y wanderings in South America, he told me that he owned a tract of land thirteen miles square in Paraguay, and would like to know something of its value. The

e, so we knew that for us there was nothing but submission. Disembarking from the ocean steamer on to lighters, we gave a last look at the coveted land, "so near and yet so far," and were towed away to three small islands in the centre of the river, about fifty miles distant. One island is set apart as a burial ground, one is for infected patients, and the other, at which we were landed, is for suspects. On that desert island, with no other land in sight than the sister isles, we were g

eeze was blowing, and during our eleven hours' journey we were repeatedly drenched with spray. Delicate ladies lay down in the bottom of the boat in the throes of

one hundred cabin passengers, and in the steerage were six hundred Russian emigrants bound for Corrientes, three days' sail north. Two of thes

d up the river the weather grew warmer, and the native clothing of sheepskins the Russians had used was cast aside. The men, rough and bearded, soon had only t

en, in their white (?) garments, with their babies and ikons, and bund

only a mile wide, but thirty feet deep. The river boats land their passengers at a rickety wooden wharf, and Indians carry the baggage on their heads into the dingy customs house. After this has been inspected by the cigarette-smoking officials, the dark-skinned porters are clamoro

coast, it is perhaps the most backward of all the South American capitals. Although under Spanish rule for t

high-sounding trade-mark, "Light of the World," and that is the only "light of the world" the native knows of. The lamps are of so li

ly cleaned and trimmed, for it is given up as a feast to the Virgin, and the lights are to shed radiance on gaudy little images of that august lady which

saint of the country, I

ctory in an early war.

e he helped the Virgin

a river on th

eath; and their abject humility to the Pa? is sad to witness. On special church celebrations large processions will walk the streets, headed by the priests, chanting in Latin. The people sometimes fall over one another in their ea

ed with footwear, and their clothes are often in tatters. The Jesuits taught the Indians to make shoes, but they alone wore them, exporting the surplus. Shoes are not for common people, and when one of them dares to cover his feet he is considered presumptuous. Hats they never wear, but they have th

. Hovering over him was a cherub. Every friend of Do?a Juana had lent some part of her jewellery for the decoration of the holy man. Rings sparkled on his fingers; collars hung around his neck; a tiara graced his venerable brow. The lacings of his sandals were studded with pearls; a precious girdle bo

nd in procession, with men carrying candles, and white-clad girls with large birds'

und with large wicker trays on their heads, selling chipá, the native bread, made from Indian corn, or mandioca root, the staple food of the country. Wheat is not grown in Paraguay, and any flour used is imported. These daughters of Eve often wear nothing more than a robe-de-chambre, and invariably smoke cigars six or e

cent in value, and a bank note in circulation whose face value is less than a cent. There are only four numerals in the Guarani language: 1, petei; 2,moncoi; 3,bohapy; 4,irundú. It is not possible to express five or six. No wonder, therefore, that when I bought five 40-cent stamps, I found the clerk was unable to count the sum, and I had to come to the rescue and tell him it was $2.00. At least

n issued by the British and Foreign Bible Society, a copy of whic

veller relates the most ordinary events that pass in the outside world,

rom the dinner table and went away in wounded pride and incredulity. The one who is supposed to "know a little" likes to keep his position, and the Spanish proverb is exemplified: "En tier

essels with this fruit, which they carry in baskets on their heads. Everything is carried on their heads, even to a glass bottle. My laundress, Cu?acarai [Footnote: The Guarani idiom can boast of but few words, and Mr., Mrs. and Miss ar

visitor is invited to hang his hammock along with the rest inside the house, and in the early morning naked little children bring máté to each one. If the family is wealthy this will be served in a heavy silver cup and bombilla, or sucking tube, of the same metal. After this drink and a bite of chipá, a strangely shaped, thin-necked bottle, made of sun-baked clay, is brought, and from it water is poured on the hands. The towels are spotlessly whit

housewife will show you her parrot and say, "In this bird dwells the spirit of my departed m

r, they are not "in the humor," and at one house the saint had refused, so he was laid flat on the floor, face downwards. The woman s

father?" "No, sir," she answered, "we Paraguayans are not accustomed to have a father." Children of five or six, when asked about that par

i." Through the long rule of the Jesuits the natives stopped thinking; they had it all done for them. "At the same time that they enslaved them, they tortured them into the profession of the religion they had imported; and as they had seen that in the old land the love of this world and the deceitfulness of riches were

ar description. The children of the priests have become so numer

the sick, etc., and promises are made her if she will do this. One morning I had business with a storekeeper, and went to his office. "Is the cara? in?" I asked. "No," I was answered, "he

practice, and promising indulgences to the pilgrims who should visit the shrine. Thus the worship became legal and orthodox. Multitudes of people visit her, carrying offerings of valuable jewe

aken for granted. Priests' sons and daughters, of course not born in wedlock, abound everywhere, and no stigma attaches to them or to their fathers and mothers." [Footnote: "The Continent of Opportunity." Dr. Clark.] Hon. S. H. Blake, in the Neglected Continent, writes: "I was especially struck by the statement of a Roman Catholic-a Consular agent

rried from the church down the street to the sick one. All passers-by must kneel as this goes along, and the police will arrest you if you do not at least take off your hat. "Liberty of conscience is a most diabolical thi

ren bearing candles, some of which are four and five feet long. The dead are carried through the streets in a very shallow coffin, and the head is much elevated. An old woman generally walks by the side, bearing the coffin lid on her head. The dead are always buried respectfully, for an old law reads: "No person sh

ople visit the cemeteries then, and pay the waiting priests so much a prayer, If that "libera

. When the sermon commenced, the cathedral was crowded to suffocation, a great proportion of the audience being females. The discourse was interrupted alternately by the low moans and sobbings of the congregation. These became more audible as the preacher warmed with his discourse, which was partly addressed to his auditory and partly to the figure before him; and when at length he exclaimed, 'Behold! Behold! He gives up the ghost!' the head of the figure was slowly depressed by a spring towards the breast, and one simultaneous shriek-loud, piercing, almost appalling-was uttered by the whole congregation. The women now all struggled for a superiority in giving unbounded vent to apparently the most distracting grief. Some raved like maniacs, others beat their breasts a

mstantial funeral in place of the death. The orator's discourse when I arrived was only here and there interrupted by a suppressed moan, or a struggling sigh, to be heard in the crowd. But when he commenced giving directions for the taking down of the body from the cross, the impatience of grief began to manifest itself on all sides, 'Mount up,' he cried, 'ye holy ministers, mount up, and prepare for the sad duty which ye have to perform!' Here six or eight persons, covered from head to foot with ample black cloaks, ascended the scaffold. Now the groans of the people became more au