314 



AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



Villa Azam, so named from the naturalist who resided here in 1788 to study the 

 surrounding flora and fauna. 



Encarnaciox. 



Farther down camping-grounds become more numerous, and here the impor- 

 tant village of Itapua, better known by the name of Encarnacion, given to it by 

 the Jesuits, marks the point where the Parana begins to flow due east and west. 

 For 200 years Encarnacion has commanded the passage of the riv^er between Para- 

 guay and the Argentine province of Corrientes. The Jesuits had made it the 

 headquarters of their southern missions, and later, under the dictatorship of 



Fig. 132. — Encaenacion. 

 Scale 1 : 700,000. 



SS'-^o 



12 Miles. 



Francia, it was made an outlet for the foreign trade of Paraguay. Hither the 

 Guarani brought their convoys of mules, thoix tobacco and maté, in exchange for 

 the coffee, sugar, and European goods imported by the Brazilian traders from Rio 

 Grande. All transactions were carried on by the barter system, the dictator 

 having forbidden the exportation of gold and silver specie. 



At present much of the trafhc of Encarnacion has been diverted elsewhere by 

 the steamers plying on the Paraguay and Parana rivers. But this place is intended 

 to be the terminus of the proposed railways that are to traverse part of the mate- 

 growing country. On the opposite or Corrientes side stands the Argentine town 

 of Posadas, which is also to be a railway terminus for a line running through 

 Monte Caseros to the Lower Uruguay. 



