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SOUTHERX REGIONS OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



CHAPTER I. 



GEOGKAPHY AND NATIVE TRIBES. 



HE vast territory south of the Brazils is watered by 

 a wide-extending branch-work of mighty streams, 

 having as their main trunk the Rio de la Plata at 

 their southern end. To the east is the River Uruguay, run- 

 ning almost parallel with the Atlantic coast. Close to its 

 mouth the far more important Parana, rising in the moun- 

 tains of the Brazils, near the sources of the Tocantins, falls 

 into the La Plata. While the Tocantins flows north till it 

 reaches the Amazon, the Parana takes a more or less southerly 

 course for many hundreds of miles, till it turns due west for 

 nearly two hundred, and then once more runs south and east 

 till it enters the main trunk. At its extreme western point 

 it is joined by the River Paraguay, which, from its source in 

 the diamond district of the Brazils, has an almost southerly 

 course, receiving on its way numerous large tributaries. One 



