BUENOS AIRES AND ITS RIVER OF SILVER 



419 



Soon our course bent westward, and 

 on a low hill to our right appeared a 

 wireless tower, one of several recently 

 erected by the Paraguayan Government. 

 Then a bend to the north, past a brewery 

 high on a wooded bank, and to the east 

 lay our destination, the old, old city of 

 Asuncion. 



Sloping gently up from the busy docks 

 and custom-house, or aduana, the white, 

 tan, and pink tinted walls of the houses, 

 the old red tile roofs, and the green of 

 parks and plazas presented an attractive 

 picture, even with the thermometer no 

 degrees in the shade. 



Having passed the perfunctory formal- 

 ities of the customs officers, we took a 

 taxi to the Hotel Cosmos, and so were 

 introduced to Paraguayan currency. The 

 Paraguayan dollar, or peso, at the time of 

 our visit was worth about four cents. As 

 the same dollar-mark is used as in the 

 United States, the money is startling at 

 first, with cigarettes at $3.00 per pack, a 

 short taxi ride costing $15.00, and the 

 rate per day at the hotel $80.00. 



Paraguay has no gold reserve, and the 

 value of her currency fluctuates from 

 day to day with the stability of the gov- 

 ernment. The value of the paper peso 

 has been as low as one cent in the past. 



A FLOURISHING CITY BEFORE) THE PIL- 

 GRIMS LANDED 



What a feeling of age there is about 

 Asuncion ! Founded nearly four cen- 

 turies ago, it was a flourishing city, the 

 capital of a vast region, generations be- 

 fore the Pilgrims landed. And the stir- 

 ring events : Spanish intrigues, the Inqui- 

 sition, the rise and fall of the Jesuit 

 power, the final overthrow of the Spanish 

 rule, and then tyrants, dictators, revolu- 

 tions, wars with Argentina and Brazil, 

 continual turmoil and confusion ! The 

 last revolution occurred only a few years 

 ago. Trouble and bloodshed are in the 

 very cobblestones of the streets, which, 

 laid long ago, have run red many a time. 



Of course, there are modern touches. 

 A few automobiles bump over the rough 

 cobbles ; there are moving pictures and 

 street-cars, and ugly corrugated iron is 

 beginning to take the place of the pic- 

 turesque lichen-stained red tiles. But 

 they have very little effect on the general 

 atmosphere of the place. 



An especially beautiful touch of rich 

 color is lent to the city in the early sum- 

 mer by the flamboyant e trees, whose dark, 

 glossy foliage is almost concealed under 

 masses of vivid scarlet blooms. These 

 trees may be seen in patios, leaning over 

 whitewashed walls, and often in rows 

 along the sidewalks. There is also an- 

 other tree, a species of guava, covered 

 with golden yellow flowers. 



During the hot months, work hours 

 start very early. Even at 5 o'clock in 

 the morning the town is wide awake: 

 peons in white, with large straw hats, 

 slouch leisurely along; black-clad women, 

 with black mantillas over their heads, 

 hurry home from mass, and native carts 

 begin to rumble along the rough streets. 



Soon after mid- forenoon all industry 

 stops and for several hours the city seems 

 deserted. 



THE MALE POPULATION WAS ALMOST 

 EXTERMINATED 



All the common people are barefooted, 

 the men smoking cigarettes and most of 

 the women puffing on short black cigars, 

 which are so strong that even a veteran 

 foreign smoker usually acknowledges 

 himself vanquished when he first tries 

 them. Oddly enough, the native cigar- 

 ettes are unusually mild. 



When the bloody war with Argentina 

 and Brazil finally ended, the male popu- 

 lation of Paraguay, after years of heroic 

 resistance against overwhelming odds, 

 was nearly exterminated. It is said that 

 as late as a generation ago there were 

 twelve Paraguayan women for every man, 

 and even now the ratio is three to one. 

 Men in Paraguay are precious and, as a 

 consequence, are not, as a rule, fond' of 

 exertion. American meat-canning fac- 

 tories in the country report that almost 

 all their employees are women. The only 

 work in the factories which is done by 

 men is cutting up the carcasses. 



A large majority of Paraguayans have 

 a percentage of Guarani Indian blood, 

 which shows in the dark complexions, 

 slightly flattened noses, and straight black 

 hair of the people. When the first Span- 

 ish explorers came, the Guaranis occupied 

 the fluvial portions of northern Argentina 

 and Paraguay, and hence were the first 

 to be subjugated. 



Today the Guaranis do not exist as a 



