TOPOGEAPHY OF PAEAGUAY. 



319 



river, and which is said to take its name from a native chief, who held out stoutly 

 against the Spanish invaders in 1528. According to the tradition, Sebastian 

 Cabot, who was in command, did not venture to advance beyond this point, 

 although he had repulsed the Indians. A few hills, which, like Lambaré, contain 

 deposits of salt, follow along the left bank, enclosing the pleasant little riverside 

 port of Villcta with its palm and orange groves. 



The heio-hts terminate southwards in a headland, where the stream contracts, 

 at the famous Angostura "Narrows," to a breadth of not more than 265 feet. 



Fig. 136. — South-West Paraguay. 

 Scale 1 : 2,400,000. 



IGO Miles. 



Here also the Indians made a stand against the Spaniards, and three centuries 

 afterwards the Paraguayans attempted to arrest the advances of the allies by the 

 formidable lines erected at the same spot by the English engineer Thompson, 

 But the Brazilian army, at the risk of being overtaken and drowned by a sudden 

 rise of the Paraguay, turned the position by passing westwards through the Chaco 

 solitudes, and reappeai'ing on the banks of the river above the Narrows. 



Below this defile almost the only places of note are the villages of Oliva 

 and Villa Franca on slight rising grounds above the Tibicuary confluence. Villa 

 del Pilar, usually called Nembucu, might seem to occupy an excellent position 



