296 



AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



population to Uruguay, Laving (1893) not more than 530,000 inhabitants 

 scattered over an area of nearly 100,000 square niiles. Most of this region is, in 

 fact, an uninhabited wilderness, and the settled part is confined to a narrow 

 enclave on the river between the desert and the forest. Asuncion, the capital, 

 is enclosed by a semi-oval tract of cultivated land some 2,000 square miles in 

 extent, and to this tract the true Paraguay is at present mainly limited. A small 

 town and a few forest clearings are the only traces of man on the banks of the 



Fig. 126. — FoEMEE Limits Claimed and Peesext Limits of Paeaguay. 

 Scale 1 : 14,000,000. 



• ' ,-^orumba 



B 0( L 1 V t A 



Bahia Neë'-a^^oi m bra 



Territory formerly claimed. 



Present Territory. 

 310 Miles. 



Parana. And this narrow domain enjoys little more than a nominal indepen- 

 dence. In case of ruptare with any of her powerful neighbours, Paraguay would 

 be utterly helpless in the presence of her former conqueiors. 



Progress of Discovery. 



From the early days of the Spanish occupation Paraguay had attracted 

 explorers, and the foundation of the city of Asuncion is even anterior to the 

 definite settlement of Buenos Ayres. The colony of Paraguay had already been 

 constituted in 1536, under Juan de Ayolas, and nearly the whole space at present 



