. 



PAPER-HANGINGS, ETC. 



PARAGUAY. 



617 



ing It by means of a swiftly-revolving brush, 

 which gives it the satin finish desired. When 

 thoroughly dried and hardened, it is reeled up 

 and is ready for the printing. This is effected 

 by a process somewhat similar to that now em- 

 ployed in calico-printing, except that the colors 

 are oil-colors, and there are as many cylinders 

 as there are colors to be used, and each cylin- 

 der has its reservoir of its own color, and its 

 rollers for distributing the color evenly over 

 its printing surface. If there is to be gilding, 

 one cylinder is charged with size, and the gold- 

 leaf is applied subsequently. As the newly- 

 printed wall-paper passes off from the printing- 

 machine in continuous lengths of 800 to 1,000 

 feet, it is, by an ingenious contrivance, made 

 to pass over laths or wands, which it carries 

 forward up an inclined plane till they fall into 

 a slot at the top of a frame, and the paper is 

 hung in folds or loops of sixteen or eighteen feet 

 in length, and is thus thoroughly dried. These 

 frames close up on each other with a space of 

 perhaps four inches between them. When the 

 paper is dried, it is passed along an inclined 

 plane automatically, carefully inspected, and at 

 the lower end of the inclined plane rolled up 

 and cut off, by a guillotine- knife, in lengths of 

 eight yards, the regulation length of a roll, and 

 is ready to be packed for market, or sorted, 

 each pattern by itself, for the storehouses. One 

 manufacturer in Brooklyn, whose establish- 

 ment is said to be the largest in the United 

 States, and perhaps in the world, turns out 

 9,000,000 of these rolls annually. The fresco 

 and ceiling papers are printed by a different 

 process, somewhat analogous to the best color- 

 printing from types and electrotypes. The de- 

 signs are engraved on blocks and electrotyped, 

 and there are as many printings as there are 

 colors, the machinery being so construsted as 

 to produce tyie most perfect register. 



The design or pattern is first carefully drawn 

 and colored by the artist, as it is to appear on 

 the paper. The artist then makes as many 

 copies of the drawing as there are to be colors 

 on tracing-cloth, and by colored chalks traces 

 that part of the pattern which is to be of a par- 

 ticular color upon each sheet. Cylinders of 

 apple- wood, beech, or cherry are now provided, 

 each of exactly the same size, and turned smooth 

 in a lathe. The sheets of tracing-cloth, all of 



Precisely the same size and covering the cylin- 

 er exactly, are then put on the cylinders with 

 a peculiar cement, and are handed over to the 

 men who are to put in the figures or designs of 

 each color. Every man has his own color, and 

 never takes any other. The figures of the de- 

 sign are now worked out by inserting in the 

 colored lines slips of hardened brass rule, which 

 by bending and filing are brought to the shape 

 of the figure, and, a slight incision being made 

 in the cylinder, they are driven in by a single 

 tap of a light hammer. The figure must be 

 copied with the most absolute exactness; a va- 

 riation of a hairVbreadth might spoil the pat- 

 tern. When it is completed, the insterstices of 



the figure are filled in with a dense and firm 

 felt nearly to the surface. The rolls are next 

 to be tested ; a lathe is fitted up with a gauge, 

 carefully adjusted, and the slightest inequality 

 is carefully turned off. They are next inter- 

 locked to make sure of a perfect register. The 

 colors are all mixed in the factory, and for the 

 finer qualities aniline colors are largely used. 



The window-curtains are usually of one or 

 two colors. They are printed on an immense 

 cylinder wheel, whose diameter is 11 or 12 feet. 

 The patterns of one year are not, except in 

 very rare instances, repeated the following 

 year, but an entirely new set is designed for 

 each year's sales. For each year a number of 

 rolls, slightly in excess of the supposed demand, 

 are printed, and where there are remainders 

 they are worked off the following year; but 

 the manufacturers will not pledge themselves 

 to supply a pattern more than two years old, 

 and very often they can not furnish one which 

 was made the year before. This industry af- 

 fords employment, at good wages, to a large 

 number of young artists and designers, and is 

 doing as -much as any industry, except perhaps 

 calico-printing and book-engraving, to promote 

 the more intimate connection between the fine 

 and the useful arts. 



Within the past year there has been put upon 

 the market a new decorative material of great 

 promise, to which the name of "Lincrusta- 

 Walton " has been given. Its composition is 

 secret, but it is known that solidified oil enters 

 largely into it. The material is said to be soft 

 at first, and to allow the imitations of the most 

 delicate outlines, and the raising of the orna- 

 mentation considerably above the groundwork ; 

 but it soon hardens without becoming brittle, 

 and is not affected by either water or tempera- 

 ture. Panels representing statues in bronze are 

 made from it, and the fine wood-carvings of the 

 old cathedrals are imitated to perfection. This 

 new invention has been introduced simulta- 

 neously into France, England, and America. 



PARAGUAY, a republic of South America. To 

 the general statements of area and territorial 

 divisions, given in former volumes, and of pop- 

 ulation given in Volume VU, it may be here 

 added that the principal cities are Asuncion, 

 the capital, with a population of 16,000 ; Villa 

 Rica, with 12,570 ; Villa Concepcion, 10,697 : 

 Villa San Pedro, 9,706; Luque, 8,878; San Es- 

 tanislao, 7,453 ; Itangua, 6,948 ; Ita, 6,332 ; Pa- 

 raguari, 5,315 ; Villa Hurnaita, 3,868 ; VillaPi- 

 lar, 3,722; and Jagnaron, 3,413. 



Government. The President is Gen. B. Ca- 

 ballero (since Nov. 25, 1882). The Cabinet is 

 composed of the following ministers: Secreta- 

 ry of the Interior, Col. Mesa ; Foreign Affairs, 

 J. S. Decond; Finance, J. 0. Jimenez; Justice 

 and Public Worship, Senor -Gonzalez ; War, 

 Col. Duarte. 



Army and Navy. No citizen of Paraguay is 

 exempt from military service ; but the standing 

 army has been reduced to 500 men (350 foot 

 and 150 horse), a portion thereof keeping gar- 



