TOPOGRAPHY OF THE STATE OF PAEANA. 229 



to tbeir own resources, many perished, and of the survivors some found their way 

 back to Europe, while others were removed to the United States. 



The handful that remained on the spot became the nucleus of fresh colonies, 

 which have gradually reclaimed the wastes on the elevated campos watered 

 by the Rio Iguazu. Most of these " Russians," as they are generally called, 

 come from Prussian and Austrian Poland, though in quite recent years they have 

 been joined by Russian Poles, driven by religious persecutions from the provinces 

 of Lithuania and the Vistula. For a space of 18 or 20 miles Curitiba is sur- 

 rounded by these exclusively Polish colonies, which even officially take the name 

 of " New Poland." Others are settled about Palmeira, and along the right bank 

 of the Iguazu all the way to the new station of Porto Unào. Otlier groups have 

 established themselves in the southern parts of the State on the Rio Negro and 

 Rio Yermelho towards the Santa Catherina frontier. 



These Polish colonists, among whom not a single Jew is found, are approxi- 

 mately estimated at 100,000, or about one-third of the whole population of Parana. 

 The mortality is extremely low, so that the natural increase by the excess of births 

 over deaths rises to an average of four per cent., a proportion rarely attained in 

 any country. The Poles of Parana preserve their language and national ustiges ; 

 they have their own churches and schools, and even support a newspaper. Being 

 nearly all peasants, they have monopolised the production of cereals and vegetables, 

 and have begun to drive bacl^ towards S. Paulo the settlers of other nationalities. 

 One of these groups, however, the Italian communist settlement of La Cecilia, 

 near Palmeira, has hitherto resisted the Slav invasion. 



Although gold occurs at Campo Largo and quicksilver at Palmeira, Parana is 

 more noted for its natural curiosities than for its mineral resources. Some 20 miles 

 east of Ponta Grossa, the argillaceous ground is pierced hj three astonishing 

 buracos or pits, one of which is no less than 560 feet deep and 204 feet wide at the 

 mouth. A sluggish stream flowing at the botlotn passes from chasm to chasm 

 towards a lagoon which drains to the Rio Tibagy. Farther east a crumbling mass 

 of old red sandstone has received the name of Villa Velha, " Old Town," from the 

 pyramids and other fantastic forms which it has assumed. 



In 1894 Curitiba possessed only one railway running through Lapa to the 



Santa Catharina frontier. The Rio Iguazu, crossed by this line, becomes navigable 



at L^orto do Amazoiias, some GO miles west of the capital, but 125 miles lower 



down the stream is interrupted by numerous rapids. Owing to the general lack 



of communications nearly the whole of the fertile western districts of Parana still 



remain a vast wilderness roamed only by a few bands of Coroados. Here the 



traveller lights upon the shapeless ruins of former missions, such as Villa Rica in 



the Rio Ivahy valle}^ and at the confluence of the Piquiry with the Parana, the 



central station of la Guaijra, headquarters of the vast theocratic empire founded by 



the Jesuits and ruined by the Paulistas. In this region almost the only recent 



colonial settlement is that of Gaampava, not far from the head of the Rio Ivahy, 



which here develops a superb cascade 248 feet high. 



In 1889 the Brazilian Government selected a site at the confluence of the 

 49 



