820 



AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



between the Tibicuary and the Bermejo confluences at the converging point of 

 the two great natural highways. But such advantages are of small account in 

 an almost uninhabited swampy region. The Rio Nembucu, which joins the 

 Paraguay at Villa del Pilar, carries off some oC the drainage of the marshy tract 

 occupying the south-western corner of the Republic enclosed between the two 

 main streams. It was evidently one of the old beds of the Parana, and whenever 

 the time comes to drain this district a canal will have to be cut in the direction 

 of this natural waterway. During the dictatorship Pilar was for a time thrown 

 open to foreign trade, and numerous settlers from Corrientes have established 



Fig-. 137.— HUMAITA. 

 Scale 1 : 120,000. 



Tuvucué 



b&'5A' 



West or breenwlch 



58°28' 



2.1 Miles. 



themselves in this place, which faces the Argentine town of Puerto Bermejo on 

 the right bank of the Paraguay. 



HuMAlTA ItAPIRU. 



A few crumbling ruins on the cliffs dominating the Hamaita bend midway 

 between the Bermejo and Parana confluences recall the stand made at this point 

 for two years (18(36 — 68) against the land and river forces of the allies. The 

 whole space between the stronghold and the mouth of the Parana ran with blood, 

 and the capture of Itapivu at the confluence cost the Brazilians a sanguinary 

 engagement. Higher up the batteries of Caruzn on the left bank long arrested 

 the Brazilian fleet, and the allies attempted in vain to storm the forts of Curu- 

 paiti, which, when half-dismantled, were afterwards passed by the hostile fleet. 



