Omaha daily bee., 1899-03-05
In THE WILDS OF PARAGUAY
Queer Aspects of Nature and Man in a
Primitive Country.
CITIES OF PlRAPO AND VILLA RIGA
Paraguay's Only Railroad and It's
PassenEers-HOmes of the PeO-
pie, Rich Pastures and Thou
sands of Ant Hills.
CITIES OF PlRAPO AND VILLA RIGA

Copyright, 1899, by Frank G.. Carpenter.)
PIRAPO, Paraguay, Jan. 6, 1899.-(Spectal
Correspondence of The Bee. II you ever
heard of Pirapo? 1t Is at the tail end of
the railroad at this tail end of creation. 1t
is in the very heart of South Paraguay,
about seventy miles north of the Upper
Parana river and 1866 miles away from the
town of Asuncion. Vast pastures surround
It, for 1t is right out on the prairie, and
great droves of cattle gather about the sta
tion and Craze In the town. The place has
all told not more than fifty inhabitants. 1t
has a half dozen low huts, made of woven
poles chinked in with mud and rooted with
gray thatch. The railroad depot is about
fifteen feet square and the only hotel Is
made out of mud and poles and rooted with
corrugated iron.
In this hotel l have stopped over night,
sleeping in a room with four other travellers,
but, thank fortune, having a bed to my
self. And such a bed! 1t was Of the kind
most common in Paraguay. 1t was a can
vas cot upon stretchers, with a pigmy pill
low so small that | feared it might get into
my ear and 30 hard that it almost bored a
hole in my head. My room mates were a
German cattle buyer, a Paraguayan gaucho
and Mr.. william Harrison, the resident
agent of one Of our life insurance COM
panies. The German coughed all night, the
Paraguayan snored like a fog horn and Har-
rlson at intervals cleared his throat and
denounced the others for keeping him
awake. 1t was indeed a restless night.
And still 1t was a good hotel for Para
quay. The meals were cooked by a young
italian, who looked like a butcher and who
made me think of a slaughter house. lie
trotted about in his bare feet and waited
on the table with his sleeves rolled up to
Il, ,1IAu,a ntr AMMAN nnngGrtAI ~ n
good vegetable soup, followed by puchero or
boiled beef, stewed chicken and rice. a kid
ney saute and peanut candy for dessert.
Wine was furnished free with the dinner.
We had fresh bread, but no butter. The
dishes were brought on in courses and we
had both a tablecloth and napkins. Our
breakfast was merely black coffee and dry
bread, TO which / added a couple of oranges.
A Country store in Paraguay.
Our Italian landlord was also a store
Keeper. Every little hotel away from the
cities has a store in It. and this store will
give some idea of how things are sold in
the backwoods OF South America. The store
room was perhaps twenty feet square. 1t
was walled with shelves, filled with the
goods most In demand among Paraguayans.
There were cottons from England. These
form the staple clothes Of the country. The
men often wear white pants and shirts, the
women wear white muslin skirts and shawls.
and the Paraguayans are, in fact, a nation
in white. One section of this store was
devoted TO groceries, and in it were shelves
OF sardine boxes, canned meats and bottles
containing mustard, bitters and liquors. On
the floor In one corner stood two barrels,
with dripping spigots. showing that they
were constantly flowing. One was filled with
a cheap Italian wine, which sells for about
10 cents of our money a bottle, and the other
contained cana (~canya), the native brandy,
which is made OF sugar, and which will kill
at forty rods. This brandy costs about 10