ALTO PARANA-PARAGUAY 151 



jungle. These forests yield a large number of most 

 valuable kinds of timber, while the yerbal jungles 

 provide employment for thousands of men engaged in 

 the collection of the Paraguayan tea. No country is 

 better suited to rich subtropical crops than the Parana 

 portion of this region : the western pastures are excellent, 

 and the sparse population is now- half agricultural and 

 half pastoral. The Conquistadores found there a great 



FIG. 50. Campos in North Paraguay. 



number of tribes, some of whom lived entirely on the 

 natural products of the forest and river, though others 

 were skilled in agricultural pursuits. 



Paraguay and Lower Parana Marshes. The Para- 

 guay River and its powerful tributaries, the Pilcomayo 

 and Bermejo, run through vast level plains, studded 

 with a few conical knolls, and invaded yearly by floods 

 bringing deposits from the Andes and the campos of 

 Matto Grosso. So flat is the basin that rivers frequently 



