4 oo POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



in her development scarcely relevant to this article that I may not ex- 

 amine them here. The agricultural depression and other causes 

 which have given rise to militant populism in the West have received 

 their full share of attention from numerous writers, and it will there- 

 fore suffice to say that they do not appear to be in any way associated 

 with the foreign element. 



I have only been able in this article to give a rough outline of the 

 effects which the alien has wrought on the civilization of the United 

 States; much of consequence has been left unsaid, many important 

 stages of development omitted. I can at most claim to have drawn 

 attention to some important facts hitherto overlooked, and to have 

 pointed out a direction which future investigation may follow in an 

 endeavor to solve the great immigration problem. 



THE CATKTGUA OF PARAGUAY. 



By Dr. MACHON. 



THE several tribes of Caingua Indians are scattered through the 

 immense forest region that extends from the Ygatini to the 

 Monday, and from the central Cordillera of Paraguay to the banks of 

 the upper Parana. In the midst of those grand yerbales (forests 

 containing the mate, or Paraguay tea plant), these children of the 

 forest dispute for their hunting grounds with the " Tupi," or refugee 

 braves from Brazilian hostility. Like the latter, they belong to the 

 Guarani-Brazilian race, and speak the Guarani language. They 

 form numerous groups of population, divided off into small tribes 

 that live isolated from one another, and assemble only occasionally 

 to resist an invader or undertake some expedition. Like the ancient 

 Guaranis, their native docility is so great that we can easily compre- 

 hend how the Jesuit missionaries gained an ascendency over them. 

 There is no doubt in my mind that the Caingua, whom I had an op- 

 portunity of studying, were subjected to that influence about two 

 hundred years ago, and have since gradually fallen back, after the 

 decline and ruin of the missions, into their primitive savagery. Of 

 this bare contact with civilization they still retain their belief in a 

 Supreme Being living in the sky, and know something of St. Thomas. 

 But, aside from these rudimentary notions, their religion is null and 

 destitute of every kind of outer worship. A few of the old men 

 recollect some of the Latin hymns with which their ancestors rocked 

 them to sleep, and they have preserved a hierarchical organization 

 from the past. 



Every tapui or village has its cacique, who is dependent in time 



