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 Payaguas tribe often collecting sixty or seventy canoes, with five or six men in each, armed with long lances and clubs, who attack any vessel unprovided with the means of making resistance.
Peace has been made with these people, but they sometimes commit depredations, and the whole government is surrounded by nations equally inveterate and ferocious; on the west are the Tobas and Moscobies, on the south the Abipones, on the north the Guaycurus or Mbayas, and the Panaguas; but the east is free from any immediate neighbours of this description, though on the distant mountains in this quarter called Yerva, are the Monteses, who give great trouble to the people employed to collect the tea, which grows spontaneously in their vicinity. The Monteses also greatly annoy the Portuguese, who are constantly at variance with them. This tribe pushed its way lately across Cuyaba, and part of Matto Grosso, in Brazil, to make an incursion into the head settlements of Moxos, in order to open a path to plunder the country of Santa Cruz de la Sierra and La Paz.
These unsubdued Indians frequently attack the settlements of Paraguay, which has obliged the inhabitants to form a militia in order to repel their aggressions, which are always sudden, and at times when they are least expected. The forts of Paraguay are nineteen in number, and are generally near the river, which is also furnished with guard boats.
The number of Indian villages of the missions is very considerable; they are governed by magistrates, chosen from among themselves, and generally consist of stone or mud houses covered with tiles, having a large square in which is the priest's house, and a good church, the number of inhabitants in each being seldom less than 600, and often exceeding 2000, and the total population of Paraguay is estimated at 97,480 Indians and Spaniards or whites, of which the latter do not form much more than a twentieth part.
The only towns of importance are the capital, Asuncion, Villarica, Curuguaty, Concepcion and Neembucu.
Asuncion, or Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion, the capital, is situated on an angle made by the eastern bank of the river Paraguay, eighteen miles above the first mouth of the Pilcomayo, and forty-eight above that of the second, in 59° 35' west longitude, and 24° 47' south latitude; it was originally a small fort, built in 1538, which soon became a town, and was erected into a bishopric in 1547. Its population consists of 500 Spanish families, and several thousand Indians and mestizoes.
The adjacent country is rich and fertile, and the climate temperate; the trees around it are always in bloom, foliage, or fruit, and the rich pastures in its neighbourhood nourish abundance of cattle. It exports hides, sugar, tobacco and Paraguay tea; but the boats which trade to this place from the city of Buenos Ayres, take two or three months to ascend the river La Plata, though the only difficulty in navigating it is from the force of the descending current, as the winds generally blowing from the south are favourable for the passage.
Villarica is 100 miles north-east of Asuncion, in 25° 48' south latitude, and 56° 31' west longitude, and was founded in 1576, and contains 3000 inhabitants.
Concepcion, in 23° 23' south latitude, and 57° 16' west longitude, contains 1550 inhabitants, and was built in 1773.
Curuguaty, in 24° 28' south latitude, and 56° 54' west longitude, contains 2250 inhabitants, and was founded in 1715.