PARAGUAY 



751 



native population. Native orange woods are com- 

 mon, ana more than fifty million oranges are 

 exported annually. Many trees also yield valuable 

 gums. Wax and honey are collected in abund- 

 ance, as is also cochineal, and the medicinal plants 

 are very numerous. The chief cultivated crops are 

 maize, rice, coffee, cocoa, indigo, manioc, tobacco, 

 and sugar-cane. 



The animal world is largely represented in 

 Paraguay, and game, both large and small, is very 

 abundant Tapirs, jaguars, pumas, ant-eaters, 

 wild-boars, peccaries, and deer of many descrip- 

 tions are inhabitants of the forests and plains ; 

 birds are innumerable, and for beauty and variety 

 of plumage are perhaps unsurpassed by any in the 

 world ; the rivers teem with fish, and their banks 

 are the resort of alligators and coypus. Snakes 

 are numerous, but very few of them are venomous. 

 Some of the boas are exceedingly large, and there 

 is a remarkable water-serpent which is said to 

 sometimes attain a length of eight yards. 



The commerce of the country greatly increased 

 during the decade 1880-90, and several banks 

 ami other mercantile institutions have been estab- 

 lished. In 1880 the total value of exports was 

 252,000, that of imports somewhat less ; in 1889-90 

 their respective values were 597,903 and 344,037. 

 In this latter year the total revenue was 824,935, 

 and the expenditure somewhat in excess. The 

 chief exports are yerba-matc, tobacco, hides, oranges, 

 timber, bark for tanning, and lace ; the imports, 

 cotton goods, hardware, wine, grain, rice, linen, 

 silk, petroleum, &c. Trade in the towns is almost 

 wholly in the hands of Italians, French, and Ger- 

 mans. The principal native industries are tanning 

 and the manufacture of pottery and bricks, laces, 

 ponchos, soap, food-pastes, brandy, &c. 



Until the war of 1865-70 Paraguay had no 

 national debt, but the utter ruin into which it 

 had then fallen compelled it to have recourse to 

 foreign aid. Two loans were contracted in London 

 in 1871-72, the nominal amount of which was three 

 millions sterling, but only about one-half was 

 placed. The republic defaulted in 1874, but at 

 the end of 1885 a settlement was made with the 

 bondholders whereby the loans were reduced to 

 the sum of 850,000 bearing 2 per cent, interest at 

 the commencement, and gradually increasing to 

 4 per cent. ; and furthermore, 500 square leagues of 

 public lands were ceded by the republic in payment 

 of arrear interest. The service of the new debt 

 has been regularly maintained. There are also 

 obligations or polizas assigned as an indemnity to 

 Brazilian and Argentine subjects for losses sus- 

 tained by them during the war. The total external 

 indebtedness amounts to 4,704,308. There is no 

 internal debt. The military force consists of 500 

 men. The established religion is the Roman 

 Catholic, the ecclesiastical head of which is the 

 Bishop of Asuncion. Education is free and com- 



Eulsory ; but of the adult Paraguayans only one in 

 ve can read and write. 



The history of Paraguay is highly interesting. It 

 was discovered by Juan Diaz de Soils in 1515, 

 and further explored by Diego Garcia in 1525, 

 and by Sebastian Cabot in 1526 ; but the first 

 colony was settled in 1535 by Pedro de Mendoza, 

 who founded the city of Asuncion, and estab- 

 lished Paraguay as a province of the viceroyalty 

 of Peru. The warlike native tribe of the Guaranis, 

 however, a people who possessed a certain degree 

 of civilisation, and professed a dualistic religion, 

 long successfully resisted the Spanish arms, and 

 refused to receive either the religion or the social 

 usages of the invaders. In the later half of 

 the 16th century the Jesuit missionaries were sent 

 to tha aid of the first preachers of Christianity 

 in Paraguay ; but for a long time they were 



almost entirely unsuccessful, the effect of their 

 preaching being in a great degree marred by the 

 profligate and cruel conduct of the Spanish adven- 

 turers, who formed the staple of the early colonial 

 population. In the 17th century the home govern- 

 ment consented to place in the Jesuits' hands the 

 entire administration, civil as well as religious, of 

 the province, which, from its not possessing any of 

 the precious metals, was of little value as a source 

 of revenue ; and, in order to guard the natives 

 against the evil influences of the bad example of 

 European Christians, gave to the Jesuits the right 

 to exclude all other Europeans from the colony. 

 From this time forward the progress of civilisation 

 as well as of Christianity was rapid. On the 

 expulsion of the Jesuits from Paraguay in 1768, 

 the history of which is involved in much contro- 

 versy, the province was again made subject to the 

 Spanish viceroys. For a time the fruits of the 

 older civilisation maintained themselves ; but as the 

 ancient organisation fell to the ground great part 

 of the work of so many years was undone, and by 

 degrees much of the old barbarism returned. In 

 1776 Paraguay was transferred to the newly-formed 

 viceroyalty of Rio de La Plata ; and in 1810 it 

 joined with the other states in declaring its inde- 

 pendence of the mother-kingdom of Spain, which, 

 owing to its isolated position, it was the earliest 

 of them all to establish completely. In 1814 Dr 

 Francia (q.v.), originally a lawyer, and the secre- 

 tary of the first revolutionary junta, was proclaimed 

 dictator for three years; and in 1817 his term of 

 the office was made perpetual. He continued to 

 hold it till his death in 1840, when anarchy ensued 

 for two years ; but in 1842 a national congress 

 elected Don Mariano R. Alonzo and Don Carlos 

 Antonio Lopez, a nephew of the dictator, joint 

 consuls of the republic. In 1844 a new constitution 

 was proclaimed, and Don Carlos was elected sole 

 president, with dictatorial power, which he exer- 

 cised till his death in 1862, when he was succeeded 

 by his son, Don Francisco Solano Lopez, whose name 

 has become notorious in connection with the tragic 

 struggle of 1865-70, in which the Paraguayans 

 made a heroic but unavailing fight against the 

 combined forces of Brazil, the Argentine Confedera- 

 tion, and Uruguay. The war was brought to a 

 close by the defeat and death of Lopez at the 

 battle of Aquidaban, March 1, 1870. The results 

 of the war may be read in the returns of the popu- 

 lation ( 1857) 1,337,439; (1873) 221,079, including 

 only 28,746 men and 106,254 women over fifteen 

 years of age. The sexes are now, however, again 

 nearly equally balanced. Paraguay has had its 

 share of the general emigration of recent years from 

 Europe to South America ; and in every way the 

 country has made considerable progress. In June 

 1870 a congress voted a new constitution, which 

 was proclaimed on the 25th November. It is 

 modelled on that of the Argentine Confederation, 

 the legislative authority being vested in a congress 

 of two houses, and the executive in a president, 

 elected for four years. A curious feature in the 

 recent history of the state was the settlement here 

 of 500 Australian Socialist workmen, one colony of 

 whom was thriving in 1896. 



Asuncion, the capital, had in 1895 a population 

 of 45,000, and has a railway 160 miles in length, 

 designed ultimately to connect with the Argentine 

 railway system. 



See Histories of Paraguay by Demersay (Paris, 1865) 

 and Wash burn (Boston, 18701; Daire, Letters from 

 Paraguay ( 1805 ) ; Robertson, Francia's Reifjn of Terror 

 (1840) ; DuGraty, LaRfpubliquedu Parayuay ( Brussels, 

 1801 ) ; Burton, Sa.ttlef.Mt of Parai/uai/ ( 1869 ) ; Martinez, 

 El Paraguay (Asuncion, 1885); Kniglit, Cruise of the 

 Falcon (1887); Criado (trans, by Winsweiler), La 

 e du Paraguay ( Bordeaux, 188U) ; La Dardye, 



