Letters from the Battlefields of Paraguay. Richard Francis Burton
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Shooting, civilized style, in a waggonette, 145
Sketch of the campaign, short abstract of the, 76
Soldiers causing explosions at Humaita, 323
Solis, De, discoverer of the Parana, 137 ; slaughtered, roasted, and eaten, by the Charruas savages, 190
South America, terrible earthquake in, 127
Souza, Marshal, visit to the State House of, 466 ; his nationality not to be mistaken, 466 ; the injurious talk of his enemies, 467
Spanish forbidden to be taught in Paraguay, 31
Speculators threatened with serious trouble, 248
Squatters kind of campaigning life, 231
Stewart, Dr., yields himself prisoner, 452; his interview with the Emperor at Rio de Janeiro, 452 ; his wife and children in danger, 452 ; restoration of the stolen charger of, 463 ; he surrenders to the enemy, 420 ; his house given up to the five great orders of knighthood, 457
Stocks in Paraguay, tortures of the, 132
Stores, free importation of, 21
Suarez, D. Gregorio, his revenge for an old private feud, 214
Suggesting a mode to prevent discontent, 82
Swamp fighting an essential part of Indian warfare, 299
Taji, batteries at, 364 ; Paraguayans dislodged at, 364
Tamandare, Admiral, serious charge against, 212
Taraqui, quaint and picturesque houses of, 272
Taxes and revenue of Paraguay, 22
Taylor, Mr., brutal treatment of, 433
Tebicuary batteries, sketch of, 400
Tigers and wild beasts, legends of, 231
Timber, growth of in Patagonia, 230
Timbo, appearance of, after the evacuation, 346
Timbo garrison, curious contrivance of the, 342
Torpedoes, construction of, 342
Torpedoes provided by the Paraguayans, 332
Travellers deluded in Paraguay, 28
Travellers made comfortable by the Argentines, 188
Travelling to the Upper Uruguay thwarted, 221
Tres Bocas, a retreat for those flying from the reign of terror, 302
Triumpho, Brigadier-General, glorious career of, 384
Tuyu-cue occupied by Brazilians, 359
Tupy-Gruarani language, three years at work at the, 208
Urqtjiza, General, introduction to, 199 ; description of, 200 ; the improvements on his estate, 200 ; his large amount of cattle, 200; the value of his property, 201 ; a bad paymaster, 201 ; curiosity excited in conversation with, 201 ; fresco representations of his battles, 202 ; his predictions on the campaign, 203 ; his going to glory, 253 ; reviewing his cavalry at Punta Gorda, 253
Urquiza, Madame, her appearance at the dinner-table, 204 ; her handsome present, 205
Uruguay, gold mines in, 34; the best place for Irish emigrants, 94 ; not fit for English emigrants, 133 ; patriarchal marriage not the law of the land at, 133 ; her richness in metals, 133
Uruguay river, studying the features of, 193 ; fed by the rains of the Empire of the Southern Cross, 194
Uruguayan national flag, description of the, 100
Uruguayan navigation compared with the Rhine, 218
Varela, D., compelled to quit France through a duel, 223
Velasco, Colonel, tactics of, 299
Vences, battle of, in 1847, 59
Veren, Baron von, evil report of, 402 ; three times arrested as a spy, 402
Villareal, Brazilian army encamped at,4 26
War-loan of Sor Riestra, 328
Wars teach nations their geography, 139
Washburn, Hon. Charles A., nonsensical abuse of, 129 ; introduction to, 408 ; he acts as mediator between the combatants, 409 ; his ill feeling with Lopez, 409 ; receives an invitation to quit his hotel, 409 ; removed by Commander Kirkland, 410 ; his violent letter to the President of Paraguay, 410 ; his diplomatic notes concerning foreigners in Paraguay, 411 ; watched by forty policemen, 411
Water-hog, operations upon the, 392 ; excess of imagination on the, 393 ; their comic air of defiance, 394
Watch-towers used for signalling, 310
Webb, General, his passion for ultimatums, 370
Wheelwright, Mr., his trading notions, 245
Whytehead, Mr., suicide of, 435
Wild maize, where grown, 6
Xenes, Captain, his night expedition, 312
Yataitt-Cora, merit of the Conference of, 305
Yungaz coffee fragrant and delicious,
Introductory Essay
SECTION I. INTRODUCTORY ESSAY: PARAGUAY
I HAD intended to spare my readers the mortification of -■- readings and myself of writing, this essay. Returning^ however^ to England, and once more restored to civilized society, my astonishment was great to find the extent of ignorance touching what has been called " La Chine Americaine'^ — both grow tea, but that is their chief point of resemblance. I was mortified to see the want of interest attached to perhaps the most remarkable campaign fought during the present century, and I applied myself during my six weeks of leave to find out the cause of the phenomenon.
It proved on inquiry, that after the interest of Dr. Francia faded away, Paraguay had dropped clean out of general vision. Many, indeed, were uncertain whether it formed part of North or of South America; and it is, I need hardly say, impossible to take any interest about the fortunes of a race whose habitat is unknown. Moreover, the periodicals of Europe, wanting, like their public, accurate topographical knowledge of the scene of action, managed to invest a campaign whose grand movements are simple in the extreme however complicated by terrain may be its details, with a confusion that lacked even the interest of mystery. Hence most readers of journals have, during the last four years, studiously avoided leaders, articles, or intelligence headed " Hostilities in the River Plate,^"* and in so doing they were justified.
This Essay proposes to itself an abstract of the geography and the history of Paraguay, compressed as much as possible without being reduced to a mere string of names and dates.
And first of the word " Paraguay,^ which must not be pronounced ^' Paragay.^^ The Guarani languages, like the Turkish and other so-called ^' OrientaP^ tongues, have little accent, and that little generally influences the last syllable : a native would articulate the name Pa-ra-gua-y.*
For this term are proposed no less than nine derivations.
" Paraguay ,^ says Muratori (p. 92), " means ^ River of feathers,^ and was so called from the variety and brilliancy of its birds .^^
" Paraguay ,^ says P. Charlevoix, " signifies ^ fleuve couronne,^ from Para, river, and gua, circle or crown, in the language of the people around the Xarayes lake, which forms as it were its crown. ^
"Paraguay,'"* says Mr. Davie (1805), "would signify ^variety of colours,' alluding to the flowers and birds. Para, in fact, may mean ' spotted,' as in the name Petun