316 



AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



Villa Rica — San Bernardino. 



Asuncion is connected by the only railway (1894) in Paraguay -with Villa 

 Rica, originally a Jesuit foundation, which lies on the last slopes of the central 

 Cordillera in an extremely fertile district watered by the "great" and "little" 

 Tibicuary. Small steam launches ascend the Tibicuary to Villa Rica, which is 

 destined to become the central point of the future railway system of Paraguay. 

 From the Asuncion line will soon run two branches to the Parana, one through 

 the Monday Valley eastwards in the direction of Tacuru-Pucu, the other southwaids 

 to Encarnacion, 



The Asuncion railway runs south-eastwards through a succession of orange 



Fig. 133.— AsTtNCioN. 



Scale 1 : 45,000. 



57°58' 



'^est oF Greenwich 



57°38' 



groves and banana plantations, interspersed with faimsteads and country seats. 

 In this cultivated district one of the stations on the line is the pleasant little 

 town of Luqiie, which was for a short time capital of the State towards the close 

 of the war, when Lopez ordered the evacuation of Asuncion. Farther on, the 

 railway, skirting the wesi; side of the charming Lake Ipacaray, pusses along the 

 foot of the Cerro Leon eminence, where Lopez established the headquarters of 

 the Paraguayan army at the beginning of the contest. In this lacustrine valley 

 the chief stations are Aregua, Itagua, and Firayu, all mere rural hamlets. 



Then follows the more important town of Paroguari, famed for its tobacco, 

 which is exported even to the European mai"kets. In the vicinity is an imposing 

 bluff pierced with caverns, where the Aj)ostle St. Thomas is fabled to have resided 



