PARAGUAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 105, Issue 17605, 9 January 1929, Page 4

PARAGUAY.

STRIFE AND TRAGEDY. CHARM AND ROMANCE. A LITTLE OP ITS HISTORY. . ; The .world-wide interest , which is being taken in the trouble between Paraguay and Bolivia is a remarkable tribute to .the prevailing consciousness of the interdependence of the nations of the world (writes Professor W. E. Agar, in the Melbourne 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 country of Paraguay has a history 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 of charm, romance, and sources of irritation. The climate and the disposition of, the Spanish-Indian population result in a fine example of the manana spirit. It appears to the more impatient Anglo-Saxon that the most characteristic answer of. the Paraguayan, when asked to do something, is “To-morrow.”

Ruled By Despots.

Situated about 1000 miles up the ( great navigable rivers, the Parana and ] its tributary, ;{he Paraguay, the coun- j try was easily accessible to the early C European explorers, and was reached j by Sebastian Cabot in 1527. Eight j years later Asuncion, the present , capital, was founded -by Juan de , Ayolas, and the country remained a ( Spanish colony till 'l.Bll, when it de- ( dared its independence. After breakjnsr free from Spain, the country foil | under the domination of a succession of despotic rulers before whom the , ignorant, and largely half-caste, popu- j laj-ion was helpless. The most notorious of these despots was the ; ruthless, and one is tempted to say insane, Lopez. This, extraordinary man at the age of. 19 years was 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 bf becoming the Napoleon of South ( America. By a series of . deliberate aggressions he involved his country m war with the three neighbouring countries of Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil. Argentina and Brazil were, of course, enormously superior to Paraguay m i size and resources. Lopez continued the hopeless struggle for five years i (1864-1870) during which lime the i country was reduced to. an extra- ; ordinary state of destitution. , Every . male Paraguayan was forced into tne 1 army, and whole regiments were com- . posed of boys of 12 to 15 years. Durr • ing the retreats of the Paraguayans . every village was destroyed and every . animal killed by Lopez’s orders. At. the beginning of the war the population of the country approached - 1 500 000. At the end of it there were 'left 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 wbmen. = At one stage in. the war, thinking that he was'not receiving the whole-hearted support of his own people, Lopez executed several hundred of the most prominent citizens, including his own brothers and brothers-in-law. Lopez himselif was finally killed in battle. It is no wonder that the English missionaries, settled among the Indians of the Para guayan Chaco, and whom ( I visited several years ago, were chagrined to find that" the Indians used-the phrase “fighting like Christians to describe any particularly savage struggle among their own tribes. Avenue of Communication. The most important physical feature of the country is the great riveT Paraguay, a tributary of the Parana. r lhis 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 of 1000 mile’s from Buenos Aires in about a week, returning down stream in a much shorter time. It is a, fascinating experience to make this trip for the first time, and to note 'the daily change in the character of the, \ege tation and animal life as the steamer approaches nearer and nearer to the tropics)- EVom Asuncion the trip can be continued, many hundred miles further up the river in smaller and much less comfortable vessels. The river, running nortlr 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, by scarce bands of roving Indians Even the Jesuit missionaries, who had a dominating influence in the country from about 1600 to 1769, when th'-T 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. Barbrooke Grubb, of the South American Missionary Society, to be the .first o establish permanent relations with tne Chaco Indians. Entering their territory alone and. unarmed, and disregarding th.e solemn warnings of thy Paraguayans that he would certainly, be killed; 'he' succeeded in gaining the confidence of the Indians and an.the : parly ’nineties an English missionai} station was established in the interior, which still flourishes. The Paraguayan Government was so impressed bv Grubb's influence over the Indians that he given considerable adminis“alive power, and he received Ihe MIC of Paciflcador de los Indianos. The Disputed Frontier. It is across the Chaco, between Yhc rivers Pilcomayo and Paraguay, _ that the disputed frontier between Paraguay and Bolivia lies. The . exact position ,of this frontier has been a fruitful, source of dispute, .a situat-« made possible by the almost total la of civilised settlement in the region., indeed the Chaco is not an invi-tng country. It is aivast level plain, the tropical continuation of the. Pampas of Argentina . Its flatness must be seen fo'be Sieved. In the dry » is a grassy plain, dotted over with tal fan Palms interspersed with •natches of impenetrable scrub or “monte.” ° When the rains come m summer hundreds of .square miles ar converted Into ewempe. in wh.clj in a Sf&'SiAWSr? te normal, the swamps should be full, an must be an uncommonly uncomfortable business in _

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 peoples devoid of agricultural or pastoral pursuits, is very primitive. At the time of.the first establishment of the English mission their numbers appear to have been diminishing, as in the case of most primitive races who come in contact with the white man without assimilating Ixis culture. This assimilation has, however, now begun under the of the English missionaries who have instilled into one of the largest tribes, the Lenguas, some ideas of agriculture, cattle breeding, the ownership of property, working for wages, and so on. However much one may regret the imposition of European ideals and modes of life upon the primitive races of the world, it must be admitted that it is the alternative to their extinction when there is a 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.