The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1859-04-29
Paraguay and its People.

4 FofuKuoy anu hts HeOPASs.
Mr.. Bowlin, the Peace Commissioner TO
Paraguay, in a private communication to
the President, makes the following observa-
tions upon the country and its inhabitants: !:
From the people here have met with
nothing yet but kindness, particularly after
/ it was known that my first interview with
the President was 80 agreeable. They were
much alarmed at our expedition, and this
news seemed to lift burden from their
hearts. They are simple, inoffensive peo-
pie, governed, should judge, with des-
potic rule, under which they seem to flourish.
They are lirely-spirited people, and re-
markably neat and clean for an Indian
mixed race. The market place, in the morn
ing, is a beautiful spectacle, to see nearly a
1 thousand woman, all dressed in pure white,
clean dresses, and all barefooted.a To wear
! shoes here is high mark OF aristocracy.--
You can see, every hour in the day nearly,
handsome women Except the tawny color),
with bright eyes and rich suits of black
hair, with Swiss muslin dresses, founced
from the waist down, walking in bare feet
through the streets. The soil is very sandy,
and they pretend they cannot walk well in
shoes. O.; s.g.r- sll...-- gsel -a
The ideas of great wealth which have
been made to flourish so conspicuously in
the accounts we have had of them, vanish
into air at the touch of truth. see here moth
ing but unmistakable evidences of a poor,
but happy, laughter-loving people, made to
assume better appearance than their neigh
bors from the strong hand that rules them.
Their Government is of the cheapest char
acter Imaginable, and the revenue TO supply
it is mainly derived from mouopolies on ar
ticles of produce, somewhat peculiar to the
country. Their revenues from customs must
be small, as they certainly are neither a.
producing nor very consuming people,. This
revenue is chiefly spent on an army and
for Notifications. As the President is the
fountain and source of all power, he is also
the recipient aud the disburser of all revera
nue.. which, in the eyes Of simple people,
confounding the individual with the State,
makes up the account of that fabulous
wealth about which so much has been said.
This is small State, claiming some six
hundred thousand inhabitants, and having
sca:cely four hundred thousand, and they,
nearly all Indians OF the Guaranee race,
civilized under the rigid rule cf the Jesuits.
They are. net an industrious race in our
sense of that word they are only compar--
ativcly Industrious in contrast with their
neighbers, who are perfectly indolent and
unambitious beyond the necessities of life
from day to day. Such a population is not
likely to make very rich State. Their
country is, no doubt, very productive in ar
ticles of peculiar and valuable character;
such as Yerby or Paraguaya an tea, and many
medicinal plants and gums, and peculiar
woods of the forest; but beyond that
know Of nothing they produce superior to
ourselves in quality, and nothing to COM
pare to us in quantity, with an equal pop
ulation. They can produce sugar cheap,
AS the plant lasts for many years, and they
have beautiful staple of cotton, but they
raise neither beyond the mere supply of
their necessities. - - -. 49,
The real secret of Paraguay's apparent
prosperity IN contrast with her neighbors
flor it would not do to contrast her with n
progressive people,, lies in the fact of her
exemption from revlutions. For this ex-
emption she is indebted to the bloody rule
of Doctor Francia, who left few ambitious
aspirantS behind him to contend for empire.
Tie Republic contains about eighty thou
sand square miles, little larger than one
Of our larger States. 1t Is also surrounded
by water, like an island, and the rivers deep
and navigabe. In soil and climate il is one
OF the most charming spots in. the great val
ley of the La Plata-a valley equal in size
to the great valley of the Mississippi. 1t
lies in this valley, geographically, just as
! Missouri does in the valley of the hissis-
! sippi, only warmer climate as is general
ia this country. The time must come when
these vast plains of the La Plata must cease
to be mere grazing grounds for innumera-
BILE herds of wild cattle, and in turn become
the seat of mighty empire. sas .se7s
These rivers certainly have no rivals on
! the globe. The main trunk is a fresh run
ming stream with distinct current, where
! ii is fifty miles wide and neither bank in
! view and this branch 200 miles from the
sea, except on the bars, is from twenty TO
/ sixty feet deep, and it is but one OF the
three principal branches. s go -'s.. s..