a. Side wall; b. Pillar; c. Beam; d. Rafter; e. Stringer; f. Tile
Pillars (fig. b) lower than the main wall (fig. a) are erected about twelve feet or less in front of it. Across the tops of these pillars and connecting them lies a beam (fig. c) from which rafters (fig. d) at regular intervals slant up to the top of the wall of the building. Horizontally across these rafters are laid stringers (fig. e) about a foot apart. On top of these stringers are laid tiles (fig. f). In many cases a thin layer of bricks is laid across the stringers, above which are laid the tiles.
The worst feature of Asuncion is the paving of the streets. Black flint stones of all sizes and shape are pounded tightly into the ground, and their crevices are filled with the red earth of the country; they are then treated with a coating of dirt. For the first three months this pavement makes excellent driving. Then when the copious rains have washed the dirt out, the stones settle or are loosened. An occasional wagon-wheel knocks one out of place, and it is seldom replaced. Incessant wear now makes ruts among the loosened stones, and in the part of the road where there is not much traffic, vegetation grows up, likewise forcing the stones up. The city is built on the side of a hill sloping down to a lagoon which is separated from the Paraguay River by a swamp. There are no conduits to carry away the rain water, nor any ditches at the sides of the streets. Accordingly when it rains, the water runs down the hill through the crevices between the paving stones, and by the time it reaches the main street, Calle Palmas, the side streets are turned into rivers. Eave troughs project horizontally from the roofs over the streets, and the pedestrians have a choice between two evils, walking in the flowing road or getting a dousing from many hydrants.
With the exception of an English church in the suburbs and a German Lutheran one in the city, both of which are so small that it seems a shame to rank them under the title of church, there are only three Houses of God in Asuncion, the cathedral, San Roque, and that of the Church of the Encarnacion. The cathedral is an old, weather-beaten affair facing the lagoon. San Roque is very old and faces a small plaza of the same name behind the railway station. The most imposing building in the city is the mammoth unfinished red brick pile which goes by the name of the Church of the Encarnacion. If ever completed it will hold a place among the world's great religious edifices. It is built on the summit of the hill above the business section of the city and is a landmark for many miles. It is reached by a double flight of steps from the street. It was started during the reign of Francia, and the money having long since given out, it is left but half completed. It is built very solidly of tightly fitting red brick, and was intended to be stuccoed over. A place is left for a tower each side of the main door but they have never been commenced. The interior is plain, has been given a fresh coat of plaster, and exudes the funereal tuberose smell which is present in the casino at Monte Carlo to counteract the aroma of corpses in the private morgue beneath the roulette room of that establishment. As matters now stand the Church of the Encarnacion is a hideous pile. The earthly remains of Dr. Gaspar Rodrigues de Francia, Paraguay's most famous dictator, 1816-1840, were buried beneath the vestibule of this church. The relatives of a person whom he had executed had his bones dug up and desecrated them by flinging them into the lagoon.
The plazas of Asuncion are a disgrace to the city. The Plaza Uruguaya is the largest. It is planted with trees which are scattered at random. A brick wall separates one side of it from the street. At the opposite side is the large, graceful, colonnaded, battle-scarred railway station with its illuminated clock tower. Pedestrians avoid traversing this plaza after nightfall on account of footpads, many of whom would commit murder for a paper peso. In the center of the plaza stand the fragments of a marble statue shot to pieces in the revolution of 1904. The Plaza de la Republica is on top of the high banks that skirt the swampy ground that forms the shores of the lagoon. In some places it is like a big field, especially that part of it in front of the artillery barracks where it is the dumping ground of tin cans and refuse, and is traversed by cattle paths. Near the House of Congress, a morbid appearing porticoed edifice, it assumes the nature of a lawn which in turn becomes a park in front of the ancient cathedral. In this plaza is a cheap looking brick column named the Statue of Liberty. This monument is surmounted by the image of San Blas, the patron saint of Paraguay, in whose honor is celebrated on February 3d of each year an orgy that beggars description. The base of the statue has the dates of different events and revolutions painted in black letters on each of its four faces. One of these dates tells the reader that Asuncion was founded August 15, 1536. Another date tells of the ousting of the Spanish domination. A third one informs us of the end of Francia's rule, while the fourth bears testimony of the end of the reign of Lopez II.
Cabildo, or City Hall, Asuncion
This building was formerly the capitol
One of the features that attracts the eyes of strangers is that there is scarcely a building in the downtown district that is not pitted with holes from a Gatling gun. In some sections whole walls have been shot away by cannon balls. One of the beautiful trees common to Paraguay is the dark fern-leaved paraiso tree. There are a great many of these in Asuncion, especially in the Plaza San Roque. Their foliage is thick and gives delightful shade.