inducements of a genial clime and a profusion of natural productions to satisfy all man's wants, that the Jesuit fathers laid the original foundations of their celebrated establishments just spoken of. ”