Evening star., 1915-06-27

where the Indian ends and the white
man begins. The country consists OF
Paraguay proper, a territory tnal iieS
between the Paraguay and the Alto
Parana rivers, having an area as large
as the state of Missouri. and of the
Chaco a territory much larger, lying
west of the river. The popula,ton n OF
Paraguay proper is about 100000 and
it is made up of people who have Il
large percentage of Guarani blood in
their veins The common language of
the country is Guarani and thousands
speak it who do not know Spanish The
best educated families use Qua ranl IN
speaking to their servants and outside
the cities il would be difficult to get
along without it.
The Guaranis were in Paraguay
when the Spaniards first came You
will find descriptions of them in the
stories of the early explorers; Ihey
are described gentle people. very
hospitable and loyabe. II may have
been for this reason that the Spaniards
did not enslave them as they did the
Incas, the Aymaras. Quichuas ana
other nations of the high Andes. They
united with them and took the women
as wives and their descendants be-
came subjects of Spain. The Indian
women were faithful to their Spanish
lovers. Indeed. a great plot when was
formed to wipe out the whites shortiy
after they first came to this country in
1899 was revealed by an Indian girl
who was in love with q Spa niard. The
massacre was to have occurred on Holy
Thursday when all the Spaniards were
collected in their settlement near Asun-
cion. The Indians We're about to begin
their bloody work when the Spanish
governor announced the plot and cap
tured the ringleaders. lie executed
them and after that the other indians
submitted and gave up their sisters
and daughters to the Spaniards. This
was the beginning of the union OF the
races
As Paraguay became more and more
settled, the JeSuits encouraged the mar
riage of the Spaniards and Indians. The
Jesuits converted the Indians to Cathol-
icism and they built UP here great
Catholic nation. which was largely
composed of red men. At one time they
had colonies of Guarani Indians which
numbered more than 100000 They had
their own settlements and had built up
great farms and industries. They
owned 100. 900 horses and mules, 250.0oO
sheep. and a million cattle. They had
also great orange plantations and fac
tories where they made yerbe mate. the
dried leaves of which are used for Par
aguay tea. In these establishments the
Indians were largely employed as Ia
borers. They were made to work on
the farms. but at the same time they
were educated and Christianized. The
Indians rose and went to bed at the
stroke of a bell. Their lands were d
vided into sections, and a part was al
lotted to the support of their families.
Other sections belonged to the church
and ore half of each week had to be de-
voted to work upon the church lands.
They also worked in the yerbe forests.
Everything was systematic and the
Indians worked. played and slept to the
beating of the drum Then there came
a great outcry against the Jesuits and
they were expelled. The people got
their lands in severalty and began to
hold them as they do now. Still the
Jesuits did great GoodA They gave the
Indians a semi-civilizati ation. They
translated the Scriptures into the Guar
ami and left the Indians a written lani
Euage which is now in use here and
throughout the country.
The Guarans OF early South America
had no great chief. The nation was
made UP of tribes and its people lived
on the skirts of the forests or in little
openings in the hills. Their chief food
was maize, beans, peanuts, mandIoca
and sweet potatoes They had also
honey, wild fruits and monkeys to eat.
They caught fish with arrows or fish
hooks made of wood and they had