HEADQUARTERS OF GENERAL LOPEZ.
"From all I can learn, I judge that the Paraguayan people fought bravely and suffered terribly, and were overpowered by superior numbers. Lopez appears to have been a man of pleasant manners in social life, but he had no care for the good of his country, and sacrificed all its interests to his own purposes. Before the war broke out most of the commerce was in his hands; nothing could be imported or exported without his permission, and the payment of a tax which went into his pockets. He provoked the war in hope of establishing a kingdom, and failed, as he deserved to fail.
"The country has few manufactures, and the principal industries are agriculture and the raising of sheep, cattle, and horses. In agriculture, the exported articles are tobacco and yerba maté or Paraguayan tea; beef, mutton, hides, and wool are the products of the grazing lands which find their way to other countries, and there are some shipments of timber and fruit.
"Of late years an industry of a new kind has sprung up on the River Plate and its tributaries, the shipment of frozen meat to England and the continent of Europe. On our way up the river we stopped at one of the estancias where this business was conducted, and had a chance to see some of its details. The manager kindly took us through the establishment, and explained the various processes.
"The animals to be slaughtered and shipped—whether cattle or sheep—are killed and dressed in the usual way. The beeves are divided into quarters, but the sheep are kept whole; in either case the meat is taken to a large room, where it is hung on racks, so that no two pieces shall come in contact with each other. This room is really an enormous refrigerator, and when it is filled the doors are shut tight, and the air within is cooled below the freezing-point by an artificial process.
"When the meat has been properly frozen, it is removed from the room and carried on board the steamer at the dock. This steamer has her hold arranged on the refrigerating system, with several inches of thick felt between double walls of planking, so that heat is conducted away very slowly. When the hold is filled the cooling apparatus is set in operation, and the temperature is lowered to about 33° Fahrenheit; the apparatus is kept at work during the entire voyage, and until the steamer delivers her cargo in Europe. The meat thus remains perfectly fresh, although the ship passes the equator and remains for days and days under a tropical sun.
"Meat is very cheap in South America and very dear in Europe. The managers of the new enterprise claim that they have met with complete success, and will soon be able to feed the whole of Europe on beef and mutton grown on the pampas of South America. They have many prejudices to overcome, besides the opposition which the graziers and butchers of the Old World are making to the prospect of having their home industries ruined by these importations.
PARAGUAYAN MOTHER AND DAUGHTERS.