The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-04-20

nutriment and its powder strongly re-
sembles the flour of buclxwheat. Among
my souvenirs of South America is a
bottle of mandioca flour Tapioca is but
the refined powder of the root reduced
to paste and then allowed to crystal
ize. Immense quantities of the raw
material are shipped from Para quay
&c various parts OF the world 10 be
manufactured into tapioca. When the
mandoca flour is soaked In water and
then allowed to Torment it produces a
rapid intoxicant which the natives call
chicha.
Mate is the drink of South America
as tea is the beverage OF China. 1t
grows in great copses like cranberries
and It's properties were discovered by
the Jesuits. In preparing the drink
the leaves are placed in a cup made of
gcurds, cocoanut shells or silver into
which boiling water is poured. a tube
of silver with a perforated bulb at one
end or of bamboo or plated straw
called a bombilla, is inserted into the
cup and through this bombilla the mate
tea is sucked The presentation of the
cup and bombila to a guest is the first
ofhbdtiOil VI oHlY one cup
Is used but as many bombillas are en-
ployed as there are guests 1t is very
strong and the unintated always
throw away the first sleeping, filling
the cup a second time before imbibine
hut not so with the natives who drink
preferably from the initial boiling
Many attempts have been made to In
troduce mate into Europe, but as d
Spanish queen once tabooed it by declar-
ing that its use was provocative OF ster-
ilty, it's exportation was abandoned
Paraguay is today hidden gem. the
value of which all recognize but which
none can estimate. Is only partially
explored forests seem to abound with al
most nexhaustible supplies of valuable
timber and precious woods. Its arboreal
products range in grade and quality from
the wood which sinks in water like metal
to the light varieties used in lacquer
work, but they are relatively untouched.
OF its mineral wealth none can guess,
but most any cereal will flourish In its
fertile soil under the influence of its
hospitable climate. Upon the borders of
Paraguay lies "El Gran Chaco" vast
level plain 1000 feet above sea level and
covered with virginia. forests interspersed
with rich meadows which nature de-
signed for the rearing of cattle. 1t is
divided into the Chaco Austral and Cha
co Boreal (southern and northern) and
is still the stamping ground of the In
dian. II includes nine degrees of lati-
tude and when brought into use as graz
ing lands or agricultural purposes its
value will be incaculabe.
Millions of cattle can here be pastured
free of expense and any kind of semi
tropical cereal can be successfully raised.
The truth is that South America may
yet be the means of solving our problem
OF the high cost OF food stuffs
saw nothing of the interior of Para
quay, my visit being confined to the
precincts of Asuncion, its capital. and a
queer little city it is. In fact, 1t strikes
one as gloomy, especially when it's past
greatness and faded glory are consd-
cred. 1t Is the Oldest settlement in the
valley of the Rio de la Plata and was
, a city when Buenos Ayres or Rio de
laneiro did not exist once the seat of
the Spanish viceroys. il was the greatest
city in South America and the center Of
a vast commercial business. While the
rural districts Of the nation have re-
curerated from the tyranny of it's rul-
ers and no longer display evidences of
its cruel war. not so with the city and
Asuncion stands as a monument and
witness of the ruthlessness and devas-
tation of the past. The most lonely, i'm
pressive memento of this era was, as I
saw it. the abandoned palace of Lopez.
its ruins covering -four acres and it's
roofless, shell-torn walls grinning like
CHASTITY skull Of some dismantled cas-
tie of the Rhine
The palace cost several millions OF dol
lars and its walls were. hung with lace
work as delicate as SPIDERS web. Two
hundred women, everyone of whom was
said to be mistress of the despot,
worked for years to produce the lace and
the frabric was fastened to the wall by
clamps of solid gold There We're 400 such
clamps worth about SIS each The ruins
of a once magnificent theatre serve as
a companion piece to the remnants of the
palace.
In contemplating such wrecked glory
one might recall most apply the words of
Victor Hugo: III it were not the most