palace of the governor of Gran Chaco. Back of the country occupied by
the colonists begins the land of the Chaco Indians. They enjoy the
reputation of being savages, but as an example of the delicate line of
demarkation in La Plata between the extreme of civilization and the
extreme of savage life our traveler relates that riding thirty leagues
to visit a tribe of wild Indians, he found the chief with a _poncho_ of
Manchester manufacture on his shoulders, a pair of gaiters from Latour,
Rue Montorgueil, Paris, on his feet, and a hospitable glass of Hamburg
gin in his hand.

[Illustration: VIEW OF PARANA FROM THE RIVER.]

Leaving Parana, the steamer passes, at a short distance above the city,
the _saladero_ of Messrs. Carbo y Carril, a picturesque spot situated on
a cliff. From this point a fine view is obtained of Parana in the
distance, stretching along its high barranca, with its white houses and
belfries in bold relief against the blue sky, and borrowing from the
elevation on which it stands a delusively majestic aspect.

As the Republica ascends the river the cliffs continue to be the
prevailing feature of the shore-scenery. A Brazilian passenger steamer,
one of a line of steamers which ply between Cuyaba in the Brazilian
province of Matto Grosso and Montevideo, is met descending the stream.
This line, established by the government of Brazil to maintain
communication between its central South American possessions and the
large cities of the coast, receives an imperial subsidy of nine thousand
francs a month. A _saladero_ is passed, and then a village. The river is
thick with trees with twisted roots and short branches, floating
downward to the ocean. Then the appearance of the banks changes: the
cliffs gradually slope to a level with the river, and vegetation begins
to line the shore, first in the shape of bushes, next of undergrowth,
and finally of lofty forest trees, some of them dead, and with a wall
of tangled foliage overhead.

Passing Esquina, a hamlet at the mouth of the Rio Corrientes, vast
volumes of smoke rising behind the trees on the right bank proclaim that
the Indians of Gran Chaco are "burning a forest in order to roast a
quarter of venison." Here the steamer's course lies among islands
covered partly with undergrowth and partly with forests. In the shadow
of the tall trees on one of the most lovely of these islands is seen
from the deck a quaint, barefooted company consisting of two men, a
woman a