To Asunción one continues in the same steamer, as the Paraguay River, though considerably narrower, permits steamers of 12 feet draft up to that city. Floating islands are frequent, orchids and parrots are numerous; alligators in profusion bask in the sun, disdaining to move at the occasional crack of a rifle aimed in their direction. Islands of green with flowers of lavender float upon the stream. Blossoms of purple and of white depend from the creepers which embrace the trees of the forest. Giant scarlet flowers a foot in diameter spring from a green cactus. Human life is rare.
The first halt in Paraguay, now on the right bank, while Argentina continues on the left, is Humaytá where the familiar colors red, white, and blue, appear instead of the Argentine blue and white only. This being a garrison town, low barracks are visible and soldiers in khaki. A conspicuous object is a great red brick church, battered and rent from top to bottom, a mute and mournful witness of that strange six years’ war. Attacked by the allies, the defensive army under Col. Martinez made long and suitable resistance, at length retreating to the church which was bombarded from the boats. Surrender was at last compelled. Lopez at this was so enraged that, as Martinez was not at hand, he seized his wife and dragged her along with his army. After suffering frightful tortures, her hair mostly torn from her head, she suffered death from merciful bullets. That she was a relative of Lopez was nothing to the monster of cruelty who caused a brother to be shot and his own mother to be flogged.
The country on the left with low banks is called the Chaco, first the Argentine, and above Asunción the Paraguayan; it is a wonderful section many times traversed, but not yet thoroughly explored; with the region to the north one of the least known parts of the earth. From the highlands of Bolivia at the northwest the slope is extremely gradual causing many swamps. With some poor land there is more with rich vegetation, immense forests, wild animals of many kinds, including boa constrictors. And there is a tale of a creature called Mboya Jagwa, dog snake, a water serpent unknown to science, 60 or 70 feet long with a head like a dog and a hooked tail. The Indians all agree in their description of it, and one village moved to another part of the country because one of these creatures had settled near by.
Two days have passed on the clearer waters of the Paraguay when a strange sight appears in this alluvial land; some large stone buildings and great boulders of red stone along the bank, then a rocky sugar loaf mountain, not very high, a mere babe of a mountain, but a pleasing sight in this flat land. A different country is here; red cliffs, honeycombed with caves, rise from the shore. One more corner, and the city of Asunción appears, after so much wilderness, an imposing display of white walls, roofs and spires, facing not only the stream up which we have sailed, but the broad Pilcomayo, flowing in from the northwest, which marks on that side the boundary between Argentina and Paraguay.
GOVERNMENT PALACE, ASUNCIÓN
Asunción, capital of Paraguay, is called by one English writer the cleanest, nicest town on the river above Buenos Aires. Situated on a hillside above the stream, it has fine natural drainage; and good air and sunshine make it a healthy place, to which many come from the south to recover from tuberculosis. A thousand miles from the sea it is only 203 feet above the ocean’s level. With a population of 80,000 it is still a quiet, sleepy town; for several hours at noon in summer the streets are practically deserted. The Gran Hotel del Paraguay is supplied with baths, has French cooking, and English is spoken. A Paraguayan peso is said to be worth 8 cents gold, so it may be well not to have too many.
On the main Plaza, of course, is the Government Palace, which was built by Lopez just before the war and is now used for the offices of the President and the Members of his Cabinet; the second story windows afford a splendid view; here a breeze is ever blowing. The National Library deserves a visit, for it contains the finest existing collection of old Spanish documents connected with the history of the Plata region, and Jesuit annals from 1534 to 1600; interesting accounts also of what was nearly a condition of State Socialism under Dr. Francia and the elder Lopez. These documents, carried off by the younger Lopez when he abandoned the capital, were for many years in peasants’ houses at Piribebuy, where many valuable manuscripts were used as waste paper.
The Museo de Bellas Artes boasts of at least one Murillo and half a dozen other paintings which would adorn any European collection; portraits too of many historical personages. The streets, paved with stone and lined with whitewashed walls, well reflect the sun; here is repeated the saying that only the English and mad dogs walk on the sunny side of the street, although the climate even in summer is not marked by extreme heat. From Tacumbu, the summit of the ridge above the town, a beautiful view will be had of long stretches of winding river up and down, and leagues over the Chaco forests opposite as well as the rolling country to the east. The forests are not of one or a few kinds of trees. Out of a number of 163, in a space 100 yards square, there were 47 (not 57) varieties. The land is well adapted to intensive cultivation, on account of the great variety of products which may be raised. There is good hunting, boar, jaguar, monkeys, red wolf, etc., and a great field for scientists in both vegetable and animal worlds. Also there is a chance for the treasure seeker; for when Lopez fled from the capital he took with him seven cartloads of specie, at least $5,000,000. One cartload, on account of hot pursuit, was dumped over the bank into a river. The rest was carried on and buried in the midst of a swamp where it was marked by a wooden cross. This cross was burned in a prairie fire, Lopez and all of his men perished, the records were lost; but one man is reported as living who followed the wheel tracks to the end. However, the money obviously belonged to the Government of Paraguay and if found, which is improbable, a good portion at least would have to be forfeited to the Government.
Every one who comes to Asunción will wish to purchase a bit of Nanduty lace, as it is called, a specialty of Paraguayan handiwork, some of it very fine and beautiful. It bears resemblance in patterns to Mexican drawn work; it is not, however, drawn, but is genuine lace. It may be purchased also in Buenos Aires; perhaps sometimes in Montevideo, but none could be found there in 1912 in spite of a strenuous hunt, nor in Rio either. The prices are moderate, and no man need hesitate about purchasing a piece. No woman will.