Letters from the Battlefields of Paraguay. Richard Francis Burton
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you may know nothing. The Commonwealth had, according to Colonel du Graty, 500 primary schools, and a total of 20,000 pupils. The census of 1845 registered 16,750 male pupils, which, ac- cording to the proportions calculated in the United States, represents ^th of male population — this remark was made by M. T. M. Lasturria (Chilian Minister to the Platine Republics and the Brazilian Empire) . Assuming Azara^s computation regarding the diflPerence of sexes, 16,750 boys would be the equivalent of 18,041 girls who are not educated. Since 1861 the justices of the peace were ordered to send to school all children between nine and ten who had no excuse for staying away. Each district had its school, but only those of the principal places were subsidized by the State. The usual pay tcTthe teacher was one riyal (sixty-five cents) per month irregularly paid by paterfamilias ; consequently the school- master was despised almost as much as amongst the gold diggers of Australia.
Instruction was made, as everywhere it should be, — an- other truism — elementary, compulsory, gratuitous, universal. Unfortunately, it was not made purely secular. As usual in South America, Paraguay indulged herself in the luxmy of a State religion — namely, the Catholic, Apostolic, and Holy Roman, modified by the presence of a second and a stronger Pope, in the shape of a President. The amount of religious instruction was, however, confined to the " Chris- tian doctrine,^^ an elementary catechism learned by heart ; in fact, they acquired theology enough to hate a heretic neighbour, without knowing the reason why. No Para- guayan was allowed to be analphabetic — a curious contrast
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with England and her two millions of uneducated children. The handwriting became so similar^ that a stranger would have thought the Republic confined to a single writing- master. But the educational element was completely sterile. The only books allowed were silly lives of saints^ a few volumes of travels, subsidized and authorized by the State, and hideous lithographs probably put on stone at Asuncion ; the worst and ignoblest form of literature once popular in " Bookseller's Row."*^ There was little secondary instruction, and only one institute in which superior teaching was at any time allowed. The newspaper, more potent than the steam engine, was there, but the organ of publicity was converted to Governmental purposes.
" II n^y a pas de Journaux a TAssomption,^^ says the Revue des Deux Mondes, with customary and characteristic veracity. As early as April 26, 1845, a weekly paper was established to refute the calumnies of the Argentine press. El Paraguayo Independiente was issued on Saturdays, but irregularly, by the Printing office of the State, and it was purely official, no advertisements being admitted, whilst the price per number was one riyal (65 cents). Some years afterwards it was judged advisable to modify it after a civilized fashion, to vary the matter, and to admit feuil- letons and announcements. It was still the official sheet, the Moniteur of the Republic, and it changed its name to El Semanario — the weekly — not as often written Seminario" — "de Avisos y conocimientos utiles J' It was published at the official capital, Asuncion, Luque, Paraguary, or wherever head-quarters might be ; forming a single sheet, 2 spans long, by 1-30, printed upon Caraguata fibre. This wild Bromelia makes a stiff" whitey-brown paper, good for wrapping, but poorly fitted to receive type, especially when the ink is made from a species of black bean. The first two columns are the ^' seccion officiel "' and the rest is '^ no
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officiel j " at times a little Guarani poetry appears at the end. The single number costs four riyals, or twelve = three dollars. August^ 1868^ saw its sixteenth anniversary. El Semanario is published purely under Governmental inspi- ration, hence the perpetual victories over the Brazil, and the superhuman valour of the Marshal President. It is said that the copies forwarded to the out stations are ordered, especially since paper became so scarce, to be read, and to be returned. A complete set of Semanarios will be necessary to the future historian of the war, and they will not be easily procured.
The Cabichui newspaper, translated Mosquito, or Mouche k Miel, is a kind of Guarani Punch or Charivari, established by Marshal President Lopez, to pay off in kind the satirists and caricaturists of Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, and printed by the Army Press. I saw but one number, bearing date year 1 Paso Pucu. The paper was of Caraguata, prepared by M. Treuenfeldt of the Telegraph Office, and the size 1|- span long by 1 broad. The single sheet begins with a vignette of a Sylvan man surrounded by a swarm of brobdignag flies, like the Gobemouche sketched by French children. It has an almanac for the week, sundry articles, all political, and caricatures of the Emperor and Empress of the Brazil, the Triple Alliance, Marshal Caxias and his army, and Admiral Inhauma with his iron-clads. The illustrations, drawn by some amateur military Rapin, and cut in wood, are rude in the extreme, but they are not more unartistic than was the Anglo-Indian Punch in my day. The Lambare is published only in Guarani for the benefit of those who cannot enjoy Spanish. The Continela was in Spanish, with an occasional Guarani article. Thus ^^ il n^ a pas de journaux ^^ means that there are four.
The commerce of Paraguay is nominally free, but the Government, that is to say, the President, owns more than
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oue-half of the surface of the republic, and is, like the old Imam of Muskat, the strongest and the most active of merchants. The country is, in fact, a great estancia of which the chief magistrate acts proprietor. The so-called public property supported about 300,000 head of cattle, and thus the army was easily rationed ; it also bred poor horses for the cavalry, the Paraguayan being an equestrian race, but not so notably as the Guacho of the Pampas, the Centaur of the south. An absolute Government, a supreme authority, buys from its subjects at the price which best suits it; sells the produce, and employs means to maintain a certain level of fortunes ; thus the Krumen of the West African coast temper riches ("too plenty sass"), which would give the individual power and influence unpleasant or injurious to his brother man. The rudimental agriculture, in which a wooden plough is used to turn up the loose soil, is limited to procuring subsistence, and even before the war began it was considered rather women^s work than men^s. The permanent military organization and the excessive armaments always carried off hands, whose absence, combined with drought and insects, rendered a surplus impossible. The following are the exports, and there is always a ready market for them down stream :■—
In 1846, when the present tariff of import dues was settled, Yerba or Paraguay tea was made a monopoly of Government, who bought it from individuals for $1 (f.) per arroba (251bs.), and sold it to the exporting merchants for $6 (f.)* The "herb was in fact gold in the presi- dential pocket, its superior excellence made it in demand throughout South America, and it promised to be an inex- haustible mine of wealth. By means of it only, Paraguay,
Lieut.- Colonel Thompson says that in his day Government piirchased
at one shilling per 25 lbs., and sold at 21-32*.
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comparatively rich thougli positively poor^ never had a public debt, and was not^ like the adjoining States^ whose revenues and expenses were unequal^ dependent upon foreign loans. At one time she was rich enough to assist deserv- ing citizens with small advances at 6 per cent. — economies effected by lessening her number of employes^ quite the reverse of her neighbours^ policy. The tobacco (petun)"^ has been compared with that of the Havannah^ and the similarity of the red ferruginous soils of Paraguay with the celebrated Vuelta de Abajo has not escaped observa- tion ; about 3,000_,000 pounds in bale and 6^000^000 cigars were the annual produce. The forests abound in admirable timber for building and bark for tanning — such are the Cebil and the Curupay. During the six months ending March, 1858, Paraguay planted 4,192_,520 ridges of cotton seed, and 195,757 shrubs and fruit trees : and in 1863 some 16,600,000 Cotton plants were set and the yield was 4000 bales. The cotton, except only the Samuhu or Nankeen, whose fibre wants cohesion, has length, force, and fineness, in fact, all the requisite qualities. Rice and sugar, wool and fruits, can be supplied in any quantities. Cochineal appears spon- taneously upon the Cactus ; the woods abound in honey, and the wild indigo has been compared with that of Guate- mala. Other rich dyes are the Yriburetima or " vulture^s leg^^ which gives a blue metallic