GEOGRAPHICAL RESEAECH, PARAGUAY. 297 



occupied by the Argentine Republic, Tucuman, Cordoba, Buenos Ayres, was 

 governed from Asuncion. The navigable waters were surveyed as far as Matto 

 Grosso, and the mainstream was brought into connection with the Andean valleys 

 b}»" routes traced across the plains of Bolivia. 



But, bej^ond the names of the regions traversed, and the most summary 

 reports on the general relief of the land, Spain communicated nothing to Europe 

 on the subject of her possessions in the centre of the continent. All that was 

 known came from the Franciscan and Jesuit missionaries, who lived in the midst 

 of the aborigines. The true character of the country was not revealed till the close 

 of the eighteenth century, thanks to the explorations of Azara, who spent twenty 

 years visiting every part of the Plate river and its affluents. Towards 1821 

 Aimé Bonpland, carried off by the soldiers of Francia, was compelled, much 

 against his will, to continue for nine years his botanical researches, completed 

 since the war by Balansa. Rengger and Longchamp were also forcibly detained 

 for several years in Paraguay, which benefited by their studies. Later a few 

 sailors and diplomatists received permission to ascend and descend the course of 

 the Paraguay, and the results of their explorations have also been published. 



Leverger, a Frenchman who became a naturalised Brazilian under the name 

 of Baron de Melgaço, began his survey' of the river in 1846, and prepared charts 

 of its valley from its sources to the Parana confluence. In 1853 the United 

 States obtained permission for the Water Witch, under Thomas Page, to ascend 

 the river and its Bermejo, Pilcomayo, and Otuquis affluents. Six years afterwards 

 Mouchez also ascended the Paraguay during his great voj^age of circumnavigation 

 round the eastern part of the continent. 



Bat the main problem of a practicable waterway by the Pilcomayo between 

 Paraguay and Bolivia remained unsolved, and even now is but half solved. The 

 journey is known to be possible, though beset with great difficulties and dangers. 

 Not one of the numerous expeditions sent to explore the Pilcomayo has been 

 entirely successful ; but they have established the fact that, without extensive 

 hydraulic works, this river can be of little service in facilitating the communica- 

 tion between the Plate estuary and the Andes. 



Nevertheless intercourse between the surrounding peoples cannot fail, 

 sooner or later, to be developed and facilitated across these low-lying watery 

 plains. Progress is already being made from three different directions — 

 from Bolivia by the settlement of the upland valle5's ; from Argentina by 

 the gradual extension of tillage over the plains of Gran Chaco ; lastly from 

 Paraguay by the ever-advancing camping grounds of the woodman and the 

 establishment of cattle runs on the open steppe lands. Although published 

 in fragments and difficult to harmonise, the itineraries of explorers are 

 nevertheless valuable documents already available for the future map of the 

 Republic. At present little has aj^peared except the survey of the main stream 

 of the Jujuy and of the other rivers explored by Bourgade, together with the 

 official surveys of the northern frontier. Bourgade's map of Paraguay is certainly 

 by far the best as well as the largest hitherto published. It is based on his own 



