COIMBRA 57 



the land of his parents' nativity, remarked that this was 

 the first time the American flag had been seen on the 

 upper Paraguay, for our gunboat carried it at the mast- 

 head. Early in the afternoon, having reached the part 

 where both banks of the river were Brazilian territory, 

 we came to the old colonial Portuguese fort of Coimbra. ' 

 It stands where two steep hills rise, one on either side 

 of the river, and it guards the water-gorge between 

 them. It was captured by the Paraguayans in the war 

 of nearly half a century ago. Some modern guns have 

 been mounted, and there is a garrison of Brazilian 

 troops. The white fort is perched on the hillside, where 

 it chngs and rises, terrace above terrace, with bastion 

 and parapet and crenellated wall. At the foot of the 

 hill, on the riverine plain, stretches the old-time village 

 with its roofs of palm. In the village dwell several 

 hundred souls, almost entirely the officers and soldiers 

 and their families. There is one long street. The 

 one- story, daub-and- wattle houses have low eaves, and 

 steep sloping roofs of palm-leaves or of split palm- 

 trunks. Under one or two old but small trees there 

 are rude benches, and for a part of the length of 

 the street there is a rough stone sidewalk. A little 

 graveyard, some of the tombs very old, stands at one 

 end. As we passed down the street, the wives and the 

 swarming children of the garrison were at the doors and 

 windows ; there were women and girls with skins as 

 fair as any in the northland, and others that were pre- 

 dominantly negro. Most were of intervening shades. 

 All this was paralleled among the men, and the fusion 

 of the colours was going on steadily. 



Around the village black vultures were gathered. 

 Not long before reaching it we passed some rounded 

 green trees, their tops covered with the showy wood- 



