The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-07

the river and of the Cordlleras of long rides
during the day and dances lasting all night,
relieve the sombre tints of cruelty aud OPP
preston. We see the Paraguayan grisettes
seated on their door-steps passing alternately
comb and a candle through their hair, and
we know that the candle, which is made of
fresh suet, has been rescued from some cook
who would have used it for frying outlet.
Here is Mr.. Mastermans sketch of the scenery
Of the river
'lf, when the Paraguay is ascended, it should
be at Hood, the view Is but of endless swamps
covered with came tote and other aquatic plants
or hali-drowned tree showing their tops above
the water, and only upheld by the twisted cables
of lanas which bind them firmly to each other,
or else floating in natural RATS, corded and
moored by their tangled strands. The tepid
water between them is almost hidden by white
and blue lilies, or the broad leaves and snowy
flowers of their queen, the Victoria Regia.
Flocks of small aquatic birds are seem it is true,
fishing amidst the network of creepers and
branches, but they give no animation TO the
scene, and utter no sound save low, warning
cry OF alarm, II we approach them too nearly.
1t is only at sunset, when the parrots are flying
back after raid on the orange trees, that the
death-like silence is broken. Their harsh
screams, softencd by distance, as they wing
their way far overhead, then sound almost musi-
cal and light and life seem to fade out together,
MS the red disc disappears and the last straggler
passes"
Mr.. Masterman tells some strange stories
of the ignorance of the Paraguayan priests,
and of the religious condition of tho people.
Some dolls he took out from England as play
things for children were at once appropriated
by the elders, and made into fashionable
saints while the contents of q Noah's ark
were arranged on an altar to represent the
procession of the NIagi, Shem, Ham, and
Japhet in their cylindrical wooden coats doing
duty for the three kings themselves. One of
the children of Lopezs mistress was playing
with his ark in the presence of his mother
and her guests, when he began to cry, aud
being asked what was the matter, said he
could not find Japhet. Sure enough, one of
the three sons was missing, and the child was
scolded. But the Bishop of Paraguay, who
was present, arrested the flood of maternal
wrath, saying in his blandest tones and with
an air of paternal correction, Pardon me,
Sonora, there could not have been three, for
you know that Noah had only two sons, Cain
and Abel The same ecclesiastic, together
with Lopez himself, was drawn out by Mr.
Mastermau on the exhibition of a magic
lautern:-
"Many of the slides represented battle scenes
from the recent FrucoItalian campaign, but
we took the liberty Of rcchristcniug some of
them thus:- Battle Of Copenhagen. between the
Persiaus and the Du'ch.' 'Ah. that was a terri
ble affair." said Lopez, pstroniaingly, to the
Bishop. The field of Trafalgar after the battle
Christian humanity, sire!' softly observed the
Bishop. And so we went on. Capture of the
JUngfrau in the final charge at Magenta cried
Thompson, with an unsteady voice, and kicking
my shins under the table, and Death of Gene
raj Orders ut the moment of victory, was the
title of the next which sounded very imposing
in Spanish, and closed the series. Then came
the comic slides, when the Bishop was very
nearly the death Of US. There was light enough
reflected from the screen to see him distinctly
and his contortiOns, rs he tried with handker
chief stuffed in his mouth to stihe his laughter,
were eXcruciatingly diverting. He dared not
laugh out, yet his delight at the figures, espe-
cially at one, where the nose of dwarf gra-
dually reached pOrtentous dimensions, was
utterly beyond his control"
There must have been a rather dangerous
delight in thus deceiving the brutal Dictator
whosesword sent thousands to prison and to
the rack, and in coupling with him one of his
tools, who had risen by acting the spy and the
informer. 1t is possible that this joke was
remembered against Mr. Masterman when he
was arrested for trivial cause, and when he
was forced to invent confessions under torture.
But it would be idle to speculate on the mo-
tives which influenced Lopez We wish Mr..
Masterman had some more vivid satisfaction
than the thought that he had played a trick on
tiger and jackal