Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-02-11

through the streets of the cities. They
walk by You and with you on the high
ways and byways and they are so many
that you find it hard 10 set out of their
sight.
The women of Paraguay are so much in
the majority that they do the work of the
Country. They are the buyers and sellers
of every community, and outside the cities
the men are the drones. Any bachelor in
the United States can find a wife in Para
quay if he wants one. for the men arc now
SO few that any twO-legged animal without
feathers Of the masculine gender, Will here
be Ereedily grabbed. The sexes were once
about equally divided but Paraguay had
a war which killed off che men. 1t was
just before the close of our trouble between
the north and the south. AT that time
Paraguay was the leading country of this
part of the world. 1t about the richest
of all South America, and its wealth and
influence angered the Argentine, Uruguay
and Brazil Ihey combined against it and
their joint army attacked the. ParaEuayans.
The struggle lasted five years, but it end
ed in the wiping out, as it were. of the
Paraguayan men. 1t is said that ono hun
dred thousand of them died in battle>and
that thousands of women and children were
Starved to death
1t is hard to get accurate figures in any
South American country, but, according to
the best estimates, the population of Para
quay was cut down by this war so that
there was only one man TO six women,
while another statistiCian gives it that
three-fOurths of all the people in Para
quay. numbering about $4,000, Were de-
strOyed. When the war ended there were
only 200 900 left, of whom about % 600
We're men and 1860 were women over
fifteen years of age. The rest were chill
dren- Paraguay thus became land of
womeL and nature seems to be keeping it
So Since the war l am told that more
girls have been born every year than boys.
In ASH ion CrirI
boy births by more than five to the hun
dred. and outside the city the percentage
Of girl babies is greater
The Women of the Higher Class.
The most of the women of Paraguay are
poor. Many of them are hcwers of wood
end drawers of water; but there are some
who are rich. There are class distinctions
here as everywhere, and the people Of the
better classes dress and act much the same
as those Of other parts of the continent
Pardguayan high-class ladies wear clothes
not unlike those of our American girls
They wear bOnnets or hats when out on
the streets and a few Of them actually i'm
port their dresses from Paris. They sneak
Spanish when in SOciety-at least when
on dress parade-and some are so well ed
ue4ted that they are able to read both Eng
HSh and French. Such women are usually
interested in politics and. through their
husbands. have much influence upon what
Is done by the government. They are good
housekeeperS, excellent wives and are
may say, the equals of their sisters of any
part Of this continent
Many Of the PJraguayan women are very
good looking. This is so Of all classes. and
especially 50 Of the young. a paragIlav;n
maiden il a triie under middle height She
is as straight as arrow and as timber as
willow tree branch, though inclined to be
VOluptuOuS in form. Her complcXton is of
the Jersey cream order and often of the
reddish brown of the GUaraui Indians She
mas. as rule. more or less Indian blood In
her veins. When the Spaniards came here
this country was inhabited by the gentle
and semi-civiliZed Guaranis The two races
inteTmarried. Their descendants took wives
from the same tribes so that today there
are comparatively few Paraguayans who
have not a large proportion of Guarani
blood The Indian mixture has resulted
in the adoption of many Indian Gus
toms. and the language most spoken by the
people today is the Guarani In the coua-
try districts else Is used and in the
schools of AsunciOn there are notices
Of the walls that scholars must not
speak Guarani during school hours. The
Guardni Is a soft language and the Para
Euayan girls have sweet voices. Indeed
their tones fall softly on my ears after the
parrot-like accent which has sawed nv
tympanum during my association with
Their Argentine sisters
ParnEunyan Lace.
One Of the chief Industries of the Para
guayau women Is lace making. 1t is true
that the lower classes do all kinds of work,
but all the women make beautiful lace
They spin webs as deIicately as though
they were spiders and every house Is full
OF beautiful cobwebs made by its women.
They make lace handkerchiefs, fichus and
embrosderies and weave great hammocks
OF thread so fine and strong that they
Will OutlaSt a generation They have pat
terms Of their own which they have taken
from nature one of the most beautiful
Is called the cobweb pattern, the threads
of which are as deiicately Joined as though
made by one OF the big spiders which live
here In the seni-tropics. Some of these
handkerChtefs are of silk. others of linen
and some Of fiber grown in the country. II
takes a long time TO weave them, but there
are so many at work that they are won
ocriully cheap. that an article upon
which a month or so has been spent can
be bought for 50 and upwards of our
money A good hammock will cost YOU
$40 and a lace shawl perhaps twice that
amount
Paraguay is a land of oranges 1t is
perhaps the only place in the world where
tEs orange grows wild. There are oranges
In every thicket and in almost every forest
The villages are built in orange groves
and there are so many oranges that they
often rot on the ground. The fruit is de-
ucious. 1t Is the best / believe of its kind
IN the world. 1t is eaten by everyone, and