Letters from the Battlefields of Paraguay. Richard Francis Burton
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which stains scarlet. Leeches have been found, but they
As M. Demersay remarks, it is not a little singular that the Bretons
have preserved for tobacco the Guarani name " Pe-tun," which expresses the sound of the breath escaping from the lips. He quotes the couplet —
" Quant il en attrape quelqu'un De leurs chair il fait du petun."
It is a far better name than " tobacco," which means a pipe, or than the selfish " Angoulmoisine," proposed by Thevet of Angouleme, who for thirty-six years " navigua et peregrina.'* The modern Bretons, I believe, pronounce the word "butun."
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 21
are still sent from Hamburg to the Plate. The principal fibres are from tliePiassaba palm now becoming so well known in England, the Caraguata and the Ybira, fitted for ropes. The Caoutchouc of the Curuguati and the Cuarepoti moun- tains is called Atangaisi. The medical flora is rich in gums_, resins, and drugs ; for instance, the Oriissi, the Cana- fistula, the Copaiba, and the Aguaribay, popularly termed " Balm of the Missions. ^^ Some authors mention rhubarb, but I do not know to what plant they refer.
The imports comprised all things wanted by a poor and semi-civilized country : arms were in especial demand — the Paraguayans occupied Corrientes in 1849 solely in order to secure the free importation of warlike stores. Even lime was introduced, although there is abundance of it in the land. The other articles were mainly wet goods (wines and liqueurs) ; dry goods (silks, cottons, and broad cloths), and hardware. The Messrs. Ash worth, of Buenos Aires, supplied the stout baize for the use of the troops : since the beginning of the war that occupation has gone. The total value of the books imported in ten years Jiardly reached $3299, and of these, few if any treated of the arts or sciences, mechanics or industry.
There were four taxes in Paraguay which, in ordinary times, sufficed to support the commonweal. The tithes abolished by Dr. Francia were re-established by President Lopez I., " rillustre magistrat,' who gave impulsion to the Code of Commerce, perfected the financial system, and established a mint to stamp coin with the arms of the Be- public. He raised them in lieu of $1 on head of cattle sold ; of the " Alcabala, or 4 per cent, on yearly sales, and of the vexatious 6 per cent, on purchases from foreigners. The custom-house dues, as in the Brazil, w^ere of all the most important items of income, and this evil is apparently unavoidable in young lands. The demi-annatte or conceded
22
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
lands were made to pay 5 per cent, of their proper value^ not one-half, as in its unwisdom the old Spanish law di- rected. Lastly was stamped paper, which hrought in con- siderable sums : the highest class of $7 (f.) was used for patents of administration. As a rule taxation was exceed- ingly light,, and public works were paid for out of the treasury hoards or by the profits derived from Yerba.
A book published in Paraguay by " supreme" dictation, contains the following scale of imports and exports during the ten years of 1851-1860 :—
EXPOETS.
Impoets.
Years. Yerba, tobacco, hides, Wet goods, dry goods, wool, fruits, &c. iron ware, &c.
1851 . . . $341,616 . . . $230,907
1852
470,010
.
715,886
1853
690,480
406,688
1854
777,861
.
.
595,823
1855
1,005,900
431,835
1856
1,143,131
. 631,234
1857*
1,700,722
. 1,074,639
1858
1,205,819
. 866,596
1859t .
2,199,678
1,539,648
1860
. 1,693,904
885,841
10 years. Total $11 ,229,121
,379,107
In 1861 the total revenue was estimated at 8 millions of francs, about 4j millions resulting from the profits on Yerba, and the residue from the sale of stamped paper, public lands, and other taxes.
In 1862 the commerce of Paraguay was represented by exports $1,867,000, and imports $1,136,000.
Others estimate the revenue of 1857 at $2,441,323.
f It has even been asserted that in 1859 the export and import dues rose to 3,500,000 patacoons.
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 23
In 1863 by exports $1,700,000, and imports $1,148,000.
Under the senior Lopez the country was well pierced with roads, despite the many difficulties of " Cienega and swamp. Of these one, twelve leagues in length and fifty feet broad, was run over Mount Caio, and a second over Mount Palmares, thirteen leagues long. A third, numbering six leagues, and thirty-six feet broad, traversed the Cora- guazu, whilst a cart-road was commenced from Villa Rica to the Parana River, about parallel with the mouth of the Curitiba or Iguazii^s influent. A single pair of rails with sidings was proposed to run from Asuncion to Villa Rica, a distance of 108 miles. This line began in 1858, and was wholly the work of the Paraguayan Government : it had reached Paraguari, only a distance of seventy-two kilometres, when the allies captured Asuncion. The chief engineer was Mr. Paddison, C.E., now in Chili : that gentleman, fortu- nately for himself, left Paraguay before the troubles began, and he was succeeded by Messrs. Valpy and Burrell, who did not.
SECTION II.
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
The history of Paraguay — she never forgets that she is a province senior to her sister, the Argentine Confedera- tion — naturally divides itself into four distinct epochs, namely, the
Age of Conquest (1528-1620); the Period of Colonial AND Jesuitic Rule (1620-1754) ; the Government of THE Viceroys (1754-1810); and the Era of Indepen- dence (1811).
Discovered by Sebastian Cabot, who in 1530, after a navigation of three years, returned to Europe, Paraguay
24 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.
was granted by the Spanish monarchs to ^'^ Adelantados^ or private adventurers,, men mostly of patrician blood, " as good gentlemen as the king, but not so rich/" This is the romantic period, the childhood of her annals, upon which the historian, like the autobiographer, loves to dwell : no new matter of any interest has, hoAvever, of late years, come to light. We still read, in all writers from Robertson to the latest pen, of the misfortunes that befel D. Pedro de Mendoza ; of the exploits of his lieutenant, D. Juan de Ayolas, who on August 15th, 1537, founded Asuncion; of the wars, virtues, and fate of Alvar Nunez (Cabeza de Vaca), against whom his contador, or second in command, the vio- lent and turbulent Felipe Caceres, rebelled ; of the conquest of D. Domingo Martinez de Irala, who settled the colony ; of the subjugation of the Guaranis by the Captain Francisco Ortiz de Vergara,