STORY OF PARAGUAY -A LAND OF TRAGEDY

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6808, 11 January 1929, Page 5

STORY OF PARAGUAY -A LAND OF TRAGEDY

Little Known Country DEPOPULATED BY DISASTROUS WAR Tbe world-wide interest ■which wa> being taken in the little frontier trouable between Paraguay and Bolivia is a remarkable tribute to the prevailing consciousness of the interdependence of the nations of the world, writes Piofcssor tV. E. Agar in tlic Mcibourne Argus. How many well educated people could have placed these countries on a blank map of the American continent a fortnight ago? Little known though it is, the countrv of Paraguay has a bisory of .just four centuries, and it has been the scene of one of the most overwhelming of national tragedies. The traveller of British origin finds it a country full, or charm, romance, and sources of irritation. The climate and tbe disposition of the Spanish-Indian population result in a fine example of the manana spirit. It appears to tho more impatient Anglo-Saxon that the most characteristic answer of the Paraguayan, when asked to do something, is “Tomorrow.-”

Lopez the Dictator. Situated about 1000 miles up the gieat navigable rivers, the Parana and its tributary, the Paraguay, the country was easily accessible to tlie early European explorers, and was reached by Sebastian Cabot in 1527. Eight years later Asuncion, the present capital, was founded by Juan de Ayolas. and tho country remained a Spanish colony till 1811, when it declared its independence. After breaking -free from Spain, the country fell under the domination of a succession of despotic rulers before whom the ignorant, and largely half-caste population, was helpless. The most notorious; of these despots was the Tuthless, and one is tempted to say insane, Lopez. This extraordinary man at the age of 19 years wa.s made commander-in-chief of the Paraguayan army by his father, who was then the ruler of the country. On the death of his father, he became dictator, and he attempted to realise his ambition of becoming the Napoleon of South America. By a series of deliberate aggressions he involved his country in war with the three neighbouring countries of -Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil. Argentina and Brazil were, of course, enormously superior to Paraguay in sizo and resources. Lopez continued the hopeless struggle for five years (1864-1870) during which time tho country was reduced to an extraordinary state of destitution. Every male Paraguayan was forced into the army, and whole regiments were composed of boys of .12 to 15 years. During the retreats of the Paraguayans every village was destroyed * and every animal lulled by Lopez’s orders. At the beginning of the war the population of the country approached 1,500,000. Ai the end of it there were loft fewer than 30,000 men, about 106,000 women, and about 86,000 children.

For a generation afterwards Paraguay was famous as a country of women.

At one stage in the war, thinking that he was not receiving the wholehearted support of liis own people, Lopez executed several hundred of the most prominent citizens, including his own brothers and brothers-in-law. Lopez himself was linally killed in battle. It is no wonder that the English missionaries who later settled among the Indians of tho Paraguayan Chaco, and when I visited several years ago, were chagrined to find that the Indians used tho phrase “fighting like Christians,” to describe any particularly savage struggle among their own tribes. River Sole Outlet.

The most important physical feature of the country is the great river Paraguay, a tributary of the Parana. This is the country's sole avenue of communication with the outside world. The capital, Asuncion, is served by a fine line of steamers owned by Mihanovich, which make the trip in about a week, returning down stream, in a much shorter time. It is a fascinating experience to make this trip for the fust time, and to note the daily change in the character of the vegetation and animal life as the steamer approaches nearer and nearer to the tropics. From Asuncion the trip can be continued many hundred miles farther up the river in smaller and much less comfortable vessels. The river, running north and south, divides the country into two very dissimilar portions, unlike in scenery, population, and resources. Practically all the European settlement is on the east side of the river. On the west is the great level plain of El Gran Chaco, inhabited, except for a handful of English missionaries and a few cattle estancias near the river, solely by scarce bands of roving Indians. Even the -Tesuit missionaries, who had a dominating influence in the country from about .1600 to 1760, when they were expelled, failed to establish themselves in the Chaco. It is a matter of satisfaction to us that it was left to an Englishman, W. Barbrooko Grubb, of the South American Missionary Society, to be the first to establish permanent relations with the Chaco Indians. Entering their territory alone and. unarmed, and disregarding the solemn warnings of the Paraguayans that he would certainly be killed, he succeeded in gaining the confidence of the Indians, and in the early ’nineties an English missionary station was established in the interior, which still flourishes. The Paraguayan Government was sd impressed by Grubb's influence over the Indians that be was given considerable administrative power and he received the title of Pacificador de los India nos. Disputed Frontier. It is across the Chaco, between the rivers Pilcomayo and Paraguay, that the disputed frontier between Paraguay and Bolivia lies. .The exact posi-

lion of this frontier has been a fruitful source of dispute, a situation made

possible by the almost" total lack of civilised settk'iuc’?' in tlic region. Indeed. the Chaco is not an inviting country. It is a vast level plain, the tropical continuation of the Pampas of Argentina. Its flatness must be seen to be believed. In the dry season it is a grassy plain, dotted over with tall fan palms interspersed with patches of impenetrable scrub or “Monte.” When the Tains come in summer hundreds of square miles are converted into revamps, in which in a few weeks an

immense growth of water weeds springs up, and which quickly become populated by prodigious flocks of ducks, storks, herons, ibises, and all manner of wild fowl. At this time of the year, if the season is normal, the swamps should be full, and campaigning must be an uncommonly uncomfortable business in the tropical, mois-ture-laden air amid myriads of mosquitoes. The Chaco is inhabited by several small tribes of Indians, each speaking, its own language and of necessity leading a nomadic life since they subsist almost entirely by hunting. Their culture, like that of other people devoid of agricultural or pastoral pursuits, is very primitive. At the time of the first establishment of tho English mission their numbers appear to have been diminishing, as is ’ the case of most primitive races who

come in contact with the white man without assimilating his culture. This assimilation has, however, now begun under the auspices of the English missionaries who have instilled into one of the largest tribes, the Lenguas, some ideas of agriculture, cattle-breed-ing, the ownership of property, working for wages, and so on. However much one may regret the imposition of European ideals and inodes of life upon the primitive races of the world, it must be admitted that it is the alterative to their extinction when there is clash between them and the white man. At least I can testify that this process is being accomplished with sympathy, understanding, and infinite pains by the members of the South American Missionary Society,